Simon Pegg Replaces Bill Nighy as the Voice of Reepicheep

Source: narniaweb

NarniaWeb has learned from a production source that Bill Nighy has been dropped from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and has been replaced by British actor Simon Pegg. Best known for his role as Scotty in the 2009 Star Trek film, Pegg has also appeared in Band of Brothers, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

READ MORE HERE

What Hollywood can learn from “Jonah Hex”

Source: reuters.com

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – When comic books are turned into movies, they can become huge hits, like “Iron Man,” or resounding flops, a la “The Spirit.”

Put “Jonah Hex,” which hit theaters Friday, in the latter category. The Warner Bros. release of the DC Comics adaptation about an avenging Civil War veteran barely brought in $5.3 million during the weekend, one of the worst studio showings of the box office summer.

So what went wrong? And how should Hollywood proceed as it continues to develop the dozens of comic book and graphic novel adaptations in its pipelines?

In several respects, “Hex’s” problems can be chalked up to its singular and troubled production history.

Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor wrote the initial script for the Warners/Legendary co-production, based on writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga’s Western bounty hunter, who first appeared in DC Comics’ “All-Star Western #10″ in 1972. Five years later, the character earned his own self-titled series, which ran for 92 issues. However, though Hex appeared in other series through the years, he never became a major player in the DC universe.

READ MORE HERE

Q&A: Justin Cronin says every generation reinvents the vampire narrative

Source: Canadian press

Justin Cronin is having a moment.

His new vampire thriller, “The Passage,” published earlier this month, is a bestseller. The unfinished manuscript sold in a bidding war to Fox 2000 for $1.75 million. And Stephen King called during Cronin’s interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to tell him that he’s a fan.

The story takes place not far into the future, where a U.S. government experiment goes wrong, causing the end of civilization as we know it. The test subjects escape and are now vampires — on a killing spree. The one person who can help save the world is a young girl named Amy, who has mysterious powers.

Cronin talked about vampires, his inspiration for “The Passage” and readers’ reaction to his book in a recent interview.

AP: How is your daughter responsible for the book?

Cronin: It was her dare. In the fall of 2005 my daughter was 8. I was kind of wondering what to do next and she came to me and she said she thought I should write a book — in her words — “about a girl that saves the world and that it should be interesting.” I think every interesting thing a man does in his life, he probably does to impress a girl, and so I wrote this book to impress my daughter.

AP: Why vampires?

Cronin: Vampires were really sort of the vehicle for what I wanted to do but I always liked vampire stories. I grew up on a steady diet of vampires. There’s a sense that vampires are the monsters of the moment. There’s a lot of vampire novels, television shows, movies, but the truth is they’ve never gone away and every generation reinvents the vampire narrative to suit its anxieties and tastes.

READ MORE HERE

Cronenberg Heads Back To Science Fiction Territory With An Adaptation Of Jonathan Lethem’s As She Climbed Across The Table

Source: criterioncast.com

With two films already on his plate, it looks like David Cronenberg (Videodrome, Naked Lunch, Dead Ringers), one to never take much of a break, is looking to fill his schedule out for a while.

According to Pajiba, the filmmaker is set to not only return to sci-fi, but also the romance genre, with an adaptation of the 1997 hit Jonathan Lethem novel, As She Climbed Across The Table.

The story follows a scientist whose relationship with a fellow physicist falls apart after he, Phillip, becomes infatuated with a vacuum of nothingness known as Lack. The film sounds completely and utterly Cronenbergian, not only in its sci-fi tones, but as seen with films like Crash, director Cronenberg seems to have a dark view of romance.

READ MORE HERE

Dr. Strange To Be First Marvel Movie For The Magic Kingdom

Source: examiner.com

Yes everyone’s favorite Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Strange is being developed as a live-action flick by Disney/Marvel. The team of Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer has been tapped for the script chore—these are the same guys who wrote the script for the new Conan movie.

Dr. Strange first appeared in Strange Tales #110 (1963), and was created by Amazing Spider-Man creators, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. As reported on Wikipedia, historian Bradford W. Wright describes Ditko’s work in his book Comic Book Nation: Transformation of a Youth Culture; “He [Ditko] contributed some of his most surrealistic work to the comic book and gave it a disorienting, hallucinogenic quality. Dr. Strange’s adventures take place in bizarre worlds and twisting dimensions that resembled Salvador Dali paintings. … Inspired by the pulp-fiction magicians of Stan Lee’s childhood as well as by contemporary Beat culture. Dr. Strange remarkably predicted the youth counterculture’s fascination with Eastern mysticism and psychedelia. Never among Marvel’s more popular or accessible characters, Dr. Strange still found a niche among an audience seeking a challenging alternative to more conventional superhero fare.”

READ MORE HERE

What do you think of today’s movie news?

Join us in the forum to discuss!

From thedaonline.com

With the beginning of a new decade, it’s difficult to ignore the number of books being adapted for the silver screen.

This will be a big year for books making it to the big screen. The leader of the pack is the powerhouse of the movement: Nicolas Sparks.

Sparks is known for his sappy, romantic novels making their move from paper to reel ever since the hit “Message in a Bottle.”

In 2010, Sparks has two books coming to life, eager to join the hits that have been “The Notebook” and “A Walk to Remember.” Both painfully romantic novels that audiences watch over and over.

It is also a big year for series and sagas moving from books to film such as “The Twilight Saga” and “The Cronicles of Narnia.”
Stephanie Meyer’s hit saga will release it’s third film adaptation from her third book, “Eclipse,” June 30.

Meyer’s books have had a cult following since the release of the first “Twilight” in 2005.

“Eclipse” was the fourth best-selling book of 2008 behind only “Twilight,” “New Moon” and “Breaking Dawn.”

“Eclipse” is the third installment of the saga starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson and is expected to join “Twilight” and “New Moon” status of box office gold upon it’s release.

“Eclipse” is the story of the ongoing Bella and Edward twisted romance, only this time around they must deal with the cult of the “newborn vampires” and Victoria seeking revenge for her love James who Edward killed.

Nicholas Sparks ‘Dear John’ hit theatres February 5th and the third installment of the Narnia series, ‘Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ comes out December 10th.

Of course, I’m extremely excited for ‘Eclipse’, who isn’t?? June can not come soon enough, but what would pacify me, is a TRAILER! Heck, I would accept some still shots of the finished product! You hear me, David

This week’s Poll is centered around fiction novels and/or series, that has been made into a movie! There are so many these days, and not all are great, but we have listed some of the better novels/movies! Choose based on the book as well as the movie adaptation!

Wednesday October 14th Poll

• Harry Potter Series
• Circque du Freak
• Alice in Wonderland
• I am Legend
• Watchmen
• 30 Days of Night
• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians
• The Chronicles of Narnia
• The Twilight Saga
• Lord of the Rings
• Where the Wild Things Are

I voted for Harry Potter Series, no don’t kill me Twifans. I voted based on the books and movies. JK Rowling did something extraordinary when she wrote this story, something completely new and different! All 6 movies have been amazing, true to the book and the characters, and we still have 2 more to go! This will be the biggest book to movie franchaise in history, and I’m glad I get to be a part of that history

You can VOTE right here on the News Blog, just look to your right >> and under “POLLS” is the question along with the answers, just click one and view the results!!

If you would like to discuss this more, and give your reasons why you choose who you did, please come join the fun debate on the OBS Forums.

Also check back with OBS every Wednesday, and get to answer the “Poll of Week”!!

Want to view the results of our previous polls, like who was named the “Favorite True Blood Character”, “Favorite Wolf-pack member”, or “Who is your favorite Vampire”? You can check them out HERE

by Laura McKnight on dailycomet.com

J.K. Rowling’s uber-popular ‘Harry Potter’ series has long conjured up controversy among Christians, with the loudest critics decrying the books as a dangerous gateway into the occult and other practices considered evil. Other Christians view the young wizard’s tales as harmless entertainment, even morally beneficial.

But Denise Roper of Houma belongs to a growing group of believers who view Potter as not just harmless, but rife with Christian themes and obvious parallels to the story of Christ.
After the last Potter book, “you’d have to be blind not to see it,” Roper said.

The local band director and fantasy-fiction fan hopes to help others see both the overt and subtle Christian elements of the hit series with her book, ‘The Lord of the Hallows: Christian Symbolism and Themes in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter’.

In her book, Roper compares Christian themes found in ‘Harry Potter’ with those found in J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and C.S. Lewis’ ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ series.
This includes medieval symbolism and battles pitting good versus evil used in all three series and the idea of the series’ major characters serving as Christ figures. Roper also includes parallels between ‘Harry Potter’ and Arthurian tales.

To read more HERE

It’s not the first time I hear about this – comparing Christian themes to mystery novels like ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’. But in my opinion all is compared to everything – and there are not only christian things in the books – there are also other symbols of other cultures and religions. What do you think about the idea to write a book about this? Do you agree with Denise Roper and will you read her book?