King's 'Under the Dome' resurfaces as CBS summer series for 2013

When you’re Steven Spielberg and Stephen King and you decide to work on a project together, the odds are a lot of people will listen. Back in 2011, Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment brought King’s mega-best-selling novel Under the Dome to Showtime (Spielberg had acquired the rights shortly after the book was released in 2009). According to Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva, while Showtime entertainment president David Nevins liked the concept when they acquired it, he felt it “was not right for Showtime.” So the project went into turnaround. Still, Spielberg believed in the book so much, he asked Showtime to release the book so it could be shopped to other networks. But in a surprise corporate synergy move, Nevins passed the project to his counterpart over at CBS, Nina Tassler, who was interested. And in another surprise move, CBS will launch a 13 episode series (no pilot, went right to series) of the book next summer, to be teamed up with the returning procedural Unforgettable, which was cancelled last May, but was quickly renewed for a 13 episode season that CBS said would air in the summer of 2013. 

There is always a risk producing original scripted fare for the off-season, and CBS has always done well with reality based shows. But the broadcast networks have seen some success with a few scripted shows -ABC’s Rookie Blue is a good example- and obviously has faith that this could work. Under the Dome is about a town that is suddenly surrounded by an invisible force field, and the people inside must do almost anything to survive. But things go from bad to worse rather quickly, with the dome's ecological effects on the town and the maneuvering of one Big Jim Rennie, an deviling local politician and drug lord who quickly realizes he can now make Chester Mill’s his own little private kingdom, with himself as absolute ruler. The heroes include Iraq veteran Dale “Barbie” Barbara, newspaper editor Julia Shumway, a group of skateboarders and many others. Deadline also reports that “writer Brian K. Vaughan (Lost) kept the general conceit and many of the characters from the book but also introduced new characters as regulars and tweaked some details and backstory for the existing ones. I hear King has blessed all the changes.” Deadline adds: “As for the book’s much-talked-about ending, which has divided King fans, I hear the series won’t follow it, and as in success, CBS would like to do another season.” In the meantime, Niels Arden Oplev, who helmed the original The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, will direct the first episode (and I’m sure it’s a mere coincidences that Oplev also helmed the pilot for Unforgettable, which had a large fanbase, and did well for CBS, but got lost in all the networks other procedurals? CBS sort of admitted they liked the series, but with real estate so tight on their schedule –oddly filled with aging and expensive franchises that had similar ideas- they pulled the plug. Two months later, in June of 2012, they announced that it would return in a 13 episode run in the summer of 2013).  

Reps for Gordon-Levitt deny 'Batman' rumor, Carnaham to take on an 'Undying Love', Disney sets writers for 'Navigator' remake

As expected, reps for actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt are denying reports that he’ll be playing Batman in the Justice League film scheduled for 2015, or making a cameo in Zack Snyder’s Superman film Man of Steel in 2013. Like I said yesterday, this is to be expected. The only ones who would and could make that official would be Warner Bros, and they too are as quiet as a church mouse about the future of the Batman character. And while it’s obvious the WB holds Christopher Nolan’s trilogy with high regard and would probably really not do anything to piss him off, we know that there will be a new Batman for that JLA film, a Batman that will probably have no connection to Nolan’s series. Still, hiring Gordon-Levitt to play Batman –or even Robin as others have suggested- is something the WB can do without consulting with Nolan. 

In a never ending world of reworking the same material studios own, Disney likes to see what property they own, and try to remake it again and again. The live action Alice in Wonderland has inspired them to rework their animated classic Cinderella into an extravagant live-action film. While this premise has been done a billion times before, in many other movies and TV shows, they still believe if you bring in some A-List celebrities and surround them with state-of-the-art CGI effects, no one will notice we’ve seen this story done…well, a billion times. Now it looks like Cate Blanchet will join the cast as the evil stepmother. Chris Weitz has written the script, based on pitch by The Devil Wears Prada screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna. Mark Romanek will direct and it will be produced by Simon Kinberg, who just signed on to write either Episode VIII or IX of Disney’s new Star Wars trilogy. 

 

Writer Joe Carnahan is close to signing a deal with Warner Bros. to pen and direct an adaptation of the graphic novel Undying Love. The story revolves around an ex-soldier who falls in love with a vampire. If he intends to be with her, must take out her creator –who just happens to be protected by an army of mobsters in the Hong Kong underworld. Love is never easy, apparently.

While Flight of the Navigator was not a huge hit for Disney in 1986, it remains a semi-cult film for many (the fact that the young cast virtually vanished from movies and TV and Disney only has a DVD version out with a Blu-Ray version released in Germany [!!!] only has probably added to its allure). One catch that maybe the reason the film has such mixed issues is its premise (when boiled down- it’s horrible): an alien with a voice that sounds like Pee-Wee Herman and loves classic 1960s music abducts a 12 year-old boy. This cute and cuddly alien shows David the universe and eventually returns him to his family. But the problem is eight years have passed on Earth while the boy somehow remains a 12 year-old. His entire family has aged (including his younger brother who is now his “older” brother) and lived with the horrible idea that he has been dead for the last eight years. Back in 2009, Disney began making plans to remake the film, but in the last twenty-six years, would the mass viewing audience –some who would say are more aware and probably less enthused about whole idea of a family in mourning for a lost child- see this premise as okay, just because the alien abductor is cute and funny? Well, we shall see, as Disney has made a deal with Safety Not Guaranteed director Colin Trevorrow and writer Derek Connolly to rewrite the current script. Trevorrow has said that Navigator was one of his favorite childhood films. How they’ll manage to deal with the premise in a much touchier world shall be interesting. 

Gordon-Levitt 'Batman?'; 'Doctor Who's' Christmas episode gets plot details and 'Star Trek Into Darkness' to reboot Gary Mitchell?

After what seems to be a bit of hemming and hawing from Zack Snyder on how or to what extent his Superman movie, Man of Steel, will play into Warner Bros own Justice League movie is getting a bit more muddled. Also, is there a connection to The Dark Knight Rises as well? 

We all know that Christopher Nolan is executive producing the Man of Steel and the latest confirmation from Snyder today is the Superman you see in next summer’s film will be the same Superman that will be part of Justice League film in 2015. And while I’m sure Nolan had no particular interest in setting up another WB franchise by ending TDKR with cop John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) inheriting the Batcave –it was, probably to Nolan, just a logical and thematic conclusion to his trilogy- if I’m an executive at Warner Brothers trying to figure out how Marvel succeed with their superhero franchises, then I would look at that sort of open-ended conclusion and figure out a way to not only reboot Batman, but help the long gestating JLA now scheduled for 2015. Of course, in the end, Warner Bros can do what they want with Batman –though in the comics, Bruce Wayne was not always Batman.

Anyways, how will they do that? Well, the obvious answer is that Gordon-Levitt will be the new Batman for that film, so why not –emulating Marvel in many ways (because, why not) - have Batman appear in some sort of post-credit sequence in Man of Steel? The question is will Gordon-Levitt be the new Batman? That, today, seems to be the forgone conclusion as various sites are reporting that indeed, he IS the new Batman (though, obviously, his reps are denying it). So take that thought and marry it with Snyder’s latest hints that his Superman is connected to the JLA movie, and what you get is the WB (finally) setting up continuity between its superhero franchises. 

Meanwhile, the BBC has released more pictures and plot synopses for the Doctor Who Christmas Special The Snowmen:

Christmas Eve 1892 and the falling snow is the stuff of fairy-tales. When the fairy-tale becomes a nightmare and a chilling menace threatens Earth, an unorthodox young governess, Clara, calls on the Doctor for help. But the Doctor is in mourning, reclusive and determined not to engage in the problems of the universe. As old friends return, will the Doctor really abandon humankind or will he fight to save the world — and Christmas — from the icy clutches of this mysterious menace.

 

My hope is that Moffat will take a bit of time to explain why the Doctor chooses to be in 1892, and how and why Vastra and Strax got there as well. I mean, I sort of hate the idea that as an audience we should expect no explanation as to why either of them is there. To me, it’s a conceited cheat by the showrrunner and writer to say that to help the story maintain a flow, those sorts of explanations are dropped. Anyways, BBC America will debut the episode on Christmas Day.

Paramount has officially given us a bit of information on next summers Star Trek Into Darkness:

     

In Summer 2013, pioneering director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes Star Trek Into Darkness.      

        When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.       

        With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.       

        As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

It's still sort of vague, though. But there is a suggestion -if you take in the comments made by Karl Urban made months ago- that the film is a sort of reboot of the Gary Mitchell character from the original Star Trek‘s second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before. In that story Mitchell is a friend of Captain Kirk, and a Starfleet officer on the U.S.S. Enterprise. He ends up with powerful telekinetic powers, and turns against Kirk and his crew.

How much of that story will be seen is unknown, but it's a good bet that Benedict Cumberbatch is Gary Mitchell.

NEW!!!!

As work moves forward on X Men: Days of Future Past under the helm of Bryan Singer, set to begin filming in January, the director himself Tweeted this little surprise: 

“I’d like to officially welcome back James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender and Nicholas Hoult to X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Also thrilled to announce Sir Ian Mckellen and Sir Patrick Stewart.”

This idea of McKellen and Stewart returning to the roles they created in the first two films is not farfetched, as this sequel story line does deal with time travel. Whether the script will have the older Magneto and Professor X interacting with their younger selves is yet to be seen, but only Singer could pull this off, as both actors –while pleased with their participation in the franchise- are not so excited that these roles will always define their long careers when they are gone from this mortal world.