Dead's Hall Joins Knight

Anthony Michael Hall (USA Network's The Dead Zone) told the Los Angeles Daily News that he has a role in The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins. Hall won't say what it is.

"I signed a confidentiality agreement, and I can't say which part I'm playing because it affects the story," Hall told the newspaper. "I can't give away the suspense—it's a $200 million surprise, and I don't want to be the guy to ruin it."

Hall added: "I'm excited about it. Christian Bale [is] back as Batman. Heath Ledger is joining the cast as the Joker. Of course, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine return, and they're great."

Hall is currently shooting the sixth season of The Dead Zone, which returns to USA on June 17. The TV series cast and crew bent over backward for him to be in London for the first day of Dark Knight earlier this month, he said.

"My crew agreed to take a three-day weekend so I could fly Friday to go to London," Hall said. "It was just a thrill. I felt like a rock star leaving the set, flying to London, going to shoot on a Saturday, you know? ... My crew really gave me a gift, because they had to all vote union-wise to agree to not take a day's pay to help me out. I felt very honored that they did that for me."

Hall is not scheduled to resume shooting the movie until August, after The Dead Zone wraps. (USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)Jericho Fans To CBS: 'Nuts!'

Fans of CBS' recently canceled post-apocalyptic series Jericho continue to inundate network offices with shipments of peanuts, an allusion to a bit of dialogue from the final episode. The shipments have amounted to three tons of nuts so far, the New Jersey Star-Ledger newspaper reported.

The campaign is intended to persuade CBS either to revive the show, about the aftermath of a nuclear attack, or somehow wrap up the show's storyline, which ended this month with a cliffhanger.

In that cliffhanger, hero Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich) and his neighbors in Jericho, Kan., were preparing for war against a neighboring town. Given an ultimatum to surrender, Green replied "Nuts," echoing a famous World War II general's response to a similar ultimatum from the Nazis.

Earlier, CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler acknowledged a flood of fan e-mails by promising that the network would find a conclusion to the story somehow.CBS May Wrap Up Jericho

CBS, which canceled the post-apocalyptic series Jericho last week, posted a statement in response to fan outcry that the show ended on a cliffhanger and promised it would wrap the show up in some fashion.

In a statement on the official show bulletin board, CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler told fans: "We truly appreciate the commitment you made to the series, and we are humbled by your disappointment. In the coming weeks, we hope to develop a way to provide closure to the compelling drama that was the Jericho story."

In the season-one finale of Jericho, the denizens of Jericho, Kan., were preparing to go to war with a neighboring town. The episode ended with the sound of gunfire over a black screen. After the episode aired, CBS announced that the show would not be returning for a second season in the fall, leading fans to send a raft of e-mails to the network. (SyFyPortal reported on some of the fan reaction.)

"We have read your e-mails over the past few days and have been touched by the depth and passion with which you have expressed your disappointment," Tassler wrote. "Please know that canceling a television series is a very difficult decision. Hundreds of people at the network, the production company and the incredibly talented creative team worked very hard to build and serve the community for this show—both on-air and online. It is a show we loved, too. Thank you for supporting Jericho with such passion."Silver Develops He-Man Film

Producer Joel Silver is developing a new film version of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe for Warner Brothers, working with toymaker Mattel, Variety reported. Justin Marks is set to write the script.

Mattel, which owns the toy-based franchise, must approve an outline for the project. He-Man was born as a Mattel action figure, and the toymaker created an animated series in hopes of selling dolls. The series became a cult favorite and a campy 1987 movie that starred Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella.

The toymaker, which now licenses He-Man for high-end merchandise sold to hardcore collectors, has been wary of going Hollywood again. An attempt by Fox 2000 to make another movie, this time with director John Woo, ended in futility as the toymaker didn't spark to the screen plans, the trade paper reported.

The franchise has been reimagined by the producer and the writers and pitched to Mattel as a classic good-vs.-evil battle, using the kind of visual effects strategy employed in 300. A warrior is touted as the last hope of a magical land called Eternia, which is being ravaged by technology and the evil Skeletor.Rodriguez To Helm Barbarella

Robert Rodriguez (Grindhouse) has signed on to direct Barbarella, a new film adaptation of the classic SF comic-book series that Universal Pictures is fast-tracking for a 2008 worldwide release, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The character was immortalized in a 1968 movie starring Jane Fonda. Dino De Laurentiis, who produced the original film, will produce the update with Martha De Laurentiis.

Barbarella tells the story of a female mercenary who roams across the universe of a distant future, undertaking missions that require physical fearlessness, ingenuity and sensuality. The character debuted in 1962 in a French graphic magazine written and illustrated by Jean-Claude Forest and was known for her many adventures, often involving sex. There also was a musical produced in 2004.

Rodriguez is working with writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (Casino Royale), who are developing a completely original adventure for Barbarella.

Rodriguez's coming on board puts to rest questions about what the in-demand director would do next, including The Jetsons at Warner Brothers and Land of the Lost at Universal. (Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)Neuromancer Headed For Film?

William Gibson's cyberpunk SF classic Neuromancer is heading for the big screen in an independent production from producer-distributor Peter Hoffman, Variety reported.

The $70 million movie is being fast-tracked to replace the Paul Verhoeven project The Winter Queen, the trade paper reported.

Joseph Kahn, a commercials director who made Torque, has signed to direct.

Hoffman's company, Seven Arts, made no formal announcement about the project. Hoffman discussed the project with the trade paper from his yacht at the Cannes Film Festival.Indy 4 Plot Rumors Posted

C.H.U.D. reported a rumor that the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie begins with a fight between Indy and the Russians in Area 51 and deals with a story reminiscent of Erich von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods? In that book, the author posits that aliens provided technology to ancient races.

Citing anonymous sources, the site said that the sequel, unofficially called Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods, will shoot near Los Angeles and in New Haven, Conn.; New Mexico; and Hawaii.

Shia LaBeouf's character, meanwhile, will be a '50s "greaser" type, with jeans, a leather jacket and a motorcycle, who will be thrown together with Indy. They will learn they're related in a pivotal action scene, the site reported.

The site added that the rumored details of the plot conform with those in the earlier Frank Darabont script, which ultimately wasn't used; it involves crystal skulls and aliens and takes place partly in South American temples.New Ghost Hunter Sought

SCI FI Channel will kick off "Hunt for the Hunter," a national search for the newest member of the Ghost Hunters team, as a promotion for its new season of the show, which returns June 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

On that day, Ghost Hunter wannabes can visit SCIFI.COM to enter the Hunt for the Hunter competition. There they will find tools, such as the Ghost Hunter's Gear Guide and the T.A.P.S. Web site, to help them prepare. Entrants will be asked to submit audition videos, which will be rated by viewers and online users. Series hosts Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson will choose three finalists from among the top 10 highest-rated audition videos.

The three finalists will be announced during the first fall episode. They will then get a chance to prove their mettle by competing during the annual Ghost Hunters live telecast on Halloween. Viewers will vote for their favorite contender via text message and online; Hawes and Wilson will have the final word and will reveal the winner during the following week's season finale. The winner will return in an episode in next year's season four.

SCI FI will air a special marathon of favorite Ghost Hunters episodes on May 30, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.Allen Back In Indy 4?

C.H.U.D. reported yet another rumor about the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie: That original Indy love interest Karen Allen will return as Marion Ravenwood—and (spoiler!) that she will be revealed as the mother of Shia LaBeouf's character.

Allen played the spunky heroine in the original Raiders of the Lost Ark and is often remembered fondly as the best of Harrison Ford's Indy leading ladies.

The site earlier reported rumors about the sequel's storyline.Potter V Gets Japan Premiere

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth film in the hit franchise, will premiere in Japan on June 28, well before the movie's July 13 U.S. opening date, the Reuters news service reported. That marks this summer's second international opening, months after Spider-Man 3 marked a rare international movie debut in Tokyo.

A Warner Brothers spokeswoman in Tokyo told Reuters that British actor Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry, would come to Tokyo for the event.

Last month's Tokyo premiere of Spider-Man 3 was seen as a shrewd push into the faster-growing international market that could help boost box-office revenues, the wire service reported.Star Wars Site More Interactive

StarWars.com, the official site of the hit film franchise, relaunched for the series' 30th anniversary with greater interactive capability, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Fans will will now be able to create video Star Wars mashups with an online editing tool provided by the video application company Eyespot, the trade paper reported. Users can incorporate personal video with music and footage from more than 250 scenes drawn from all six films.

The site's revamp also includes the addition of hundreds of user-generated Star Wars videos from across the Web, five years' worth of Star Wars fan movie festival shorts co-presented by AtomFilms.com and a showcase of mini-documentaries exploring the creation of the Star Wars saga.

The relaunch marks the beginning of additional features to be added in coming months, including content, games and interactive ways for users to communicate.Star Wars Film Rumor Denied

Lucasfilm's head of fan relations, Stephen Sansweet, shot down Fox411 columnist Roger Friedman's report that George Lucas was planning two Star Wars TV movies in an interview with Movieweb.

"No, no, no, no," Sansweet told the site when asked about Friedman's report. "There are going to be two more Star Wars television series. One of them is well into production. That is Star Wars: Clone Wars. It's a CG-animated show, which we suspect will be on the air sometime next year."

Sansweet added: "And then George and [Star Wars producer] Rick McCallum were just now starting work on a live-action series. A drama. That will probably be coming out in 2009 or 2010. He is actively at work on both of those. But the CG-animated series is more adult. It has a lot of humor in it. It is very cinematic. We will be talking about that for the first time at the Celebration," he added, referring to the upcoming Star Wars Celebration IV convention taking place in Los Angeles May 24-29.

Sansweet emphatically denied that there were any Star Wars movies planned for television.Star Wars Con Opens In L.A.

Star Wars Celebration IV, a Lucasfilm-sponsored convention, opened a five-day run May 23 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, with exhibits and programming to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first movie, including a sneak peek at the proposed animated Star Wars TV show.

Steve Sansweet, Lucasfilm's director of fan relations, promised that Celebration IV would be the largest Star Wars convention ever; The Hollywood Reporter estimated that as many as 20,000 fans would attend.

The convention will feature 17 hours of programming, including appearances by franchise actors Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), special opening ceremonies on May 25, a laser tag tournament, an art exhibit of painted and sculpted Darth Vader helmets, an exhibition of props and set pieces from the Lucasfilm archives and panels on Star Wars-themed episodes of Family Guy and Robot Chicken.

The convention will also offer a preview of Fanboys, an upcoming feature film dealing with the efforts of a group of Star Wars fans who try to sneak into Skywalker Ranch. And Celebration IV will boast an enormous store of Star Wars-themed items, some exclusive to the convention, which will remain open 24 hours a day for the duration.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected to proclaim May 25 "Star Wars Day in Los Angeles" with an official proclamation. And the United States Postal Service will issue the first of its Star Wars-themed stamps on that day as well. The convention runs through May 28, Memorial Day.Pirates 3 On Most Screens Ever

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End opened May 25 in the highest number of domestic theaters in history: 4,362 theaters, or 110 more than the previous record-holder, Spider-Man 3, the Associated Press reported.

The third installment in the blockbuster franchise is aiming to unseat Spider-Man 3 as the top opener ever. Spider-Man 3 broke records in its debut, with $151.1 million, shattering last summer's record of $135.6 million, set by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

The movie opened well in nine markets on May 23, with France generating an impressive $3 million, Variety reported.

The length of At World's End—two hours, 47 minutes—will be a hurdle, limiting the number of screenings theaters can fit in each day. The movie runs about 15 minutes longer than Dead Man's Chest and nearly half an hour longer than Spider-Man 3.

Along with the higher theater count, At World's End has the advantage of opening over the Memorial Day weekend.Harris Is Big In Pirates 3

Naomie Harris, who plays the voodoo character of Tia Dalma in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, told SCI FI Wire that her character is larger than life—and plays a key role in the third installment in the swashbuckling franchise. "I had never played anything like her before this, which is why I'm so excited to be doing it," Harris said in an interview. "I think she's great. So larger-than-life and so playful and so funny. She is a great character to play."

The London-born actress is part of the returning cast of the sequel, in which Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) journey to the end of the world to rescue Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), who was last seen heading for Davy Jones' locker in the clutches of the Kraken.

Harris shares a big scene with Bill Nighy as the tentacle-faced Davy Jones and gets enhanced with visual effects for a climactic sequence. "I was so excited about it, and I just wondered how they were going to do it and make it look realistic, but it looks absolutely fantastic," Harris said. "They did such a great job. The people who did the special effects on this movie really deserve an award."

Harris also performs her dialogue in the film with a heavy Caribbean-island accent. "My mum [is actually my dialect coach]," she said. "My mum helped me with my accent. She's Jamaican. She helped me for both Pirates 2 and 3. But my mum doesn't speak with a Jamaican accent. She speaks with an English accent, because she came over to England when she was 5. But she can still do the accent." Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End opened May 24 in select theaters and May 25 everywhere. —Patrick Lee, News Editor, with Staci Layne WilsonPirates' Rush Talks The Talk

Geoffrey Rush, who reprises the role of Captain Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, told SCI FI Wire that his character speaks in a specific piratey accent. "Right from the first film, the writers always gave Barbossa this rather manipulative, eloquent kind of speech, you know what I mean?" Rush said in an interview last week. "You can tell he kind of bamboozles his lesser counterparts by being able to dazzle them with his linguistic capabilities."

Rush, an Australian, plays the formerly spectral pirate in the sequel, in which Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) journey to the end of the world to rescue Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), who was last seen heading for Davy Jones' locker in the clutches of the Kraken.

The pirate accent "was a fun thing to play with, because there's a lot of great dialogue within scenes in the movie, in and around all the special effects and high points, you know," Rush said. "And it meant that I wasn't trapped in the 'shiver-me-timbers' predictability or the clichés."

So where does the accent come from? That depends. "I was working with a dialect coach, because I'm Australian and shifting that accent into kind of a West-Country [thing]," Rush said. "And she'd say, 'You're drifting into ... .' I'd do a take, and she'd say, 'There was a bit of Irish in there.' And I'd say, 'Yeah, yeah. My father was [from] Bristol, and my mother was from Dublin.'" Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End opened May 24 in select theaters and May 25 everywhere. —Patrick Lee, News EditorPirates' Chow Fit Right In

Acclaimed Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-Fat, who joins the cast of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, told SCI FI Wire that he had no problem integrating himself into the hit franchise. "It was like [we were] family members, because they respect me a lot, and they welcomed the new character, Captain Sao Feng," Chow said. "I don't feel any gap between the new generation and the old generation. We are working in very good harmony every day."

Chow plays the new character, the pirate lord of Singapore, in the third installment in the hit Disney series. The sequel joins Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) as they journey to the end of the world to rescue Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), who was last seen heading for Davy Jones' locker in the clutches of the Kraken.

Chow, who has done plenty of martial-arts fighting in previous films, added that he quickly took to the sword-fighting required of his swashbuckling character. "We had about two weeks' practice before we started shooting the fighting sequences," he said. "Plus, this movie is more related to the Western fighting ... style. We do not have all the Chinese martial-arts wirework, so, for me, it's easier to handle than our traditional [way of filming these scenes]."

But Chow admitted he was nearly laid low but one aspect of the movie's production off the coast of the Bahamas on the deck of a floating Black Pearl. "I did get a little seasick," he admitted. "But luckily I only had to shoot for two weeks in the Bahamas. [As for a cure for seasickness], all I can say is, 'Don't drink any water or eat any food!'" Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End opened May 24 in select theaters and May 25 everywhere. —Patrick Lee, News Editor, with Staci Layne WilsonLost Finale Ratings Down

The third-season finale of ABC's Lost saw its ratings down from a year ago, but it came in a strong second in its Wednesday-night time period, Variety reported.

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, the two-hour Lost finale averaged a 5.8 rating among adults aged 18-49 and 13.7 million viewers overall, peaking with a 6.6 rating in the demographic and 15.5 million viewers overall in its final half-hour. This was the show's best performance since Feb. 7, when it premiered in a new Wednesday 10 p.m. timeslot, although its total program average was down more than 20 percent vs. last year, the trade paper reported.

Lost returns in January with a fourth season.Surfer Surfs Onto Quarters

Twentieth Century Fox and the Franklin Mint have created a Silver Surfer U.S. quarter that has been put into limited circulation in advance of the release of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Variety reported.

A total of 40,000 quarters were released into the currency stream after being dispatched to cities across the country in special silver armored trucks, the trade paper reported.

The legal tender coin is a California state commemorative quarter minted by the U.S. Mint and color-enhanced by Franklin.

One side of the limited-edition collector's quarter features an image of the Silver Surfer character, while the name of the movie's Web site appears in tiny lettering.

Those finding the quarter can go to the Web site and take part in the Search 4 Silver campaign, including registering to win a trip for four to the world premiere of Silver Surfer in London.

This weekend, Fox will pull off another marketing stunt when a team of 20 skydivers and a champion sky-surfer perform an aerial show at the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in North Carolina. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer opens June 15.Doom Rises For Four's McMahon

Julian McMahon, who reprises the role of Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, told SCI FI Wire that his character will finally come into his own in the sequel: He finally gets the familiar Doctor Doom outfit, and he'll be more of a bad guy.

"He's just a little more evil, because he's coming back for revenge," the Australian actor said in an interview during a break in filming on the movie's Vancouver, Canada, set last November. "And then we have the new suit, which is pretty kind of extraordinary. I just wore it for the first time last week. It looks amazing. I can't tell you too much about it, but it's very evil."

Unlike the first Fantastic Four, in which Von Doom begins as a slimy corporate type, the sequel will feature a villain more familiar to fans of the Marvel Comics, the filmmakers said.

"[We] wanted to make Doctor Doom more evil and more like he is in the comics," screenwriter Don Payne said in a separate interview. "Push him away a little bit from the corrupt billionaire into somebody a little more threatening and intimidating. That's certainly something I wanted to do."

Added director Tim Story: "[The fans] always wanted Doom to be more of a badass, and I've taken those ideas to [heart]."

At the end of the first movie, Von Doom is frozen and last seen in a shipping container headed for his native country of Latveria. "The one thing I'd say about Doom in this is that he's certainly progressing towards the Doctor Doom that people know in the comics much more so than the first film," Payne said. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer also stars Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis. It opens June 15. —Patrick Lee, News EditorSurfer Springs To Life

Tim Story, director of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, told SCI FI Wire that he had to pick and choose from his comic-book source material to bring the title metallic alien to life. "What the Silver Surfer's going to look like and, more importantly, what his powers actually [are]," Story said in an interview during a break in filming on the movie's set in Vancouver, Canada, last November.

"The definition of what the Silver Surfer does in the comics [is] pretty vague, to a certain degree," Story said, referring to the Marvel Comics in which the character appears. "You know a couple of things, but you don't know much. And in bringing him to life, ... [we thought,] 'Here we have a character that's all-powerful. ... We can kind of go wherever we want to go.' I mean, he can pretty much ... control matter."

As fans of the comics know, the Silver Surfer is the all-powerful alien herald of the planet-eating Galactus. In the film, the Surfer arrives on Earth as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) is about to marry Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba) in the company of Johnny Storm/The Human Torch (Chris Evans) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Michael Chiklis).

Story added that he wanted to make sure the sequel film featured another longstanding comic staple: the Fantasticar. "It's just the coolest thing in the world," Story said. "We tried to get the Fantasticar in the last movie, and it just didn't make sense for it to come that early. ... [For the sequel,] the top two things that I started working on were the wedding and the Fantasticar, because the Fantasticar is kind of like the fifth character of the Fantastic Four." Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer opens June 15. —Patrick Lee, News EditorFantastic's Four Evolve In Sequel

Big changes are in store for the superpowered foursome at the center of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, the cast told SCI FI Wire during a visit to the film's set in Vancouver, Canada, last November.

Returning are the stretchy Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd), Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba), Johnny Storm/The Human Torch (Chris Evans) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Michael Chiklis).

"We're all very much a family," Alba said during a break in filming. "We all live together. We're getting married—that's sort of the centerpiece for my character in this movie. ... It's all about the wedding. She's sort of Bridezilla, in the best way. You know, she's stressed."

Richards comes into his own as the leader of the Fantastic Four, Ioan Gruffudd (YO-an GRIF-fith) said in his native Welsh accent. "Yes, finally," he said. "Reed Richards is taking center stage. And about time, too, really. ... He's much more comfortable with his role as the leader and as the sort of the father figure, really, of the family. And I'm delighted about that. ... And, of course, [the] relationship between Sue and [me] is much more intimate. Much more real. It's more three-dimensional and developed and evolved. And an interesting part that Jessica brought up [is] ... that we're much more comfortable now at being superheroes."

For Ben Grimm, "he's taken another step with his relationship with Alicia in this picture," Chiklis said. "If Reed Richards is the leader and the brain of this outfit, I would think that Ben Grimm would be the heart. ... He's a lovable curmudgeon. He's ... come to grips much more with his malady [laughs] of being a superhero." Chiklis added that the rubber suit he wears is more comfortable and manageable this time around. "The last one didn't have a zipper," he said. "So it just made it into, like, a 45-minute ordeal to urinate, frankly. Sorry."

Evans said that Johnny Storm is less of a loner in the sequel. "In the first one, I think Johnny was kind of a one-man show and wanted center stage," he said. "And I think the reason the Fantastic Four have always succeeded as a group of superheroes and as a comic book is that they're a family. They're a unit. They're a group. I think Johnny has to know and respect that, and I think in this movie he kind of learns to appreciate the relationships around him." Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer opens June 15. —Patrick Lee, News EditorChaos' Children Fight The Gods

SF and fantasy author John C. Wright told SCI FI Wire that his latest novel, Titans of Chaos, concludes his Chronicles of Chaos trilogy. "The tale concerns five orphans who are convinced that they are not human beings," Wright said in an interview. "They are kept in on the grounds of a British boarding school beyond the age of majority, treated as children despite that they are now full-grown. Who is keeping them and why?"

The teachers of the school are the pagan gods of old, Wright said. "Zeus himself ordered them imprisoned," he said. "The gods dwell on Earth, in the modern day and age, in disguise. The children are princes and princesses of Chaos, sons and daughters of Titans, and are being kept as hostages against an uneasy peace with the forces from beyond creation."

The children escape from the grounds of the school and hide in the human world, Wright said. "They are not willing to return to Chaos and provoke a deadly war," he said. "Having been raised as humans, they love humanity and side with mankind against even gods and Titans."

But the children realize that hiding among humans endangers all of humanity, Wright said. "A faction has arisen during the struggle over the throne of Olympos that wishes to provoke, not avoid, a war with Chaos," he said. "Some conspirator dispatched an eerie vampire-assassin against the children to kill them and incite the Armageddon to end the Cosmos."

Wright said the children come of age under the harsh conditions of cosmic war. "They must learn to master their unfamiliar powers, to attempt great deeds, to deal with the gods as equals," he said. "The sinister enemy sending the assassins now sends whole armies of supernatural beings. "

Fierce maenads, cunning sorceresses, fearless Amazons and deadly sirens are among the foes the children must face, Wright said. "Our five orphans must live up to their name as Titans and children of Titans, defend themselves and, in so doing, save the human world, and, yes, even save the gods who hate them," he said.

The series' heroine is Amelia Windrose, a young lady hovering on the brink of womanhood, Wright said. "[She's] confused and allured by the burgeoning sexuality of herself and the boys, now young men, who were raised with her," he said. "They were raised as her brothers, and yet the affection she feels toward them is anything but sisterly."

Amelia must decide between the rough and outrageous rogue Colin and the calm and fearless Victor, whom she has loved since childhood, Wright said. "But she also is attracted against her will to the magnificent but dangerous headmaster, Boreas, her archfoe," he said.

The major plotlines of the series come to a conclusion in this volume, but the overall drama between Cosmos and Chaos has more ramifications to explore, Wright said. "I intend at some point more mayhem and soap opera to afflict the lovely Miss Windrose and her companions," he said. —John Joseph AdamsSouth China Seas Expansion Due

Sony Online Entertainment is developing Pirates of the South China Seas, the fourth expansion for Pirates Constructible Strategy Game Online, at the company's Denver studio. Scheduled for a mid-June release, South China Seas brings an Asian flair to this online 3-D world of pirates, high-seas combat and the search for treasure, Sony announced.

Western fleets are sailing the treasure-rich waters of the South China Seas, and a new faction, the Jade Rebellion, has arisen to thwart the advances of imperialist navies.

The Jade Rebellion employs two new types of ships: massive six-masted junks and the sturdy and resilient Korean Turtle ship. The new faction also introduces a new character into the player fleets: Ms. Cheng, the head of the pirate confederation and widow of the famous pirate warlord Cheng Yi. The Jade Rebellion also includes her closest ally, the pirate Chang Pao. South China Seas also introduces new game-changing events that can twist the outcome of battles.

SOE Denver is giving away a special promotional ship in anticipation of the release of the South China Seas expansion. For every 10 Pirates CSG Online digital game packs purchased by a player, they will receive the Baochuan, a massive 10-masted Chinese treasure ship, the largest of all the junks.Disney Buys Monday Monday

Disney has acquired the fantasy pitch Monday Monday, about a neurotic teen who has to relive his disastrous first day at a new high school until he gets it right, Variety reported.

Producers Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot will develop the comedy through their Offspring Entertainment company. The script is by first-time feature writer Flint Wainess.

Shankman will produce but may not direct. He opens Hairspray this summer and next directs Adam Sandler in Disney's Bedtime Stories, which he and Gibgot will executive-produce. Rose Stars In Princess

Disney has tapped Dreamgirls co-star Anika Noni Rose to star in the animated musical fairy-tale romance The Princess and the Frog, Variety reported.

Rose will voice the character Tiana, a princess living in New Orleans' French Quarter. The movie is based on an original story by helmers John Musker and Ron Clements, whose credits include Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. New Orleans native Randy Newman will compose songs and score for the project.Paramount Finds Lost Things

Arnold and Anne Kopelson will produce the fantasy family adventure Land of Lost Things for Paramount Pictures' Nickelodeon Movies, from a script by new writer Dan Mazeau, Variety reported.

Producing with Kopelson Entertainment is Sherryl Clark, previously an executive at the company. Clark now runs the film side of J.J. Abrams' production company Bad Robot.

Nick Movies and producers are keeping the story of Land of Lost Things under wraps. Production is anticipated to begin early next year.AnLab, Asimov Winners Awarded

The winners of this year's Analog Analytical Laboratory ("An Lab")Awards and Asimov's Readers' Awards have been announced. A complete list of winners follows.

Analog Analytical Laboratory Award:

Best Novella: "The Good Kill" by Barry B. Longyear

Best Novelette: "Lady Be Good" by John G. Hemry

Best Short Story: "Kyrie Eleison" by John G. Hemry

Best Fact: "The Great Sumatran Earthquakes of 2004-5" by Richard A. Lovett

Best Cover: September 2006 by Jean Pierre Normand

Asimov's Readers' Award:

Best Novella: "The Walls of the Universe" by Paul Melko

Best Novelette: "Yellow Card Man" by Paolo Bacigalupi

Best Short Story: "Impossible Dreams" by Tim Pratt

Best Poem: "Remembering the Future" by Darrell Schweitzer

Best Cover Artist: J.K. Potter

Winners of the awards were selected by popular vote by the readers of Asimov's Science Fiction and Analog Science Fiction & Fact.Sturgeon Nominees Named

Finalists have been announced for this year's Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, given annually to the best science fiction short story, novelette or novella of the year. The winner of the award, which is named in honor of the legendary SF author, will be announced at the Campbell Conference, July 6-8 in Lawrence, Kan.

The nominees are "Yellow Card Man" by Paolo Bacigalupi, "Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth" by Michael F. Flynn, "Botch Town" by Jeffrey Ford, "The Djinn's Wife" by Ian McDonald, "The Walls of the Universe" by Paul Melko, "A Billion Eves" by Robert Reed, "You Have Never Been Here" by M. Rickert, "The House Beyond Your Sky" by Benjamin Rosenbaum, "Another Word for Map Is Faith" by Christopher Rowe, "Inclination" by William Shunn, "Lord Weary's Empire" by Michael Swanwick, "The Cartesian Theater" by Robert Charles Wilson and "Julian: A Christmas Story" by Robert Charles Wilson.Day's Suvari Kicks Zombie Butt

Mena Suvari, who co-stars in the upcoming zombie film Day of the Dead, told SCI FI Wire that she takes on an uncharacteristic action role as an Army corporal in the remake of George A. Romero's 1985 movie. Suvari's character is a member of a small band of survivors battling the flesh-eating walking dead in an underground military bunker.

"Day of the Dead is like [Zack Snyder's 2004] Dawn of the Dead," the actress said in an interview while promoting her latest film, Brooklyn Rules. "It's a remake. Steve Miner directed it, and he, like, created Friday the 13th. So that was awesome. That was two and a half months in Bulgaria, six-day weeks, and I did all my own stunts. It was fun."

Suvari—best known for her dramatic role in American Beauty and comedic turns in the first two American Pie movies—said she signed on to Dead in part to impress a sibling. "One of my brothers is in the Army, and I just thought he'd get such a kick out of finally seeing me in fatigues," she said. "Especially me, like, the wild one who wanted her hair lavender when she was 16," she added with a laugh.

Suvari gets to take part in a lot of action in Day of the Dead. "Yeah, I'm kind of saving the day in that film," she said. "And that was great. It was action, and I really challenged myself. Like I said, I did all my own stunts, and that was really fun." Day of the Dead, which also stars Dawn of the Dead's Ving Rhames and Nick Cannon, Christa Campbell and Ian McNeice, opens later this year. —Ian SpellingMyers Dreaming Up Mitty

Mike Myers is attached to star in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a remake of the Danny Kaye comedy classic that producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr. has moved from Paramount to 20th Century Fox, Variety reported.

Jay Kogen, a writer and producer on The Simpsons, is writing the script. Samuel Goldwyn Jr. and John Goldwyn will produce.

Jim Carrey had once been attached to play the daydreamer first brought to life in 1947 by Kaye in a movie based on a short story by James Thurber. Directors attached to the project on and off during the past few years include Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard. When those efforts didn't pan out, Goldwyn moved the film to Paramount, where Mean Girls director Mark Waters tried to do it with Owen Wilson.

Fox and Goldwyn are starting from scratch with a version that will be specifically tailored for Myers.

Myers is also attached to star in How to Survive a Robot Uprising, an adaptation of a humorous survival guide written by Daniel H. Wilson. Myers also has begun early discussions with New Line and director Jay Roach for a fourth installment of the Austin Powers series that tells the story from the viewpoint of Dr. Evil.Neill, Hawke Wake Daybreakers

ScreenDaily reported that Sam Neill has joined Ethan Hawke in the cast of Lionsgate's upcoming vampire thriller Daybreakers, which is set to begin filming in Australia in July.

The story takes place in 2017 as of a clandestine group of vampires discovers the key to saving the human race from a plague.

Peter and Michael Spierig wrote and will direct the film. New Zealand's Weta Workshop will create the effects on the project, which The Film Finance Corporation Australia is co-financing with Queensland's The Pacific Film & Television Commission.

Chris Brown of Australian-based Pictures in Paradise is producing with Sean Furst and Bryan Furst.4400 Viral Videos Hit Web

Adweek reported that USA Network has created a wide-ranging interactive world consisting of 80 videos on six Web sites to promote its SF series The 4400, an effort that launched on May 21.

The Web sites all appear to take sides in the debate over the use of "promicin," the fictitious drug that can either imbue its users with superpowers or kill them.

The battle over the drug rages in the show as it kicks off its fourth season June 17. The promotion will run through the show's season. The videos feature some characters from the show, as well as new ones. (USA Network is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)Surf Was Up For Animators

The producer of the upcoming animated penguin movie Surf's Up told SCI FI Wire that animators learned to surf so they'd have a better feel for the sport that's at the center of the movie's story. "I think it was real important that they go out there and feel what it's like to catch a wave and see what it's like to be out there," said producer Chris Jenkins, who's a longtime surfer himself.

Jenkins said some of the first-time waveriders got pretty good, and he added that the experience helped the animation. "I wanted the animation to look like they were inside the tube of the pipeline in Hawaii, and I think we have that feel, just like some of the great surfing movies," Jenkins said. "We wanted the guys to feel the movement and the action. The waves themselves are infused with inner emotion, and they are like a character in the movie. They are animated from the inside out."

Not only did the crew take surfing lessons, they also shot hours of waves and even went to Cortez Bank, about 100 miles off the coast of San Diego, where giant waves crash over a chain of underwater mountains.

"We have about 20 minutes of surfing [in Surf's Up], and it looks pretty good," said computer graphics supervisor Dan Kramer. Champion surfer Kelly Slater assessed some of the wave motions created by the animators and gave his thumbs-up.

Surf's Up features the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jon Heder, Zooey Deschanel and Jeff Bridges and opens June 8. —Mike SzymanskiNever Posits Einstein's Machine

Multiple-award-winning author Tim Powers—whose latest novel, Three Days to Never, is a finalist for this year's Locus Award—told SCI FI Wire that the book revolves around a time machine that Albert Einstein left in a garage in Pasadena, Calif. "[It] becomes the focus of a desperate race between various ruthless international agencies, and a Southern California college teacher and his 12-year-old daughter find themselves embroiled in this covert battle and have to learn—fast—how to stay alive and make their way in this secret occult-and-espionage world," Powers said in an interview.

The idea started with Powers' noticing that Einstein's hair is white in all photographs after 1928, he said. "I'm fascinated by the history of 20th-century physics, though, since I was an English major and can hardly even do long division, I'm sort of like a color-blind guy who's fascinated by Monet paintings," he said.

The interest prompted Powers to read many biographies of Einstein, looking for the odd bits that might make a good story, and he found a lot of them, he said. "Einstein was always working on this fairly mysterious 'little machine' during his productive years, though nothing seems to have come of it, and in 1985 it was discovered that he had had a daughter in 1902, of whom there is just about no record," Powers said. "Really I found more things than would fit into my plot, and I wound up asking myself, 'What if Einstein told Roosevelt about the feasibility of the atomic bomb just to conceal an even more horrible weapon that he had also discovered?'"

The protagonist is Frank Marrity, an English literature professor who finds Einstein's long-lost time machine and also happens to be the grandson of Einstein's fugitive daughter, Powers said. "[He's] a widower with a 12-year-old daughter, Daphne," he said. "Frank is an incipient alcoholic, and there's reason to believe that young Daphne is already inclined the same way, but their lives are pretty uneventful until Daphne steals a videocassette of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, which proves to be a component of the time machine."

In the book, Powers postulates that it's possible to go back in time to change the past, then return to a future that's different from the one you left. But it was tricky to keep track of all the shifting realities, he said. "I had to make charts to be sure I wouldn't have a character wandering around in a reality that had previously been made obsolete," he said. "And in a couple of sections I had to give a perspective that was 'outside of time'—so that a person's life would appear to be a sort of column 70 years long—and that was difficult to picture, since human eyes couldn't really 'see' such a panorama." —John Joseph AdamsSilver Develops SF Eli

Joel Silver will produce and Albert and Allen Hughes will direct The Book of Eli, a post-apocalyptic western movie written by Gary Whitta for Warner Brothers, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Silver Pictures' Susan Downey and Erik Olsen also produce.

The script, which Warner bought earlier this year, centers on a lone hero who must fight his way across the wasteland of post-apocalyptic America to protect a sacred book that might hold the key to saving the future of humanity.

Ironically, it was a book that was the key for the Hughes brothers getting the job to helm the feature. The duo had read the script, agreeing that it had been the best thing they had read in years, and knew they wanted it to be their next project. Using their own funds, they produced a hardcover tome that featured notes, comic panels, color photos and storyboards on how they envisioned the movie.Addams Family Musical Planned

A large-scale Broadway musical is planned based on the Addams Family cartoons of Charles Addams, aiming for New York's Rialto in the 2009 -'10 season, Variety reported.

Composer-lyricist Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party) is writing the songs; Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (Jersey Boys) provide the book. Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch, the Improbable Theater founders who created Shockheaded Peter, will direct and design.

Addams' cartoons—about a ghoulish family whose members include father Gomez, mother Morticia, uncle Fester and daughter Wednesday—appeared for more than 50 years in the New Yorker magazine. The cartoons inspired several TV series, including the 1960s live-action situation comedy and a couple of animated series, along with two feature films.

The musical will be based solely on the cartoons, not on the big- or small-screen incarnations. It hasn't yet been determined whether the creatives will be granted permission to include the familiar TV theme song.Logorrhea Unlocks 'Bee' Words

SF and fantasy editor John Klima told SCI FI Wire that each story in

his anthology Logorrhea is based on a word that won the Scripps

National Spelling Bee.

The idea for the anthology came to mind when Klima saw that the word "autochthonous" won the spelling bee in 2004, he said. He had no idea how to pronounce the word, and when he read the definition—"originating where found"—he was even more confused. And the opaque official sentence—"The autochthonous fauna of Australia is the kangaroo."—offended his literary sensibilities. "This was an awful sentence," Klima said in an interview. "It made me go find the list of the winning words."

The most recent 10 or so words are all words that no one would ever have reason to use in a conversation, Klima said. "I decided to challenge people submitting to my small science fiction zine, Electric Velocipede, to write a story based on one of those words," he said. "The idea was to take a difficult, obscure word and illustrate it through an entertaining story. ... People liked the idea and the two stories [I published], so I [turned] it into an anthology concept."

The book sold in classic "movie logic" New York publishing fashion, Klima said. "I went to a reading in the city and was sitting next to [Bantam Spectra editor] Juliet Ulman at dinner afterwards," he said. "I talked to her about the anthology concept for a little bit, and then she began asking me more questions about it. Before our food came, she told me to send her a proposal the next day."

Within a month, Klima had an offer, he said. "Books never sell like this. I just happened to hit everything correctly at the right times."

The thing Klima liked best about the anthology is that the concept was wide open, he said. "Even though it might feel constricting to be limited to writing around the meaning of a single word, there was no other theme," Klima said.

Klima said the stories range from mainstream fiction, like Leslie What's "Tsuris"—about a woman who is questioning her marriage—to straightforward science fiction, like Neil Williamson's "The Euonymist"—about a human who is part of an interplanetary team that names new objects on new planets—to "squidgy" horror, like Paolo Bacigalupi's "Softer"—which discusses the murder of a spouse. "[And] Jeff VanderMeer used all of the other words used in the anthology to create his story: 'Appoggiatura,' a tour-de-force series of interconnected stories," he said.

The anthology contains 21 stories, each based on a different word. Prior to editing the book, Klima said he only knew what eight of them meant: eczema, semaphore, vignette, sycophant, elegiacal, macerate, psoriasis and dulcimer. "The authors chose their own words; there were almost 80 ... to choose from," he said. "I figured if I let the author pick a word that spoke to them I would get a better story out of them." —John Joseph AdamsTapping Eager For Sanctuary

Damian Kindler—creator of the pay-to-download online science fiction series Sanctuary—told SCI FI Wire that it was easy getting Stargate SG-1 star Amanda Tapping to play the lead role of monster hunter Dr. Helen Magnus. "It was very simple," Kindler said in an interview last week. "[Director and co-writer] Martin Wood and I sent the script to her and said, 'Please.' And she said, 'Yes.' That was it. She called me and said, 'This is terrific, and I want to play this role.' It was literally like pouring a glass of water. Everybody was thirsty, and everybody wanted it, and it happened, which was terrific."

Sanctuary debuted online on May 14 and will initially feature eight 15-minute webisodes that will be released every two weeks at a price of around $1.99 each. The producers plan to continue the series beyond that if it is successful. Tapping plays a 157-year old cryptozoologist who runs the title institution to protect strange creatures that may hold the key to humanity's future.

Kindler—a former writer and producer of Stargate SG-1 and a writer and creative consultant on Stargate Atlantis—said that making Sanctuary's protagonist a strong woman was a deliberate choice. He thought of Tapping for the role of Magnus after writing for her character, Lt. Col. Samantha Carter, on SG-1, and she was the only person he considered.

"There really wasn't a second choice," Kindler said. "If she had said 'I can't' or 'I'm not interested' or 'I don't think so,' I don't think it would have worked. She has a huge international following. She's an executive producer on the show, which she's very good at. She was very powerful in front of the camera and behind the camera, and all of it was very important and helpful and necessary."

Sanctuary is produced in Vancouver, Canada, by Stage 3 Media. Webisode two is scheduled for release May 28. —Michael SimpsonHeroes Flies To DVD In August

NBC's Heroes comes to DVD and HD DVD when the entire first season of the hit series arrives in stores Aug. 28 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

The seven-disc DVD set has several bonus features, including five featurettes and more than 50 deleted scenes. The set also includes the extended, 73-minute cut of the pilot, from creator Tim Kring, which never aired on television.

The DVD version carries a suggested retail price of $59.98. (NBC and Universal Studios Home Entertainment are owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)Arad Gears Up Robosapien

Producer Avi Arad (X-Men, Spider-Man) has joined forces with Steven Paul's Crystal Sky Pictures to launch a Robosapien movie, inspired by the best-selling intelligent robot toy, Variety reported.

Arad and Paul previously teamed on another toy franchise movie, Bratz, which is due for wide U.S. release this August.

Arad has written the script for Robosapien with Max Botkin and attached Bratz helmer Sean McNamara to direct, the trade paper reported. The $25 million-$30 million live-action/computer-animated project is scheduled to shoot in November in the United States.

The story concerns a scientist working on artificial intelligence who creates robots for humanitarian purposes, only to discover that the corporation he works for intends them for military use. He steals one of his creations, a robot boy named Toby, who, by a series of accidents, gets lost and broken and then found and fixed by the lonely 11-year-old son of a harassed single mother.

The robot and boy become friends and embark on a series of adventures, pursued by the authorities. The story climaxes with their having to rescue the scientist and mother from prison.

Arad, whose own background is as a toy inventor, has personally designed Toby as the latest model in the Robosapiens range, to go into shops at the movie's release.Creepshow III: How Bad Is It?

Despite negative reviews even before the DVD is released, the directors of Creepshow III told SCI FI Wire that they expect the horror series to continue. "Even though the reviews have been bad, there will be another Creepshow," said co-director James Glenn Dudelson.

Dudelson added: "The problem is that people think that, because George Romero and Stephen King aren't involved anymore, then it can't be good. But what we have done is try to stay as close to the original concept and [keep] the same amount of gore and humor in it."

The latest release is a follow-up to the original 1982 Creepshow movie, a series of horror vignettes. Dudelson and co-director Ana Clavell wrote two of the episodes in the new series of stories, which center on a quiet suburban neighborhood. "We also solicited stories from other screenwriters after we told them what kinds of stories we were looking for, and we received more than 100 scripts," Clavell said. "We ended up picking five."

The stories include "The Radio," about a guy who is ordered around by a female voice that comes from his radio; "Alice," about a snotty girl whose family changes each time a magical remote control is pressed; "Call Girl," about a serial-killer prostitute who hooks up with a vampire; "Professor Dayton's Wife," about two students who dismember their professor's fiancee because they think she is a robot; and "The Haunted Dog," about a mean doctor who kills a homeless man by giving him a contaminated hot dog. "We did not want it to seem too comic-book, but we wanted something different that was also fun and silly," Dudelson said.

Dudelson also appeared in each episode as a bald, obnoxious producer of reality shows, but said he took many of those scenes out. "I just got tired of myself, and they didn't work," he said.

Clavell and Dudelson co-wrote and co-directed Day of the Dead 2: Contagium, and they co-produced the upcoming zombie film Day of the Dead. —Mike SzymanskiBRIEFLY NOTED

CBS will recast the character played by Shannon Lucio in the pilot of Moonlight, its vampire drama, Zap2it.com reported; the character is a reporter who falls for Alex O'Loughlin's immortal private investigator.

The final scene of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End occurs after the end credits have rolled, not before; viewers at a preview screening in Los Angeles this week were warned to stay to the bitter end to see the story wrap up.

Comedy Central and Sony Pictures Television are developing Gay Robot as an animated project, sources told The Hollywood Reporter; the show was first ordered to pilot in 2005 as a scripted live-action adaptation of a character featured on Adam Sandler's comedy album Shhh ... Don't Tell, but that pilot didn't get picked up.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon has posted a commentary on Whedonesque.com decrying honor killings, attitudes toward women and the torture film Captivity, among other things.

Warner Brothers has acquired the film rights to Irish author Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant, which follows a wisecracking skeleton detective and his young female accomplice, who try to stop the return of the evil Faceless Ones, Variety reported.

The New Haven Independent reported details of the upcoming shoot in that Connecticut city in connection with the fourth Indiana Jones movie.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Paul Haggis, the Oscar-winning writer-director of Crash and co-writer of Casino Royale, will work on the script for the next James Bond movie, which is slated for release on Nov. 7, 2008.

Ain't It Cool News reported rumors that Keanu Reeves, Jude Law and Patrick Wilson may be up for roles in Zack Snyder's upcoming film version of Alan Moore's Watchmen graphic novel.

Viral marketing Web sites for the upcoming Batman sequel film The Dark Knight are discussed on fan blogs.

TV Guide columnist Michael Ausiello reported that Annette O'Toole, who has played Martha Kent on The CW's Smallville since the beginning, won't be returning next season as a regular cast member.

MGM Home Entertainment will release a new two-disc collector's-edition DVD of the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers on Aug. 7, timed to the theatrical release of the similarly themed The Invasion, which opens Aug. 17.

Directors Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth), Alfonso Cuarón (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Children of Men) have formed a moviemaking partnership with Universal Pictures worth as much as $100 million, the Los Angeles Times reported.

ComingSoon.net has posted an image of Heath Ledger as the Joker in the upcoming Batman sequel The Dark Knight.

ComingSoon.net has posted images and clips from Fox's upcoming Terminator-themed TV series The Sarah Connor Chronicles.