Sci Fi News for the weekend 17-18 January 2009
I’ve been avoiding the news so as not to spoil Battlestar Galactica’s return, and hence the delay in posting this latest news summary. But that’s all done now so here we go with the weekend’s sci fi news summary:
Stargate Universe – The cast list keeps growing. It isn’t finalized yet as two cast members remain unannounced. Those that have been announced are Justin Louis, David Blue, Brian J. Smith and Jamil Walker. Looks like, at least to begin with, it’s an all human team.
If you want to learn about which characters these actors will play, and who are the remaining two characters yet to be cast, head on over a read ‘The Characters of Stargate Universe‘ article at Gateworld.
Terminator: Salvation – It seems not a day goes by without news on this 2009 blockbuster. The latest news is that Kyle Reese will be in the new Terminator movie and will be played by actor Anton Yelchin. Remember Kyle Reese in 1984’s Terminator was played brilliantly by Michael Biehn – Yelchin has some mega-metal destroying shoes to fill. I’m thinking he’s not a bad pick though – he certainly looks pretty good in the preview for Star Trek XI (yes, he’s the guy playing young Chekov). Once again SCI FI Wire have the exclusive interview (is there anyone these boys and girls don’t get to play with!). Read it here.
Watchmen - Good news. Well kind of – good for fans at least, not so good for Warner Bros. Fox and Warner have shaken hands and fans can rest easy knowing that Watchmen will be released on schedule on March 6. An official announcement is expected shortly, but the court hearings have now been canceled so it’s as good as official without the official announcement. Bad news is Warner caved in and will hand over cash to Fox. How much? It seems about $10M or so up-front followed by a cut of between 5 and 8.5% of the worldwide gross. Yep, that could turn out to be tens of millions. Sucks for Warner Bros. Good for Fox who had absolutely nothing to do with the making of the film. Go figure. Some salt to the fan’s wounds is the latest sickening announcement that both studios are looking forward to the film’s release. Bah. Since when were Fox looking forward to it…they were trying to delay it! Puke anyone? Perhaps the most interesting news is that many fans are calling for a boycott on Fox movies. Not sure what such an action would achieve, corporations are corporations after all. Still, points to the fans for morality.
Kings – The Executive Producer of NBC’s Heroes and from I am Legend are about to unleash a new modern day fantasy series that follows the mythical story of a hero who rises to become the King of his nation – and it’ll have magic! Kings is based on the biblical story of King David and will include characters with magical powers battling it out in a modern world – cool! NBC have high hopes for Kings because they’ve been promoting it heavily and have shifted its time slot to the popular Sunday 8pm hour. Season 1 consists of eleven episodes – it will commence with a two-hour pilot starting March 15. Watch the very short and non-illuminating trailer below:
Battlestar Galactica - The final eleven episodes of the series have started and oh what a start. I won’t say anything here (no spoilers will ever be given in these news summaries), but if you want to know what’s going on, why, and what lies in store for the series relative to events of the recent episode Sometimes a Great Notion, then you’ll want to go read this excellent and extensive article at the Chicago Tribune. Don’t go there if you haven’t seen the episode Sometimes a Great Notion !!! Go there if you have and be prepared for spoilers one way or the other. There’s some mega spoilers about whats happening in the future of Battlestar Galactica revealed in this extremely detailed article. 10 points to the author Maureen Ryan!
X-Men Origins: Wolverine – There’s buzz going around that the Wolverine live-action film starring Hugh Jackman is in trouble. Some news sites are painting the picture that it’s in ’serious trouble’. All of it comes down to the need to do some additional filming. Hugh Jackman has stated the rumors mean nothing, claiming that the film merely had to wait to shoot a few scenes due to cast scheduling conflicts.
Jackman states, “Please rest assured that WOLVERINE will be badass and hopefully meet all of your expectations.’
Whilst its fun to sensationalise possible filming problems, it would seem that’s all it is – rumor based sensationalism. There appears to be no need to worry and the odds are Wolverine is going to be ‘bad ass’ as Jackman has said. Read Jackman’s full response here at Filmonic.
January 19th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Can’t wait for Kings on NBC. Ian McShane is a great actor.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Completely agree Mike, Ian McShane was a big reason why I found myself glued to the screen in Deadwood. Kings looks very promising.