In an overdue announcement, Sci Fi Channel has formally picked up Caprica as an ongoing series.  The show, a prequel to Battlestar Galactica, will star Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcomson and Polly Walker in a story set fifty years prior to BSG.

Variety describes Caprica as a “Family-drama-themed series will focus on the Earthlike planet of Caprica as two rival families deal with, among other topical issues, the broader implications of their society’s emerging artificial intelligence technology sector.”

Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, along with Remi Aubuchon (24) will executive produce as they have on BSG. Caprica‘s pilot was co-written by Aubuchon and Moore and directed by Jeffrey Reiner (Friday Night Lights).

A promo for the series can be found at the Sci Fi website with a “Coming Soon” despite the trades saying it won’t air before 2010. Production will begin in the summer of 2009 while BSG will begin airing its final ten episodes in January.

"Battlestar Galactica was absolutely our flagship show. It put us on the map and helped transform the perception of the network," Sci Fi president Dave Howe told Variety. "We want people to come to this who have never heard of Battlestar Galactica. I think, because (Galactica‘s) backdrop was space and spaceships, there was a barrier to entry for some viewers. Caprica has none of that. It’s an intense family drama set on an Earthlike planet, in the near future, speaking to a lot of the ethical dilemmas that we as a human race are going to have to face very shortly." (more…)

The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced nominations for its 36th Annual Annie Awards, recognizing the year’s best animated features, TV productions, commercials, video games and short subjects and a host of individual achievements.  DreamWorks Animation leads the way with a total of 27 feature nods, including 17 for Kung Fu Panda, followed by Walt Disney Animation Studios, which received 9 nominations, and Pixar with 8. 

Nickelodeon leads the way with 12 television nominations. 

The Annie Awards will be handed out at a ceremony on Friday, January 30, 2009, at UCLA’s Royce Hall in LA. 

http://www.annieawards.org

Animated Feature

Bolt – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation
$9.99 – Sherman Pictures/Lama Films
Wall-E – Pixar Animation Studios
Waltz With Bashir – Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films

Animated Home Entertainment Production

Batman: Gotham Knight – Warner Bros. Animation
Christmas Is Here Again – Easy To Dream Entertainment
Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs – The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Justice League: The New Frontier – Warner Bros. Animation
The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning – DisneyToon Studios (more…)

IDW Publishing has licensed their Ghost Whisperer comic book for repurposing on mobile phone to  iVerse Media. Ghost Whisperer: The Haunted #1 is now available at the iTunes App Store. 

The high profile title is based on the hit CBS series featuring Jennifer Love Hewitt as Melinda Gordon, the medium who helps ghosts cross over.  The five-issue miniseries is written by series writers Carrie Smith and Becca Smith, with art by Elena Casagrande.

The story in the comic fits in between Seasons 2 and 3 of the show, and follows Melinda as she spends her days and nights helping earthbound spirits cross over into the Light.  In the comic series, however, Melinda gets more than she bargained for when she comes face-to-face with Osiris, Egyptian God of the Dead, who wants the souls for himself.

The comic follows the same format as the show, with a ghost that needs to cross over in each issue.  Unlike the show, however, another ghost – Osiris – appears in each issue, tying the miniseries together and keeping the tension on the rise from one issue to the next.

The digital version of the comic was adapted to the iPhone and iPod touch by iVerse Media. A new issue of the series will be released every few weeks until all five issues of the series have been adapted digitally.

“Many fans of the Ghost Whisperer TV show may not even realize that the comic book exists so this presents an excellent opportunity to reach out to both existing and new readers. The digital format is a no-brainer for this type of content,” IDW’s CEO Ted Adams said in a release.

"We’re very excited to be making Ghost Whisperer available to iPhone and iPod Touch owners," said Michael Murphey, owner of iVerse Media. "IDW has created a fantastic comic book that is true to the television series, and a great gateway into digital comic books for new readers of the format."

Ghost Whisperer: The Haunted #1 is available in the iTunes App Store now for $0.99:

Marvel Comics has announced a second wave of original digital comic titles exclusively for Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited subscribers. The Marvel Digital Holiday Special — debuting on Wednesday, December 17—highlights this second wave of online-first titles at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited [www.marvel.com/digitalcomics].

Here’s what’s coming:

Astonishing Tales: Wolverine/Punisher

C.B. Cebulski (X-Infernus) and newcomer Kenneth Rocafort (Madame Mirage) get gritty with a no-holds-barred Wolverine/Punisher tale you have to see to believe! Wolverine and Punisher go head-to-head on the streets of Madripoor, but can they stop fighting each other long enough to take down a certain green-haired femme fatale for good?!

Written by: C.B. Cebulski
Art by: Kenneth Rocafort
Debuts: Wednesday, December 10

Holiday Special Issue

The X-Men celebrate their first holiday in their new home of San Francisco — and their first without Kitty Pryde among them in “X-Men: Blue Christmas” by Jim McCann and Todd Nauck. Meanwhile, in the days before Secret Invasion, one family finds even the most humble of holiday celebrations can be infiltrated by the Skrulls in a tale of holiday horror by Ryan Penagos and Juan Doe. Jack Russell, Werewolf by Night, stars in “Werewolf by Eve!” by Marvel.com’s own Ben Morse with art by Stephanie Buscema. Writer Brian Reed and artist Val Semeiks will provide the final tale:”Santa Claus vs. The Illuminati?!”

Debuts: Wednesday, December 17

Astonishing Tales: Iron Man 2020

In a not so distant tomorrow, Arno Stark, the Iron Man of the year 2020, prepares to launch the new heliliner, the Spirit of Free Enterprise…But Commodore Q wants to stop it. Who is he…And what are the Endless Stolen Skies?

Written by: Daniel Merlin Goodbrey
Art by: Lou Kang
Debuts: Wednesday, December 24

Astonishing Tales: Mojoworld

Jonathan Hickman (Secret Warriors) and newcomer Nick Pitarra roll the cameras as Cannonball and Sunspot (of the New Mutants) get sucked into the wildest adventure of their short lives when they spend their summer vacation in…MOJOWORLD!

Written by: Jonathan Hickman
Art by: Nick Pitarra and Jonathon Hickman
Debuts: Wednesday, December 31

Wolverine: Agent of Atlas

The jungles of Cuba, 1958: revolutionary forces work their way to overthrowing the government, while even stranger forces are at large. The FBI has sent Jimmy Woo’s secret team of paranormals, the Agents of Atlas, to investigate. The crack team gets more than they bargained for when they cross paths with the mysterious operative known only as "Logan!" This three part series debuts with a FREE first issue—available to subscribers and non-subscribers to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited!

Written by: Jeff Parker
Art by: Benton Jew
Debuts: Wednesday, December 31 (Issue #1: FREE for all!)

Slash Film is reporting that Disney continues to toy with the name for their sequel to Tron.  For months now, the project has been known not as Tron 2 or Tron 2.0 but as Tr2n.  Now, defying all reason, it may be altered to TRZ.

The news comes from Production Weekly although the studio has yet to officially name the project or provide a release date despite teaser images being made available since the summer.

The industry newsletter has the following synopsis “After being transported into the surreal landscape of a mainframe computer to destroy an intruder, a programmer finds himself allied with the leader of a rebellion against a corrupt cyber-entity.”

Jeff Bridges reprises his role as a programmer named Flynn with Karl Urban and John Hurt also said to be part of the cast. The new film has been written by Adam Horowitz (Lost) and Edward Kitsis (Lost) with Joseph Kosinski making his directorial debut. A 2011 release date is anticipated given the effects-heavy work required.

The Los Angeles Science Fiction Society voted writer/director Joss Whedon the 2008 recipient of the Forry Award.  The prize is given to people for “Service to the Science Fiction Community.”

According to LASFS’ minutes, “At the meeting of October 2, Joss Whedon was chosen as the recipient of this year’s Forry Award. Now all we have to do is figure out how to actually give him the award.”

The award is named after Forest J. Ackerman, who turned 92 on November 24 and is considered the West Coast’s first official science fiction fan and a member of First Fandom. Ackerman had a health crisis in November but has rallied and is still holding court at his Ackermansion.

Tommy Lee Wallace (Halloween III) will direct Helliversity according to The Hollywood Reporter. Wallace and Steve Langford (Family Matters) cowrote the screenplay. The film marks the first film from the partnership of FarCor Studios and Indusa Global, dedicated to restoring luster to the low budget independent features.

The trade says the film is about “a group of American exchange students is terrorized by a vengeful spirit while locked inside a high-security foreign university.”

The film remains uncast but will roll cameras for six weeks beginning in March with shooting scheduled for Los Angeles.
 

Aaron McGruder emerged as a fresh voice in cartooning with his racially-tinged Boondocks comic strip, which debuted in 1999 and lasted until 2006.  The comic strip about two young boys living in urban Chicago also made it to television as an animated series on the Cartoon Network after Black Entertainment Television refused McGruder’s offer to adapt it themselves.  The artist and BET feuded for some time as a result. Despite that, he and former BET exec Reginald Hudlin cowrote Birth of a Nation: A Comic Novel, which was illustrated by Kyle Baker in 2004.

A second season of the animated series remains in production but has been delayed.  In the meantime, he also works on the The Super Rumble Mix Show. The 34-year-old creator also just launched BoondocksBootleg, described as the "Official Unofficial YouTube channel of Aaron McGruder".