Sunday, February 19, 2012

UFO movie news round-up (19 Feb. 2012)

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

Altered Carbon

Mythology Entertainment has acquired feature rights to Richard Morgan's sci-fi novel Altered Carbon, according to Variety.

Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar) will adapt the novel in collaboration with David Goodman (The Event). The book is described as follows:

“Four hundred years from now mankind is strung out across a region of interstellar space inherited from an ancient civilization discovered on Mars. The colonies are linked together by the occasional sublight colony ship voyages and hyperspatial data-casting. Human consciousness is digitally freighted between the stars and downloaded into bodies as a matter of course.

But some things never change. So when ex-envoy, now-convict Takeshi Kovacs has his consciousness and skills downloaded into the body of a nicotine-addicted ex-thug and presented with a catch-22 offer, he really shouldnt be surprised. Contracted by a billionaire to discover who murdered his last body, Kovacs is drawn into a terrifying conspiracy that stretches across known space and to the very top of society.”


Darkover
 

The planet Darkover and its moons
ComingSoon.net reports that producers Ilene Kahn Power and Elizabeth Stanley have secured the rights to Marion Zimmer Bradley's acclaimed Darkover novels and are currently developing a “multi-platform television series” around the saga.

According to Stanley, "Bradley's Darkover novels and short stories chronicle the development of a remarkable civilization – technology poor but rich in its ability to harness the psi powers of the human brain (such as telepathy and telekinesis)."

In the novels, Darkover is the only habitable of seven planets orbiting a fictional red giant star called Cottman. When humans arrive on the ancient planet they find it is already home to a variety of sentient life forms. Among these are the Chieri – a race of tall, six-fingered, long-haired, telepathic beings with life-spans of tens of thousands of years.

Transformers 4
 

Transformers producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura has told MTV that Paramount has secured Michael Bay to direct at least one more film for the franchise.

Di Bonaventura also revealed that the new film is to be a reboot, following a completely new set of human characters – an assertion seemingly supported by Transformers star Josh Duhamel, who told E! Online, "I don't think anybody's doing it. I know Shia [LaBoeuf]'s not doing it. I don't think Tyrese or Rosie [Huntington-Whiteley] or anybody else is doing it,” adding, “I haven't heard anything about it. They haven't called me." 

Transformers 4 is set for release on June 27, 2014.

Oblivion

The graphic novel Oblivion is being adapted for the big screen

Deadline
reports that Morgan Freeman has joined cast of Oblivion (which until now has gone by the title of Horizons). He'll be joining Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough and Olga Kurylenko in the Universal pictures release.

Based on the graphic novel of the same name, Oblivion is about “a man [Cruise] who lives in the clouds above Earth and heads to its surface to repair drones that essentially keep the planet safe from an alien race that has all but wiped out humanity.

Michael Arndt is currently rewriting a script by William Monahan and Karl Gajdusek. The movie is scheduled for a July 19, 2013 release.
 


John Carter sequel

Though it has not even been released yet, Disney's $300 million Mars-based adventure John Carter may already be spawning a sequel. Speaking with ComingSoon.net, John Carter producer Jim Morris, revealed that the movie’s director Andrew Stanton and his co-writer Michael Chabon are already in discussions to plan and write a sequel, which would tentatively be called John Carter: The Gods of Mars, based on the second of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series of novels.

Whether or not Disney will green-light the sequel, though, is entirely dependent on the success of the first movie, which hits cinemas March 9.

On the subject of John Carter, here’s a new video promo for the movie, followed by new clip...





The Europa Report

The marketing campaign for upcoming sci-fi movie The Europa Report – in which astronauts seek out life on Jupiter’s frigid moon of Europa – has gone viral.  

Check out the website for faux aerospace corporation Europa Ventures, where you’ll find a ‘live’ video feed showing astronauts onboard the spacecraft Europa 1. The site’s intro text reads:

“For decades, scientists have theorized the existence of liquid water oceans on Jupiter's moon, Europa. We've recently discovered new, captivating evidence that these sub-surface oceans do exist and could support life.

We've sent six astronauts from space programs throughout the world on a three year journey to Europa to explore its oceans and confirm these findings.

We're proud to be at the forefront of the effort to prove the existence of extra-terrestrial life within our solar system, within our lifetimes.”

No comments:

Post a Comment