Sci Fi News summary Tuesday 20th Jan 2009

I Am Legend – Francis Lawrence has been out promoting the new NBC magic-meets-a-modern-medieval-monarchy soap opera Kings and has dropped a few comments relating to I Am Legend. Lawrence directed the 2007 movie starring Will Smith and it looks like he wants to do a prequel. Apparently Will Smith wants in as well. There’s only one question on fans lips: why?

Iron Man leads the 7th Annual VES Awards – Golden Globe’s and Academy Awards mean a lot less to many sci-fi fans than do the VES awards, where some of the unsung heroes of the sci-fi genre get their well deserved recognition – those tireless but talented people who bring imagination to life through visual effects. The 7th Annual VES Awards Ceremony is scheduled for February 21, 2009. Of the nominees Iron Man is the stand-out with five category nominations including best visual effects in a visual effects-driven movie, best single visual effect of the year, outstanding animated character in a live-action movie, outstanding models and miniatures in a feature, and outstanding special effects in a movie. It’s up against some stiff competition though – if you want to see the extensive full list of nominations, head on over to The Visual Effects Society.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans – The new movie in the Underworld series has been released in Bulgaria of all places. Rise of the Lycans will be released this week in cinemas across Egypt, Australia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia, Iceland,
Poland, UK, and the USA. Release dates vary between 21-23rd Jan – refer to your local cinema.

Hulk Vs. Wolverine – Lionsgate have released a new but short clip from Frank Paur’s soon to be released animated film Hulk Vs. Wolverine. Check it out:

You might want to watch the full trailer too:

And this clip is pretty cool too:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – A brief Japanese TV spot has apparently resulted in unofficial screenshots from the new Harry Potter being posted online. If you’re not turned off the movie by nature of the fact that the film is targeting a kids PG rating and is ignoring the evolving darker theme of the book, you might find these screenshots remotely interesting:

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Bob May dies – In more sad news Bob May, the voice of The Robot (and the man in the suit) from the 1960’s television series Lost in Space has died at age 69. Bob May died on Sunday the 18th from heart failure.

Lost Season 5 – It’s about to return to our screens (Wednesday 21st 8/7c), it’s about to delve more into its sci-fi foundation, and Sawyer is about to become the pivotal character. But before all this, here’s a brief clip from the opening episode of the new series ‘Because You Left‘:

Spiderman 4 – The script isn’t written, filming hasn’t started, the official release date is ’somewhere’ during 2011, but apparently actor J.K.Simmons has confirmed he’ll be back to play the role of Daily Bugle editor Jonah Jameson. It’s as unofficial as you get, but according to Simmons director Sam Raimi confirmed it to him at a party. Now if that doesn’t excite you about another Spiderman movie, what possibly could!

Foundation – Roland Emmerich (2012 / 10,000BC / The Day After Tomorrow / The Thirteenth Floor) will direct a live-action feature film for Columbia Pictures based on Isaac Asimov’s popular sci-fi trilogy Foundation. Foundation tells the story of a mathematical genius and heretic named Hari Seldon who predicts the fall of civilization. 1,000 years later a mysterious entity begins to over-run the galaxy in tune with the prediction. Foundation is expected to hit screens in 2011, possibly 2012. Jeff vintar (I, Robot / Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within) is in charge of the screenplay.

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