Just read this myspace bulletin, was about to look for the hobbit thread, dunno if any of this has been posted in here mind
he following was posted on
www.scifi.com/scifiwire earlier today -
Jackson To Produce The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has settled his differences with New Line Cinema and will executive-produce a two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, the studio announced.
New Line and MGM signed a deal to co-finance and co-distribute The Hobbit and a sequel to the film. New Line will handle distribution in North America, and MGM will distribute internationally, the two studios said. It's unclear whether Jackson will helm the films.
New Line added that it and Jackson have settled all litigation over Jackson's profit participation in the $3 billion-grossing Rings trilogy, without giving details. The settlement apparently brings to an end the acrimonious split between Jackson and New Line.
Jackson and Fran Walsh will executive-produce the films, to be shot simultaneously, and New Line will manage their production.
Preproduction will begin soon, and principal photography is tentatively set for 2009. The release of the first film is slated for 2010 and the sequel in 2011.
Jackson, MGM chairman and chief executive Harry Sloan and New Line co-chairman and co-chief executives Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne jointly made the announcement on Dec. 18.
Other headlines from scifiwire -
Writer Reveals Trek Details
Roberto Orci, co-writer of director J.J. Abram's highly anticipated Star Trek movie, told SCI FI Wire that the tightly guarded story for the upcoming franchise reboot depends heavily on the appearance of original series star Leonard Nimoy.
Orci (Transformers) added that the movie will explore Trek history that hasn't been mined before and confirmed that the story will take place before the events of the original series.
"There were many, many elements of the story that we had talked about just theoretically if ever Star Trek were to come back," Orci said in an interview in November. "There was lots of stuff we wanted to do, and that was a blessing. Normally you don't have that much investment and research for a project you get hired to do. If you are a fan of [classic] Star Trek, there is a lot of unexplored history. With the original series, there was so much that could have come before it. It felt like it has been The Next Generation and The Next, Next Generation for so long, it seemed like a fresh thing to go back to the source and to go back to what happened before it."
The crux of the screenplay involves the appearance of Nimoy in his iconic role as Spock. "I think a lot of people were speculating that we must have had multiple ideas [for the script]," Orci said. "The truth is that we took a gigantic gamble in terms of the movie we wanted to do, and it was essential that we had Nimoy. Frankly, I didn't understand any other way to do it. We didn't have a Plan B. I think that would have shown that we didn't have a true, singular vision of what we wanted to do, so it was essential for us to get Nimoy. It was a gigantic gamble, and I can't even believe that J.J. supported that kind of a gamble, but I think he understood it was the way to do it and a way to get the blessing for Star Trek, to show there is continuity for the spirit of what it was before. So when Nimoy said yes, not only as a fan was it was a relief, if that didn't work, I don't know where we would be!"
Orci, who previously tackled a beloved franchise with Transformers (which he co-wrote with partner Alex Kurtzman), said that adapting Trek was even harder because of the dedicated fan base watching every move.
"The dangers are that now you are opening up yourself to the fact that the fans know what you know about the characters," Orci said. "They have their own ideas about what should be done and what is right for the franchise. So the goal with this movie is twofold. One is to make sure that the fans--who have been the stewards of the continuity and who are some of the most savvy and intelligent fans of any franchise ever--that they be satisfied with anything that has the name Star Trek on it. But, more importantly, the goal is really to introduce casual fans and people who don't know Star Trek at all to this universe and to connect it to today. ... The goal of Star Trek ... is that if you don't like sci-fi or know Star Trek, this will bring you into the world." Star Trek opens on Christmas Day 2008.
Clarke Turns 90, Releases Video
Legendary SF author Arthur C. Clarke, who turned 90 on Dec. 16, released a video on YouTube.com with his birthday wishes, which included a call from an extra-terrestrial, that man kick his oil habit and for peace in his adoptive Sri Lanka, the Reuters news service reported.
In the nine-minute video, Clarke added that he would like to be remembered foremost as a writer and predicted that commercial space travel will one day be commonplace.
"If I may be allowed just three wishes, ... I would like to see some evidence of extraterrestrial life," Clarke said. "I've always believed that we're not alone in the universe, but we're still waiting for E.T. to call us or give us some kind of sign."
Clarke added: "Secondly, I would like to see us kick our current addiction to oil and adopt clean energy sources. Climate change has now added a new sense of urgency. ... We can't allow coal and oil to slowly bake our planet."
Lastly, Clarke wished for peace in Sri Lanka, where he has lived for the past 50 years.
Clarke has written more than 80 books, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as 500 short stories and articles. Clarke is also credited with the original idea of using orbiting satellites for communications and once predicted that humans would reach the moon by the year 2000.
Freeman's Rama Close To Reality?
Morgan Freeman told SCI FI Wire that his long-held dream of producing and starring in a big-screen adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's SF novel Rendezvous With Rama is closer than ever to becoming a reality.
"That is going to happen," Freeman said in an interview while promoting his latest film, The Bucket List. "Thank heaven, that is going to happen. We're looking for that to start in the next year."
Rendezvous with Rama, which was published in 1972, follows a group of human explorers who intercept and try to unlock the secrets of an alien spaceship that has approached Earth. Freeman would play the commander of the Endeavor, the deep-space maintenance ship used to rendezvous with the alien craft.
"The story itself is the idea that we can be visited from outer space," Freeman said. "The idea that we're the only living intelligent creatures is ... you can't really believe that. Well, you can, but if you think about it for a while, what if there are other intelligent creatures--and I firmly believe there are--what does that tell us? We're going to imagine that they're going to have to look something like us, and if they don't look like us what does that tell us about God?"
Freeman has had Rendezvous With Rama on his radar for nearly a decade, but this is the closest it's been to happening. It's listed not only as "announced" on the Internet Movie Database, but it's also on the Web site of Freeman's production company, Revelations Entertainment, which classifies it as "in development."
"We have been in close contact with Arthur C. Clarke," Freeman said. "As a matter of fact, I went to Sri Lanka just to have a sit-down with him. I'm very excited about this. When the people at [NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory] learned that we had this project we got calls from them. 'Any help you need, any help at all. ... '"
Freeman added: "So we've been trying to develop a script. It's a very large project. You have got to develop the script, and you have got to design spaceships. And because Arthur C. Clarke wrote it, and because it's so much real science involved, we can't take too many liberties."
