Angry Zen Minion Epoch9 writes in to report that the Halo movie is back on! Sorta.

The Halo movie that involved Peter Jackson, Weta, FOX, and Universal is no more. Dead, dead as a doornail. Dead as a grunt with a plazma sword through his scrawny little head. Dead as all the Arbiters that have fallen before you. Dead as the… you get the picture.

But like a Flood infected corpse, the Halo movie rises anew. Apparently, screenwriter Stuart Beattie has decided to take matters into his own hands and has written a spec script based on the novel Halo: Fall of Reach. My brother always told me that if I was going to read a Halo novel, it should be that one. Fall of Reach serves as sort of a prequel to the first game and explains the origins of the Spartan project and Master Chief.

Beattie is shopping out his script complete with concept art by Kasra Farahani (Latino Review has a higher res version of the above image) and has a presentation all set and ready for Microsoft.

Crossing fingers and hoping this comes to light and doesn’t fall to the game movie curse.

[Via Latino Review]

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AZM Ally Greg sends word that James Doohan’s ashes never made it out to space. Along with 208 other people, Scotty’s ashes were aboard the privately funded Falcon 1 rocket headed for space when two minutes into the flight, a problem in stage separation forced SpaceX, the company that funded the project, to ground the rocket in the ocean. Despite Falcon 1 being their third failed launch, SpaceX has plans for a fourth launch in the fourth quarter of this year, a fifth and sixth flight, and a larger rocket called Falcon 9 scheduled for launch in 2010 which will deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station.

Apparently, there’s no such thing as test flights. Once you build the rocket, it’s all or nothing. You cross your fingers, launch the sucker, and hope it makes it out of the atmosphere. Sounds a lot like the early days of NASA. I think the future of the space program will depend on private industry. NASA’s funding counts for one tenth of one percent of the federal budget and every center fights for their little piece of the pie. It’s going to take private industry to really kick the space race back into to high gear because, quite frankly, the federal government is not interested in space. Oh, Bush talks a good game about putting people back on the moon and Mars, but where’s the money? Private industry will have to take up the reigns.

Good money is on China or India taking the lead in the space race in the near future. They’ve got the money to throw at their space program and are both genuinely interested in getting a presence up in space. I think it’s about time some other countries started looking to outer space. We could all certainly benefit from more exploration in general. We’ll have to see how China and India will influence our space program should they get their own explorers on the moon.

And that’s my soapbox ranting about the space program for today.

[Via New York Times]

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You man think that this looks like a still from the Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift game. In fact, it’s a CG production still from the upcoming CG feature adaptation of Gatchaman.

Angry Zen Minions Kevin Bahrt and Devin Wolfe both sent along these CG renderings from Imagi. Very shiny. Joe’s car looks very muscley like you’d expect from Joe. I’m more interested in how the team will look. Part of me wants this to be live action because it would just be so awesome to see people in Gatchaman suits. However, Imagi’s take on Astroboy seems fairly decent from what I’ve seen so this might be freaking awesome. Looking forward to what they come up with.

[Via Felix Ip]

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Devin also sent over some new posters for the Watchmen movie and I must say, I’m impressed. I love how Dr. Mahnattan’s bare ass is hanging out in the wind! I don’t entirely hate the Ozymandias poster. And the Nite Owl is starting to annoy me less. The rest are freaking brilliant. The more I see The Comedian and Rorschach, the more I get excited about this movie.

I have seen the trailer in the movie theater. Having no previous familiarity with the comic, Audrey freaking loved it as has almost everyone I’ve talked to. So I guess it’s just me.

[Via Super Hero Hype]

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Live action Cowboy Bebop movie? Okay, could be fun.

Live action Cowboy Bebop movie produced in America for Fox? Uh… well… almost kind of makes sense.

Live action Cowboy Bebop movie produced in America for Fox starring Keanu Reeves? NO!

I sincerely hope that this rumor that Angry Zen Minion Kevin Bahrt sent over is just that. There is indeed a live-action Bebop flick in the works at Fox but rumor has it that Keanu Reeves is up for the part of Spike Spiegel. No, no, no, a thousand times NO!

Keanu’s usual trick of starring blankly and delivering monotone dialog just doesn’t fit a hard boiled, Lupin inspired, noir ass kicker. I’m not entirely certain who I would pick, but Keanu isn’t on my list. Maybe someone like Josh Hartnett or James McAvoy (okay, that’s probably a stretch), but not Keanu and certainly not Shia!

Might as well go ahead and play the casting game. So who would you cast as Spike? Better yet, who would you cast as Jet, Faye, Edward, and Vicious?

[Via X-Realms]

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Dammit! This is so freaking cool!

Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub ran into Avery Brooks and Jonathan Frakes in a bar at Comic Con. And instead of shooing the comic nerds away, Captain Sisko and Commander Riker hung out with the boys.

So. Fucking. Awesome!

Comic Con is full of magic and awesomeness. Comic Con 2009, we’re coming for you!

UPDATE: So apparently Rich Stevens was there as well and captured this moment:

Brilliant!

[Via PVP and Rstevens]

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AZM Ally Greg writes in with news that Warner Brothers has acquired the movie rights to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series from Fox and is handing the project over to former New Line heads Bob Shaye and Michael Lynn. You may recall that Shaye and Lynn were instrumental in bringing The Lord of the Rings to realization at New Line. Clearly, Warner Brothers hopes that lightning can strike twice.

Of course, it’s easy to nay say. Foundation is impossibly epic spanning, especially if you include the Robot and Empire series. However, similar skepticism was thrown around when LOTR was announced and that trilogy turned out wonderfully. We’ll just have to wait and see if this gets beyond a rights buyout. I would be nice to get a good sci-fi epic on screen to get beyond the Stars Trek and Wars. Yes, yes, I know we’ve got CG clones and emo Starfleet to look forward to. But I kind of feel we’re getting stuck in a sci-fi rut. We need a new take on our future and though Foundation could be considered an old take, it stands the test of time. I’m cautiously optimistic.

[Via Sci-Fi Storm]

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So yes, TR2N. I have mixed feelings on this. And after seeing the leaked trailer footage from Comic Con that AZM Allstar Tyler Anderson sent over, my feelings remain mixed.

The first one was absolutely brilliant and quite a bit ahead of its time. A sequel both worries and excites me. The return of the MCP is almost a must and a new version of Tron is certainly likely. The danger is turning it into a CG fest of Lightcycles and Recognizers. Don’t get me wrong. Lightcycles are an absolute must and they look fucking AWESOME in this trailer (gods I wish I was there). But the film must tell a compelling story. Tron stands the test of time. It’s still as relevant and fresh as it ever was and they did it with primitive polygons and hand painting body suits. Tron 2.0 has to be just as strong, kick ass before the first polygon is modeled, for it to be a worthy successor. Here’s hoping.

[Via Gizmodo]

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AZM Allstar Tyler Anderson sent in some news bits from Comic-Con. Some are quite geek worthy, but one in particular makes me sad.

Now unfortunately, I was unable to find any leaked footage of this, but apparently at the Disney panel to talk about Race to Witch Mountain, They brought a little surprise. Tron 2.0. They showed footage from the movie, including a scene with Jeff Bridges. Color me psyched. C’mon, what self respecting dork doesn’t love Tron?

Also, apparently actor Taylor Kitsch has been announced to be in a three picture deal to play Gambit starting first with the X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which will hit theaters this May. I guess I’m okay with that…I love Gambit, he’s my favorite X-Man, so if they screw this up I’ll be exceptionally pissed.

Gary Oldman, confirmed to G4’s Kristin Holt that there will in fact be a Dark Knight video game. Stating that the game is “in the works” and speaking specifically about a scene with Gordon is on the roof of Gotham PD while Batman “jumped off the building and opened his wings to fly away and save the day.” This video has since been pulled, most likely because there hasn’t been a formal announcement yet.

Also, you may be a little upset to hear this but, Aronofsky is no longer in talks to direct a Robocop remake, he is directing a Robocop remake. Confirmed at Comic Con. It’s even gotten it’s first marketing banner which I’ve included as an attachment.

MTV is remaking Rocky Horror Picture Show. and as one of the few who hate this movie this is just a *facepalm* for me. Rumor has it they’ll be using the original script with little to no deviation therefrom, but they may be adding musical numbers that weren’t in the original.

Tron 2.0 has me intrigued. More on that later

Gambit in Wolverine’s origin? At this point I’ve given up on movie continuity following comic continuity. However, I kind of feel that there’s enough in Gambit’s origin that he could star in his own flick.

Dark Knight game, could be fun, could suck. Will just have to wait and see.

Rocky Horror remake? Why bother.

Aronofsky confirmed as the director of the Roboflop remake makes me cringe. I am truly disappointed. The Fountain showed that Aronofsky had something unique and challenging to say with film. I was so looking forward to more movies that challenged the bounds of every day perception. Now it could be that he intends to take the concept of Roboflop and completely turn it on its ear. If that is the case, I might begrudgingly check it out. But if this turns out to be a straight updated sexified remake, my heart weeps. Going to have to wait for more information before I start panning it completely, but Roboflop 2010 doesn’t inspire much confidence.

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The head of DreamWorks Animation Jeffrey Katzenberg told ComingSoon that George Lucas is contemplating re-releasing all six Star Wars films in 3D. Apparently, he has the technology to build them faster, strong. Better? Hmmm…

I admit that I stood in line when the original trilogy was re-released with all its digital wiz bang special editioness in theaters (Han shot first dammit!). I thought the digital enhancements were fairly tasteful (well, except the Han thing. That still annoys me) and didn’t distract from the movie.

The thought of Jar-Jar Binks in 3D makes me vomit in my brain meats. But the thought of wearing nerdy polarized glasses in the theater makes me, um, unvomit in my brain meats. Episodes IV through VI could be very entertaining in 3D. Granted, it does suck quite a bit to pay higher ticket prices to see something you already have multiple versions of, but honestly, it’s better than remaking Star Wars all together, an evil trend that I fear is here to stay. I am somewhat cautiously optimistic on this one. 3D might be just the thing to get audiences back into theaters.

[Via ComingSoon]

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