Sam Raimi was yesterday announced as the director for the upcoming Warcraft movie once he’s done with Spider-Man 4. This announcement is certainly surprising. I’m not sure how one can adapt a game like World of Warcraft though I’m here on out assuming that every news outlet is wrong by stating that this is a World of Warcraft movie adaptation, rather it is more of a movie based on the Warcraft mythology. The Warcraft world is comprised of two factions pitted against each other. On one side, the Alliance with the Humans, the Dwarves, the Draenei, the Gnomes and the Night Elves. On the other, the Horde, with the Orcs, the Forsaken, the Tauren, the Trolls and the Blood Elves. There’s also the Burning Legion, the Scourge, the Goblins, the Ogres and the Naga. For more on this, check out the detailed Wikipedia article on the Warcraft universe.
It’s like Lord of the Rings meets Dungeons & Dragons.
And since back in June I showed you Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in Iron Man 2, it’s only fair now that I show you the rest of the cast.
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow
Robert Downey Jr. as Stark
Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
Don Cheadle as Col. James Rhodes and Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer
Oh, and did I mention that the Alice in Wonderland teaser is out? Feast your eyes on this:
After Lordy and his Better Off Ted post, back today to our regular scheduled programming with a few news as Comic-Con nears.
To start us off, news that you probably know by now: Sean Benn is set to play the lead role on HBO’s Game of Thrones adaptation. We talked a bit about the show when it was first picked up back in November but just to refresh your memory, the show is a fantasy series based off George R.R. Martin’s 7-book series, A Song of Fire & Ice. THR describes the story as “a battle among seven kingdoms and between two ruling families for control of the Iron Throne, the possession that ensures survival through a 40-year winter to come”. As for Benn, he’s set to play one of the title roles, Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark.
You may have heard as well about Futurama chainging its voice cast. I probably won’t watch the new seasons if they do indeed replace Billy West, Katey Sagal, John Di Maggio, Tress MacNeille, and Maurice Lamarche (amongst others). I’m still hoping though that FOX TV are only auditioning new actors as a bargaining chip. The move was previously (successfully) used on The Simpsons.
There have been a few pictures as well regarding the 2010 Prince of Persia movie based on the popular video game. Check ’em out:
There’s also this live-action Voltron movie that is starting to come together nicely with Charles Roven, Richard Suckle and Steve Alexander acquiring the rights. Let’s not forget another live-action adaptation, Turtle Ninjas, which unsurprisingly nabbed John Fusco as its writer. The movie is set to come out around 2011.
I wonder what the current entertainment industry would look like without all the remakes and adaptations…
The news on everyone’s mind is yesterday’s Emmy nomination list. As some of you saw via my Twitter reactions, I was pretty pissed at some stuff that got on the list.
Let’s begin with Family Guy. Now, I don’t hate the show, actually I watch it religiously. My problem has to do with that it’s Family Guy getting the honors of being the first animated program to be nominated in the Best Comedy category in 50 years or so, instead of The Simpsons. Also, I don’t believe the show is that good. It might have been during the first few seasons but not currently.
I don’t appreciate the various writing noms this year either. And by various, I mean the complete opposite. Four out of five comedy writing noms are for 30 Rock, and four out of five drama writing noms are for Mad Men! Ridiculous.
My third problem is with another nomination, this time Drama-side: Lost. Yet again, I’m a huge Lost fan (remember when I interviewed Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse? I sure do), I’ve been with the show since day one. But this latest season was just atrociously bad, let alone majorly retcon. Long story short, Lost‘s Season Five shouldn’t be worth the nomination. Remember how four out of five drama writing noms were for Mad Men? Well the other one is for, wait for it, Lost‘s The Incident (Season 5 finale). Out of every drama hours from the past year, they chose this one? Not even a tiny Breakind Bad episode?
Lost shouldn’t even be nominated for Best Drama, which brings me to my next problem. With seven contenders this year, I would have expected some outsiders joining the show. Fortunately, Flight of the Conchords was nominated. On the other hand however, Lost getting on meant The Shield‘s final season got the boot. Not cool. I would have liked to see In Treatment in there as well. Hopefully, Breaking Bad will win.
A new category was announced as well, Outstanding Special Class – Short-format Live-Action Entertainment, also known as the ‘Online Stuff’ category. With the exception of the Super-Bowl show, all the other noms are webisodes of some kind. Obviously, Dr. Horrible was nominated. One might wonder if this category was made just for Dr. Horrible. It’s a given it will get the Emmy. Speaking of, Scifi Wire has an interview up with Joss Whedon talking about this nomination, amongst other things.
Another major snub includes Michael Giacchino’s wonderful Lost score being completely ignored from the Outstanding Music Composition category. Instead, such musical classic as Castle, Legend of the Seeker, and even Ghost Whisperer got the nom.
So much to complain about, I must have left out some other things. In any case, yeah, I’m pissed at the 61st Emmy Awards. And they haven’t even started yet.
A few previews have appeared for some interesting upcoming shows.
The first is AMC’s Rubicon starring James Badge Dale and Lili Taylor based on a Jason Horwitch script. Check out this trailer:
FX meanwhile has made a 6-episode order for an animated comedy series named Archer and created by Adam Reed and Matt Thompson who previously worked on Sealab 2021. As for what it is about, see the following extract:
And finally, two other TV tidbits. First, some Station news. The FOX show produced by Ben Stiller’s Red Hour, not a network station. John Goodman has been cast as the co-star alongside Justin Bartha on this series created by Kevin Napier about covert CIA operatives working on installing a new dictatorship in Central America. The pilot will be shot by Role Model‘s David Wain.
Also, NBC has picked-up Persons Unknown, a 13-episode series Christopher McQuarrie, who won an Oscar in 1994 for his Usual Suspects script. The show, produced showrunner Remi Aubuchon, Christopher & Heather McQuarrie, revolves around strangers waking up in a deserted town with no recollection of how they got there. They must now work together to escape by solving puzzles.
