Sony Picks Up New "Terminator" Films

From darkhorizons, Sony Pictures has acquired international distribution rights to "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins" says the trades.

Warner Bros. Pictures is handling North American rights for the film, whilst Sony will roll it out in all other territories aside from Korea and some of the Middle-East.

McG will helm the film, the first in a new "Terminator" trilogy that stars Christian Bale as John Connor.

Production is scheduled to begin in the spring in New Mexico for a worldwide release mid-2009.

Newest Indy poster is pretty lame

I would't touch that idol, Indy, it looks like some bad stuff might happen!

NBC Planning "Robinson Crusoe" Series

From darkhorizons, Several centuries before the likes of Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Sayid and so on there was another famous castaway stranded on a remote island.

Now, NBC is cashing in on the "Survivor"/"Lost" phenomenon by ordering 13 episodes of "Robinson Crusoe," a drama series based on Daniel Defoe's classic novel.

The 17th century setting of the book will remain intact but will have a contemporary feel and deal with such issues as race relations. Crusoe and loyal servant Friday will still deal with marauding militias, hungry cannibals, wild cats, starvation and apocalyptic lightning storms.

New elements however will include additional characters and Crusoe's MacGyver-esque ability to make tools out of everyday objects. Australia is being eyed as a shooting location, and either an Australian or British actor is being sought for the title role.

If no actor's strike takes place this Summer, a Fall airdate is being targeted. If one does happen, a mid-season start is likely.

[JPX sez, the above pic is from Robinson Crusoe in Mars]

Statham revs up 'Transporter 3'

From variety, Jason Statham will reprise his role as mercenary driver/delivery man Frank in "Transporter 3," the next installment in EuropaCorp's shoot-'em-up franchise.
He will reteam with co-star Francois Berleand, while Robert Knepper ("Prison Break") has joined the cast.

However, Louis Leterrier, who helmed the first two pics, has been replaced by Olivier Megaton ("Exit," "The Red Siren"), who was second-unit director on EuropaCorp's "Hitman."

Pic, which will be produced by EuropaCorp principal Luc Besson and Steve Chasman, will shoot for 16 weeks in Russia and France.

The first two films in the series, which kicked off in 2002, were written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen.

With worldwide box office returns of more than $130 million for the franchise, "Transporter 3" continues EuropaCorp's move into films with broader international potential.

Two sequels to "Arthur and the Invisibles," which took in more than $225 million in international box office and DVD sales, are in the pipeline. The first, "Arthur and the Vengeance of Malthazard" is skedded for a September 2009 release in Gaul.

Is Sulu in the new Trek film? No comment.

From AICN, George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu on the original “Star Trek” and now serves as announcer on Sirius’ Howard Stern radio show, recently had lunch with J.J. Abrams, Takei tells Sirius' Howard 100 News.

Asked if he would be in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming “Star Trek” feature with Leonard Nimoy, Takei would only issue a “no comment.”

Is Abrams to reunite members of the original cast? William Shatner has admitted he and Abrams met on the “Boston Legal” set shortly before Abrams’ involvement in the “Star Trek” franchise was announced – but both Abrams and Shatner continue to deny that Shatner will be in the movie, which reportedly deals with time travel and hits cinemas in 2009.

When asked why he won’t be in Abrams’ movie, Shatner (who turns 77 in less than a month) likes to point out that his character, Jim Kirk, died in the seventh “Star Trek” feature.

Shatner has co-written a slew of novels for Simon & Shuster that deal with a resurrected Kirk subsequent to the events of “Star Trek: Generations.”

Further Adventures

Whew! Well, it's a few days later and I'm just coming down off the buzz that was Wondercon. Seriously, if you dig something, you owe it to yourself to go hang out sometime in a huge room of people who dig that thing too. I imagine it's the same at gun shows. "You like guns!" "I love guns!" "Me too!"

The gorgeous poster above was something I had to pass up; it was 500 smackers in a frame and 300 without. I absolutely love it. Star Wars meets Art Nouveau -- I've been geeking out on the Martian Tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs recently, and this poster perfectly captures the gushingly romantic fantasy vibe of the early 20th century from which those books spring. Mmm. I don't even have the wall space to put it on.

And here we see the mighty haul, decked out nice on I'mnotMarc's dining room table. Right in the center is the first acquisition made by any of us: a big glossy pic of the terrifying Zuni Warrior doll that I'mnotMarc got for me as part of an ongoing joke. If you want in on it, read this and then this. Next to the glossy is my Pac-Man wrist band, which I'mnotMarc got as a unifying wardrobe detail for the group (because only half of us sported Horrorthon t-shirts).

And speaking of t-shirts, here's one of the two I got at the Firefly/Serenity booth. It's not from the show itself; it was designed by the leader of the SF chapter of the Browncoats, which is what Firefly fans call themselves. As a fan group, the Browncoats are small and fierce, like a wolverine or a pissed-off weasel. They were totally friendly to me, though. The Chinese characters say "brown coat." You can also see the Kubrick Death Star Droid in the upper left corner. I forgot to take a better picture of him.

Fruity Oaty Bar! This image comes straight from the movie Serenity, in which a TV commercial for this product features indirectly in the plot. On the back is a picture of a cartoon octopus and the words "Not Mandatory!"

Not extremely recognizable here is Aquaman, wearing some kind of healing armor. Finally he looks cool.

These two doodads were my first purchase; I'm pretty sure they're both masks from Hellboy action figures I have no interest in owning.

The couple hawking the masks also had this charming box of projectiles to dig though, but I've got all the projectiles I need.

More Pac-Man goodies, a Boba Fett figure based on his appearance in original concept artwork, and a jawa + droid two-pack featuring the goofiest droid ever to grace the Star Wars universe.

In the never-ending quest to maintain my collection of astromech droids (R2-D2 type droids, that is), I picked up the charmingly pink R2-KT and the concept versions of the world's most famous robot pair. Julie called the concept R2 "the PC version."

The best surprise of the con was how many Lego Star Wars figs were kicking around. I've never seen anything like it. Amusingly enough, the Bespin Guard is one of my faves. What's funny about that is that the latecomer "Black Bespin" action figure is considered* the lamest old-school SW figure ever. Not because he's black, but because they'd already made a white guy Bespin Guard and it seemed foolish.

And a couple customized guns that fit in Lego guys' hands. Bweeyooo!! Bweeyooo!!

*To me and JPX

Okay DCD, how's this one?

Happy Birthday, Landshark!

Actually, his birthday was Sunday, but I was busy goofing around in Berkeley and I'm just getting around to it. "We'll probably get around to it" might be a good slogan for Horrorthon.

Anyway, happy birthday my brudda! I hope you partied right. Or hung out at home with the wife and kids, it all rocks. Now everybody pretend his birthday's today and go from there. Horrorthon!

Belgium Star Wars Con

All of the most skeletal slimy underground freakish geeks from the area resurfaced for the opening weekend of this convention. My boyfriend and I being two of them!! The best parts were probably seeing fellow Belgians being paid to dress up and act like Star Wars characters and children of under 6 who had no probable understanding of anything star wars touting darth vader helmets and light sabers. Also, there was one part where the children could participate with Jedis. The Jedis had to speak French and Dutch intermingeled to a huge audience, and clearly they were not up to the task. It was like watching 10th graders play acting a scene of romeo and juliette on two days rehearsal in English and Spanish intermingeled to bunch of 7 year olds. Below are some pretty cool snapshots of the Concon: The bf obviously impressing some bad guy with his smooth moves.

From there it was clear where the relationship was going next.

Even Darth Vader, being the supportive guy that he is, cheered them on in their galactic love.

Though somewhat distraught by the surprising turn of events, I made do with one of those gummy bear characters

But the orange dude, I believe, will forever be waiting for that elevator

Finally:

Nobody watched the Oscars

NEW YORK (AP) - The Oscars are a ratings dud. Nielsen Media Research says preliminary ratings for the 80th annual Academy Awards telecast are 14 percent lower than the least-watched ceremony ever.

Nielsen said Monday that overnight ratings are also 21 percent lower than last year, when "The Departed" was named best picture.

The least-watched Oscars ceremony ever was in 2003, when there were 33 million viewers.

Nielsen has no estimate yet on how many people watched Sunday night, but based on ratings from the nation's biggest markets, the Oscars will be hard-pressed to avoid an ignominious record.

The show had a 21.9 rating and 33 share.

Lindsay returns to acting

From worstpreviews, Just days after appearing nude in a magazine, Lindsay Lohan has announced that she is going back to acting. According to her, she will next star alongside Jack Black in "Ye Olde Times," a comedy tentatively set to start filming this April. [via E! News]

A source at Patriot Pictures revealed that the film follows two rival Renaissance Faire troupes as they make their way through the competitive circuit. It's unclear whether Lohan will be one of Black's repertory players or a member of the competition.

Lohan's mother, Dina, also let slip that Lindsay was currently in talks to star in one other big-screen project, though she did not reveal any details.