Author: Robert Greenberger

Showtime Orders Final Season of ‘The Tudors’

  • News
  • April 15, 2009

Showtime’s The Tudors has been renewed for a fourth and final season according to Variety. The series’ third season launched just two weeks ago and comes in the wake of the premium channels’ decision not to buy four new series. Showtime did not launch a new series in 2008 and the pressure is on to launch successful projects in order to grow and remain competitive with HBO and Starz.

Jonathan Rhys Myers returns as King Henry VIII for the final ten episodes which will shoot in Dublin starting in June and air next spring. Creator/showrunner Michael Hirst will be writing all the scripts as he has for the previous thirty installments.

The third season opened April 5 and the ratings showed a cumulative audience of 1.3 million once all airings were totaled. The first two seasons, which we positively reviewed, are available on DVD.
 

‘Lost’ rules the Internet

  • News
  • April 15, 2009

While the networks and studios try and figure out how to make serious profit from airing their productions online, a new study shows that ABC’s Lost is the king of the net. According to Nielsen VideoCensus statistics, there were 35.8 million video streams of full-length episodes, clips and other shortform content.

The report stated that “130 million unique users watched 9.7 billion streams, up nearly 39% from March 2008 and up nearly 9% from February’s benchmark.” Viewers watched 169.3 minutes in February compared with 190.3 minutes in March.

As to where people watch the content, YouTube is the top spot with 5.47 billion video streams and 89.4 million unique viewers for March with Hulu in second place with 348 million streams and 8.9 million unique visitors, followed in popularity by Yahoo, Fox Interactive Media, MySpace and the Nickelodeon suite of sites.

Of the networks, ABC ruled the roost with CBS slowly gaining ground. As for the programs themselves, with Hulu not offering show specific breakdowns, the numbers indicate Grey’s Anatomy was number two with 19.7 million streams and 1.2 million unique viewers trailed by Dancing With the Stars, Family Guy, The Office, The Simpsons and House.
 

‘Firefly’ stars reunite for ‘V’; Sheen joins ‘Twilight Saga: New Moon’

  • Uncategorized
  • April 15, 2009

morena-baccarin-ff01-9742248Spring is in the air… and lots of actors are finding work.

Frost/Nixon’s Michael Sheen has joined the cast of The Twilight Saga: New Moon. The now-filming sequel has added Sheen as Aro, the head vampire of the Italian Volturi vampire clan. Summit Entertainment will release the eagerly awaited adaptation of the Stephenie Meyer best-seller on November 20.

Elisabeth Shue takes a detour from her usual dramatic fare to appear in Alexandre Aja’s remake of Piranha 3D. The actress will play "Sheriff Julie Forester, a take-charge authority figure in the community of Lake Victoria" according to Moviehole, and the mother of one of the lead characters. Look for this in March 2010

While we weren’t looking, the cast for the revamp of V has filled out with some very familiar names which improve our hopes for the ABC pilot.  The formal network announcement will be May 19 but we’re crossing our fingers.  The proposed series, based on Kenneth Johnson’s original concepts, now features Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost), Morena Baccarin (Firefly), Joel Gretsch (The 4400), Morris Chestnut (Ladder 49), Alan Tudyk (Firefly), Scott Wolf (Party of Five) David Richmond-Peck (The Day The Earth Stood Still), Laura Vandervoort (Smallville), Lourdes Benedicto (The Nine), and Christopher Shyer (The Day).

Finally, the seaons finale for Smallville will guest star Impulse (Kyle Gallner) and Black Canary (Alaina Huffman).
 

Dark Horse and Image join Diamond’s Final Order Cutoff Program on April 20

  • Uncategorized
  • April 15, 2009

diamond-comics-6712366Diamond officially announced the participation of Dark Horse Comics and Image Comics, including Image Central and Top Cow Productions, in the Diamond “Final Order Cutoff” program, or “FOC” for short. Dark Horse first announced the intent to participate in this program at last fall’s Diamond Retailers summit in Las Vegas to a roar of applause heard throughout the casino.

The final FOC dates will be tied to the calendar day twenty days before the Diamond on-sale date for comics, and approximately three months for graphic novels. Dark Horse and Image will begin including FOC dates as early as the May 2009 edition of Diamond’s Previews catalog.

"We are pleased to announce this move to the FOC,” Dark Horse President, Mike Richardson stated. “As every comics retailer knows, times are tough. It is important that Dark Horse not only support them with great product, but with our best efforts to make their ordering decisions as easy as possible. This system will help every retailer who orders Dark Horse product and should lead to better business for all of us."

“We’ve been enthusiastic about implementing FOC for quite some time now,” Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson said. “FOC allows retailers to test the waters with our all of our new projects, whether they’re by seasoned veterans or comics’ newest names with limited risk while still getting all the benefits of supporting a series from the floorboards up.”

Additionally, Dark Horse and Image products that have not shipped yet are also eligible for adjustments under the new FOC system. A list of qualifying Dark Horse and Image titles can be downloaded from the Vendor Tools section of Diamond Online’s Retailer Services Area.

The switch to FOC Dates also means a change in the schedule for both companies’ weekly e-mailers. Retailers will now receive the weekly Dark Horse Dispatch and Image Comics e-mailer on Mondays, starting April 20. Each will include an attachment with a list of their respective titles on FOC that week, customized to each retailer. Retailers will then be able to adjust orders for either publisher on the My Account page of Diamond Online’s Retailer Services Area, or by contacting their Diamond Customer Service Representative.

Paramount Allows Early Boarding on the Enterprise

  • News
  • April 15, 2009

Paramount Pictures has tweaked its release plans for Star Trek, allowing theaters to show the first screening on Thursday, May 7, beginning at 7 p.m. According to Coming Soon, this improves on the normal midnight screening used to create an event.
 

21 year old Zac Efron to play 11 year old Jonny Quest

  • Uncategorized
  • April 14, 2009

zac-efron-1780866The Los Angeles Times is reporting that High School Musical star Zac Efron has been signed to play Jonny Quest in a live-action feature film. The movie, written by Dan Mazeau, is said to be a terrific young Indiana Jones style adventure. Mazeau was recently named one of the 10 screenwriters to watch by Variety.

Also looking to join the cast as a brawny Race Bannon is Dwayne Johnson.

The 21 year old Efron is about a decade too old for the character, based on the Hanna Barbera series form the ‘60s. He’s taking on the title part to distance himself from teen musical roles and establish himself as a leading player so for him it s a canny move.

“I’m more dismayed by news that folks at Warner Bros. are thinking of jettisoning the name Jonny Quest altogether,” Geoff Boucher wrote. “Why? I hear the thinking is that the vintage animation roots of Quest will somehow pair it in the public mind with Speed Racer, which was a major Warners pile-up as blockbuster films go, considering the investment, expectations and critical reception. I’m not surprised because, well, unnuanced thinking in Hollywood is commonplace, and instead of spending the time needed to judge individual properties by their own merits, lots of decision-makers act like my grandmother at the racetrack.”
 

Dabel Brothers continue ‘Warriors’ saga in ‘Jailbreak’

  • News
  • April 14, 2009

The Dabel Brothers adapted the Paramount Pictures gang film The Warriors and now they have announced plans for an original sequel. Jailbreak will be a four-part event, beginning this July. According to a release, the series picks up shortly after the end of the 1979 film, when the Warriors plan to break one of their members out of jail.

The adaptation of Walter Hill’s stylish movie, based on Sol Yurick’s novel, saw its debut in February and wraps up in June so the sequel follows immediately.  Written by Erik Henriksen, penciled by Todd Herman and Herb Apon, inked by Nick Nix, and colored by Jeremy Treece, the first issue will feature a cover by Tom Feister.
 
As described by Paramount Home Video, which has the ultimate director’s cut on sale, the film is about: “A battle of gigantic proportions is looming in the neon underground of New York City. The armies of the night number 100,000; they outnumber the police 5 to 1; and tonight they’re after the Warriors – a street gang blamed unfairly for a rival gang leader’s death. This contemporary action-adventure story takes place at night, underground, in the sub-culture of gang warfare that rages from Coney Island to Manhattan to the Bronx. Members of the Warriors fight for their lives, seek to survive in the urban jungle and learn the meaning of loyalty. This intense and stylized film is a dazzling achievement for cinematographer Andrew Laszlo.”
 

William Hurt joins the hunt for ‘Robin Hood’

  • News
  • April 14, 2009

William Hurt, seen here as General "Thunderbolt" Ross from last year’s Incredible Hulk movie,  has been added to the cast of Ridley Scott’s untitled Robin Hood, formerly known as Nottingham. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he will appear as William Marshall, the Earl of Pembroke, a historical figure who was one of the most powerful men in Europe. Marshall was a servant to the Plantagenet kings and one of the best jousters of the era.

The feature, due May 14, 2010, stars Russell Crowe in a “retelling of the origins of the legend’s key characters.” Production began on the film recently and the cast includes Cate Blanchett as Lady Marion, Vanessa Redgrave as Queen Eleanor, Mark Strong as Sir Godfrey, Oscar Issac as King John, Léa Seydoux as French Princess Isabella, and the Merry Men: Scott Grimes as Will Scarlet, Kevin Durand as Little John, Alan Doyle as Allan Adayle.

Edgar Wright Greets his Fans

  • Uncategorized
  • April 13, 2009

Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World has been shooting for a little while now and director Edgar Wright has begun video blogging about the experience. Take a look at his welcome to fans.

 

Blog One – Introduction – Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World from Scott Pilgrim The Movie on Vimeo.

Review: ‘Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1942’

From 1941 through 1942, Max and Dave Fleischer rewrote the rules for animation and people have been trying to match those results ever since.  When no one had previously tried adventure in animated form, the Fleischers took their lessons from [[[Popeye]]] and applied them to [[[Superman]]] with astounding results.

The seventeen shorts, released by Paramount Pictures, were the closet anyone would come to bringing Superman to a live action feature film until Richard Donner achieved that goal in 1977 (and people have been trying to match that goal ever since).

Warner Home Video has previously included the cartoons as part of their mammoth tin can set of Superman features but now there’s a two-disc set, Max Fleischer’s Superman: 1941-1942 , which was released this week. Technically, one wishes they cleaned the prints a bit better before transfer but these are better than most of the public domain dubs that have been circulating since the 1980s.

The fluid action and rousing Sammy Timberg music remain indelibly etched in my mind from first experiencing these in the 1970s.  The plots are very simple, given the standards of the day, so there’s a threat, Lois gets in trouble, and Clark becomes Superman to save the day. Repeat seventeen times.  Given their short running time, there was no attempt at anything more than the most surface of characterization and the comics offered little in the way of recurring villains at the time (yes, including Lex Luthor). What they could have borrowed from the radio series, along with voice actor Bud Collyer, was kryptonite but chose not to do so.

Interestingly, there’s a warning on the box reading that the DVD set “is intended for the Adult Collector and Is Not Suitable for Children”. Hogwash. This is over-reacting to the mindset that children are fragile and the sight of Superman battling a dinosaur or a gang of robots would ruin their psyche.  If anything, this is a perfect vehicle for introducing smart heroic adventures to children as they seek outlets for such fare.

The extras are culled from elsewhere but are worth watching if they’re new to you. First, there’s The Man, The Myth, Superman which does a nice job surveying heroes prior to the Man of Steel’s arrival in [[[Action Comics #1]]]. Second is First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series which clearly establishes how the brothers went from Koko the Clown to Superman and easily surpassed other animation studios. Trailers for other animated offerings and the [[[Green Lantern]]] featurette round out the set.

Bottom line: if you do not own these in any other manner, buy this set. If you already have all seventeen episodes, there’s little reason to buy them again.

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