Routh: Steel To Fly In '09

Superman Returns star Brandon Routh told SCI FI Wire that he expects to be working on the next film installment, Superman: Man of Steel, with director Bryan Singer beginning early next year. "Of course, that's my timeline, not anyone else's," Routh said in an interview on May 2.

Routh spoke privately about Superman after a news conference in Pasadena, Calif., where he was promoting his involvement with NBC's upcoming horror anthology series Fear Itself, kicking off June 5.

"Bryan keeps me up [to date] with what's going on, and I think he'll get a script together later in the year, and we'll begin filming early next year," Routh said.

The actor joked about wanting to be able to hit more villains in the sequel and added that he has stayed in shape, albeit in a less regimented workout routine. "I'm ready to get back into the swing of it, though," he said.

Routh added that he is excited about the recent release of a small independent film, Lie to Me, which co-stars his real-life wife, Courtney Ford, and tells the story of a couple in an open relationship.

In Fear Itself, Routh stars in a segment called "Community," directed by American Psycho helmer Mary Harron, about a young couple who move into a rigid neighborhood. (NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.) --Mike SzymanskiBioshock Headed To Film

Universal has signed a deal to adapt the hit SF video game Bioshock into a film under director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean), Variety reported.

Verbinski is also attached to produce, and Aviator writer John Logan is in talks to pen the screenplay.

Bioshock publisher Take-Two Interactive is getting a multimillion-dollar advance against gross points on the movie deal, which is believed to be the biggest video-game-to-movie deal since 2005, when Universal and Fox signed on to the since-aborted Halo movie adaptation.

Bioshock takes place in an underwater city based on the free market principles of Ayn Rand, but things have gone disastrously wrong. Players control a pilot who crash-lands at a secret entrance to the city, called Rapture, and is drawn into a power struggle, during which he discovers that his will is not as free as he'd thought.

Verbinski told the trade paper that Rapture's art-deco design and visually arresting characters--such as the mechanical Big Daddys, who protect genetically mutated girls called Little Sisters--inspired him to see the game as a film.

Though no release date is even being targeted, Verbinski said he plans to start preproduction as soon as Logan's script is finished and approved by all involved. (Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)Boxleitner Joining Heroes?

TV Guide Online's Michael Ausiello reported that Babylon 5 star Bruce Boxleitner has won a top-secret recurring role on NBC's Heroes, a role that was originally going to be modeled after Sen. John McCain.

The character has since been reconceived, and Boxleitner will reportedly share the screen with a female series regular. Heroes returns in the fall. (NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)Stride Wants To Gum Boll Up

Stride gum announced a tongue-in-cheek promotion in connection with an online petition to stop schlock director Uwe Boll from making more movies.

The gum makers said they would launch a campaign in support of StopUweBoll.org to halt the German filmmaker from adapting any more video games into films such as his BloodRayne and Dungeon Siege movies.

Boll has said that he will stop making movies if the petition achieves 1 million signatures; as of this writing, the total was a bit more than 240,000.

Stride said that if the petition reaches the required 1 million signatures by May 14 at 5 p.m. EDT, each signer will receive a digital coupon good for a pack of gum, downloadable on May 23.

"Since gamers are one of our most supportive groups, we've been looking for ways to return the favor," Gary Osifchin, Stride North American marketing director, said in a statement. "And what better way is there to get gamers' backs than by helping them rescue their cherished video games from the clutches of Uwe Boll?"ABC Adds Hours To Lost

ABC has added more hours to the final two seasons of its SF drama Lost, whose current season was cut short by the writers' strike, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The 2009 and 2010 editions of the hit drama will be 17 hours each, not 16 as previously planned.

The strike knocked three hours out of the current season. To partly compensate, the network recently added an additional hour to part two of the season finale that airs May 29.

For the upcoming season finale, show co-creator Damon Lindelof promised a more action-driven cliffhanger instead of the mind-bending flash-forward time shift that stunned fans last season.

Lindelof declined to say whether the flash-forwards will continue, but did leave open the possibility of the show's main story line on the island catching up with the flash-forwards that have taken place on the mainland this season.

As for the series finale in 2010, Lindelof told the trade paper that he and executive producer Carlton Cuse plan to "go into hiding for many, many months" at an "undisclosed location."Lost's Kim OK With Jin's Fate

Daniel Dae Kim, who plays castaway Jin-Soo Kwon on ABC's Lost, told SCI FI Wire that he is OK with his character's fate, whatever it may be. And, no, he wouldn't say what that is.

Fans know that Jin's ultimate fate was thrown into doubt (spoilers ahead!) in the recent episode "Ji Yeon," in which Jin's wife, Sun (Yunjin Kim), is seen in a flash-forward at what appears to be Jin's grave.

"You know, if he doesn't make it, it's been a great ride," Daniel Dae Kim said in an interview at the Hollywood premiere on May 7 of his upcoming A&E miniseries The Andromeda Strain. "It's been an incredible opportunity. If he does make it, it means the roller-coaster ride continues. Either way, it's a win-win."

Kim added that the producers have told him some of what's coming up. "A few things," he said. "But very broad, general strokes."

Kim just wrapped shooting of season four, which resumed with new episodes in late April after an interruption because of the Hollywood writers' strike. Season four wraps up May 29.

Is Kim ready to say goodbye to the island for good? "The writers--regardless of whether we're ready to say goodbye to it or not--the writers have such a way of continuing to delve into the characters," he said. "So there always seems to be more story to tell." That sounds like no. Lost airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT. --Patrick Lee, News EditorBattlestar's Helfer Aids PETA

Battlestar Galactica star Tricia Helfer and her rescued cat, Mr. Nix, appear in a new ad for PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, urging cat owners to care properly for their animals.

The ad plays on Helfer's character, the murderous Cylon Number Six, and asks people to "Be an Angel for Animals."

"Your cats depend on you," Helfer says in the ad. "Play with them, clean their litterbox daily, never leave them outside unattended, and always make sure they have clean water and a cozy spot for gazing out at the great outdoors. Most importantly, be sure to show them love and affection every day." PETA also urges cat owners to get their animals spayed or neutered.

PETA quoted Helfer, who has six cats, as saying, "Number Six would not be very kind to somebody who abuses animals. She would probably ... do to them what they were doing to the animals."

Battlestar Galactica airs on SCI FI Fridays at 10 p.m. ET/PT.Andromeda Beefed Up

Andre Braugher, who plays the nefarious Gen. George Mancheck in A&E's upcoming SF miniseries The Andromeda Strain, told SCI FI Wire that the show goes well beyond the original Michael Crichton book and 1971 movie version.

"It's very anticlimactic, the book and the film," Braugher (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) said in an interview at the miniseries' Hollywood premiere on May 7. He added: "You've got the Andromeda; it's suddenly somehow benign, but then you've got a reactor thing, you know? ... But that movie wouldn't have held up today, you know what I mean? So it had to be re-imagined."

The premise remains the same: A satellite falls from the sky, and most of the townspeople of a small Utah hamlet die suddenly. A group of top scientists, led by Dr. Jeremy Stone (Benjamin Bratt), race time in the top-secret underground lab called Wildfire to uncover the mystery of the deaths before the cause--a contagious agent called Andromeda--can spread.

Writer Robert Shenkkan has updated and expanded the story well beyond the parameters of the original 1969 book and Robert Wise's movie, taking a lot of the story outside Wildfire and boosting the action elements. "I think our screenwriter and [director] Mikael [Salomon] together have done a really wonderful job bringing that together," Braugher said.

The movie also adds environmental, political and military storylines.

"Some of the themes that were added today just were not there," Braugher said. "I mean, the whole idea about the vent mining and the use of resources today in a cavalier manner that will become useful to us, you know, sometime in the future? That cautionary tale is entirely inserted. ... It's quite timely for now. We happen to be in the middle of using up and exploiting all of our resources, you know?"

The four-hour miniseries also brings the investigation of an infectious disease into the 21st century, though it was a novelty in storytelling in the '60s. "[Audiences have] become very used to the idea of infectious and biological weapons and stuff," Braugher said. "And things traveling around the globe. I mean, the world just happens to be a little bit smaller today than it was in 1968, when Crichton wrote the book."

The Andromeda Strain, which also stars Eric McCormack, Ricky Schroder, Daniel Dae Kim, Christa Miller and Viola Davis, premieres May 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT and continues May 27 at the same time. --Patrick Lee, News EditorAdamson Won't Helm More Narnia

Andrew Adamson, director and co-writer of the upcoming sequel The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, told SCI FI Wire that the movie will be the last Narnia installment he directs. (The next is called The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and, like the previous installments, it is based on C.S. Lewis' series of books.)

"I recently said I don't do two of anything," Adamson told reporters during a press day in New York last week. "The last two films have been quite big and challenging. Since the first Shrek, I have overlapped films. It's been about 11 years of overlap, but it's only been four movies!"

Adamson also helmed the previous Narnia movie, subtitled The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, as well as Shrek 2.

"So I am taking a long break, actually, about a year off to develop things and do something quite different," Adamson said. "First I'm going to just do nothing for a little while. And then there are some things I have on the back burner that I will start writing and some longer term-things that I will probably start, too."

Adamson will remain a producer on the upcoming Narnia movies, including Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which begins shooting in October under new helmer Michael Apted. Adamson said that he assumes he will function more as a consultant, as he did on Shrek the Third, which he executive-produced.

"I am going to produce [Dawn Treader] with Mark [Johnson], but I don't know how much I will be on set," Adamson said. "I told Georgie [Henley, who plays Lucy Pevensie,] I will be there if she needs me at any point. But I think my job, so to speak, on the next ones--and what it was on the third Shrek--is to try and make sure we stay true to the overall tone and vision of the first films." The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian opens May 16. ---Tara BennettF/X Delayed Caspian Release

Andrew Adamson, director and co-writer of the upcoming sequel The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, told SCI FI Wire that the movie's complicated visual effects resulted in the film's delayed release, which was pushed to this month from Christmas last year.

"I think the Christmas release date that they very early on intended was never a realistic release date or one I got behind," Adamson told reporters during a press day in New York last week. "It was all I could do to make this one! I literally put the last visual-effects shot in at 2 o'clock on Monday [April 28] and saw a print for the first time on Wednesday [April 30]. So it's been right to the wire."

The director said that the Walt Disney Co. was eager to get the movie out as quickly as possible after its predecessor film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, made more than $700 million in 2005.

"I think there was hope to make the Christmas date, but once we really got into it and talked about it, it was pretty obvious that we wouldn't make Christmas," Adamson said. "And there was no reason that this needed to be a Christmas release. It made a lot of sense with the last film--Father Christmas was in it, and it was set in winter. [Caspian] felt like it could be a summer film." The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, which is based on C.S. Lewis' book, opens May 16. --Tara BennettCaspian's Henley Grows Up

Georgie Henley, the young actress who returns to play Lucy Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, told SCI FI Wire that her character is much more proactive in the sequel.

"I felt, because I've grown, Lucy has grown," Henley told reporters during a press day in New York last week. "That's a lot easier to portray, because I can basically be myself, but changed a bit."

In the sequel, Lucy and her three siblings are swept back to Narnia a year after they returned to England at the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. But in Narnia, it's been 1,300 years, and their once-prosperous kingdom is now decimated by the human Telmarines and the evil King Miraz. With the help of Prince Caspian, the Pevensies must once again restore Narnia to its glory.

Taking a more active role in that epic battle, 13-year-old Henley said she loved the fact that Lucy was in the thick of the fight this time. "I think the action side of it--I was very happy about [it]," she said. "I loved doing stunts. I got to learn to ride with all these talented horse riders--some of the best in the world--so it was such an amazing opportunity, which I would not have had if I was not on this project. I was so grateful." The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian opens May 16. --Tara BennettCaspian More Expansive

William Moseley, who reprises the role of Peter Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, told SCI FI Wire that the sequel improves upon the first Narnia movie because of its expansive location shoots and impressive set pieces.

"With the last one, it was a lot more imagining with green poles and things like that," Moseley told reporters during a press day in New York last week. "In [Caspian] we were fighting humans, not mythical creatures, so there was definitely a real element. On every level, this one is a step up."

In Caspian, Peter again takes on the mantle of High King of Narnia and leads the fight to free the almost extinct Narnians from the despotic rule of King Miraz (Sergio Castellitto).

"If they wanted to go to a location in the middle of nowhere with huge mountains, they wouldn't CG it," Moseley said. "They would take us there in helicopters. If they needed a castle, they wouldn't CG it. They would build it. For us actors, it was more of a sensory experience, because we were just immersed in these locations and sets that were just out of this world. [Production designer] Roger Ford did an amazing job."

In the sequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Peter's need to prove himself is almost the undoing of his subjects.

"On an emotional level, this film was a lot harder," Moseley said. "In the first one, I essentially played myself: the older brother trying to do selfless things. Now Peter is much more frustrated, headstrong and self-entitled. I had to get in touch with those angry emotions and even take it out on my little siblings, which wasn't easy at times."

As in the C.S. Lewis book on which Caspian is based, Peter finishes his adventures in Narnia at the end. Moseley said he remembers his last scene fondly.

"It was a really emotional moment, and it was the very last shot that we did," Moseley said. "It was a battle scene where all the Narnians are running, and it was a really empowering moment. It sounds weird, but there was this beautiful sunset in the Czech Republic, and the whole cast was running down the hill, and it just felt like we were bound for this very last moment, and it immortalized our experience together. It was sad, but it felt like I was ready to move on in that part. I just feel so lucky to have had this opportunity." The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian opens May 16. --Tara BennettMoonlight's Dohring Looks Ahead

Jason Dohring, who plays the 400-year-old vampire Josef in CBS' vampire drama Moonlight, told SCI FI Wire that the first-season finale will end with a cliffhanger. (Spoilers ahead!)

"You'll see a lot more of the vampire mythology coming up, but in the final show, you'll see us all kind of meet," Dohring said in an interview. "We have, like, a vampire conference. It's really cool. And we each kind of have our place."

Dohring explained that the vampire community will be forced to come together when it finds itself at risk of being exposed.

"We all get together to solve one problem, which is the threat to secrecy, basically a threat to survival, and that gets sort of complicated," Dohring said. "I think all the vampires are sort of involved, because it's something that's going on with all of them. You'll have to watch to see what's going on with that, but it basically poses quite a little problem for all of us. "

The cast and crew are still awaiting word from CBS as to whether the show will be renewed for a second season. Stars Alex O'Loughlin and Sophia Myles have already expressed their optimism about the possibility of a pickup. Dohring agreed with that sentiment.

"We have some momentum going," the former Veronica Mars star said. "I really feel it. Like, particularly in the last couple weeks since we've been doing all this promotion for the show. I feel like it's really swinging in our favor. I think that some promising things could happen. We're creating good shows, and I think if we can just get people to see them, then they'll hang around."

Dohring has additional incentive to hope for a renewal, having heard some of the ideas the writers are working on for the second season.

"[Producer Joel Silver] took us out to dinner, and we kind of pumped the writers for stories and what's going on," Dohring said. "There's going to be some cool stuff. There's going to be some historical events that went down that were shaped by vampires. You know what I mean? I'm looking forward to that. Like, big, huge things that you learn in your first year of school that were vampire-influenced."

And will his character be a part of those events?

"Hell, yeah," Dohring said. "I've been alive a long time." Moonlight airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. --Cindy WhiteMedium To Settle Preston's Arc

Kelly Preston, who has a recurring guest role on NBC's Medium, told reporters that the upcoming fourth-season finale, "Drowned World," will resolve her story arc.

Preston has been playing Meghan Doyle, an attractive venture capitalist who's taken both a personal and professional interest in Joe DuBois (Jake Weber), husband of the psychic investigator Allison DuBois (Patricia Arquette). Preston laughed when asked why Meghan would risk flirting with Joe when she knows full well his wife is a psychic. (Possible spoilers ahead!)

"I think because Meghan is not exactly who she says she is," Preston said during a May 8 conference call on which she was joined by Weber. "[Executive producer] Glenn Caron is very good at writing sort of twists and turns and multi-leveled characters, as he's done with Allison and Joe. The characters are so layered, and with Meghan she's not who she seems to be. So knowing that Allison is very psychic and is able to see in the future, I think, it doesn't faze Meghan, because she has certain motives in connecting up with Joe."

Weber added, "She's a very good liar."

In fact, Meaghan is such a good liar, Preston said, "that she keeps sort of pulling him into her web with [the] promise of prosperity and true realization of his dream. Yet she's sort of taking him down a slippery path." "Drowned World" airs May 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. --Ian SpellingNew Gadgets Due In Eureka

The creators of SCI FI Channel's original series Eureka told SCI FI Wire that many more esoteric gizmos are planned for the upcoming third season, which kicks off in July.

"We take a lot of things that we find in tech magazines or online and sort of take it to the next level," said co-creator Jaime Paglia. "We kind of Eureka-fy stuff that's already in development."

Paglia said that his father is a hematologist and pathologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was one of the advisors on Biosphere 2, a self-contained environmental project in the Arizona desert. "I went out there as a kid with him, and ... I got to go in and see what that thing looked like," Paglia said. He then got his writers to create a Truman Show-like story about an underground forest.

"It is based on reality, and the idea of eventually exploring of ... planets is great, but we get to take that to a whole new level," he said. In Eureka, Biosphere 2 becomes "a 2,000-acre preserve," he added.

The show will also come up with its own version of a dog show. "What would a dog show be like in Eureka?" executive producer Charlie Craig asked. "Dog shows in Eureka [feature] dogs, but they're robot dogs, and they're trying to be perfect. They're trying to be dogs that look mangy and smell, and that would be a real success to make a dog. So we're doing that." Eureka returns with new episodes July 29. -Mike SzymanskiQuaid, Foster Mull Pandorum

Constantin Film and Impact Pictures announced that Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster are in final negotiations to star in Pandorum, a science fiction thriller film set aboard an abandoned pioneer space vessel. Overture Films will release the film in North America.

Travis Milloy wrote the script for Pandorum, which is described as a dark and claustrophobic tale about two crewmen who awaken aboard their spacecraft, unaware of their mission or their identities. As they piece things together, the men make a harrowing discovery that threatens the survival of mankind. Filming is slated to begin in August in Berlin.

Pandorum will be financed by Constantin Film under its joint venture deal with Impact Pictures, a Constantin Film subsidiary. Summit Entertainment is handling foreign sales for Constantin Film and will introduce the project to buyers at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.

Impact Pictures' Paul W.S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt will produce with Constantin Film's Robert Kulzer. Dave Morrison is executive-producing. McTeigue To Helm Revelation

V for Vendetta helmer James McTeigue is attached to direct the SF thriller Revelation for Inferno, Variety reported.

The story centers on a female journalist who is assigned to investigate a series of bizarre murders and discovers that the victims were all being treated by the head of an organization that researches alien abductions.

John Salvati penned the screenplay.

The film will be produced by Inferno's Bill Johnson alongside Dave Alpert and Lawrence Mattis of Circle of Confusion. Inferno's Jim Seibel executive-produces with Dave Engel.

McTeigue is currently helming Warner Brothers' Ninja Assassin, which is being produced by the Wachowski brothers.Perlman Is Heavy In Bunraku

Hellboy star Ron Perlman will play the bad guy in Snoot Entertainment's hybrid martial-arts movie Bunraku, which Guy Moshe is directing from his own script, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Japanese actors Gackt and Shun Sugata also have been cast in the international-flavored movie, which features Josh Hartnett, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, Scottish actor Kevin McKidd and Spanish actor Jordi Molla.

The film is set in a hyperstylized universe a la Sin City and draws from a mixed bag of genres, including puppets, origami, comic books, video games and German expressionism. It follows a drifter (Hartnett) who teams with a samurai (Gackt) to take on an Eastern European gang lord, played by Perlman.Heroes Action Figures Coming

Mezco Toyz will release a line of action figures tied to NBC's SF series Heroes, which will hit store shelves in June. The first of three sets planned for this year include five main characters and will be available in specialty stores, major retail outlets, online retailers and at NBCstore.com, as well as in the NBC Experience Store.

Included in the first set of characters are Claire Bennet, Hiro Nakamura, Peter Petrelli, Mohinder Suresh and Sylar.

The figures come with accessories and an assortment of alternate heads, as well as in variant versions.Kress' 'Age' Is About Love

SF author Nancy Kress, whose story "Fountain of Age" won this year's Nebula Award for best novella, told SCI FI Wire that the story is about the frustrations of love.

"I never know where my ideas come from," Kress said in an interview. "I do know, however, that what interested me initially here was the voice. Three years ago I wrote a brief scene in which an old man in a nursing home reminisces over a letter from a long-lost love."

"Fountain of Age" is a romance between cyber-thief Max Feder and Daria, a prostitute he met on Cyprus. "[Daria] becomes the biological source for a peculiar protein that can stop aging--for a while," Kress said. "The story opens when Max, in his 80s and in a nursing home, decides that before he dies, he wants to see Daria once more. This is not easy; it may not even be possible. And the consequences of his attempts are completely unforeseen."

When Kress initially wrote that first scene, she didn't know what to do with it, so she put it away, only to return to it two years later when she was researching gypsies for an unwritten novel. "Somewhere in the dim caves of my mind, Max's voice and the research came together," she said.

The story was easy to write once those two things came together, Kress said. "Some stories are difficult every step of the way--I call them 'sh--ting-rocks stories'--and some flow along smoothly," she said. "'Fountain of Age' was the latter. I don't plot ahead of time, so I didn't know what would happen to Max and Daria, but once I began to write, the scenes flowed easily."

Although the story is SF, there's minimal science in the story. "Cancerous tumors are cells that don't die (unless you poison them)," Kress said. "That became the basis for my anti-aging treatment in the story."

Kress is currently working on another novella, as yet untitled. "The novella is by far my favorite length," she said. "It's long enough to create a whole world, but short enough so that one main plot line will suffice. Three of my four Nebulas have been for [a] novella or (a very long) novelette." --John Joseph AdamsKim Talks Updated Andromeda

Daniel Dae Kim, who plays a microbiologist in A&E's upcoming SF miniseries The Andromeda Strain, told SCI FI Wire that he joined the project for a chance to play a fully dimensional character.

"I thought that the source material was really strong, first of all," Kim said in an interview at the minseries' Hollywood premiere on May 7. "Michael Crichton, [who wrote the book,] his reputation is well-deserved. And the character, I thought, was one that I'd been looking for. I'm always looking to play characters that are non-stereotypical, help drive the action and are a positive portrayal. And I thought this guy was one of those."

Kim plays Dr. Tsi Chou, a scientist who once designed biological weapons for the Chinese government but is now a U.S.-based bioterrorism consultant. As a member of the Wildfire emergency response team, he and other scientists must find a way to deal with a lethal contagion from outer space.

Kim added that his character was not always intended to be Asian or Asian-American. "It went back and forth," he said. "And that to me was critical: That this character could have been non-Asian. It wasn't essential to the story that he was Asian. And so he just became human as a result. And that was attractive."

A&E's four-hour miniseries begins with a premise similar to that of Crichton's 1969 book and Robert Wise's 1971 movie of the same name. But the story, from a screenplay by Robert Shenkkan, quickly evolves and expands beyond the original.

"Robert Shenkkan is a fantastic writer," Kim said, adding: "He really did a nice job of keeping the core themes of the book while updating it and making it timely. ... I think, thematically, it's the same. It's just about: Your actions will have consequences. And that's on a personal level. A social level. A political level. And ... I think that rings true, even from when it was originally written."

But the miniseries will also keep audiences guessing, Kim added. "Audiences now seem to expect the unexpected," he said. "The worst thing for a story like this is when the audience gets ahead of it. ... And I don't think the audience is ahead of it. At the same time, you have to keep it in the realm of reality."

The Andromeda Strain, which also stars Benjamin Bratt, Eric McCormack, Ricky Schroder, Andre Braugher, Christa Miller and Viola Davis, premieres May 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT and continues May 27 at the same time. --Patrick Lee, News EditorEureka To Be Lighter

The creators of SCI FI Channel's original series Eureka told SCI FI Wire that they plan to lighten the tone of the upcoming third season and will continue the movie homages.

Speaking at a press day last week in Pasadena, Calif., producers Charlie Craig and Jaime Paglia said that the show is working on tributes to The War of the Worlds, The Truman Show and Groundhog Day.

"One that we've been wanting to do for a long time, Groundhog Day, I think, is the perfect episode thematically for our characters, especially for this guy," Paglia said, referring to the character of Sheriff Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson). "It involves 2 a.m. and ice water. That's all I'm going to say. Over and over again."

The show's tone got darker for a while, but now the producers plan to flesh out some of the characters and have them interact more. "Obviously every episode is still very stand-alone in terms of the mystery that has to be resolved this week," Paglia said. " We do have an ongoing deeper mystery that will be stretched out over those first eight [weeks of the upcoming third season]. Season one, we were all wanting to find our show, and I think that, ... overall, we were pretty pleased with what we came up with. Some were a little hit or miss. But the tone was very difficult to capture. And I think that ... [in season two] we really wanted to deepen those character relationships and get to know them a bit more, and we went to a slightly darker place with some of them. I'm glad that we did, but at the same time I think that ... [a] couple episodes strayed a little bit too far away from where, I think, our sort of sweet spot is. So we made a concerted effort ... this season to bring us back to the lighter side of Eureka and especially restoring some of the relationships that we were missing a little bit in season two."

Ferguson asked the creators during the press conference about a funny Journey to the Center of the Earth episode he heard about while on the set. "I just read it. It's great," Craig said. "I'm so out of the loop," complained Ferguson. "I guess I prefer to be; it's better for [my] character." Eureka returns this summer with new episodes. --Mike SzymanskiRouth Headlines Dead

Superman Returns star Brandon Routh will star in Dead of Night, based on the best-selling Italian supernatural comic book Dylan Dog, for Hyde Park and Platinum Studios, Variety reported.

Kevin Munroe will direct from a script by Sahara writers Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly.

Routh will play a private investigator who is drawn into the world of the undead.

Created by Tiziano Sclavi, Dylan Dog was first published in 1986 and has been translated into 17 languages.Magic Mixes Fantasy, Genres

Fantasy author Lisa Shearin--whose novel Magic Lost, Trouble Found is a finalist for this year's Compton Crook Award--told SCI FI Wire that the book was a result of her love for all genres of fiction.

"Fantasy has always been my first love, but my fantasy book collection has to share shelf space with an almost equal number of detective fiction, mysteries, action adventure, romantic comedy and crime capers," Shearin said in an interview. "My Raine Benares books--Magic Lost, Trouble Found is the first in the series--came out of wanting to combine fantasy with the intrigue of the classic detective novel, the suspense of a mystery, the daring of action adventure and the fun of romantic comedy and crime capers."

Raine Benares is a seeker--a finder of things lost and people missing. "When her sometime partner steals an amulet from a local necromancer, Raine ends up with the amulet around her neck and trouble hot on her heels," Shearin said. "What looks like a plain silver disk turns out to be a beacon to an ancient soul-stealing stone (the Saghred) that gives whoever has it unlimited magical power. Power that comes at a price--your sanity, then your soul. With the beacon hanging around her neck, the next soul on the menu is Raine's."

Shearin wanted the magic in the book to be believable. "And for me, if I'm going to believe something, it's got to make sense," she said. "Using magic in Raine's world has consequences. Depending on the kind of magic being worked, the hazards range from being dizzy to being dead."

Not all of the characters can use magic, and those that can have varying skill levels. "Raine is a good seeker, but a mediocre sorceress," Shearin said. "As a seeker, one of the ways Raine can find a missing person is to hold an object that belongs to them. She gets impressions from the object and then uses good old-fashioned footwork and street smarts to track them down."

The second book in the series, Armed & Magical, was just released. The next two books in the series will be The Trouble With Demons and Bewitched & Betrayed. --John Joseph AdamsAfter Dark Develops Fright Films

After Dark Films will produce and distribute Faithless and Perkins' 14, two horror films that will be released as part of the company's 8 Films to Die For series. The films will shoot consecutively in Romania, starting in May.

Stewart Hopewell will direct Faithless from a script he co-wrote with Tim Long. The movie centers on a young woman who thinks she is leaving her abusive life behind when she moves to Atlanta and ends up living at her family farm. She quickly learns that abuse comes in even crueler forms.

Perkins' 14 was the winning pitch and audience selection among horror fans who took part in After Dark Films and massify.com's "Ghosts in the Machine" promotion to develop a movie via the Internet. Jeremy Donaldson originated the idea, and Lane Shadgett (Luna Park) will write the screenplay, to be directed by Craig Singer (Dark Ride). Perkins' 14 revolves around the arrest of a suspected murderer and the bloodshed that follows.Horror Season Two DVD Due

Anchor Bay Entertainment will release a DVD set of the second season of Showtime's Masters of Horror anthology series on July 29.

The set features the 13 episodes of the second season packaged in a specially designed, limited-edition "skull" box. The 15,000-unit edition will carry a suggested retail price of $86.97.

Each episode will be presented in widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. The set will also include commentaries from the filmmakers, behind-the-scenes featurettes, still and storyboard galleries, trailers, screenplays and more.Eisner Remakes Romero's Crazies

Director Breck Eisner told SCI FI Wire that the military will have a more subtle presence in his version of George Romero's The Crazies, which he plans to shoot this summer, but that it will reflect the times in a similar fashion.

"George['s film] had this antiwar bent to it in the aftermath of Korea and Vietnam, and we're clearly in that mindset now," Eisner (The Creature From the Black Lagoon) said in an interview following a news conference in Pasadena, Calif., last week for NBC's horror anthology Fear Itself. Romero's movie came out in 1973.

In Eisner's version of the movie--about the military trying to contain a virus that causes insanity as it spreads through a small Pennsylvania town--the military will exist more in the background, he said. "They're responsible," he said. "The military is a little less heavy-handed, but more dangerous. ... In a way, the military exists on two levels: as ... a column of tanks or a mass of soldiers and then as the individual soldiers. I think the individual soldier is different than the mass, and I want to explore [that]."

Eisner said that his film will be told through the eyes of a local sheriff and that the "crazies" of the title won't be zombies. "That's the biggest challenge: ... not to make a zombie movie," Eisner said. "What's great about the original is that they all don't have a coherent, cohesive action. Everybody acts different. In ours, there's a kid who just stands there punching a wall, punching his fists into a bloody pulp."

The movie will still be scary and unnerving, Eisner said. "[The virus] unlocks our deepest psychosis," he said. "Some of it is violent. Some of it is sexual. Some of it's self-inflicted violence. For me, the scariest movie for me as a kid was John Carpenter's The Thing, and the idea was not knowing who to trust. ... Can you trust your wife? Can you trust your mother? Your brother? That is the fear."

Eisner's movie will share plot elements with Romero's. "It's the same story," he said. "We have all of these weapons from the Cold War that are in stockpiles that have to be destroyed, as our environment is obviously being damaged as we go." Romero is involved as a producer, but not on a daily basis. --Mike SzymanskiSpirit Gets Christmas Date

Lionsgate has moved up the release of graphic novelist Frank Miller's directorial debut, The Spirit, adapted from Will Eisner's comic strip, to Dec. 25 from Jan. 16, 2009, Variety reported.

The action-adventure romance stars Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes. Miller (300, Sin City) also adapted the comic for the screen.

Spirit, a co-production of Odd Lot Entertainment and Lionsgate, revolves around a slain rookie cop who returns from the dead to fight crime and track a cold-blooded killer.

Lionsgate president of theatrical films Tom Ortenberg told the trade paper that the decision to shift the film to Christmas Day came after the project was presented to fans at New York Comic-Con.Morales Joins Caprica Cast

Esai Morales (CBS' Jericho) has joined the cast of SCI FI Channel's two-hour pilot for Caprica, a prequel to Battlestar Galactica, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In the Universal Media Studios project, Morales will play Joseph Adama, the father of William Adama (played in Battlestar by Edward James Olmos), who one day will take command of the Galactica.

Joseph is described as a deeply passionate man with a strong sense of justice--and someone you wouldn't want as your enemy.

Paula Malcomson was previously cast as a surgeon who works as a double agent.Kelley To Leave U.S. Mars?

David E. Kelley may leave his upcoming Americanized version of the British time-travel series Life on Mars, which remains a contender for ABC's prime-time lineup next season, Variety reported.

Talks are still in the early stages, but it's looking increasingly likely that Kelley may leave Mars, the trade paper reported. Should that happen, ABC Studios is said to be set to join 20th Century Fox TV as a co-producer on the drama.

October Road executive producers Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg are in contention to take over Mars as show runners should the show go to series.

Kelley has guided the U.S. adaptation of Mars since spring 2006, when he obtained the rights to the series, about a contemporary police detective who finds himself thrust back to the 1980s.

ABC gave the show a put pilot commitment, with Kelley set to write the script and executive-produce. Jason O'Mara was tapped last summer to play the lead. Tommy Schlamme directed the pilot, which was shot last summer.

Insiders told the trade paper that financial considerations are playing a part in Kelley's decision to leave Mars. For now, Kelley still controls Mars, at least until his departure is ironed out.Caprica, Warehouse 13 Are Cast

Paula Malcomson (Deadwood) has been cast as the female lead in Caprica, SCI FI Channel's prequel to Battlestar Galactica, while Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly will headline SCI FI's two-hour pilot for Warehouse 13, a comedic SF drama to be directed by Jace Alexander.

Malcomson will play Amanda, a surgeon who works as a double agent, in Caprica, which is set 50 years before the events in Battlestar. Caprica follows the evolution of the Cylon race and the fight between two families.

Warehouse centers on two FBI agents, Myka (Kelly) and Peter (McClintock), who work at the government's Warehouse 13, which houses supernatural objects. They are assigned to retrieve missing objects and investigate reports of new ones.Fox, Partners Go To War

Fox, New Regency and Davis Entertainment will produce the family action comedy Little Big War, about a family that must band together to fight action figures that come to life and go on the attack, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Walt Becker is attached to direct.

Details on Jay Longino and Michael Browning's spec script are under wraps. The film is expected to be in the vein of Fox's hit comedy Night at the Museum.

The script came from an original idea by Greg Suess, partner at the talent management/production company Roar, which helped develop the script. Suess will executive-produce with fellow Roar partner Bernie Cahill. John Davis is producing, and Becker might also come aboard as a producer.Asimov, AnLab Winners Named

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

Analog Analytical Laboratory Award

Best Novella: "Murder in Parliament Street" by Barry Longyear

Best Novelette: "Quaestiones Super Caelo et Mundo" by Michael Flynn

Best Short Story: "The Astronaut" by Brian Plante

Best Fact: "The Ice Age That Wasn't" by Richard A. Lovett

Best Cover: David A. Hardy (April 2007 issue)

Asimov's Readers' Award

Best Novella: "Recovering Apollo 8" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Best Novelette: "Dark Integers" by Greg Egan

Best Short Story: "Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear

Best Poem: "The Dimensional Rush of Relative Primes" by Bruce Boston

Best Cover Artist: Donato Giancola (July 2007 issue)

Winners of the awards were selected by popular vote, by the readers of Asimov's Science Fiction and Analog Science Fiction & Fact.Succubus Is A City Fantasy

Fantasy author Nina Harper told SCI FI Wire that her novel Succubus in the City is her take on the sexy, contemporary urban fantasy subgenre--but doesn't use common tropes like vampires or witches.

"I've read (and enjoyed) too many books about these kinds of supernatural beings and thought that I was so used to the rules that I couldn't do anything different or interesting there," Harper said in an interview. "So I went a little further afield and thought about different kinds of supernatural. The demons appealed to me, especially the idea of a succubus. Not only is she eternally beautiful and desirable, but she is powerful, too. I wanted a powerful female figure who could still be girly, a woman who could be both feminist and fashionista at the same time."

The title succubus is Lily, a 3,000-year-old succubus in the service of Satan. "She is one of Satan's chosen," Harper said. "She has a close circle of women friends, and she leads a life that any woman would envy. She has plenty of money, buys luxury goods, goes on exotic vacations on a whim and (best of all, in my opinion!) can eat whatever she wants and never gains weight. What she doesn't have is love."

Since she's a succubus, her job is to provide souls for hell, which means that when she has sex with a man, he's toast. "Literally," Harper said. "There are two escape clauses on this. If a man can satisfy Lily before himself, she can let him live, and if a man falls in love with her and asks her to marry him, she can become mortal. Lily would really like to fall in love."

Harper's great-uncle owned a major New York fashion house, and most of her family was involved in the business, so that aspect of the novel came naturally. "I'm no longer a fashionista myself, but my family still lives in [New York] and still is deeply involved in the industry," she said.

The sequel, Succubus Takes Manhattan, comes out in December, and a third book is in the works. --John Joseph AdamsCommon Joins Terminator

Rapper/actor Common has signed on to co-star in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins for Halcyon Pictures, Variety reported.

Christian Bale and Sam Worthington have already boarded the project, which will be distributed by Warner Brothers domestically. Sony will release the film in most foreign territories.

The story centers on John Connor (Bale), now in his 30s, who leads what is left of the human race in a battle against the machines. Common will play a freedom fighter and member of Connor's inner circle.

McG will direct from a script by John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris and Paul Haggis. The film is eyeing a May 22, 2009, release.Universal Bites Into Templar

Universal Pictures is assembling the supernatural movie The Knights Templar, picking up a spec script from Adam Torchia and Justin Stanley for Marc Platt and Russian Wanted helmer Timur Bekmambetov to produce, Variety reported.

The plot puts a horror spin on the famed organization of fighters from the Middle Ages, with the Knights Templar, fresh from the Crusades, forced to fend off an invading vampire army set on destroying the Holy Grail.

Torchia works as an assistant story editor in Universal's story department, where he's spent the past 10 years. He sold the script Strange Magic to Alcon Entertainment last year.

Platt will produce Knights Templar through his Marc Platt Productions banner, while Bekmambetov will shepherd the project through his Bazelevs Productions with Jim Lemley.

Bekmambetov helmed the Russian hits Night Watch and Day Watch, as well as Universal's upcoming SF actioner Wanted, which bows June 27. (Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)Favreau, Lee Cameo In Iron

Iron Man director Jon Favreau told SCI FI Wire that he got a kick out of working cameo appearances for himself and Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee into his blockbuster film.

Favreau turns up briefly as Happy Hogan, a character from the comic books, who is seen in the film as Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) limo driver. Lee pops up as a Hugh Hefner-like figure surrounded by several beautiful women.

"I thought it'd be fun to get in there," Favreau told SCI FI Wire during an interview last month. "I wanted to do a little tip of the hat to that character. I didn't want it to be just an extra driving the car. When you do these movies, the audience knows who the director is. That's not the case with every movie, but it is on these big superhero movies, and it seemed like a good idea."

Favreau's turn in Iron Man leaves the door open for appearances in future Iron Man sequels. "A lot of stories involve Happy, including the Freak [storyline]," he said. "So he's there if we decide we want to do more with him."

Meanwhile, Favreau pointed out that devising Lee's cameo made for a major challenge, given that he's already appeared in so many films based on comic books he either created or co-created. "It really takes a lot of ingenuity to come up with a new way to present him," Favreau said. "[Also], he's a much better comic-book creator than he is an actor, so it's very hard to not be taken out of the movie too far by his cameo, because he's such a presence."

Favreau added: "But I think we found a way to do it. And he was great. Stan's the most gracious, fun guy. When he was standing there with the three beautiful women on his arm, I said, 'Who's your favorite director?' And he said, 'You are, Jon.'" Iron Man is in theaters now. --Ian SpellingSony Flies To Rockwell's Moon

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group has picked up distribution rights in all English-speaking territories for Liberty Films' SF movie Moon, starring Sam Rockwell.

The story centers on a man who mines the precious gas that holds the key to reversing Earth's energy crisis.

The SF thriller marks the feature debut of commercial director Duncan Jones, who is also the film's co-writer, along with Nathan Parker. Stuart Fenegan and Nicky Moss produced Moon alongside Trudie Styler, whose company Xingu Films co-produced the project. The film was shot in the United Kingdom at Shepperton Studios.Wedge Helming Warner's Cabret

Ice Age helmer Chris Wedge has signed on to direct the film version of Brian Selznick's magic-themed children's novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret for Graham King's GK Films, Johnny Depp's Infinitum Nihil and Warner Brothers, Variety reported.

The Aviator writer John Logan has been tapped to pen the adaptation.

King and Infinitum Nihil's Christi Dembrowski will produce the live-action film, which centers on an orphaned boy who secretly lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station and looks after the clocks. He gets caught up in a mystery adventure when he attempts to repair a mechanical man.

The studio is eyeing a fall start date.

GK Films and Warner acquired screen rights to The Invention of Hugo Cabret, a number-one New York Times best-seller, in 2007. Spaced Comes To DVD

The British SF-tinged comedy series Spaced, from the creators of Shaun of the Dead, drops on DVD in North America for the first time in July, the BBC announced.

The collector's DVD set from BBC Video features all 14 episodes of the series, from creator-stars Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes (nee Stevenson), on three discs. Spaced: The Complete Series will arrive in stores on July 22 with a suggested retail price of $49.98.

The series centers on a pop-culture-obsessed comic artist (Pegg) who pretends to be in a relationship with an aspiring writer (Hynes) in order to rent a desirable apartment.

The DVD set also features more than eight hours of content, including all-new commentaries from Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Matt Stone, Bill Hader, Patton Oswalt and Diablo Cody.Marvel Unveils Iron 2, Avengers

Marvel, flush from the success of Iron Man, announced on May 5 that it will release a sequel, Iron Man 2, and a film version of Thor in the summer of 2010, followed by what it's calling an Avengers-themed summer in 2011, with the release of The First Avenger: Captain America (working title) and The Avengers.

The company, which is producing its own slate of movies based on Marvel Comics characters, added that it does not plan to release a film in 2009.

Iron Man 2 will open on April 30, 2010, followed by Thor on June 4, 2010.

The two Avengers projects will follow: The First Avenger: Captain America on May 6, 2011, and The Avengers in July 2011.

Marvel reported first-quarter net sales of $112.6 million and net income of $45.2 million, compared to net sales of $151.4 million and net income of $46.8 million in the same quarter a year earlier.Werewolf Girl Lives Among Us

Martin Millar told SCI FI Wire that his latest novel, Lonely Werewolf Girl, is set in a contemporary Scotland and London where werewolves live among normal humans in secret.

"The werewolves of the MacRinnalch clan don't lose their intelligence when they change into werewolves," Millar said in an interview. "Whilst they are capable of great violence, they don't become savage beasts. Consequently, the MacRinnalchs have managed to integrate into society while keeping their true nature secret. Therefore, in the book, there are werewolf musicians, traders, fashion designers, doctors, sorcerers, warriors and so on, mostly fitting in with society."

Though they keep their werewolf nature a secret, they don't regard it as a curse. "They're proud of it," Millar said. "Many of the clan, including [the protagonist] Kalix and her close relatives, can change into their werewolf form on any night, not just around the full moon. So while they are sometimes forced to make the transformation, at other times they do so through choice."

When Kalix's father, the MacRinnalch werewolf clan's chieftain, dies, Kalix is blamed for his death. "She flees to London, where she's pursued by werewolves from her family, looking for revenge," Millar said. "In London, she's also pursued by werewolf hunters."

Millar has written about mythical creatures before, but he doesn't have a lifelong interest in werewolves. "Much of the book is set in London, where I've lived for many years, and it also contains a lot of Scottish imagery, which I'm keen on, as it forms part of my background," he said. "Everything in the book arose quite naturally from Kalix MacRinnalch: her family, her clan and the people she meets in London."

Initially, it was difficult to find a publisher for Lonely Werewolf Girl, Millar said. "Partly because publishers were unsure of whether it was 'young adult' or 'adult,'" he said. "I don't really believe in that distinction. I think things like Buffy the Vampire Slayer blurred the distinction between adult and young adult to such an extent that it's no longer really relevant." Millar is currently working on a sequel to Lonely Werewolf Girl. --John Joseph AdamsFuture Will Be Watching

Virtual worlds, massive data collection and sophisticated sensors are going to define the world of the future, IBM researchers told SCI FI Wire during a brainstorming session with University of Southern California film students.

"Sensors will become ubiquitous. You think you've seen a lot of sensors around so far, well, you've seen nothing yet," said Jeff Jonas, an IBM engineer involved in security and privacy issues. "There will be piles of data, and it will become one."

Rather than people needing to access the data, Jonas predicted that the "collective intelligence will tell you want you will need at any given time." For example, he explained, "if you are walking down the street, the sensors will check out the bird migratory patterns and locate your position and tell you 'Jump to the right one foot,' and you will miss the bird dropping that is about to hit you."

Jonas referred to a scene in Minority Report in which Tom Cruise is manipulating data three-dimensionally with his hands and throwing out unnecessary information. "That is so old-school, that isn't even how it is today," Jonas said. "The computers will sift through it for you and tell you what you need. With all those sensors, though, comes a price of privacy. You will love it when it helps you and your doctor, but you will hate it when the police use it against you."

Jonas said that his prediction of the future includes a world of virtual life. "We will live in more of the virtual world than anywhere else," he said. "For 11 cents, people will want to pop themselves into their own world and live in their own avatar. That will be a huge market."

The researchers met with faculty and students at USC's film school for an imagining of the world in 2050 as part of an ongoing liaison with the filmmakers of the future.

IBM biologist Ajay Royyuru predicted that longevity will go up and that the world will be a safer place. "You will have a doctor who is 102 years old and not think that it is unusual."

Royyuru was asked about the SF comedy Idiocracy, which suggested that intelligent people would not procreate and that the population would dumb down. "There is evidence that the smarter and more intelligent will continue to survive anyway, and that that kind of phenomenon won't occur," he said.

IBM environmental specialist Sharon Nunes said the world of the future will have clean, recyclable water even for a population of 9 billion people. They have taken into consideration certain disastrous occurrences, such as global warming or Day After Tomorrow possibilities. --Mike SzymanskiEisner Preps New Creature Feature

Director Breck Eisner told SCI FI Wire that he is preparing an update to the 1954 SF movie Creature From the Black Lagoon and has found a pristine location in the Amazon in which to film it.

"I want it to be authentic; I want it to be a sea of green rather than CG," said Eisner in an interview after a news conference on May 2 in Pasadena, Calif., to promote NBC's Fear Itself. "It is certainly easy to update the story. It was shot in modern times at the time it was originally made, and this will be shot today in the Amazon. We are updating the tone of the original."

Writer Gary Ross, who was nominated for best original screenplay for the Tom Hanks fantasy Big, has updated Creature From the Black Lagoon for Eisner.

Eisner said that a telephone pole and wire are clearly visible in some shots in the first Creature film, which was shot mostly on the Universal Studios back lot. "Of course, in those days nobody thought you'd be able to stop the film and freeze the frame," the director said with a laugh. "We had a crew in the Amazon in Peru. ... We found a place called the Forest of Mirrors, because you can see [from] overhead [that] there are so many lagoons on a thousand-mile green-carpet river, and we found the lagoon we're going to shoot in." He said the river water level drops 50 feet in the winter months.

Before focusing full attention on his version of Creature, Eisner said he is going to finish a remake of George Romero's The Crazies. He originally intended to do the SF horror thriller remake after doing Creature, but decided to reverse the projects. Both are being done for Universal.

Eisner's installment of the Fear Itself series is called "The Sacrifice," written by Mick Garris from a story by Del Howison (Dark Delicacies), about four criminals who find themselves stranded in a fort run by three seductive women and a creature. (NBC and Universal are owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.) --Michael SzymanskiMore Fear Helmers Announced

Producers of NBC's upcoming Fear Itself told SCI FI Wire that they have lined up more directors for the 13-episode horror anthology series at NBC Universal's All American Summer Press Day in Pasadena, Calif., on May 2.

The new directors are John Dahl (Joy Ride), Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter) and Rupert Wainwright (The Fog), joining a previously announced roster of award-winning directors such as John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Darren Bousman (the Saw films), Ronny Yu (Freddy vs. Jason), Brad Anderson (The Machinist), Breck Eisner (Creature From the Black Lagoon), Mary Harron (American Psycho), Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator) and Ernest Dickerson (NBC's Heroes), producers Andrew Deane and Keith Addis said.

The series will feature episodes about werewolves, vampires, zombies, serial killers and ghosts. "We have psychological horror and ghost stories and monster movies," Deane said. "We've worked on this to find stories that grab people and hold their interest and keep them in suspense and scare them."

"There's nothing like it on TV," Addis added.

Actors Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) and Elizabeth Moss (Invasion) will appear in some of the episodes; they also appeared at the press event. Fear Itself debuts June 5. (NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.) --Mike SzymanskiCohen: Mummy III Trailer In June

Rob Cohen, director of the upcoming sequel The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, told SCI FI Wire that the heretofore low-key marketing of the film will ramp up with the release of the first trailer in June--but not a moment sooner.

"The trailers that Universal cut have a lot of the most complicated visual effects, and there is so much more in the movie," Cohen said in an interview. "But this is something they want to focus on, and I don't want it out before those effects are finished."

Despite the film's fast-approaching August release date, Cohen said he isn't concerned that the film is still off the summer radar. "We have an audience that knows the name, and we're not trying to create audience recognition from ground zero. I think if we have a solid couple of months to advertise, no one will miss it. [Audiences] will have made up their minds, but I don't want them to make up their minds on incomplete work."

The first movie poster was released by Universal on May 1, which reflects the film's Asian-themed villain (played by Jet Li) in a state of dramatic decomposition.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor takes place 13 years after the events of 2001's The Mummy Returns. Brendan Fraser returns as adventurer Rick O'Connell, while Maria Bello takes over the role of Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell, which was originated by Rachel Weisz. Newcomer Luke Ford plays their now-grown son, Alex.

"The whole approach is different," Cohen said about the third film in the franchise. "The sets are bigger, and they are less digital. It builds on the legacy, but it's a very different movie." The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor opens Aug. 1. (Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.) --Tara BennettFraser: Journey 3D Is The Future

Brendan Fraser, who stars in the upcoming film Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, told SCI FI Wire that the 3-D technology used to make the film is the true future of filmmaking.

"Do pay attention to this movie, because it's groundbreaking in the terms that this technology has not been given to the world yet in this format," Fraser said in an interview. "It's not the blue-eye/red-eye style that makes your eyes do calisthenics and makes people sick. It's high-def 3-D, live action and feature-length."

Journey is a contemporary retelling of Jules Verne's classic SF novel, with Fraser playing a scientist in search of his missing brother. Directed by former visual-effects supervisor Eric Brevig, Journey makes use of Real D Cinema technology and is the first wide release to open exclusively in the format in digital 3-D theaters.

"Usually 3-D has the perception of things just jumping out at you," Fraser said. "But the cool thing about this technology is that it's more immersive. You can have a sense of stepping through the proscenium into the environment that the actors are in. But beyond the other dimension is the depth of field, and you are in the immediate foreground, but you find yourself staring at the horizon and seeing the curvature of the Earth or wanting to know what is around a corner."

Coupled with advanced audio, the technology creates the sensation of seeing onscreen what you see in your mind, Fraser said. "Like there's a scene that delights kids, where these tiny glowing birds come swarming to the roof of a cavern, and they come down and flutter around the three heroes, and you see kids and adults reaching out to touch them," he said.

Fraser said the new 3-D technology goes beyond what viewers are used to. "In my view, CGI films have hit a glass ceiling, and Journey breaks through it," he said. "The star of the movie is the experience. Who cares who's in it? It's the experience. It's an exciting time for filmmaking, and I'm privileged to be a part of it." Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D opens July 11. --Tara BennettT4 Eyes PG-13

As production starts this week on Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, the next installment in the SF franchise, producers at the Halcyon Co. said they are aiming at a PG-13 rating for the Warner Brothers movie, which is set for release on May 22, 2009, Variety reported.

The Terminator series is one of the highest-grossing R-rated franchises of all time, with the first three films having grossed more than $1.03 billion worldwide. But Halcyon producers thought it was time to broaden the upcoming fourth film's audience base, and they believe the PG-13 won't compromise the series' gritty vision.

A family-friendly rating opens many doors, including a Terminator Salvation licensing deal for action figures with Playmates Toys.

Halcyon has already launched Halcyon Games to create a Terminator game for release at the same time as the movie.

Set in post-apocalyptic 2029, the movie centers on an adult John Connor, played by Christian Bale, who leads the war to save humanity from the killing machines.Iron Man Tops $100 M

Iron Man showed its mettle at the May 2 weekend box office, taking the top spot with more than $100 million, well over estimates, to blast the summer movie season into the stratosphere out of the gate, the Associated Press reported.

The comic-book adaptation, starring Robert Downey Jr., hauled in $100.7 million during its opening weekend and $104.2 million since debuting Thursday night, the second-best premiere ever for a nonsequel, according to studio estimates on May 4.

The film also scored overseas, with $96.7 million in 57 countries, where it began opening Wednesday, putting its worldwide total at $201 million.

The movie, distributed by Paramount, is the first release by Marvel Studios, which has begun financing its own productions after such studio-backed hits as the Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four movies.

Iron Man did better than expected; most estimates going into the weekend predicted the movie would gross as much as $80 million.

Iron Man was the 10th biggest opening of all time and the fourth biggest for a superhero movie. Among nonsequels, it came in behind only the first Spider-Man, which premiered with $114.8 million.SCI FI Gets Ghost, TNG

SCI FI Channel announced that it has secured off-network cable rights to CBS' Ghost Whisperer from CBS Television Distribution. SCI FI will launch the series in the fall of 2009.

SCI FI will also have access to shows in the CBS library, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, which will premiere June 2 on SCI FI, as well as Charmed, Early Edition, Highlander, Friday the Thirteenth: The Series and the classic sitcom Mork & Mindy, among others.

SCI FI will air Ghost Whisperer in a weekly four-hour prime-time stack beginning in the fall of 2009. SCI FI will be the only place on television to see weekly mini-marathons of the show. The Channel will also schedule programming stunts with full-day marathons. SCI FI will simulcast Ghost Whisperer in HD.

Ghost Whisperer stars Jennifer Love Hewitt as Melinda Gordon, who communicates with ghosts who cling to the living because they have unfinished business.Blair's Myrick Has New Objective

Nine years after the low-cost horror film The Blair Witch Project became a hugely profitable cult phenomenon, its co-director hopes to recapture some of that excitement with his new thriller, The Objective, the Reuters news service reported.

"I want people to appreciate Blair Witch for what it was but at the same time give whatever else I do at least a fighting chance and say, 'OK, this guy can do more than just one movie; he can do more than just Blair Witch," Daniel Myrick told Reuters.

The Objective tells the story of a CIA officer and special forces crew on a mission in the Afghanistan mountains confronted by supernatural threats. It premiered at New York's Tribeca Film festival and is seeking a distributor.

In some ways, it mirrors Blair Witch, including the general narrative of a team of characters lost and forced to deal with the unknown, as well as using first-person filming techniques to add to suspense.Disney Plans Hours Of Fun

Walt Disney and Scott Rudin Productions are developing the family fantasy film Hours of Fun and have hired John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein to rewrite Greg Pace's screenplay, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The tentatively titled Fun is the story of two childhood friends who ordered a slew of novelty toys (such as X-ray glasses, Sea Monkeys and transforming robots) from the back pages of their late-'70s comic books. Thirty years later, the toys begin living up to their wild advertising claims, forcing the pair to save their town from the ensuing chaos.

Bones star Francis Daley (known for his role on Freaks and Geeks) and Goldstein (The New Adventures of Old Christine) sold their comedy spec script The $40,000 Man to New Line last year.Warner Picks Up Ditch

Warner Brothers has picked up The Ditch, an SF action spec script from prolific music-video and documentary producer Sascha Penn, Variety reported.

Set in the future, the film takes place in a super maximum-security prison on one of Jupiter's moons, where Earth's worst criminals are incarcerated. When a prison guard's family is taken hostage, he is coerced into helping the facility's most notorious terrorist, a man who was scheduled to be executed that day, escape.BRIEFLY NOTED

Myriad Pictures will produce and finance Bill Bennett's horror movie Drive the Night, about a couple lost in the Australian outback who end up in a supernatural fight for their lives, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Lionsgate has picked up the rights to the comic book Deal With the Devil and has set scribe Kyle Ward to adapt it, according to The Hollywood Reporter; published by Alias, the story centers on a Chicago detective who is forced to take on an unlikely new partner: the original serial killer.

The Muppet Show: The Complete Third Season, featuring 24 episodes of the TV series, comes to DVD for the first time on May 20 from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

IGN.com reported a rumor that Sin City co-director Frank Miller may be developing a new version of Buck Rogers for the big screen.

The New York Times has a revealing report on Will Smith's upcoming superhero movie Hancock, which suggests the movie is darker and more sexual than it appears.

Stephen Root has signed on for a three-episode arc in HBO's upcoming vampire drama True Blood, playing Eddie Gautier, a lonely vampire smitten with Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), according to The Hollywood Reporter.

A new Web site has gone live for Warner Brothers' upcoming Get Smart, which opens June 20.

The new two-minute trailer for George Lucas' upcoming animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie will debut at 7:58 p.m. in all time zones on May 8 on five Turner cable networks: Cartoon Network, TNT, TBS, CNN and Boomerang.

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has won her battle in London to ban further publication of a long-lens photograph of her son, in a privacy case her legal team called a major development in British law, the Reuters news service reported.

Comedy Central, which has agreed to pay the Weinstein Co. $2.7 million for cable rights to Superhero Movie as part of a deal that also includes pre-buys of two unreleased titles, including the Star Wars-themed Fanboys, Variety reported.

THQ Inc. and DreamWorks Animation announced today that they have entered into a licensing agreement to develop video games based on the studio's 2010 fall animated feature film with the working title of MasterMind, a satirical sendup of the superhero genre about a supervillain who must find a new motivation after accidentally killing his archrival, Uberman; the movie is due in theaters on Nov. 5, 2010.

JoBlo.com has posted a new video journal for Zack Snyder's upcoming Watchmen movie, featuring costume designer Michael Wilkinson; Watchmen, based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' graphic novel, opens March 6, 2009.

Director Timur Bekmambetov's SF action movie Wanted, starring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie, will open Film Independent's 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival, and Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army will close it, Variety reported.

A new trailer has gone live for Will Smith's upcoming superhero movie Hancock and has been linked through SCI FI Wire's Trailers page.

A teaser trailer has gone live on MySpace.com for Twilight, the upcoming film version of Stephenie Meyer's best-selling book, which opens in December.

TV Guide Online's Michael Ausiello reported a rumor that Brea Grant (Friday Night Lights) will join the cast of NBC's Heroes next season as the Speedster.

The new trailer for The Dark Knight, the upcoming Batman sequel, has gone live on the Web and is linked through SCI FI Wire's Trailers page.

Amy Winehouse has abandoned recording the theme to Quantum of Solace, the next James Bond film, because the singer is not ready to work, her producer told the Associated Press; Mark Ronson, who produced much of Winehouse's Grammy-winning Back to Black, said she started work on the track but that it would take "some miracle of science" to finish it.

ComingSoon.net clarified a rumor on the New Zealand Web site Flicks.co.nz that Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones had ceased production; quoting DreamWorks chief Stacey Snider, the site said that the film was always slated for a fall 2009 launch and that there were no creative issues or dissent about the depiction of heaven in the movie.