Kung Fu Panda was a critical and box office surprise hit when it opened in late June. Now, it is surprising people again as Paramount Home Video has announced that the November 9 DVD release will come bundled with an original tale.  The Sunday release comes two days ahead of the traditional street date for books, CDs and DVDs.

The double pack of Kung Fu Panda and Secrets of the Furious Five will retail for under $25 according to Hollywood Reporter.  The single disc version of the feature film is expected to retail for under $20 in a standard edition.  A Blu-ray version is also anticipated for the same date.

The new story, will explore the established characters’ backgrounds with Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman lending their voices once more as Po and Master Shifu respectively.

The DreamWorks Animation film grossed $213.8 million during the summer, making it a hugely profitable CG-animated hit.

Ever think you’d hear the words "Buffy has been nominated for an Emmy"? Well, that day has come as Buffy The Vampire Slayer has made it into round two of "TV’s Most Memorable Moments (Drama Series)". The moment in question, which you can watch and vote for here, is from the season 5 finale entitled "The Gift" where Buffy takes what would seem to be her last leap and sacrifices herself. This also marks the final episode of the series that aired on the WB before ultimately getting picked by UPN…which then ended up merging with the WB to become the CW. Confused? You should be.

The scene is currently up against nine others in the category including a scene from Star Trek’s "City on the Edge of Forever" and Lost‘s "Live Together, Die Alone" (The scene where the island explodes). You can vote online, and the top five will then be in the ceremony live for the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards this Sunday on ABC at 8/7c.

It should also be noted that this year’s Emmys will be hosted by each of the five nominees of the Outstanding Reality/Competition Host category. This means Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst And Ryan Seacrest will each be hosting this year’s awards, which would mark the first time that the Emmy Awards are being hosted by four people who will probably never get an Emmy Award. Seacrest Out.

Director D.J. Caruso has spoken with Marvel about Thor, as we reported last week, but clearly he expects his next film to be the first of a planned trilogy adapting Brian K. Vaughn’s Y the Last Man. He spoke recently with Sci FI Wire and indicated he delivered the most recent draft of the screenplay to Warner Bros. just last week.

“I’d love to prep that late in the fall if I can and roll into shooting that … after the winter,” Caruso said. “So Warner’s pretty hot on moving forward.”

Caruso told the website that he sees speeding up the film’s pace compared to the 60 issue comic from Vertigo.  “Primarily in the first movie, I mean, it’s really important to stay focused on Yorick. And we do deal with Alter…the Israeli army and then the Chinese faction that’s coming in as well. But, you know, to get us going, to get us grounded, it’s really about Yorick. You know, the anchor of this particular film would be the Yorick-355 relationship.”

He confirmed that the studio was eyeing a late 2010 release and Shia LaBeouf, his star in the forthcoming Eagle Eye, remained his top choice for Yorick, the slacker who wakes up one morning to discover he was the last man on Earth.  “Well, I think Yorick is a fantastic role for Shia. One, because Yorick has great sort of self-deprecating humor. … One thing Shia really brings to him is that … realistic acting style and being put in some crazy … super-realistic situations. Shia always keeps them real and keeps it grounded. He’s endearing. I’m hoping that the 355 relationship … I always thought it would be really cool to have that be sort of a [Robert] De Niro-[Charles] Grodin … banter type relationship, like they had in Midnight Run. I think that Shia would be a great sort of receiver and giver on both sides of that. I think he’d really bring a lot to it.”

As for the remainder of the casting, Caruso also acknowledged the recent rumors over singer Alicia Keys being added as Agent 355, who winds up protecting Yorick on his global journey. “I have not met her, but I mean she might be an interesting 355. I thought she did a cool job in the Joe Carnahan movie [Smokin’ Aces].”
 

The Good Neighbors, Book One: Kin
By Holly Black and Ted Naifeh
Scholastic/Graphix, September 2008, $16.99

Holly Black is a major writer for young people – one-half of the team behind the phenomenally popular “[[[Spiderwick Chronicles]]]” (along with Tony DiTerlizzi) and the author of three dark contemporary-fantasy novels for teens, starting with Tithe. Getting her to write a graphic novel series for teens is of the same magnitude as the long-underwear companies signing up bestsellers like Brad Meltzer and Jodi Picoult.

But the difference here is that Black is working for Scholastic, one of the oldest and smartest publishers of books for younger readers around. Scholastic, unlike DC with Picoult, didn’t try to shoehorn Black into some already-existing corporate property, but worked to her strengths. [[[The Good Neighbors]]] is an original graphic novel series set in the modern world, mixing teen drama with an otherworld of nasty folkloric faeries – faeries along the same lines as those in Black’s novels for teens. Scholastic also paired Black with Ted Naifeh, a well-known cartoonist and illustrator in his own right, whose most popular works have a Goth flavor and likely are loved by the same kids who read Black’s books.

This is how it’s done: you get a good writer, let her work on something she knows and does well, pair her with a complimentary artist, and package it for the audience that already knows and loves both of the creators – note that this is a $16.99 hardcover, a price point similar to teen novels and comics collections. (Are you listening, DC?)

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