Thursday, June 26, 2003

Movie and TV News

Star Wars Episode III: Cinescape is reporting that the official STAR WARS website has once again updated its recast listings, confirming that three actors who appeared in ATTACK OF THE CLONES will be reprising their roles in EPISODE III. 10 new actors confirmed for roles in final STAR WARS movie.

LOTR:ROTK. Orlando Bloom--who plays Legolas in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy--told SCI FI Wire that he recently returned to New Zealand to film additional scenes for the final installment, Return of the King.

Under Seige 3: Ain't it Cool News is reporting that Steven Seagal is in Luxembourg filming something called "Unleashed" but says next up he's doing another "Under Siege" [god help us]. It's apparently taken so long because he "likes playing different characters" and hadn't felt the need to revisit Casey Ryback until now. And full of surprises he says the idea they have for this one is to have Ryback and daughter's hot air balloon ride interrupted to terrorists who take over a fellow balloon. Couldn't sound any better to me - of course, I'm looking at it from a comedic standpoint.

Tron, the Comic Book: Cinescape is reporting that a Tron comic book tie-in will be released soon. Two four issue mini- series are being planned by 88 MPH. The first will serve as a sequel to Disney's TRON 2.0 PC video game, -scheduled for release next month. TRON 2.0 follows the adventures of 20-year-old Jet Bradley, son of Alan Bradley (played by Bruce Boxleitner in the 1982 movie) as he explores the digital world. The first issue of the full-color series will be out sometime this winter.

Universal climbing "Everest": Universal Pictures is gearing up to produce an Everest film loosely based on the events related in the book "Into Thin Air." In May 1996, several groups of climbers were trapped on the summit by freak storms, killing eight climbers.

T'Pol visiting the Stargate?:Cinescape is reporting that ENTERPRISE cast member Jolene Blalock will have a recurring role as a Jaffa leader in STARGATE SG-1. Blalock's character, Ishta, will first appear in the season seven episode "Birthright" and the door is open for further appearances to be made. Ishta is also being shaped to be a love interest for Teal'c, Christopher Judge's Gou'ald character that is now a member of SG-1.

Alias Cast Changes: One of the cast members on Alias is leaving to start his own show. Greg Grunberg, who plays Vaughn's friend Weiss, will be leaving to join the cast of a new untitled show based on the world of bounty hunters. J.J. Abrams, the creator of ABC's ALIAS, is behind the effort, but it is unclear as if Grunberg's agent on ALIAS will spin-off into the new series or if he will be playing a new character.

Tru Calling: It sounds like those have seen Eliza Dukshu's new Fox show "Tru Calling" call it a disappointing attempt at some kind of Buffy/CSI combination. One reviewer (a young “Buffy” fan) gives a “B-” and says, “It's...no ‘Buffy’. It's not even as good as the ‘Dark Angel’ pilot. But its better than most in this field.”

USA Today Talks about Star Wars Galaxies. USA Today features an article about SW Galaxies and online games. 65,000 Internet gamers are currently signed up as Beta testers, working the bugs out of Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided. This ''persistent world'' -- a term for an online universe made up of thousands of people who log on and off at will even as a rich virtual civilization evolves -- officially launches Thursday.

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