News Around the Net!
So, WOW — Warner Brothers announced last week that their ENTIRE 2021 slate of films will be released to theaters and, simultaneously, to HBO-Max! Click here for more details. I am floored. As a film fan, I love this. I want to see these movies, and I love that fans will have the option of going to a theater or seeing these films in the comfort (and safety) of their own homes. Take a gander at this trailer to see the exciting films awaiting us in 2021:
Here’s a fun short interview with Peter Jackson, as PR for the recent 4K releases of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies!
WOW: Alfred Molina is reportedly reprising his role as Doc Ock from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 for the upcoming third MCU Spider-Man film! Building on reports that Jamie Foxx would be back as Electro, it looks like this next Spidey movie is embracing the multiverse concept (seen so beautifully in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and uniting the MCU Spidey with the original Toby Maguire/Sam Raimi Spidey universe (from which Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock comes) and the Andrew Garfield Amazing Spider-Man universe (from which Jamie Foxx’s Electro comes). Very cool!!
Rest In Peace Chuck Yeager, who died at the incredible age of 97! Mr. Yeager is, of course, the test pilot who first broke the sound barrier. I was literally just rewatching The Right Stuff (in which Mr. Yeager features significantly) two days ago!!
Sad news that author J.W. Rinzler, author of an array of incredible books describing the behind-the-scenes details of the creation of some of my very favorite movies (such as The Making of The Empire Strike Back, The Making of Alien, The Making of Planet of the Apes, and more) has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Mr. Rinzler’s latest project is a novel called All Up. On Facebook, his wife Genevieve describes the book as “a book about the genesis of the space age. It’s written as fiction, but it’s largely based on true stories, delivered in an exciting read. It’s the “making-of” book for the most outstanding scientific accomplishment of the last century. All Up is the story of how an unlikely web of horrible wars, crazy research, epic failures, fabulous means, and the dreamers—always the dreamers—all came together, over half a century, to allow humanity to break the bondage of gravity and travel beyond our planet.” She encourages fans of Mr. Rinzler to consider purchasing All Up! You can click here to do so.
More sad news: Herbert F. Solow, the head of production at Desilu Studios who oversaw the development of the original Star Trek TV series, has passed away. You can read more about him here. Mr. Solow was one of the key figures in the creation of Star Trek! (And of course Trek fans know his name from his credit over the still image of Balok’s menacing puppet.)
We’ve also lost David Prowse, who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars films. Mr. Prowse was the man under the black costume (while James Earl Jones provided Vader’s voice, and Sebastian Shaw played the scene of the unmasked, dying Vader in Return of the Jedi). Mr. Prowse will be missed.
We’ve also lost Hugh Keays-Byrne, who played Immortan Joe in Mad Max: Fury Road, as well as the Toecutter in the original Mad Max.
Whoof, let’s get back to happier news!
Here’s a fun look back at the animated Batman Beyond show:
I have a lot of love for that somewhat goofy spin-off of the brilliant Batman: The Animated Series! They told some good stories… and the animated Batman Beyond Film, Return of the Joker, is brilliant. (Only watch the unedited version, not the butchered and censored version the studio initially released.)
So… a new Predator film is in the works? Sigh. On the one hand, I’d LOVE to see another great Predator film! On the other hand, I haven’t found ANY of the Predator sequels to be the equal of the original. (I was really excited for the most recent one, written and directed by the great Shane Black! But, sadly, it was a disappointment.) So maybe it’s time to stop trying? Still, the involvement of Dan Trachtenberg (who directed the terrific 10 Cloverfield Lane) gives me hope. We’ll see…
Click here for a great interview with Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) on the experience of playing Bo-Katan for the first time in live-action on The Mandalorian. (How great was it to see Bo-Katan in live-action??!!)
Want more Mandalorian love? Click here for a phenomenal, very in-depth interview with Rosario Dawson and Dave Filoni, all about the process of bringing Ahsoka to live-action life!!
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