The Week In Geek: Star Wars Underworld, DC’s New 52 Round 2, Dragon Tattoo Sequels & More
Star Wars Live Action Series Gets A Title, But Don’t Hold Your Breath To See It Anytime Soon
The Star Wars live action television series has been talked about and rumored about ever since it was announced by George Lucas around the time that Revenge of the Sith was released in 2005. Well, almost seven years later there is STILL no show anywhere on the air, but we now know two things now—the working title, Star Wars: Underworld, and the fact that this show is still several years away from even beginning production. The reasons? Money, plain and simple.
When Entertainment Weekly asked if the series was still three to four years away, Lucasfilm producer Rick McCallum (while doing the rounds promoting Lucasfilm’s Red Tails movie) said “probably even longer.Because I think we don’t have the technology yet to be able to do it for the level of money that it would have to be done. Plus, the world of television is imploding. No one knows whether you should make a network show or a cable show. I’m really excited about it though, and I hope George does do it. I really do.” Over fifty scripts for the series have already been written, and are sitting on a shelf waiting for the cost of effects to go down.
As to just what the premise of the show will be about, McCallum confirmed years of online rumors by admitting it was about the rise of the intergalactic crime world at the same time the Empire begins to take control of the galaxy, in the twenty odd years between Episodes III and IV. As Entertainment Weekly so keenly pointed out this week, a number of last minute cancellations for Expanded Universe (comics, games, novels) projects have made many fans raise their eyebrows about just who and what will be involved with the series. For example, George Lucas ordered that popular Jedi rogue character Quinlan Vos survive the Star Wars: Republic comics series; author A.C. Crispin’s proposed young Princess Leia novel series was canceled abruptly, as was a young Boba Fett novel. Could all three characters factor into the series in someway? It seems so, as Lucas is saving these characters’ stories for something, and they’d all fit into the timeline this show is set in. Jedi Quinlan Vos has long been rumored to be saved by Lucas for something bigger, he even gets a name drop in Revenge of the Sith. Will he be a Jedi hiding from the Empire among the scum and villainy that is fighting the newborn regime? That alone makes for an awesome premise for a show.
My personal opinion is that this series will debut in 2017, the 40th Anniversary of the original Star Wars. By that time, The Clone Wars animated series should be long done, and all the original films will have been released in 3D. Also by that time the cost of doing a Star Wars series should have gone down considerably. Let’s see if ol’ George is even around by then to produce a Star Wars series.
DC Comics’ New 52 Wave 2 Announced For May
Well, one of things I said I was looking forward to the most for 2012 in my year end list has been announced already, and we’re only two weeks into the new year! In a press release this week, DC announced the first six titles of Wave 2 of the New 52, and there were some shoe-ins as well as some surprises to be found.
Starting in May, we’ll get the return of Batman Incorporated, written by returning Bat writer Grant Morrison, with art by Chris Burnham. This will begin the conclusion of Morrison’s Batman epic he started back in 2007 when he started on the old Batman book. Then we have Earth-2, written by James Robinson with art by the fabulous Nicola Scott. The official logline for this one is “The greatest heroes on a parallel Earth, the Justice Society combats threats that will set them on a collision course with other worlds.” The second Earth-2 related title is World’s Finest, written by former DC President Paul Levitz, with art by George Perez and Kevin Maguire. The description for this one is as follows- “Stranded on our world from a parallel reality, Huntress and Power Girl struggle to find their way back to Earth 2.” Dial H will be The first ongoing series from acclaimed novelist China Miéville, and will be a new spin on the classic Dial H for Hero comics from the 60’s that featured one teenager turning into a different super hero every time he dialed the words H-E-R-O on his magic dial thingy. Then there’s G.I. Combat, from former Green Arrow writer J.T. Krul and artist Ariel Olivetti, and finally The Ravagers, from 90’s Spider-Man Writer Howard Mackie and artist Ian Churchill. Spinning off from Teen Titans and Superboy, this series will be about four superpowered teens on the run and fighting against the organization that wants to turn them into villains. The six new series will replace Blackhawks, Hawk and Dove, Men of War, Mister Terrific , O.M.A.C. and Static Shock, all of which will conclude with their eighth issues in April.The cancellation of these titles is no real shock as they were among the lowest selling of the New 52. (Although I’d be surprised to see GI Combat do significantly better than Men of War for example) Also sad is that two of the books with African American leads are getting the ax…but sadly, sales were just not there for those books. At least DC tried.
Most surprising and pleasing (for me anyway) is the announcement of the new World’s Finest series featuring Power Girl and Huntress; I always liked the original version of the Huntress, who was Helena Wayne the daughter of the Earth-2 Batman and Catwoman. She was ret-conned out of existence in the 1985 mini series Crisis on Infinite Earths and replaced with Helena Bertinelli, the vigilante daughter of a mob boss. Nothing against the Bertinelli version of Huntress, but there is something just conceptually cooler about the bad ass offspring of Batman and Catwoman to me. And of course the return of Grant Morrison on Batman and James Robinson to the JSA is enough to make me do the fanboy squeal.
Sony Moving Forward On Dragon Tattoo Sequels
Despite supposedly “underperforming” this past Christmas, at least according to some pundits, Sony is still going forward with plans to finish off Steig Larson’s Millenium Trilogy, of which The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was merely the first book. The other two books in the trilogy, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest were already made into films in the author’s native Sweden.
Dragon Tattoo is poised to make north of $100 million dollars at the domestic box office, which is really, really good for an R-rated adult drama with very dark themes and controversial subject matter. I find it hard to believe Sony thought this movie was going to bring in $200 million like it was a family style blockbuster. The age of Fatal Attraction and Silence of the Lambs, adult R rated fare that made blockbuster style money, are long over. More adults than ever choose to wait for cable or Netflix instead of seeing movies with annoying teenagers texting on their phones in the theater. The fact that Dragon Tattoo made as much as it has is a small achievement really.
Now what Sony has to do is find a way to make these movies more cheaply; Dragon Tattoo cost a reported $90 million, an absurd amount for a movie that has no special effects and is (more or less) a small intimate thriller. David Fincher is well known for his astronomical budgets; his brilliant movie Zodiac for example cost a fairly outrageous $65 million a few years back, for what was also just a crime thriller. If Sony gets almost anyone else to direct the next two films, they’ll almost certainly be made for a lot less than what Fincher would have delivered them for. David Fincher is said to already be moving on to making 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for Disney, where he can spend like crazy. But at least there it makes sense.
Universal Studios Turns 100, Restores Classics
This year, Universal Studios turns a century old, and to celebrate they announced this week they are meticulously restoring thirteen of their most classic films for preservation, and in most cases, for upcoming Blu ray releases as well. The thirteen titles chosen from the Universal library for restoration are All Quiet on the Western Front, Dracula (both English and Spanish versions) Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, Buck Privates, The Birds, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Sting, Jaws, Schindler’s List, Out of Africa, and Pillow Talk. In addition, Universal unveiled their new logo for the 100th Anniversary this week as well.
As a film geek/Blu-ray enthusiast I’m thrilled beyond belief that at least one studio out there is really putting an effort into restoring their libraries of classic films for public consumption. The early 1930’s Universal Monster films have needed heavy restoration for decades, and the thought of a Universal Monsters Blu ray box set coming for Halloween makes me wish it was October already. Also so relieved to finally own some of the long awaited Spielberg classics in High-def as well, as it looks like I’ll be replacing my old standard definition DVD’s of Jaws and E.T. sooner rather than later. Hopefully Raiders of the Lost Ark won’t be far behind, as Paramount Studios also turns 100 this year, and is expecting to be making their own announcements regarding their vast library of films soon, including the Indiana Jones movies.
A Bit of Random TV News Bites
And lastly, two new potential television projects were announced this week that should be of interest to geek viewers, should they ever see the light of day that is. The first one is DC Comics’ Green Arrow for the CW network; Green Arrow of course is no stranger to that particular network, as the character (played by Justin Hartley) was a regular on Smallville for the last several seasons. It seems this version won’t be a spin off of Smallville however, instead the producers are opting to start the concept from scratch.
The series is being put together by Green Lantern movie co-writers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim and Fringe and Vampire Diaries alum Andrew Kreisberg, who also wrote the recent Green Arrow/Black Canary comic book series. Although the names behind Green Lantern movie should give you pause, having read Berlanti and Guggenheim’s original draft of Green Lantern, I don’t put the blame on those guys. One source said the show would focus on “Team Arrow”—does that mean we’ll see Black Canary and Aresenal on the show? Time will tell.
Also announced to possibly become a series is a serialized take on none other than Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Deadline reports that the NBC network is teaming up with producers Tony Krantz and Colin Callender for a Dracula series set for both the U.S. and international market. The project has a “script-to-series” commitment, which means that it won’t go through a pilot stage but straight to series if the NBC suits like the script. Dracula will be set in the 1890s, it is described as “Dangerous Liaisons meets The Tudors— a big, sweeping international soap opera that is young, sexy and supernatural” Personally, I have a hard time seeing this flying on NBC; genre shows just don’t succeed on any of the big four networks almost ever. But then again, NBC owns Sy-Fy Channel, so maybe the show will end up there? Who knows, hopefully this is more than just chasing after the Twilight/True Blood/Vampire Diaries audience, but that is probably all it is. All I know is I desperately want a tv series on cable based on Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and instead I’m getting Dracula..again. I guess that’s the power of being a public domain property.
