Now this is cool news to me. I liked Pitch Black for what it was and The Chronicles of Riddick was an underestimated movie in my opinion. I liked it and I’ve seen it a few times. It actually holds up as a great sci-fi movie, a genre that I love of course. Anyway Vin Diesel has revealed that there are two more Riddick movies planned.

“David Twowy right now is writing the scripts. The only question is whether we take a page from the ‘Lord of the Rings’ guys and try to shoot the two chapters at the same time. There are two more in mind,” he said of Riddick, the Furyan warrior first introduced in the 2000 film “Pitch Black.” “‘The Chronicles of Riddick’ was presented as a three part trilogy that would answer ‘Pitch Black’ in the same way that ‘Lord of the Rings’ answered ‘The Hobbit.’”

Those are lofty goals indeed for a movie that was very poorly received when it opened in 2004, and had a mediocre performance at the domestic box-office (where it made just $57 million). Diesel, though, is undaunted, insisting that the long space between sequels has nothing to do with convincing others to get on board, and everything to do with wanting to get it right. (To be fair, “Riddick” performed well overseas, and also spawned a best-selling video game which many considered to be better than the movie.)

“Everyone knows I love the Riddick character and I’m always working on it,” Diesel asserted. “It just takes five years to make another one because David Twohy and I are so precious about it.”

So where will Riddick go next? After taking the throne of the Necromonger King at the end of the last chapter, is there any doubt?

“Sooner or later we all end up in the Underverse,” he said of where we can expect the next chapter to take place, adding in a Riddick-like voice, “Sooner or later.”

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So what do you think out there? Yeah you! I want to know what you thought of the Riddick movies and also if you want to see more of that character.

Next up for Robert Downey Jr.:  playing the lead (Sherlock) in the next Guy Ritchie movie, set to be released by Warner Bros. in 2010.  It sounds, from reading the article in USA Today, that it will be an action movie with brains.  See for yourself:  Source

Tom Cruise is interesting in a comic book movie called Sleeper and and he and Sam Raimi are looking to adapt the DC Comics/Wildstorm property for the big screen.

Written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips, “Sleeper,” which ran from 2003-05, centers on an operative whose fusion with an alien artifact makes him impervious to pain and allows him to pass it on to others through skin contact. He is placed undercover in a villainous organization by an intelligence agency and falls for a member of the group, named Miss Misery.

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The comic-book, which is a spin-off of WildC.A.T.s would make a pretty cool movie, but not half as cool as WildC.A.T.s would be. Now that would be a movie!

Back when I was a kid in the 1980’s, one of the most amazing shows on television was V. It had something for everyone. Sci-fi action for me and deeper messages regarding oppression, conspiracy, and occupation. The idea was that aliens come to earth and through the guise of helping us, set-up various levels of control. Think George Bush if he was a reptilian. Oh wait…nevermind.

Anyway, the four hour mini-series to V was huge. Everyone saw it. More than 80 million viewers watched that mini-series, and it took a slew of other top spots through the years. Alien Nation (if you remember that one) tried to follow in it’s shoes and didn’t come close. Side note: V is also the first show where I saw Michael Ironside who’s better known as the Colonel from Starship Troopers or the voice of Sam Fisher if you’re a Splinter Cell game player.

So anyway, Kenneth Johnson is the creator of V and he’s trying to bring it to the big screen. Latino Review got a copy of the 145 page script dated September 1, 2007 for V: The Movie and they say it’s great. If you don’t mind total spoilers, then have a look. It’s really not too much different than the original movie and it still can hold up very well. I really hope this gets made.

V: The Movie Script Review

/Film is saying that Mike O’Hearn, American Gladiator Titan, mentioned on an Omaha radio show that he supposedly doing a “sit down” with some people over the role of Conan and possibly Captain America.

He claims that he has a meeting at 11:00am this morning to be the lead in Lionsgate’s upcoming reboot of Conan. Not only that, I heard the audio from the program and “Titan” insists that he has already passed the audition stage.

“Today’s not even an audition. They’re bringing me in today just to sit me down and talk. How about that? It’s even better than an audition

And if he doesn’t take that deal, O’Hearn has a casting session scheduled for Marvel Studios’ big screen adaptation of Captain America.

Source

So what do you think? Yay or nay?

Actress Tara Reid is in the midst of an internet war of petitions regarding a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie. First there was a petition for her to star in the movie that currently has 1300+ signatures.

We feel young hollywood actress Tara Reid deserves a role in the upcoming Platinum Dunes remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street. She is a very talented and intelligent actor, we feel a a major role, in a major film will help revive her acting career. We feel she would be a truly great addition to the cast. Please truly consider her for a part, and check out how many people would love to see her in you’re film.

Now there’s another one that’s been made to try and make sure she’s not in the film.

We feel young hollywood actress Tara Reid DOES NOT deserves a role in the upcoming Platinum Dunes remake of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. After starring in ALONE IN THE DARK back in 2005, we feel that her career has gone south and her presence would not only hurt the quality, but the success of the film - which would hurt the horror genre in the long run. Check out how many people agree with me that she should NOT star in the film, or eve make a cameo…

So as of now, the petition to keep her out of the movie is over 2000 signatures. Have a look here. So what do you think? Should she be in or out?

Interview: Avatar’s Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino (September 2007)

IGN: What can we expect for Avatar’s third season? Will this season be the final installment to the Avatar world?

MIKE: This particular, three season arc will end in an exciting way that wraps up the story of Aang and Zuko. However, Bryan and I have other ideas to expand the Avatar universe, so hopefully the world will live on for a long time.

Source (page 2 scroll down)

Here is another interview done with Michael Dante DiMarino last October:

NRAMA: How does it feel to see this arc reaching its end? Do you feel like you’ve managed to accomplish all you set out to do? If so or not, why?

MD:It’s been five and a half years since we developed Avatar, so I feel a mix of sadness, accomplishment, and relief as we reach the end of this story arc. Bryan and I set out to create a show with tons of heart, humor, action and drama; a show that would appeal to kids and adults and boys and girls; and a show that raised the bar for American animation. There’s always things you would have done differently, but overall, I’m I feel like we’ve accomplished what we set out to do.

NRAMA: What can you possibly say/tell us about Avatar after this three-season arc? Will it have anything to do about the fate of the Airbenders?

MD: I’m not going to say anything. We’re still in the very early stages of development and ideas are very fluid at this point, but we’re still excited about the Avatar world and have other stories we want to tell within it.

Newsarama Note: The original article stated that there were three more seasons of of Avatar coming. According to Nickelodeon, that is not the case as of this time. We regret the error.

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This seems to suggest that there will be no Book 4.  However, it does appear that other stories will be told in the same universe, including the live action trilogy (this also assumes no book 4), and some animated movies.  

Check out this post, which suggests there will indeed be a Season 4, but again different story line:

Talks are reportedly underway to extend the show beyond just three seasons, which was the original plan by the creators. However, if there is a fourth season, it will likely follow a different storyline other than the Fire Lord and Fire Nation trying to take over the world, as both Nick executives and the co-creators have said season three will be when Aang faces the Fire Lord.”

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The release date is currently set by Paramount Pictures for 07-02-10.

The Last Airbender Trilogy will be written, directed, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan. 

The first movie will be based on Book 1. 

There was a dispute over the word “Avatar”.  James Cameron has been working on a movie titled “Avatar” for some time, and so this series will not use that name in the title. 

Filming will begin in Philadelphia in May 2009. They will also be shooting in Greenland.
   

Source

The above link has a full synopsis of the Airbender story. 

Here is another Airbender Rumor:

Will There Be A Book 4? 

No. The creators confirmed that at San Diego Comic Con in July, 2007. Other stories will be told in the Avatar world and there are the upcoming live-action movies, but the animated series ends with Book 3: Fire. Nickelodeon has announced that there will be “(t)hree original 60-minute animated Avatar movies,” in addition to the live-action, feature-length film trilogy by M. Night Shyamalan.

Source – I know there are a lot of people worried about the above paragraph.  I will do some more research.  Hopefully this information is in error. 

Here are links to the bios of the co-creators of Avatar:

 Michael Dante DiMartino and  Bryan Konietzko 

Before watching the movie, you may want to catch up on old episodes.  You can watch a bunch (all of them, I think) of full episodes at Nickelodeon.com.

Watch Full Avatar The Last Airbender Episodes Here for FREE!

Or, just go buy them on Amazon.  That way you can watch it on your big screen TV:

Just when Marvel seems to be at the top of their game for movies with the huge success of Iron Man, they go and get rather stupid. I guess they’re thinking they might be able to get some other director in there cheap. Iron Man has already raked in over $535 million in worldwide box office receipts, they haven’t secured director Jon Favreau for the sequel Iron Man 2.

This last Friday I was contacted by another source at Marvel and this one, let’s just say, is much higher up on the food chain, and told me that the chairman of Marvel Studios David Maisel who has been in charge of negotiating new terms with Favreau is being cheap and not willing to pay a fair directors’ fee.

Favreau was a bargain to begin with, he is after all a fairly new director even though he has had several commercially successful films under his belt when he was brought aboard Iron Man for a steal.

Don’t know exact numbers but I am sure that it wasn’t a Michael Bay/Brett Ratner/Bryan Singer paycheck. He had to prove himself after all and looking at what the box office and DVD sales are going to bring in, around $750-800 million, I’d say he did his job well, very well.

So according to our source at Marvel, Jon was expecting a moderate bump in his fee for the sequel but apparently Marvel has other plans.

Our source continues that Maisel believes Iron Man 2 will be a success regardless of Favreau’s involvement and feels the studio does not need to pay Jon a higher fee for his services.

Source

All I can say is that Marvel is crazy on this one. Totally crazy.

So as of this moment, Cowboys & Aliens is a movie that’s been in development for over 10-years will now be produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. The other big news is that Robert Downey Jr. is in negotiations to play the starring tole. The DreamWorks/Universal movie is looking to be out by 2010 and that could really screw up the whole Iron Man 2 plans.

“Cowboys & Aliens” derives from a graphic novel written by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley from an original idea by Rosenberg. The story centers on an Old West battle between the Apache and Western settlers, including a former Union Army gunslinger named Zeke Jackson (Downey), that is interrupted by a spaceship crashing into the prairie near Silver City, Ariz.

The story draws a parallel between the American imperialist drive to conquer the “savage” Indians with its advanced technology and the aliens’ assault on Earthlings, who must join together to survive the invaders’ attack.

Source

It really sounds like a wild west version of Roswell and honestly I think it could be fantastic.