Author: Robert Greenberger

L. Frank Baum’s Santa Claus Coming to the Screen

  • News
  • November 11, 2008

It’s nice to see people remember that L. Frank Baum wrote stories featuring characters other than the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  In fact, he also tackled someone even more impressive: Santa Claus.

Variety reports that Hyde Park Entertainment will team with Toonz Entertainment to adapt The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus as a CGI-animated film, similar to the just-announced John Boorman-directed interpretation of Oz. And like the oft-adapted Oz, this one will be coming for Christmas 2010.

Tom Tataranowicz, president of Gang of 7 Animation, will direct alongside Rich Arons, and Dick Sebast. Tataranowicz co-wrote the script with animation veteran Mark Edward Edens (Hot Wheels, Sonic, Young Hercules). The film is being produced at the Toonz Animation Studio in India.

The trade describes the story as following “Santa’s formative years, including a battle against the heart of evil that establishes the Santa mythology.” There’s a lot more to it and was a personal favorite to read the kids in days gone by.

The 1902 novel has previously been adapted less often than Oz, beginning with the 1985 Rankin-Bass production. Japan, in 1994, tried their hand with Shounen Santa no Daibôken (Young Santa’s Adventures). America folded it into The Oz Kids’"Who Stole Santa?"  In 1996. Gen Hill also did an animated version in 2000.  Michael Ploog also turned it into a graphic novel, published by Tundra in 1992.
 

Sony Plans ‘Ghostbusters’ 25th Anniversary Celebration

  • News
  • November 11, 2008

While awaiting some real news about a potential third Ghostbusters movie, Sony is already beating the drums for the franchise’s 25th anniversary in 2009.  First, Atari has announced that Ghostbusters: The Video Game will be featuring the voices and likenesses of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, William Atherton, Annie Potts and Brian Doyle-Murray. The story is set two years after the events of the second film and was written by Aykroyd and Ramis. Atari and Terminal Reality anticipate the game to be available on multiple platforms.

Expect a complete array of anniversary toys, t-shirts, comic books, prop replicas and a theme park attraction.  Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will also release Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II on Blu-ray for the first time.
 

‘Buffy’ Back on Track

  • News
  • November 11, 2008

Editor Scott Allie provided frustrated Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans with an update on the oft-delayed series.

“Good news, gang — Andy Owens has just turned in the final inks for long-overdue Buffy #19,” he wrote at Dark Horse’s website. “So while Michelle wraps up the colors on Buffy #19, I want to thank you for your patience, apologize for the delay, and promise to do my best to keep it from happening again.” The issue will be on sale November 26.

He went on to assure all that Buffy #20-22 are completed so the schedule should stabilize in the coming months.

“You’ve probably read the news that Jane Espenson has joined the staff of Dollhouse, which means she’ll be seeing Joss daily while writing her much-anticipated arc, which will feature Oz,” Allie teased. “Jane makes her Season Eight debut in the issue #21 one-shot, kick-starting the next arc. We’re doing some unusual promotions for that issue, and you’ll want to keep your eye on MySpace Dark Horse Presents and other places come the first of the year.”

Josh Brolin Uncertain About ‘Jonah Hex’

  • News
  • November 11, 2008

Collider spoke with actor Josh Brolin about the Jonah Hex film and interestingly, he has yet to be signed despite reports to the contrary.

While saying, “I think Jonah Hex is a really, really interesting story. I think it would be risky also, which I like, and I don’t know if it’s the thing to do.” He admitted to not having spoken with the producer/director team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. They already announced their intention to begin production in March.

To the actor, about to be seen in Milk, picking roles is a very careful process. “Because it’s my process, man. It’s just like when I play a character. I carry around a memo pad and I write a thousand questions. I like to ask myself those questions before I start a movie so I’m not in the middle of the movie going, what did I do? I want to give myself entirely to the film and to the filmmaker when I decide to do the movie. So, I would rather go through all the crap before that and if it doesn’t turn out, that’s okay. That’s when I don’t worry about it because I know I went into it with the right intentions. I always have to weigh out, why am I going into this? Is it the characters? Is it the story? Is it the filmmakers? Is it the other actors that I can round up? Is it greed? Is it money? Is it the fact that they’re offering me a lot of money? Yeah, that’s nice. I don’t get paid, man. I do the art films or whatever. Character actor, fuck that. It’s a nice trajectory and I love working with great filmmakers, l ike I said. I would also work with a first time filmmaker. If I see his reel and I go, “Oh my god, this guy’s amazing.” There’s a great commercial director in London, Johnny Green. I think he’s a phenomenal talent, phenomenal, so I’m trying to get together with him and create something together because I think he’s an amazing talent. I could be wrong but I think he is. So, I don’t know. You just got that much of my process that goes on in my head just now. This happens for months. It’s exhausting. I’m starting to get embarrassed.”
 

‘Knight Rider’ Finds its Roots

  • News
  • November 11, 2008

Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Yancey Arias and Bruce Davison are being left at the curb as NBC orders a major retooling of its Knight Rider revival. The network has shown faith in the show, giving it a full season’s order, only to watch the ratings go into a death spiral.

"It’s a reboot," executive producer/showrunner Gary Scott Thompson told The Hollywood Reporter. "We’re moving away from the terrorist-of-the-week formula and closer to the original, making it a show about a man and his car going out and helping more regular people, everymen."

The series regulars were contracted for only the first 13 episodes and are not being renewed. Currently, the 15th episode is being filmed and the focus will be tightened on Mike (Justin Bruening), Sarah (Deanna Russo), Billy (Paul Campbell), Zoe (Smith Cho) and KITT.

The series kicks off the network’s Wednesday night crime block of shows, followed by Life and Law & Order. Viewers will have a chance to see the restyled series during a two-part episode in January.  They may even use its football prowess to run episode 10 on the weekend and wrap it up, bringing the audience they hope, for the conclusion the following Wednesday.
 

‘Wonder Woman’ Movie Rumors

  • News
  • November 11, 2008

wonder-woman-perez-1-6938899Some Wonder Woman news popped up over the weekend.  First, there was Beyonce Knowles telling Geoff Boucher at the Los Angeles Times that she’d love to portray the Amazon Princess.

"I want to do a superhero movie and what would be better than Wonder Woman? It would be great. And it would be a very bold choice. A black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It’s time for that, right?" she said.

She has appeared in Austin Powers in Goldmember, Dreamgirls, and Cadillac Records in addition to her pop music career.  Knowles indicated she has personally expressed her interest to both the studio and representatives at DC Comics.

The shapely and fit performer was ready for the revealing and tight tradition outfit as first designed by artist Harry G. Peters.  "I would definitely have to keep it right for that costume. The way that Lynda Carter wore it, she was sooo fine. She was amazing. I saw her costume at the Met. Her waist was unbelievable. It was pretty crazy, actually, her proportions. But I love Wonder Woman and it’d be a dream come true to be that character. It sure would be handy to have that lasso. To make everybody tell the truth? I need that. It would come in very handy."

The 27 year old also noted, "When you think about the psychology of the heroes in the films these days, they are still a lot of work, of course, and emotional. But there’s also an action element that I would enjoy."

IESB is reporting rumors that Warner Bros. may be circling back to McG to direct the long-stalled movie.  The man is currently in post-production on Terminator Salvation and was scheduled to direct the Superman reboot before walking off the project prior to Bryan Singer’s involvement. He was also interested in The Losers which went to Tim Story before the studio reassigned it to Sylvain White.

“Let me be very clear about this, I don’t know if he has been signed on or if his is just one of the names being circulated by the studio or if in fact it’s McG himself lobbying for the gig. Could be any of the three,” the site wrote.

“I double checked with a few other industry insiders and after a few phone calls they confirmed of hearing his name circling Wonder Woman as well.”
 

James Cameron sets the Record on ‘Terminator Salavation’

  • News
  • November 11, 2008

James Cameron’s name has been bandied around, with various reports indicating he supported McG’s Terminator Salvation film or hated it.  To clear the air, he issued the following statement to Harry Knowles, the man behind Ain’t it Cool News:

There’s been some discussion at AICN and elsewhere of me rescinding my so-called blessing of T4 and that’s not the case. The truth is there never was a blessing to rescind, and there’s been some kind of misunderstanding between me and McG, perfectly innocent I believe. He asked me in a phone call when I was shooting in New Zealand earlier this year if I would be a supporter and creative participant in the new film. I said sure, send me the script and I’ll give you my thoughts. And I warned him that free advice is usually worth what you pay for it. For whatever reason I never got the script and to date I haven’t seen a foot of film other than what everybody’s seen in the trailer, which is not enough to form an opinion. So I have zero basis for supporting or dissing the film. As I said in an interview, for all I know it could be a masterpiece or it could be a big steaming pile. I think all people heard was the steaming pile part and concluded I was against the film, which I’m not. In fact, it might be very good, an opinion based solely on what Sam Worthington has shared with me. He’s nobody’s fool when it comes to material, and has absolutely the lowest bullshit quotient of anyone I know, and he has repeatedly told me that he reckons the film is going to be good. I know him to be very critical (in a healthy way) of his own work, and an actor who always aspires to excellence, so I know he wouldn’t praise the film if he didn’t feel it.

Obviously I can’t give my blessing (whatever that means anyway) to the film completely blind. But I’m predisposed to be supportive based on Sam’s involvement and his judgment, because I believe in him. So there you have it. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed that it’s not a steaming pile.

Jim out

So there. You of course can decide for yourself when the film opens in May 2009.
 

‘Watchmen’ Tops 3Q Sales Charts

  • News
  • November 11, 2008

watchmen-trade-paperback-6870880

ICv2

reports that graphic novels tied to feature film release saw a massive increase in third quarter sales.

“Sales of the Watchmen graphic novel exploded after the trailer hit theaters and it will clearly be the number one graphic novel of 2008, but a number of Batman-related graphic novels including The Killing Joke and The Dark Knight Returns also showed huge increases in sales, while Mark Millar’s Wanted graphic novel published by Top Cow clearly benefited from having a hit movie adaptation,” the site noted.

As the summer features arrive on DVD for the holidays, additional trade sales are anticipated.  Marvel cannily released additional Iron Man product when the related DVD came out September 29.

Manga did not suffer according to the site’s analysis, saying “Viz Media’s shojo series Vampire Knight, the top Manga series to debut in 2007 gained strength in 2008 and Viz Media also has one of the best new series of 2008, Rosario & Vampire, but with the maturing of the Manga market, the number of new releases slated for 2009 is declining, though the quality of those new series appears to be going up.”

Top Superhero Properties–Q3 08

1 Watchmen, DC
2 Batman, DC
3 Spider-Man, Marvel
4 Wanted, Top Cow
5 League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, DC/Wildstorm
6 Iron Man, Marvel
7 Marvel Zombies, Marvel
8 Hulk, Marvel9 Superman, DC
10 Green Lantern DC

Top Genre Properties–Q3 08

1 Star Wars, Dark Horse

2 Y: The Last Man, DC/Vertigo
3 Indiana Jones, Dark Horse
4 Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dark Horse
5 Dark Tower, Marvel
6 Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Marvel
7 The Walking Dead, Image
8 Fables, DC/Vertigo
9 Sandman, DC/Vertigo
10 Angel, IDW

S. Clay Wilson Hospitalized

  • Uncategorized
  • November 10, 2008

arcade-wilson-2564420The Oregonian is reporting that S. Clay Wilson, “one of the seminal figures in the underground comix movement, suffered a "severe brain injury." Wilson’s partner, Lorraine Chamberlain, stated on Sunday, "I just talked to the neurologist a few minutes ago. He’s in a decline because of the pneumonia. They can’t seem to stabilize him."

The 67-year-old Wilson was originally thought to be the victim of a mugging when he was found but doctors now theorize that he may have repeatedly fallen given his medical condition. He’s been at San Francisco General since Saturday.

"That’s what we think now, that he fell several times and hit his head," Chamberlain said. "He has a fractured orbital bone in his eye and he fractured his neck. He looks like he’s been kicked in the face and beaten up. But if he’d been beaten up, he would have been robbed. There’s no way to know. But he had way too much to drink.

wilson-s-clay-5823217"It was very bad news today," Chamberlain said. "The most important thing is that he gets over the pneumonia, but he’s had a very severe head injury." Chamberlain and Wilson have known each other for four decades but have been together for only the last eight years.

As a youth, Wilson relocated from Kansas to San Francisco in 1968, just as the Underground Comix movement was gaining traction.  He found R. Crumb, who produced Zap Comix and showed his artwork off.

"I was just completely blitzkrieged by the guy," Crumb said. "I’d never seen anything like those drawings of his before." The founder of the movement credits Wilson for pushing him to cease self-censorship and let everything flow on the page including sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

"I get a lot of flak from feminists, but we all do," Wilson said previously. "But within that group of feminists, there’s all kinds of mentalities. Some don’t understand what we’re dong — making fun of everything. Spain (Rodriguez) gets a lot of shit about it, we all do. I like the idea of keeping the boat rocking."
 

‘Lost’ Arrives January 21

  • News
  • November 10, 2008

ABC has decided that Lost will come back to Wednesday nights at 9 p.m., beginning January 21.  The series will displace Private Practice, which will gain a new timeslot now that the network has given it a full season pickup. In fact, the entire night will see its shows find new homes to boost ratings.

Lost will begin its fifth season with a recap hour followed by a two-hour season premiere, according to The Hollywood Reporter. There will be a total of 17 episodes for the season, making up from the Writers Strike-shortened fourth season, which will be released on DVD in December.

In other television news, NBC has given a full season’s order to its Life series. While the ratings are iffy at best, the network has confidence in the show finding its audience and will be sticking with it. They are bolstered by the ratings once DVR numbers are considered.

"This unique crime drama continues to offer consistent and compelling stories each week," Teri Weinberg, executive VP, NBC Entertainment told the trade. "We love Life and are thrilled that we get to see more of these characters and amazing new cases."

The series has been hampered by being bounced around the schedule and can currently be found Wednesdays at 9, meaning it has to withstand the arrival of Lost in the new year.

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