THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2013

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013

AUGUST 12, 2013

SUNDAY, AUGUST 11, 2013

ONCE UPON A TIME PREVIEW
Once Upon a Time fans at D23 Expo were treated to a never-before-seen clip from the season three premiere Saturday.
The upcoming season finds the ABC drama's heroes and villains traveling from Storybrooke to Neverland to retrieve Henry (Jared S. Gilmore). The clip featured Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) given an ominous warning from one of Peter Pan's lost boys, showing viewers that this is not going to be same Pan from children's bedtime stories.
"When Rumplestiltskin lets us know he is someone to be frightened of, I am frightened," co-creator Edward Kitsis told D23 attendees during the panel. "Neverland is the heart of darkness, but they're going into it to save Henry."
Added co-creator Adam Horowitz: "We're putting our own spin on it. It's a little different than what's been seen before."
Season three will be split into two batches of 11 episodes, with the first half focusing primarily on Neverland. Of the season three overarching theme, Horowitz said that while season one was about the characters not knowing their real identity and season two was about them remembering, season three will be about them getting "back to their true selves. What better place then Neverland, where everything is stripped away, for them to confront who they are?"
Meanwhile, the creators also teased romantic sparks between Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Captain Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) and insight, via flashbacks, into how Hook became a pirate.
Belle (Emilie de Ravin) also will return, and the show will introduce Ariel. The creators added that Ursula also is likely to appear -- "but you never know because on the show you never know who is the real Ursula," said Kitsis -- and there is also "a good chance of seeing a guy named Eric," added Horowitz, referring to Ariel's prince beau.
Horowitz and Kitsis also revealed that on their wish list of characters to incorporate into the show is Rapunzel.
"The key is when and how to honor the character and bring something new," Horowitz said.
Meanwhile, D23 attendees also got a look at the 19-minute pilot presentation for Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, the OUAT spinoff that debuts in October.
Wonderland follows a young Alice (Sophie Lowe) in Victorian London who tells of a strange new land that exists on the other side of a rabbit hole. Like OUAT, Wonderland will feature flashbacks that give more insight into the characters. Unlike OUAT, the first season will feature a complete story arc.
"It will be much like a movie, or like how they went on one mission in Star Trek, and another year it was another mission," Kitsis said.
As for their decision to create an entirely new character -- Alice's love interest, the genie Cyrus (Peter Gadiot) -- the creators likened it to OUAT's Emma, who also was an entirely new creation. "Alice was curious enough to follow a rabbit into a hole," Kitsis said. "Naturally she would fall in love with a genie -- he's seen many lives, worlds and places. People ruin their lives for wishes. So they're kindred spirits."
While Wonderland is meant to stand on its own -- meaning people new to OUAT need not have seen that show -- OUAT fans will be treated to "crumbs sprinkled" throughout the series, teased Horowitz.

HOW I LIVE NOW
Magnolia Pictures has released the trailer for Kevin Macdonald's doomsday thriller How I Live Now, starring Saoirse Ronan and based on the award winning novel by Meg Rosoff.
Set in the near-future UK, Ronan plays Daisy, an American teenager sent to stay with relatives in the English countryside. Initially withdrawn and alienated, she begins to warm up to her charming surroundings, and strikes up a romance with the handsome Edmund (George MacKay). But on the fringes of their idyllic summer days are tense news reports of an escalating conflict in Europe. As the UK falls into a violent, chaotic military state, Daisy finds herself hiding and fighting to survive.

TOMORROWLAND
The D23 audience was treated to a glimpse into the mysteries surrounding Disney’s “Tomorrowland” as Sean Bailey and filmmakers Brad Bird (director, co-writer, producer) and Damon Lindelof (co-writer, producer) talked about the inspiration of the secrets of the black box, which was featured in a short behind-the-scenes piece screened for the audience about the visionary Walt Disney. Although the audience was buzzing with questions, Bailey remained coy, but then announced a special, surprise “Tomorrowland” exhibit opening in the afternoon on the D23 floor that would reveal the contents of the box and more. Starring George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy and Thomas Robinson, the action-packed adventure hits theaters December 12, 2014.

SAVING MR. BANKS
Sean Bailey set up the story and talented cast of Disney’s “Saving Mr. Banks,”the extraordinary, untold backstory of how Disney’s classic “Mary Poppins” made it to the screen, and reminded everyone that “Mary Poppins” is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary. After showing two clips from the movie to the D23 audience, Bailey introduced Jason Schwartzman and B. J. Novak, who portray the famous composing team of Richard and Robert Sherman, respectively, in the film. In a big surprise moment, Schwartzman and Novak welcomed “Mary Poppins” composer Richard Sherman on stage to greet the excited audience. The two talented actors then engaged the crowd in a rousing, confetti-filled, grand finale sing-along performance of “Let’s Go Fly a Kite,” the classic song from “Mary Poppins.”
Two-time Academy Award®–winner Emma Thompson and fellow double Oscar®-winner Tom Hanks topline Disney’s “Saving Mr. Banks,” which is directed by John Lee Hancock (“The Blind Side,” “The Rookie”) and produced by Alison Owen, Ian Collie and Philip Steuer. Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith wrote the screenplay.
When Walt Disney’s daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, P.L. Travers’ “Mary Poppins,” he made them a promise—one that he didn’t realize would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney’s plans for the adaptation. For those two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls out all the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Sherman brothers, Walt launches an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author doesn’t budge. He soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and the rights begin to move further away from his grasp. It is only when he reaches into his own childhood that Walt discovers the truth about the ghosts that haunt her, and together they set Mary Poppins free to ultimately make one of the most endearing films in cinematic history.
“Saving Mr. Banks” releases in theaters December 13, 2013, limited, December 20, 2013, wide.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013

ARROW NEWS
A beloved Stargate SG-1 star will be heading to Starling City soon as part of Arrow’s second season.
Teryl Rothery, who played Dr. Janet Frasier for seven years on the long-running SG-1 series, has signed on for a 3-4-episode arc in year two of The CW’s hit superhero series.
No word on exactly who Rothery will be playing, though she did tease that the character is “very different” from her previous roles. Could it be related to that Flash spinoff? We have no idea, but we can’t wait to find out.
After several years on SG-1, Rothery’s character grew into a true fan-favorite character. It’ll be nice to see her back in the sci-fi fold.

EXPENDABLES 3
After the announcement that Harrison Ford has signed on for The Expendables 3 comes the reveal from Entertainment Weekly that Mel Gibson and Antonio Banderas will also appear in the film. While there was no mention of Antonio Banderas' role, Gibson is said to play the main antagonist for the film, confirming earlier rumors.
The pair join a cast that currently includes Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey and Victor Ortiz. The film set to shoot soon in Los Angeles, rumored additional cast members have been said to include Jackie Chan, Wesley Snipes, Nicolas Cage and Milla Jovovich, although none have been, as of yet, confirmed.
Both Banderas and Gibson will also appear in Machete Kills, which will be released on October 11.
The Expendables 3 will be directed by Patrick Hughes and is scheduled to arrive in theaters on August 15, 2014.

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE
eOne Films has debuted an international trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire .
Opening in theaters and IMAX on November 22, the Francis Lawrence-directed sequel stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Lenny Kravitz, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Toby Jones, Woody Harrelson, Jena Malone, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amanda Plummer, Lynn Cohen, Patrick St. Esprit, Meta Golding, Bruno Gunn, Alan Ritchson, E. Roger Mitchell, Maria Howell, Stephanie Leigh Schlund, Sam Claflin and Jeffrey Wright.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a "Victor's Tour' of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) - a competition that could change Panem forever.

WHITE DEVIL
Director James Gray has a lot of experience writing and directing crime-thrillers with The Yards, We Own the Night and Little Odessa all having their share of fans among movie enthusiasts.
Now word comes from Deadline that Gray also has fans at Warner Bros. who have tapped the filmmaker to write and direct a contemporary drama called White Devil, set in the real world of the Chinese Mafia in Boston and a white kid adopted by a Chinese family into that world.
The movie is based on the real case of Dorchester, Mass. resident John Willis, also known as "White Devil John," who was allegedly a ringleader and enforcer within the area's Asian organized crime who was jailed earlier this year for drug-trafficking.
Gray's most recent film The Immigrant, starring Joaquin Phoenix-who has appeared in all of the director's films except for Little Odessa--Marion Cotillard and James Gray, is scheduled for release by The Weinstein Company, and Deadline states that Gray is still attached to the adaptation of David Grann's Amazon adventure tale The Lost City of Z at Paramount and the Fox/New Regency action-thriller The Gray Man.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2013

THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2013

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

MONDAY, AUGUST 5, 2013

NEW DOCTOR WHO NAMED
Now that he's been announced as the 12th Doctor on "Doctor Who," Zap2it is taking a look back at some the best moments from Peter Capaldi's career, going back to the early 1980s.
Whovians may recognize him for his previous appearance on "Doctor Who," as Caecilius in the Series 4 episode "The Fires of Pompeii." He also starred in "Torchwood: Children of Earth" with John Barrowman, otherwise known as Captain Jack Harkness.
One of Capaldi's first roles was in 1983's "Local Hero," alongside Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster. In the film he plays a young representative for an oil company who learns his employer plans to buy a small village in Scotland to turn into a refinery.
He also stars in the 2009 comedy "In The Loop" with James Gandolfini. He plays his character from the TV series "The Thick of It," the Director of Communications for the Prime Minister of Northampton. The movie is a spinoff of the show, which ran from 2005-2012. "The Thick of It" and "In The Loop" can both be watched on Hulu.
Something to note is Capaldi is the first Doctor who have won an Academy Award. He wrote and directed the short "Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life," which won an Oscar in 1994.
Ironically, Capaldi's most recent role in "World War Z" came with a curious name. He played the part of W.H.O. Doctor. Of course, W.H.O. stands for World Health organization, but the coincidence is pretty awesome.
Capaldi will become the madman with a box when Matt Smith regenerates during the 2013 "Doctor Who" Christmas special, which airs on December 25.

AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.
Hot on the heels of the "Marvel's Agents of SHIELD" panel at the TCA summer press tour, star Clark Gregg launched a game on Twitter. He posted the first piece of the show's official poster. Once retweeted enough times, Ming-Na posted the next piece. On it went through the cast and crew until the poster was complete.
The poster features the agents, led by a very alive Phil Coulson. Gregg reprises his role from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he's joined by Na, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge.
"Marvel's Agents of SHIELD" premieres September 24 on ABC.

ABC'S SPLIT-SEASON LINEUP
ABC on Sunday further clarified which of its programming would be broken up into two uninterrupted blocks of 12-episode runs, in addition to announcing its midseason schedule.
ABC Entertainment Group president Paul Lee used his platform at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour to unveil his plan for midseason with reality show Quest and limited series Resurrection filling in between fall and midseason drama runs. He called the latter drama "extraordinary" and noted there's "nothing like it on television."
The scheduling marks a move on ABC's part to eliminate repeats, allow programming to continue its momentum and retain viewers. It follows the cable network model -- something Lee is familiar with during his run at ABC Family.
Resurrection will premiere Sunday, March 9 at 10 p.m., taking the slot occupied by Betrayal when the freshman drama's season concludes. The Quest will debut on Thursday, Jan. 2 with a two-hour premiere, moving into the slot occupied by Once Upon a Time in Wonderland following the latter's season finale.
Grey’s Anatomy, Nashville, Once Upon a Time, Revenge and Scandal will return in the spring, following their winter finales with new episodes that will run with few or no repeats until their season finales in May.
Lee will look to series like Killer Women (among others) and its other new fare to fill in the gaps during the long hiatus for Grey's, Scandal, Nashville and OUAT.
Here's the breakdown:
Thursday, Jan. 2
8-10 p.m. The Quest

Wednesday, Feb. 26
10-11 p.m. Nashville

Thursday, Feb. 27
9-10 p.m. Grey's Anatomy
10-11 p.m. Scandal

Sunday, March 9
8-9 p.m. Once Upon a Time
9-10 p.m. Revenge
10-11 p.m. Resurrection

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
The pairing of Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg in the R-rated crime-comedy 2 Guns (Universal) probably could have opened bigger with a summer release, but after taking in $10 million on Friday--$1.3 million of that from Thursday night previews--the superstar pairing settled in for an estimated opening weekend of $27.4 million, which was enough to win the weekend. Even with the added box office star power of Wahlberg, that was a fairly average opening for Washington, yet it represents his sixth movie in a row to open over $22 million.
After a relatively weak domestic opening, the superhero sequel The Wolverine (20th Century Fox), starring Hugh Jackman, took a typical second weekend plunge of roughly 59% to take second place with $21.7 million and roughly $95 million total.
Opening earlier in the week on Wednesday in 3,866 theaters, The Smurfs 2 (Sony), the sequel to Sony Pictures Animation's $563 million global hit, brought in just $9.5 million in its first two days before settling down to third place over the weekend with only $18.2 million. The $27.8 million the sequel earned in its first five days is less than the $35 million the original The Smurfs made in its three-day opening two years ago.
It probably goes without saying that The Smurfs 2--like most movies this summer--fared better overseas, where Sony opened it in 43 markets to the tune of $52.5 million, roughly twice its five-day North American take. Some of the big markets where it opened included the UK where it was #1 with $5.1 million, as well as being #1 in Holland, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland, all big markets for the Belgian creator Peyo's popular characters. It was #2 in France with $4.2 million, but it also scored big in Central and South America as Brazil brought in $4.7 million and Mexico did $4.3 million. The Smurfs also opened significantly better in both Russia and Korea than the original movie, all pointing to the fact that the movie will do just fine without American business. Its $80 million global total after just five days says it all.
James Wan's horror-thriller The Conjuring (New Line/Warner Bros.)--one of the few movies in the top 10 without a "2" in the title and that isn't a sequel--continues to do well as it crossed $100 million this weekend with an additional $13.6 million, down just 38% from last weekend. With $108.6 million grossed in just three weeks' time, the $20 million-budgeted breakout should be making a solid play to end the summer in the Top 10.
Meanwhile, back in the land of sequels, Despicable Me 2 (Universal) took fifth place--its first time out of the Top 3 since opening over the 4th of July weekend--with $10.4 million as it continued to bolster its standing as the second-highest grossing movie of the year with $327 million.
Sony's other summer sequel, Adam Sandler's Grown Ups 2, followed in sixth place with a solid $8.1 million and a total of $116.4 million, putting it into the Top 10 for the summer.
Barely motoring along in seventh place, DreamWorks Animation's Turbo added another $6.4 million this weekend, but it also dropped 53% from last weekend and is struggling with just $69.5 million grossed so far.
Surprise, surprise, eighth place also went to a sequel, namely Bruce Willis' RED 2 (Summit Entertainment), which added another $5.6 million to bring its total to a weak $45.1 million after three weeks in theaters.
Already one of the summer's biggest surprise sleeper hits, The Heat (20th Century Fox), starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, added another $4.7 million over the weekend to take ninth place, bringing its total closer to $149 million, making it the eighth-biggest movie of the summer.
It came out just ahead of Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim (Warner Bros.), which followed its record opening day in China with a weekend take of $4.6 million, having grossed $92.9 million domestically. This past weekend, the movie debuted at #1 there, grossing $45.2 million, Warner Bros.' biggest opening there and even bigger than The Dark Knight Rises' $32 million opening last year. That helped put Pacific Rim just ahead of The Smurfs 2 to win the international box office this weekend and put its global total across the $200 million mark.
The Top 10 movies at the box office grossed an estimated $120 million, which was up slightly from last year's August kick-off weekend where the Total Recall remake and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days failed to dethrone Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises from its third weekend at #1.
The only significant limited release this weekend was James Ponsoldt's coming-of-age drama The Spectacular Now (A24), starring Miles Teller (Footloose) and Shailene Woodley (Divergent), which opened in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles to the tune of $200 thousand, averaging roughly $50 thousand per site. A24 plans on expanding it into more cities later in August.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 4, 2013

NEXT DOCTOR WHO
The search for the next star of Doctor Who has made for heavy betting in the U.K., but now bookmakers are starting to lock it down — because they’re that sure they know who the next Doctor will be.
The leading candidate? Peter Capaldi, best known for his roles in The Thick of It, The Hour, World War Z and In The Loop, is heavily leading the bets to take over in the TARDIS. He’s up so big, many bookies are shutting down bets because they’re so sure it’s him.
But that doesn’t mean it’s a lock. Other outlets are reporting that everyone from William Hills, Daniel Rigby and Idris Elba are all still in the hunt to make their debut Sunday during the big reveal.
If it turns out to be Capaldi, it would be a marked departure from the recent casting since Who was brought back to life in 2005. At 55, he would by far be the oldest Doctor of the modern era. Considering that fans are used to the Doctor being a bit younger these days, it’ll be interesting to see if they go for a throwback and bring in an older actor for the iconic role.

NEXT BATMAN
Less than 24 hours ago, SuperHeroHype launched their own front page poll to find out which actors SHH readers want to see take over the role of Batman for Zack Snyder's recently announced Superman/Batman movie. Today, Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter has a list of six names that have been mentioned behind the scenes.
As is always the case with these theoretical casting stories, the usual caveats apply in that the script hasn't even been fully written yet and getting an actor to commit to a role like Batman would likely require something for them to read and respond to.
One of the top choices on Kit's list seems to be 46-year-old Josh Brolin, who famously starred in Warner Bros.' Western bomb Jonah Hex but who also has cred with the comic book and genre crowd from working with the likes of Robert Rodriguez, including his starring role in next year's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.
It's probably not too surprising that the story also mentions Brolin's Gangster Squad co-star Ryan Gosling as a candidate, because Gosling tends to get mentioned whenever they're casting any superhero movie, although being only 32 does veer further away from the idea of having a more experienced Batman under the cowl.
Here are the other four names mentioned in the piece, two of which have been discussed on the SHH Forums and at least one seeming to come from out of left field:
Joe Manganiello - The 36-year-old star of "True Blood" was being considered for the role of Superman at one point, according to Kit.
Richard Armitage - The 41-year-old British actor who got attention playing the dwarf Thorin in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit.
Matthew Goode - The 35-year-old who previously played Ozymandias in Snyder's Watchmen.
Max Martini - The 43-year-old TV star who has appeared on "Revenge" and "Castle" and who recently appeared in Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim.
Regardless of who is cast in the important role, Warner Bros. hopes to start filming in early 2014 in order to make a summer 2015 release date.

BOURNE NEWS
Just a little over one week short of a year to the date of the release of The Bourne Legacy, Universal Pictures is making plans to move forward with their lucrative "Bourne" franchise, having hired writer Anthony Peckham (Sherlock Holmes, Invictus) to script the fifth installment which will once again feature Jeremy Renner's character Aaron Cross.
Directed by regular series writer Tony Gilroy, The Bourne Legacy opened domestically on August 10, 2012 to the tune of $38.1 million its opening weekend and while it went on to make just $113.2 million domestically, its $276.6 million worldwide gross proved that the franchise was strong and the world was ready for a new Bourne lead, following the departure of Matt Damon.
Jeremy Renner's Cross was a new agent introduced in "Legacy" who had been enhanced medically to be smarter and stronger than other agents as part of Operation Outcome until he was targeted for termination. According to Deadline, Universal hopes there's enough interest to keep following that divergent storyline masterminded by Gilroy, which moved away from the original concept in the late Robert Ludlum's novels, in hopes to keep the franchise going with the ever-decreasing chances of Damon returning.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2013

MICHAEL ANSARA PASSES AWAY
One of the best voices in science fiction has passed away.
The hallmark of a truly great performer isn't that you immediately recognize his face, it's that you recognize his voice. And, within an instant of hearing it, you'll always know Michael Ansara's voice, even if his face isn't there to go along with it.
Science fiction fans know him for so many great performances -- he was the Klingon, Kang, on three separate Star Trek series, Kane on Buck Rogers, and Mr. Freeze for the Batman Animated Series. He played so many roles between 1944 and 2001 that it's hard to imagine how he was able to successfully inhabit so many.
Long before we knew him, though, Michael Ansara was born in Syria, before emigrating with his parents to the United States at the age of 2. In Lowell, Mass., he was a shy boy who had originally thought he'd be a physician. It was acting lessons that brought that boy out of his shell and helped him realize he had another destiny.
It wouldn't be easy. Acting never is. He was relegated to being a bit player mostly from the '40s and more than halfway through the '50s. He was typecast because of his dark skin and played mostly Native American roles.
It was through that particular stereotype that Ansara found his first standout role, as Cochise on the popular western Broken Arrow. He'd take on another Native American character, Deputy U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart, in Law of the Plainsman.
The 1960s would afford Ansara the chance to break into sci-fi with roles on Outer Limits, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space and Time Tunnel. How lucky for him (and for all of us) that this path led him to discover the Klingon Dahar Master Kang. He faced off against Capt. James T. Kirk himself in the Trek classic Day of the Dove. The struggle between these two titans cemented Ansara and Kang as one of the great characters in Trek, if not all science fiction. Kang was so popular that Ansara would reprise the role on Deep Space Nine and Voyager, making him one of a select few performers to feature on three different Star Trek shows.
It was also during this time that he would marry Barbara Eden, star of I Dream of Jeannie. The two would have one child together, son Matthew.
Ansara snuck back behind the limelight again, flitting in and out of the many cop dramas that typified 1970s television. Naturally, we remember him for playing the sympathetic antagonist, Kane, on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. It was sadly also during this time that his marriage to Eden came to an end. A few short years later, Ansara would begin again by marrying Beverly Kushida. This marriage would last.
Life has a funny way of turning around on a man. The '80s didn't bring anything substantial in the way of major roles, but the '90s would see Ansara return to Kang and, more importantly, they would find him playing one of the most richly complex villains in all of fiction -- Mr. Freeze.
For every fan of TV and film, there is a role for which a performer becomes most known, a part that it seems he was born to play. The very first time I heard Ansara's voice, it came from the mouth of Victor Fries. From that moment on, the two men, one fictional, one real, were inexorably linked.
And, indeed, Mr. Freeze became the one role Ansara would continually return to between 1992 and 2001. It would be the last role he would play. 2001 was also the year Ansara's son, Michael, passed away from a drug overdose.
It's not hard to imagine a man wanting to shy away from fame after the death of his son. The tragedy of Mr. Freeze, a man unable to save the one person he loves most, trapped forever in an unfeeling prison of ice, suddenly feels all too familiar.
And now, in a way that is much more final, Michael Ansara's deep and moving voice is silenced after battling with prolonged illness. Michael Ansara died July 31 at his home in Calabasas, Calif. He is survived by his wife, Beverly, his sister Rose, his niece Michelle, and his nephew Michael John.
He is also survived by every role he ever played, every character he ever inhabited. And in that way his voice endures, eternal, even if the man is not.

CONVENTION GUEST
Michael Ansara was a guest at my first science fiction convention - the Big E-CON in Norfolk, Virginia. Mr. Ansara was gracious and just a wonderful convention guest. On Facebook, I see other comments from folks who met him at conventions around the country. He will be missed.

VAMPIRE DIARIES NEWS
Janina Gavankar is trading in Bon Temps for Mystic Falls.
The former "True Blood" shape-shifter (RIP, Luna!) has booked a potentially recurring role on Season 5 of "The Vampire Diaries," TV Line reports. Gavankar will play Tessa, a "beautiful, exotic and self-assured" woman who comes to Mystic Falls to rekindle an old flame.
Gavankar will first appear in the hit CW series' third episode of the season, which is also a flashback hour. Her other TV credits include "Arrow," "The League" and "The Gates."

J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI SIGNING THIS WEEKEND
Two LA-area signings this week for Sidekick #1! Golden Apple on Melrose 8/7 6 p.m. and Collector's Paradise in Pasadena 8/10 at 1 p.m. Also: Ten Grand #4 comes out the same day!

RIDDICK
After floundering with a big-budget PG-13 sequel, Vin Diesel wants to take Riddick back to its R-rated roots — and the latest trailer shows just how hard he’s trying.
From the claustrophobic setting on a dangerous alien world to the freaky monsters wreaking havoc on a small crew, this has all the makings of another sci-fi classic. There’s no question anymore: This is definitely a sequel to Pitch Black, not Chronicles of Riddick — and that looks to be a very good thing.
The new footage shows a bit more of Diesel’s Riddick being badass, and Battlestar Galactica alum Katee Sackhoff pops up a few more times along the way. We also get to see a bit more alien tech and weapons, which look pretty sharp.
Maybe it's just the editing job, but the production values seem a little better here when compared to previous trailers — so here’s hoping this one is good and polished when it finally arrives on Sept. 6.

TRILLIUM
How can a man from 1921 fall in love with a woman living in 3797?
Vertigo, like any comic imprint, has its ups and downs. Lately, though, they've been knocking 'em out of the park with books like The Wake and Collider. And today we have a six-page preview of their next series, Trillium, written and drawn by one of our absolute favorite comic creators, Jeff Lemire.
If you like your science fiction with a little Twilight Zone sprinkled in for zest, then the plot for Trillium should prove a delicious one. From the official press release:
An epic and powerful love story, Trillium intertwines the lives of two souls separated by thousands of years and hundreds of millions of miles. William and Nika seem destined to meet and fall in love, but their love just might tear the universe apart. This isn’t just a love story; it’s the last love story ever told.
The Solider. 1921. Having faced death in the trenches of WW1, renowned English explorer William Pike now finds himself leading an expedition deep into the dangerous Peruvian jungle, in search of the ‘Los t Temple of the Incas’ and its mythical healing properties.
The Scientist. 3797. Dr. Nika Temsmith, Xeniologist, is attempting communication with an indigenous population near a remote science station near the outermost rim of colonized space. These strange life forms might hold the key to human survival, but no party has survived initial contact.
Even though science fiction set in space isn't the usual for Lemire, the rest of this concept is an absolute Lemire standard. The hope and sadness are already palpable just from the description. What we're saying is -- we're excited.
The first issue is due out next week on Aug. 7 and, what's more, it's "an oversized flip-book with two covers and two separate but connected stories." So, basically, you can start with either WIlliam or Nika and see where the story takes you.

SHERLOCK TRAILER
BBC One has posted a brief teaser trailer for the third series of Steven Moffat's popular television show "Sherlock," starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, which will be returning sometime in 2014.
Launched in 2010, the series which airs on BBC One in the UK and on PBS in the States is a modern day retelling of the adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic detective with Cumberbatch playing Holmes and Freeman playing his trusty partner, Dr. John Watson.

CONVENTION REMINDER
One of the best fan-run conventions is taking place this weekend near Baltimore. William Shatner is the guest for today only, but Amanda Tapping from Stargate SG-1 is also a guest along with Babylon 5's own Julie Caitlin Brown. For more information, go to www.shore-leave.com

FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2013

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN SERIES - ORSON SCOTT CARD
Controversy or no controversy, Orson Scott Card's new Superman story for DC Comics will be published ... eventually.
Back in February, DC announced Adventures of Superman, a digital-first series that would feature a variety of out-of-continuity Superman stories from creators like Marv Wolfman, Bruce Timm and Orson Scott Card. The announcement of Card's involvement in the project caused immediate controversy because of his longstanding, outspoken stance against gay marriage, a view that has also generated plenty of controversy in the lead-up to the release of the film based on his novel Ender's Game. Though DC Comics issued a statement shortly after the Adventures of Superman announcement saying that Card's views did not reflect the views of the company, the controversy continued. Comics retailers and fans began pledging to boycott the series if Card was involved, and in March artist Chris Sprouse backed out of drawing Card's story, citing a fear that the media coverage of the controversy would take away from the actual work.
Card's Superman story was originally supposed to kick off the series, but 14 issues into Adventures of Superman's digital run (as of July 29), the story remains on hold. Some readers and retailers likely hoped it would stay that way, but according to DC co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee, the story's not dead.
"We’re searching for an artist to work on that story so it’s been tabled until that happens," Lee said.
DiDio then added, "We have a number of projects that started at the same time, so it moved back in the queue and we have other ones that are further along in production that we’re moving with first."
When asked again if Card's story would still be published eventually, DiDio answered simply "Yes."
So, even as controversy continues to swirl around Card thanks to Ender's Game, DC Comics is sticking by its decision to print his Superman comic sometime in the future. But how soon? An artist for the story still hasn't been found, apparently, so perhaps the company's waiting until after Ender's Game to address the issue again, in the hope that the controversy will have died down a bit.

THE WALKING DEAD
We still have a few months to go until season four of The Walking Dead, but some new footage shows the zombies might be even freakier this time around.
The network has released some new behind-the-scenes footage from the new season, giving us another peek into what the hit AMC drama is bringing this October. It looks as freaky and gritty as ever, so that’s a good sign.
It’s hard to glean much from these tantalizing bits, but it looks like quite a bit of the action will be taking place at the prison, which isn’t much of a surprise. The new footage is interspersed with interviews from the cast and effects crew, along with producers Gale Anne Hurd and Robert Kirkman.
The new season debuts Oct. 13.

CONTINUIUM
The time-traveling adventure of future-cop Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols) will continue for another year in the U.S., as Syfy has snatched up the season-three rights to the sci-fi action series Continuum
. The network announced today that the 13-episode third season would premiere in 2014. The second season is currently underway in the U.S., with new episodes on Friday nights up until the season finale on Aug. 30.
Syfy has also aired the first two seasons of the Canadian import, which originally launched on the Showcase network in that market. A third season was announced by Showcase a few months ago, though this is the first confirmation of an official U.S. pickup.
Based on Live +7 data, the series is currently averaging 1.8 million total viewers, up 21 percent from the inaugural season.
The series follows future-cop Kiera Cameron after she is transported back to the modern day, as she hunts down terrorists who escaped their execution in 2077. The second season is delving deep into the potential for twisty timelines, and it’ll be interesting to see how they play it all out over the next several weeks.
A portion of the press release is below:
NEW YORK – August 1, 2013 – Syfy has announced that it will air the third season of the popular time traveling police series Continuum. The #1 original cable drama in its Friday 10PM time period,Continuum will return to the network in 2014 with 13 all-new episodes.
Currently airing season two, which concludes on Friday, August 30, Continuum ranks as the #1 original cable drama in its time slot among Adults 18-49, Adults 25-54 and total viewers. Based on Live +7 data, the series is currently averaging 728K Adults 18-49, 836K Adults 25-54 and 1.8 million total viewers, up 21 percent, 18 percent, and 21 percent, respectively, from season one.
Continuum stars Rachel Nichols as Kiera Cameron, a cop from the future who finds herself trapped in the present day, swept along when a group of fanatical terrorists escaped their planned execution in 2077 by vaulting back in time.
Continuum co-stars Victor Webster (Castle, Melrose Place) as detective Carlos Fonnegra and Erik Knudsen (Jericho, Scream 4), who plays teen tech genius Alec Sadler.

NEW DOCTOR WHO ANNOUNCEMENT - SUNDAY
This is it! Looks like we’ll finally get to know just who will step in as the Twelfth Doctor on Doctor Who this upcoming Sunday. Geronimo?
Press sources have leaked that the BBC is ready to announce who will become the 12th incarnation of our beloved Time Lord on Sunday, August 4 at 7pm on BBC1 (in the UK) in a special entitled Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor. Currently, there is a very disposable repeat of Celebrity Mastermind listed in that timeslot.
The show—which will be live—will be hosted by Zoe Ball. It’ll feature interviews with past Doctors and companions. Who showrunner Steven Moffat and current Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith are said to join Ball on the show: along with the Chosen One, whoever he or she may be. Casting was apparently done under the code name Whodini ... clever.
The buzz also intensified following this tweet:
But it’s probably that they’ll only be announcing/confirming the live Sunday show.
Currently, actor Peter Capaldi (he appeared in the excellent Doctor Who episode “The Fires of Pompeii,” as well as in the magnificent Torchwood: Children of Earth) is topping the bookies’ lists as the one who'll follow in Matt Smith's shoes.

THOR: THE DARK WORLD
Never mind the summer blockbusters, here's the real hero you've been waiting for.
The first Thor movie was vastly underrated. Thankfully, over time, more and more people have come around to see the film's charms ... or just to see it at all.
As we near the end of summer and start looking toward the future, thankfully, there's another Thor movie, one that looks even better than the last. With that in mind, we've got the latest official poster for Thor: The Dark World.
It's a pretty classic shot and a nice way to quickly show most of the major players. One note -- no Kat Dennings? If we trust anyone to take down an army of Dark Elves led by evil Christopher Eccleston, it's her.
Thor: The Dark World drops on Nov. 8.

THE SECRET SERVICE
Matthew Vaughn's take on Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons' graphic novel The Secret Service has already cast Colin Firth as the secret agent who takes a young punk played by Taron Egerton under his wing, but now it's being reported by Variety that Samuel L. Jackson is set to play the villain with production expected to start this fall.
Vaughn had been looking for a big star to play the main baddie with Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio being two names that were mentioned, but now that Jackson is on board, they just need to find the movie's female lead, with Emma Watson and Dark Shadows star Bella Heathcoate both being named in the mix.
Adapted by Vaughn with his frequent writing partner Jane Goldman, Vaughn's Marv Films will finance and produce the film similar to how they did their previous Mark Millar adaptation Kick-Ass.
Jackson will next be seen reuniting with Spike Lee for the Oldboy remake, followed by a role in MGM's remake of RoboCop next February and then Marvel Studios' Captain America; The Winter Soldier in April 2014.

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
Director Bryan Singer and 20th Century Fox have been teasing the design for the sentinels in the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past for some time, and now we've got a good look at one of them. Singer posted this image on his Twitter today showing him with one of the full size sentinels, captioning the image with "Here's to the next 50 years."
Coming to theaters on May 23, 2014, X-Men: Days of Future Past stars Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Halle Berry, Daniel Cudmore, Fan Bingbing, Boo Boo Stewart, Adan Canto, Evan Peters, Josh Helman and Lucas Till.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013

SUPERMAN/BATMAN MOVIE
Director Zach Snyder has his hands full trying to put together the first big-screen meeting of Batman and Superman, but it sounds like he’s calling in the big guns to figure out the details.
A report from The Independent indicates Snyder has set up a meeting with legendary comic writer and artist Frank Miller to discuss the project, which sounds like a very smart move. Why? Because Miller wrote the comic arc they’re looking to for inspiration with the script.
Among his myriad accomplishments, Miller is the mastermind behind The Dark Knight Returns comics, which pitted Batman vs. Superman in an epic battle of brains and brawn. The quote used to announce the film (“I want you to remember, Clark, in all the years to come. In your most private moments, I want you to remember my hand at your throat. I want you to remember the one man who beat you”) was one of Miller’s signature lines from the comic.
The collection is revered as one of the best Batman stories ever written, and it’s nice to see that Snyder is open to advice from the master as he starts putting the pieces together. It’d be interesting to be a fly on the wall to hear what Miller has to say about the project, but if nothing else we can take some comfort from the fact that he’ll at least be involved in an auxiliary role.

AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.
The cast of Joss Whedon’s highly anticipated ABC series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is getting a little bigger. So who is the latest mystery man?
David Conrad (Ghost Whisperer) has signed on for the small-screen Avengers spinoff, according to TV Line, though his exact role has not been revealed.
But the series has been looking to cast a “brilliant and quirky scientist” to recur on the series, and Conrad seems to fit all the tangibles for the role. Conrad brings some decent genre experience, so he should fit in nicely with the baddie-fighting group of secret agents.
As for confirmation on who exactly he is playing? We may have to wait until the show debuts on Sept. 24 to find out.
While tossing in some nice big-screen crossovers via Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), Whedon seems to be doing a good job of building a viable extension of the universe for television. We can’t wait to see how Conrad fits into the mix.

STAR WARS EPISODE VII

Star Wars Episode VII doesn't feel so far away all of a sudden.
We'd been assuming that production wasn't due to begin on the next wave of Star Wars features until next year. According to a highly reputable fan site, however, things are rolling out a good deal sooner than we thought.
Lucasfilm has used aliases in the past to cover up production on features before, most notably with Return of the Jedi. Allegedly, that is happening again, and the code name for production on Star Wars Episode VII is Foodles.
While Foodles may be a real prepackaged foodstuff with a Disney license, it doesn't seem likely that a movie would be made from it. And despite earlier rumors of a 2014 start date, production on the faux Foodles is due to begin in August.
That means we may be seeing the first Star Wars films in theaters even earlier than originally projected. Or at the very least, that Disney is making sure they get working right away to hit the deadlines they want.
Either way, we're excited that the House of Mouse has fast-tracked what we're hoping will be a return to form for the galaxy far, far away.

ELYSIUM
What would you do to save one little girl? How about your whole world?
Right from the get, Elysium feels like exactly what it is -- a tense sci-fi thriller with a pretty powerful political edge. When the 1 percent leaves Earth for the ultimate gated community, a satellite far above the planet, the rest of us poor saps suffer from a rapid increase in crime, starvation, poverty and death. It's subjugation, plain and simple. There's not much hope for a way out, because, effectively, there is no way out.
The new trailer takes that concept and amplifies it while adding some great action sequences, too.
Even the hope Matt Damon finds comes at the price of some pretty nasty body horror and an all-but-guaranteed bloody end for himself. But, as you can see from the trailer, he's fighting for an endgame larger than himself -- bringing about the end to slavery of the human race at the hands of an elite few.

MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
In a lengthy article on Variety talking about the ups and downs of getting a movie made based on the popular '60s spy show show The Man From U.N.C.L.E., a project that's gone through many incarnations, directors and stars over the past few years, they're reporting that plans are set to start shooting in early September with director Guy Ritchie confirmed at the helm and Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) and Armie Hammer (The Lone Ranger) starring in the roles of U.N.C.L.E. agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, respectively.
Warner Bros. hopes to turn the film into a franchise despite the falling out of Tom Cruise in late May and a paring down of the production budget to $75 million. Plans are to shoot the film in Ritchie's native London and in Italy working from a script written by Ritchie with his Sherlock Holmes collaborator, writer and producer Lionel Wigram, acting as the origin story to tell how the two spies, one American and Russian, first met and started working together. Those roles were originally played by Robert Vaughn (Solo) and David McCalllum (Kurayakin) in the original series.

HELIX
Syfy's newest original scripted series "Helix" from Sony Pictures Television began production this past weekend in Montreal, Canada. The 13-episode drama is executive produced by Ronald D. Moore ("Battlestar Galactica," "Outlander"), Steven Maeda ("LOST," "The X-Files") who is also showrunner, and Lynda Obst (Sleepless in Seattle, Contact). Cameron Porsandeh, who wrote the pilot, will serve as a Co-Executive Producer.
"Helix" is an intense thriller about a team of scientists from the Centers for Disease Control who travel to a high-tech research facility in the Arctic to investigate a possible disease outbreak, only to find themselves pulled into a terrifying life-and-death struggle that may hold the key to mankind's salvation or total annihilation. However, the lethal threat is just the tip of the iceberg, and as the virus evolves, the chilling truth begins to unravel.
Billy Campbell ("The Killing," Killing Lincoln) stars as Dr. Alan Farragut, leader of the Centers for Disease Control outbreak field team called upon to investigate and control a potential "hot zone" at a remote Arctic research facility. Hiroyuki Sanada (The Wolverine, 47 Ronin) also stars as Dr. Hiroshi Hataki, director of the outpost and its mysterious viral research program.
"Helix" also stars Kyra Zagorsky ("Soldiers of the Apocalypse") as Dr. Julia Walker, Mark Ghanimé ("Emily Owens, M.D.") as Major Sergio Balleseros, Jordan Hayes (House at the End of the Street) as Dr. Sarah Jordan, Meegwun Fairbrother as Daniel Aerov, Catherine Lemieux (White House Down) as Dr. Doreen Boyle and Neil Napier Riddick) as Dr. Peter Farragut.
Prolific director and producer Jeffrey Reiner is directing the premiere episode of "Helix." Reiner directed multiple episodes of notable television series such as the critically acclaimed and award-winning "Friday Night Lights," "Awake" and "The Event." Reiner previously worked with Syfy directing the 90-minute pilot of the "Battlestar Galactica" prequel "Caprica."
"Helix" is produced by Tall Ship Productions, Kaji Productions and Lynda Obst Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television.

STARGATE SG-1 FANS
The Syfy channel is hosting an all-day STARGATE SG-1 Marathon today, beginning at 8:00am and running until 5:00am on Friday.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2013

TUESDAY, JULY 30, 2013

MONDAY, JULY 29, 2013

SUNDAY, JULY 28, 2013

IRONSIDE RE-DO COMING IN OCTOBER
NBC's remake/redo of the 1960s-'70s cop show "Ironside" is a crime drama, but according to the people making it, it's not a procedural.
So what's the difference? Executive producer Ken Sanzel explains Saturday (July 27) at the TCA summer press tour.
"Procedurals are about process and kind of inevitably go to catching a bad guy at the end of the episode, says Sanzel, who previously worked as a writer and producer on "Blue Bloods" and "Numb3rs." "We'll catch plenty of bad guys, but as you see in the pilot, this is a man who -- because of who he was before, because of who he is now -- is driven to answer deeper questions about tragedy, having been steeped in some of his own."
"Ironside" stars Blair Underwood as a New York detective who was shot in the line of duty two years earlier and now is in a wheelchair. He carries some residual issues from the shooting, but has largely channeled any anger into his work, where he leads a hand-picked team of detectives and approaches cases from a not especially by-the-book angle.
Ironside's situation "doesn't necessarily just make him an angry guy, it makes him a driven guy. I think there's a little bit of a difference," Sanzel says. "I think he's probably an angrier guy than in the past, and now he's more consumed with all the things that would [as in the series pilot] lead a woman to jump off of a roof, when he knows it's just a suicide. He puts that in his pocket and takes us in 42 minutes through all the truth that happens with that.
"That's the key you use to open what makes this show special in the crime drama element, which I think is something that comes off of Ironside's situation."
"Ironside" is scheduled to premiere Oct. 2 on NBC.

STAR WARS VII SCORE - JOHN WILLIAMS RETURNS
It's official: the latest chapter of Star Wars will be scored by John Williams.
The composer, who has crafted the score for all six titles in the space opera saga, was confirmed to be joining J.J. Abrams' Episode VII by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy on Saturday at a Star Wars fan event in Essen, Germany.
In April, Abrams had indicated that he wanted the composer to return to score his film, but cautioned that it was still in the "early days." The Star Wars website posted an interview where Williams explains how he'll score the latest film.
"Of course, I haven't seen the script," the composer says in the clip. "The story is still unknown to me, the new story. But I can't imagine that there will not be some references to the existing stories that we know that would necessitate, and make appropriate, the use of some of the earlier themes."
The Episode VII script will be penned by Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3, Little Miss Sunshine) and is set to hit theaters in 2015, with Episode VIII and IX scheduled in the years after. Original trilogy stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford are expected to appear in the film. In addition, THR reported that Lawrence Kasdan, writer of Empire Strikes Back, and Simon Kinberg, who penned X-Men: Days of Future Past, are writing separate spinoff projects set in the Star Wars universe.

NBC NEW MINI-SERIES PLANS
NBC is becoming the latest network to dive head-first into the limited series.
NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt used his forum Saturday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour to announce the network is developing four new high-profile event series.
In addition to the previously announced six-hour miniseries based on Cleopatra, NBC has ordered a four-hour miniseries based on former first lady Hillary Clinton starring Diane Lane, an "updated remake" of Rosemary's Baby, a new version of Stephen King's Tommyknockers and another limited series from Mark Burnett tentatively called Plymouth.
Greenblatt gave credit to CBS' Nina Tassler for the network's big summer swing with King's Under the Dome, noting that being in business with the author "sounds interesting" to executives at the network. Thus far this summer, Dome ranks as the No. 1 scripted series and a bona fide hit on Monday nights.
The four minis come a month after NBC hired ABC's Quinn Taylor as its new longform point person, who in the past has overseen King's previous miniseries.
For Burnett, this marks his second miniseries at the network, joining his follow-up to History's record-breaking The Bible with A.D.: Beyond the Bible, which the network added in early July.
Greenblatt noted the deal for the Clinton biopic just closed and casting has yet to begin for an actor to play Bill Clinton. While the former secretary of state is likely to announce her candidacy for president, Greenblatt said the mini will likely air before then -- avoiding concerns about offering about equal time to her potential Republican challenger.
"She's not going to declare her candidacy for two more years, so I think it will be the late spring or early summer of '15 that she will declare," Greenblatt told reporters. "This could well have aired before that. We have to talk through all that."
Hilary will be written and directed by Frozen River's Courtney Hunt and will recount Clinton's life as a wife, mother, politician and cabinet member from 1998 to the present. The script will begin with Clinton living in the White House as her husband is serving the second of his two terms as president. It will include her likely run for president. Busted Shark's Sherryl Clark will executive produce alongside James D. Stern (Looper). Greenblatt told reporters following his presentation that the former first lady hadn't yet heard of the project. (The project comes almost 10 years after Greenblatt opted to air CBS' controversial mini The Reagans during his tenure at Showtime.)
The NBC miniseries comes as a Hillary Clinton theatrical film also is taking shape. Rodham, which focuses on the future first lady's formative years in the 1970s and her courtship with Bill Clinton, is currently in development and seeking an actress to play the lead character.
Rosemary's Baby will also be a four-hour mini and is described as an updated retelling of the novel by Ira Levin that led to a feature film about devil worship and the relationship between a young husband and wife. In the new incarnation, the couple lives in Paris. Lionsgate will produce with Scott Abbott (Winchell) on board to pen the project. Joshua Maurer, David Stern, Perri Kipperman and Alix Witlin will executive produce.
King's Tommyknockers is based on the author's 1987 novel about the residents of a small Maine town and how they deal with what they perceive to be an alien spacecraft that has landed nearby. Frank Konigsberg and Larry Sanitsky will executive produce, while Emmy winner Yves Simoneau (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee) will direct.
Limited series Plymouth will follow the challenges and drama of the Pilgrims' journey across the Atlantic and the difficulties of settling in a new country. Burnett and Anne Thomopoulos of Mark Burnett Productions will executive produce alongside Gina Matthews and Grant Scharbo of Little Engine. Oscar and Emmy winner Walon Green (NYPD Blue, The Hellstrom Chronicle) will pen the project.
With the additions, NBC becomes the latest network to delve further into the longform/event series business. The big push, which includes multiple high-profile projects at FX, Fox and ABC, comes as broadcast and cable networks alike look to lure A-list actors, prestige and eyeballs in an era dominated by DVRs. Greenblatt stressed the importance of event series and must-see live programming at NBC, including shows like The Voice as well as sports and Olympics programming.

STAR WARS REBELS
The first concept art and logo for Disney's animated Star Wars Rebels television series was revealed at Star Wars Celebration Europe on Saturday.
Executive producer Dave Filoni offered attendees the first look by unveiling drawings by concept artist Ralph McQuarrie that offer a better glimpse at the look and feel of Star Wars Rebels. Additionally, the official logo for the series was revealed. Executive producers Simon Kinberg and Greg Weisman sent a video message recorded for the attendees.
Star Wars Rebels takes place between Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, which spans about two decades. The animated series is set "in a time where the Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy and hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights as a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking shape."
Star Wars Rebels is scheduled to premiere in fall 2014 as a one-hour special on Disney Channel before debuting as a television series on Disney XD.

SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2013

STAR TREK: NEXT GENERATION GAG REEL
Need proof a Klingon can have a good time? See the fourth wall break in these hilarious outtakes from the fourth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
As the classic Trek series continues to find new live on Blu-Ray, the studio is teasing the latest set with a nice clip from the gag reel. We get to peek at a few scenes going off the rails, and it’s great to see Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn & Co. having a little fun back in the day.
Considering how melodramatic the show could get at times, these clips are all the more surreal.
If you want to check out the full blooper reel, pick up a copy of the season once it hits Blu-Ray on July 30.

THE WALKING DEAD - SEASON 4
With 50+ new Woodbury refugees pouring into the prison, we knew the cast was poised to swell for season four of The Walking Dead. So here are three more characters we’ll meet this fall.
After hearing about three other new characters on the way, plus three recurring characters that’ll be beefed up to regulars, it looks like the back half of season four will be adding even more survivors to the gang.
The folks at TV Line have the scoop, and here are the three new characters on the way later this year:
“While I can’t say if we’re due for another major death anytime soon, it’s looking like there will be warm bodies to fill any gaps. For midseason, the show is casting the recurring roles of John Tyler, a rough-around-the-edges and vulgar man with a propensity towards violence; Wayne Kesey, a gent in the 30s/40s whose book smarts are his main tools in survival; and Jordana Barraza, a Latina with a shameful past but a desire to learn right from others.”
Hmm. It sounds like “John Tyler” could fill the Merle void this season, while “Wayne Kesey” might be stepping into Milton’s role as the brain of the operation. As for “Jordana Barraza”? It sounds like she’ll slide right into Andrea’s conflicted mold quite nicely.

AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.
It looks like Coulson won’t be the only agent with a fair share of secrets on Joss Whedon’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series.
A new featurette has been released showing off Ming-Na Wen’s Agent Melinda May, who doesn’t seem very keen to join up with Coulson’s secret unit. At least not at first.
We get to see a bit more of her backstory, as she has apparently requested to be taken out of the field for some unknown reason. But Coulson knows she can still kick ass, so he drags her back into the action. Judging by some of her fight scenes, the field is definitely where she belongs.
For Stargate fans, Ming-Na should also look familiar, as she played Camile Wray on Universe. This role looks to be a whole different animal, though, so it'll be nice to see her getting in on the action a little more.
The series debuts on Tuesday, Sept. 24.

FRIDAY, JULY 26, 2013

THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2013

WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2014

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

MONDAY, JULY 22, 2013

SUNDAY, JULY 21, 2013

SUPERMAN/BATMAN MOVIE COMING
"Man of Steel" director Zack Snyder took the stage at Comic-Con to reveal that he has begun work on a sequel. Batman and Superman will unite for a sequel to Warner Bros.’ “Man of Steel,” paving the way for a “Justice League” movie, the studio announced at Comic-Con on Saturday. The news was leaked just before the panel began, but that didn’t temper fans’ rapturous reaction to what would be the first time the superheroes were united on screen.
Director Zack Snyder ("Man of Steel," "300") made a surprise appearance in Hall H to announce he was working on the sequel, and promised to reveal something to "inform" audience expectations. He brought out actor Harry Lennix, who read a passage from Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight" - and then the screen flashed the Superman "S" symbol, shadowed by the distinctive wings of Batman. The crowd, as they say, went wild.
Snyder and David Goyer, who wrote the first one, will write the second one, maintaining the core creative team from the summer’s monster hit.
Though Snyder disclosed nothing more, Warner Bros. then sent out a press release announcing that Henry Cavill would return as Superman. Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane will repreise their roles as well. It remains unclear who will play Batman.
Christian Bale, who played Batman in Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy, has said he is done with the part.
The new film also brings back Charles Roven and Deborah Snyder as producers. Nolan and partner Emma Thomas are serving as executive producers, along with Benjamin Melniker and Michael E. Uslan.
In a prepared statement, Warner production chief Greg Silverman said: “Zack Snyder is an incredibly talented filmmaker, but beyond that, he’s a fan first and he utterly gets this genre. We could not think of anyone better suited to the task of bringing these iconic superheroes to the screen in his own way."
“Superman and Batman together on the big screen is a dream come true for DC fans everywhere. All of us at DC Entertainment could not be more excited for Zack’s continuing vision for the DC Universe," said Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment.
The success of Nolan’s Batman movies made the rebirth of Superman the next logical step for Warner Bros. in its efforts to leverage the DC Comics library, which also includes iconic characters such as the Flash, the Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Aquaman.
Bryan Singer’s “Superman Returns” did not reinvigorate the franchise, delaying those plans for a few years. Snyder’s “Man of Steel” gave Warner Bros. exactly what it wanted, grossing more than $600 million at the worldwide box office and furthering speculation that Warner Bros. would plot a multi-character “Justice League” movie.
TheWrap reported on the eve of the film’s debut that Warner Bros. was planning to make a sequel to “Man of Steel” first, and then move on to “Justice League” and the other DC characters. Though early reports on Saturday indicated Warner Bros. would formally announce those plans for movies about The Flash and Justice League, the studio did not say anything beyond "Man of Steel."
Warner Bros. announced its plans for Superman and Batman on Saturday at a panel where the studio showcased seven different upcoming movies, including “Godzilla,” “Lego: The Movie” and Alfonso Cuaron’s “Gravity.”
One question that went unanswered on Saturday is whether Legendary Entertainment will be involved in any way. Legendary co-financed and co-produced the “Dark Knight” movies and “Man of Steel” under a deal it had with Warner Bros. Yet Legendary has now moved on to NBCUniversal, and the schism was evident on Saturday as Warner Bros. slotted all the Legendary movies at the beginning of the panel, and reserved the second half for its own projects.
Regardless of who makes it, it is inevitable that Cavill, Snyder and the gang will return to Comic-Con in future years, promoting what Warner Bros. hopes will become a lengthy streak of hit movies.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
They weren't scheduled to make an appearance, but the cast and crew of Marvel's next new title, "Guardians of the Galaxy," surprised the crowd at San Diego Comic-Con.
After they left the fans in Hall H cheering for more, the cast sat down to talk to the press about the movie and their characters, along with director James Gunn. Gunn kicked it off with his interpretation of what the story is. "'Guardians' is about a family coming together," he says, "It really is about a group of individuals who have acted selfishly, and only as individuals throughout their life, learning something about themselves that makes them heroes.
He also says the script for the movie isn't too dark in his opinion, though that's sort of what Gunn does best. "I don't think of it as darkly comedic. I do think of it as me. There's a lot of James Gunn in this movie." While some might not agree with that approach, it seems producer Kevin Feige and "Avengers" director Joss Whedon go. Upon turning the first draft of the script in, Gunn says, "Their biggest note was 'More James Gunn', which freaked the hell out of me.
As for his goals for the movie, Gunn jokes that he wants to avoid spoilers but, "I have some really big injuries planned for Michael Rooker (Yondu) and hopefully [Dave] Bautista (Drax the Destroyer) is going to help me with those."
When asked about his process of preparing for his role as Star Lord, Chris Pratt says it took six months to get in the shape he needed to be in. It paid off though, and Pratt has the selfie to prove it.
Zoe Saldana, who plays Gamora, says she's excited to be entering the Marvel universe, especially in a movie like "Guardians." "I do believe that Guardians have bigger powers in a way," she says, "and if we were up against Captain America or Thor, I would totally kick his a**."
Bautista is still relatively new to the acting game, even though he's a former WWE World Champion. He admits that he's still learning and honing his craft and that "Guardians" is hands down the biggest thing he's ever been involved with.
Benicio del Toro was announced during the Hall H panel as joining the movie in the role of The Collector. When asked what weird or wonderful thing his character brought to the table, del Toro offered a simple, "Well, he collects things."
Before ending the panel, Gunn shared a personal story Benicio told him during the casting process. The pair were talking about the character and collecting in general when del Toro looked at him and said, "You know, I was the first kid in my neighborhood to have an alligator." According to Gunn, it's in his top five favorite sentences of all time. "It's true," del Toro confirms.
"Guardians of the Galaxy" will be in theaters August 1, 2014.

REVOLUTION SEASON 2
Saturday, the cast of NBC's Revolution made an appearance at San Diego Comic-Con. They teased the upcoming second season and debuted a new trailer. We have to admit, it's much more brutal than we expected. There are tons of explosions and a fair share of stabbings. Once again, series regulars are put on the chopping block. Showrunner Eric Kripke has no problem killing off fan favorites.
At the panel, Kripke discussed the amount of destruction ahead. “We’re trying to be the first network show in history that loses two American cities in the first 15 seconds [of a season],” he said. “We’re back to a very intense set of basics, [a world] that’s even more dangerous than in season one.” Is that even possible?
It appears there's been a time jump and it hasn't been kind to everyone. Monroe's spending his nights in fight clubs, Rachel's dealing with flashbacks of Randall's suicide and Miles is off somewhere being pessimistic.

ARROW
The CW and DC Comics have just unveiled a new sizzle reel for the upcoming second season of the hit series Arrow. Though be warned, if you haven't been watching it goes into heavy spoilers for the first season. Keep your eyes open throughout the video for some special surprises and teases and sound off below telling us what you think!
Star Stephen Amell has spoken about the upcoming season and teased that it will feature "a growing world" for Oliver Queen. New series regular Colton Haynes has also teased that "a few of the most important DC characters" will be joining the series.
Arrow also stars Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance, Willa Holland as Thea Queen, Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson, Colton Haynes as Roy Harper, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, with Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen and Paul Blackthorne as Detective Quentin Lance. The show airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
The first season of the series will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on September 7th with season 2 premiering on October 9th.

SATURDAY, JULY 20, 2013

ALMOST HUMAN
It's no secret the cast of FOX's new sci-fi procedural "Almost Human" is really, really, ridiculously good looking. But when one of the hot main characters is an android policeman (Michael Ealy) and not actually human, the romantic pairing possibilities suddenly get a lot creepier (if still very attractive).
Karl Urban, who plays the human half of the future crime-fighting duo at the center of the show, which takes place in Los Angeles 35 years in the future, leaves the possibility of an android/human relationship open. "With J.J. Abrams [who produces the show], anything's possible," he jokes at the show's Friday afternoon panel at San Diego Comic Con. The relationship between Urban's John Kennex and Ealy's Dorian is strictly bromantic at this point, however.
The show follows LAPD Los Angeles detective Kennex as he's paired up with Dorian, who's not the standard issue android most of his colleagues team up with. This android has human-like emotions, which will make Kennex's experience very different. So it's not your typical crime procedural, says executive producer Naren Shankar.
"We have cases of the week which deal with future crimes and technology, but the human elements are really [the cast]," says Shankar, "their relationships and human beings dealing with the world of the future."
Though this near-future world is by no means the ruined America portrayed in many a current young adult novel, creator J.H. Wyman warns that there will also be some downsides. "We've sort of all been promised this incredible utopia of computers and technology, but there's another side to that," he says. "There's a dark side to that, there's a what if side to that. There's cautious side."
"Almost Human" premieres Monday, Nov. 3 on FOX.

WALKING DEAD SEASON 4 PREVIEW
Uneasy alliances, treachery, next to no hope, and a horde of zombies at your door? Yup -- The Walking Dead's back, all right.
Things were, as ever, in a murky place at the end of Walking Dead's third season. And that's just on-screen. While Walking Dead may be a critical darling, the show has gone through a number of showrunners since the comic made its way to the small screen.
But the new showrunner, Scott M. Gimple, is obviously ready and raring to go. He was at San Diego Comic-Con's famed Hall H along with comic creator Robert Kirkman with a brand-new trailer to show off.
Kirkman says of season four that "things are going to be way crazier, it's an escalation." Well, let's see, shall we?
An escalation, indeed. Who's feeding those zombies and leading them inside? What's up with the voice on the radio? And what surprise deaths will the fourth season have in store?
Gimple suggests things might be calm at first, but not for long, saying, "They might get a little comfortable, but then things might get a little dangerous."
And as for Rick and Carl, we'll be seeing some changed there as well. According to actor Andrew Lincoln, "The relationship with Carl is integral to the beginning of the season from Rick. [Carl] turning into a sociopath at the end of the season woke him up to his parenting duties. You find Rick in a completely different place this season."
We've got less than three months left to wait (and speculate). The Walking Dead season four premieres Sunday, Oct. 13.

GAME OF THRONES MEMORIAL FILM
Directly from San Diego, HBO has debuted online the "In Memoriam" video shown at their "Game of Thrones" Hall H panel. If you're not caught up on the show, do not watch this. Spoilers for the first three seasons ahead! But at the end of the video, you can see the tagline for season 4 of "Game of Thrones," which is set to debut in spring 2014.
Based on the bestselling fantasy book series by George R.R. Martin, "Game of Thrones" is an epic story of treachery and nobility set on the continent of Westeros, where summers and winters can last years, and only the lust for power is eternal. The series' fourth season is on track to air in the spring of 2014.

FRIDAY, JULY 19, 2013

THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2013

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2013

MONDAY, JULY 15, 2015

TRUE BLOOD RENEWED
HBO has renewed the hit show "True Blood" for a seventh season, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming. New episodes of the series will debut in summer 2014, with executive producer Brian Buckner returning as showrunner.
"'True Blood' remains a signature show for HBO, and a true phenomenon with our viewers," noted Lombardo. "Thanks to Brian Buckner and his talented team, the show continues to be a thrill ride like nothing else on TV."
Mixing romance, suspense, mystery and humor, the show takes place in a world where vampires and humans co-exist, after vampires have come out of the coffin, thanks to the invention of mass-produced synthetic blood that means they no longer need humans as a nutritional source. The series follows waitress and part-faerie Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), who can hear people's thoughts, vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) and vampire Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård). Alan Ball (creator of the Emmy-winning HBO series "Six Feet Under") created the show, which is based on the bestselling Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.
The sixth season of "True Blood," which launched June 26, is already exceeding ten million viewers per episode.

MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.
Marvel Studios' first television tie-in to their ongoing cinematic universe is set to make a major appearance at this week's Comic-Con International San Diego and, today, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." has debuted a teaser image.
The upcoming series will have a panel at Comic-Con on Friday, July 19, that will feature executive producer Joss Whedon and Marvel's Head of Television and series executive producer Jeph Loeb. The show will also be spotlighted at the Marvel Entertainment Booth on the Convention Center floor throughout the entire weekend, with special surprises to be announced!
Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents including: Brett Dalton as Agent Grant Ward, Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz, Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jemma Simmons, Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May and Chloe Bennet as the mysterious computer hacker Skye. It will air on Tuesdays this fall on ABC.

SATURDAY, JULY 13, 2013

THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2013

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2013

MONDAY, JULY 8, 2013

SUNDAY, JULY 7, 2013

SNOWPIERCER
A plan to stop global warming has gone very, very wrong in Snowpiercer, which has debuted a new trailer.
A class system has developed, with the poor living in the train's tale and the rich living in the front. One man (Chris Evans) has had enough, and seeks to reach the front of the train to benefit everyone on it. Among those seeking to stop him is the strangely dressed Mason (Tilda Swinton). It's the first English-language film for Bong, known for directing the Korean monster blockbuster The Host (2006).
The film also stars Jamie Bell, Alison Pill, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer, and Ed Harris. Frequent Bong colaborator Song Kang-ho plays Namgoong Minsu, a mysterious securty specialist Evans' character seeks out for help.
Snowpiercer is being released domestically by the Weinstein Company, which has not announced a release date. It hits South Korean theaters this summer.

PHINEAS AND FERB: MISSION MARVEL
USA Today has posted this new sneak peek at "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel," airing on August 16th on the Disney Channel.
In "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel," Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk stand powerless after being struck by Dr. Doofenshmirtz's power-draining "inator." Once the Marvel Super Villains – Red Skull, Whiplash, Venom and M.O.D.O.K. – find out that Dr. Doofenshmirtz is responsible for robbing the Super Heroes of their powers, they seek him out and together create mayhem in Danville. Meanwhile, Phineas and Ferb do everything they can to restore the Super Heroes' powers before the evil villains take over the world.

TARZAN
Constantin Film has released the new German trailer for the 3D animated adventure Tarzan, opening in Germany on October 10. The English version of the film features the voices of Kellan Lutz ("The Twilight Saga") and Spencer Locke ("Resident Evil" films).
The movie was directed by Reinhard Klooss from a script by Klooss, Jessica Postigo and Yoni Brenner.

SATURDAY, JULY 6, 2013

DEFIANCE
The first season of Syfy’s Defiance comes to an end Monday night, but you can see the first four minutes of the finale right now.
Picking up pretty quickly after last week’s penultimate installment, the season finale sets up the search for Irisa and the mayoral election for the soul of the city.
From killing off characters to ass-kicking fights, the past few episodes have brought some major game-changers for the first-year series. It’ll be interesting to see what the writers have in store as they try to bring at least some of these dangling storylines to a close.
Luckily for us, the show has already been renewed for a second season, so hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to head back into the post-invasion melting pot. Oh well, at least we can still play the MMORPG game in the off-season.

RIDDICK
Vin Diesel has revealed the first TV spot for Riddick, coming to theaters and IMAX on September 6.
Written and directed by David Twohy, the film stars Diesel, Karl Urban, Jordi Molla, Matt Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Bokeem Woodbine, Dave Bautista, Conrad Pla, Raoul Trujillo, Nolan Funk and Keri Hilson.
The infamous Riddick has been left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that appears to be lifeless. Soon, however, he finds himself fighting for survival against alien predators more lethal than any human he's encountered. The only way off is for Riddick to activate an emergency beacon and alert mercenaries who rapidly descend to the planet in search of their bounty.
The first ship to arrive carries a new breed of merc, more lethal and violent, while the second is captained by a man whose pursuit of Riddick is more personal. With time running out and a storm on the horizon that no one could survive, his hunters won't leave the planet without Riddick's head as their trophy.

LANTERN CITY
The first preview pages from 'Rise' - telling the story of Lantern City, a new project from Bruce Boxleitner.
Facebook posting: It has taken a lot of work to get to the publication of "RISE". Here, we invite you to take a sneak peek at some of the original artwork concept sketches.
For more information, go to www.lanterncitytv.com.

FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2013

THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2013

THE CROW
After a downward spiral of awful sequels, it sounds like they’re finally trying to get the Crow franchise back on track.
Relativity Media has hired The Crow creator James O’Barr as a “creative consultant” on the reboot, which is expected to start shooting in early 2014.
O’Barr wrote the graphic novel that inspired the 1994 cult-classic film of the same name, and his involvement at least means they’re trying to take it seriously and appeal to the existing fan base.
The reboot has already signed Luke Evans (The Raven, Clash of the Titans) to star, and the project will be directed by F. Javier Gutierrez (Before the Fall). According to O’Barr, the reboot will be inspired by the graphic novel — but still pay homage to the well-known film version.
Here is O’Barr’s statement about his involvement:
“It is important for ‘Crow’ fans to understand that Relativity, Javier, Luke and the entire team are working on a new adaptation of the book itself. I believe that this movie will stand alongside Brandon and his film as a valid work of art, and I look forward to collaborating on the project.”
This definitely adds a new wrinkle to the story, and it’ll be interesting to see how O’Barr’s involvement could affect this project.

MORE COMIC-CON NEWS - THOR/CAPTAIN AMERICA COMING
Two hotly anticipated Marvel films will be featured in Comic-Con's Hall H this year.
Walt Disney Pictures announced that Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier will both be featured during the Marvel presentation on its Saturday, July 20. Marvel Studios' president of production Kevin Feige is currently the only panelist who has been named, but the Disney announcement promises "many special guests."
Thor: The Dark World, the sequel to the 2011 film, follows Thor (Chris Hemsworth) one year after the events in The Avengers. Alan Taylor directed, with a cast including Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård and Idris Elba. It's slated for release on Nov. 8.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier sees the return of Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson. It follows Steve Rogers (Evans) as he deals with adjusting to the modern world after the events of The Avengers. He'll team up with Natasha Romanoff (Johansson) to fight off enemies in Washington, D.C. It hits theaters on April 4, 2014.
There are sure to be some other surprises from Marvel and Disney when the audience fills the 6,500 seats in the massive Hall H at the San Diego convention on Saturday.
Comic-Con runs July 17-21 in San Diego.

SHERLOCK COMING TO COMIC-CON
It's been quite a long wait for fans of Steven Moffat's "Sherlock." The second series concluded in January of 2012 with a cliffhanger that now appears set to remain unresolved until the show finally comes back for a third series in 2014. The good news, however, is that EW has just confirmed that "Sherlock" will take the stage at this month's Comic-Con International San Diego.
Although stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are not slated to appear, Moffat will be on stage along with his co-creator, executive producer and writer Mark Gatiss and producer Sue Vertue.
The series, which launched in 2010, is a modern day retelling of the adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic detective with Cumberbatch playing the titular Holmes and Freeman his sidekick, Dr. John Watson. The series airs on BBC One in the UK and on PBS in the United States.

SMURFS 2
Sony Pictures Animation has released a new TV spot for its upcoming The Smurfs 2!
In the July 31 sequel, the evil wizard Gargamel creates a couple of mischievous Smurf-like creatures called the Naughties that he hopes will let him harness the all-powerful, magical Smurf-essence. But when he discovers that only a real Smurf can give him what he wants, and only a secret spell that Smurfette knows can turn the Naughties into real Smurfs, Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette and brings her to Paris, where he has been winning the adoration of millions as the world's greatest sorcerer. It's up to Papa, Clumsy, Grouchy, and Vanity to return to our time, reunite with their human friends Patrick and Grace Winslow, and rescue her! Will Smurfette, who has always felt different from the other Smurfs, find a new connection with the Naughties Vexy and Hackus – or will the Smurfs convince her that their love for her is True Blue?
Returning cast includes Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofia Vergara, with Katy Perry as Smurfette and Hank Azaria as Gargamel. Brendan Gleeson joins the cast as Victor. Joining the voice cast are Christina Ricci and JB Smoove as Vexy and Hackus.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2013

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

JULY 1, 2013

SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 2013

THE TERMINATOR
Arnie may be back, but Terminator itself is going back to square one.
We've been hearing talk of a Terminator 5 for a little while now, but it turns out the roboapocalypse is getting a little more of a facelift than we originally thought.
The new film, which will be called simply Terminator, will be a reboot for the franchise. Not only that, but it will be the first film in a standalone trilogy. Considering that the last two Terminator films weren't exactly the most successful or well-regarded, we can't say we're surprised. In fact, we're not terribly bummed about it, either. Terminator has always been about time travel anyway, so it's not hard to imagine that messing with the space-time continuum wouldn't eventually get us right back to the beginning anyway.
Here's the full press release:
Skydance Productions, Annapurna Pictures and Paramount Pictures have jointly announced they will partner on a rebooted “TERMINATOR” movie, to be released by Paramount Pictures on June 26, 2015.
The first in a stand-alone trilogy, “TERMINATOR” will be produced by Megan Ellison of Annapurna and David Ellison of Skydance. Dana Goldberg and Paul Schwake of Skydance will serve as executive producers. Laeta Kalorgridis (“Avatar,” “Shutter Island”) and Patrick Lussier (“Drive Angry”) are attached to write the screenplay.
Launched in 1984 with star Arnold Schwarzenegger as the title character, “TERMINATOR” spanned 3 subsequent films, which have earned over $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
David Ellison most recently executive produced, along with his partners at Paramount, “World War Z,” “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”. A 5th installment of in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise is in active development, along with a 3rd film in the “G.I. Joe” franchise, among other films.
Megan Ellison most recently produced the Academy Award®-nominated “Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Master” and executive produced “Spring Breakers” via her Annapurna Pictures banner and has David O. Russell’s “American Hustle,” Spike Jonze’s “Her,” and Bennett Miller’s “Foxcatcher” set for release later this year.
Now we're wondering if Schwarzenegger is still going to be playing the titular one-man robot death machine or if his role will be something else entirely.
Either way, we're glad that, despite the reboot, he still seems to be on board. Our only other request? Please, oh, please, do not turn this new iteration of the franchise into a CGI-fest. The first two films were successful in many ways because of their excellent practical effects. Imagine this as a post-apocalyptic Field of Dreams -- if you build a giant robot of death, we will come ... to the movie theater, that is.

DOCTOR WHO
This trailer for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary isn't real, but it's so good you won't even care.
We're less than half a year out from an episode that, at the very least, will see Matt Smith and David Tennant go toe to toe in a two-Doctors extravaganza. So people are understandably salivating at the thought of seeing footage from the landmark episode. You can imagine how thrilled people were when they thought the first teaser trailer had finally leaked.
The trailer is absolutely amazing, but it's also absolutely fake. But if someone hadn't told us up front that this wasn't the real thing, we never would have known. It's so good that we're left feeling that the actual trailer (whenever it turns up) will have some big shoes to fill.

PACIFIC RIM
On the heels of the first two clips from the July 12 release, Pacific Rim has revealed a new featurette. Dubbed "Under Attack."
Opening in 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters, the Guillermo del Toro film stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Ron Perlman, Robert Kazinsky, Max Martini, Clifton Collins, Jr., Burn Gorman, Larry Joe Campbell, Brad William Henke and Diego Klattenhoff.
When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot (Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Kikuchi)—who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

THE WORLD'S END
A new UK TV spot for The World's End, directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan and Rosamund Pike, is here.
In The World's End, 20 years after attempting an epic pub crawl, five childhood friends reunite when one of them becomes hellbent on trying the drinking marathon again. They are convinced to stage an encore by Gary King (Simon Pegg), a 40-year-old man trapped at the cigarette end of his teens, who drags his reluctant pals to their hometown and once again attempts to reach the fabled pub – The World's End. As they attempt to reconcile the past and present, they realize the real struggle is for the future, not just theirs but humankind's. Reaching The World's End is the least of their worries.

SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2013

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
The roster just keeps expanding for Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, and the director has added yet another mutant to the fold.
Meet Adan Canto, who will reportedly be playing the Brazilian mutant Sunspot, aka Roberto Costa. Sunspot was created in the 1980s, and has the ability to absorb solar energy that can be used in energy blasts.
If Canto looks familiar, he’s popped up recently in the U.S. on the hit Fox series The Following, though he’s a relative unknown outside of his native Mexico.
Word broke a while back that Canto had joined the X-Men sequel, but there was no word on who he might be playing. But the actor slipped up and responded to a fan on Twitter who had said they were looking forward to him playing Sunspot with this reply: “Thanks! Next summer.”
He deleted the post soon after, but the damage was done.

ENDER'S GAME
As the marketing machine gears up for this sci-fi epic, there's one face that's noticeably absent.
San Diego's annual Comic-Con is still the mecca for all things geeky. So, naturally, it's the place where all sci-fi things great and small come to promote what they're working on.
It's no surprise, then, that Ender's Game will be looking to make a big splash at the con. In addition to the expected panel, Summit Entertainment will also be providing an eight-room interactive Ender’s Game exhibit. That's pretty cool, even by Comic-Con standards.
As for the panel proper, it will take place on July 18 in the famed Hall H, where the line to get in never ends. On the panel will be star Harrison Ford, producer Bob Orci, director Gavin Hood and co-stars Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin. Everyone. Well, almost. The man who wrote the book series upon which the film is based, Orson Scott Card, won't be there.
While Card has long been known for his gifts as a sci-fi creator, in recent years he has also become infamous for his very public anti-gay views. His stance hasn't gone over very well with many people (fans included), and so it seems likely that Card is being purposefully kept at arm's length from promotion for the Ender's Game film adaptation in order to prevent fans from attempting to start a boycott.
Whether or not that's a good thing, we can't say we're surprised. After Card was fired from a Superman comic due to fan backlash at his involvement, we almost assumed he wouldn't turn up for Comic-Con.
But now it's official -- no Orson Scott Card for San Diego Comic-Con.

THE FIRE SERMON
DreamWorks has taken the film rights to the upcoming literary trilogy The Fire Sermon, Deadline reports. The dystopian science fiction tale arrives from Francesca Haig and will be seeking a domestic publisher next month.
Set in a post-apocalyptic 25th century, The Fire Sermon has humanity evolved without technology and all children are born as twins. The Alpha twins represent a ruling class while the mutated Omega twins are treated as lower-class individuals and sent to live in their own villages. The catch is that when one twin dies, so does the other and the story follows a brother and sister pair, one of whom rises up to become a ruler amongst the Omegas.
Carla Hacken, whose credits include films like Walk the Line and The Devil Wears Prada, is attached to produce.

FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2013

THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2013

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2013

TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2013

MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2013

WORLD WAR Z
After this weekend, Mr. and Mrs. Smith will no longer be Brad Pitt's biggest opening weekend earner.
The actor's World War Z is set to surpass the $50 million brought in by the 2005 spy film, which co-starred Angelina Jolie. Paramount expects the zombie apocalypse tentpole, which earned a B+ CinemaScore from audiences, to gross more than $60 million in its debut.
WWZ earned $25 million on Friday, placing the title at No. 2 on the domestic box office chart behind Disney/Pixar's Monsters University at $30.5 million.
The movie, co-financed with Skydance Productions, underwent an arduous production process that included numerous reshoots before finally making its way into theaters.
Pitt's last summer film was Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, which opened to $38 million in August 2009. He also starred in Steven Soderbergh's 2007 heist sequel, Ocean's Thirteen, which opened to $36 million in June. And the actor opened the mythology epic, Troy, to $46 million in May, 2004.

HERCULES
Kon-Tiki star Tobias Santelmann has joined Brett Ratner's upcoming Hercules film, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Santelmann will play the lead villain in the film, a character named Rhesus. Santelmann's character is described as "a golden-locked barbarian and revolutionary" who will go toe-to-toe with Dwayne Johnson's Hercules in the movie.
Hercules also stars Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell, Joseph Fiennes, Peter Mullan and John Hurt. Rounding out the main cast are Rebecca Ferguson, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Aksel Hennie and Reece Ritchie.
Based on the Radical Studios graphic novel "Hercules: The Thracian Wars," the ensemble-action film is a revisionist take on the classic myth set in a grounded world where the supernatural does not exist. The screenplay is by Ryan Condal and Evan Spiliotopoulos. President Barry Levine of Radical Studios is a producer and Executive VP Jesse Berger is an executive producer on the film.
Hercules will land in theaters on July 25, 2014.

INTO THE WOODS
Anna Kendrick is the latest name said to be joining the cast of the ensemble Broadway musical adaptation Into the Woods, says a story today at The Hollywood Reporter. She will play Cinderella opposite Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, Chris Pine, Jake Gyllenhaal, James Corden, Emily Blunt, Tracey Ullman and Christine Baranski.
Into the Woods weaves together the story of several of the most beloved fairytales (Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel) into the original story of a Baker and his wife who try to reverse a curse on their family in order to have a child, exploring the consequences of the characters’ wishes and quests and their desire for “happily ever after.”
With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book and direction by James Lapine, "Into the Woods" earned 10 nominations at the 1988 Tony Awards, winning three including best score and best book of a musical. The 2002 Broadway revival won a Tony for best revival of a musical.
Kendrick recently starred in Rapture-Palooza and can be seen coming up in the Dylan Kidd-directed comedy Get a Job.
Walt Disney Pictures is expected to start filming in the fall. James Lapine wrote the script and Rob Marshall will direct.

SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2013

DOCTOR SLEEP
Stephen King's Doctor Sleep, the sequel to his legendary scarefest The Shining, won't hit bookstores until the fall. But we're just days away from the debut of Under the Dome, a CBS miniseries based on King's novel of the same name, and King's publisher is taking the opportunity to give Doctor Sleep a plug.
The short spot above will air during Under the Dome broadcasts (which begin Monday night) to promote the forthcoming novel, which will follow the exploits of an adult Danny Torrance as he battles a new supernatural foe. Here's the official synopsis for the book:
On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky twelve-year-old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the 'steam' that children with the 'shining' produce when they are slowly tortured to death.
Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant 'shining' power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes 'Doctor Sleep.'
Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of devoted readers of The Shining and satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.
Doctor Sleep hits bookstores Sept. 24.

RELEASE DATES FOR ID-4, X-MEN AND MORE
Good news, sci-fi fans. It looks like 2014 and 2015 should be a whole lot of fun.
The folks at 20th Century Fox have just announced some major sci-fi release dates, while also confirming that long-rumored Independence Day sequel really is happening.
We also get a new date for Bryan Singer’s eagerly anticipated X-Men: Days of Future Past, which will be showing up a little earlier than expected in the summer of 2014. But that comes at the cost of bumping the Rise of the Planet of the Apes sequel further down the line.
If it means we get the X-Men back together a little sooner, that’s not a bad tradeoff. Here’s the full breakdown:
Roland Emmerich (Stargate, Independence Day) is returning to direct Independence Day 2, which is set to open wide on July 3, 2015. For those keeping count, that’s 19 years after the original. Still no official word on whether original stars Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum will be back to battle aliens.
The new X-Men sequel Days of Future Past is moving up from its originally set July 18, 2014, release date to May 23, 2014. As far as competition is concerned, it’ll roll out a week after Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla reboot.
To make room for Days of Future Past, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is moving from May to July 18, 2014. The first installment in this rebooted Apes canon was a surprise blockbuster, so this one will probably gain some steam heading into next year.
A new date for the videogame adaptation Assassin’s Creed has been set for June 19, 2015, which bumps it back a month from its original May 22 release date.

MAGGIE
Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken a leading role in the upcoming zombie project Maggie, Variety reports. He's also planning to serve as a producer on the 2011 "Black List" project. Written by John Scott 3, it was given the following official logline:
As a “walking dead” virus spreads across the country, a farm family helps their eldest daughter come to terms with her infection as she slowly becomes a flesh-eating zombie.
Although she was up for the title role earlier this year, Chloe Grace Moretz is no longer set to star due to scheduling conflicts.
Schwarzenegger, who recently starred in The Last Stand, also recently confirmed that he'll be returning to his most popular franchise with Terminator 5.
Commercials director Henry Hobson will helm Maggie and the modestly-budgeted film will mark his theatrical debut.

FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2013

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2013

TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2013

MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2013

SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2013

CHUCKY The sixth installment of the Child's Play franchise, Curse of Chucky is on the way, targeting an unspecified direct-home-video release (likely this fall)!
The franchise comes full circle as Toyland's most gruesome serial killer returns in a horrifying all-new movie from Universal 1440 Entertainment, a production entity of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
Curse of Chucky stars Fiona Dourif (The Master, "True Blood," "Deadwood"), A Martinez ("Longmire," "General Hospital"), Danielle Bisutti (Get Smart, "CSI: Miami") and Brennan Elliott (Flight 93, Double Jeopardy). Brad Dourif ("The Lord of the Rings," Dune) once again returns to provide the voice of Chucky, the pint-sized doll possessed by the spirit of notorious serial killer Charles Lee Ray, who returns to settle some unfinished business.
The film is directed by Don Mancini, the Child's Play franchise creator who has written or co-written each of the previous movies and was the director of Seed of Chucky. Also an integral part of the "Child's Play" franchise from inception, David Kirschner (An American Tail, Hocus Pocus, Bride of Chucky) produces from a screenplay by Mancini. The film's top-flight production team includes special-effects wizard Tony Gardner (Zombieland, Seed of Chucky), production designer Craig Sandells (Mother's Day) and costume designer Patricia J. Henderson (ATM).
In the film,Nica (Fiona Dourif) is grieving over the gruesome suicide of her mother when her domineering older sister Barb (Danielle Bisutti) arrives with her young family in tow to help settle their mother's affairs. As the sisters butt heads over Nica's plans for the future, Barb's young daughter comforts herself with a grinning, red-haired talking doll named Chucky (voiced again by Brad Dourif) that recently arrived mysteriously in the mail. But as a string of brutal murders begins to terrorize the household, Nica suspects the doll may hold the key to the bloodshed. What she doesn't know is that Chucky has a personal score to settle. He's determined to finish a job he started more than 20 years earlier, and this time he's going to see it through to the bloody and shocking end.

LEGION OF SUPER HEROES
There's only three issues left before the end of "League of Super-Heroes" in the DC Comics universe. Issue #21 hits newsstands Wednesday, June 19, but here is your first look. Want to see more? Go to http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2013/06/dcs-legion-of-super-heroes-21-cover-and-6-pages-revealed.html to see the first six pages.
In the comic's story, the League of Super-Heroes team is at a very low point, nearly defeated by the evil Fatal Five. The Fatal Five entered the series in issue 18, led by the Emerald Empress.
Members of the Legion are on the losing end of a battle against the Fatal Five's Persuader. The issue is written by Paul Levitz, with art by Jeff Johnson. The cover is drawn by Francis Portela.

EARLY BOX OFFICE RETURNS
It should come as no surprise that "Man of Steel" is number one at the weekend box office, by far. The newest Superman adventure, which is a reboot of the franchise, pulled in $44 million Friday, and is working toward a $120 million weekend. Adding in an extra $12 million from Thursday showings, and "Man of Steel" seems to be doing alright.
It's Friday total more than doubled that of 2006's "Superman Returns," giving it the 20th highest opening day of all time.
"This Is the End" ranks at a distant number 2 with a $7 million Friday, working toward $21 million for the 3-day weekend. Factoring in grosses from Wednesday and Thursday will bring the R-rated comedy to a total of $32.3 million.
"After Earth" continues to fall down the Top 10, landing at number nine in its third week, bringing in $1 million Friday. The entire Top 10 can be found below with Friday estimates.
1. Man of Steel $44 million
2. This is the End $7 million
3. Now You See Me $3.1 million
4. The Purge $2.8 million
5. Fast & Furious 6 $2.5 million
6. The Internship $2.2 million
7. Epic $1.6 million
8. Star Trek Into Darkness $1.3 million
9. After Earth $1 million
10. Iron Man 3 $650,000

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
We can finally put the rumors to rest. Guardians of the Galaxy has cast its Rhomann Dey. As suspected, Oscar-nominated actor John C. Reilly landed the part. He'll play the leader of the Nova Corps in the superhero film. Rhomann has a tragic history ultimately caused by the warlord Zorr. Zorr massacred many of the citizens of Rhomann's home planet Xandar, including his family.
Rhomann was driven by vengeance and made it his mission to chase Zorr to the ends of space. Some of Rhomann's powers include superhuman strength, flight, endurance and resistance. Reilly's a talented actor, and we're interested to see if he can pull this off.
Guardians of the Galaxy also stars Chris Pratt, Benicio Del Toro, Glenn Close, Zoe Saldana, Lee Pace and Michael Rooker. The film is directed by James Gunn and opens in theaters Aug. 1, 2014.

SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 2013

TRUE BLOOD
True Blood’s season-six premiere is only two days away—and we’re pretty stoked about that—but in order to while away the time, we’ve got some new bloody cool sneak peeks to share.
(These are actually three clips all rolled into to one, courtesy of ETOnline.)
The first part has Erik (Alexander Skarsgard) and Pam (Kristin Bauer Van Starten) arguing, and things don’t look so hot between them.
The second one has Lillith Billith Bill issuing a warning to Sookie (Anna Paquin), Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) and Erik. Is our beloved Bill really gone? Just who is he now?
The third and final part of the clip has Sookie meeting her new beau, played by Rob Kazinsky. In good ol' True Blood fashion, this one's in trouble, and our favorite faery-telepathic waitress can't resist the need to lend a helping hand.

MAN OF STEEL BOX OFFICE THURSDAY
Zack Snyder's Superman reboot "Man of Steel" took in $12 million from special Walmart screenings, and $9 million in midnight runs on Thursday night.
That tops the $15.6 million scored earlier this summer by "Iron Man 3" which also began rolling out on a Thursday night. However, it's behind the $30.6 million that "The Dark Knight Rises" grossed in midnight previews last year.
The studio is currently projecting an $80 million opening weekend, whereas box-office analysts are more bullish with $85-100 million estimates.
This follows on from the film already opening yesterday in the Philippines and Taiwan where it scored the largest opening day ever, and the largest Warners opening ever respectively.

FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2013

THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2013

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2013

MONDAY, JUNE 10, 2013

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013

CONTINUIUM CONTINUED - RENEWED FOR THIRD SEASON
The second season hasn’t even debuted in the U.S. yet, but Canadian network Showcase has already picked up Continuum for a third year.
The time-traveling shenanigans of future-cop Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols) will continue for another season, which is great news for U.S. fans prepping for Syfy’s season two premiere on June 7. The second season is airing now in Canada, and the first season of the import aired a few months ago on Syfy in the U.S.
Based around the story of a cop who travels back in time to stop a group of terrorists, the series has managed to build a pretty great mythology around the concept. It has grown into a bona fide hit in Canada, and is gaining steam in the ‘States as well.
Star Rachel Nichols teased Digital Spy with this tidbit about upcoming episodes:
"Kiera goes through a very interesting moral crisis... because in 2077 she knows who she is and she knows what she's fighting, she knows what's bad and good. She comes back to 2012 and her world is completely turned upside down and everything she believes she stood for is in question."
No announcements have been made about when/if the third season might debut in the U.S. at this point. But considering the U.S. air dates have almost caught up with the Canadian schedule, it could be a slightly longer wait between seasons from now on.

INSIDIOUS
One of the scariest ghost stories in recent memory is finally getting its sequel.
Insidious, especially in its first two acts, was damned good storytelling. There are scares aplenty, a nice twist on the classic haunted house story and, the greatest shock of all, characters we actually kind of liked!
The only trouble with a sequel is, we weren't sure how they'd do it. If you've seen the end of the first, you know it wouldn't be easy. But with this first trailer for Insidious Chapter 2, it actually makes sense.
We're excited for the sequel, but a little nervous to see that there will be more of that limbo space from the original. Hopefully they'll find a way to keep those bits scary this time. Really, though, we're just glad we're continuing the story of the same family rather than starting from scratch.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2013

TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2013

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 2013

INTERSTELLAR
Collider is reporting that long time Chris Nolan collaborator Hans Zimmer will score his upcoming film Interstellar and has already started working on the film's music. Zimmer has served as the composer for four of Nolan's films including Inception and the entire "Dark Knight" trilogy. His work can be heard next in the upcoming Man of Steel.
Directed and written by Nolan, Interstellar is based on a script by Jonathan Nolan. The film will be produced by Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan of Syncopy Films and Obst of Lynda Obst Productions. Kip Thorne will executive produce. Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine will star.
Interstellar will depict a heroic interstellar voyage to the furthest reaches of our scientific understanding. The movie hits theaters on November 7, 2014.

SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 2013

REVOLUTION
NBC has released a preview clip from next week's highly anticipated Revolution season finale, which should answer the question "Will the lights come back on?" Not only that, but will more Rebels meet their maker? The previous episode featured several standoffs, including one between Miles (Billy Burke) and Monroe (David Lyons).
In the following clip, we'll see what happened to Captain Neville (Giancarlo Esposito) and his son Jason (JD Pardo) after they talked their way out of militia hands. Last week, Neville was able to convince one of his captors to start a coup. Monroe's still stuck in the Tower, so while the boss is away, his enemies will play.
What will Neville do with Monroe's army? In the official episode description it says, "Neville and Flynn give new meaning to evil.” That can't be good.

HAMMER OF THE GODS
Here is the first look at an almost three-minute clip from Hammer of the Gods in theaters on July 5th.
Set in Viking Britain in 871 AD, Hammer of the Gods is a visceral, intense tale set in a world whose only language is violence. A young Viking warrior, Steinar (Charlie Bewley), is sent by his father the king on a quest to find his estranged brother, who was banished from the kingdom many years before. Steinar’s epic journey across terrifyingly hostile territory gradually sees him emerge as the man his father wants him to be – the ruthless and unforgiving successor to his throne.
Elliot Cowan, Clive Standen, Guy Flanagan and Michael Jibson co-star.

BLADE RUNNER 2
Writer Michael Green is in negotiations to do a rewrite of Alcon Entertainment's Blade Runner sequel penned by Hampton Fancher (Blade Runner, The Minus Man, The Mighty Quinn) and to be directed by Ridley Scott. Fancher's original story/screenplay is set some years after the first film concluded.
Alcon co-founders and co-Chief Executive Officers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove will produce with Bud Yorkin and Cynthia Sikes Yorkin, along with Ridley Scott. Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble, CEO’s of Thunderbird Films, will serve as executive producers.
Green recently completed rewrites on Robopocalypse and Warners Bros.' Gods and Kings.
Alcon and Yorkin previously announced that they are partnering to produce Blade Runner theatrical sequels and prequels, in addition to all television and interactive productions.
The original film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1993 and is frequently taught in university courses. In 2007, it was named the 2nd most visually influential film of all time by the Visual Effects Society.
Released by Warner Bros. almost 30 years ago, Blade Runner was adapted by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples from Philip K. Dick's groundbreaking novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and directed by Scott following his landmark Alien. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction).

FRIDAY, MAY 31, 2013

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2013

PACIFIC RIM
A new TV spot for Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim is on-line.
Opening in 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on July 12, the film stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Ron Perlman, Robert Kazinsky, Max Martini, Clifton Collins, Jr., Burn Gorman, Larry Joe Campbell, Brad William Henke and Diego Klattenhoff.
When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)—who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

MONDAY, MAY 27, 2013

PART 1 of the Reunion Event.

PART 2 of the Reunion Event.

Babylon 5 Memorial Video from John Hudgens.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2013

TUESDAY, MAY 21, 2013

MONDAY, MAY 20, 2013

SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2013

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness took in roughly $22 million on Friday for a projected four-day debut of $83 million, in line with the opening of the director's 2009 reboot. The 3D sequel opened late Wednesday night in North America and has earned $25.3 million to date.
Into Darkness should benefit from a coveted A CinemaScore and generally upbeat reviews, although some had expected the movie to open close to $100 million (Paramount had always estimated $80 million to $100 million).
Abrams' 2009 Star Trek, which successfully relaunched the iconic sci-fi franchise, opened to $79.2 million in May 2009 (that film wasn't in 3D).
The sequel returns Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in the roles of Captain James T. Kirk and Spock. Other returning castmembers include Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Karl Urban. This time out, a scheming villain played by Benedict Cumberbatch resorts to terrorism to threaten Earth.
Paramount and Skydance co-financed the $190 million tentpole, and produced alongside Abrams' Bad Robot. The script was written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof. Into Darkness faces a crowded marketplace in North America, competing with Iron Man 3 and The Great Gatsby.
Disney and Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3 placed second on Friday, grossing $9.5 million for a domestic total of $311.4 million. The Great Gatsby, from Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures, came in No. 3 on its second Friday, grossing $7.7 million for a cume of $74.4 million.
Q&A: 'Star Trek's' Damon Lindelof on 'Star Wars' Influences and His 'Fatal Flaw' Overseas, Into Darkness opened in seven markets last weekend. The 3D pic has grossed a stellar $37 million through Wednesday, 70 percent ahead of the 2009 film.
Its projected to hit $35 million overseas for the weekend, lead by Russia at $9 million. (That's $2 million more than the opening on last film.)
By this weekend, the international cume is predicted to hit $75 million with just over half of all markets opened.
As Abrams' rolled out in North America, Universal's Fast & Furious 6 and The Great Gatsby commenced their international runs.
Zooming out of the gate, Fast & Furious 6 debuted in the U.K. and Ireland on Friday, grossing $4.6 million and marking the best opening performance ever for a Universal title in those territories.
Gatsby, which opened the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, began rolling out internationally Wednesday and is now playing in 49 countries. From Wednesday through Friday, it has grossed $17 million, more than the entire opening weekend of Moulin Rouge, which took in $13.8 million during its opening weekend in 2001.
In France, the third top-grossing market for the film, behind only Russia and the U.K., Gatsby has taken in $2.2 million on 660 screens to rank first.

I AM ZOZO
Image Entertainment has acquired U.S. rights to Scott Di Lalla’s Ouija board thriller I Am ZoZo from Outsider Pictures and One World Studios Ltd. The film was written and directed by documentarian Scott Di Lalla (Choppertown: The Sinners) and stars Kelly McLaren, Courtney Foxworthy, Demetrius Sager, Caleb DeBattista, and Caleb Courtney.
The film was produced by Zack Coffman and executive produced by Martin Perlberger. I Am ZoZo was filmed entirely on Super 8mm and recently received Best Feature and Audience Choice Awards at the 2012 US Super 8 Film Festival. Bill Bromiley, Chief Acquisitions Officer for Image Entertainment made today’s announcement.
I Am ZoZo centers on five young friends who play with a Ouija board that inadvertently summons the malevolent Ouija demon “ZoZo.” The film’s horrific account of possession is based on widely reported real experiences with this ancient and evil spirit that attaches itself to people exclusively through Ouija boards.

SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013

DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 8
It seems like we’re always wondering when the next Doctor, or next showrunner, will be falling in line for Doctor Who. But it sounds like Matt Smith isn’t going anywhere — at least not until after season eight.
Smith is locked in for 2014 — though the same can’t be said about showrunner Steven Moffat, apparently. He’s off shooting a feature film for a few months, but after the Christmas special is wrapped up, he says he’s returning in 2014 for the next series.
Here’s his statement, via The Sun:
“I’m on a break for a couple of months while I’m in Detroit making How To Catch A Monster. We come back and shoot the Christmas special over the summer, then we go on to the next series, which will either start filming at the end of this year or at the start of 2014.”

WAREHOUSE 13 TO END
There will be one more season of artifact hunting, and then Syfy’s Warehouse 13 will officially come to a close.
The network has announced that the hit series has received an order for a fifth and final season, which will consist of six episodes. The show is currently airing the back half of its fourth season.
Syfy President of Original Content Mark Stern had this to say about the decision:
“Warehouse 13 has been an incredible signature series for us. We are grateful to the loyal and passionate fan base and know that Jack Kenny, his gifted creative team, and outstanding ensemble cast will give them an amazing finale season.”
The series has been a consistent performer, and has a pretty solid fan base following the gang of artifact hunters. It’s nice to know the writers will get a chance to close out the story on their own terms with a final season.
The series stars Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek, Allison Scagliotti and Aaron Ashmore.

THE EQUALIZER
Marton Csokas (upcoming Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and The Amazing Spider-Man 2) will play the villain in Columbia Pictures' The Equalizer. He will be joining Denzel Washington and Chloë Grace Moretz in director Antoine Fuqua's big screen adaptation of the 1980s TV show.
The original show was created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim. It starred Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, a private detective with a lot of contacts who is available for hire if you have a problem that you don't know how to solve.
In the movie, McCall is living a quiet life while working at a Home Depot when one of his acts of kindness towards a prostitute (Moretz) gets him embroiled with the Russian mob. Csokas plays a vicious fixer for the Russia mob.
The movie was written by Richard Wenk with Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch producing through Escape Artists, alongside Alex Siskin, Mace Neufeld, Tony Eldridge, Michael Sloan, and Washington.
The Equalizer will shoot this summer in Boston.

THE AVENGERS 2
A rumor started a few weeks ago that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch would be joining the team in the upcoming Avengers sequel. Further signs continued to point towards the characters' inclusion in the film and now writer/director Joss Whedon has confirmed the characters will appear in an interview with IGN. In the interview, he spoke about their involvement in the film.
"You know, they had a rough beginning. They’re interesting to me because they sort of represent the part of the world that wouldn’t necessarily agree with The Avengers. So they’re not there to make things easier. I’m not putting any characters in the movie that will make things easier.”
We've learned exclusively at SuperheroHype that Irish actress Saoirse Ronan is the "prototype" for their version of the Scarlet Witch, but no casting has taken place.
Whedon also spoke about how the ending to Iron Man 3 (spoiler ahead!) showed a potentially changed Tony, but he's still tied to The Avengers.
“Well, I feel like in Iron Man 3, even though he said, ‘I’ve changed' -- he blew up his remote suits, but I don’t think anybody thinks he doesn’t have one anymore. The question is, if The Avengers are called, does he show up? And the answer is, ‘Yes!’”
Casting for The Avengers 2 is still coming together with many rumors flying around about potential actors being replaced. Regardless of who ultimately assembles for the sequel, Marvel's The Avengers 2 hits the big screen on May 1, 2015.

FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2013

THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2013

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2013

TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2013

MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2013

MAN OF STEEL
The official Man of Steel Twitter account debuted the latest poster for the upcoming reboot with a little reminder - "In five weeks..."
The film, arriving in 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on June 14, stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, Russell Crowe, Michael Kelly, Harry Lennix and Richard Schiff.
In Man of Steel, a young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.

MANIAC
A new poster for director Franck Khalfoun's remake of Maniac is now online!
Starring Elijah Wood and Nora Arnezeder, the thriller is set for a limited theatrical bow and VOD debut on June 21st. Written and produced by Alex Aja and Gregory Levasseur, the film finds Wood playing Frank, a man - haunted by seedy memories of his promiscuous mother - who works in a mannequin shop by day and stalks 'n kills women by night. Things take a turn in his life when he meets a beautiful photographer (Arnezeder).

STAR WARS NEWS
Lucasfilm has announced that the next "Star Wars" movie, like the previous six, will be filmed in the U.K. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy added a brief story hint in the following official statement:
"We've devoted serious time and attention to revisiting the origins of Star Wars as inspiration for our process on the new movie, and I'm thrilled that returning to the U.K. for production and utilizing the incredible talent there can be a part of that.
Speaking from my own longstanding connection to the U.K. with films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire of the Sun and recently War Horse, it's very exciting to be heading back."

SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2013

AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.
ABC has ordered its pilot "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." to series, confirming maybe the most no-brainer decision of this upfront season.
The show stars Clark Gregg as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson, reprising his role from "The Avengers" and several Marvel movies that preceded it. The cast also includes Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Elizabeth Henstridge, Chloe Bennet and Iain de Caestecker.
"Avengers" writer-director Joss Whedon also directed the "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." pilot and co-wrote it with his brother Jed and Maurissa Tancharoen. All three will be executive producers, along with long-time Whedon writer-producer Jeffrey Bell and Jeph Loeb ("Smallville," "Heroes").
Per ABC, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." will follow Coulson and his team as "they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary." The first teaser for the series will air Sunday (May 12) during the "Once Upon a Time" season finale.

DEFIANCE RENEWED
Get ready to return to TV's hottest new sci-fi world.
After the second-biggest series premiere in network history and three straight weeks of leading its Monday-night timeslot in key demographic ratings and total viewers for a cable drama, Syfy announced today it has renewed its acclaimed, groundbreaking original series Defiance for a second season of 13 episodes.
The show's second season will begin production this summer in Toronto for a 2014 release, and will reunite the season-one production team of showrunner Kevin Murphy (Caprica) and executive producers Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin (Smallville). As for the tie-in Defiance game developed by Trion Worlds, that's still a part of things, too, so if you're one of the more than 1 million players who've set up a game account, keep playing. Your gameplay will continue to affect the world of Defiance in the second season.
"Bringing the rich world of Defiance to life has been in incredible team effort. We couldn't ask for better partners than Kevin Murphy, his amazing cast and crew, and Trion Worlds," said Mark Stern, President of Original Content for Syfy and Co-Head of Original Content for UCP. "We can't wait to see where they take us in the second season."
Nearly 4 million viewers watched the premiere of Defiance in its first week, and the show has continued to deliver strong demo numbers and more than 2 million viewers every week. It's already become an anchor for Syfy's Monday night programming block (which also includes the likes of Warehouse 13, Lost Girl and Being Human), and it seems the best could be yet to come.
Defiance airs Mondays at 9/8C on Syfy.

GRAVITY
The first full trailer for Alfonso Cuaron’s long-delayed sci-fi flick Gravity has finally arrived, and space has never looked so absolutely terrifying.
No, these astronauts aren’t facing xenomorphs or Reavers, but the inky, black nothingness all around them is more than scary enough. Set 372 miles above the Earth, the story follow two astronauts drifting away from the planet after a horrible accident aboard a space station.
If you thought that teaser footage was good, you ain't seen nothing yet.
The effects are breathtaking, and the footage here looks like nothing we’ve ever seen. If Cuaron can carry this tension for the length of the film, this could be one of the most unique films of the year.
Here’s the full synopsis:
Sandra Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone–tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth…and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.
After a year-long delay to add some 3D effects, Gravity finally opens Oct. 4.

AFTER EARTH
Columbia Pictures has released a new TV spot for After Earth, the sci-fi thriller starring Will and Jaden Smith.
The film begins when a crash landing leaves teenager Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his legendary father Cypher (Will Smith) stranded on Earth, 1,000 years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape. With Cypher critically injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help, facing uncharted terrain, evolved animal species that now rule the planet, and an unstoppable alien creature that escaped during the crash. Father and son must learn to work together and trust one another if they want any chance of returning home.
After Earth hits theaters May 31.

FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2013

THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2013

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2013

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 5 Following a worldwide gross of $694.7 million for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions are ready to move forward with a fifth installment and have signed a deal with Tom Cruise to reprise the role of Ethan Hunt and produce.
Deadline says that both Paramount and Skydance have confirmed the signing but they are not saying who is writing and directing or when the release date may be. "Ghost Protocol" was directed by Brad Bird, who has moved on to directing Tomorrowland for Disney.
Deadline adds that they are hearing Christopher McQuarrie will direct, but that is not confirmed yet. The two just teamed up for Jack Reacher last year. That film is in early talks for a sequel as well.

ICE STATION ZEBRA
All of a sudden, EVERYONE wants to know if Christopher McQuarrie will indeed direct Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 5, a question that's been around for a good five months now.
While digging around, The Hollywood Reporter discovered that the talented Oscar-winning writer/director and frequent Tom Cruise collaborator already has another assignment on his plate, to write and direct a remake of the Cold War thriller Ice Station Zebra for Warner Bros.
The 1968 MGM movie based on the Alistair McLean novel was about an American Naval submarine team racing the Russians to retrieve sensitive photographic material in the Arctic and it was one of the very first submarine action movies with all the torpedoes and intrigue and double agents that you would expect from one. It's illustrious cast included Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan and Jim Brown and it was a major hit at the time.
McQuarrie first got attention for his screenplay for The Usual Suspects, directed by his other frequent collaborator Bryan Singer, for which he won an Oscar, before turning to directing with 2000's The Way of the Gun. He reunited with Singer and first worked with Cruise writing the 2008 WWII thriller Valkyrie and then wrote and directed Cruise in last year's Jack Reacher. He's also been involved with the writing on Singer's recent Jack the Giant Slayer, Cruise's upcoming All You Need is Kill and did a pass on The Wolverine.
Ironically, Cruise recently signed to another Cold War-inspired movie for Warner Bros., the re-imagining of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., directed by Guy Ritchie and co-starring Armie Hammer.
THR's seems to think that this new project may impact whether McQuarrie directs Mission: Impossible 5, although nothing has been confirmed for either project besides the fact that they exist.

MONDAY, MAY 6, 2013

SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2013

TRUE BLOOD
HBO revealed the trailer for True Blood season 6 this weekend. You can now watch it below and begin to speculate as to what is going to go down this season. It definitely looks like the stakes are high this time.
The new season begins June 16th.
Based on the popular Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris, the show follows waitress and part-faerie Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), who can hear people's thoughts, vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) and vampire Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard).

IRON MAN 3
After making an estimated $15.6 million in Thursday previews and midnights, Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3 brought in an estimated $68.5 million its opening Friday.
That's a strong opening day, definitely in the Top 10 but below last year's Marvel's The Avengers ($80.8 million), The Dark Knight Rises ($75.7 million), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($91 million) and three of "The Twilight Saga" movies - it's tied with "Eclipse."
Right now it's on its way to anywhere from $165 million and up depending on how well it holds business on Saturday, but its A CinemaScore is a good sign of positive word-of-mouth to carry it through the weekend.
Essentially it could take second place behind the opening of last year's Marvel's The Avengers which holds the record with $207.4 million but more likely it will take third place behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which held the opening record for ten months with $169.2 million.

SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2013

WARNER BROS. ANIMATED SERIES
It wasn’t that long ago that Warner Bros. and the Cartoon Network pulled the plug on two beloved DC animated series. There was a bit of hope for a while, but now it looks like they’re definitely staying dead. Boo.
The folks at SMGO.tv were organizing a Kickstarter crowdfunding movement to revive Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series, which were cancelled recently. DC pulled the plug to clear the way for a new line-up of animated series, but that didn’t make the decision any easier for fans to stomach.
Well, after months of trying, the folks at SMGO just announced that Warner Bros. has axed their plans to raise funds to save one or both of the shows. Here’s their statement:
“Hey all, I’ve been trying (all day) to come up with a slightly better way to say this, but I’m just going to give it to you straight. Warner said no – they don’t think we can reach our goals – do you believe that?”
The two shows have been replaced by Beware the Batman and Teen Titans Go! on the Cartoon Network schedule, and it seems DC doesn’t want to deal with the potential distraction of a fan campaign. Heck, why not give them a seemingly unattainable goal of what it would take to realistically happen? Then, if they don't make it, so be it, but they at least have a chance.
Oh, well. For every Veronica Mars, it looks like there will be a whole lot of good-intentioned ideas like this one that fall by the wayside.

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
Paramount Pictures has started airing this new TV spot for Star Trek Into Darkness, opening in IMAX 3D theaters on May 15 and conventional theaters on May 16. The J.J. Abrams sequel stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller.
In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice.
As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2013

TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2013

MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2013

SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2013

NEW SCI-FI THRILLER
Jason Blum and "Fast & Furious" franchise writer Chris Morgan are teaming to produce a low-budget sci-fi movie, says The Hollywood Reporter. Chris Denham will write the script.
According to the trade, "the story centers on a group of students who invent a new technology with ramifications that go far beyond their control."
Universal Pictures may distribute the project, as both Blum's Blumhouse and Morgan's Chris Morgan Productions have first-look deals with the studio.

IRON MAN 3
Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel Studios have released a new TV spot for the upcoming Iron Man 3 and it features new footage.
Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

THE WALKING DEAD
Rumors began circulating last week that "The Wire" alum Larry Gilliard Jr. was in talks to join the hit AMC series The Walking Dead. The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Gilliard has signed on for the series and will play the role of former Army medic turned alcoholic Bob Stookey.
In the source material, Stookey was a resident of Woodbury and saved The Governor's life after being tortured by Michonne. With David Morrissey set to return as The Governor in the upcoming season, it remains to be seen if these two characters will interact, but it does seem likely.
The Walking Dead will begin production on its fourth season this May and will return to air in October.

JMS AND TEN GRAND AND SUPERMAN
Follow the link below to hear about how J. Michael Straczynski is paying off on plot items that were set up in Superman Volume 1, plus he teases the reveal of the big bad responsible for the destruction of Krypton, and shares insight on his Shakespearian roots. Also, find out if JMS has any more adventures with Superman up his sleeve.
JMS also talks about TEN GRAND, his latest comic book venture.

http://m.mtv.com/blogs/geek_post.rbml;jsessionid=uT1kDYxwfrEKPQ5v10BRzPeV?nborh=&emvcc=0&nbpr=1&nbcol=1|unknown&nbck=501-100-001&id=2013/04/23/j-michael-straczynski-on-superman-earth-one-volume-3/&nbck=119-019-001

JULIE CAITLIN BROWN
Julie Caitlin Brown had a passionate energy that lit up the media room from the moment she walked in. Sporting a big pink feather in her hair that one of her loyal StarFest fans had asked her to wear, this successful actress, writer, and producer took time out of her busy schedule at the StarFest Convention in Denver April 19-21, 2013 to share her current projects with her fans. Best known for her role as "Na’Toth" from 'Babylon 5' Ms. Brown talked about her incredible career and her thoughts on going back to singing Cabaret.
To read more of this interview, go to:
http://www.examiner.com/article/interview-with-bablyon-5-actress-julie-caitlin-brown

JULIE CAITLIN BROWN

SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2013

VAMPIRE DAIRIES SPIN-OFF The CW Network has given early pickups to three additional dramas for next season, including the first new series order of the season with "The Originals," the spin-off of "The Vampire Diaries," which was introduced during last night's episode. The network also gave advance orders for the second season of "Beauty and the Beast" and the third season of "Hart of Dixie." The pickups were announced today by Mark Pedowitz, President, The CW.
"As soon as we saw last night's episode of 'The Vampire Diaries,' we knew we wanted more of 'The Originals' - Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson have done a fantastic job with 'The Vampire Diaries,' which is as fast-paced and well-written as ever, and Julie has created an equally compelling world for 'The Originals,'" said Pedowitz. "We're also very excited to bring back 'Beauty And The Beast' and 'Hart of Dixie' for next season - both series continue to be creatively strong and compelling, and their fans are incredibly passionate. I'm very happy to have all three series on the schedule for next season."
"Beauty and the Beast" stars Kristin Kreuk and Jay Ryan and "Hart of Dixie" stars Rachel Bilson.
The CW has already given advance orders to "Arrow," "The Vampire Diaries" and "Supernatural" for next season.

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2013

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2013

MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2013

SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 2013

IRON MAN 3
A short new TV spot for Iron Man 3 has come online! The third installment hits international theaters this week and will be available in North America the evening of May 2nd.
Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013

THOR: THE DARK WORLD
Chris Hemsworth looks as sharp as ever in his slightly tweaked battle armor, and the lightning effects are top-notch. It also has that otherworldly vibe, as it should, since it's supposedly set out in the cosmos, as opposed to the Earth-centric first film.
If nothing else, it’s great to finally get an official look.
The flick stars Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano and Jaimie Alexander.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Marvel’s "Thor: The Dark World" continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s "Thor" and "Marvel’s The Avengers," Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos...but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

TOMORROWLAND
A little over a month ago, we heard a pretty weird rumor claiming to be the convoluted plot for Damon Lindelof and Brad Bird’s upcoming sci-fi project Tomorrowland. Now a new casting note could’ve confirmed it.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, young actress Raffey Cassidy (Dark Shadows, Snow White and the Huntsman) has been cast in the mysterious flick as a “young girl robot who has been around for decades.” Cassidy joins George Clooney and Hugh Laurie in the project, which was previously known by the code name 1952.
Now, if that little point sounds familiar, it should — because it’s the crux of that rumored plot breakdown that made the rounds earlier this year. If you need a reminder, here’s the alleged plot pitch:
"A teenage girl, a genius middle-aged man (who was kicked out of Tomorrowland) and a pre-pubescent girl robot attempt to get to and unravel what happened to Tomorrowland, which exists in an alternative dimension, in order to save Earth."
It looks like it’s all starting to come together. Clooney is the man booted out of Tomorrowland, Laurie is the guy who kicked him out, and Cassidy is the girl robot. For fans hoping those initial rumors that the film would follow a 1950s UFO crash would turn out to be true, it sounds like we can officially put those to rest.
Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that the plot synopsis is pretty, well, weird. But, like most complicated sci-fi flicks, it can sometimes be hard to boil down a high-concept plot in the span of one sentence.
If nothing else, this sounds like it could be a pretty cool combination of A.I. Artificial Intelligence with the heart of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And with Bird in the director’s chair, it should at least look great.

DOCTOR WHO NEWS
Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the BBC's "Doctor Who" has today revealed the title of its season finale. "The Name of the Doctor" will feature the return of Alex Kingston as River Song.
The seventh modern season of the show follows the adventures of The Doctor (Matt Smith) and his new companion Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) on their incredible adventures through space and time. Known only as "The Doctor" for half a century, the reveal of the character's real name has been teased ever since Kingston's first appearance in 2008's "Silence in the Library."
Written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Saul Metzstein, "The Name of the Doctor" will air on May 18. Fans won't have to wait too long after that for another new episode, however, as a 50th anniversary special will follow later this year, featuring the return of both David Tennant and Billie Piper.

FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2013

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2013

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2013

MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2013

SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2013

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
A new international spot for Star Trek Into Darkness has hit the web and it highlights the film's villain, played by Benedict Cumberbatch.
In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice.
As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.
Star Trek Into Darkness hits IMAX 3D theaters on May 15 and conventional theaters on May 17. The anticipated sequel stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller.

PARANOIA/OUT OF THE FURNACE
Relativity Media has shifted a few of their 2013 releases around, moving Robert Luketic's thriller Paranoia, the adaptation of Joseph Finder's novel starring Harrison Ford, Liam Hemsworth and Gary Oldman, to August 16, and placing Scott Cooper's crime drama Out of the Furnace, starring Christian Bale, Casey Affleck and Zoe Saldana, into its original date of October 4.
Paranoia now faces Universal's action sequel Kick-Ass 2 and CBS Films' comedy The To Do List while Out of the Furnace, the second feature from Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper, takes on another comic book sequel, Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Henry Selick's animated The Shadow King and Vince Vaughn's comedy Delivery Man.
So far, neither film has rolled out any sort of marketing although Relativity has a good four months to plan their strategy on Paranoia.

NEW WORLD
Sony Pictures has picked up the remake rights to Park Hoon-Jung's recent South Korean crime thriller "New World".
After spending eight intense years deep undercover, a cop has become the right-hand man to the leader of South Korea's largest crime syndicate, Goldmoon.
Things get complicated when that leader is killed in a car accident, and various criminal factions vie to be named his replacement. Lee Jung-jae, Choi Min-shik and Hwang Jung-min starred.
Will Fetters ("The Lucky One") will pen the screenplay for the remake. Roy Lee and Dan Lin will produce.

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013

BRADBURY BOOKS GOING E-BOOK
Almost a year after the prolific writer's death, the bulk of his library is heading toward the digital clouds.
Ray Bradbury is famous for saying, "I don't try to describe the future, I try to prevent it." It's an edict he lived by, even to his last breath. This was a feeling he ascribed to many modern comforts, e-books included. In fact, when Yahoo approached him about putting one of his works on their site, he claims to have said, "To hell with you. To hell with you and to hell with the Internet."
Bradbury was a fierce advocate for libraries, and he only agreed to publish his most famous work, Fahrenheit 451, in digital form in order to renew the hardcover rights as well.
But the past is the past, and now the majority of his library is headed to Kindles, iPads and all the rest.
So, why now? The approval came not from Bradbury, but from his descendants. In a press release, one of Bradbury's four daughters, Alexandra, said "The entire Bradbury family is excited to know that Dad’s work will finally be available to all readers: traditional print readers and the new generation of digital readers."
And with that, Bradbury's publisher, William Morrow, has begun adapting his works, and, over the remainder of April, we will see these titles made available on the following dates:
April 16: Bradbury Speaks, Death Is a Lonely Business, A Graveyard for Lunatics, Now and Forever, One More for the Road, Green Shadows, White Whale.
April 23: Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes, We'll Always Have Paris.
April 30: The Illustrated Man, Quicker Than the Eye, Driving Blind, The October Country, The Cat's Pajamas, Let's All Kill Constance, A Medicine for Melancholy and Other Stories.
We won't judge whether this is the right move. Certainly it's easy to see the benefit in having the best of Bradbury in the palm of your hand, especially if you live in a tiny apartment on a crowded island. Still, we can't help but think of Bradbury and about that future he was trying to prevent. Hopefully, history (as accessible through the digital cloud, no doubt) will prove him wrong.

CONTINUIUM SEASON TWO
The first season of Syfy’s Continuum asked some pretty big questions in its final episode, and our first look at season two promises more twisty time travel and terrorist-fighting action.
The show, which was developed by the Canadian network Showcase, has released a season two promo showing off some of the massive action set pieces the producers have whipped up for next season.
It sounds like they’ll be digging deeper into the question of destiny, and how the actions in our present might affect Kiera’s (Rachel Nichols) future. That’s always been one of the most promising aspects of the show, and it looks like the writers won’t be backing away from some of the big reveals (and mysteries) presented in the finale.
Also, we're not entirely sure what's happening with that epic helicopter chase, but we can't wait to find out.
Season two is set to debut in the U.S. on June 7 at 10 p.m., but until then check out the trailer and let us know what you think the series has in store for the next 13 episodes.

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
Paramount Pictures has revealed the new poster for Star Trek Into Darkness. The new trailer arrives on Tuesday!
In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller star in the J.J. Abrams-directed film, opening on May 15 in IMAX and May 17 in conventional theaters.

FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2013

THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2013

CULT CANCELLED
Despite their best efforts, The CW couldn't make Cult a hit. The new series has been pulled from the schedule indefinitely. It initially aired as part of the network's Tuesday-night lineup, but its low ratings got it bumped to Fridays. Unfortunately, the new slot was no help and Cult continued to struggle.
The CW has aired seven of the 13 episodes in the season. We're unsure whether the remaining five will ever see the light of day. The most recent episode, titled "Suffer the Children," pulled a mere 620,000 total viewers. With numbers like that, perhaps it's a good thing The CW cut their losses.
Series creator Rockne S. O'Bannon reacted to the news as follows:
#Cult Sadly true. CW Execs once called the last 5 episodes "outstanding". I guess too outstanding. You are great, SMART fans. Thx to u all!
Cult centered on a journalist and research assistant who investigated the cult following of a TV show. Its fans take their obsession to a deadly level when they begin re-creating fictional murders from the series.
Cult starred The Vampire Diaries' Matt Davis, Cloverfield's Jessica Lucas and Heroes' Robert Knepper. At the moment, Cult's Friday-night slot will be filled with reruns of The Carrie Diaries and Oh, Sit.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2013

TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2013

MONDAY, APRIL 8, 2013

SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

GODZILLA
Warner Bros. Pictures has been filming Godzilla at Golden Ears Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada and a new video of the production is online.
Directed by Gareth Edwards, the May 16, 2014 release stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston and Sally Hawkins.
A presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, Godzilla will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, except in Japan, where it will be distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. Legendary Pictures is a division of Legendary Entertainment.

SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013

IRON MAN 3
Marvel Studios has dropped an exclusive new trailer for Iron Man 3. The sequel pits the hero against his biggest enemy yet -- the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). Without the assistance of the Avengers, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has to depend on his brain as well as his brawn.
The Mandarin is a terrorist whose sole purpose is to destroy Iron Man. He hits Tony where it hurts and breaks him down mentally and physically. Following the events of The Avengers, Tony's not in the best state. He's a changed man. Will that help or hinder his chances of survival?
Here's the official synopsis:
Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?
hits theaters May 3.

PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS
Twentieth Century Fox has moved up the release date for Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters a week-and-a-half from Friday, August 16 to Wednesday, August 7. This change puts the release date just five days after 2 Guns and 300: Rise of an Empire and only two days before Disney's Planes, Elysium and We're the Millers.
Directed by Thor Freudenthal, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters stars Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Douglas Smith, Mary Birdsong, Yvette Nicole Brown, Missi Pyle, Nathan Fillion, Anthony Head, Paloma Kwiatkowski, Leven Rambin, Stanley Tucci, Robert Maillet and Zoe Aggeliki.
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters continues the young demigod's epic journey to fulfill his destiny. To save their world, Percy and his friends must find the fabled and magical Golden Fleece. Embarking on a treacherous odyssey into the uncharted waters of the Sea of Monsters (known to humans as the Bermuda Triangle), they battle terrifying creatures, an army of zombies, and the ultimate Evil.

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2013

THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2013

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013