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Some Good News, Some Bad News, Some Indifferent News

Mister Nizz

Most of these newsbites are compiled by SciFi Weekly.

Good News




"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe could emerge as the biggest-grossing live-action film in Disney history, with worldwide grosses so far of $530 USD million and counting, Variety reported."


That of course explains the following:

Caspian To Follow Narnia

"The success of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is spurring plans for a sequel based on the next title in C.S. Lewis' epic book series, Variety reported. Cary Granat, chief executive officer of production company Walden Media, said that work is already underway on a script for the sequel, Prince Caspian, with plans to tap a director within a few weeks.

'We're planning on starting production by the fourth quarter of next year,' Granat told the trade paper.

Narnia, based on the first released title in Lewis' series, was the number-two draw at last weekend's box office and has taken in nearly $250 USD million domestically, the trade paper reported."


Bad News...




Whedon: No More Firefly

Firefly/Serenity creator Joss Whedon told USA Today that he still hopes to tell more stories set in the futuristic universe, but added that there's no chance he'll do another Firefly TV show. "We'll never make Firefly again, because that was a thing that existed and is now gone," Whedon told the newspaper before Christmas. "And Serenity isn't Firefly, and whatever comes next won't be, either. But I would love to tell more stories of this universe and to hang out with these people on and off for the rest of my career."

Serenity, based on the canceled Fox TV show Firefly, hit theaters last September and has pulled in a disappointing $25.4 million domestically since opening Sept. 30, 2005. The movie is now available on DVD. "The best-case scenario is that the DVD is such a spectacular, monster hit that we get to make another movie," Whedon said. "Then we get to make another movie. After three movies, we're all very tired. After Serenity: Revolutions, we feel like we've played it out. And then we make another series."

Whedon is currently writing the script for Wonder Woman, which he is slated to direct once Warner Brothers signs off.



And after having seen some Jon Favreau movies (the latest being Zathura), this might be a mixed blessing:

Indifferent News...





Favreau Updates Carter Of Mars

Director Jon Favreau told Empire Online that his upcoming movie version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars is still in development. "The way it stands is that we have artists working on research," Favreau (Zathura) told the site. "We're working on a script, and we should know by the spring whether we're going ahead or if the project goes back on the woodpile. ... It's pretty big. Theoretically it could spin out into a fully fledged franchise, which is, I think, what the holy grail is for the movie studios now."

Burroughs' series of books centers on a Civil War veteran who gets transported to the Red Planet and finds himself caught up in a war involving 15-foot, six-armed green Martians. "It's actually been a bit of a creative wellspring [that] influenced Star Wars a great deal, and Superman can kind of be traced back to it," Favreau said. "Basically any science fiction goes back to the grandfather, which is John Carter."

Favreau added: "This thing has gone through dozens of incarnations, and because of how expansive it is and the fact that there's only one human character and most of the other characters are 15-feet-tall green Martians, there has never been the technology available to bring it to the screen. But now with the technology that exists, I'm pretty confident that we come up with something really cool."



I mean, I'm ecstatic that one of my favorite SF series ever is making it on to the silver screen, but... Jon Favreau???? Come on!