A long list of quick hits

There is a lot of coverage on the San Diego Comic Con out there, but much of it is buried in panel reports and drawn out press events. Also the world has not stopped turning just because of the con. There is other cool entertainment news to be had as well. But I just don't have the time to write up posts about everything. So maybe a few quick hits are in order. I mean, theres a lot of cool stuff going on, I wouldn't want to miss it. And with that said here are a few quick stories or links for you.

According to THR, Leonardo DiCaprio and his Apian Way production company are looking to possibly make a series of movies out of old Twilight Zone stories. They've put the call out to writers for pitches.

Some descriptions of the 3 minutes of Tr2n footage that was screened at the con can be read here and here, with more follow up details at AICN. And just a note, the footage was NOT actually from the new movie.

Cartoon Network is developing 3 comic book titles into tv movies. The first is Firebreather, a story about a teenager growing up in a divorced family with a typical worrying mother, and a fire-breathing dragon for a father. The next is The Mice Templar, a book about templar mice, a prophecy, and oh so much more. When I was at Wizard World the creator gave me a full 5 minutes on the book after I guessed that it was probably just like Mouseguard... And the third is The Vanishers, about a fifth grader who travels through time to rescue his friends after they start disappearing from existence.

Bryan Singer is developing a feature based on the comic miniseries Freeedom Formula , a sci fi about a high speed illegal mecha racing circuit and the cost of freedom in a fascist techno-future. Seems reminiscent of IGPX with a bit of Akira.

You can watch the trailer to Afro Samurai: Ressurection at Spike TV right now, or read more about the show here.

You can watch a painfully bad clip with Paris Hilton singing from Repo! The Genetic Opera over at MTV right now.

An honestly pretty cool trailer for Sam Raimi's new family friendly tv show Legend of the Seeker (formerly Wizards First Rule) has landed online. The show is based on Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth book series, and premieres on ABC on Nov 1st, '08.

Kevin Feige said at the SDCC Marvel panel that FOX was waiting the see how well the Wolverine movie does before moving forward on the Silver Surfer solo film.

NBC has posted videos of their Knight Rider and Kings panels on their website. Also catch this new one minute KR trailer.

The will be NO Dinobots in Transformers 2 say the writers.

Care of IGN watch the trailer for the upcoming animated film Resident Evil: Degeneration. No word on a western release date yet.

MTV interviews The Rock on Shazam, and Sam Jackson on Nick Fury.

AICN has a review of what is apparently a terrible script rewrite on Escape From New York by Jonathan Mostow.

IESB has heard that The Rock may appear in the Johnny Quest film, as Race Bannon!

Watch almost 4 minutes of new footage from Star Wars Clone Wars right here on Yahoo!

MTV has a preview up for the upcoming direct to dvd Marvel animated film "Hulk vs Wolverine" and it is killer.

Read Comingsoon.net panel reports and coverage on The Spirit, Watchmen and here, Day The Earth Stood Still, Prince of Persia, The Wolfman,

Read AICN panel reports and coverage on Wolfman, Watchmen, Twilight, Wolverine, Batman: Brave and the Bold and here, and a non-con Star Trek report

Read Latino Review's reports on the Hasbro panel (G.I. Joe), the Fox panel (DTESS, Max Payne, Wolverine), Watchmen, Punisher WZ, The Spirit, Ninja Assassin, Star Wars, and a video interview for Red Sonja,

Read IESB.net's well written reports on Watchmen, Twilight, the Fox panel, the best Wolverine footage breakdown online, and video interviews on Wolverine, Max Payne, and DTESS

And that's about all I can handle for now. That's sure a ton of info, And there'll be even more tomorrow after the Saturday panels get going at Comic Con. It's kinda crazy, but very cool stuff overall. Anything in this list really stand out to you as awesome? In my opinion the Star Wars footage steals the show so far. I'll post it up on its own later this weekend. Until then, I'm off to bed.
-

Quick hitters

Here are a few quick tidbits that really deserve to be mentioned.

The new incarnation of Dune to be directed by Peter Berg looks like it may have found its screenwriter. Josh Zetumer is reportedly in talks to pen the film that's sure to have geeks round the world on the edge of their seats. Zeturner has also worked on the new Bond film Quantum of Solace.

The Prince of Persia film has added some new castmembers, Sir Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina, and Gemma Arterton will now grace our screen alongside Jake Gyllenhaal as the prince with the magical dagger. Kingsley will reportedly play the films villain, the kind of role he seems to love to play, the vile Nizam, who as prince Dastan's uncle tries to steal the throne and lay the blame for his brothers murder squarely on our hero. Molina will play Sheik Amar, a mentor to the prince. And of course Gemma will play the beautiful and exotic princess Tamina.

In a recent interview, Jon Favreau talked a bit about his thought on Iron Man 2. He indicated his concern that he will not be able, even if he is offered, to direct both Iron Man 2 AND The Avengers movie (which he has campaigned for in the past) if only because of Marvels newly announced release timeframe. He also mentions how at this point Marvel seems to be sort of holding its breath to see how The Incredible Hulk does, and after that opens they will make more decisions on the future. As speculated the "Demon in a Bottle" storyline seems the next natural chapter for Iron Man, however he noted that he sees a lot of the same kind of imagery in the trailers for Hancock as the DIAB storyline. Favs also speaks a bit on some of the other interesting aspects of creating a Marvel Universe not just a single film, and why he has concerns about adapting the Mandarin to the big screen. Check out the rest of the interview at ComingSoon.

Sam Raimi has made public his desire to direct another Spider-Man film! Regarding the new script by James Vanderbilt he recently told ComingSoon "I'm hoping it's as great as our discussions were about it and I'm hoping it feels right for me because I love Spider-Man. I'm hoping I'm well rested enough to embrace it and I'm hoping Sony wants me to do it. If all of those things come together, I would love to do it. There are a lot of unknowns about the future." Additionally in a recent interview with IESB, JK Simmons (who played J. Jonah Jameson) mentions that as recently as February he talked with Tobey Maguire and he seemed amenable to coming back for more if the script was right. Although we should remember the current rumor has Sony eying up a back to back, or at least very quick turnaround, on Spidey 4 and 5. As with Iron Man 2, we'll probably have to wait until after Hulk opens for any real news out of Marvel.

Finally since I've mentioned it enough, a few early reviews for The Incredible Hulk have started to come out and they seem to honestly be extremely positive! See reviews here, and here and here. This is just great news if you ask me. I know I'm definitely going to try to be there opening weekend. :)
-

Jake the Prince?

Have we finally found the Prince? Well Latino Review seems to think so. They report that The title role from the upcoming anticipated planned 'tentpole' Disney film Prince of Persia has been offered to none other than Donnie Darko himself, Jake Gyllenhaal. No word on whether he's taking the part or not, and Latino Review specifically mentioned some concerns with Jake having a broken ankle and trying to fill the very physically demanding role, but I think this news is really pretty good. He is a really able actor who can definitely hold his own with action and drama. And while I've got to wonder if maybe Jake's involvement now has something to do with Day After Tomorrow scribe Jeffrey Nachmanoff taking on the script when the film fell into director Mike Newell's hands. I suppose its a moot point. Jake Gyllenhall is great and despite not being even remotely Persian looking I still think he'll make a really excellent, and commercial, Prince Dastan.

As a reminder care of wikipedia the film follows "Dastan, a young prince in 6th century Persia who must join forces with Tamina (Arterton), a feisty and exotic princess, to prevent a villainous nobleman from possessing the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world."

The release date of June 19th, 2009 has already been claimed by the as yet unfilmed movie.
-

PoP update

Almost a year ago I posted about what was at the time the next project on the horizon for "awesome" action director Michael Bay, an adaptation of the very popular and extremely fun video game Prince of Persia. Well back in November, there was a shifting of the sands at the Jerry Bruckheimer camp, and the directors gig fell to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire helmer Mike Newell. Good news if you ask me, of course Bay would've done a tremendous job, but Newell is more than adequate to bring this story to the screen. And now that the strike is over, and the script by Day After Tomorrow scribe Jeffrey Nachmanoff is in, production is really starting to gear up.

The story itself will reportedly not directly follow the plot of the game, although The Sands of Time will be retained as a subtitle. The original screenwriter Jordan Mechner claimed that PoP would be closer in style to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. And undoubtedly Disney and producers would love to have another tentpole action series that rakes in the money like the Pirates films.

Frankly, I think they just might. While a lot will depend on casting, the story (at least in the game) is strong, the visuals are something American film audiences won't have seen much of before, and come on, who seriously doesn't love a rollicking adventure film? The film will be shot in England and Morocco probably beginning sometime this June assuming the SAG doesn't strike. I am definitely looking forward to this one. Considering the pedigree of the games, this should be a really cool film.
-

Prince of Persia movie on the way

So speaking of cool looking films on the horizon, I thought I'd mention the next project looming for uber action director Michael Bay. It looks sure to be a crowd pleaser too, and hot on the heels of this summers highly anticipated Transformers flick, I have to say I'm already getting excited. Because Michael Bay is bringing an adaptation of the Ubisoft period adventure video game Prince of Persia to the big screen. And not only that its Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer, who'se previous collaborations have included the Bad Boys films, Armageddon The Rock, and Pearl Harbor.

The story of the game being adapted, subtitled The Sands of Time, follows a young prince of medevil Persia who has to save his kingdom and the world from the evil Maharaja and his army of zombified followers. To do this he uses the sands of time to slow, stop, and even reverse time, as he runs, fights, and climbs his way to The game is really great. It's one of the few recent games that I enjoyed so much that I actually beat it. And while the game has a lot of fighting involved, I think it qualifies more as an adventure game. There is a large focus on running, jumping, climbing and puzzle solving. In fact it reminds me a fair bit of the Tomb Raider series. And the graphics are beautiful. I'd definitely recommend the game. And even though I haven't played the two or three sequels that have hit the streets I've heard that they are all pretty decent.

Check out these great pieces of pre-production concept artwork.







Disney is looking for a summer '09 release.
Look for more to come on this film in the months ahead.

For a bit of a feel for the game watch this...

-