Author: Robert Greenberger

Publishing Layoffs Hitting Comics Field

  • News
  • December 9, 2008

The layoffs around publishing are starting to seep into the comics field as the various companies tighten their headcount.  Marvel was among the earliest companies to act, trimming in their digital area.  TokyoPop laid off seven people in November. Last week reported that Devil’s Due laid off two and their CEO, PJ Bickett stepped down in addition to trims at Wizards of the Coast and Pocket Books.

Now word is that McFarlane Toys has laid off as many as a dozen people. Also, Casey Seijas, a terrific guy and former editor at Vertigo, was let go from MTV’s Splash Page, just one of 850 leaving Viacom in a wave. Former ComicMixer Rick Marshall remains in place.
 

Christopher Nolan Starting to Plan ‘The Dark Knight’ Sequel

  • News
  • December 9, 2008

With The Dark Knight arriving on DVD today, director Christopher Nolan has been making the rounds of interviews and of course, everyone wants to know about the third film.

Slash Film reports that Nolan is interested in filming the entire third film in IMAX after having success with several sequences shot that way for the current feature. He speculated that a work around to the noisiness of the IMAX cameras would be to shoot the action in IMAX and the dialogue-driven scenes with a 65mm camera.

Nolan also told USA Today that he has been “jotting notes and doing some rough outlines” for a third story. Obviously, Warner will happily green light a third installment just as soon as there’s a story that captivates the director’s mind.

 “It was obvious when the box office was so big ($530 million domestically) that we had underestimated how ready fans were to reboot the franchise,” he said. “The worst thing you could do now that you’ve gotten the plane back in the air is mess up the landing.”

Daniel Craig Says He’s Not Making a Bond Trilogy

  • News
  • December 9, 2008

Actor Daniel Craig told Collider that his Bond series is not meant to be a trilogy as so many other films series are today. “No fucking way. I’m done with that story,” told them. “I want to lie on a beach for the first half an hour of the next movie drinking a cocktail.”

While Quantum of Solace, which broke the $500 million worldwide revenue mark this weekend, was intended as a direct sequel to Casino Royale, a third film would be something else entirely. Director Marc Forster had filmed a scene that would have sent Quantum right into a third chapter but cut it from the final print.

“We’ve finished this story as far as I’m concerned,” Craig said. “We’ve got a great set of bad guys. There is an organization that we can use whenever we want to. The relationship between Bond and M is secure and Felix is secure. Let’s try and find where Moneypenny came from and where Q comes from. Let’s do all that and have some fun with it.”

Although he has said much of the above in other interviews, he admits to not knowing what the producers have in mind.  No screenwriter has been hired and Forster has said he will not come back. "We don’t know when we’re going to do the next Bond. Nobody’s thinking about it at the moment. We’re giving it a rest for the moment. If I can squeeze something in next year I will…but I haven’t figured out what that’ll be yet. But nothing in the cold."

Dean Devlin Wants to Make ‘Stargate’ Sequel

  • News
  • December 9, 2008

Producer/Director Dean Devlin told the press that he has ideas for big screen sequels to his Stargate.

“Roland [Emmerich] and I had always planned to do three films and want to do more,” he said of Stargate which was a 1994 success before finding its true home on television. “MGM has said they want to play out the television series first so we are on the back burner.” Stargate and its spinoffs have been running ever since with the latest iteration, Stargate Universe, due in 2009.

And as to inevitable question about a sequel to Devlin and Emmerich’s most success film, Independence Day, he said, “We never intended to do any films in that series beyond the first one. I think something may happen though as it seems a better idea now the further we get from 911. The visuals of the film would not be much fun in the wake of such a devastating tragedy but since time has passed and the bad guys are aliens and not terrorists perhaps it might be time to revisit it.”
 

Showtime Developing Sci Fi series

  • News
  • December 9, 2008

Syns, a project initially developed for the BBC is now being shaped at Showtime as a new cable drama. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series is about “a world in which humanlike synthetic organisms, known as Syns, are used for various purposes.”

John McNamara, who was a consulting producer on CBS’ Jericho, is developing the project with Supernatural supervising producer/writer Sera Gamble, who is writing the pilot. The original series was developed under the title Dolls’ Hospital by Stephen Volk (Afterlife) for the BBC before they abandoned the concept.

Clerkenwell Films is producing with Pangea, the scripted arm of RDF USA. Chris Coelen, CEO of RDF USA, said the project will have "light sci-fi elements, but it’s really meant to be rooted in the real world."

"They have taken an option to develop a US show based on the UK version. It’s still in the early stages, but hopefully it will go to series," is all a spokesman for Clerkenwell would say.

‘Sin City 2’ to Shoot in April?

  • News
  • December 9, 2008

Frank Miller and Eva Mendes are doing the rounds of interviews as the December 25 premier of The Spirit inches closer and journalists are seeking every shred of information about future projects from the director and actress including both returning for Sin City 2, the long-awaited sequel to 2005’s Sin City.

At IGN, Miller said, “Sin City 2 is written.  It’s mainly a matter of working out the details of the production.  I’m hoping to do it with Robert Rodriguez again in the same circumstances that we did the first one, and we could begin shooting again as early as April.” The script is said to be adapting the graphic novels A Dame to Kill For which as a prequel to prequel to The Hard Goodbye. The focus will be on Blue Eyes and the Old Town Girls while a new Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba) story will be included.

Rosario Dawson confirmed to IESB that she will return as Gail while Mendes has told the press she’ll also be back.

Mickey Rourke told MTV last week he’s ready to return as Marv but then Superherohype reported this weekend that Rourke has no interest in returning. Could he not like the script or be holding out for more money?  Who can say?

The fact remains that the film still needs to sort out accreditation issues with the director’s guild.
 

Review: ‘Haunted Tank’ #1

  • Uncategorized
  • December 8, 2008

The [[[Haunted Tank]]] has to be one of the oddest war comics concepts ever published.  A descendant of Civil War General JEB Stuart is haunted by the Virginian during World War II.  While the rest of his crew thinks he’s got a screw loose, Jeb Stuart gains vital tactical knowledge and inspiration from the ghostly guardian and together they mowed down countless enemies in the pages of [[[G.I. Combat]]].

DC recently reprinted many of those entertaining tales in a Showcase volume and that comes highly recommended.

The concept of a descendant looking after another was carried forward in Kurt Busiek’s [[[Power Company]]] as the World War II Stuart’s spirit haunted the Cyber-Command Assault Vehicle, a modern day tank commanded by his granddaughter, Lieutenant Jennifer Stuart. Jen Stuart.

Clearly, JEB had unfinished business and returns to guiding yet another member of the Stuart family in Vertigo’s new miniseries, Haunted Tank.  This time, though, the Southerner is looking after Jamal Stuart, an African-American with blood ties to the Virginia slaves owned by the Stuart family.  The racial tension appears to be the fuel for the series as written by Frank Marraffino.

His dialogue is easy going but other than pop culture references and curse words, he doesn’t do enough to differentiate the tank crew of G.I.s despite them coming from different ethnic and racial backgrounds.  He’s helped out by Henry Flint’s lively artwork and clear storytelling.

Set in 2003, the tank has been separated from its pack in Iraq and is beset by hostile forces when the ghostly general makes his first appearance. Unlike previous appearances, he can manifest his form and actually manipulate the controls of the tank and fire the machine guns.  His arrival spooks the crew, all of whom can see him this time, and they slowly come to accept his presence and aid.

The first issue, which went on sale last Wednesday, is all set up and done well enough that you know the players and set-up but it’ll fall to the four subsequent chapters to see if this works.  If all they do is bicker about race and sins of the past, it’ll become old real fast.  Will the General’s eyes be opened by the mess of the Iraq war and will that make his sage advice obsolete? Can the crew be taken seriously if they’re aided by a ghost?

How this plays out will determine if the updating of the Robert Kanigher-created series works or nor.  So far, I’m intrigued.

Catherine Hardwicke Dropped from ‘New Moon’

  • News
  • December 8, 2008

Nikkie Finke broke the story this weekend that Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke was not being invited back to make the sequel New Moon. Summit Entertainment quickly assured Deadline Hollywood that "Catherine and Summit have agreed to part ways on the sequel because our visions are different." In other words, Summit didn’t like Hardwicke.

The news breaks as Hardwicke and the teen cast is touring Europe to promote the blockbuster so the timing could have been better.  It also comes after Hardwicke cleanly broke the ranks and became the female director with the best opening weekend.

A source told Finke, "Summit didn’t like her. They’re saying the DP [director of photography] Elliot Davis is the one responsible for the film’s sumptuous visual look, that the editor Nancy Richardson had to save the film in post-production, and Summit thought Hardwicke’s [CAA] agent Beth Swofford was alternately ineffectual and hysterical. It certainly demonstrates, while CAA agents boast of their vast influence, how little clout and muscle they actually have, or are willing to use, to protect their artists."

New Moon is on a crash schedule to be ready for 2010 release and the third film in the series, Eclipse, is being considered for back-too-back shooting to contain costs and keep the cast looking eternally youthful. The sequel is expected to be more than twice as expensive given the special effects needs and cast salary raises.

The film continues to perform well at the box office despite a critical drubbing not dissimilar to the first Harry Potter film, which actually benefitted from a change in director. (more…)

‘Emo Boy’ Optioned by Vanguard Films

  • News
  • December 8, 2008

Emo Boy, a comic from Steve Emond and published by Slave Labor Graphics, has been optioned by Vanguard Films. Kyle Newman (Fanboys) is said to be directing and will cowrite the script with Emond according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Vanguard hopes the film will be in the vein of Napoleon Dynamite “but with a more prominent musical component, which will satirize the hyper-sensitive ‘emo’ musical genre.” The series is described as “the travails of the most self-dramatizing young man in the history of the world, whose emotions were so intense he even had ‘emo powers’."

Emond first gained attention with Steverino, a comic strip that won the national contest sponsored by Andrews McMeel/Follett College Stores.  The strip ran in several Connecticut newspapers before moving to the web.

Newman’s Fanboys finally will be seen in February after years of delays and re-edits courtesy of The Weinstein Company.
 

Marvel Animation Green Lights Season 2 of ‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ Animated Series

  • News
  • December 8, 2008

Marvel Animation and Singapore-based Toonz Entertainment Pte Ltd have given an early green light to a second season of Wolverine and the X-Men. The series debuts on Nickelodeon in January and other markets around the world in the next few months.

P. Jayakumar, Toonz Group’s CEO commented in a release, “We are thrilled to extend our relationship with Marvel and continue showcasing one of the most sought-after, iconic characters of all time. This second season will bring fans even more fresh and exciting stories and take us even deeper into the X-Men universe.”

Eric Rollman, Marvel’s President of Animation added, “The response to this series has been outstanding and the decision to move forward immediately with a second season was simple. We are bringing together the same team who produced the first season and looking forward to continuing the success with all new episodes.”

Canadian network YTV confirmed that Wolverine And The X-Men will be pre-empted for the entire month of December due to special holiday programming. Wolverine and The X-Men will return to the network in January 2009 with new episodes.

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