Archive | September, 2009

Comcast Offering $35 Billion For NBC-Universal

According to reports, Comcast, the US provider of cable, entertainment, communications products and services, is negotiating to buy NBC-Universal from General Electric for a purchase price of $35 billion.

NBC-Universal has fallen in value from $55 billion a year ago, due in part to its poorly performing box office run this past summer, with NBC (and their useless publicity machine) remaining stuck in fourth place among broadcast networks.

Universal’s Judd Apatow feature Funny People apparently wasn’t all that funny, earning only $60 million worldwide, while gay-themed comedy Bruno only brought in the same amount in North America. The comedy Land of the Lost starring over-exposed Will Ferrell, also performed poorly.

General Electric purchased NBC for $6.28 billion in 1985 and in May 2004, merged with Vivendi, owners of Universal Studios and cable channels, USA, Bravo and Sci-Fi…

Must Be The Season Of The Witchblade

Witchblade, published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, was created by Top Cow editors Marc Silvestri and David Wohl, writers Brian Haberlin, Christina Z, and artist Michael Turner.

The series follows the lives of two women in New York City, ‘Sara Pezzini’ and ‘Danielle Baptiste’.

Sara is an NYPD homicide detective who comes into possession of the ‘Witchblade’, a supernatural, sentient artifact with immense destructive and protective powers. The weapon has bonded with various women throughout history, Danielle being the most recent.

Others who have come into contact with the Witchblade include Cleopatra and Joan of Arc.

Sara struggles to hone the powers of the Witchblade and fend off those with a nefarious interest in it, including entrepreneur ‘Kenneth Irons’.

Witchblade was previously adapted into a 2-season Toronto-lensed TV series in 2001-2002, starring actress Yancy Butler as Sara.

A new live-action feature, based on the comic book series continues in active development, to be directed by Michael “Queen Of The Damned” Rymer, from a screenplay by Everett De Roche.

Top Cow’s Silvestri and Matt Hawkins will executive produce with Platinum Studios’ Rich Marincic and Greenberg Group’s Randy Greenberg.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek an intro from the Witchblade TV series…

Guests Attending VIFF Opening Night Gala- October 1

The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) will be held October 1-16, 2009.

Founded in 1982, VIFF’s mandate is “…to encourage the understanding of other nations through the art of cinema, to foster the art of cinema, to facilitate the meeting in British Columbia of cinema professionals from around the world and to stimulate the motion picture industry in British Columbia and Canada…”

Here is a partial confirmed guest list guest of actors, producers and directors attending the October 1 Opening Night Gala Screening of A Shine Of Rainbows:

Vic Sarin, director “A Shine Of Rainbows”
Connie Nielsen, actress – “A Shine of Rainbows”
Ryan Robbins – “Leslie, My Name is Evil”
Christine Solomon, actress, Ahmad Abdella, director – “Heliopolis”
Camille Sullivan + Jimmy Sigmund
Fiona Forbes
Emmauelle Vaugier – (“Two and a Half Men”, “CSI NY”)
Byron Lawson (“Bloodletting”)
Sonja Bennet
Chad Willett
Richard de Klerk
Agam Darshi
Kevin McNulty
Gabrielle Rose
Paul Skrudland
Kristine Cofsky
Casey Manderson
Bill Guttentag, director – “Soundtrack for a Revolution”
Roger Cantin, director – “A Cargo to Africa”"
Kris Booth, director + Kristin Booth, Andrea McCulloch – “At Home By Myself with You”
Granaz Moussavi, director – “My Tehran for Sale”
Stephen J. Swierczyna, director – “Cellulose”
Sam Fleischner and Ben Chance, directors – “Wah Do Dem”
Mike Dacko, director – “Lightheaded”
Jessica Oreck, director – “Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo”
Dan Stone, director – “At The Edge of the World”
Ben Lewis, director – “Great Contemporary Art Bubble”
Ondi Timoner, director – “We Live in Public”
Philip Hoare, author – “Hunt for Moby Dick”
Murray Grigor, director – “Infinite Space: the Architectue of John Lautner”
Invites have also gone out to Robert “Twilight” Pattison, Joshua “Fringe” Jackson and Zac Efron, Vanessa Hukgens from Sucker Punch.

And count on the cream of the Vancouver film industry to attend the VIFF opening night Gala party(s), all done up in West Coast style.

Sneak Peek the trailer to A Shine Of Rainbows…

Jackman Gears Up For Real Steel

Actor Hugh “Wolverine” Jackman is in early discussions to star in Real Steel, a developing DreamWorks feature set in the future, where human boxing has been outlawed for being ultra violent and rock ‘em sock ‘em robots pound each other out in the ring, to be directed by Sean “Date Night” Levy, who recently lensed Night At The Museum 2 in Vancouver last year.

Jackman will play an ex-fighter who becomes a promoter of ‘Robot Boxing’. After finding a winning, discarded robot, the man also finds out he is the father of a 13-year son.

Real Steel is scripted by Les Bohem and John Gatins, based on a short story by author Richard Matheson, adapted by Rod Serling for the 1963 Twilight Zone episode Steel, starring actor Lee Marvin.

The DreamWorks feature will be distributed by Disney.

Sneak Peek a 1960′s commercial promoting Rock ‘Em Sock’ ‘Em Robots…

Silent Hill 2 Screenwriter Sentenced to a Year in Jail

Just two weeks ago it was announced that screenwriter Roger Avary and producer Samuel Hadida had signed up to return for Silent Hill 2 . If the production is going to stick with Avary, however, they may have to wait a while as the Oscar-winning Pulp Fiction writer has just been sentenced to a year in jail for causing a fatal traffic crash in Southern California. He’s also received five years of probation.