Author: Robert Greenberger

‘House of Night’ Book Series Hollywood Bound

  • News
  • November 19, 2008

P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast’s nine volume House of Night series has been optioned by producers Michael Birnbaum (John Tucker Must Die) and Jeremiah Chechik (Benny and Joon) according to Variety.

The young adult novel series is yet another to feature teens and vampires, a sub-genre exemplified by Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight. The conceit, according to the trade, "’vampyres’ are accepted in society; they possess a genetic anomaly that manifests itself in some people at puberty. Vampyres are ‘marked’ and sent to the House of Night, a school that offers training necessary to become an adult vampyre.”

The lead character, 16 year old Zoey Redbird, has just been turned into a vampire and switches schools with all the attendant teen issues plus the vampire factor.

The series kicked off just last year with Marked. The fourth book, Untamed, was released in September by St. Martin’s Griffin.

"P.C. and Kristin Cast created a thrilling world that juxtaposes teen drama with supernatural suspense, using the transition from human to vampire as a metaphor for the transition from adolescence to adulthood," Birnbaum said.
 

‘Eli Stone”s Marc Guggenheim on the Season so Far

  • News
  • November 19, 2008

"I think in many ways we’re following the Battlestar Galactica model of blowing the show up every other week and constantly raising the stakes," Marc Guggenheim told Sci FI Wire.

The co-creator and executive producer of ABC’s Eli Stone, Guggenheim added, "The name of the game here is just how can we expand the show in every conceivable way. How can we make the musical numbers bigger? How can we make the visual-effects sequences more cinematic? How can we expand and deepen the relationships among all of our characters? The show is going to bigger and bigger and bigger places."

The Tuesday night series features the title character, played by Johnny Lee Miller, as suffering from an aneurysm that also enables him to receive visions from Heaven, enabling him to come to the aid of others.  Of course, few believe him and hence drama ensues. After trying to get rid of the life-threatening spot in his brain, Eli accepted his role in life rather than see the responsibility shift to his brother. He’s also continued to practice law at Wethersby, Posner & Klein where several of his coworkers, notably Victor Garber and Loretta Divine, tend to burst into hallucinating song and dance.

The show has tried to gain notice with stunt casting such as Sigourney Weaver in the season opener followed by Katie Holmes a week later. Coming up will be singer Seal in the seventh episode. "We’ve got some cool visual effects happening in episode 207…where we literally put Eli in the middle of a movie," Guggenheim said. "We do it in a way that you’ve never seen on the show before, where we’re trying to push the envelope in terms of the way Eli has his visions."

Guggenheim, who works on the show with his pal Greg Berlanti, form two-thirds of the team behind the Green Lantern screenplay and continues to write Wolverine stories for Marvel.  Still, his weekly series is his baby and intends to get as many people to try it out as possible.  The character is out to make Earth a nicer place to live.

"I think it’s all a part of being true to the concept of the show, because the concept of the show is about changing the world," Guggenheim said. "In the first season, we did a flash-forward to the future, where Eli’s talking to thousands of people in Times Square in New York, and we’re always keeping that in the back of our minds as we plot out these stories. Like knowing that’s ultimately where we’d like to go."
 

Is America Ready for ‘Nutty Professor 3’?

  • News
  • November 19, 2008

Universal Studios would like to revisit the Klumps once more and have put out an open call to writers for pitches for a third Nutty Professor film according to The Hollywood Reporter. Universal and Imagine Entertainment saw ox office success with two films based on the 1963 Jerry Lewis classic.

The previous two were tour de forces for Eddie Murphy and the studio would like the pitches to pick up on the threads from The Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps. The basic concept involved the overweight but kindly professor accidentally turning into a slim, obnoxious love machine and hilarity ensued.

The 1996 remake scored $270 million while the 2000 sequel found just $162 million in ticket sales.  However, the desire for familiar properties trumps concern over eroding interest in such humor or Murphy, whose box office draw has been diminishing with disastrous career choices (last summer’s Starship Dave was a new low).

He has not signed for a third film and would be approached only when there was something to show him.

Frank Spotnitz Optimistic About ‘X-FIles 3’

  • News
  • November 19, 2008

Frank Spotnitz spoke with Movieweb about the current state of The X-Files franchise in the weeks prior to X-Files: I Want to Believe coming out on DVD on December 2.

“The studio has not said yes or no,” the producer said of a third feature. “I think the box office; unfortunately, we got creamed in the theaters by The Dark Knight. I don’t think anybody could’ve anticipated that was going to be such a huge, historic phenomenon. To be a dark scary movie coming out the week after The Dark Knight was not the best timing. I think there’s life in the franchise still. I think these are great characters. There’s a date that looms very important in X-Files mythology, which is December 2012. I think after the DVD comes out, the studio will decide whether they want to roll the dice on another X-Files feature.”

On the subject of that date, he admitted, “I think we would definitely have to deal with alien colonization. I honestly think that’s the movie that most non-hardcore X-Files fans, as well as a lot of hardcore X-Files fans are dying to see. Obviously, I think Chris has had ideas about that from the very beginning when he dreamt up this show, 16 years ago.”

‘War Monkeys’ About to Launch into Action

  • News
  • November 19, 2008

Dark Horse Films is negotiating with Sammo Hung (Kung Fu Hustle) to star in, and Kevin Munroe (TMNT) to direct War Monkeys, described as a horror comedy. The script is from Cleve Nettles (All Over Again) and will be produced by Chris Patton (Destination Mars), who came up with the concept, and Robert Sanchez.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film “follows two janitors who, during a Christmas holiday, get trapped in an underground research facility after accidentally unleashing military-trained Rhesus monkeys. Hung is one of the janitors who battle the rabid simians.”

"Monkeys, guns, explosions. As a genre freak, I couldn’t ask for anything more," Munroe told the trade.

The independent film company hopes to begin production early next year and use live, animatronic, and CGI-generated monkeys. They recently earned their first Emmy for the John Landis-directed documentary Mr. Warmth and are about to release My Name Is Bruce, starring and directed by Bruce Campbell.
 

battlestar-mangalg-5511832

‘Battlestar Galactica’ Manga Coming in March

  • Uncategorized
  • November 18, 2008

battlestar-mangalg-5511832Come March, just as Battlestar Galactica signs off after four amazing seasons on Sci Fi Channel, Tokyopop will be releasing Battlestar Galactica:  Echoes of New Caprica, a Manga anthology volume that will feature stories from the Cylon occupation and human escape from New Caprica by a variety of creators, including Richard Hatch, who has appeared in both television editions.

UDON Studios produced the cover art but full contents have yet to be revealed.

Tokyopop has been reaching out to new readers through licensed Manga starting with Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Last month, they announced CSI: interns for release next September. Written by Sekou Hamilton with art by Steven Cummings (Pantheon High), spotlights a group of teenagers taking part in an internship program at the Las Vegas Criminal Investigations Unit under the eyes of Gil Grissom and Catherine Meadows. 

Other licenses to date include Labyrinth and Ghostbusters.
 

‘Marvel Apes’ #0 Gains Santa Variant Cover

  • News
  • November 18, 2008

Marvel Comics today released the variant cover to Marvel Apes #0 as illustrated by Salva Espin. The one-shot reprints Collecting the birth of breakout hero The Gibbon from Amazing Spider-Man #110-11 and the first ever Spider-Monkey story (as seen in Amazing Spider-Man Family #1).

MARVEL APES #0
Written by STAN LEE, GERRY CONWAY & KARL KESEL
Penciled by JOHN ROMITA SR. & RAMON BACHS
Cover by ARTHUR ADAMS
50/50 Santa-Ape Variant by SALVA ESPIN
On-Sale—12/10/08

Comics Kingdom Launches Today

  • News
  • November 18, 2008

Comics Kingdom is the latest web initiative for traditional comic strips. Launching today, the site is from King Features Syndicate and is designed as a portal for newspapers to include comic strips as part of their online presence while tapping advertising and KFS’s deep archives.

“The premise behind this new type of comic delivery is to offer the newspaper a product that better helps the paper monetize their comic page online,” according to a release.

King Features Syndicate President T.R. “Rocky” Shepard, said, “for almost 100 years, King Features Syndicate has assisted newspapers in attracting new readers and incremental ad revenue by providing appealing, premium content. As our newspaper partners face new challenges in the ever-changing media landscape, we are continually looking to develop innovative ways to help them reach their business goals – which still remain the same as ever: attracting new readers and driving ad sales.”

The Albany Times Union, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and The Oklahoman/ NewsOK are the first three papers to use the new feature. During beta testing, the Times Union’s General Manager said the feature “almost doubled the traffic to the comic section and increased the average amount of time spent on the site — a key metric to increasing advertising revenue.”

Last month, United Media rebranded its comics.com website switching from a pay model to an advertiser-supported model allowing people to read their archives for free.
 

wonderwoman-1-2-8646013

‘Wonder Woman’ DVD Details Released

  • Uncategorized
  • November 18, 2008

wonderwoman-1-2-8646013Warner Home Video has announced a March 3, 2009 release date for its direct-to-DVD Wonder Woman film. It will be released in what has rapidly become a standard pattern for genre offerings:a Single Disc DVD for $19.98, 2 Disc Special Edition DVD for $29.98 and Blu-ray Disc for $34.99. The animated original movie will also be available OnDemand and Pay-Per-View as well as available for download day and date. Originally, the DVD had been announced for February release but was delayed a few weeks for unspecified reasons.

From clips ComicMix was shown, it’ll be well worth the wait.

Produced by the multiple Emmy Award winning animation legend Bruce Timm, Wonder Woman is an origin story and features a stellar celebrity voice cast including Keri Russell (Waitress, Felicity), Nathan Fillion (Firefly), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2), Virginia Madsen (Sideways), Rosario Dawson (Sin City), Oliver Platt (The West Wing) and David McCallum (NCIS).

Wonder Woman begins on the mystical island of Themyscira, where a proud and fierce warrior race of Amazons resides.  They have raised Princess Diana, a daughter of stunning beauty, extraordinary strength and incredible fighting prowess. Diana possesses a host of super human powers granted to her by the gods and goddesses of Olympus and her strength and stamina are unparalleled. When Air Force fighter pilot Steve Trevor crash lands on the island, the rebellious and headstrong Diana defies Amazonian law by accompanying Trevor back to civilization. Meanwhile, Ares (the God of War) has escaped his imprisonment at the hands of the Amazons and has decided to exact his revenge by starting a world war that will destroy them all. It is up to Princess Diana to save her people and the world by using her gifts to become the ultimate Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman: 2 Disc Special Edition and Blu-Ray versions will feature collectible packaging as well as 185 minutes of incredible bonus features such as:

•    Wonder Woman: A Subversive Dream – She is one of the pillars of DC Comics. We examine why Wonder Woman is important in the grand scheme of the DC Super Heroes and how her raw strength and power helped define a new generation of empowered women, who realized that their gifts of intellect and strength were just as powerful as their male counterparts.

•    Wonder Woman The Daughters of Myth – The riveting documentary historically defines the meaning of the Amazons and how this links in with the evolution of the Wonder Woman character from comics to screen.

(more…)

Review: ‘Wall*E’

Pixar movies are the kind of family movie you can enjoy without the family.  There’s something there for the adults and the themes tend to be universal ones. Pixar’s creators understand how to think and laugh like a kid and tailor their movies for the broadest possible audience without feeling the need to dumb down the content or characterization.  Instead, their movies are smart and funny and usually heartwarming.

For the first time, a socially responsible theme became a focal point in [[[Wall*E]]] and it’s a welcome one. The movie, out on DVD today, tells of an Earth where consumerism has ruined the planet, making it uninhabitable.

The Wall*E units tried to keep up with the trash but failed, until one is left.  Humanity is long gone, mostly relocated to a pleasure yacht voyaging amongst the stars.  Wall*E has gained an unusual degree of artificial intelligence and as a result has wistful thoughts about being with others, hence his repeated watching of [[[Hello, Dolly]]] on a battered video tape.  His longing to hold another’s hand is heartbreaking.

His years of solitary toil end when an exploratory craft comes and dispatches an EVE unit to seek evidence of organic life symbolizing the planet being ready for repopulating. Wall*E is, of course, smitten with the sleek, rounded object.  Slowly, she exerts her own individuality and budding friendship forms.

Wall*E follows her back to the ship and by then, the beeps and clicks are supplemented with other sounds including human voices.  We meet the last remnants of humanity, soft, obese forms that had mechanical support in every aspect of their lives.  When Wall* E arrives, several are woken up to learn there are other ways to live.

As Wall*E pursues EVE, the ship’s captain is fascinated about returning to earth and what that would mean.  He comes into conflict with the ship’s Auto Pilot who is fulfilling its final commands from the original designers: Earth is dead, you cannot come home.

The struggle to exert free will is the overall theme of the film but told in such a delightful way that you don’t realize until you sit to write the review. Watching the 98 film, you laugh at the winks and nods to other SF classic movies and the patented Pixar humor. There’s little doubt they succeeded given its universal praise and steep box office receipts.

The three DVD set comes complete with a digital copy disc along with bonuses galore. “Presto”, the de rigueur Pixar short that opened with Wall* E is here and is a salute to Loony Tunes.  A new short focuses on Burn*E, a repair robot and is cleverly intertwined with the film’s events so you can see how frustrating it is to fix a light pole when Wall* E is around.

There are some legitimate deleted scenes along with director Andrew Stanton’s commentary.

The second disc is replete with the usual Disney assortment of background pieces including “[[[The Pixar Story]]]”, additional deleted scenes (yes, they should have all been on one disc) and Making Of featurettes. For the youngsters, there an interactive storybook. Al together, this is a must have item and certainly should find its way under many a Christmas tree this season.

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