Family above all. The Hollywood Reporterrevealed yesterday that Legendary Television and producer Matt Tolmach have acquired the rights to adapt Greg Rucka and Michael Lark's dystopian comic book Lazarus into a television series. First released in October 2013 by Image Comics, Lazarus focuses on a futuristic society where 16 wealthy Families have divided the planet into territories that are under their direct control as a new form of feudalism. Those who provide services for the Families are referred to as Serfs, having been "elevated to Service," while everyone else is Waste, uncared for by those in power, whose only hope for a better future is to be "elevated." Each Family has a Lazarus, a genetically engineered, unkillable being, who protects the Family. Forever Carlyle is a Lazarus, and serves as the central protagonist in the series, using force and deception to keep her Family and their interests safe. However, as the series progresses, Forever begins to question her role as she becomes aware of schemes and personal agendas around her. According to the article, Rucka will write the series pilot episode, and will executive produce the series with Lark and Tolmach. David Manpearl of Matt Tolmach Productions will work alongside Tolmach, known for producing The Amazing Spider-Man franchise at Sony, on the project. Legendary Television currently has two series in preproduction -- Colony, a co-production with Universal Cable Productions, which USA picked up to series, and the two-season order for the Netflix original series, Love. They are also developing Carnival Row, a project from Guillermo del Toro and Rene Echevarria for Amazon.
The truth is officially out there once again. The Hollywood Reporterhas word that Fox has announced the television classic The X-Fileswill return for a six-episode revival. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will reprise their original roles as Fox Mulder and Dr. Dana Scully, with production beginning this summer for a later premiere date. The series, which ran for nine seasons from 1993 to 2002, had two feature films (The X-Files: Fight the Futureand The X-Files: I Want to Believe) and a shortly-lived spinoff series, The Lone Gunmen. Currently, there is an official continuation in The X-Files: Season 10comic book series from IDW Publishing. "I think of it as a 13-year commercial break," said X-Files creator and executive producer Chris Carter, who will also returning. "The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to tell these six stories." "We had the privilege of working with Chris on all nine seasons of The X-Files – one of the most rewarding creative experiences of our careers – and we couldn't be more excited to explore that incredible world with him again," Fox Television Group chairmen and CEOs Gary Newman and Dana Walden said in a statement. "The X-Files was not only a seminal show for both the studio and the network, it was a worldwide phenomenon that shaped pop culture – yet remained a true gem for the legions of fans who embraced it from the beginning. Few shows on television have drawn such dedicated fans as The X-Files, and we're ecstatic to give them the next thrilling chapter of Mulder and Scully they've been waiting for." Duchovny and Anderson expressed being open for a third X-Files film in 2013, but formal talks didn't begin until this past January. Duchovny later commented on the possibility, telling USA Today he expected X-Files would return and that he was "more than happy and excited to bring it back and do it again with Gillian and Chris. ... It will be in some kind of limited form. We're all old, we don't have the energy for a full season," he remarked with a laugh.
In space, no one can hear your sequel being greenlit. Back in January, District 9 and Chappie director Neill Blomkampteased fans with conceptual art for a possible fifth Alienmovie. The project seemed to be little more than wishful thinking that stalled at studio 20th Century Fox...until now. Posting this update yesterday on his official Instagram account, Blomkamp revealed that Alien 5 will be his next movie, which has been confirmed by Variety.
Based on the concept art above, the upcoming sequel was apparently designed with Alien star Sigourney Weaver in mind, as well as Michael Biehn, who played Corporal Dwayne Hicks in the 1986 sequel Aliens. According to Variety, Alien 5 is set years after the upcoming Prometheus sequel, both of which will be produced by Alien director Ridley Scott's production company, Scott Free.
The truth, it seems, is still out there. Entertainment Weekly has word that Fox has confirmed previous rumors that they are in discussions to bring back The X-Files, the much-beloved science fiction/horror television drama starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson that ran on Fox for nine seasons from 1993 to 2002. According to the article, Fox chairman and CEOs Dana Walden and Gary Newman say they have been in talks with series creator Chris Carter about reviving the series. The executives also revealed they hope to have Duchovny and Anderson reprise their roles. "It’s true that we’ve had some conversations on X-Files," said Newman. "We’re hopeful of being able to bring that back at some point."
Walden added, "Gary and I both worked [at 20th Century Fox Television] through the entire run of The X Files. It was a great experience. We’ve maintained good relationships with Chris, David and Gillian. We’re very hopeful, but it’s hard. The actors are very busy. They have a lot going on. Chris has a lot on his plate, so it’s just trying to carve out the time."
Amazon recently passed on Carter’s new post-apocalyptic series project The After, so the writer-producer may have some time on his hands. Duchovny, now 54, has an upcoming NBC event series, Aquarius, while Anderson, now 46, has a recurring role on NBC’s Hannibal. Presumably, both actors would have to be contractually cleared of their commitments to NBC before signing on for an X-Files relaunch.
The last time the idea of bringing back The X-Files was mentioned was back in 2013, when Duchovny and Anderson said they were open to return for a third X-Files feature film during a 20th anniversary panel discussion. Since then, all X-Philes have had to enjoy are reruns of the TV series on Chiller and El Rey Network, along with the excellent The X-Files Season 10comic book series from IDW Publishing.
That's the question Fox may be asking you next fall after giving a pilot production commitment to a new television adaptation of Warren Ellis' DC Comics/WildStorm series Global Frequency. According to Deadline, the show "will chronicle the workings of The Global Frequency, a privately funded crime-fighting operation that uses worldwide crowd-sourcing to solve crimes the police cannot." Jerry Bruckheimer is executive producing the drama series along with Jonathan Littman, KristieAnne Reed, Rockne S. O'Bannon and yes, Ellis himself. O'Bannon, creator of Farscape and Defiance and writer for NBC's Constantine, will script the pilot.
Global Frequency will be the fourth Warner Bros./DC Comics property being developed for next season, after Supergirl, which has a series commitment at CBS, Titans, which is being developed for TNT, and Lucifer, which has a put pilot commitment at Fox.
Created in 2002 by Ellis and twelve different artists, Global Frequency was a twelve-issue science fiction limited series that explored the Global Frequency, an independent and covert intelligence organization headed up by the mysterious Miranda Zero, whose purpose is to keep the world safe from secret government projects unknown to the general public.
This will be the second television pilot based on the property. In 2005, Survivor executive producer Mark Barnett developed a Global Frequency television series with Michelle Forbes as Miranda Zero, Josh Hopkins as Sean Flynn, Jenni Baird as Dr. Katrina Finch and Aimee Garcia as Aleph. The characters of Sean Flynn, an ex-policeman who accidentally stumbled on a Global Frequency mission and Katrina Finch, a brilliant scientist with expertise in multiple fields, were created specifically for the series.
Unlike Ellis' comic book series, which had an ever-changing cast of field agents, Flynn and Finch were to be regulars along with Zero and Aleph, with other Frequency members coming in as and when necessary in supporting roles. This would allow for the character continuity expected of a television series and yet allow other characters to be killed off as in the comic book.
Another script was in development for The CW in 2009, but the project failed to go to pilot.
Deadline reported yesterday that Fox has given a put pilot commitment for a modern reboot of the classic ABC television superhero series The Greatest American Hero. The new version will be overseen by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, writers and directors of The LEGO Movie, who will executive produce the hourlong action comedy along with original creator Stephen J. Cannell's daughter, Tawnia McKiernan.
According to the article, Rodney Rothman will write the pilot, which "will chronicle inner-city teacher Isaac’s adventures after his discovery of a superhero suit that gives him superhuman abilities. Unfortunately for Isaac, he hates wearing the suit and has to learn how to use its powers by trial and error because he quickly misplaces the suit’s instructions. He also has to deal with a government handler who has very different objectives than him and struggles as to whether he should use his newfound gifts to help others or just himself."
The original 1981-83 ABC series ran for three seasons for a total of 44 episodes and starred William Katt as Ralph Hinkley (changed temporarily to "Hanley" following the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan), a Los Angelespublic school teacher of special education high school students, who receives a red suit that gives him superhuman abilities from a group of aliens. Ralph immediately loses its instruction booklet, and has to learn how to use its various superpowers by trial and error, often with comical results. Ralph is assisted by his lawyer girlfriend Pam Davidson (Connie Sellecca) and FBI Agent Bill Maxwell (Robert Culp).
The show's opening theme song, "Believe It or Not" by Joey Scarbury, was popular enough to debut in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 on June 13, 1981 and peaked at #2 two months later, spending a total of 18 weeks in the Top 40.
In 1986, the cast reunited for a pilot movie for NBC called The Greatest American Heroine, which revealed that several years after the final episode, Ralph's secret identity was finally made public, resulting in his becoming a celebrity. This angered the aliens who gave him the suit, and they tasked him with finding a new hero to wear the costume and use its powers for fighting evil. Ralph found a young woman named Holly Hathaway (Mary Ellen Stuart), an elementary school teacher who spends her off-hours time looking for lost kittens, raising environmental awareness, and serving as a foster mother. The rest of the episode deals with her learning how to use the suit with Bill Maxwell's guidance, and the pair trying to develop a working relationship. The pilot was never broadcast by NBC, but re-edited as the final episode of the original series for syndication and home video.
And here's the Season One opening to The Greatest American Hero, featuring Joey Scarbury's classic theme...
Will Universal be able to rebuild Mark Wahlberg's career after Transformers? Better? Stronger? Faster? They have the technology...
The Tracking Board claims that Universal Pictures is still trying to develop a film remake of the classic ABC television series The Six Million Dollar Man, which originally starred Lee Majors. According to the article, Hancock and Battleship director Peter Berg is attached to produce and possibly direct if the project gets the greenlight. Harvey Weinstein is also reportedly attached in some form of producing role.
As for the new Steve Austin, it seems it's none other than former Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch frontman Mark Wahlberg. Wahlberg worked recently with Berg on the 2013 film Lone Survivor and has starred in a number of action films including Max Payne and this summer's Transformers: Age of Extinction. He's currently filming the thriller The Gambler and is expected to return for the sequel to his 2012 success, Ted.
Based on the 1972 Martin Caidin novel Cyborg, The Six Million Dollar Man ran on ABC for five seasons from 1973 to 1978 and spawned the spinoff series The Bionic Womanand a number of TV reunion movies. After astronaut Colonel Steve Austin was severely injured in the crash of an experimental aircraft, he is rebuilt by Dr. Rudy Wells in an operation (costing just six million dollars in 1973) that replaces his left eye, right arm and both legs with bionic implants that increased his strength, speed and vision far above a normal human. Steve agrees to use his new enhanced abilities as a secret agent for the United States agency, O.S.I. (Office of Scientific Intelligence).
The film adaptation has been in the works for a long time, starting with a screenplay that Clerks and Mallrats director Kevin Smith wrote in the mid '90s but eventually reused as the Dynamite Entertainment comic book series The Bionic Man that ran for 26 issues from 2011-13 before being replaced by The Six Million Dollar Man Season 6 in 2014. In 2003, Jim Carrey was attached in a comedic take on the character from writer/director Todd Phillips, which apparently no one wanted to see happen.
A few years later, former co-star Richard Anderson (who played Steve's boss, Oscar Goldman) said he was involved in plans for a remake, but the project became stalled in negotations between Universal and Miramax, which owned the rights to the original novel. Finally, in 2011, Leonardo DiCaprio was announced as being in talks to star in the film, with X-Men: Days of Future Past's Bryan Singer directing, but the project fell through once again.
Of course, Steve Austin will probably need to become The Six Billion Dollar Man these days if the project actually happens. In the meantime, here's the original opening credits to The Six Million Dollar Man, which remain just as cool today as they were forty years ago...
There's a good chance we could cancel the apocalypse again.
According to BuzzFeed, Pacific Rimdirector Guillermo del Toro is working on a script for the 2013 science fiction monster film. During promotion for his new FX series The Strain at the Austin Television Festival, del Toro told BuzzFeed that he and screenwriter Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand, The Incredible Hulk) have begun work on a screenplay for Pacific Rim 2. "I’m working very, very hard with Zak Penn," said del Toro. "We’ve been working for a few months now in secret. We found a way to twist it around. Travis Beacham [co-writer of the first film] was involved in the storyline and now I’m writing with Zak because Travis has become a TV mogul."
The director made a point of saying that Legendary Pictures hasn't given a greenlight for the sequel -- yet -- but he and Penn are working on the project as if it's going to be filmed one day. "I don’t have the money, but I’m proceeding like it is happening," he remarked, adding that he hopes to direct the sequel after producing his next project.
While Pacific Rim only made over $101 million in the United States, the film was huge overseas, bringing in a total of over $411 million worldwide. And with a reported production budget of $190 million, it certainly seems like a good idea for Legendary Pictures to go ahead with the sequel, especially now that more people have seen the first film on HBO and home video.
Legendary Pictures Chief Thomas Tull recently told I Am Rogue that his production company would only make Pacific Rim 2 "if we can crack the story [and] we all think it’s great," and if del Toro is willing to direct it.
Del Toro also revealed that the script currently includes the characters Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) and the story will pick up from the events of the first film. "Some people were wondering if we were going to do the prequel. I was never interested in doing that first wave of invasion," said del Toro said. "I’m going for very new, very crazy ideas on the second one, which are very different from the first one, but you will get really great spectacle."
After a weekend of teasers, the full trailer for Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxyhas finally arrived following a Q&A session on Facebook.
The second trailer to James Gunn's film opens once again with Peter Quill, a.k.a. Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), confronted by Korath the Pursuer (Djimon Hounsou) as he attempts to retrieve an orb from a temple. This time, however, we see more of the battle between the two as Star-Lord dons his facial mask and attempts to flee.
As the song "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum begins playing, we get to see Quill along with the other Guardians of the Galaxy as he begins a voiceover. "So here we are," he begins, "a thief, two thugs, an assassin and a maniac. But we're not going to stand by as evil wipes out the galaxy."
We then see Glenn Close as Nova Prime Irani Rael, the leader of the Nova Corps whose mission is to protect the citizens of Xandar and keep the peace. "Are you telling me the fate of twelve billion people is in the hands of these criminals?" she asks a subordinate.
Various action shots of Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Drax the Destroyer and Gamora follow, with Quill rallying the other Guardians. "I look around and you know what I see? Losers. But life's giving us a chance."
"To do what?" asks Drax.
"Something good...something bad...a bit of both."
Next, we get to hear how Bradley Cooper sounds as the voice of Rocket, who shrugs and says, "Ah, what the hell...I don't got that long a lifespan, anyway."
More fleeting images, including Karen Gillan as Nebula and Benicio del Toro as The Collector, until we see Groot checking out Quill's "Awesome Mix No. 1" cassette tape before being startled by Blue Swede's "Hooked on a Feeling" from the first trailer. And at last, we finally get to hear Vin Diesel uttering the words every Marvel fan has been waiting for..."I am Groot."
Lastly, we see John C. Reilly as Nova Corps officer Rhomann Dey, who tells us in a snarking tone, "This might not be the best idea."
If you'd like to check out the new trailer, you can view it below thanks to JoBlo Movie Trailers on YouTube...
Guardians of the Galaxy arrives in theaters on August 1, 2014.
If you've ever wanted to see an episode of Doctor Who with Terminators, this is probably as close as you're going to get.
Deadline is reporting that former Doctor Who star Matt Smith has been cast in the upcoming Terminator reboot Terminator: Genesis. The article claims this will be "a major role that will grow in the second and third films."
Directed by Alan Taylor, Terminator: Genesis also includes Arnold Schwarzenegger as some form of aging Terminator/T-800, Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor, Zero Dark Thirty's Jason Clarke as John Connor, A Good Day to Die Hard's Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese, and Day Okeniyi as Danny Dyson, the son of Miles Dyson, the inventor of the neural-net processor that leads to the development of Skynet.
Skydance Productions confirmed the news on Twitter today with the following post...
We don't have a TARDIS, but we do have a Time Lord: we're pleased to welcome Matt Smith to the cast of #Terminator.
— Skydance Productions (@Skydance) May 2, 2014
Terminator: Genesis is scheduled for release in theaters on July 1, 2015.
When last we saw John Hurt's The War Doctor in Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor," his old body was wearing a bit thin after saying goodbye to the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors and Clara Oswald. Inside his TARDIS, The War Doctor began regenerating into Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor, completing the continuity gap since Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor, and was presumed never to be developed further as a character.
No more. The War Doctor stands.
Doctor Who TV has revealed that the forgotten eighth and a halfth Doctor is returning in a new BBC Books hardcover novel by George Manntitled Doctor Who: Engines of War.
The news was taken from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine #473, just hitting stores in the U.K., with quotes from Mann about what Whovians can expect. "A new companion! Calculating Time Lords! New Dalek paradigms! It’s a war story, at its heart, set against the backdrop of great turmoil and chaos.
"But it’s also about the Doctor’s personal journey, how he ends up where he is at the beginning of 'The Day of the Doctor.' He’s been through the wringer; and in Engines of War, he’s not given any reprieve."
Doctor Who: Engines of War will be released in the U.K. on July 31, 2014, with a United States release sometime afterward.
If you intend to adapt Frank Miller, you can do anything.
The Hollywood Reporterhas announced that Syfy is developing Frank Miller's six-issue DC Comics series Ronin as a potential miniseries. A search has begun for a writer, with the exact number of episodes yet to be determined.
Released from 1983-84 and written and drawn by Miller, Ronin told the story of a dystopic 21st century New York where a nameless ronin (a masterless samurai) is reincarnated from 13th century feudal Japan and given a second chance to avenge his master, who was assassinated by a demon called Agat.
According to the article, Syfy's miniseries "takes place eight centuries after a Japanese Ronin samurai failed to protect his master from a demon. He awakens in a futuristic, nihilistic New York in the body of Billy, a medical experiment. Now Billy/Ronin is chasing the demon, which has reawakened. Both parties want control of a sword with magical properties and will stop at nothing to get it back."
This news follows on failed attempts to bring Ronin to the big screen since 1998. Noted director Darren Aronfsky signed a deal with New Line Cinema for a film adaptation, but the project stalled. In 2007, Gianni Nunnari, the producer of 300 which was also based on a Frank Miller work, announced that he would produce the film with Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard) as director and Joby Harold and Chad St. John writing the script.
The cyberpunk samurai drama will be produced by Syfy from Warner Horizon Television and DC Entertainment. Ronin is the latest in a line of various movie and television projects adapted from Miller's comic book stories, including 300, 300: Rise of an Empire, Sin City, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, The Wolverine, Elektra, Batman: Year One and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
