News/Reactions

What kind of a world do we live in where a worldwide box office take of $2.6 billion isn't a satisfying haul for a film? James Cameron and the folks at Fox feel that there's more box office life in Avatar yet, even after its April DVD release. They're talking about re-releasing Avatar in 3-D this Summer with an additional ten to twelve minutes of additional footage added in. Cameron confirms a scene where Jake Sully proves himself to the Na'vi (isn't that already in the movie?) and one where Tsu'tey gets drunk (is that worth a re-release?).

It seems like a very odd move to me, although I understand the business end of it. Avatar got booted from 3-D screens (including all IMAX theatres) to make room for Alice in Wonderland, while Avatar was still making money. I'm sure Cameron and company feel like they're just supplying for the demand, but what do you think the demand will be like for 3-D Avatar in the middle of the big Summer movie season, especially when you can already get it on DVD?

Are the ten minutes enough to spike an Avatar box office resurgence? Has Avatar become a poor-sport football team, just running up the score at this point to show that they can?

(via Hollywood Reporter)

While Marvel still searches for the right person to play the Star-Spangled Avenger Captain America, they've also got to find someone to play his arch-nemesis, The Red Skull, in the upcoming Joe Johnston film. The right man should be able to play cold and frightening, not be afraid to tackle one of fiction's most heinous Nazis, and be ready to spend some serious time in the make-up chair.

While some fans may have declared Christoph Waltz the perfect choice (a little too on the nose if you ask me -- save him for Dr. Doom in that eventual Fantastic Four reboot, I say), the folks at Marvel Studios may have their sights set on British actor Hugo Weaving, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

I think Weaving is a very good choice for the part, although it might ruin my fanboy armchair casting of Weaving as The Riddler in Christopher Nolan's third Batman film. The role would reunite Weaving with his Wolfman director, and would be the second comic book film for the actor (he also appeared behind the mask as V in V for Vendetta). The First Avenger: Captain America is currently scheduled for Summer 2011.

I know you're bummed that you missed out on that wicked awesome velcro Tron wallet during the recent Flynn Lives viral campaign, but don't worry, the world of Tron Legacy collectible memorabilia has not ended yet. If you head over to Arcade Aid you can find a little Tron Legacy mini-game that could net you an ENCOM employee ID badge.

All you have to do is scroll through their visual puzzle and correctly identify the 56 classic games referenced within. It sounds pretty easy. Once you've proven that a lifetime's worth of playing video games has finally paid off, you'll be taken to a screen that will ask what you want on your badge. And then through the magic of the US Postal Service, you'll eventually find a real life ENCOM badge in your mail box.

Simple enough, no? Happy Hunting.

I thank them for taking on the task, but I do not envy Syfy one iota in regards to making a Sharktopus movie. We're not talking Star Trek canon here, we're not talking about turning Starbuck from a guy to a girl; we're talking about the abominable, perversion of nature that is a shark combined with an octopus. If they don't get every detail of this holy grail of monster mashups correct, I am going to write a very strongly worded Tweet about it all.

First the debate was over how many mouths the God on Earth should have, but now that that is presumably settled, the network has moved onto deciding who should slay the mighty foe. I can only assume the search has been long and tireless, but it looks like they've finally settled on their hero of the 9pm Saturday hour and if you guessed it would be Eric Roberts, you are correct. You're also capable of reading, since I put it right up there in the title.

Snark aside, I'm glad they settled on Roberts over one of the lesser Baldwins (Sharks in Venice is still a sore subject for me). He's been in a string of straight-to-video projects lately, but my hatred for The Chaos Experiment is still not enough to make me forget about his recent roles in The Dark Knight, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and Phat Girlz (okay, so I can't turn off the snark when talking Syfy). Roberts will be playing the mad scientist who gives metaphorical (I assume) birth to the Sharktopus, which means he'll now be going head-to-head with Jeffrey Combs (for Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy) for the Best Character Actor Who Becomes a Victim of His Own Diabolical Plan to Genetically Engineer Sharks award I just invented.

Quirk books really knows how to reel in impulse buyers. First they managed to lure in those who couldn't resist the concept of Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (and really, who can reset corsets and sabres versus legions of the undead?) and now it looks like they're trying to go after anyone susceptible to the idea of crossing over the Star Trek universe with the brain-loving zombies horror fans have known and loved for years.

The title is, of course, Night of the Living Trekkies and the seven word pitch is quite simply, "Galaxy Quest meets Dawn of the Dead". No, writer Kevin David Anderson (is it a law at Quirk books that their writers must have three part names?) is not literally combining the great Galaxy Quest with the world of George Romero, though I think we can all agree that that would indeed be awesome. No, NOTLT is about what happens when a rampant bout of zombism starts chewing its way through a Star Trek convention, leaving the normally meek attendants as ad hoc heroes.

There is no publishing date available yet, but hopefully we'll be reading the lines "Set phasers to headshot!" sooner rather than later.

[Photo via aloalosabine on Flickr.]

Audiences seem split right down the middle on Tim Burton's take on Alice in Wonderland. I'm in the camp that found it a tedious mess of production design with very little in the way of story or character for me to cling to, and this is coming from a lifelong Burton fan. What I thought would be a perfect marriage of director and material was not so perfect, so why am I willing to root for him to take on the wonderful world of Oz?

The L.A. Times reports that Warner Brothers is looking at L. Frank Baum's Oz series as the next big fantasy franchise, and while no director has been announced, Alice's $210 milllion worldwide opening weekend has probably put Burton on their short list of dream directors for the series. Warners has a couple of Oz screenplays at the ready, one a traditional tale and the other a post-modern spin that sounds an awful lot like the failed Lost in Oz pilot that Burton produced in 2002.

I don't want to be let down again, but Oz has a couple things going for it -- it's easier to adapt than Alice (due to stronger plotting) and there are more novels to pull from, so there's a much richer, established fantasy world to work within. No matter how boring I may have found Burton's 3-D Disney flick, I'd be there opening day if he signed on to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Of course, there's a part of me that realizes his original projects (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands) are far better than his films based on pre-existing properties (Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mars Attacks).

What do you think? Is Tim Burton the man for the job or should he start exploring his own original material again?

I love that the Ronald D. Moore Battlestar Galactica just keeps on trucking, in one form or another. Whether it's merchandise or the TV spin-off Caprica, it's good to know that there are fans out there hungry enough to keep it alive in some form.

Game developer Bigpoint is working on a free, broswer-based massive multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) set to debut in Fall 2010. According to The L.A. Times, the new Battlestar Galactica game will feature space combat, along with exploratory missions. Instead of a monthly fee, the game will generate revenue by selling special equipment and game add-ons -- a practice that's been quite successful with games like MapleStory and Flyff.

I think we're long overdue for a Battlestar Galactica game that forces users into sticky moral predicaments, with no clear black or white answer. It's one of the elements of the show that made it such a compelling television show, and it's something that the generic space shooters that have worn the Galactica brand name just can't deliver on. Maybe this game can find a way to work some of that moral ambiguity in?

That image above is the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle, home to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. One of these days, I need to head up there.

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame has announced this year's inductees and it's a nice blend of well-known and eclectic. Well, "well-known" in the "more science fiction fans have heard of this guy than others" sense of the word.

The 2010 inductees, who will be given an honorary ceremony at the Science Fiction Museum on June 26th, include Hugo and Nebula award winning authors Octavia E. Butler and Roger Zelazny, filmmaker and special effects artist Douglas Trumbull and Twilight Zone and I Am Legend writer Richard Matheson.

I'm firmly in the Trumbull and Matheson fan clubs. Trumbull's visual effects work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner remain some of the best ever put to screen (and his most famous directorial effort, Silent Running, will be the subject of a future "Where Everyone Has Gone Before" column). Matheson was responsible for many of the best Twilight Zone episodes, including the Shatner-iffic "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" and the brilliant dark comedy, "The Invaders." Most will know him for writing the original novel of I Am Legend, but his bibliography of novels and short stories is approximately 27 miles long.

I'm not as familiar with Butler and Zelazny, but Butler's "Parable of the Sower" has been on my "list of shame" for some time. Any Roger Zelazny fans out there want to tell me a little more about him?

To take a look at past inductees and read up on the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, click on over to their website.

(Via Sci-Fi Wire)

If you haven't seen Firefly yet, or the spin-off feature film Serenity, then be warned that I'm going to get spoilery.

If there's one thing Browncoats can all agree on, it's that none of us liked it when Wash (played by Alan Tudyk) died. I think a lot of fans' problems with Wash's send-off in the movie Serenity had to do with how quickly he was written out while the crew moved on to the next bit of action. Sure, no one wanted to see him go, but it might've been nice if writer/director Joss Whedon would've slowed down for a moment and let the characters (and fans) say goodbye.

That goodbye is coming, and from a surprise celebrity Browncoat -- actor/comedian Patton Oswalt. Oswalt is writing the one-shot comic Serenity: Float-Out for Dark Horse, set for release on June 2. In the comic, Wash's old friends, from the days before he piloted Serenity, gather together to tell stories about their dearly departed friend. Oswalt hopes to give the fans some closure, while taking a deeper look at one of his favorite characters.

(via MTV)

We've been trucking along with our new Sci-Fi Movie Club every week, and I've been thinking a lot about the eventual moment when it comes around to my turn to "host" the film. One choice that keeps popping up in my head is Godzilla: Final Wars from director Ryuhei Kitamura (Midnight Meat Train). It's loud, dumb fun with more monster mayhem than any film in the Godzilla series. (It even features a delightful cameo by Roland Emmerich's American Godzilla, whereupon the lame CG abomination has the holy crap smacked out of him by the original Godzilla's tail.)

Right now, it's free to watch on Crackle as part of their "Attack! Attack!" series, which includes nine recent Godzilla films (and Starship Troopers, which isn't short on its own brand of rampaging creatures -- giant bugs). Along with Final Wars, they're offering Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah, Godzilla Vs. MechaGodzilla II, Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus, Godzilla Vs. Mothra, Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., and Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

That's hours worth of panic and destruction right at your fingertips!