a byte of sci fi

Sebastian Stan (Kings) may not have made it to the Captain America role for the upcoming big screen adaptation of the character (that went to Chris Evans), but he will get to play second fiddle to the shield wielding Cap.  He he has officially landed the role of the captain’s side-kick Bucky.  Apparently, though, this will not be playing the teen version from the original comic . . . Anna Friel of Pushing Daisies is currently in talks to co-star with Bradley Cooper (Alias) in the film Dark Fields.  The movie follows a writer who comes by a drug that increases intelligence but which also has deadly side-effects.  Neil Burger (The Illusionist) will direct the film and Robert De Niro and Abbie Cornish are on board as well . . . Sylvain White, who has directed the upcoming big screen take on The Losers comic book series, has expressed interest in helming the live action version of Robotech.  Toby Maguire (Spider-Man) is producing the project and it is still in the earliest stages of production.  Meanwhile, the movie reboot of another 80’s Americanized Anime series, Voltron, appears to have slipped into “development hell” with no script (the previous one was jettisoned), no director, and no cast.

Word broke yesterday that Joss Whedon is in the lead for consideration as the director for the upcoming Avengers movie.  Several sources confirmed that this is no April Fools joke and the creator of such beloved shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly is currently in talks to take the director’s chair on the upcoming movie set to start filming in 2011 or 2012.  Whedon has written or co-written several motion picture screen plays including the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, Toy Story and Titan A.E..  He directed Firefly’s jump to the big screen, Serenity, and was signed to write and direct the Wonder Woman movie, but that never came about . . . Sam Worthington, who’s Clash of the Titans hits theaters today, continues to stay busy with big screen projects.  He has confirmed in a conversation with MTV that he will star in the upcoming Dan Dare movie, based on the British Buck Rogers-style comic strip.  He will also be working on another big screen adaption of a comic, The Last Days of American Crime.

Rumors are floating around that two sequels to Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day could be in the works and that the first of these could be his next project after Anonymous (about the “real” William Shakespeare) he is currently committed to.  In addition, word is that Will Smith will be on board for both of these movies which would shoot back-to-back.  None of this is official at this point, but stay tuned for further developments . . . Middle Earth’s return to the big screen may be further off than previously indicated as rumors fly that Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro’s Hobbit will get pushed.  Apparently the production has run into the wall of MGM’s financial problems.  Previously the movie had a target release date of late 2011/early 2012, but now that could get stretched further . . . With the 3-D frenzy sweeping the theaters lately, word is that all of the Harry Potter films could get a re-release with the extra dimension.  The upcoming film Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows will hit the theaters in 3-D and franchise producer David Heyman has said its possible that the earlier movies could reappear in that format.

Screenwriter J.D. Shapiro recently accepted in person the Razzie for Worst Movie of the Decade for Battlefield: Earth.  This apparently prompted him to write a piece for the New York Post apologizing for the screenplay which he started but eventually got fired from (and which he refers to as the  “Suckiest Movie Ever”).  He claims that he initially got involved in the project because he heard that the Celebrity Center (Scientology central in L.A. in the 90’s) was a good place to meet women.  This eventually led to him working with the Church of Scientology on adapting L. Ron Hubbard’s book, though the final script varied significantly from his first draft allegedly following the direction of notes that Hubbard himself had written for a potential movie version.  Shapiro resisted the changes from his original script and was eventually released from the project, though he did share a co-writing credit on the movie . . .  Legendary Pictures has bought the rights to Godzilla and will work with Warner Bros. on a new movie version for major release.  The two companies previously collaborated on the two most recent Batman movies, Superman Returns, and the Clash of the Titans remake which opens this weekend . . . The final word is out and Bryan Singer will not direct the next movie in the X-Men franchise.  Despite rumors that he would return to helm the prequel film X-Men: First Class, he has decided to join the project as a producer only because he will be busy directing the 3-D animated movie Jack the Giant Killer . . . The infamous actor/director Orson Welles may have died in 1985, but expect to hear his bellowing voice on the big screen once again.  Apparently, before he passed away Welles did a voice recording of a children’s Christmas novel and this will be incorporated into a 3-D animated movie based on the tale.  The story is fantasy tale about how Santa’s dog saves Christmas and first appeared in the self-published book Christmas Tails by Robert X. Leed . . . The sequel to last year’s surprise hit Paranormal Activity continues to move forward and the project now has a director attached to it.  The relatively unknown Kip Williams will take the director’s chair after several bigger names like Brian De Palma and Brad Anderson were floated around.

Work progresses on the sequel to Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog, but it appears that the followup will not be available online like the original.  According to Neil Patrick Harris who plays the title character, they are targeting a big-screen release for Dr. Horrible 2.  He has no additional information on the project but the best news is that this franchise will definitely continue . . . After a long search that has paraded any of a number of names as the possible next Captain America (including The Office’s John Krasinski!) a decision has finally been reached.  Chris Evans, who has superhero experience on his resume as the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four film, will don the cowl and wield the shield.  He has signed on to play the character in both the Captain America and Avengers movies along with an unspecified third movie as the Cap.  Now what happens if they decided to do a Fantastic Four / Captain America team up movie? . . . If you remember the quasi-documentary The Legend of the Boggy Creek from the 70’s, you may be interested in knowing a remake of sorts is on the way.  The new producers will dispense with the documentary element, though, and do a straight monster-flick with the beast of the bog terrorizing a group of kids who encroach on its territory.  You can see the trailer at this link.

James Cameron’s Avatar may still be pulling in the big bucks in the theaters (with a possible re-release planned for this summer), but it will already be hitting the DVD shelves in just over a month.  The 2-D DVD and Blu-ray Disc versions will be released on April 22nd (no word yet on a possible 3-D DVD version) . . . Gareth Edwards’ film Monsters which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival has been bought for release in the U.S. and Mexico.  The movie about about aliens who have infected a quarantined area in Mexico was shot using American actors along with locals from that country . . . Universal Pictures has greenlighted a prequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing with Marc Abraham and Eric Newman producing.  That duo also brought us the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead . . . Genre mainstay Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Ghost Busters) has signed on to play a vampire queen in the upcoming romantic horror-comedy Vamps from Amy Heckerling (Clueless, Look Who’s Talking).