Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a newsreader!

What can we say? There were no new genre films being released to theaters this week, and Steve and Larry had schedules that prevented them from syncing up for a planned discussion of TWILIGHT ZONE episodes (we’ll try to do that at some other point).

So, instead, Dan sat down with his trusty microphone and a stack o’ news, and brings you up-to-date on what happened in genre in the past week and what’s coming to theaters and home video in the coming week.

Everything will be back to normal next week (relatively speaking). Until then, click on the player, and enjoy!

Carmen Electra is about to lose a breast implant in this scene from the R-rated SCARY MOVIE.

This time out, the Cinefantastique Round Table Podcast – the podcast of horror, fantasy, and science fiction films – devotes itself to two in-depth conversations. The first focuses on the subject of the MPAA ratings system and how it impacts horror movies, with their depictions of graphic violence. The second, inspired by the new book, Conversations with Michael Cricthon, takes a look at the best selling author’s contribution to the science fiction genre in literature on on film. CFQ editor Steve Biodrowski (whose interview with Crichton regarding JURASSIC PARK is in the book) is joined by San Francisco correspondent Lawrence French and New York correspondent Dan Persons.

Also this week: Farewell to James Arness; James Cameron on the AVATAR sequels (not a trilogy); Pierce Brosnan in Stephen King’s BAG OF BONES; and Ron Howard on THE DARK TOWER.

THE TERMINATOR, Asian Poster

Major Hollywood agency CAA is shopping a film “package” that includes  Schwarzenegger and currently hot director Justin Lin (FAST FIVE) to studios. 

The article claims that Universal, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate are very interested in the project, though no script has yet been devised.  

There may be some degree of urgency to the TERMINATOR franchise; in 2018 North American rights to the characters will technically revert to original writer/director James Cameron (and presumably producer/co-writer Gale Anne Hurd).

According to

Frustrated with delays from Universal on greenlighting the big budget version of the H.P. Lovecraft novel-inspired movie, Del Toro may move on to Legendary Pictures PACIFIC RIM, a giant monster feature written by Travis Beacham (CLASH OF THE TITANS).

Despite James Cameron’s interest in producing the film, and Tom Cruise’s tentative agreement to star, Universal has been understandably hestiant to commit to a $150 Million dollar, R-rated Lovecraftian sci-fi/horror/adventure film. They’ve apparently been trying to get the movie scaled back in terms of budget and probable audience rating.

(This must be due to the script, as there is nothing in the original material that would call for an R-rating. Lovecraft was a fairly bloodless writer. His horrors were mainly disturbing conceptually, rather than viscerally.)

According to the article, if  Guillermo del Toro doesn’t hear back from Universal by the end of today, he will go with Legendary Pictures, and try to go back to MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS after completing PACIFIC RIM — possibly at another studio.

UPDATED: Guillermo del Toro’s next film project will be PACIFIC RIM.  At Deadline , he indicated he’d like to return to the Lovecraft project, down the road. He said:

“Frankly, I think we’ve come so close with Mountains that to me it’s an indicator of the great possibility we will get to make it, as soon as possible. As long as the idea stays fresh and no one beats me to it, in terms of the origins of the monsters, the scope and the aspect of Antarctica where these creatures are discovered, I will continue to press forward. I’m knocking on wood.
I have great partners in Jim Cameron and Lightstorm, and Don Murphy and Susan Montford, great partners in this adventure who are not giving up and not letting me give up.”

 

According to

Production should start in 2011 for premeires in December 2014 and December 2015 in mind. Fox and James Cameron released a statement in which the director said: 

“It is a rare and remarkable opportunity when a filmmaker gets to build a fantasy world, and watch it grow, with the resources and partnership of a global media company. AVATAR was conceived as an epic work of fantasy—a world that audiences could visit, across all media platforms, and this moment marks the launch of the next phase of that world.

With two new films on the drawing boards, my company (Lightstorm Entertainment) and I are embarking on an epic journey with our partners at Twentieth Century Fox. Our goal is to meet and exceed the global audience’s expectations for the richness of AVATAR’s visual world and the power of the storytelling.

In the second and third films, which will be self contained stories that also fulfill a greater story arc, we will not back off the throttle of AVATAR’s visual and emotional horsepower, and will continue to explore its themes and characters, which touched the hearts of audiences in all cultures around the world. I’m looking forward to returning to Pandora, a world where our imaginations can run wild.”