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Hailing Frequencies #369
7.13.07
HELLO
And here's the three hundred and sixty-ninth edition of "Hailing Frequencies."
If you want to be notified when this newsletter is updated, email me to be put on my "notification" list.
Well, it's finally happened. The "Sci-Fi/Fantasy" job listing at About.com has disappeared, which should mean that they've hired my replacement. Who will it be, I wonder??
Meanwhile, when About releases my materials, everything will be stored here (thanks to the nice folks at:
ANDROMEDA STRAIN
A&E Network's got the cameras rolling in Vancouver for their four-hour miniseries remake of Michael Critchon's The Andromeda Strain, which was his first book and one of his best, IMO. The production stars Benjamin Bratt, Rick Schroder, Eric McCormack, Christa Miller, Andre Braugher, Daniel Dae Kim, Viola Davis, and Ted Whittall. Exec prods include Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, and David W. Zucker for Scott Free Productions and Tom Thayer of Traveler's Rest Films.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
SCI FI Wire has a cagey little article up about next season:
Cast members of SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica told reporters that they weren't happy at first to discover that their characters were Cylons, but they have come to terms with the revelation in their own ways—and hinted the Cylons may not be what they appear.
Michael Hogan: "I'm not happy about being a Cylon at all....For Tigh so far, it is like a mental illness...It's like the ringing in the years and visions and constantly wondering what's going on. So [in] almost ... every scene we do now, it's that thing where you're thinking, ... if you've had a personal tragedy happen to you, then you've got to carry on with life: You kind of realize, 'Isn't this amazing that I'm actually talking to people?' But this is all going on inside."
DR WHO
Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) will return for a fourth season of Doctor Who and will also appear in Torchwood. The Doctor will also have a companion in Catherine Tate for the first half of the fourth season, as she will reprise the role of Donna, the runaway bride from the 2006 Christmas special.
EUREKA
Congrats! Tuesday night's season two debut snagged 2.5 million total viewers, 1.4 million A25-54 viewers and 1.3 million A18-49 viewers. Way to go!
HARRY POTTER
Warner Bros.' Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix raked in an estimated $44.2 million in US box office for its first full day, Wednesday, July 11, 2007. That makes Order of the Phoenix the new grand wizard of Wednesday movie openings. Snape would be so proud.
evay offers us this non-spoiler review:
About as good as Goblet of Fire, which is to say that it tries very hard to jam an overstuffed and highly detailed book into 2:15 of movie time and suffers a bit for the cuts. Casting is perfect as always, especially Luna Lovegood. Acting is good; Daniel Radcliffe is finally given a bit more to do, and gets to show a little more range than "adorably bewildered" and "looking like Mary GrandPre's illustrations." Radcliffe and Gary Oldman in particular have a warm connection. SFX are top-notch and sets are exactly as I pictured them in the book. It does feel a little rushed, since there's only so much of the 700-something pages one can bring to the screen, but all the important notes are hit, including a few drops of character foreshadowing for the next installment. A solid B+. -- thanks, evay!
A new Nielsen study has determined the following facts about the Harry Potter book series:
- Has sold more than 22.5 million copies in the UK and 27.7 million copies in the US.
- The films have grossed more than $3.5 billion worldwide.
- The ad spend on branded merchandise totaled $269.1 million in the U.S.
- All 3 DVD releases debuted at #1 and remained there for at least 3 weeks.
- The Website for the latest film drew 446,762 unique visitors.
- The four Harry Potter soundtracks sold more than 1.1 million copies in the US.
Check out the video from Los Angeles premiere of Order of the Phoenix, with comments from Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Imelda Staunton, et al.
IGN has a review up on the soundtrack to OotP.
 |
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, all 784 pages, flies to shelves July 21. The soundtrack to the film will be available July 1.
|
HEH HEH BLOCKBUSTER WOES
Blockbuster will close 282 underperforming stores in the U.S. this year.
HEROES
Dianna Agron and Dominic Keating have booked recurring roles on the next season of Heroes, with Agron a cheerleader and Keating an Irish mobster.
The first season of Heroes comes out on DVD August 28, from Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Universal Studios Digital Platforms. The seven-disc DVD set includes five featurettes, about 50 deleted scenes, and a 73-minute director's cut of the premiere. SRP $59.98.
LOST
Lost - The Complete Third Season
is coming December 11 on DVD and Blu-ray disc as a 23-episode,
seven-disc set, including an interview with star Matthew Fox, a
featurette on "The Others," a behind-the-scenes documentary, and some
deleted scenes.
MISC...
- CW's reruns of Smallville brought in 1.3/2 and Supernatural a 1.1/2, while CBS' reruns of Ghost Whisperer got a 3.0/6 and NBC's Medium a 1.9/4.
- And speaking of, Smallville has added Laura Vandervoort as Supergirl, and Katie Cassidy will play demon hunter Ruby in Supernatural.
- SCI FI Channel will premiere Mind Control with Derren Brown (which isn't really sci-fi, so I won't be covering it) July 26 at 10 PM, following the season two premiere of Who Wants to be a Superhero?
- DC Comics has launched the private beta version of Zuda Comics, which will take online submissions from aspiring comic artists for promotion/development.
- Cartoon Network's Adult Swim is ending the run for Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law after six seasons and 39 episodes.
- TNT bought the cable rights to Warner Bros.' 300 and will air the movie in September 2009.
- ABC's Cavemen has cast Sam Huntington to play Bill English's younger brother.
- Things are looking likely for a Cars 2 from Pixar.
- SCI FI Wire has an interview up with Bianca Lawson to promote their Supergator movie.
- Fox' The Sarah Connor Chronicles won't be premiering on Sept. 25, Tuesday, 8 PM. The spot's been handed over to the network's immortal cop drama
- Disney has acquired Six Month Curse, a romantic comedy spec script by Julie Golden, about a bride who discovers she was cursed at birth so that her romans only last six months.
- TVShowsOnDVD reports that the the first volume of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles will be out on DVD on Oct. 23.
- Indy IV will swing into US theaters May 22, 2008.
- The third (probably direct-to-DVD) Starship Troopers movie will star Jolene Blalock as Lola Beck, a gun-ho pilot.
RANDOM DIALOG QUIZ
Can you name the movie? "I know he can get the job, Marty, but can he do the job?"
Highlight to read the answer: Joe vs.the Volcano
RAPUNZEL
BBC One is doing an anthology of updated fairy tales from Hat Trick Productions. It's modern version of Rapunzel is set in the world of competitive tennis and stars Lee Ingleby, Charity Wakefield, Shaun Williamson, Geraldine James, Oliver Chris, Tony Way, Alex Jennings, and Pat Cash.
The other fairy tales in the anthology are Billy Goat, Cinderella and The Emperor's New Clothes.
(Psst. BBC. Any chance we can get Christopher Meloni to play the Emperor?)
SEPTIMUS HEAP
Doubtlessly hoping for another Potter-like run, Warner Bros. can acquired Septimus Heap, the seven-book fantasy series by Angie Sage (Harper Collins). The first movie, Septimus Heap: Magyk, will be produced by Karen Rosenfelt (Devil Wears Prada) with Sage herself as exec prod.
SPEED RACER
The latest to join Speed's cast is Nayo Wallace, who will play Minx, the girlfriend of Racer X (Matthew Fox).
STAR TREK
Unconfirmed rumors are everywhere that Spock (as in actually Leonard Nimoy) will be in the J.J. Abram's Trek movie.
STARGATES
Cool beans. MGM/FOX video will release all ten frickin' seasons of Stargate SG-1 in a single box set for SRP of $299.98 on 54 discs October 9. The discs will also have lot of new extras.
Whew! That's going to take up a lot of space on my shelf.
SGI-1's finale, "Unending," got a 1.7 rating, which is nice bump up, with about 2.2 million total viewers.
Stargate Atlantis' fourth season debuts in the U.S. this September. SCI FI Wire has an article up (mild spoiler alert):
"Just coming into the fourth season, one of the things that we felt that Atlantis kind of lacked that SG-1 had was technologically advanced races...Because, unlike in the Milky Way galaxy, in the Pegasus galaxy, as soon as a civilization attained a certain level of technological development, the Wraith would come in and wipe them out. So we created this race that we call the Travelers....They go from planet to planet and just scavenge civilizations that have been razed by the Wraith." He adds: "In terms of the bigger story elements, like the Ori and the Goa'uld, I don't think we want to go there."
David Hewlett, who plays Dr. Rodney McKay on the show, added that his character refers to the Travelers at one point as "hot leather aliens."
TRANSFORMERS
If you put together the money from the preview screenings (on Monday) with Tuesday's receipts, you will find that the Paramount/DreamWorks Transformers earned about $36.3 million for its opening day.
Even at just Tuesday's take of $27.5 million, the movie set a new record as the biggest Tuesday movie release ever, easily beating Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest's Tuesday opening take of $15.7 million.
Outside the US, Transformers took in $36.3 million, giving the movie a worldwide box office total of $72.5 million. And no, you and I don't get any of that money, even if we can turn our asses into a station wagon.
Why are you looking at me like that?
TOP US MOVIES TODAY FROM THE NUMBERS
1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.......$44,232,338
2 The Transformers......................................$180,589,886
3 Ratatouille................................................$121,674,427
4 Live Free or Die Hard....................................$90,420,838
5 License to Wed...........................................$21,970,059
6 Evan Almighty.............................................$82,084,785
7 1408.........................................................$56,465,982
8 Knocked Up............................................. $134,026,775
9 Sicko........................................................$12,823,461
10 Evening.....................................................$9,373,000
Weekend Box Office Estimates: July 6-8, 2007
Transformers (Paramount/DreamWorks) $67.6 million - opening weekend
Ratatouille (Buena
Vista)
$29.0 million - 2 wk total $109.5m
Live Free or Die Hard
(Fox)
$17.4 million - 2 wk total $84.2m
License to Wed (Warner
Bros.)
$10.4 million - opening weekend
Evan Almighty
(Universal)
$8.1 million - 3 wk total $78.1m
1408
(MGM/Weinstein)
$7.1 million - 3 wk total $53.8m
Knocked Up
(Universal)
$5.2 million - 6 wk total $132.0m
Fantastic Four
(Fox)
$4.2 million - 4 wk total $123.8m
Sicko
(Lionsgate)
$3.7 million - 3 wk total $11.5m
Ocean's 13 (Warner
Bros.)
$3.5 million - 5 wk total $109.1m
Source: Box Office Mojo
TOP BOOKS SCI-FI/FANTASY @ Amazon, 6.7.07
1. Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
2. Harry Potter Paperback Box Set (Books 1-6)
3. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
4. The
Children of Hurin: Deluxe Edition
,
Christopher Tolkien (from his dad's notes)
5. His Dark Materials Trilogy
, by Philip Pullman
6. The
Time Traveler's Wife
,
by Audrey Niffenegger
7. Fahrenheit 451
, by Ray Bradbury
8. Slaughterhouse-Five
, by Kurt Vonnegut
9. 1984,
by George Orwell
10. The
Harlequin: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel
,
by Laurell K. Hamilton
TOP DVDs
SCI-FI/FANTASY @ Amazon, 6.7.07
1. 300
,
by Frank Miller
2. The Secret (Extended Edition)
3. Resident Evil - Apocalypse [Blu-ray]
4. Stargate SG-1 - Season 10
5. Heroes - Season 1
6. Lost - The Complete Third Season
7. Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales
8. Stargate Atlantis - The Complete Third Season
9. The Last Mimzy (Widescreen Infinifilm Edition)
10. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Two-Disc Special Edition) (Harry Potter 3)
TOP SCI
FI NETWORK SHOWS - Nielsen Galaxy Report, 7.18-7.24.07
Ghost Whisperer 3.0
Kyle XY 2.0
Smallville 1.3
Supernatural 1.2
Battlestar Galactica 0.2 Source:
INSANE TREK TRIVIA
This Week's Question: What aspect of Okampan life displays the writers' incredibly flawed math?
Send your answer to julia.houston@gmail.com. All correctly answering trivia maniacs will have their names mentioned in the next letter. The first winner gets to make a request, anything they like -- within reason -- for the next "Hailing Frequencies" Issue. Please let me know if you don't want me to post your email address if you win.
Last Week's Question: In what episode do we finally have a direct reference to a bathroom on board ship?
Answer: TNG's "Up the Long Ladder," season two. (Riker tells a lovely lass where she can go to wash her feet.)
No winners, which I find curious for a "poo question."
CAPTION CONTEST
Send in your best caption for the picture below. The best (as in, my favorite) entry will appear in next week's issue.
[Insert caption here.]
THIS WEEK'S WINNER:
"Hello, welcome to the Donner Family's restaurant. My name is Junior Hannibal, and I will be your server tonight" - ozzygreybeard
Honorable mentions...
"Hormones in the milk supply? Nonsense" - Debra
"Hey, babe. I ever tell you about the time I killed Kirk?" - BTCHONWHLS
"ummmm...You have a centipede under your eye - no, your other eye..." - KDKaser@aol.com
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR"
Last week's topic: Anybody got comments about Evan Almighty? Any good?
***
My only comment about that is that (with only seeing the trailers) is that it frightenly mirrors the floods in the UK right now, which I'm in, and that I'm thinking we may just need an Ark right about now. But it does look good, I might go see just so I can laugh at all the water.
Wendy
***
Next week's topic is suggested by evay: Sci-fi actors get recycled within the genre (Scott Bakula in QL and ENT, George Takei in TOS and Heroes, Dominic Keating now in ENT and Heroes, Nathan Fillion in Firefly and Buffy, Christopher Eccleston in Dr. Who and Heroes, etc.). What's your opinion of this recycling of genre-famous faces? Is it distracting to see Sam Beckett in a Starfleet uniform, or are you more likely to watch because you already know the actor? Does it make a difference if the role is one-time-only or a recurring character (like Connor Trinneer on SG:A) vs. a full-time cast member?
***
Send me something if you've got something to say. It can be about anything that's on your mind!
HAILING FREQUENCIES CLOSED
