Category: News

An exclusive clip has premiered over at the newly launched official Web site for Punisher: War Zone. The video, which launches automatically on the site’s homepage, begins with an introduction from the film’s director, Lexi Alexander.

Shot at the editing bay for War Zone, Alexander states in the video that she’s "very excited about [the film], and I wanted to personally thank you for your positive reinforcement and your commitment to Frank Castle and his mythology."

"I’m happy to report that we have a great movie coming December 5th," she concludes.

This marks Alexander’s first appearance affiliated with Punisher: War Zone since the reportedly ugly departure between the director and Lionsgate, the studio behind the film. It’s unclear from the video whether Alexander and the studio have put aside their differences or if this introduction was filmed prior to the rift announced in July.

The clip itself does a good job of showing why War Zone earned an R rating, though there are no heads exploding like so much watermelon in this exclusive footage. In the clip, Frank Castle surgically removes several armed threats in an unspecified building, dispatching his enemies as only the Punisher can.

Punisher: War Zone focuses on vigilante Frank Castle’s one-man war on crime and his eventual showdown with the immeasurably maniacal Jigsaw. The film stars Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Julie Benz and Wayne Knight. Lexi Alexander directs the feature.

One film Guillermo del Toro will not be directing for Universal is the adaptation of Hater, the film he will produce with Mark Johnson. Instead, Variety reports that Juan Antonio Bayona has been signed to direct the movie based on David Moody’s thriller and adapted to the screen b Glen Mazzara (The Shield).

Bayona is best known for The Orphanage, which del Toro also produced, and this will be his English-language debut.

"I like the idea of a movie that talks about the state of fear we live in nowadays," Bayona told  Variety.

The novel and screenplay tells of people suddenly committing random acts of violence with no provocation. “What I loved about Hater is it recognizes the reality that we live in, where it is incredibly easy to polarize, to hate for gender, race, age,” del Toro told the trade over the summer.

Pink Panther & Pals will be a new 26-episode animated series for the Cartoon Network, airing in fall 2009.  The deal between Turner Broadcasting and MGM Worldwide Television sees production in Los Angeles and Amman, Jordan, jointly produced by MGM and Jordan-based Rubicon according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The new half-hour series will depict a teenage Pink Panther as he and his peers get into all sorts of trouble. Ant and Aardvark will be back in addition to new characters. The Henry Mancini musical score and comedy themes will be reprised since after all, that’s what we all love best about the property.

"The character is drawn a little younger to depict the Pink Panther as a teenager, although he will be instantly recognizable with his signature walk and devil-may-care attitude," executive producer David Corbett told the paper.

Meantime, TV on DVD is reporting that The Pink Panther and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection will be out January 27, 2009. All nine volumes of Pink Panther shorts, totaling 190, will be collected for the first time for a retail price of $69.98.  For live action fans, MGM will be releasing The Pink Panther Ultimate Collection on November 25. The box set will contain the live action Inspector Clouseau films (including 2006’s Steve Martin rendition), in addition to the nine volumes animated theatrical shorts.

The animated volumes not only include The Pink Panther series of shorts, but also The Ant and the Aardvark, The Inspector, and Roland and Ratfink. The collection also includes Jerry Beck’s Pink Panther, The Ultimate Guide to the Coolest Cat in Town! The collection will retail for $199.98.
 

Marvel Comics released the cover and preview pages to Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel, due on sale November 5.

Writer Kevin Grevioux (New Warriors) and Mat Broome (The End League), penciller and cover artist, produce the six-issue miniseries that introduces a new character, the Blue Marvel.

The Blue Marvel operated in the 1960s, after the Agents of Atlas’ time and before the arrival of the Fantastic Four around 2000 (following Marvel’s subjective timeline).

A release proclaims, “Once the greatest hero of the 1960s, the Blue Marvel existed during a time of political and racial turmoil. Now, as New York City is overrun by the rampaging Anti-Man, and not even the Avengers can take this monster down, it falls to the Blue Marvel to make a stand once again. But what is the secret behind the return of this Golden-Age hero?”

This is perhaps the first time the 1960s was referred to as the Golden Age. (more…)

With Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull about to his stores on Tuesday, Paramount Home Video has alerted us to the five variant editions that will be available at various retailers.

To show how things have changed, Iron Man had eight exclusives when it hit the street on September 29 and Indy gets just five.  Still, these sound pretty cool for the diehard fan.

Circuit City – 2 lithographs of concept art from the movie.

Best Buy – Gift Set with replica crystal skull from Sideshow Collectibles and a $25 gift card to Sideshowcollectibles.com. (pictured above, left)

Target – Exclusive Packaging is a beautiful hard cover book from Palace Press with 80 pages of behind the scenes photos, including many never-before-published images.

Kmart & Sears – Four Exclusive LEGO mini-posters. Each poster is a LEGO replica of the original theatrical poster from all four Indy films.

Trans World – Exclusive Steelbook Packaging.

Much to our collective surprise, NBC has ordered four additional scripts for the revival and reviled Knight Rider. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series’ ratings have been somewhat encouraging after a few airings.

Meantime, producers of Fox’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, report they too have reason to be hopeful.

On the show’s official blog, they wrote: “Because so many of you, our most devoted fans, have been asking, we wanted to set the record straight!

“While the fate of the show past production on episode thirteen is still unclear, FOX has given us the go-ahead to write two more additional episodes for this season — fourteen and fifteen.

“We are hard at work writing those episodes and await news of a potential pickup for the full ‘back nine’ (additional episodes to complete the season) in the near future. We’re crossing our fingers (and dotting our i’s) that we’ll have more good news to share with you soon…

“In the meantime, keep tuning in! Get your friends interested! And thanks for all of your support.”

Meantime, its companion series, Fringe, has been given a full-season pick-up.

Last Thursday night, ABC debuted its adaptation of Life on Mars, opposite CBS’ adaptation of Eleventh Hour. Much has been made of both shows’ pilots being almost shot for shot remakes of their British counterparts.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, “None of this stopped viewers tuning in with all the shows scoring strongly in the overnight ratings despite a real mixed bag of reviews ranging from the scathing to the glorious.”  This also includes NBC’s Kath and Kim, remaking an Australian sitcom that received horrendous reviews from coast to coast.

“Though fourth in its timeslot, the show did grow from the 4.6/7 rating lead-in of My Name is Earl. This is very shaky ground however and coming weeks, not to mention the word of mouth, will determine if it will stay on the schedule,” the paper noted.

Eleventh Hour was second in the competitive 10 p.m. slot, following Life on Mars. Some concern was raised over the new series losing half the audience from the previous show, CSI. In third was NBC’s ER, now in its final season.

Of the shows debuting Thursday night, the best reviewed, and cast, was Life on Mars. “Audiences seemed to dig it though with the pilot scoring a 8.2/14 rating – winning its timeslot and coming third for the night. Better yet it managed to maintain over 80% of its lead-in audience from Grey’s Anatomy,” the trade noted.