Daily Entertainment News for the Week of May 2nd-6th

[FH]

J.J. Abrams on Mission: Impossible 3
Source: ComingSoon!


About.com caught up with Lost and Alias executive producer J.J. Abrams and received an update on Mission: Impossible 3, which he will direct.

Abrams confirmed that Carrie-Anne Moss and Scarlett Johansson are no longer part of the cast, but he stayed mum about who will replace them and join Tom Cruise in the third installment.

"The script was rewritten," he said. "I'm a huge fan of each actor that they cast originally, but to have kept the actors when we are reinventing the story would have been an odd process, to say, 'Write a script with these people in mind for characters that haven't been written.' It just felt like we had to start over with a clean slate."

Abrams said they are deep in pre-production and that shooting starts in July "all over the world... it's going to be a pretty big scale." Paramount is targeting a Summer 2006 release for the film.

[FH]

Verhoeven Directing Beast of Bataan
Source: ComingSoon!

Basic Instinct helmer Paul Verhoeven is set to direct Beast of Bataan, a bigscreen adaptation that follows the war crimes trial of Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma at the end of WWII. Jonathan Sanger will produce.

Homma was the Japanese officer in charge of the Bataan death march endured by American and Filipino prisoners of war in 1942 in the Philippines.

The film is an adaptation of the book "A Trial of Generals," by Lawrence Taylor. Mark Jean penned the screenplay for the film, which starts shooting this winter.

[FH]

Gary Goldman Creates a Skyport
Source: ComingSoon!
Minority Report screenwriter Gary Goldman has sold a pitch based on Curt Siodmak's 1959 sci-fi novel Skyport to Warner Bros. Pictures, reports Variety.

Skyport follows a scientist's quest to build an orbiting space city. The author, best known for his Universal Pictures creation the Wolfman, died in 2000.

"We saw that the material could be reworked into a disaster movie along the lines of 'The Towering Inferno,'" said Goldman.

Goldman's Next is headed into production at Revolution Studios this fall, with Nicolas Cage and Julianne Moore to star under Lee Tamahori's direction.

[FH]

Alien vs. Predator Sequel is Happening
Source: ComingSoon!


In an interview with Sci Fi Wire, 20th Century Fox Film Co-Chairman Tom Rothman says that a sequel to Alien vs. Predator is happening.

"We will do another one of those for sure. It was a big success," Rothman said. "In the new Alien vs. Predator they will finally actually really come to our world."
I thought that first one took place on "our world" already?

[FH]

[FH]

Blade Heads for the Small Screen
Source: SuperheroHype!
Reuters reports that the "Blade" franchise is headed for the tube:

Spike TV president Doug Herzog announced the network will adapt the theatrical franchise "Blade" as a series for early next year. New Line Television and Marvel Studios will produce the project, with David Goyer, writer-director of "Blade: Trinity," executive producing. Goyer is not expected to write the pilot.

[FH]

Faces of Death: The Movie?

[FH]

Silver Surfer Stuff
Marvel, Fox brass talk up movie.
Source: IGNFF

May 04, 2005 - Sci Fi Wire spoke with Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad and Fox Filmed Entertainment Co-Chairman Tom Rothman about the long-in-development Silver Surfer movie. Arad advised Sci Fi that Surfer will be next on the agenda following Fantastic Four.


Rothman was more forthcoming on some of the issues facing the film. "I think the tricky thing on Silver Surfer, which hasn't been resolved yet, is the nature of the Surfer and to what extent digital work is used and to what extent it isn't," Rothman informed Sci Fi. "And that's the fundamental difficult decision."

"Obviously, in The Hulk, they went one way [a computer-generated character]. And in the question of [Fantastic Four's] The Thing, we went a different way [putting actor Michael Chiklis in a rubber suit]," Rothman continued.

"The digital component is the fundamental component that needs to be resolved, but it's a project that we're very very high on."

Finally, there's still no word on the identity of the mystery director reportedly attached to Silver Surfer.

[FH]

"Chappelle's Show" Shut Down
Source: E!Online

Chappelle's Show is a no-go, bitch!

In a surprise announcement Wednesday, Comedy Central said that the highly anticipated third season of Dave Chappelle's show will not make its May 31 premiere date.


"Comedy Central has suspended production on the third season of Chappelle's Show until further notice," network spokesman Tony Fox said in a brief statement. "All parties are optimistic that production will resume in the near future."

No official reason was given for the shutdown, but sources told E! News that Chappelle has been MIA from the set for weeks. There was no indication on how long the suspension would last.

In December, the network said that Chappelle's Show was behind schedule after Chappelle fell ill, forcing the network to postpone the expected February debut of new episodes.

"Dave--and his entire production crew for that matter--got a bit of a late start on writing season three," Fox told the New York Post. Production was slated to resume in January.

Last August, Chappelle, 31, reupped with Comedy Central in a massive two-year deal, valued at $50 million by the Hollywood Reporter. The deal also set a new Industry precedent--reportedly giving the funnyman a large cut of backend DVD sales.

Featuring Chappelle's often raunchy standup, offbeat sketches and killer parodies of Prince and Rick James, Chappelle's Show has steadily built a huge following since its debut in January of 2003. By the end of season two, the half-hour show was often pulling in more than three million viewers, a substantial number for basic cable. The first season currently ranks as the all-time top-selling TV show on DVD. (Paramount has indefinitely pushed back the release of the second season--the studio hopes to time the DVD to the start of season three.)

In addition to his gig at Comedy Central, Chappelle had been working on a book for Hyperion. There has been no word on the book's status; there's also no word on the reported Rick James biopic for Paramount in which Chappelle would portray the late R&B wild man.