Spielberg, Crichton Plan Jurassic 3
oviemaker Steven Spielberg and author Michael Crichton announced they will team to create a third installment in Universal Pictures' lucrative film franchise Jurassic Park. Universal said Crichton will write the script for the film, which will be produced--though not directed--by Spielberg for a summer 2000 release.
The original Jurassic Park movie, based on the novel of the same name by Crichton and directed by Spielberg, earned a staggering $913 million at the box office in 1993. It was followed in 1997 by the sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, which earned $600 million worldwide, including a record-setting $90.4 million during its first weekend of release.
Sci-Fi To Air Asimov Miniseries
ew Amsterdam Entertainment Inc. is developing Isaac Asimov's classic novels Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun into a two-part, four-hour miniseries for the Sci-Fi Channel. The books are part of Asimov's popular "robot" series and focus on the unlikely partnership between a New York City detective and a humanoid robot.
In Caves of Steel, New York police detective Elijah Baley investigates the murder of a "Spacer," aided by the humanoid robot R. Daneel Olivaw, who was created in the image of the victim. In The Naked Sun, the pair travels to the beautiful Outer World of Solaria, where they must solve a murder that occurred within an isolated group of humans whose every need is attended to by robot servants.
New Amsterdam founders Richard Rubinstein and Mitchell Galin previously produced two hit miniseries for ABC, The Stand and The Langoliers. They are also working on a six-hour miniseries based on Frank Herbert's novel Dune, which will air on the Sci-Fi Channel.
Patrick Stewart Embarks On New Mission
ow that he's fulfilled his duties as Captain Picard for the upcoming film Star Trek: Insurrection, Patrick Stewart is embarking on a bold new mission, according to Variety. Stewart--along with his company Flying Freehold Productions--is taking on the role of producer for Paramount, an arrangement that was part of his $12 million deal with the studio to star in Insurrection.
Stewart is already at work on two book-to-film adaptations as well as a TV version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, which will see him team up once again with producer Robert Halmi Sr. (Moby Dick). Stewart plans to star in all three features, and it's likely he'll have to make one of the films independently. The film in question, an adaptation of Shari Szeman's novel The Kommandant's Mistress, is probably a bit too controversial for Paramount, as it deals with the relationship between a Jewish prisoner and the commandant of a Nazi concentration camp.
Warner Readies Babylon 5 Tapes
n August 25, Warner Home Video plans to release six long-awaited installments of J. Michael Straczynski's wildly popular SF show Babylon 5. The videos include the B5 pilot "The Gathering," the telefilm "In the Beginning," and the regular episodes "Born to the Purple," "Infections," "Midnight on the Firing Line," and "Soul Hunter."
Each video will be packaged with two special B5 collectible trading cards.
Jurasik, Katsulas Star In "Red Giant"
abylon 5 actors Peter Jurasik (Londo Molari) and Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar) will co-star in the Seeing Ear Theatre production "George and the Red Giant." The audio drama--based on the Stephen Baxter short story "George and the Comet"--tells the tale of two ordinary men from New York who pass out in the 1990s and wake up in the distant future as flying lemurs living in a giant banyan tree.
Jurasik plays the part of Phil, who is interested in getting back to Earth as soon as possible. Katsulas plays George, who has inexplicably been transformed into a female lemur and who has a strange desire to settle down and raise a family.
The first half of the two-part drama will be posted to the Seeing Ear Theatre site on July 20, and the second segment will follow on August 3. Seeing Ear is the online "radio" theater of The Sci-Fi Channel Dominion Web site.
Armageddon Lands $53 Million
isney's much-hyped SF action flick Armageddon took in an estimated $52.9 million during its first week of release, giving star Bruce Willis his biggest movie premiere ever. However, the film industry considers Armageddon's box-office take to be something of a disappointment, as the film was being touted as this summer's blockbuster.
Based on its relatively anemic opening, some sources estimated Armageddon would end its theatrical run with a mere $140 million in sales, well short of the $200-250 million the film was expected to bring in. The X-Files movie also fizzled over the Fourth of July weekend, taking in just $6.4 million in its third week of release.
However, the Eddie Murphy film Dr. Dolittle posted strong ticket sales, earning another $19.8 million to bring its two-week take up to $65 million. That's nearly $6 million better than Murphy's last hit film, The Nutty Professor, made by its second week in theaters.
Armageddon Soundtrack Tops Charts
rmageddon -- The Album, the soundtrack to Disney's SF disaster flick Armageddon, has hit No. 1 on the charts, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The soundtrack sold an estimated 184,000 units for the week ending July 5, a nearly 65 percent increase from the previous week, when the album debuted at No. 4 on the charts.
The soundtrack features tracks by such groups as Aerosmith, Shawn Colvin, ZZ Top and Journey.
ABC Buys Armageddon For $30 Million
BC paid an estimated $30 million for the broadcast rights to Buena Vista's SF disaster flick Armageddon, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The deal gives ABC the right to air the film three times beginning in 2001, although the network could reportedly pick up additional runs of Armageddon in a separate movie package.
The deal comes close on the heels of last month's $25 million pact between CBS and Paramount Pictures for the broadcast rights to Armageddon's primary competition, Deep Impact. However, ABC had a virtual lock on the Armageddon bidding, as both it and Buena Vista are owned by the Walt Disney Co.
Hasbro Releases Trivial Star Wars
arlier this month Hasbro began shipping The Trivial Pursuit Star Wars Classic Trilogy Collector's Edition, a version of Hasbro's popular trivia game based on the first three films in the Star Wars film franchise. The game features more than 2,400 questions about Star Wars lore in such categories as Droids, Creatures and Aliens, and Weapons and Vehicles.
A Trivial Pursuit question writer spent time at the legendary Skywalker Ranch researching the game, and the questions and answers were then reviewed by both Hasbro's team of editors and Lucasfilm Ltd. The Collector's Edition features an electronic R2-D2 that randomly determines how many spaces players move, as well as four pewter Star Wars characters that serve as holders for the famous Trivial Pursuit pie-wedge game pieces.
The Trivial Pursuit Star Wars Classic Trilogy Collector's Edition is available in most major toy stores for an estimated retail price of $39.99.
Rush Joins Cast Of Mystery Men
scar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush will play the evil villain Cassanova Frankenstein in Universal's upcoming superhero film Mystery Men, according to Variety. The film is being written by Neil Cuthbert (Hocus Pocus) based on a comic book by Bob Burden, while Kinka Usher is set to direct.
Mystery Men tells the story of a group of unusual superheroes whose powers range from channeling anger to wielding a shovel. The unlikely bunch squares off against Rush's Frankenstein, a criminal who escapes from a mental hospital and plans to wreak havoc using a gold chain as his primary weapon.
Rush, a native Australian who's considered one of the leading stage actors down under, earned the Oscar for best actor in 1997 for his role in the movie Shine.
Bowman May Helm Revised Legend
ob Bowman, who directed The X-Files: Fight the Future as well as numerous episodes of The X-Files TV series, is in talks to take over the troubled Warner Bros. film I Am Legend, according to Variety. The film was originally supposed to feature Ridley Scott directing Arnold Schwarzenegger in the starring role, but when the budget soared over $100 million, Warner declared the film dead.
Bowman is reportedly waiting for a revised version of the script that has been significantly scaled down from the original, while Schwarzenegger may follow Scott in exiting the project. I Am Legend is based on the Richard Matheson novel of the same name, which has previously been adapted as The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth.
Widen Is The Only One For Highlander IV
regory Widen will co-write and direct Highlander: The Search for Conner, the fourth installment in the Highlander film franchise, according to Variety. The film will feature both Christopher Lambert, who headlined the first three films in the series, and Adrian Paul, the star of the Highlander TV show.
Widen, who co-wrote the original Highlander movie, would seem to be an ideal choice to revive the flagging franchise. His genre credits include writing and directing The Prophecy, and he is currently adapting the Harlan Ellison novella "Mefisto in Onyx" into a feature film that will star Samuel L. Jackson.
Netter To Create 3-D Voltron
etter Digital Entertainment, the company that produces the computer-generated imagery for Babylon 5, has agreed to provide the 3-D effects for World Events Productions' new children's animated series Voltron: The Third Dimension. The new Voltron show is a spin-off of the classic 1984 series Voltron: Defender of the Universe, which was one of the highest-rated animated shows of its time.
World Events said the new 26-episode series will be co-produced by Netter and Mike Young Productions, with Netter handling all of the 3-D CGI. Voltron: The Third Dimension will premiere this fall and has already been cleared in 90 percent of the United States.
Ripcord Readies Stratosphere
ipcord Games plans to release a new SF strategy title called Stratosphere: Conquest of the Skies on July 15. Stratosphere, which was created by Kodiak Games, allows players to battle it out in the upper atmosphere of the future using massive air fortresses that they create via a special game editor.
Stratosphere is a mission-based title that's "part strategy game, part flight simulator, and part shooter." In the single-player mode, gamers must complete 40 increasingly difficult missions with objectives such as searching, destroying and escorting. In multi-player mode, up to four players fight against one another either in teams or individually.
Stratosphere will be available for the Windows 95 platform at a retail price of $49.95.
