Hathaway & Franco, Spidey disaster, and Kershner dies

A few bits of entertainment news:

I've been tracking the Spider-Man musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, for a while now, first as I thought it sounded like a ridiculous idea, then as I thought it might turn out to be good, then as I saw it plagued by multiple problems (running out of money, losing cast members) and delays (remember when previews were supposed to start last February? those were the days...). The most recent news is not good. After all this time, the show finally opened for preview showings on November 28 (the premiere is scheduled for January 11), but the performance is being called a disaster (e.g. Studio Briefing, NYPost). There were multiple significant malfunctions, such as cast members (including Spidey himself) being left hanging over the audience for several minutes. These glitches forced the performance to stop four times in the first act, and once in the second. During one of the stops, an audience member was heard to say, "I feel like a guinea pig tonight. I feel like it’s a dress rehearsal." Well, it kind of was... Reeve Carney (Peter Parker) said that it was the first time they'd gone all the way through the show (broadway.com). Wow, no wonder there were so many things going wrong. The whole performance took three and a half hours, and to make things worse, some audience members reported a boring score and confusing script. The most expensive Broadway show ever, at $65 million, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark can't afford to be a flop. Things aren't looking good so far.

Irvin Kershner, director of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, passed away this past Saturday at age 87 (Variety). The first sequel to the original Star Wars, the darker Empire Strikes Back initially received mixed reviews. However, it has gone on to become the most highly praised of all the Star Wars films. Much of the credit is given to Kershner. RIP.

OK, now, let's end on a lighter note...
It has been announced that Anne Hathaway and James Franco will be hosting this year's Oscars ceremony (e.g. Studio Briefing). Last year's ceremony had a pair of hosts as well, with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin hosting the event, but the choice breaks from recent tradition by having hosts who are neither comedians nor song-and-dance performers. Not that Franco and Hathaway can't be funny or sing (we've seen some evidence to the contrary), but these are not talents for which they are primarily known. About the choice, producers said, "James Franco and Anne Hathaway personify the next generation of Hollywood icons— fresh, exciting and multi-talented." Their selection may be an attempt to increase the ratings for the telecast, bringing in young eyes who may not have been drawn by last year's "old fogies." Franco is very likely to be nominated for a lead acting Oscar this year, for his role in 127 Hours. Anne Hathaway received a best actress nomination two years ago for her lead role in Rachel Getting Married, and has a chance at a nomination this year for her role in Love and Other Drugs. I like both of these actors, so I hope they find ways to use them well in the ceremony. I'm hopeful it will be an entertaining show.

Spider-Man: The Musical is back, Joss rules, and ThinkGeek coupon!

I've been pretty stressed for the past couple weeks because yesterday I had to give a presentation to the department on the research I've done in my first year of grad school (summary: not much). We physical oceanography students have to do these presentations every year, unlike the other oceanography divisions (bio and geo/chem) who only do it once towards the end of their second year. Why is our division so mean? Anyway, I'm usually pretty good with presentations (I've been told I have a "good presentation voice"), but I was more nervous than usual with this one, mostly because the people who presented before me were asked hard questions, and I knew I didn't have many answers to give beyond what I was already saying in my talk. I felt like I did kind of make a fool of myself with the questions ("Did you try looking at X?" "No, but that's a good idea, thanks, I'll look into it." "What would you expect if you did Y?" "I don't know, I should try that." "Can you explain why Z?" "I'm not sure... I'll look into that."). But at least it's over now.

Two entertainment tidbits I felt like sharing...

It's been a while since I mentioned Spider-Man: The Musical (aka Spider-Man, Turn off the Dark). It was originally supposed to open on Broadway back in February, but budget issues put it on hold. It lost some of its stars (Evan Rachel Wood as Mary Jane, Alan Cummings as Green Goblin) who have busy schedules and moved onto other projects. But it's finally on again (Variety). Reeve Carney is still on to play Peter Parker, Jennifer Damiano will be playing Mary Jane, and Patrick Page is the new Green Goblin. The show is scheduled to open on December 21, with previews starting November 14.

I just watched this interview with Joss Whedon at Comic-Con, regarding The Avengers. It just made me so much more excited, about Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, the two Chrises, and the movie in general. Favorite bits: "Mrs. Joss Renner" and "[Chris Hemsworth is] bigger and handsomer than a person is." I'm so in love with all of them.

Last quick note:
If you're a geek, you've probably at one point or other drooled over some clever t-shirt, awesome gadget, or cool toy at ThinkGeek.com. If you haven't seen their stuff before, then go to their site and start drooling. Anyway, if you're interested in buying anything from them, there's a promotion going on today only. The site was down last night for routine maintenance, but the notice they put up saying the site was down gave us a promotional code to reward us for our patience. So if you order before 11:59 pm Eastern time tonight (August 19), you can get $10 off a purchase of $40 or more by using the code SILLYMONKEYS.

I've got my eye on that "Look at me still talking when there's science to do" t-shirt for the boyfriend (that was what brought me to the site last night to discover the promotion). Maybe I'd even get one for myself. The "Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock" t-shirt is pretty good, too. Still toying with the idea of the magic wand remote, but that one costs a bit more. Well anyway, enjoy!

Sci-fi nominees, Avatar's success, and Spidey 4 scrapped

Now for bits of recent entertainment news that have caught my eye...

It was a good year for sci-fi movies. The Producer's Guild of America nominations have been announced, and they include three sci-fi films: Avatar, District 9, and Star Trek. The PGA's decision to follow the Oscars in increasing the number of best picture nominees from 5 to 10 allowed such "non-awards bait" movies as these to pick up nominations. Up also received a PGA nomination. In the recent past, an average of 4 of 5 PGA nominees have also been nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. If that holds true this year, it will be a very abnormal Oscar (space?) race. See all PGA nominees here.

After only three weeks in the theater, James Cameron's Avatar has surpassed Return of the King to become the second highest worldwide grosser of all time (Variety). RotK closed at $1.1 billion, and as of Thursday, January 7, Avatar had grossed $1.14 billion. It now stands second only to Cameron's own Titanic, which took in $1.8 billion at the global box office. Whether or not Avatar can pass Titanic will depend on repeat business, but we can safely say that Cameron knows how to make a lot of money.

Blake Lively has been cast as leading lady Carol Ferris opposite Ryan Reynolds's Hal Jordan in the Green Lantern movie (Variety). At 22, she is 11 years Reynold's junior, and best known for her role in CW series Gossip Girl. An interesting choice.

Paramount is planning ahead, scheduling the release of the untitled Star Trek sequel for June 29, 2012 (Variety). 899 days and counting. Yeah, I'm just a little excited.

And the big news of the day (well, yesterday): The fourth Sam Raimi - Tobey Maguire Spider-Man installment has been called off. It seems director Raimi walked after being unable to agree with the studio over the direction of the story, and Maguire followed (Variety). Columbia Pictures will instead be rebooting the franchise with a James Vanderbilt script featuring a teenage Peter Parker. The first two Maguire Spider-Man movies were great, but after the disappointing third film, I'm not too sad to see the fourth called off.

Edit - Additional bad news for Spidey came out today (1/12): Spider-Man, Turn off the Dark producers are giving customers who bought tickets refunds, since due to production delays the show will not be able to start previews on February 25 as planned (Variety). They haven't called it off entirely, saying that the show will open some time in 2010, but it's not looking good.

Thor casting, Dark Void, Lost schedule, UFO, etc.

Some little tidbits of recent entertainment news that have caught my eye.

Casting for the Thor movie continues. Anthony Hopkins has been cast as Odin, king of Asgard and father of Thor (Variety blog). Stuart Townsend, Ray Stevenson, and Tadanobu Asano will play Warrior's Three (Variety blog), who fight alongside Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Kat Dennings will play Darcy, who works with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) (Variety). The cast looks pretty good so far.

Reeve Carney has been cast as lead Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Spider-Man: The Musical, aka Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark (Variety). He joins Evan Rachel Wood as Mary Jane and Alan Cumming as the Green Goblin. The show's budget problems continue, but it seems that nothing has been rescheduled or called off, yet (LA Times)

Brad Pitt's Plan B production company along with Reliance Big Entertainment is planning to develop Capcom's video game Dark Void into a movie (Variety). I don't know the game, but I'm always wary of video game-to-movie adaptations, since they're usually so bad. We'll see what becomes of this one.

Lost has had a number of different air times over the course of its run, but ABC has decided that its sixth and final season this spring will air Tuesdays at 9. The season will premiere on Tuesday, February 2, with a two-hour premiere from 9 to 11 pm, then settle into its regular time slot for the remainder of the season (Variety).

Avatar is getting some big promotion from toy deals with McDonald's Coca-Cola, and Mattel. One neat feature are these augmented reality cards that seem pretty cool (Variety--you can see a short video clip of the augmented reality thingy at work). I'm not sure if the new technology is quite at an "hours of entertainment" stage yet, but still, they're worth noting.

The 1970s British TV series UFO is being adapted into a feature film version with Joshua Jackson set to star (Variety). I'm not familiar with the TV show, but Joshua Jackson has proved his value in the sci-fi genre with his work on Fringe. I'll keep my eye out for more news on this project.

And lastly, Joss Whedon has won a Vanguard Award from the Producers Guild of America for his achievements in new media and technology (Variety). Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was an innovative and successful venture, and just one of Whedon's many achievements. Joss is the man. Congrats.

Big Marvel purchase, Jack the Giant Killer, and various projects in the works

Some recent entertainment news that caught my eye...

Let's start out with yesterday's big news: Disney has made a deal to acquire Marvel for $4 billion (Variety). The deal gives Disney access to Marvel's many popular characters, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, and Captain America. Disney has classically had trouble attracting boys to its audiences, so having Marvel's inventory should help with that. Marvel gains extra marketing muscle particularly overseas, where they have been trying to expand their brand power. The deal will not affect Marvel's film deals that are already in place, but it's still a huge deal, affecting films without current franchises as well as comic books, TV shows, video games, theme parks, action figures, and other merchandise. I'm not in any way a true comic book fan--I just like many of the movies and TV shows based on comics--but there's still a purist in me that just hopes this doesn't mean Marvel will become "Disney-fied". It's unlikely we have anything to be worried about, though.

I mentioned last time that production of Spider-Man: The Musical (aka Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark) was delayed due to money troubles, and there were reports that star Evan Rachel Wood (cast as Mary Jane) was planning on leaving. I don't have any more news regarding the production schedule of the musical or if they've resolved their monetary issues, but I can at least say that Wood has not, in fact, abandoned the project (IMDb).

In yet further Marvel-related news, it looks like Fantastic Four, which had two recent movies come out in 2005 and 2007, will be treated to a reboot (Variety blog). The script will be written by Michael Green, who just co-wrote the Green Lantern script (playing both sides, is he?). The movie franchise is controlled by 20th Century Fox, so it was not a part of the Disney deal.

The planned BioShock movie may have found a new director after Gore Verbinski stepped down from the role. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) is in talks to direct the live-action feature for Universal (Variety blog). I don't know the game, but I'm always interested in the development of movie adaptations of video games. Always keeping an eye out for the first one that might actually be good.

Kevin Tancharoen, who directed the upcoming remake of Fame, will direct a new fantasy sci-fi movie called Arcana, with Brett Ratner (Rush Hour 1, 2, and 3; X-Men 3) producing (IMDb). Tancharoen describes the movie as having a Blade Runner feel, shot like 300. Hmm. Could be interesting, could be bad. We'll see if anything comes of it.

Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke will be directing a gothic retelling of Little Red Riding Hood (Variety, IMDb). Sounds like another teen fantasy; the plot will center around a teenage love triangle.

Michael Bay has signed up to develop another teen sci-fi franchise. His production company bought the rights to James Frey's novel I Am Number Four, about nine aliens who escape to Earth before their planet is destroyed, one of whom takes the form of a high schooler (IMDb).

I reported a couple months ago that Atari was developing a new MMO based on Dungeons & Dragons franchise Neverwinter Nights. While those plans have still not been announced officially, they are getting Atari into trouble. Dungeons and Dragons Online developer Turbine is suing Atari for breach of contract and fraud, accusing them of purposely pulling back support of D&D Online, which Atari distributes in Europe but apparently has not done to Turbine's satisfaction (Variety blog). It's not clear to me how this will affect the planned MMO.

Warner Bros. has signed Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men 1 and 2) on to produce (with the possibility of directing) a remake of Excalibur (Variety blog). That's all well and good; I like Bryan Singer and I like Arthurian legend. But what really caught my eye when I read this little article was the second paragraph:

Deal comes as Singer gets serious about making the New Line-Legendary co-production “Jack the Giant Killer” his next directing effort, according to sources.

Jack the Giant Killer? My Jack the Giant Killer? It's a bit like when I saw a photo from Comic-Con last year of Dakota Fanning promoting Push and scrambled to confirm that it was really the movie script I had read two summers before that. Well, the summer that I read the Push script (that is, the summer of 2006), the other movie script I read was Jack the Giant Killer, an epic fantasy by Darren Lemke, based on the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. So when I read that article about Bryan Singer, the immediate question was Is this the Jack the Giant Killer that I read? The answer is basically yes. All I've been able to find other than that off-handed comment in the Variety blog is this Variety article from January, which mentions that the script has been treated to a rewrite by Mark Bomback. It seems things have changed in the past eight months, with Legendary coming on as co-producer with New Line, and D.J. Caruso leaving the project and being replaced by Bryan Singer. Well, the Jack the Giant Killer script I read was pretty awesome, and hopefully the rewrite only made it better. I'm really excited about it, especially if Bryan Singer is developing it. Maybe I'll give that its own post some time in the future.

Spidey troubles, WoT MMO, new BSG and more

Some tidbits of recent entertainment news that caught my attention...

Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, who in this past year's Oscar ceremony turned Frost/Nixon into a romantic musical number (Jackman as Frost, Hathaway as Nixon), will re-team for a movie musical called "The Greatest Showman on Earth", about circus showman PT Barnum (IMDb). Jackman has proven himself in musicals, winning a Tony for best leading actor in a musical. All I've seen of Hathaway doing song and dance is that Frost/Nixon number. But she is a very talented young lady. This project is still "in development", so we'll see what becomes of it.

Having gently poked fun at the concept ever since I first heard about the project a year ago (various posts), I am sorry to report that there may be production troubles surrounding Spider-Man: The Musical (formally known as Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark). There have been a whole series of articles about it, reporting on various rumors that it's been scrapped or put on hold followed by producers insisting that it will debut as scheduled. It seems that the technically demanding show has run into monetary issues, perhaps not for lack of money but because there have been issues mobilizing the money that has been raised. Production is on hold until the cash starts flowing again, but people involved with the show are convinced that will be soon and they will be able to stick to the schedule, with previews starting on February 25 followed by a March opening (Variety, IMDb). There are rumors that cast and crew have been released from their contracts (IMDb), and Evan Rachel Wood, who was cast as Mary Jane, is looking to win back some movie offers she had passed up because of the musical (IMDb). After everything, I think I would be sad if this project fell apart. I'll be keeping my eyes open for more news.

Warner Bros. is planning to make a Lego movie (IMDb). The film will not use real Legos, but will be live-action/CG. No word on the plot, but the studio says the movie will be suitable for children but will also hopefully appeal to adults.

Jay Chou, a Taiwanese singer-actor, has been cast as Kato alongside Seth Rogan in The Green Hornet (Variety). He replaces Stephen Chow, who was originally also supposed to direct until he stepped down from that role to be replaced by Michel Gondry. I don't really know Chow or Chou, so I'm kind of indifferent to the recasting, other than it's a bit sad that someone originally planning to direct and star has been completely ousted. I don't know the story behind all this, but I guess that's the business.

Channing Tatum, the star of G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra as well as the Step Up movies, is apparently writing what he describes as a "fantastical dance-ical" (IMDb). This is apparently a dance musical with a fantasy theme, a la Alice in Wonderland. He's just working on it; the project is a long way off. Fantastical.

This bit of news isn't particularly interesting to me, though it does have a nice example of "artistic differences": the author of novel The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer wants Mickey Rourke for the lead role in the adaptation, while the director wanted Channing Tatum (IMDb). But the article made me laugh because of the line that labels someone as "the brains behind Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra". Haha. "Brains."

Chris Morgan, who was a screenwriter for Wanted, Cellular, and Fast and Furious, has signed on with Red Eagle Games as the story director for the Wheel of Time video games that Electronic Arts will publish for all major gaming platforms (Variety blog). Red Eagle is also planning to make an MMO based on the WoT world. A WoT FPS came out in 1999, but was not a hit. As a gamer and WoT reader, I am intrigued that they are making a new video game based on the series, and an MMO. I'll have to see how they come out; even though I'm a fan of the series, I won't play the game unless it's supposed to be good.

Bryan Singer, director of the first two X-Men movies and The Usual Suspects, has signed on to direct and produce a movie version of Battlestar Galactica (Variety blog). It will be a complete re-imagination of the BSG story (yes, another one). As a fan of the very recent BSG series on Sci-Fi, I find the fact that they're making the movie now to be very odd. It's too soon. We finished a very long, difficult journey just this past spring, and now they're going to do it all over again? And as a movie? Bryan Singer is pretty good, so I guess I'll wait to see where he takes this.

And last, Sony has hooked James Vanderbilt, the first writer of Spider-Man 4, to write the screenplays for the Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6 movies (Variety). Yes, while they're planning to begin production on Spider-Man 4 early next year, they are already getting two more sequels into motion. At this stage, we don't know if director Sam Raimi and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst would be back for 5 and 6 (they will all be back for #4). If not, then the new Vanderbilt scripts may become "reboots" for the franchise. Oy. If you must continue, just make them good, please.

Mary Janes, The Hobbit, Mars, and a new NWN MMO

Time for an update on entertainment news that has piqued my interest...

It has been confirmed that Kirsten Dunst will in fact be returning to the role of Mary Jane in Spider-Man 4 (IMDb). Tobey Maguire had already agreed to return for a fourth and fifth installment of the blockbuster franchise, but director Sam Raimi had said Dunst was reluctant to sign on for the threequel sequels. They are still looking for the perfect villain, with producer Todd Black saying "Trust me - people will appreciate who we pick, because it'll be a big part of New York." I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean... the villain will be the Empire State Building? Anyway, the third Spider-Man movie was a tad disappointing, so I hope they can pick it back up and make the fourth one good again.

Speaking of Spider-Man, we mustn't forget about Spider-Man: The Musical (more properly called Spider Man, Turn Off the Dark). Turns out that Evan Rachel Wood is going to star as Mary Jane in the stage musical, after all (IMDb). First there were substantial rumors that Wood (who worked with Spider-Man: The Musical's director Julie Taymor in the movie musical Across the Universe) had been cast, then Taymor denied this saying that she was still working on casting MJ, and now this. Apparently Peter Parker has yet to be cast.

Everyone kind of already assumed that this would happen, but Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, and Ian McKellen have all been confirmed for the cast of The Hobbit, reprising their roles as Elrond, Gollum, and Gandalf, respectively (IMDb). We are still awaiting to hear who will play the titular hobbit Bilbo himself (Ian Holm, who played Bilbo in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, is too old to come back for the younger prequel role, unlike the other three whose ageless or semi-ageless roles let them get away with it). Here's hoping director Guillermo del Toro finds someone great. I'm a bit anxious waiting.

Wolverine stars Taylor Kitsch (Gambit) and Lynn Collins (Kayla Silverfox) are both set to star in Walt Disney Pictures' John Carter of Mars, a fantasy epic based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs series that began with the novel "The Princess of Mars" in 1911 (Variety). Wall-E writer-director Andrew Stanton will be directing the film as his first live-action pic. The story is about a damaged Civil War veteran named John Carter (Kitsch) who is mysteriously transported to Mars where his interactions with the warring races of the dying planet, which presumably include meeting the Princess of Mars (Collins), help him to rediscover his humanity. I don't know what to think of the casting (I actually haven't seen the Wolverine movie yet), but I have great respect for Stanton (I loved Wall-E) and the period-piece-meets-sci-fi-epic aspect of the project is very intriguing. I'll be watching for this one.

Lastly, in gaming news, recent Atari acquisition Cryptic Studios is working on developing an MMO for Atari property Neverwinter Nights (Variety blog). This is really big news for me. For those who don't know, Cryptic Studios is the company behind (among other games) Champions Online, the game currently in its beta testing stage that recently became the first MMO I had ever played. Neverwinter Nights is a Dungeons & Dragons-based Forgotten Realms-set series of computer RPGs. I played through the single-player campaigns of NWN and its two official expansions as well as NWN2 and one of its expansions. But one of the most distinctive features of the Neverwinter Nights series, which I never took advantage of, was the multiplayer component that allowed players to design their own missions in their own persistent worlds--essentially hosting their own mini-MMOs (would these be called "not-so-massively multiplayer online" games or something?). Anyway, there were plenty of people who did take advantage of this feature, making NWN quite a popular success. The news that a proven MMO developer is planning to create an MMO for Neverwinter Nights is intriguing indeed, though they have a tough road ahead of them, since even MMOs based on strong franchises sometimes fail to catch on. Word is they are hoping for a 2011 release... 'round 'bout the time that BioWare is planning to release The Old Republic (more history for those who aren't gamer geeks: BioWare, which developed the original NWN but not the sequel, will not be involved in the NWN MMO). I'd say I see conflict ahead, but I'm already fairly certain I'd pick TOR if forced to choose. But there's time. We'll see how the NWN MMO develops.

New Star Trek, Peabody for Lost, and more

Let's see what we've got in entertainment news this week...

Writers, assemble! Marvel, which has been excitedly greenlighting movie adaptations of its franchises (including Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers) after last year's encouraging Iron Man success, is hiring a bunch of writers to develop its properties into films (Variety). Each year, it will ask up to five writers to work on various plots, characters, or future films, providing the writers with specific pitches. These projects may involve some of Marvel's lesser known properties, such as Black Panther, Cable, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Nighthawk and Vision.

Even though the new Star Trek reboot movie is still more than a month away from bowing in theaters, Paramount has smelled its upcoming success and gone ahead and hired writers for a sequel movie (Variety, IMDb). The script will be written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who wrote the script for the new Star Trek film, along with Damon Lindelof, who co-developed TV show Lost with J.J. Abrams, the director and producer of the new Star Trek film. J.J. Abrams will be a producer on the sequel, though there's no word yet on whether he will be directing again. Paramount bosses are reportedly hoping to get William Shatner, who does not appear in the new film, to make a cameo in the sequel (IMDb). They've really hyped this upcoming reboot, and J.J. has done well in the past. I hope the movie delivers. Just wait for May 8.

Inception, Christopher Nolan's planned contemporary sci-fi actioner, has added to its cast. Leonardo DiCaprio is already set to star, but Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, and Cillian Murphy are in talks to join the project (Variety). Page and Cotillard were both 2008 Academy Award stars, nominated for Juno and La Vie en Rose, respectively; Cotillard won the award. Murphy has worked with Nolan before as Scarecrow in Batman begins (with a small role in Dark Knight).

I've sort of been following the development of Spider-Man: The Musical (officially named Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark). Apparently, director Julie Taymor has dismissed the rumors that Evan Rachel Wood, who starred in Taymor's movie Across the Universe, is set to play Mary Jane in the musical (IMDb). Taymor is holding auditions across the country to find her leads, apparently looking to cast unknowns in the starring roles.

Now for some exciting news for Lost fans: Lost has won a Peabody Award! (IMDb). The Peabody Award website says of Lost:
"Breezily mixing metaphysics, quantum physics, romance and cliffhanger action, the genre-bending series about a group of air-crash survivors on a mysterious island has rewritten the rules of television fiction."
Well, at least they've rewritten rules of nature. Battlestar Galactica won a 2005 Peabody Award, and I am excited to see yet another one of my TV shows win this prestigious award. After a couple rocky seasons, last year Lost got back on track, and now it has been rightfully awarded for its excellence. Congrats!

Speaking of Battlestar Galactica, I would like to end this post with a bit of fake news from The Onion that amused me greatly:
Barack Obama depressed, distant since "Battlestar Galactica" series finale
It speaks for itself.

Watchmen premieres, Downey composes, Spidey gets a Broadway date, and more!

Recent entertainment news that caught my eye...

Watchmen premiered in London on Monday (IMDb). Thank goodness it finally made it. It seems several critics were impressed, recognizing it for being dark and thought-provoking, though at least one critic was unimpressed. I am relieved that the critics didn't all immediately dump on it--this is a good sign. I was worried, and still am somewhat, that as good a comic as Watchmen was, it might have been made into an embarrassing movie. Anyway, I like the quote from Britain's Guardian, which says that Watchmen "makes last year's famously brooding Batman sequel The Dark Knight look like Alvin and the Chipmunks." The film opens wide next Friday, March 6.

Robert Downey Jr. is writing a musical (IMDb). I like Robert Downey Jr. And I like musicals. What do I think of his project? Well... Downey recognizes, as one might expect him to, that it sounds kind of silly when a movie star says he wants to become a singer, but he says that he's always liked to compose, and he is not new to singing. I think he's a smart and talented guy. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt here. I hope his project goes well.

Speaking of musicals, one of the Broadway musicals I have been tracking has been given a premiere date. Spider-Man: The Musical is expected to premiere on February 18, 2010 at the Hilton Theater, with previews starting on January 16 (Variety). The musical has also been given a real title, "Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark". But for now, I'm just going to keep calling it Spider-Man: The Musical. This is a huge budget production to be directed by Julie Taymor, and while no casting has been confirmed, Evan Rachel Wood is expected to star as Mary Jane, and Jim Sturgess (who starred with Wood in Taymor's Across the Universe) is rumored to be considering Peter Parker. I'm looking forward to hearing more as this project progresses.

Michel Gondry, director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, has signed on to direct The Green Hornet (Variety). Seth Rogan, who co-wrote the script with Evan Goldberg, is starring. Stephen Chow was originally set to direct as well as star as Green Hornet's sidekick Kato, but though he stepped down as director, he still plans to play Kato.

Gore Verbinski has signed with Universal to produce and direct a movie based on Hasbro board game Clue (Variety). This is part of the same multi-picture deal between the studio and Hasbro that I've mentioned in a few previous posts, which has also put movies based on Candy Land, Battleship, Monopoly, and Ouija in the works. Unfortunately, this article also brings the first news I've heard of plans for the Stretch Armstrong movie I have been dreading. I can't quite put my finger on what it is that makes a Stretch Armstrong movie seem less acceptable to me than all the others, but somehow... I just really don't want to see it. Not much I can do though, other than hope that it gets lost in development hell. A movie based on Magic: The Gathering is still up for grabs...

Cate Blanchett has signed on to play Maid Marian in Universal's upcoming movie Nottingham (Variety). Except that it won't be called "Nottingham"--it's getting a new name, which has yet to be announced. Russell Crowe will star as Robin Hood, and Ridley Scott will direct as well as co-produce with Brian Grazer. The role of Maid Marian was left vacant when Sienna Miller stepped down last year. I think Cate Blanchett is a very classy actress; I hope the movie does her justice.

Warner Bros.' Sherlock Holmes movie, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson, is scheduled for release on Christmas 2009 (Variety). That date will also see the release of Disney's new princess movie The Princess and the Frog as well as Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel (why oh why do such movies have to be made?). WB also announced that its Green Lantern movie will open on December 17, 2010, and they gave the final Harry Potter movie a release date: July 15, 2011. Save the date.

Lastly, I'd like to give a shout-out to the movie Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li which opens on Friday. It's almost certainly going to be awful--all previous movies based on video games have been, and I've seen no evidence to suggest this will break with that perfect trend, particularly since the studio is not screening the movie for critics (generally signifying a vote of no confidence). But I remember playing Street Fighter 2 on my old Sega Genesis way back when, and being a little girl, I of course favored Chun-Li. Okay, I only favored her in spirit; more often I could be found sweeping the playing field with sumo wrestler E. Honda's cheap rapid slap move (or whatever it was called). Anyway, I like Chun-Li, so I can't bash the movie, particularly because it stars two of my hot hapa gals--Kristin Kreuk and Moon Bloodgood. Even if I'm not willing to jump into the ticket line, I wish the movie success.

Batman, Iron Man, Narnia, a starry movie, porn, and more

Happy New Year!

I haven't been posting much lately because of holiday break (I spent Christmas with my family at my parents' house) and because I've been busy writing my Statements of Purpose for my grad school applications. I don't know what my purpose is (do I even have a purpose? Do any of us?), so that makes writing a ~1000 word essay stating my purpose rather difficult. Luckily I have a pretty good sense of the kinds of things admissions committees might like to hear, so I managed to find something to write.

Anyway, here's some interesting recent entertainment news. There's a lot, since it's been a while...

Reports suggest that some key roles in the third Christopher Nolan Batman movie have been filled. Rachel Weisz has reportedly been cast as Catwoman, Eddie Murphy is lined up for The Riddler, and Shia Labeouf is supposedly set for the role of Robin (IMDb). I recall reading at some point that Christian Bale said he would drop out of the series if they ever brought Robin in, but I suppose he could have had a change of heart. This coming movie has a lot to live up to--I imagine it will be nearly impossible for it to match the critical or commercial success of its predecessor The Dark Knight. If it is as good as Batman Begins, though, I will be satisfied. The sequel is slated for release in 2010.

The economic downturn has affected even blockbuster franchises. Disney has dropped the third installment of the Chronicles of Narnia series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, from its slate, leaving co-producers Walden Media to find another studio to co-finance the film (IMDb). The first Narnia movie, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, made around $745 million worldwide, bolstered in large part by churchgoers interested in the story's strong Christian themes and parallels. The second, last year's Prince Caspian, made only $419 million. For most movies, this would be a success, but these films reportedly each cost around $200 million to produce. In the current economic climate, Disney apparently did not want to risk another $200 million if there is a chance they could earn even less than they did on Prince Caspian. I have never read Voyage of the Dawn Treader, so I have no particular reason to worry about this movie specifically, but as a fan of fantasy movies in general, I am concerned if what once seemed a hit franchise is being dropped by a major studio. What will happen to the smaller franchises? Some suggest even Harry Potter is not immune to the recession (The Independent). Hard to believe, but it's enough to make me nervous.

Evan Rachel Wood is trying to convince her Across the Universe co-star to star with her again in the stage musical version of Spider-Man as the Peter Parker to her Mary Jane (IMDb). While I do genuinely like both comic book heroes and Broadway musicals, I've sort of tracking this story mostly as a joke, because, I mean... it's Spider-Man singing and dancing on stage! But Wood insists that Spider-Man: The Musical is not a joke and has assured us that the character will never sing in tights--he will only sing as Peter Parker. Bono and The Edge wrote the songs. And director Julie Taymor of course did amazing things with the stage in The Lion King, so there is promise for some amazing web-slinging theatrics. My apologies; I will withhold my judgment.

As the summer blockbuster that was also a critical darling, The Dark Knight had some early awards buzz, but after many awards groups declined to give it a nomination for best picture, it seemed mostly out of the running for an Oscar nod. Until now. The Producers Guild of America has announced their nominees for best picture of the year, and The Dark Knight is in, along with Frost/Nixon, Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Milk (IMDb). And this is a big deal because the PGA nominees and winner frequently predict the movies that will receive the same honors from the Academy. I'm definitely hoping for a little comic love from the Academy Awards. We'll see how the Oscar nominees turn out on the 22nd.

Head down to your local grocery store and pick up a pair of 3-D glasses to watch... a commercial. Dreamworks Animation is going all out and spending what is probably tens of millions of dollars on a huge promotional campaign for upcoming film Monsters vs. Aliens. A three-minute three-dimensional clip of the movie will be shown during the Super Bowl commercials. 150 million pairs of 3-D glasses will be distributed free of charge at 28,000 locations including grocery, drug, and electronics stores and big-box retailers (IMDb). Not as cool as beaming the movie to Alpha Centauri (see previous post), but a pretty cool (and likely more effective) promotional move nonetheless. I have a couple reasons I am interested in this movie and concerned about its success, one of which you might not think of--I may post on it at some point--so I'm interested to see how this promotional campaign turns out. The best thing about the glasses is that apparently the following night, you can use them to watch a 3-D episode of NBC's Chuck. Hopefully they will have some appropriate effects on that night's episode to warrant the 3-D treatment.

This is the first I've heard about it, but there is an independent 3-D animated film being made in conjunction with NASA called Quantum Quest (Variety). The main character is a photon who lives in the sun. Yes. The movie will fuse Digimax animation with actual space imagery from NASA. It's going to have a star-studded voice cast, with two Captain Kirks (William Shatner and Chris Pine) and two Darth Vaders (James Earl Jones and Hayden Christiansen) signed to lend their voices along with Mark Hamill, Samuel L. Jackson, Amanda Peet, Sandra Oh, Abigail Breslin, and astronaut Neil Armstrong. The film has apparently been in the works since 1996, but they have been waiting for footage from the Cassini/Huygens to arrive. Sweet.

Mickey Rourke is in talks to play the villain in the Iron Man sequel (Variety). I find this mildly interesting because the talk this year has been all about the unlikely comebacks of Mickey Rourke and Robert Downey Jr. (who, in case you are living under a rock, is the star of the new Iron Man movie franchise). I became a fan of the latter after seeing 2005's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and I was introduced to the former in 2005's Sin City, but those were either not big enough hits or big enough roles to count as real comebacks. Anyway, Iron Man 2 may be a face-off between the two comeback kings of 2008. Sam Rockwell is also in talks to play a villain in the movie, which is slated for release in summer 2010.

And lastly, my little gem of the day. Porn moguls Larry Flynt and Joe Francis are asking Congress for a $5 billion bailout for the troubled porn industry (IMDb). Adult DVD sales are apparently down 22 percent from 2007 sales, which Flynt attributes to American citizens being so worried about their finances that they don't have the time to think about sex. Quote: "It's time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America." Yeah, I don't know why Congress didn't get on that sooner. Flynt and Francis say that the porn industry is important to the American economy just as the auto industry is, though I think it may still be a tough sell to get Congress to spend taxpayers' dollars on reviving porn. But I guess the fact that there is a male majority may help. I don't really care what happens to the porn industry, but as a fan of Avenue Q, I can't help but think of a certain important moment in that musical. When it turns out that Trekkie Monster has $10 million to donate to Kate Monster's school for monsters, and everyone in shock asks him how he has so much money when all he seems to do is sit in his apartment and watch porn, he declares, "In volatile market, only stable investment is PORN!" So now I have become deeply concerned about our economy. If even porn needs a bailout, we must be doomed!

Ah, what a start to 2009.

Aliens, Heroes, and Hugh Jackman

A decade from now, we may have an angry mob of aliens at our doorstep. In a stellar publicity stunt, 20th Century Fox is promoting its new re-imagining of alien movie The Day the Earth Stood Still by beaming the movie from a satellite communications network in Cape Canaveral, Florida to Alpha Centauri, our nearest neighbor star system (Variety, IMDb). The question is, will they also send a compendium of movie reviews so the residents of said star system will know not to bother watching it?

If Galaxy Quest and Contact teach us anything, it's that aliens pay attention to the Earth media that makes it out into space. And considering the universally dismal reviews that the new Day the Earth Stood Still is receiving, we can only expect a dismal reception throughout the universe. If the denizens of Alpha Centauri are a warlike race, the offense of having such a horrible movie beamed to them will force them to declare war on us. But even if the Alpha Centaurians are keepers of peace, the movie will prove to them that we humans cannot be trusted to take care of our own culture and they will be forced to intervene... by destroying us. Luckily, it will take over four years for the signal to reach Alpha Centauri, and presuming that Alpha Centauri technology has not developed to the point of faster-than-light travel, it will take another four years or more for their armies to reach the Earth. After that, all bets are off.

Well, that was my favorite bit of recent news. What else has interested me lately?

Spider-Man The Musical continues to sling its way towards the Broadway stage with Julie Taymor at the helm. Evan Rachel Wood, who showed off her singing talent in Taymor's Across the Universe, has officially signed on to play the part of Mary Jane (IMDb). Taymor is still trying to get her other Across the Universe lead, Jim Sturgess, to play Peter Parker. We'll see how that goes.

I have already made it abundantly clear that I am very sad about ABC's cancellation of Pushing Daisies. It is possible, though, that some good may come of it. As distraught as I have been about PD's demise, I have also been distraught (along with countless other fans) over the pathetic decline of Heroes. I have refrained from ranting in this blog each week about my specific gripes with various nonsensical plot developments, but suffice it to say that a show that I once enjoyed and admired has turned into a mishmash of Heroes doing random things for no good reason amidst a world of forced plot devices. Sometimes I feel like they must have new writers each week who have not seen more than two of the previous episodes. Plot twists are great, but they still have to make sense. It's fine not to be able to see a twist coming before it happens, but it's a problem if you still can't see the twist coming after it happens. Hmm, apparently the one sentence did not suffice for my venting, but I'll stop myself there at four. Anyway... Bryan Fuller, who co-executive produced the well-loved first season of Heroes and wrote a couple of its episodes ("Collision" and "Company Man"), has not been working on Heroes for the past two years because he was busy being the creator of Pushing Daisies. Now that PD has been canceled, Fuller has returned to Heroes as a consultant. There are no guarantees that Heroes can or will be saved, but fans at least have a reason not to give up hope (EW Ausiello Files interview).

Lastly, it was announced today that Hugh Jackman will be hosting the Oscars (Variety, IMDb). I hope he will do some singing. He won an Emmy for hosting the Tony Awards the year after he won a Tony for his starring role in Boy from Oz (which I saw--he was great, as was the show), so he has some good qualifications. While not a comedian in the same sense that recent hosts Jon Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Chris Rock, Steve Martin and others are, he knows how to work an audience from a stage, is fun and likable, and he is the World's Sexiest Man Alive. I'm looking forward to the Oscars. Hopefully it will happen. We'll see how the strike thing plays out...

Emmys, Pirates 4, and Spider-Man: The Musical

Well, it's been an interesting week. All sorts of... things... have been happening in the big scary Real World. But what news from the entertainment industry?

The week started off with the 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. You may have read that the show was bad (since judging by the numbers you didn't actually watch it yourself). Well, as someone who managed to watch the first half hour, I can tell you that whatever you read was probably accurate. I never had much respect for the nominated reality show hosts, but Sunday night showed me how right I was to withhold my respect. In any case, the only show I watch that won on Sunday was Pushing Daisies, with the Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series win for Barry Sonnenfeld. Congrats to him. I guess I've also recently picked up watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, now that I've discovered they put the episodes up on Hulu the day after they air (I don't get Comedy Central). All the excitement of current events has given them more good material than they could have ever hoped for, so the shows have been particularly sharp and entertaining recently. Anyway, they each won an Emmy, so congrats to them, too. I'd given up watching the Emmy telecast, though, before the Daily Show got up there. I think I turned it off shortly after poor Josh Groban sang his misguided theme song medley.

Speaking of really dumb shows, I was pleased to see Hole in the Wall ranked number one on Entertainment Weekly's list of The 10 Dumbest TV Shows of 2008. I have to say that I found the initial trailers for this show hilarious. Seeing clip after clip of people looking in wide-eyed terror at the approaching wall, contorting themselves into some awkward position, then being inevitably swept into the water was surprisingly entertaining. Simple minds, simple pleasures, I guess. Watching Ellen DeGeneres do a version of the game on her show with random audience members or--better yet--guests, was also highly amusing (though not quite as funny as Ellen's new game, "Aw, snap!"). But when I saw part of the actual Hole in the Wall show that Fox tucked in after the season premiere of Fringe, I was not amused at all. I think part of the humor in the game on Ellen's show was the fact that these were poor unsuspecting people who were called out of the audience, plunked in front of the moving wall, and forced to make a valiant effort to keep on their feet. And then it was over, whether they succeeded or not. In the montage of the trailer, the contestants had the same appearance. But in the actual show, you realize that these people wanted to be there. They signed up. They thought they'd be good at it. They actually trash-talk the other team. And then they go and make fools of themselves. And then they do it again. All the while, an audience pumped with more excitement than they have a right to cheers on, and the unnecessary two hosts yell into microphones as if they're having fun. You can be sure I won't be tuning into that show again. The concept of the show is funny (and owed to the original Japanese version) and makes for amusing snapshots. But as an actual TV show? Dumb.

Mid-week, Disney announced their plans for a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean installment (see Variety article). I'll be the first to say that Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow is brilliant. And Curse of the Black Pearl was one of the most pleasant surprises in my cinema-going experience (I mean, I'd actually seen the Country Bears movie, sadly, so I wasn't expecting all that much from a movie based on a Disney ride). But I think I'd be a slightly happier person if the sequels had never been made. Maybe a third sequel will redeem the other two, but more likely, it will just be another bad (though lucrative) idea. In other sequel news, it looks like they're planning to make an I Am Legend prequel with Will Smith reprising his role as Robert Neville. A prequel is smart, since a sequel would have had some difficulties (Gotta love how none of the articles about the prequel announcement care about spoilers. When does a movie lose the privilege of spoiler warnings? After it leaves theaters? After it comes out on DVD?). But I wasn't really a fan of the first movie, so I have doubts as to how good a prequel could be.

And lastly, in case you haven't heard yet, Julie Taymor (Across the Universe, The Lion King Broadway show) is making a musical version of Spider-Man which will be released in 2009. I am reminded of a trivia question from one of those series of trivia/quotes/photos/movie moments that loops on the screen in the movie theater before the movie starts and you realize that you're already out of popcorn. I'd like to tell you the question was about Spider-Man, but I think it was actually about The Hulk:
"Was the Hulk originally a 1) TV show 2) Musical or 3) A comic book?"
Well, first of all, duh! And second, Hulk: The Musical?! The idea of it had me laughing out loud in the theater. And now an accomplished Broadway director is making Spider-Man: The Musical. I have to say, I think Spider-Man is significantly better suited to musical form than the Hulk (though is that saying much?). In fact, I saw Spider-Man Rocks in Universal Studios Hollywood, and it was pretty entertaining. But a short show at a theme park venue is a little different from a full length Broadway show. Well, it could turn out to be embarrassing, but hopefully it will be great. Wish I were living close to New York so I could see it.

Now that I've written this post, I've realized most of the stories are pretty negative. That was not my intention. Oh well. I guess that's just the world I've been living in this past week.