Author: Robert Greenberger

sigmund-5600622

‘Sigmund’ Resurrected for Feature Film

  • Uncategorized
  • September 11, 2008

sigmund-5600622Following Universal Studio’s big screen adaptation of Land of the Lost, the company has signed to do the same with another show created by Sid and Marty Krofft: Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.

The Kroffts will produce the new film, according to Variety, with Jimmy Miller. Dana Gould (The Simpsons) has been hired to write the new screenplay.

The original Sigmund, a kindly monster kicked out his home by his nastier brothers, ran Saturday mornings on NBC from 1973-1975. Sigmund was found by two boys who hid him in their clubhouse, somewhat reminiscent of DC’s beloved Stanley and His Monster. Sigmund was played by Billy Barty and his human protectors were played by Family Affair‘s Johnny Whitaker and Scott Kolden. The 29 epsidoes that aired over the two seasons featured character actors including Margaret Hamilton, Mary Wickes, and Rip Taylor.

The Kroffts, who cannily retained ownership of their shows, have enjoyed renewed interest.  Their signature hit, H.R. Pufnstuff, is also in the works at Sony.  The Kroftts told the trade they would love to see feature film versions of their other series, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Lidsville, The Bugaloos, Dr. Shrinker, Bigfoot and Wildboy and Wonderbug.
 

Marvel Studios Touts Year’s Successes

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

Marvel Studios Chairman David Maisel told investors at Merrill Lynch that their debut this year was” arguably the most successful" in modern history. He touted facts and figures for the smash success of Iron Man and coupled it with the so-so performance of Incredible Hulk to show their dominance.  While claiming Iron Man is the 21st top grossing film in domestic history, adjusted for inflation, it’s actually 113th.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, he has compared their 2010 Thor film as akin to The Lord of the Rings.  At present, no director or cast has been attached.

Maisel also indicated the films will continue to seed characters and threads from film-to-film comparing it with the Star Wars films as opposed to the organic manner in which Stan Lee populated the Marvel Universe. The cameos were "a taste of what’s to follow."

While announcing nothing new, he reiterated the planned 2010 releases for Iron Man 2 and Thor and the 2011 releases of The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers.  He made no mention of the other films rounding out the 10 films Paramount agreed to co-finance including Ant Man. 

Nor did he make mention of Sony’s competing 2011 release, Spider-Man 4, or 20th-Century Fox’s Marvel properties including next year’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

"And with our track record, we can normally keep those release dates pretty clean," Maisel noted. He also indicated the advance scheduling allows them to line up premiere licensing and merchandising partners.  He pointed to the forthcoming theme parks in Dubai and South Korea as partnerships aiming the studio and its characters for global domination well into the 21st century.

Also yesterday, actress Eva Mendes pooh-poohed the notion of a Ghost Rider sequel, telling MTV, "No, I think Ghost Rider had its moment. I don’t know about a sequel, but I don’t think it needs one. I was so proud of it. It was fun…but I think it’s done…but look, hey, if it’s Nicolas Cage again – I’ll do anything with him."

‘Dollhouse’ Delayed for 2 Weeks

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

Zap2it is reporting that production has been shut down on Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse for two weeks. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Fox just did the same thing on 24 and for the same reason: a chance to tighten the scripts.

Whedon apparently had been so involved in directing two episodes, he was neglecting the writers’ room and the scripts weren’t ready. He approached Fox and asked for the time off and they were happy to grant it since the midseason replacement wasn’t needed until after the holidays. Whedon had directed two of the three episodes shot to date.  The series order is for eight episodes meaning a good sized proportion of the series is now in the can.

A Fox rep told the website, "We have every confidence that [the extra time] will allow Joss to make the show the best it can possibly be. It’s very rare that you have a head writer who is also directing two episodes in a row. But we are happy that Joss is directing, because this is his vision."

 

Marvel & DC News from Retailer Summit

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

Heidi MacDonald’s The Beat has a nice breakdown of the various news nuggets that came out of the just-concluded Diamond Retailers’ Summit in Las Vegas. Here are some of the highlights from the two majors:

In addition to Dark Reign, Marvel announced that television ads will run to promote Secret Invasion and The Stand miniseries.

The company recognized the success of its Invincible Iron Man series and has planned one for next May when X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens, joining Wolverine, Wolverine: Origins and Wolverine First Class. Similarly, three new What If ?one-shots will explore fresh takes on major events.

Marvel is gearing up for its 70th anniversary and part of the plans will include a new Marvel Index, a second volume of Marvel’s Greatest Collections and the inauguration of trade paperback versions of their Masterworks, commencing in January and continuing with one title per month.

In storylines, the third Marvel Zombies miniseries will be set in the core Marvel universe and they promised the return of the mutant Psylocke. Teases included Sinister 666, a female Black Panther.
  (more…)

‘Sarah Jane’ to Return Sept. 29

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

The BBC has released details on the new season of The Sarah Jane Adventures which will debut in the United Kingdom on September 29 and run through December 15.

Starring the Doctor’s former companion, Elisabeth Sladen, the second season is largely unchanged from the first and barely reflects on her appearance in Doctor Who’s fourth season finale. (more…)

Television Notes

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

seth-green-8969589Seth Green chatted with Entertainment Weekly about his forthcoming projects including joining the cast of NBC’s Heroes this season. He and pal Breckin Meyer and “starting on set Monday. I’m a really big fan of the show, and I kind of begged for a long time to see if there was anything I could do.” He also confirmed that a second Star Wars Robot Chicken special is in the works. Carrie Fisher will be participating. Meantime, Fox will be rebroadcasting the season premier of Fringe for those who missed it or forgot to set their DVRs on September 14. To round out the full two hour slot, they will preview the first four minutes from the September 16 episode plus sneak an extended scene from 20th Century Fox’s feature The Day the Earth Stood Still, opening December 12, and a preview of the two-hour November TV movie 24: Redemption. “>Entertainment Weekly about his forthcoming projects including joining the cast of NBC’s Heroes this season.  He and pal Breckin Meyer are “starting on set Monday. I’m a really big fan of the show, and I kind of begged for a long time to see if there was anything I could do.”

He also confirmed that a second Star Wars-themed Robot Chicken special is in the works.  Carrie Fisher will be participating.

Meantime, Fox will be rebroadcasting the season premier of Fringe for those who missed it or forgot to set their DVRs on September 14 from 8 p.m – 10 pm.  To round out the full two hour slot, they will preview the first four minutes from the September 16 episode plus sneak an extended scene from 20th Century Fox’s feature The Day the Earth Stood Still, opening December 12, and a preview of the two-hour November TV movie 24: Redemption.

NBC and Apple Kiss and Make Up

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

NBC released an announcement indicating their problems with Apple and iTunes are over. Beginning immediately, their top 10 programs will be available for download and season passes can be purchased for most of their series. This applies not only to the Peacock network but its USA Network, SCI FI Channel, Bravo, Sleuth and NBC News channels as well. Oxygen, Telemundo, Mun2 and NBC Sports will be added later.

With the debut yesterday of iTunes 8, the shows will be available in standard ($1.99) or HD ($2.99) formats. Older series can be seen for $.99 each while some can be had for free. Among these shows will be The A-Team, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Miami Vice, Kojak, and the original Battlestar Galactica.

NBC Universal is offering one free episode from each of their top series, available in either SD or HD, on the iTunes Store for the next two weeks. The premiere episodes of upcoming series, such as Knight Rider, My Own Worst Enemy and Kath & Kim will be available on iTunes a week before their broadcast premieres later in September and October, with subsequent episodes available the day after broadcast.

Depp and Verbinski Reteam for ‘Rango’

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

Rango is a new CG-animated feature film from Paramount Pictures, set to begin production in January.  It is being directed by Gore Verbinski, making his animated debut, and he’s being joined by his Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp as the lead voice, that for a pet that goes on an adventure. The script is from John Logan (Star Trek: Nemesis) using an idea by Verbinski.  Industrial Light & Magic will handle the actual animation chores.

The studio has staked a March 2011 release date.

The ambitious method of animation, Verbinski told Variety "will allow us to capture and translate every aspect of Johnny’s performance, using it to drive the computer-generated character in a way that has yet to be seen in an animated feature."

According to the trade, Verbinski and Logan have are also collaborating on Bioshock, a video game adaptation for Universal Studios.
 

Tennant to be Time Lord on Screens Both Big and Small?

  • News
  • September 10, 2008

The Sun in the UK is reporting today that David Tennant’s negotiations to return for a fifth season as Doctor Who may include a guarantee that he star in the much-rumored feature film. The contract being dangled before the 37-year old actor is reported to be worth £1.5 million.

An unnamed source told the tabloid, “For ages, BBC Worldwide held the rights and were planning to make a movie, but it got held up and former BBC1 boss Lorraine Heggessey decided to bring back the TV series in 2005.

“But everyone is keen now and the fans are clamoring. Part of David’s conundrum is that he wants to do films, so this looks like it would solve both issues.”

Peter Cushing in 1965 and Paul McGann in 1996 both starred as the Doctor in previous film versions. Tennant is already committed to four specials and a Christmas story for airing in 2009.

xmen-origins-wolverine-still2-8708204

20th to Rely on Mutants and Blind Men to Lead Them Back to Health

  • News
  • September 10, 2008

xmen-origins-wolverine-still2-8708204As reported during our weekly box office items, this was not a good summer for 20th-Century Fox. We’re not the only ones to notice and an analysis in Variety shows the depth of their troubles as the studio has tumbled from its number one spot, getting through the lucrative season without a single film to break the $100 million box office barrier for success.

The lack of a break out film is partly being blamed on X-Men Origins: Wolverine being a year behind its anticipated release.  This was precipitated by Hugh Jackman agreeing to star in Australia, opening this fall, but pushing back Wolverine’s schedule. The production proved troubling with the studio nearly firing director Gavin Hood until Richard Donner flew to the Outback to smooth things over on the project, being produced by his wife, Lauren Shuler Donner.

Coming to their rescue, could be other Marvel Super-Heroes.  In addition to Wolverine, David S. Goyer’s X-Men Origins: Magneto inches towards green light.  Following could be the Young X-Men project we tipped you off to a while back. Now they include on their development slate Deadpool, possibly spinning out of Wolverine.  Ryan Reynolds plays the merc with a mouth and could gain his own spotlight.

They’re even thinking of rebooting Daredevil, the way Paramount rebooted Universal’s Hulk.  A director’s cut of Mark Steven Johnson’s film is due out September 30 and its performance could influence the decision.

First, they need to win back to the fanboys who are outraged that Fox’s lawsuit might deprive them of seeing Watchmen next March.
 

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