Category: News

The fictional online lifestyle is becoming fodder for a new film to be written by Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) for director Gore Verbinksi (Pirates of the Caribbean).  Universal Studios acquired rights to a Wall Street Journal article from 2007 reporting on the problems one married couple had when the husband became addicted to his fantasy life according to Variety.

Alexandra Alter’s article featured the 53 year-old diabetic chain smoker who spent as many as 20 hours a day living through his Second Life avatar who was buff in appearance. The man’s wife attended support group meetings for those with spouses addicted to the online life and their marriage nearly dissolved.

The fantasy worlds have been the subject of documentaries, including Second Skin, but this is the first dramatic movie to touch on the subject.  It’s part of Verbinski’s recently signed first look deal with Universal.  He’s also shooting Bioshock, based on the video game plus producing The Host, a remake of the Korean thriller.

Charlaine Harris Charlaine Harris writes more than just novels featuring Sookie Stackhouse.  In fact, she just signed to writer the fourth Harper Connelly novel for Editor Ginjer Buchanan at Berkley Prime Crime, for publication in fall 2009.

Not only that, but she’s teaming with Toni Kelner to edit Death’s Excellent Vacation, a cross-genre anthology. Stories will play mix and match with the science fiction, fantasy, mystery and paranormal genres, with each story revolving around death and a holiday. Such blended anthologies have occurred before and may become a new trend. Buchanan will produce this for the Ace imprint, due out in spring 2010.

Dead and Gone, the eighth Stackhouse book, will be out in May 2009.

Speaking of vampires, the mother-daughter team of P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast’ have signed to write three more books in their House of Night series, plus an illustrated companion with award-winning artist Kim Doner, for Jennifer Weis at St. Martin’s Press.

As more and more people time shift their viewing habits, watching hit and cult shows at times of their choosing, Nielsen Co. has released their year end top 10 list of shows that gained the most audience as a result of DVR viewing using live + 7 day numbers. There’s little surprise that the SF genre dominated the list which included Heroes, Lost, and Fringe in addition to popular fare such as Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, and The Mentalist.

According to the list of cable series that benefitted, Battlestar Galactica topped the list, followed by Burn Notice, reruns of Heroes, Sanctuary, and Eureka.

Similarly, over in the UK, the BBC marks the first anniversary of the launch of its iPlayer catch-up TV service. According to the Guardian, Doctor Who was the show that had the most use followed by Top Gear. Genre series Merlin, coming to the US via NBC in 2009, ranked fifth.

DC Comics has announced that the contents for Green Lantern #37 and #38 have been altered. GL #37 will now be a part of the January Faces of Evil event in a story written by Geoff Johns, with art by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert and a cover by Shane Davis and John Dell. According to DC, the story is a “prelude to The Blackest Night with ‘Rage of the Red Lanterns" part 3.’ Hal Jordan continues his journey into the deepest depths of Ysmault, unlocking the strange secrets behind Atrocitus’s crimson power and witnessing a bizarre prophecy all his own." The issue is due on sale January 21.

February will bring GL #38 which will feature a new Origins and Omens backup story. In this issue, written by Geoff Johns with art by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert and a cover by Shane Davis and Sandra Hope, “the War of Light ignites as the first bizarre battle with the Red Lanterns comes to a blood-fueled conclusion. But what unexpected fate has befallen Atrocitus, the leader of the Red Lanterns, and what new Green Lantern law is unveiled?” The issue is due on sale February 4.
 

Uclick has announced three more webcomics coming to their mobile store via Apple’s iTunes app store. We the Robots by Christ Harding, Basic Instructions by Scott Meyer, and Pibgorn by Brooke McEldowney were all signed by Universal press Syndicate.

We the Robots has been a part of UPS’ Go Comics site since 2007 with Pibgorn being added this year.

Uclick CEO Douglas Edwards said in a release, “On the near horizon we’ll be offering many more well-known web-based creators in the App Store,” Edwards said. “If I told you any more than that, I’d be ruining the surprise. But I can tell you that we’ve made a firm commitment to bring the best in webcomics to the iPhone and iPod Touch, because we believe this device offers a fantastic comics-reading experience. As comics fans ourselves, we want the medium to be well-represented on these devices, and that means delivering more of the comics people love in the best on-device experience.”

Each episode costs $.99.

ScreenGems has announced that Scott Charles Stewart will direct their film adaptation of the manhwa (Korean comic) Priest according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie is being written by Cory Goodman (The Brood) and will adapt the initial storyline of the series which debuted in South Korea in 1998 and continues to today.  Tokyopop has produced 16 volumes for English-language readers. The series was created by Hyung Min-woo, after being inspired by a video game called Blood.

The story is set in a “world ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampire and follows a warrior priest who turns against the church to track down a murderous band of vampires who have kidnapped his niece.:

Priest nearly made it before the cameras years earlier with 300’s Gerard Butler in the lead for director Andrew Douglas but it failed to gain a green light.

Stewart is also at work for the studio, making his directorial debut on Legion, a “biblical apocalyptic thriller” that he also wrote.  Prior to that, he worked at Industrial Light & Magic before forming special effects house the Orphanage with former ILM staffers Stu Maschwitz and Jonathan Rothbart.
 

Bakugan Battle Brawlers has been optioned by Universal Studios and Stuber Productions according to The Hollywood Reporter. The anime series currently is shown on Cartoon Network while toys and game come from Spin Master and Sega.

The series is based on a “strategic game that uses metal cards and magnetic, spring-loaded miniature figures that transform from marble-like balls into toy monsters.

“The show’s story line revolves around creatures called Bakugan and the young human battle brawlers who wield them. The creatures have such names as Pyrus Drago, Haos Tigrerra, Ventus Skyress, Subterra Gorem and Darkus Hydranoid that inform their character and power; they are involved in a battle in a parallel dimension called Vestroia that spills into ours.”

A total of 51 episodes were produced by TMS Entertainment and Japan Vistec and debuted in Japan last year. The English-language version has been handled by Nelvana which has produced 52 episodes.

Universal is currently seeking a writer for what they perceive to be a hot property that will translate well around the world.