Ghost Rider for the Game Boy Advanced was, pretty obviously, released to coincide with the Hollywood adaption of the long running comic book. But it is not an adaptation of the movie - fans of the comic who were dismayed at the budget treatment given to the big screen debut of old skull head (and indeed the higher profile video games on PS2 and its bedfellows) will be heartened to learn that for the GBA the developers kept the original comics very much in mind.

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Posted in Reviews, Sci-Tech & Video Games •

Principal photography on Sweeney Todd has begun in London. Tim Burton’s film - starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen and Christopher Lee - is an adaptation of the award winning musical-thriller by Steven Sondheim. Warner Bros. sent out the following press release:

The DreamWorks Pictures and Warner Bros. co-production presents Depp as Sweeney Todd, a man unjustly sent to prison, who vows revenge not only for that cruel punishment but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter. When he returns to reopen his barber shop, he becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who “shaved the heads of gentleman who never thereafter were heard from again.”

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Posted in Movies •

J. Michael Straczynski (JMS), the creator of the most complex sci-fi show ever broadcast on television - Babylon 5 - revealed at the New York Comic Con that he is currently writing a script adaptation of the Max Brooks novel World War Z, reports IGN. JMS is developing it for Paramount Pictures and Brad Pitt, who may star in the film.

Brooks’ very political novel consists of an assortment of recollections from survivors of a decade-long war against zombies. JMS acknowledged that he will need to do a lot of modifying in order to make World War Z work as a film. He said: ‘What you have to do is… the book, if you haven’t read it, is a wonderful, wonderful book in an interview format after the zombie wars. You see how we survived. It’s very political, very smart, very cagey, but there’s no main character. So you have to create who the interviewer is and give him some background and bring him from place to place to place to place. And they said, ‘Feel free to get as political as you want, as incisive as you want, to play with it. You could look at this as a Katrina kind of catastrophe.’ But I’m being very faithful to the book, letter by letter when I can, and I’m on about page 70 right now and I’m really happy with it.’

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Following the teaser poster which was unveiled yesterday, 20th Century Fox has now also released the first TV spot promoting Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. It runs for thirty seconds, features new footage from the film and can be viewed on YouTube.

Marvel’s first family of superheroes, The Fantastic Four, meets their greatest challenge yet in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer as the enigmatic, intergalactic herald, The Silver Surfer, comes to Earth to prepare it for destruction. As the Silver Surfer races around the globe wreaking havoc, Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben must unravel the mystery of the Silver Surfer and confront the surprising return of their mortal enemy, Dr. Doom, before all hope is lost.

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Sony Pictures has announced that they will reveal exclusive footage from Spiderman 3 during the new episode of NBC’s hit series Heroes on March 5th. The clip will be viewable in high-definition on NBC.com shortly after it airs on television.

Sam Raimi’s third Spiderman film is released in cinemas May 4th. The movie’s plot revolves around a strange black entity from another world that bonds with Peter Parker and causes inner turmoil as he contends with new villains, temptations, and revenge.

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Posted in Movies, Spider-Man, Television •

Dimension Films has acquired the rights for a remake of David Cronenberg’s horror film Scanners (1981), reports Variety.

The film distribution company has hired Saw II and III director Darren Lynn Bousman to direct the new film, with Blade and Batman Begins screenwriter David Goyer set to pen the script. The plot of the original revolved around a scientist infiltrating an underground movement of people with lethal telepathic abilities. Principal photography on the remake is scheduled to begin in early 2008, with Dimension aiming for a release later that year.

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Posted in Movies •

J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek XI now has a release date. Paramount announced that the film, written by Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci, will debut in theaters on Christmas Day 2008.

The ten previous Star Trek films have grossed over $1 billion worldwide. The new installment will relaunch the franchise and focus on a young Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. Abrams is scheduled to start lensing the film this fall. He is producing Star Trek XI together with his Lost co-creator Damon Lindeloff.

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Posted in Movies, Star Trek •

IGN claims to have heard from reliable studio sources which actors are the frontrunners for the leading roles of Captain Kirk, Mister Spock and Dr. McCoy in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming franchise reboot Star Trek XI.

The scoop confirms that Paramount is talking to Matt Damon for the role of Captain Kirk. It further claims that Adrien Brody is in talks for Spock, and Gary Sinise for McCoy. While these three are said to be the closest to being signed, IGN’s sources are also saying that Lost’s Daniel Dae Kim is being looked at for the role of Lt. Sulu, and James McAvoy (Mr. Tumnus in Narnia) for the role of chief engineer Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott.

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Posted in Movies, Star Trek •

20th Century Fox today released the first official teaser poster for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, released in cinemas June 15.

The teaser poster features the exact same image (but mirrored) of the Silver Surfer character (played by Doug Jones) that recently made it onto the cover of Empire Magazine. Empire had claimed the CGI shot was exclusively designed for them by WETA, but maybe the truth is that the mag simply received got the first look rights. Anyhow, the new poster is held in a silver hue and sports the word ‘RISE’ in the top left corner. You can view it here in our movie gallery.

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Posted in Movies •

According to Variety this morning, scribe William Monahan has stalled his work on the sequels to The Departed for now. Instead, his next assignment will be a screenplay based on an idea by Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. Scorsese will produce The Long Play, the title of the rock ‘n’ roll epic, together with Jagger’s Jagged Films. The project is also considered a potential directing vehicle for the Oscar winning director.

The article states that ‘The Long Play follows two friends through 40 years in the music business, from the early days of R&B to contemporary hip-hop’. When Scorsese sparked to Jagger’s idea, they brought in Rolling Stone magazine writer Rich Cohen to do some extensive research and write a first draft. Matthew Weiss wrote new drafts based on what Cohen had done, but when the project moved on from Disney (as it didn’t fit in their ‘family-friendly’ mould) to Paramount, Monahan was brought on board to pen a script for Scorsese to direct.

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