He joins director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy on the unnamed project.
Continue readingSteven Knight To Write New STAR WARS Feature
Ray Harryhausen 2023 Awards Announced
The 2023 edition of the Ray Harryhausen Awards has been unveiled, complete with a new logo by designer Lars Seiffert.
Categories for the awards are as follows:
Best Feature Film Animation
Best Short Film Animation
Best Student Film Animation
Best Children’s Film Animation
Harryhausen Hall of Fame Award
The deadline for submissions is April 30th, 2023. Head over to www.harryhausenawards.com for more information on submitting your film.
The awards were established by The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation to honour the legendary stop-motion master and to recognise the talent that still exists. The Foundation is a charitable trust set up to protect Ray’s name and work, archiving, preserving, and restoring his extensive collection.
The awards will be held at the Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh on June 29th, 2023, followed by a 60th-anniversary screening of Ray’s classic film Jason and the Argonauts.
Tenth Edition of WARHAMMER 40,000 Announced
A new edition of Warhammer 40,000 will be available this summer. The news was announced at Adepticon, Chicago, USA as part of that massive Warhammer 40,000 convention.
The game has been streamlined so the rules of the game will fit on a single page, with the data sheets for each unit fitting on a single card. All the army rules and data sheets will be available for free online, which is a new thing for Warhammer but pretty much standard for wargames in general. Rules for building a playable army have also been simplified.
The new edition will still produce Codexes (books that focus on the rules for one faction) and, over time, replace the free rules, though the main appeal of these books has always been the hobby advice and world-building.
The game designers state that the game will keep its tactical depth without the overly-complicated rules that have slowed down previous editions.
The tenth edition is set during a conflict called the Fourth Tyrannic War, and the box set will feature Terminator Space Marines (that’s genetically enhanced dudes in massive armoured suits) and Tyranids (space-faring insect/dinosaur monsters). Models for both Tyranid Termagants and Terminators will be in the Tenth Edition starter set.
Warhammer 40,000 has been around since 1987, starting life as a book called Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, with fairly complicated and anarchic rules that detailed a sort of ‘generic fantasy world, but in space’ setting that drew from pretty much every single popular science fiction thing out there at the time. Over the last thirty-six years, the game has evolved into a unique and highly marketable franchise.
Fan reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, despite it being only being three years since the Ninth edition was launched. Teaser information for the box did lead some to believe that a new edition of the classic strategy game Space Hulk would be announced; alas, this is not the case, and the game is still out of print.
Also announced at Adepticon was the game Kill Team: Gallow Fall, which will see The Leagues of Votann (Space Dwarves) fight chainsaw-wielding Beastmen in a beautifully detailed collapsing space-ship. The Horus Heresy game will get a new campaign book, and a forthcoming Arks of Omen campaign book will be about Lion El’Johnson, one of the demi-god-like ‘heroes’ of the Warhammer 40,000 setting. A model for Mr El’Johnson has also been announced. Fantasy fans can look forward to Warhammer Underworlds; Wyrdhollow, described as weird wizards vs neurotic knights in a carnivorous forest. Sigmar fans can also expect more models for Human, Undead and Dinosaur-inspired armies.
More information on all of this can be found on the Warhammer Community site.
It’s Morphin’ Time! Watch The Trailer For POWER RANGERS’ Anniversary Special
The gang’s back together!
Continue readingFirst Look at Mega Shark Flick THE BLACK DEMON
Following on from the trailer drop for the mockbuster Cocaine Shark, another Selachimorpha picture is swimming our way later this year. The Black Demon is directed by Adrian Grünberg (Rambo: Last Blood) from a script by Boise Esquerra (Blackwater) and stars Josh Lucas (The Forever Purge), Fernanda Urrejola (Cry Macho) and Julio Cesar Cedillo (Sicario).
The official synopsis is:
When oilman Paul Sturges (Lucas) takes his family to Bahia Negra, the crown jewel of Baja and the site of Paul’s best performing rig, the vibrant Mexican coastal town he once knew has mysteriously crumbled. In the decrepit ghost town, the last inhabitants tell Paul the offshore platform has awoken ‘El Demonio.’ Scared to be left alone, the family follows Paul out to the platform and just after they get on, the man and boat that risked bringing them is ferociously attacked by a massive black shark. This shark is unlike any other creature; a shark of legend, known as the Black Demon. It has laid claim to the local waters aggressively protecting Mother Nature against human threats. It kills everything and repeatedly charges the oilrig itself, threatening to destroy it. Paul and his family are stranded with the few men who have survived and now discover explosive charges have been set on the legs of the platform. Under constant attack by the giant monster and with the time literally ticking away, Paul must find a way to get his family back to shore alive.
Check out the trailer below…
Signature Entertainment presents The Black Demon on digital platforms June 19th and DVD June 26th
DUNE Writer To Pen Netflix’s GEARS OF WAR
It’s an exciting development for the long-gestating film adaptation.
Continue readingRashida Jones & Kate McKinnon To Star In Sci-Fi IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE
Rashida Jones will star alongside Kate McKinnon in sci-fi drama In the Blink of An Eye, a Searchlight Pictures production from Oscar-winning director Andrew Stanton.
Stanton is best known for his animated classics Finding Nemo and WALL-E. In the Blink of An Eye, on the other hand, will be a live-action story and sets out to explore no less than the entire history of the world.
Spaceman scribe Colby Day wrote the script, which focuses on three intersecting storylines spanning thousands of years and tackling the nature of life, love, hope and connection. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia have been mentioned as touchstones.
Rashida Jones’ character is an anthropology professor who is taking care of her dying mother. No word yet on who McKinnon may be playing.
McKinnon is best known for her expansive SNL run and for starring in the all-women reboot of Ghostbusters. The comedian and actress will next be seen in Greta Gerwig’s highly-anticipated Barbie. Jones, meanwhile, is likely best recognised for her work on sit-coms like Parks and Recreation and The Office, though she’s also worked behind the camera on high-profile projects like Toy Story 4 and Black Mirror.
There’s no information yet on when In the Blink of An Eye might release, but production on the film begins next week in Vancouver.
LORD OF THE RINGS Musical Coming To Berkshire
The Watermill Theatre in Berkshire, England, will host a musical adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy story, The Lord of The Rings, from July 25th until October 15th, 2023. It will be a semi-immersive, open-air production, taking full advantage of the area’s gorgeous gardens and the historic Watermill Theatre itself.
Located near the River Lambourn, the musical will feature tunes created by A.R. Rahman (Bombay Dreams, Slumdog Millionaire), Värttinä and Tony Award-winner and Grammy-nominated Christopher Nightingale (Matilda the Musical), with set design from Simon Kenny, who’s critically acclaimed work includes the ‘Pie Shop’ production of Sweeney Todd and Hope Mill’s The Wiz. It will be directed by Paul Hart. Or, to put it another way, there’s a lot of exciting talent involved in putting this singing Hobbit show together.
The show’s venue, The Watermill Theatre, recently had its funding cut by Arts Council England and stated at the time that it was facing a “significant challenge” in maintaining its current operation. The Berkshire-based site is not too far away from Oxford (especially by tourist bus). Oxford currently has an active ‘Tolkien Tour’ tourist trade, and it’s very likely that savvy Middle-earth fans will add a quick visit to Berkshire onto their itinerary.
The Lord of The Rings Musical premiered in Toronto, Canada, at the Princess of Wales Theatre in 2006, before a re-written version of the show travelled to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. The show struggled to find an audience then, despite having very well-reviewed songs and being described as the “definitive megamusical”. This new production sounds like it plans to mix the joys of Middle-earth with stunning songs and set design.
The musical has the blessing of the Tolkien family, and tickets can be obtained here.
DOOM’S DAY Comes To DOCTOR WHO
BBC Studios have announced a brand-new multiplatform story called Doom’s Day as part of the Doctor Who 60th-anniversary celebrations.
The titular Doom will caper across space and time in what sounds like a blatant excuse to cover the greatest hits of all things Doctor Who. The multimedia caper will bring together various Doctor Who branded media, including Big Finish and BBC Audio, Titan Comics, Penguin Random House, East Side Games, and Doctor Who Magazine, in what appears to be a cross-branding exercise reminiscent of 1996’s Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. (Fans with long memories will recall that led to many more spin-offs.)
Each piece of media will concentrate on an hour of Doom’s time, as she zaps across time and space and has a very bad 24 hours. The standalone stories will also have an overarching narrative that will play out before the finale, which will release on Doctor Who digital channels.
Doom herself will be performed by the amazing stand-up comedian Sooz Kempner, who is well known for her frantic stand-up, musical skill, and versatility.
STAR TREK Legend Comes To Forbidden Planet London
Star Trek Actor George Takei will be signing copies of his autobiographical graphic novel, They Called Us Enemy at the Forbidden Planet Megastore London on Sunday, March 26th, 2023 from 1:00pm – 2:00pm.
The book is an award-winning graphic memoir that revisits Takei’s childhood; he was one of over 100,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II. It will be the only book he is signing.
George is best known to Starburst readers for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the original series of Star Trek. However, he’s appeared in everything from Scooby Doo to Entourage, with a career spanning almost seventy years.
At the age of 85, George is still very active in the industry, although signing events like this are rare due to logistical reasons.
The signing will be limited to 100 people, and to gain entry to the event, attendees will need to obtain a wristband, available on a first-come-first-served basis. More information can be found here.
