Spidey 2 Breaks 1-Day Records
pider-Man 2 opened June 30 with a whopping $40.5 million at the box office, beating the first-day take of its predecessor and setting a new record for a Wednesday opening, Variety reported.
The one-day revenues exceeded The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King's $34.5 million and the first Spider-Man's $39.4 million, the trade paper reported.
The Spidey sequel also rivals The Matrix Reloaded for best opening day ever; Reloaded debuted on a Thursday with $42.5 million, but the figure includes about $5 million from previews the night before that started as early as 10 p.m., the trade paper reported. Spider-Man 2 started playing at the stroke of midnight Wednesday.
Raimi Talks Spidey 2 Violence
am Raimi, director of the sequel film Spider-Man 2, acknowledged to SCI FI Wire that the movie's action may verge on violent.
In particular, Raimi pushed the envelope in a scene in which the villainous Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) attacks an operating room full of doctors and nurses.
"Yeah, in the surgery room," Raimi said in an interview. "You know, I was wondering if that was going to be too violent. Wow, I hope it's not too violent. ... Maybe it is."
Raimi added that he didn't intend to make the film more violent, though it features state-of-the-art visual-effects fights between Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) and Doc Ock. "I didn't really make a conscious choice to make it more violent, although I don't disagree with you," Raimi said. "I think what happened was I was trying to establish in the minds of the audience that ... these tentacles [and] this man, Dr. Octavius, had become this monster, and as this monster, he had killed, or these tentacles had killed. And so he was going to be on the lam and hunted. ... But perhaps it's more violent than it needed to be. I didn't mean to make it more violent, I just wanted to show that he was a character to be frightened of, you know?" Spider-Man 2 opened June 30.
Owen Saddles Up For Arthur
live Owen, who plays the title character in the upcoming historical epic King Arthur, told SCI FI Wire that the most challenging part of the role was the horse-riding he and his fellow actors had to do.
"There's a huge amount of [horse-riding]," Owen said in an interview. "It became a very enjoyable thing in the end, but all of us put a lot of time into it, way before we got to Ireland."
Owen said that none of his co-stars had much experience with horses, but all of them wanted to impress one another and would take bigger chances than actors typically might to prove themselves. "A half an hour outside of London, the guy who was driving all of the horses had a stable, and we would all go out," Owen said. "The first day of the film, every one of us had never been on a horse before. And they were shooting, and they said, 'Guys, just go as fast as you can. Whatever you feel safe with.' As an actor, when you're told that, you want to deliver. And we did some pretty lively horse stuff on the movie, considering we're not stunt guys."
Owen also said that he felt empowered by the experience once he got the hang of horse-riding. "When you're on a huge white horse in this sort of fantastic armor, you feel good," Owen said with a laugh. "You feel tough." King Arthur opens nationwide July 7.
Arthur Scale Impresses Owen
live Owen, star of the upcoming action movie King Arthur, told SCI FI Wire that he approached the Arthurian legend in much the same way he has his other roles, though the scale of the film came as a bit of a shock.
"My approach remained the same," Owen said in an interview. "I took it on like I take anything on. It's just a character I play in a movie. Now, of course, you know it's a huge movie when you arrive in Ireland and see a mile-long, 35-foot high Hadrian's Wall and 600 extras getting ready, dressed as Saxons. But at the same time you realize at a certain point you are demanded to deliver something in front of the camera."
Owen added of his iconic character: "You can't play heroic. You can't play status. It's like the old bit about actors saying, 'You can only play status if the actor you're working with gives it to you.' In the same way you take something like this on, you have to hope the writing supports you, and that the structure and the way the film is made is going to support you, and you don't go in playing big, iconic, heroic. You can't do that. You're just sort of made that, so you just go into the film hoping that the support is there."
Despite King Arthur's scale, Owen said that his part is only one element in the overall makeup of the potential blockbuster and that he can't worry about every detail of the production. "It's the same deal in terms of the responsibility of this film making money," Owen said. "There are lots of people, employees, who sweat about that. I can only do what I do and do it as well as I can." King Arthur is being released by Touchstone Pictures July 7.
Owen Wraps Sin City
live Owen, who stars in Robert Rodriguez's upcoming film version of Frank Miller's graphic novel Sin City, told SCI FI Wire that he's already completed his role in the film, which is aiming for release later this year.
"I've just finished working with Robert Rodriguez," Owen said in an interview. "What a smart, charming guy. He's got it down. He's got his own operation out there [in Austin, Texas]. He does it all his own way. He does everything himself."
The Dimension Films crime drama adapts the storylines from three of the seven graphic novels in the long-running cult series created, written and illustrated by Miller. Owen said that Rodriguez's frenetic shooting style differed from other filmmakers he's worked with. "He's very fast," Owen said. "He has a great, great work ethic. It's a lovely time. It's very relaxed, but very disciplined as well. It's the healthiest environment in which to shoot a movie. He's very focused, and his people are very concentrated. But it's very relaxed and healthy." Sin City is slated for release in 2005.
SFW Wins Rocket Award
inners of the 2004 Wooden Rocket Awards for best SF and fantasy Web sites included Science Fiction Weekly as best online magazine, the sponsoring SF Crowsnest site reported.
The awards were determined by 12,381 verified voters, the site announced. A complete list of winners follows.
Best Online Magazine
•Science Fiction Weekly
Best Print-to-Web Magazine
•Locus Online
Best Author Site
•Orson Scott Card
Best Artist Site
•bobeggleton
Best Gallery Site
•Worlds of Wonder
Best Print Publisher Site
•Tom Doherty Associates
Best E-book Publisher Site
•Baen Webscriptions
Best E-book Site
•J.A. Edwards
Best Official Movie Site
•The Lord of the Rings
Best Fan Movie Site
•DuneWorld
Best Official TV Site
•Stargate SG-1
Best Fan TV Site
•Firefly Fans
Best Online SFF store
•Other Realms
Best Fan Site Home Page
•Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Best Directory Site
•SadGeezer's Guide to Cult TV Sci-Fi
Best Convention/Society Site
•Dragon*Con
Best Foreign Language Site
•SFU: Le Portail de la Science Fiction du Fantastique
Potter VI Title Revealed
he title of the upcoming sixth Harry Potter book will be Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, author J.K. Rowling's official Web site revealed.
Fans had to solve a series of puzzles to open a door on the site, revealing the title.
Rowling also posted a note saying that a rumored title, Harry Potter and the Pillar of Storge, was a hoax. "I was delighted to see that a hard core of super-bright fans knew that the real title was once, in the long distant past, a possibility for Chamber of Secrets, and from that deduced that it was genuine," she wrote.
Rowling added, "Certain crucial pieces of information in book six were originally planned for Chamber of Secrets, but very early on (first draft of Chamber) I realized that this information's proper home was book six. I have said before now that Chamber holds some very important clues to the ultimate end of the series. Not as many as six, obviously, but there is a link." Rowling said that the "half blood prince" of the title is neither Harry nor Voldemort.
No publication date has been set for the much-anticipated sixth book, which Rowling continues to write.
Goblet Gears Up In U.K.
rincipal photography has started in England on the fourth Harry Potter movie, The Goblet of Fire, the ComingSoon.net Web site reported.
Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) is directing the movie at Leavesden Studios.
New cast members include Brendan Gleeson as Mad-Eye Moody, the new defense against the dark arts teacher. Frances De La Tour plays the headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, Madame Maxime; Roger Lloyd-Pack plays the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Barty Crouch; Pedja Bjelac plays Durmstrang Professor Igor Karkaroff; Jeff Rawle plays Amos Diggory; and David Tennant plays Barty Crouch Jr., the site reported.
Robert Pattinson also joins the cast as Cedric Diggory; Stanislav Ianevski as Quidditch star Viktor Krum; Clemence Poesy as Fleur Delacour; and Katie Leung as Cho Chang. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Tom Felton return in their roles as Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco Malfoy. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will be released in November 2005 by Warner Brothers.
Jeremiah Lives In Comic
omic-book writer Andrew Foley told SCI FI Wire that he has penned an interactive comic that extends the story of Showtime's canceled SF drama series Jeremiah, created by Babylon 5's J. Michael Straczynski.
Platinum Studios, the production company that developed the series, will publish the free comic, titled Jeremiah—The Last Empire.
"There are narrative threads left at the end of the [show's 35 episodes], ... a long story that's wrapped up very effectively by the end of 'Interregnum,'" Foley said in an interview. "So I don't feel as though I'm jumping into a storyline so much as starting a new one, albeit inside the world and with several characters created in the previous one." Foley said that the characters of Mr. Smith (Sean Astin) and Gina (Enid-Raye Adams) will be pivotal figures.
The Last Empire will be released online at the Jeremiah Portal Web site in five-to-10-page weekly chapters, following Showtime's broadcast of the series' final eight episodes this fall. The comic will then be packaged for print, Foley said. The series will run for more than 30 chapters, and Foley will write them with Ryan McLelland. Carlos Ferreira will pencil the comic through Fabricio Grellet's Magic Eye Studio. There will also be an interactive component: Readers will be able to click on a character to get background, or click on a shot of a city to get history, for example.
Foley credited Platinum chief executive Scott Mitchell Rosenberg with keeping the Jeremiah franchise alive. "Scott refuses to give up on Jeremiah," Foley said. "He's got a prequel film set at the time of the Big Death in development. He's got the role-playing game underway, which will flesh out Jeremiah's world in greater detail than ever before. And, without any immediate options for the television series—I'm told it's still possible that the SCI FI Channel might pick up another season—he's keeping the characters alive in comic-book form." SCI FI has made no announcements about Jeremiah.
Bay Up For Superman?
s director Michael Bay (Armageddon) steeling up to helm Superman? That's the rumor swirling around Hollywood, since a Superman logo appeared—then just as quickly vanished—from Bay's official Web site, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Warner Brothers told the trade paper that director McG is still on board to direct the much-delayed project, though other rumors have circulated that there are problems between the studio and the Charlie's Angels director over the location of the shoot, sources told the paper.
The studio also said that rumors about Bay's involvement are "absolutely not true." It's unclear who posted the logo on Bay's site or why, though a Bay spokesman told the trade paper that a "fan" runs the site.
Episode III Films Again
round of additional photography for the upcoming prequel film Star Wars: Episode III will take place in August and September, the official Star Wars Web site reported.
The "pickup" shots will fill in gaps in a tentative edit of the movie. "We're honing in a second cut of the film for July," producer Rick McCallum told the site.
From Aug. 23 to Sept. 4, director George Lucas will roll cameras on Episode III in the United Kingdom, the site reported. "We've got two full weeks of shooting," McCallum said. Among the cast members slated to work in that period are Silas Carson, Hayden Christensen, Anthony Daniels, Samuel L. Jackson, Ian McDiarmid, Christopher Lee, Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman.
"It will be primarily blue- and green-screen shooting," McCallum added. "There won't be any full sets, but there may be large set pieces. This round of shooting is mostly just patching holes and providing transitions. We do have a whole new sequence with Hayden and Yoda." Filmmakers are racing to meet a May 2005 release date.
Star Wars Fan Films Online
he finalists in the 2004 Star Wars Fan Film Awards competition have gone live online
at the AtomFilms.com Web site.
The films include Star Wars parodies and spoofs created by fans from around the world.
Fan Film Award winners will be announced at a special Lucasfilm ceremony at Comic-Con International on July 22 in San Diego.
Kidman Narnia Rumor Denied
he NarniaWeb site shot down a rumor that Nicole Kidman was in talks to narrate the proposed film adaptations of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia books.
The DeHavilland news Web site reported the rumor.
But NarniaWeb quoted Kidman's publicist saying that the report was an old rumor with no basis in fact, and that Kidman will never be involved in the production. The first Narnia film, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is currently in production in New Zealand.
Narnia Shoots In N.Z.
he movie version of C.S. Lewis' beloved children's book The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe began shooting in New Zealand, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Shooting started June 28 at the old Hobsonville Air Base in West Auckland, the newspaper reported.
Kiwi director Andrew Adamson (Shrek 2) is helming the production, the newspaper reported. Filming will take place in Auckland until mid-October, when the production will move to the South Island. Filming is expected to take six months to complete, the newspaper reported. The movie is expected to be released in the United States at the end of next year.
Hanks, Chandler Join Kong
olin Hanks (Roswell) and Kyle Chandler (Early Edition) are joining the cast of Peter Jackson's upcoming King Kong remake for Universal Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The duo joins stars Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrien Brody in the reimagination of the classic SF movie. Hanks plays a production assistant to filmmaker Carl Denham (Black), with Chandler in talks to play a 1930s B-movie actor opposite Watts' character, Ann Darrow, the trade paper reported.
Andy Serkis is providing the reference for the character of Kong, who will be a completely computer-animated character, as well as playing the role of Lumpy the cook, the trade paper reported. Universal Pictures is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Black: Kong Is Scary
ack Black, who appears in Peter Jackson's upcoming King Kong remake, told MTV.com that his character will differ from the largely comic roles he's played in the past.
"There are some funny things about my character, but, yeah, it is a different thing for me," Black told the site backstage at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards. "But I'm not approaching it differently. I'm approaching it with the same balls-to-the-wall attitude."
Black plays impresario Carl Denham in King Kong alongside Naomi Watts. He added that Jackson's take on the big gorilla will be less cuddly than the original 1933 SF movie. "I just read the script for the first time," he said. "It's so rad. And it's top secret. I can't tell you much, but I can tell you this. King Kong is going to be scary as hell, dude. He's not going to be sweet and cuddly. It's not going to be the cute kind [of movie]. He's a f--king carnivore, as in, eats flesh!"
The movie will be shot in New Zealand with Jackson's team re-creating parts of 1930s New York. Andy Serkis will provide motion-capture work for the computer-generated Kong, a role similar to what he did for Jackson when he played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, the site reported. King Kong is scheduled to begin filming in August, with a December 2005 release date.
Searching For Zathura Kids
on Favreau, director of the upcoming family SF film Zathura, told SCI FI Wire that it's been a challenge finding the right child actors to play opposite star Tim Robbins.
"We're trying to find the two kids," Favreau said in an interview. "It's tough to find kids, because by the time their movies come out, they're three years older than when they were in the movie. So we've got to find some new kids."
Robbins plays the dad in the film adaptation of Chris van Allsburg's children's book, about a board game that shoots two children into space. "It's a science-fiction action movie," Favreau said. "We've got two kids whose house gets launched into space, and they've got to fight aliens and get hit by asteroid showers and robots and stuff. It's a lot of fun."
Favreau added that Zathura is aiming to shoot in late summer. "We start shooting this August, and it comes out next Christmas," he said.
Switching Bodies Is Magick
ommy O'Haver, who will direct the upcoming fantasy comedy film Magick for Dreamworks Pictures and ImageMovers, told SCI FI Wire that the movie involves a man and a woman who switch bodies—but only from the neck down.
But don't compare it to previous body-swapping films, like The Hot Chick or Freaky Friday, O'Haver said in an interview.
"We're trying to make it less of a movie like The Hot Chick and more like a Back to the Future kind of adventure," O'Haver said of Magick, which is only a working title. "With The Hot Chick, it's really just played for comedy, and played particularly small. ... This is a little bit more character-driven and a little bit more adventure-driven. It hopefully won't feel just like another Freaky Friday. It'll feel much bigger and more exciting than that."
O'Haver has hired screenwriters Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein (Never Been Kissed) for the latest rewrite. "I basically pitched a take to Robert Zemeckis [and ImageMovers]," he said. "They liked my take. Then we brought on Marc and Abby, who I went to film school with, actually. We developed the take even further, and now they're going to get to work on it. It's a magic trick gone bad, so the [man and woman] have to go to Vegas to find the magician who invented the trick, get the secret ingredient to change them back, and it turns into an adventure."
For one of the leads, O'Haver hopes to enlist his Ella Enchanted star. "I wouldn't mind working with Anne Hathaway again," he said. "She'd be great. We'll see. She's a great comic actress, though." O'Haver expects to have the script for Magick finished by the end of August.
Vosloo Unveils Mummy Ride
rnold Vosloo, who played the title villain in the Mummy films, told SCI FI Wire that it was "weird" providing his deep voice to the new Universal Studios Hollywood thrill ride Revenge of the Mummy.
"They came to me and said they wanted to use my voice for the Egyptian stuff, because I've got a scary voice," Vosloo said in an interview at the ride's preview. "And I said, 'All right. Let's do it.' So they just used the voice and mixed and matched it and made it scary whenever they needed to."
Vosloo, who spoke at the opening of Revenge of the Mummy, added that he was happy to return to the character, which first brought him widespread recognition. "I love [Mummy writer/director] Stephen Sommers," he said. "The creator of The Mummy sort of put me on the map by giving me the part, so I've got to see it all the way through and do as much with him as I can." Sommers helped design the ride.
Vosloo said that the new Hollywood attraction differs from a similar one installed at the Universal theme park in Orlando, Fla., which opened two months earlier. "They are both different," Vosloo said. "This one is shorter, but scarier, and the other one is a little bit longer, but not as scary as this one." The Universal Studios theme parks are owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Doohan Battles Alzheimer's
riginal Star Trek star James Doohan (Scotty) is battling Alzheimer's disease, TV Guide Online reported.
Doohan's wife, Wende, broke the news in Britain's Daily Record newspaper, the site reported.
"It is hard for him to do interviews, because the more he starts searching for the words, the more frustrated he gets," she reportedly told the newspaper. "With Jimmy, it's mostly the loss of words. He still recognizes everybody. And there are times when he is sharp as a tack."
The 84-year-old Doohan also suffers from Parkinson's disease and diabetes. He is slated to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame later this month, the site reported.
Lachey Gets Charmed
ick Lachey will join the cast of The WB's veteran witch series Charmed for six episodes next season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The singer-actor and star of MTV's reality series Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica will play a guy hired as a ghost writer for witch Phoebe Halliwell's (Alyssa Milano) advice column who ends up romantically involved with her, the trade paper reported.
Charmed begins its seventh season this fall.
Dafoe Does Action In XXX2
illem Dafoe, who co-stars in the upcoming sequel film XXX: State of the Union, told SCI FI Wire that he'll get physical in his role as a four-star general who is also secretary of state.
"I'll be doing some action stuff," Dafoe said in an interview. "Kicking and punching. I think I know how to do that."
Dafoe, who made a mark as the Green Goblin in 2002's original Spider-Man movie, added that he'll insist on doing as much of his own stunt work as possible to preserve his stamp on the character. "I like doing [stunts], unless it's a skill that I can't learn quickly, like car stuff," Dafoe said. "I've got no pride in that. That doesn't matter. But when I see a stunt guy do anything that I should do, it's like someone doing the scene for you, because the physical stuff so roots everything else that it freaks me out. If I see, for instance, in post [production] that they didn't bring me back [for a simple shot], so they hire a some guy dressed in my costume walking away, I'll say, 'That is not my walk. That is not my ass.' It's all part of it. So I think it's important to do that."
XXX: State of the Union is the follow-up to the high-tech spy thriller XXX and stars Ice Cube, Scott Speedman, Nona Gaye and Samuel L. Jackson. Dafoe said he'll start work on XXX2 this month.
Speedman Joins XXX2
cott Speedman, Nona Gaye and Sunny Mabrey are joining Ice Cube, Samuel L. Jackson, Willem Dafoe and Michael Roof in the sequel XXX: State of the Union, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day) is directing for Revolution Studios, Columbia Pictures and producer Neal Moritz. Shooting starts in mid-July, the trade paper reported.
The latest installment, penned by Simon Kinberg, is largely set in Washington and is described as a thriller, the trade paper reported. Ice Cube plays a former criminal recruited by the National Security Agency to become a XXX agent. Speedman is set to play agent Kyle Steele; Gaye will play a potential romantic interest to Ice Cube's character. Mabrey will star as a beautiful, intelligent congressional aide who befriends Ice Cube's character, the trade paper reported.
Carter Gets Personal In SG-1
manda Tapping, who pays Maj. Samantha Carter in SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming eighth season may complicate her character's personal life.
Carter's on-again, off-again beau, Denver police Detective Pete Shanahan, played by David DeLuise, will play a larger role in early episodes.
But Tapping said not to expect Carter's personal life to overshadow her ongoing mission to help save Earth from the Goa'uld. "I don't want it to become about Carter's personal life getting in the way of what she does, because the thing that makes me so proud of this character and something that we've worked on for eight years is that she's so professional and so smart and so on top of her game and so competent," Tapping said in an interview during a break in filming on the show's Vancouver, B.C., set. "The dynamics between the four of them is so important, and the loyalty to the team and to the program and to exploration and to science. I mean, I don't want her to become too much the other way. But now I have a life, and I have a boyfriend, and I'm happy. I don't want it to be about that, you know what I mean? That's an interesting part of her that, like I said, opens her up. But I don't want her to become that girl. I've also always said that I don't think that Carter should ever be qualified ... by whether or not [she's] with somebody."
Tapping added that Carter will continue to be an integral part of SG-1, particularly once Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) finds himself going on fewer "away missions." "It means that Daniel [Michael Shanks] and Carter and Teal'c [Christopher Judge] go off alone a lot," she said. "We actually never go off alone: We always have another SG team with us. But we don't have Rick. So that's a different dynamic. It's great fun for Michael and Christopher and [me], because, a) we really enjoy each other, and b) [we] have such fun playing off each other. But it's different. It is very different. What I find, though, [is that,] because Rick's days are limited, when he's here, he's here. And the scenes between the four of us are so great, because we fall into that old pattern. And they're funny scenes, and you see how tight these four people are. But it is odd. The first time we go through the gate without him, it's like missing your arm." Stargate SG-1 returns with a two-hour season premiere at 9 p.m. ET/PT July 9.
George Haunts Amityville
elissa George (TV's Alias) is in talks to star in MGM and Dimension Films' remake of The Amityville Horror, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
George would play a young mother of three who moves into the infamous haunted house, the trade paper reported.
George would join Ryan Reynolds (Blade: Trinity) in the film, to be directed by British commercial helmer Andrew Douglas, who makes his feature directorial debut. Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller of Platinum Dunes are producing for Radar Pictures, whose Ted Field will executive produce, the trade paper reported. Scott Kosar wrote the screenplay.
In addition to playing Vaughn's ill-fated wife, Lauren, in the most recent season of the ABC spy drama Alias, George has appeared in the feature films Mulholland Dr. and Dark City, among others, the trade paper reported.
True Calls Witherspoon
eese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo are in talks to star in the fantasy film If Only It Were True at DreamWorks, Variety reported.
Mark Waters (Mean Girls) directs the movie, about a man (13 Going on 30's Ruffalo) who falls in love with the spirit of a woman whose apartment he comes to inhabit, the trade paper reported. Walter Parkes and Laurie McDonald are producing.
The studio hopes to begin shooting in November and release the film next year, the trade paper reported.
Paramount Develops Arcane
aramount Pictures has bought film rights to Steve Niles' supernatural comic book Aleister Arcane, Variety reported.
Michael Aguilar and Dean Georgaris will produce through their production company, Penn Station.
Dan Milano and Matthew Huffman will adapt the comic, about a local TV horror host who's forced off the air, unleashing unexplained horrors in an Oklahoma town, the trade paper reported.
Niles has set up Wake the Dead and Hyde at Dimension, the vampire movie 30 Days of Night at Columbia and a horror project at MGM. He also formed horror-themed Creep Entertainment last year with rocker Rob Zombie, the trade paper reported.
Roswell Auction Benefits Charity
he RoswellMovie.net Web site is again sponsoring a charity auction on eBay of calendars autographed by cast and crew of the canceled teen alien series Roswell.
Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
The 11-by-17-inch calendars feature fan-written poems and photos of the Roswell stars taken by fans and arranged into layouts. The calendars are autographed by cast members Emilie DeRavin, Colin Hanks, William Sadler, Jason Behr, Shiri Appleby and Nick Wechsler. The auction ends July 6. Reruns of Roswell are currently airing on the SCI FI Channel.
McGee Shepherds Scrapland
ame publisher Enlight announced that it will publish Scrapland, a third-person SF action/adventure game, from executive producer American McGee, due in the fourth quarter of this year.
Developed by Mercury Steam, Scrapland is set in a bizarre robotic world made of scrap parts. Scrapland is being designed for the Xbox and PC.
"For some time now I've been working with the team at Mercury Steam Entertainment to put the finishing touches on this amazing new world for you," McGee wrote on the game's official Web site. "Their hard work, imagination and unparalleled skill have resulted in an amazing experience that I know you will love. Scrapland is a culmination of all things we crave: open-ended play, heart-pounding combat action, engaging narrative, lots of mystery and a healthy dose of humor. Combine all that with the most beautiful environments and character designs since Alice, and you're in for one hell of a ride."
Clarke's Space Optioned
creenwriter Michael McGruther has optioned the film rights to Arthur C. Clarke's first published novel, Prelude to Space, Variety reported.
Space, published in 1954, is a prophetic space adventure about man landing on the moon and is being adapted by McGruther as a space adventure about discovery and human sacrifice, the trade paper reported. Clarke is expected to be a consultant.
McGruther also is in development on the SF adventure Lightspeed with Jersey and Universal Pictures, with X-Men director Bryan Singer attached to helm, the trade paper reported. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Crystal Deals With Death
illy Crystal has made a deal to star in, direct, co-write and produce an untitled supernatural comedy film for New Line Cinema, Variety reported.
In the movie, the U.S. president is visited by Death's "repo man" (Crystal), who gives the commander in chief until midnight to straighten up his personal affairs and affairs of state before lowering the final curtain, the trade paper reported.
Crystal will write the script with Quinton Peeples, who wrote and directed the 1996 film Joyride.
Witchfinders To Fly
egency Enterprises bought Justin Stanley and Shane Bitterling's spec script Witchfinders for Oscar-winning producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson to produce through their Kopelson Entertainment, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Witchfinders centers on a group of 17th-century witch hunters who are charged with destroying a coven of witches before they flee Europe for a new home in Salem, Mass., the trade paper reported.
Mark Sternberg (The Girl Next Door) is attached to produce.
Lilo Duo Signs Disney Deal
hris Sanders and Dean DeBlois (Lilo & Stitch) have signed separate deals with Walt Disney Pictures for fantasy movies, Variety reported.
Sanders will develop the computer-animated American Dog. DeBlois will make his live-action film directing debut next spring with The Banshee, from his own script, the trade paper reported.
Banshee is a period ghost story set in Ireland that will be made under Sanders and DeBlois' Stormcoast Pictures banner, the trade paper reported. The movie tells the story of a boy who is ignored by the world and pretends to be a ghost—until he comes into contact with a real ghost.
Stealth Crew Films At Sea
ore than 80 cast and crew of the upcoming SF-tinged military thriller film Stealth boarded the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to film for a week in June, the official U.S. Navy Web site reported.
The visitors on behalf of Columbia Pictures and Backbreaker Films included stars Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx and Sam Shepard and director Rob Cohen. The filmmakers also brought along their own "aircraft," a 53-foot-long futuristic stealth fighter called the Talon, which figures in the movie's plot.
The movie centers on an unmanned Talon that begins attacking friendly forces, and Navy pilots are called in to save the planet from artificial intelligence, the site reported. The movie shot while the Abraham Lincoln was underway. Actual U.S. Navy personnel also worked as extras in the film.
Scanner Aims For Laughs
ichard Linklater, who is directing a film adaptation of SF author Philip K. Dick's novel A Scanner Darkly, told SCI FI Wire that he's mining the unexpected comedic potential of the late writer's work.
"Philip K. Dick is very funny," Linklater said in an interview. "You wouldn't know it necessarily from the movies that have been filmed on his stories and books, but I've always thought Dick was hilarious. It's very dark comedy, a funny sensibility in so much of his stuff. So I'm going for that. And it's a good, creepy, timely story."
Dick's novel tells the story of a future in which America has lost the war on drugs. Keanu Reeves plays a narcotics officer seeking a drug dealer who turns out to be a alternate version of himself. Since Scanner was a novel, Linklater feels the film will be more faithful than those based on Dick's short stories.
"I thought that my character, as drawn, was really at the front of the investigation and would be interacting with these people who had just returned to Earth, having disappeared for a long time," McKenzie said. "They're now integrating back into society. I felt the human stories of these people, the impact of returning to Earth on their lives and on them as people, were really interesting to me."
"I'm trying to tell the story he told," Linklater said. "No one else has really tried to do that too much, because what they've usually done is taken an idea, like the core idea, and then they usually put it into a genre and make it work in a more genre-typical sense. Some really great movies have been made from that stuff. But that wasn't my take on this movie, because it's not really an action film. It's primarily a character piece." Warner Independent Pictures will release A Scanner Darkly in the fall of 2005.
SF Vets Fuel The 4400
ene Echevarria, executive producer of USA Network's upcoming SF drama The 4400, told SCI FI Wire that the limited series comprises writers who are veterans of several SF TV shows.
The writers include Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe, who, like Echevarria, worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Echevarria has also written for Dark Angel and Now and Again. Wolfe developed Andromeda and wrote for The Dead Zone and UPN's The Twilight Zone update, which Behr produced. 4400 writer Scott Peters, meanwhile, counts among his credits The Outer Limits and Animorphs.
Echevarria added that the group worked well together on The 4400, in which thousands of missing and presumed dead people return all at once, prompting the formation of a government agency to keep tabs on the returnees. "After USA ordered the series I had to step away from the project to shoot a pilot for Fox, but I was really glad that Ira Behr agreed to come in and executive produce the show," Echevarria said in an interview. "We'd worked together on Star Trek, and I knew he'd hit it off with Scott. Ira brought in Robert Wolfe, who'd also worked on Deep Space Nine with us. They did an amazing job developing the stories and put together a great cast [which includes Peter Coyote, Joel Gretsch and Jacqueline McKenzie] and a terrific director [Yves Simoneau]."
The 4400 will debut as a two-hour special at 9 p.m. ET/PT July 11 on USA Network, with subsequent hours airing Sunday nights until Aug. 8. USA Network is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Depp Voices Corpse Bride
ohnny Depp, who has collaborated frequently with director Tim Burton, will provide the lead voice in Burton's upcoming stop-motion fantasy film Corpse Bride at the same time he stars in Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie, Variety reported.
Burton is co-directing Corpse Bride with Michael Johnson and producing with Allison Abbate, the trade paper reported. Depp will work on the two movies before he stars in the upcoming sequel to his hit Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Burton's girlfriend, Helena Bonham Carter, will also voice a character in Corpse Bride, along with Emily Watson, Albert Finney, Richard Grant, Joanna Lumley and Christopher Lee. Corpse Bride will shoot in London simultaneously with Charlie, the trade paper reported. Corpse Bride takes place in a 19th-century European village, from which Victor (Depp) travels to the underworld for a wedding to a mysterious corpse bride (Bonham Carter) while his living wife (Watson) pines for his return.
Warner Brothers will release Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on July 15, 2005, and Corpse Bride in October 2005, the trade paper reported.
Evil Poster Contest Lives
ne day remains for fans to submit ideas for a poster for the upcoming SF horror sequel film Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Screen Gems announced.
About 4,000 submissions have already been entered in the contest, sponsored by Screen Gems and Play magazine, which has a deadline of June 30.
Contestants can create up to three poster designs electronically and submit them online, using images, title treatments and a billing block from the official Web site.
Five finalists will be announced at Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 24. The artwork will also be posted online at the official site, where fans will have a chance to vote on them. The winning poster will be announced on Aug. 2, and the grand-prize winner will receive a cash prize of $2,500, free movie passes and possible nationwide exposure of their poster in theaters everywhere, the studio said. Resident Evil: Apocalypse, based on the hit zombie video-game series, opens Sept. 10.
Horror Writer Cave Dies
ward-winning American horror writer Hugh B. Cave, who wrote at least 45 books from 1942 through 2003, died June 27, the Locus Online Web site reported.
Cave, who was born in 1910, received a Bram Stoker Life Achievement Award in 1990, a World Fantasy Special Convention Award in 1996, a Living Legend Award from the International Horror Guild in 1997 and a World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 1998, the site reported.
Cave published stories in pulp magazines beginning in 1932 and during the 1930s and '40s created more than 800 pulp fiction stories. Cave became one of the top pulp writers and was most famous for his work in the "weird menace" genre. In the 1970s, Cave wrote mystery and dark fantasy stories for the mainstream paperback market; in 1977 he won the World Fantasy Award for his collection Murgunstrumm & Others.
Europe Beta of Warcraft Due
lizzard will recruit English-, French- and German-speaking gamers for a three-week European beta test of its much-anticipated massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, the GameSpot Web site reported.
The company announced that signups for the closed beta will begin on July 5 on the game's official Web site.
Testers will not be chosen on a first-come, first-served basis; rather, applicants will have to submit an application. The main purpose of the European beta is to work out the infrastructure and distribution of the game in Europe and eventually to verify the translation of the game for the French and German markets, the site reported.
Mr. Ed Gets Hip
ara Paxton, who stars in a pilot remake of Mr. Ed for the Fox network, told SCI FI Wire that she plays Amanda, the daughter of Wilbur, owner of the title talking horse.
The proposed remake of the classic 1960s sitcom deals in part with the problems of Amanda, whose character didn't exist in the original show.
"The family has to move from New York to the country, because I'm going wild, having big parties and going crazy," Paxton said in an interview. "They say, 'OK, we need to get her away from the city. She's got to go to the country to calm down.' And a horse comes to the property, Mr. Ed, who can talk. But I guess they haven't solved [Amanda's] problem, because I'm still with all the guys in the country."
The new Mr. Ed has his own wild ways, too. "Mr. Ed now is played by Sherman Hemsley [The Jeffersons], and he's kind of like the hip Mr. Ed," Paxton said. "He was a police horse in New York City. He likes to trample the peace-loving hippies. He's wild and crazy and fun."
Paxton added that the pilot features computer-animated enhancements to make Mr. Ed talk. "It was really hard to train the horse to get in that exact position" for the CG, she added. Fox has not yet picked up Mr. Ed as a series.
McKenzie Talks 4400
acqueline McKenzie, star of USA Network's upcoming SF show The 4400, told SCI FI Wire that she wanted in on the limited series the minute she read the script.
"I'm the kind of actor who looks for human stories," McKenzie said in an interview. "I like stories about the human struggle, and I saw a lot of that in this."
The 4400 explores what happens when thousands of people who've disappeared over the past 50 years all return at once. McKenzie, an Australian actress whose credits include Deep Blue Sea, plays Diana Skouris, a researcher at the biomedical division of a government agency. She's partnered with Tom Baldwin (Joel Gretsch of SCI FI Channel's original miniseries Steven Spielberg Presents Taken), an agent who, as the government begins an investigation to keep tabs on the returnees, discovers a connection between the return of the 4,400 and his comatose young son.
"I thought that my character, as drawn, was really at the front of the investigation and would be interacting with these people who had just returned to Earth, having disappeared for a long time," McKenzie said. "They're now integrating back into society. I felt the human stories of these people, the impact of returning to Earth on their lives and on them as people, were really interesting to me."
McKenzie said that the production was as fast-paced as it was challenging. But, she said, "It was not so tough, because I always felt I was in really good hands. For me, it's not so much about how long the days are or how much money you get paid. It's all about the art, for want of a better word. I felt the script was so wonderful and promised so much. The director, Yves Simoneau, was such a great guy to be with and to work with. And it was great working with Joel. He's a really sweet guy, a lovely and generous human being. We became very good friends on this. I hope it does well, so that we could all come back and do more. If it happens, I'm there." The 4400 will debut as a two-hour special at 9 p.m. ET/PT July 11 on USA Network, with subsequent hours airing Sunday nights until Aug. 8. USA Network is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
MPAA Rejects Exorcist Ad?
he Captain Howdy Web site reported that the Motion Picture Association of America has rejected Morgan Creek/Warner Brothers' upcoming new trailer for its Exorcist: The Beginning film because the preview is "too scary."
Citing an anonymous source, the site reported that the trailer features blood on walls and a white demonic face bleeding from the eyes.
The site added that it is not known whether the studio will challenge the decision or recut the trailer to address the MPAA's objections. A teaser trailer for Exorcist: The Beginning, which opens Aug. 20, can be seen at MTV.com.
Wax Fire Halts Production
lames destroyed an Australian soundstage where the supernatural horror film House of Wax was shooting on June 26, Variety reported.
Three sets and some camera and sound equipment burned, but there were no injuries among the 50 or so members of cast and crew at Warner Roadshow Studios on the country's Gold Coast, the trade paper reported.
The remake of the 1953 classic movie—produced by Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis and Susan Levin—was seven weeks into its 11-week shoot for Warner/Village Roadshow Pictures, the trade paper reported.
Local press reports quoted a fire investigator as saying the blaze started when molten wax figures came into contact with a gas burner, despite precautions that included safety pits filled with water under the stage to catch the wax, the trade paper reported. "We were filming a burning sequence, which got out of hand despite the safety precautions and having firemen on the site," a spokeswoman for the production told the paper. She added that she expected filming would resume midweek after gear that was destroyed is replaced.
Succubus Writers Hired
GM has tapped Mark Famiglietti and Lane Garrison to write the supernatural comedy film Succubus, based on an idea by Daredevil director Mark Steven Johnson, Variety reported.
The movie deals with succubae, female demons in the shape of supermodels, who seduce and steal men's souls to rule the planet, the trade paper reported.
Johnson is on board to produce and may direct the film once he completes the comic-book action movie Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Cage, the trade paper reported.
Famiglietti is also an actor and appeared in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
Briefly Noted
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Jason Hoffs will produce the family movie Unleashed for DreamWorks, about a show dog who has a nervous breakdown, runs away from her high-strung owner and finds herself at the city pound, where she teams up with a streetwise stray, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Marlon Brando, who was paid a then-staggering $14 million for his walk-on performance in 1978's Superman, died July 1 in Los Angeles after being hospitalized for an undisclosed ailment, the Reuters news service reported. Brando, who played Superman's Kryptonian father, Jor-El, remained enmeshed in legal disputes over money from the movie until his final weeks.
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Brenda Strong takes over the role originally played by Sheryl Lee in ABC's upcoming Desperate Housewives, Variety reported. Steven Culp replaces Michael Reilly Burke, and Jesse Metcalfe takes over Kyle Searles' role.
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Paramount Pictures has moved Mission: Impossible 3 back seven weeks, to June 29, 2005, setting up a competition with the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, which premieres over the Fourth of July weekend, Variety reported.
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Marvel Comics will launch a new Spider-Man-related title, Mary Jane number one, centering on Peter Parker's true love, Mary Jane Watson, in July.
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Production commenced June 30 in London on Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a fantasy adventure based on Roald Dahl's classic tale, for Warner Brothers and Village Roadshow Pictures, the studios announced. Johnny Depp stars as candymaker Willy Wonka.
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Aura: Fate of the Ages, a Myst-style adventure game for the PC from Canadian studio Streko-Graphics, shipped to North American stores this week, the GameSpot Web site reported. The game follows an explorer who searches for artifacts that promise immortality.
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A new Flash-heavy Web site has gone live for the upcoming Blade: Trinity sequel film, the third installment in the vampire-hunter franchise. Wesley Snipes is joined by Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynolds in the movie, directed by David S. Goyer, which opens Dec. 10.
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A second full trailer has gone live for Warner Brothers' upcoming Catwoman movie, which opens July 23. The trailer is available in high, medium and low bandwidth versions in Quicktime and very high, high, medium and low versions for Real Player.
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A 16-year-old boy was caught June 30 using a camcorder to tape the first showing of Spider-Man 2 at a Los Angeles theater, the Motion Picture Association of America told The Hollywood Reporter. The teen was spotted by a projectionist scanning the audience with night vision goggles and was arrested on suspicion of violating a California law barring the videotaping of movies in commercial theaters.
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SCI FI Wire incorrectly reported that actress Helena Bonham Carter and director Tim Burton welcomed the birth of a son over the weekend, based on false reports in TV Guide Online, the Associated Press and USA Today. The couple's son, Billy Ray, was actually born last October.
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Warner Independent Pictures announced that production has wrapped in Austin, Texas, on A Scanner Darkly, adapted and directed by Richard Linklater from the classic SF novel by Philip K. Dick. The film, starring Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder and Rory Cochrane, mixes live action and animation.
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Sony is in talks with Imax to release Spider-Man 2 as a large-format film within the next month, Variety reported.
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Sony Pictures TV will receive about $50 million to air Spider-Man 2 on the Fox Network and its FX cable sibling in a 10-year deal, Variety reported. The Fox network gets three runs of the movie during the first three years, beginning in December 2006.
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The ComingSoon.net Web site reported a rumor that a proposed fourth Jurassic Park movie is in the works for a 2005 release, centering on marine dinosaurs and marking the return of original stars Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough under I, Robot director Alex Proyas.
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The SF Site reported that SF author Basil Eugene Wells, who wrote nearly 40 SF short stories during the 1940s and early '50s under his own name and the pseudonym Gene Ellerman, died on May 3 of undisclosed causes.
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MSN has posted a new theatrical trailer for Blade: Trinity, the upcoming third installment in the vampire-hunter franchise, starring Wesley Snipes, Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynolds. Blade: Trinity opens Dec. 10.
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A teaser trailer has gone live on the Moviefone Web site for the upcoming movie adaptation of the musical The Phantom of the Opera, which opens Dec. 3.
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Paramount has posted an interactive online game themed to its upcoming SF movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. The movie opens Sept. 17.
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Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jack Ryan, the former husband of Star Trek: Voyager star Jeri Ryan, quit his bid for an Illinois seat on June 25 amid allegations that he took Jeri Ryan to clubs and asked her to have sex with him in front of strangers, the Associated Press reported.
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The Superman V Web site reported a rumor that director McG has dropped out of the proposed fifth Superman movie.
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