SCI FI Brings Back Farscape
CI FI announced it will be bringing back Farscape with an all-new miniseries — called Farscape: Peacekeeper War — slated to air in the fourth quarter of this year.
The four-hour miniseries picks up where the cliffhanger series finale left off and will reunite John Crichton (Ben Browder), Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) and the rest of the Moya crew.
Farscape creator Rockne O'Bannon and executive producer David Kemper wrote the miniseries, which was directed by Brian Henson. Peacekeeper War was produced by the Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment, and executive produced by Robert Halmi Jr.
SCI FI will make the official announcement at noon on Monday, April 5, during the channel's advertising sales "upfront" presentation.
Minear: Wonderfalls Felled
im Minear, executive producer of Wonderfalls,
announced that the quirky Fox series had been axed.
"Well, not sure what to tell ya'll, but we're canceled," Minear wrote in a posting at the Buffista.org Web
site. "Effective at once."
Minear added, "The cow creamer will be silent this
Thursday and forever forward. Once we recover from the not-shock, [co-executive producers] Todd [Holland],
Bryan [Fuller] and I will see if there's some venue in which to air the remaining episodes. As I have said
from the start, the 13 [episodes] taken as a whole tell a story and go to a place, so a run of this 'limited'
series would not be unsatisfying elsewhere. It's a question as to whether the studio will want to invest in a
DVD release of a failed series. Maybe the episodes will sit in a warehouse someplace with that sled and the
Ark of the Covenenant. Thanks for the support and enthusiam. Tim."
The show starred Carolina Dhavernas as Jaye, a young
slacker thrust onto a new path when inanimate objects at the trinket shop where she worked suddenly started
ordering her to help total strangers. Only four of the thirteen episodes produced aired before Fox pulled the
plug. Wonderfalls never had it easy, as it started in a tough Friday timeslot and then was shifted to
Thursdays, where it was pitted against CSI and The Apprentice.
Wonderfalls Campaign Begins
! Online columnist Watch With Kristin has taken the unusual step, for a journalist, of mounting a petition to resurrect Fox's canceled fantasy TV series Wonderfalls.
The columnist has also organized a "Save Wonderfalls" campaign, which urges fans to send letters and small animal-shaped items to executives at The WB and UPN, which are possible new homes for the series.
The petition has already drawn more than 10,380 signatures. Fox canceled Wonderfalls last week, after only four airings, because of low ratings. The show had premiered at midseason on Fridays before moving to Thursdays opposite C.S.I. and The Apprentice.
Whedon Says 'Keep Writing'
ngel creator and executive producer Joss
Whedon, during a Friday call-in interview on KROQ's "Kevin and Bean" radio show, praised fan-led efforts to
save The WB's staked vampire series and implored listeners to keep writing, according to a report on the
SaveAngel.org Web site.
"I think all the noise that's been made by the fans does help," Whedon said. "Because we're talking about
different venues for not just Angel but the Buffyverse in general. Spinoffs or TV movies or
whatever it is, the more interest that's shown, whether or not the show itself, as it is now, gets to come
back, that registers with people."
Whedon suggested that the show's followers write
"everybody," most especially 20th Century Fox Television Productions. He added that the show's upcoming finale
will provide closure should it truly bring the series to an end, but that it would also "leave enough stuff
open that, should there be another season, there's plenty more to do." He added, "Our stories aren't [all]
told yet, not quite yet."
Tarantino, Brosnan Want Royale
uentin Tarantino told SCI FI Wire that he has talked
to Pierce Brosnan about adapting Casino Royale as Brosnan's fifth and final James Bond film.
The director noted that his challenge would be to convince producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli to
diverge from the current formula of expensive action set pieces.
"I don't see that they have anything to lose at all,"
Tarantino said in an interview while promoting his latest film, Kill Bill, Vol. 2. "They've got this
gigantic franchise, they can't do anything wrong with it. Pierce Brosnan's only going to do one more movie for
them, if that, so if he stayed on to do one more with me, let's just this one year go my way and do it a
little differently. I won't do anything that will ruin the series."
Tarantino hopes that the offer of a low budget and
Brosnan's return would convince the producers to approve a one-time-only return to the character-driven spy
plots of the first several 007 films. "Wouldn't it be great to have a James Bond movie that didn't cost $115
million and only cost $40 million or something like that?" he asked. "You know it's going to make its money
back, and we [would] all do good. Maybe we win the critics this time, then you're back in business the way you
were before."
Tarantino felt there was only "a thin chance" that he
would win the project, and said he would concede to update the 1952 novel for the present day. "If I owned the
material, I would set it in the '60s, but I'm sure I'd have to do it now." Casino Royale was first
adapted as a comedy in 1967.
Sky Captain Upends Tradition
erry Conran, the novice director who is helming the live-action/computer-animated SF movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, told SCI FI Wire that its production was like making a movie in reverse.
"I think it's minimally an evolutionary way to make a movie," Conran said in an interview. "I hope it opens up the door a little bit for [filmmakers]."
Conran created the movie's story and backgrounds in a computer, then went out and shot real actors (Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law and Angelina Jolie) against blue screens. The actors were then digitally composited into the film's environments, which were enhanced in post-production. Sky Captain is set in a mythical 1930s-era New York and deals with a spunky reporter (Paltrow) who researches the mysterious disappearance of prominent scientists when a squadron of giant flying robots invades. The movie owes its look and feel in part to old-time film serials.
Using computer-generated environments greatly reduces the cost of making movies, Conran said. "It's hard to say whether or not Hollywood would embrace this wholesale, but I think it's a very viable thing for the independent market," said Conran, who began the project as a less expensive alternative to traditional filmmaking. "I do think, given how expensive films have gotten, to some extent, they're going to have to [embrace it]. They have to start thinking of something to do a little differently. I don't think they can keep edging up these budgets the way they are. ... I'm [not so much] concerned about how much these films cost, [but] that they can't afford to be terribly risky with them, and so what you get are films that ... may be very entertaining, but they're very safe. And they're very much generic in their own way." Sky Captain opens June 25.
Quaid Detects Five Days
andy Quaid, who plays a homicide detective in SCI FI Channel's upcoming miniseries
Five Days to Midnight, told SCI FI Wire that his character finds it hard to believe a message supposedly sent from the future.
Timothy Hutton plays a professor who receives a case file for his own impending murder and gives it to Quaid's character to investigate.
"He's disbelieving at first," Quaid said in an interview. "He thinks it's a hoax. But then gradually things start to happen that make him realize that it's not a hoax."
Quaid added that the miniseries focuses on mystery rather than action. "It's got action in it, but it's not primarily action," he said. "It's more a psychological, quirky, eerie kind of feel to it. And it's got a nice surprise twist ending." Five Days to Midnight premieres at 9 p.m. ET/PT June 7 and will air for five consecutive nights.
Van Helsing Monster Talks
huler Hensley, who plays the Frankenstein Monster in the upcoming Van Helsing, told SCI FI Wire that his character in writer-director Stephen Sommers' film more closely resembles the creature from the novel than the ones on view in earlier big-screen characterizations.
"The book was one of my favorites growing up," Hensley, a respected stage actor, said in an interview. "I just found it really interesting that this script and Stephen's take on the Monster were a lot closer to the book than the old films were in terms of the Frankenstein Monster being articulate."
The actor added, "He doesn't stomp around screaming and moaning. He's an important part of the story. Like anyone else, though, I'd seen some of the films. I'd seen the Kenneth Branagh version with [Robert] De Niro. Our film, in passing, deals with what's in the book, but because Stephen has thrown all of these characters [also among them Dracula and the Wolf Man, with star Hugh Jackman's titular monster killer on the hunt for them] into a storyline, the storyline is unique. The movie establishes the character from the book and it takes off from there."
Hensley went on to note that he was thrilled to reunite with his friend Jackman. They'd worked together in the London production of the musical Oklahoma. "The [Van Helsing producers] called him to let him know that they were wanting me to do it, and he was ecstatic," Hensley said. "Hugh called me immediately. Any time we can work together it's like summer camp. We have a great time. So it was a lot of fun. I had no clue that he'd signed on. I auditioned and they told me that Van Helsing was going to be played by a guy named Hugh Jackman. And I said, 'Oh, you're kidding me.' It was fortuitous and a total coincidence." Van Helsing, a Universal Pictures release, will stake its claim for box office supremacy on May 7. Universal Studios is owned by Vivendi Universal Entertainment, which also owns SCI FI Channel.
Garner Excited About Elektra
ennifer Garner told SCI FI Wire that she's about to start work on Elektra, in which she will reprise her Daredevil role as the sleek and sexy assassin Elektra Natchios.
"Elektra has a rich, rich story in the comic books, particularly in Frank Miller's saga for her," the Alias and 13 Going on 30 star said in an interview. "We definitely mine the hell out of it."
The actress added, "Elektra is a very dark character, so this will not be a sunshine movie. I've been training for Elektra for a couple of months. I've added Pilates in because I'm trying to make sure that everything is flexible and mobile and ready to go. Remarkably, my trainer for the last three years, Valerie Waters, has kept me pretty amazingly flexible through all this stuff that we've done. So I am in training and we start shooting in the beginning of May, right after we finish on Alias for the season." Rob Bowman, director of The X-Files feature, numerous episodes of The X-Files series and the dragon drama Reign of Fire, will be behind the camera on Elektra, which be released in early 2005.
Fantastic Director Named?
arbershop director Tim Story has landed the coveted director's chair for the big-screen version of Fantastic Four, according to the IGN FilmForce Web site.
The site noted that Story is currently busy with an English-language remake of Taxi, starring Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah, and that he's also attached to direct Chris Rock in Sick Day.
IGN FilmForce went on to report that filming on Fantastic Four is set to begin in August, with location scouting already underway. Casting, the site added, is soon to start. IGN FilmForce further speculated that Story's participation signals that Fox and Marvel, which are joining forces to produce the film, are planning to take Fantastic Four down a more comedic path than other recent comic-book adaptations.
Fantastic Director Confirmed
onfirming previously reported rumors, Barbershop director Tim Story has signed on to helm the film version of Fantastic Four, according to Variety.
The trade paper added that Story is already in Vancouver, scouting locations for the production.
In related developments, the Web site Latino Review reported several new rumors. First, it said that contrary to previous rumors, Fantastic Four would not be a comedy. Second, it cited a source as saying that Michael Chiklis of television's The Shield is up for the role of Benjamin Grimm and that Mystic River Oscar winner Tim Robbins is up for the part of Dr. Doom.
Episode III Release Date Set
tar Wars: Episode III will be released in the United States and Canada on May 19, 2005, according to a statement on the official Starwars.com Web site.
The statement added that Episode III would be released on or about May 19 in most countries around the globe.
Starwars.com further noted, however, that Episode would reach Japan in July 2005, as has been the custom with the previous Star Wars pictures. Likewise, the May 2005, North American release follows tradition, as all of the previous Star Wars films, from A New Hope to Attack of the Clones, were released in May.
Miramax Options Princesses
ail Carson Levine, author of the children's fantasy book The Two Princesses of Bamarre, told SCI FI Wire that Miramax has optioned the book for producer Jane Startz.
Miramax and Startz produced Ella Enchanted, the first movie based on a Levine book.
Levine added that she had a say in the Bamarre movie adaptation, which is being written by Mark Friedman. "In this case they just about made all the changes that I thought should be made, so it's much closer [to the book than Ella Enchanted]," Levine said in an interview.
The Two Princesses of Bamarre tells the story of a 12-year-old girl who must find a cure for a disease called the Gray Death, which has afflicted her sister. In her quest she uses magical items and encounters specters, dragons and ogres.
Levine said the story evolved from an attempt to adapt the Brothers Grimm's 12 Dancing Princesses. "I couldn't get it, so it turned into a different story," she said.
ABC Sneaks Potter 3
BC announced that it will air a 10-minute sneak preview of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on May 9.
The sneak preview will follow a showing of the first Potter film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
According to the ABC Web site, the network will be running an extended edition of Sorcerer's Stone, with footage not seen in the 2001 theatrical release. Also, Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint will be seen talking about the movie in interstitial interviews to be featured throughout the telecast. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban opens June 4.
Dursleys Cut From Potter IV
he agent for actor Richard Griffiths, who has played Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter movies, told BBC's CBBC Newsround Online that Harry's reviled relatives, the Dursleys, won't appear in the upcoming fourth Potter movie, The Goblet of Fire.
Griffiths was reportedly "very disappointed" not to be appearing as Uncle Vernon in the film, the site said.
Griffiths also said he'd even asked Potter author J.K. Rowling to get his character reinstated, but she demurred. The fourth book is reportedly too long for a movie, and something had to be cut. The fourth movie will begin at the Burrow or the Quidditch World Cup, the site reported.
Cuaron Impressed Columbus
hris Columbus, producer of the upcoming Harry
Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, told SCI FI Wire that he's particularly impressed with how director
Alfonso Cuaron, who assumed the director's chair from him following Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, has handled several key sequences in the new
film.
"As a director I've always been excited about sequences," Columbus said in an interview. "When I talk about my
favorite films it's always certain moments in a film, certain sequences, whether it's Michael Corleone sitting
in that restaurant right before he's about to shoot the sergeant or whether it's Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger
in the back seat of the car in On the Waterfront."
Columbus, who said he's already seen Azkaban three
times, added, "In Azkaban, that kind of scene for me is the first attack on the train by the Dementors.
It's such a beautifully directed scene that Alfonso has done. I remember that scene immensely. And there's
also Harry's (Daniel Radcliffe) first ride on the hippogryph, which is just magical and poetic. Those are the
two scenes that really stick with me. I keep thinking about those scenes constantly and [also about] how proud
I am to be involved in them, but mostly how wonderful a job Alfonso has done as a director." Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban opens June 4.
Black Widow Developing?
GN FilmForce reported that Lions Gate Entertainment is developing a movie based on Marvel Comics' Black Widow series.
Sources told the site that X-Men screenwriter David Hayter is in talks to write and make his directorial debut with the espionage thriller.
The Black Widow movie is envisioned as a low-budget project set during the Cold War, in keeping with the Marvel character's comic-book roots, the site reported. Hayter's representatives confirmed to the site that he's in talks for the project, but that no deal has been made and a proposed Black Widow movie is pretty far off. Black Widow centers on KGB-trained Russian spy Natasha Romanoff, who becomes the Black Widow after the death of her husband.
California Mulls Game Laws
lected officials, religious leaders and civic activists rallied across California on April 8 to support two bills pending before the legislature that would restrict the sale of violent video games to minors, the Reuters news service reported.
In coordinated events in Los Angeles, central California's Fresno and Mountain View and San Mateo south of San Francisco, people spoke out in favor of the bills introduced earlier this year by state Assemblyman Leland Yee, Reuters reported.
The California bills, introduced in January, mirror laws passed in cities and states across the country that have been blocked or struck down by federal courts as unconstitutional, the news service reported. One bill would classify games that "visually depict serious injury to human beings in a manner that is especially heinous, atrocious or cruel" as being "harmful matter to children," Reuters said. The distribution of such material is restricted under state law.
The second bill requires retailers to stock "Mature" games in places not easily seen by kids. Games with a "Mature" rating issued by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board are not intended for children under 17, the news service reported. Hearings on the bills are scheduled at the state capital next week.
Black To The Future Set
lack to the Future: A Black Science Fiction Festival will take place June 11-13 in Seattle, organizers announced.
Guests will include writers Octavia Butler, Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes, Walter Mosley and Nisi Shawl.
The multidisciplinary festival will celebrate the contributions of black artists to speculative fiction through programs that will include a film festival, performing arts events, an SF book fair and panels, readings and book signings.
The festival is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Allen Foundation for the Arts and the Cultural Development Authority of King County.
Magick Bends Genders And Genres
ommy O'Haver, who will direct the supernatural romantic comedy film Magick for DreamWorks, told SCI FI Wire that the movie is a body-swapping story with a twist.
"It's totally sick, because it's a guy and a girl who switch from the neck down only," O'Haver said in an interview. "It will be PG-13, maybe R, so I'll get away with a lot more."
O'Haver added that Robert Zemeckis is producing the film, and script development is underway. The title might change to avoid confusion with other similarly titled films. "There's the Anthony Hopkins movie [called Magic] about the dummy," he said. "We don't want people to think they're going to see a horror movie about a talking dummy."
Having worked musical sequences into his previous films, which include Ella Enchanted and Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, O'Haver said that there may be an opportunity for one in Magick, which is set in Las Vegas. "Maybe I'll get to do a big number, maybe a topless one this time," he said.
Mars Imperiled
obert Rodriguez's resignation from the Directors Guild of America has jeopardized Paramount's development of its adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic SF book A Princess of Mars, Variety reported.
The director of Spy Kids quit the union so he could co-direct Sin City with Frank Miller, who created, wrote and illustrated the three-book graphic novel series on which that movie is based, the trade paper reported. (Guild rules do not permit such "co-directing" credits.)
But that imperils Mars, because as a DGA signatory, Paramount is required to employ only guild directors, the trade paper reported. Insiders close to Rodriguez tell the trade paper that, at least for now, the director is unwilling to rejoin the guild just to direct Princess of Mars.
Mars is based on the first book in Burroughs' 11-volume John Carter of Mars series.
Levine Begins Tinkerbell Books
ail Carson Levine, who is writing the first in a series of children's books about Tinkerbell and the fairies of Neverland, told SCI FI Wire that Disney Publishing commissioned her to establish the world of the series.
"Peter Pan by James M. Barrie was maybe my favorite book as a kid, so I feel so lucky to be able to go back to it and invent this whole other aspect that you don't see while Peter Pan is going on," Levine said in an interview.
Levine added that she does not specify how the timeframe of the book relates to the Peter Pan movies. "I'm sort of being mute on that subject," she said. "Maybe it's before, maybe it's after, maybe it's at the same time." Peter Pan is not a character in the book and Captain Hook appears only briefly, she added.
The first story deals with a quest on which three fairies embark while Tinkerbell guards the home front, Levine said. The author's inspiration was to explain the mythology of fairy dust. "When Disney approached me, they brought some illustrations of some ideas they had," she said. "One of them was this multicolored dove that was just beautiful. ... I decided that she's Mother Dove, she's always sitting on an egg, and it's the egg that keeps people from growing old in Neverland and dying. When she molts, they grind up her feathers, and the feather dust is fairy dust."
Levine has finished her first draft and is working on revisions. She said the books are based on Disney's licensed characters, so the Barrie estate is not involved. She added that Disney plans to publish it in the spring of 2005.
Dead Flies At Lions Gate
ions Gate Films is fast-tracking yet another zombie picture, Flight of the Dead, for a September start date, sources told The Hollywood Reporter.
Flight tells the tale of two zombies who come unexpectedly to life aboard an airplane while being shipped back to their homeland after they are captured, the trade paper reported.
Gary Parker and Tom Lavangnino wrote the original draft of the script, with John Dunning and Lorenzo Ozouri doing a rewrite, the trade paper reported. No director is on board yet.
Rogue Dials Up Phone
ocus Features' new Rogue division—which specializes in the distribution of high-quality suspense, action, thriller and urban features—has come aboard a U.S. remake of the Korean horror hit Phone, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Directed by Byeong-ki Ahn, the original Phone was one of the highest-grossing local films released in South Korea two years ago, the trade paper reported.
Phone centers on a reporter who changes her cell phone number after publishing a controversial article that results in death threats. But when a friend's daughter answers the new phone and exhibits increasingly bizarre behavior, the reporter begins to investigate a mysterious string of deaths that have haunted her phone number's previous owners, the trade paper reported. The Phone remake was written by Juliet Snowden and Stiles White.
Focus Features is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Prince Author's Plane ID'd
plane raised from the Mediterranean 60 years after it crashed, killing aviator/author Antoine de Saint-Exupery, has been identified and will be put on display in southern France, officials told the Reuters news service.
Saint-Exupery, whose fable The Little Prince is considered a classic of children's fantasy, disappeared on July 31, 1944, during a wartime aerial reconnaissance mission, the news service reported.
"The wreck of the plane that was raised last autumn near the Riou island has been identified as the [Lockheed Lightning] P-38 on which Saint-Exupery made his last voyage," Jean-Claude Gaudin, mayor of southern Marseille, told Reuters. He said the wreck would be exhibited in a Marseille museum to pay tribute to the writer and aviator, who died a year after the book was published.
A French diver discovered the remains of the airplane off the coast of Marseille four years ago, after a fisherman hauled up a bracelet belonging to the author and aviator in 1998, the news service reported.
It was raised from 260 feet last October and, though analysis showed the plane was Saint-Exupery's, it remains unclear why it crashed. The author's body has never been recovered.
SFSC Issues Clarion Challenge
an Francisco Science Fiction Conventions—the nonprofit parent of ConJose, the 2002 Worldcon—has issued matching grant challenge of up to $1,000 to fund the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop, according to a report on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site.
SFSFC urges groups and individuals interested in making donations to contact the organizers directly.
Michigan State University has drastically reduced Clarion's funding, to $26,400 in 2004 annually from $72,200 in 2003, throwing the program's future into doubt. The Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing Workshop is the best-known and most highly regarded science fiction writing workshop in the country.
Matrix Game Gaffe On DVD
arner Brothers' just-released DVD version of The Matrix Revolutions includes a 10-minute featurette into the making of the upcoming Matrix Online game that inadvertently gives credit to Ubisoft, the game publisher that was replaced by Monolith earlier this year, the GameSpot Web site reported.
The featurette includes an interview with then Ubi.com vice president of development Joe Ybarra. Warner cut its ties with Ubisoft in February while the DVD was in post-production, the site reported.
Warner is rushing a second pressing of the disc with the Ubisoft executive excised, the site reported.
The Matrix Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in the Matrix universe and is being developed by Monolith (Tron 2.0) for release in the fall.
Cedric Chases Carrey In Snicket
omedian Cedric the Entertainer told SCI FI Wire that his role in the upcoming Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events will require little of the makeup and special effects that co-star Jim Carrey needs in order to realize his character, Count Olaf.
"I'm pretty straight; I've just got pork-chop sideburns," the actor said in an interview while promoting his latest film, Johnson Family Vacation. "Jim's crazy. He's doing like five characters in the movie."
A Series of Unfortunate Events is based upon the series of children's books by author Daniel Handler, who writes under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket. Cedric (Barbershop 2) went on to describe his character, who pursues Carrey's Count Olaf but is rebuffed at every turn. "I play a constable, and basically he's the police officer that these orphan kids call to tell that Jim Carrey is evil, but Jim Carrey's character always dupes me," says Cedric. "He always charms in some kind of way, and I just think he's the most magnificent man in the world. So I just have a lot of fun being mad and then being in awe of him. It's just a lot of fun." Lemony Snicket is currently slated for a holiday 2004 release.
Woo Options Metroid
ace/Off and Paycheck director John Woo has optioned the popular Nintendo Metroid video-game franchise with an eye toward a big-screen adaptation, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The trade paper added that Metroid would focus on the origins of the game's lady protagonist, the bounty hunter Samus Aran, and chronicle her epic clashes with the life-sucking Metroids and their master, Mother Brain.
"We are very fortunate that there is such an extensive amount of material to draw upon for the film due to there being so many iterations of the game over the years," Woo told The Hollywood Reporter. Added Brad Foxhoven, who will co-produce the film, "We have to assume the mainstream audience is unfamiliar with the property. As for the rest of the film, we will stay true to the game and have Samus battling the Metroids and Mother Brain in a fight for control of the galaxy."
The trade paper went on to note that Woo is seriously committed to interactive properties, as he's currently developing three projects at his Tiger Hill video-game studio. The first game will be out in 2005, with the other two to follow in 2006, and Woo will direct the cinematics, oversee the voice talent and stories, manage the character designs and supervise the motion capture elements.
Crimson Tears To Flow
rimson Tears, a futuristic 3-D action game for PlayStation 2, will be released this summer by Capcom, the game publisher announced in a press release.
The game will carry a "T" rating for teen audiences.
Crimson Tears is set in Tokyo, in the year 2049, and players assume the role of one of three inhuman "biological weapons" that take on hordes of enemies and navigate maze-like environments as they investigate a mysterious disaster that has crippled the city and warped its buildings.
According to Capcom, Crimson Tears will feature cel-shaded 3-D characters and an automatic "dungeon" creation system based on futuristic conceptualizations of sewers and subway stations in Tokyo. Additional highlights include customizable martial arts moves and weapons, and weapons that include fighting gloves, bazookas, swords and flamethrowers.
SCI FI Unveils New Movies, Shows
CI FI Channel unveiled its slate of future programming at its annual upfront session yesterday in New York City.
Among the talents who will be involved in series, miniseries and movies airing on the network during the 2005-2006 season are Joel Schumacher, Bryan Fuller, Mike Mignola, Stan Winston, Natasha Henstridge, Stan Lee, Bruce Campbell, Nicolas Cage and Clive Barker.
In addition to the previously announced miniseries Earthsea and Farscape: Peacekeeper War, SCI FI will be producing Dresden Files, a two-hour backdoor pilot film based on the Jim Butcher novels and co-executive produced by Nicolas Cage; History of the Devil, a six-hour limited series about the devil's struggle to litigate his way back to heaven, with Clive Barker on board as executive producer; and Witchhunter Robin, a live-action adaptation of the popular Japanese anime series, with Joe Menosky writing and executive producing.
Alternative and reality series projects will include Amazing Screw-On Head, a half-hour comedy based on the Mike Mignola (Hellboy) comic-book and executive produced by Bryan Fuller (Wonderfalls); and Monster Smash, a monster-versus-monster show that teams SCI FI with Oscar-winning creature maker Stan Winston. Movies that will air as part of SCI FI's new Saturday Action slate in 2005-2006 include Slipstream, starring Sean Astin and Vinnie Jones; Species III, starring Robert Knepper, Sunny Mabrey and original Species actress Natasha Henstridge; The Man with the Screaming Brain, to be written and directed by and star cult favorite Bruce Campbell; and Stan Lee Movies, a trio of action movies to be produced by the comic book legend.
Gershon Tripping As Six
ina Gershon told SCI FI Wire that she's having a blast providing the voice of sexy science officer Six on the SCI FI Channel's computer-animated series Tripping the Rift, a humorous and scandalously sexy send-up of all things SF.
"It's pretty funny," the actress said in an interview. "I didn't really know what she looked like until I saw what she looked like, and I was like, 'Wow.'"
Gershon (Face/Off) added, "I haven't seen all the episodes yet. I've just seen bits and pieces of it. It's fun. I love doing voice-overs and I love doing cartoon characters. You get a lot of freedom. I'm also doing the voice of Catwoman in The Batman. That's coming on soon to the Kids' WB. That's going to be really cool."
Tripping the Rift is based on an award-winning webisode of the same name. It follows the crew of the starship Jupiter 42, five misfits who refuse to take sides in the cold war between the Dark Clowns and the Confederation. And so they "trip" the rift that separates the bitter enemies. Six is arguably the hottest, horniest and most advanced android ever created.
"It's pretty trippy," Gershon says. "It's pretty sexy. I was like, 'Wow.' It's the closest I've come to soft-core porn. I read some articles that talked about that. It's pretty sexy. And it's fun. I've [completed] the first season, 13 episodes." Tripping the Rift airs Thursdays at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on SCI FI. The first episode of the show is available free as a streaming download at www.scifi.com/tripping.
Warriors 4 Coming Soon
he tactical action game Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires will reach American PlayStation 2 consoles in September, according to the GameSpot Web site.
The announcement comes just weeks after the Koei game debuted at the top of the Japanese charts.
"Building on the successful Dynasty Warriors 4, this game will offer new twists on the tactical action genre," Amos Ip, Koei's vice president of sales and marketing, said in a statement. According to GameSpot, the "twist" is that Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires is less a sequel than an improved version of the game with new features.
The site went on to list the upcoming game's features, which include 40-plus characters, a fighting mode, a character-editing tool with a visual catalogue, and a strategy implementation mode. New gameplay elements will include new terrain, a warrior advancement system and political influence that allows players to transform enemy warriors into traitors. Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires will sell for the suggested retail price of $29.99.
Earthsea Director, Cast Named
hawn Ashmore (X-Men), Danny Glover (Predator 2)
and Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) are set to star in and Rob Lieberman has signed to direct the SCI FI Channel's
upcoming Earthsea four-hour miniseries, SCI FI announced today.
Lieberman just completed work on the Fox summer reality series The Casino.
Lieberman is no stranger to SF and fantasy. His credits as a
director and/or producer include the feature Fire in the Sky as well as episodes of such series as The
X-Files, The Dead Zone and Jake 2.0.
Based on the award-winning Ursula K. LeGuin novels,
Earthsea is an epic fantasy that centers on the adventures of Ged (Ashmore), a young wizard destined to become
the greatest sorcerer that the mystical land of Earthsea has ever known. When Ged discovers that he possesses infinite
magical powers, he seeks to master the ancient arts with the help of the legendary wizard Ogion (Glover). As he battles
unimaginable evils, Ged finds an ally in Tenar (Kreuk), the vibrant and devout pupil of High Priestess Thar (Isabella
Rossellini, Merlin).
Earthsea will be written by Gavin Scott (The Mists of
Avalon and produced by Hallmark Entertainment, with Robert Halmi Sr., Lawrence Bender and Kevin Brown on board as
executive producers. Production will begin next month in Vancouver and the miniseries will debut on SCI FI in
December.
Briefly Noted
-
Moviefone has posted a new trailer for the comedic remake of the 1975 SF movie The Stepford Wives, which opens this summer.
-
The full-length trailer for Spider-Man 2, which premiered during NBC's The Apprentice on April 8, has been posted to the Internet. Spider-Man 2 opens June 30.
-
Filmmaker Kevin Smith's official View Askew Web site has opened The Hornet's Nest, a page that will track the production of Smith's upcoming Green Hornet movie.
-
Access Hollywood reported that Tom Cruise is overseas scouting locations for Mission: Impossible III, including the Reichstag in Berlin. He also stopped off in Accra, Jamestown, in the country of Ghana.
-
Angel and The X-Files veteran writer/producer Jeffrey Bell will join ABC's Alias next season as part of his new two-year, seven-figure overall pact with Touchstone Television, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Bell will be a writer and co-executive producer, and his deal calls for him to be upped to executive producer in the 2005-'06 season.
-
Stephanie Lemelin has joined the cast of SCI FI Channel's two-hour Anonymous Rex pilot, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Sam Trammell and Daniel Baldwin star as private investigators who are evolved dinosaurs; Lemelin will play Baldwin's daughter.
-
Alec Newman will play Barnabas Collins in The WB's upcoming Dark Shadows remake, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Newman starred as Paul Atreides in the SCI FI Channel minseries Dune and its sequel, Children of Dune.
-
The new two-and-a-half-minute Spider-Man 2
trailer will debut on Thursday, during The Apprentice, according to USA Today. The newspaper
reported that the trailer would air about 40 minutes into the show.
-
John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings) will play a wheelchair-bound Harvard professor emeritus and mentor to Bill Pullman in the NBC pilot Revelations, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show centers on an effort to forestall the apocalypse.
Back to the top.
