As you may have heard, some legal battles have arisen involving the much-anticipated movie adaptation of the comic book, Watchmen.

So what’s really going on?

Well, basically, a federal judge has granted Fox permission to take Warner Bros. to court for not gaining Fox’s permission to make Watchmen in the first place. Fox has apparently has held the rights to make a Watchmen movie for 22 years with no luck actually making it themselves. Warner seems to think all is fine and legal, so to battle they go.

Properties that are obtained by studios, but ultimately don’t get made by said studio are usually picked up by other studios (Fox failed, Warner picked it up. On we go.), but the original studio will still hang onto something in case the movie gets turned into a juggernaut. In this case, Fox tried and failed to make Watchmen, now WB is doing it and getting A LOT of attention in the process, so Fox is pissed and doesn’t want to be made a fool…

It comes as a total shock to me to find out that there is a 3 1/2-minute pilot on YouTube of an animated Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show.

It comes as a further shock that I have not thought of this in my dreams. It is a natural progression, considering the fact that there has been the movie, TV series, comics, and more. And the worst shock of all is that the series was apparently turned down by every TV studio that Joss Whedon and co-creator Jeph Loeb took it too.

However, since it has been leaked to YouTube, there is an online petition (that you have to sign up to sign) that, as of writing this, stands at just 1,184 signatures. But given the popularity of Buffy, especially among the internet community, this is sure to climb.

Watch it here while it lasts…

I’ve never seen an episode of Red Dwarf. I don’t even really have a clue what it is, aside from that it’s British and kinda weird looking. But I have a friend who loves it very dearly and it’s pretty popular, so I figured it’s worth sharing this news.

Red Dwarf cast member Robert Llewellyn made an announcement at the KTCS9 20th Anniversary shindig that a new one-hour special has been commissioned by the BBC Worldwide.

No word on the storyline, but the script is in its final stages.

The project should start filming in October 2008…

Of all the filmmakers that have had cults spring up around them, from M. Night Shyamalan apologists to people who think Michael Bay is the savior we’ve been waiting for, none have deserved it any less that Uwe Boll. He found out one day that he had talent in the negative integers, and tried turning THAT into a marketing ploy. But even at this level of self-awareness, he gets all bent out of shape and starts fights (both verbal and physical) with people who don’t automatically agree with the sub-amateur shit he opts to pump out. At the drop of a hat, he turns into a kind of Teutonic Yosemite Sam.

So, sure enough, a bunch of quasi-retarded, uber-ironic film geeks have surrounded him, calling him “honest” and “a rogue.” In the Cult of Boll, the actual movies he makes become secondary. Wow… I guess you can’t underestimate the power of stupid people in medium-sized groups, either…

Universal told AICN that Danny Elfman will be taking care of the score for the upcoming new version of The Wolfman, which stars Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins, and Hugo Weaving. It’s directed by Joe Johnston.

I’m not 100% sure what to expect in this announcement as the footage I saw didn’t really seem like an Elfman project, but I think so long as it’s not Beetlejuice-y, it could be good. Maybe more along the lines of Big Fish and Edward Scissorhands?

The movie is slated for an April 3, 2009 release.

For those who haven’t seen the sneaky footage, check it out…

Rivals Lung and Tan have been at each other for years, trying to best the other in everything from martial arts skills to festival competitions. When Tan invites Lung to his home, only to show off what will be his entry in this year’s lantern competition, Lung is jealous and humbled. But when Tan brings out a local prostitute in front of Lung and his wife, who Lung has been secretly seeing, Lung is humiliated. Vowing revenge, Lung turns to a master lantern craftsman (Shaw Brothers legend Lo Lieh) to construct a lantern guaranteed to win the competition.

Meanwhile, a psychotic madman with a mastery over monkey-style kung fu has vowed to take away everything that is precious to Tan and Lung. Dressed in black and donning a skull mask, the madman begins to kidnap women including Tan’s sister and Lung’s wife. Tan and Lung at once begin to suspect each other, and bring in the local police to place blame on one another. The police begin to search for clues, hoping to find the women still alive, unaware the kidnapped victims have already been skinned alive to be used as material for the madman’s dazzling lanterns.

Mixing the expected incredible martial arts choreography that the Shaw Brothers are known for with the rising desire for macabre subject matter of the early eighties, director Sun Chung (The Sexy Killer, The Avenging Eagle) along with co-writer Ni Kuang, who has written pretty much every worthwhile Shaw Brothers title since the mid 1960s, created what would become one of the studio’s most sought after cult films…

Rumors that 62 year old actress Cher was in discussions to play the role of Catwoman in a third Batman movie, to be directed by Christopher Nolan, have turned out to be entirely false. The rumor, which was started by the Telegraph on Sunday, stated that Cher was in talks, and that she would join a cast including Jonny Depp as the Riddler…

Something interesting has come about today on MySpace in the trailer for Fast & Furious, the fourth movie in The Fast and the Furious franchise, which you can watch right here.

Vin Diesel and Paul Walker reteam for the ultimate chapter of the franchise built on speed—Fast & Furious. Heading back to the streets where it all began, they rejoin Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster to blast muscle, tuner and exotic cars across Los Angeles and floor through the Mexican desert in the new high-octane action-thriller.

When a crime brings them back to L.A. , fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto (Diesel) reignites his feud with agent Brian O’Conner (Walker). But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmanuever him. And from convoy heists to precision tunnel crawls across international lines, two men will find the best way to get revenge: push the limits of what’s possible behind the wheel…

Blame it on Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, but Columbia Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures announced last Thursday that Quantum of Solace, the second Daniel Craig-led James Bond film, will be pushed back a week to November 14, 2008, due to the decision to push Harry Potter back to mid-2009.

“We saw the film recently in London and Marc Forster, Daniel Craig and the entire team at EON have truly delivered another extraordinary Bond adventure,” said Jeff Blake, Chairman of Worldwide Marketing and Distribution for the Columbia Tristar Motion Picture Group.

“Quantum of Solace is a seamless continuation of the storyline that began with the last film. We believe November 14th is a great date that allows us to play straight through Thanksgiving and right into Christmas…

It’s been five years since Metallica‘s last studio album, St. Anger, and nearly two decades since the band’s original fans have been satisfied with Metallica’s musical offerings.

With their upcoming ninth studio effort, Death Magnetic, due out September 12, 2008, the Bay Area original masters of metal will seek to recapture the magic of their 1986 multi-platinum Master of Puppets.

To help them with this endeavor, Metallica ditched long-time producer Bob Rock in favor of Rick Rubin, the mastermind behind Jay Z’s hit single “99 Problems,” The Dixie Chicks’ Taking the Long Way and its controversial award-winning “Not Ready To Make Nice,” and Johnny Cash’s American IV: The Man Comes Around, which contained the popular cover of Nine Inch Nail’s “Hurt.” Rubin was also the one who came up with the idea in 1986 for Run DMC and Aerosmith to do a rap/rock hybrid of the latter artist’s classic rock tune, “Walk This Way,” which topped the charts and helped propel rap music into the mainstream.

That small sample of Rubin’s 33-year career in music producing should tell you that the man has the Midas Touch. But will Rubin’s golden touch shine through on Metallica’s Death Magnetic? …

No, I’m not referring to some technical glitch, but simply the past few days in the Stargate universe (wait for the pun). Last Thursday, we reported (on my birthday of all days!) that Stargate Atlantis had been canceled. SCI FI Channel also announced that they would be making a tele-movie, but still, one of my favorite series was canceled.

One of the benefits of that though, was the opening for Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, co-creators of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis to begin work on the third Stargate series.

And it was announced late last week, that SCI FI Channel and MGM Television Entertainment had reached an agreement to begin production on Stargate Universe (pun achieved!).

“SCI FI has enjoyed tremendous success with Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis and we’re proud to be the home of the new Stargate Universe,” said Mark Stern, Executive Vice President, Original Programming for SCI FI & Co-Head Original Content, Universal Cable Productions…

IESB spoke to Jodi Benson — who voiced Ariel in The Little Mermaid and also did the voice for Tour Guide Barbie in Toy Story 2 — about Toy Story 3.

Benson confirmed that Mr. Michael Keaton himself will be joining the cast as a Ken doll to her Barbie.

Keaton played the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton’s 1989 feature Batman and its 1992 sequel Batman Returns, as well as the title role in Burton’s Beetlejuice. In recent years, the actor starred in the horror film White Noise and played Lindsey Lohan’s father in Disney’s Herbie: Fully Loaded. He also voiced Chick in Disney’s Cars.

Original cast returning includes Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as the required Buzz and Woody, along with Wallace Shawn as Rex, John Ratzenberger as Hamm, Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, Estelle Harris as Mrs. Potato Head, and Joan Cusack as Jessie…

Far be it from me to ignore past inaccuracies in my own predictions, but it looks like Tropic Thunder has managed to hold on to its top spot at the box office for the weekend of August 22-24. Starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr., Thunder managed to come away with a $16.1 million this weekend, dropping 37% from last week.

Two newcomers arrived in at spots two and three, respectively, making a complete moron of me and my prediction that The Dark Knight would hit back up to number one this weekend. The House Bunny and Death Race came in respectively at two and three, with $27.3 million between them.

The two big geek movies still at theatres, TDK and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, came in at four and five respectively…

I’ve found myself less than enthused about some of the games I’ve reviewed in the past, which is not to say I can’t get any excitement out of myself, but when offered the chance to review Soul Calibur IV, well let’s just say I jumped at the opportunity. Needless to say, I am in love with this game. It’s just incredibly fun, jam-packed with features, easy enough for rookies like me to enjoy, but deep enough for the hardest of hard core fighting fans to get into. There’s no point where this game fails, and I just don’t see myself getting sick of it for a long time.

We’ll start with the easiest thing to compliment, the graphics. This is just a jaw-droppingly gorgeous game, and at no point does the game slow down during fighting. The character design is a step above every other game to come out in a while. Just the way the characters move is a thing of beauty, and there’s a layer of polish on the whole game that just impressed the hell out of me. I did see a few instances of some graphical glitches, but they were really only in the cinematic scenes before and after the fight. The impressive thing about the story scenes though, is that they’re all rendered in real time by the games engine, and they still look great. It even inserted the character I created into the story, which I was not really expecting…

After the film Notting Hill was released, I had a business trip to London. When I asked a good friend if there was anything she’d like me to get her while I was there, she had one request: “a picture of the blue door from William’s flat in Notting Hill.” She wanted to frame it and put it in her bathroom, which was also blue. It seemed like a simple enough request, and a quick search of the internet revealed the location. Unfortunately, it was all for naught, because once I finally got there, the famous blue door was now black. Just for fun, I decided to see how many other sites from the movie I could find… and quickly got very lost.

Enter Movie London by Tony Reeves.

This meticulous guide is jam-packed with hundreds of movie filming locations throughout London, both past and present. Everything from the obvious (James Bond, Harry Potter) to the obscure (Laughter in Paradise, The Nine Ages of Nakedness) is represented. For the movie buff traveling to London, few guide books could be as indispensable.

The good news is that the guide is very well organized, taking London region by region and detailing anything of movie-related interest that happened there. Handy maps lay out exactly the route you need to take to see all the sites, and small black & white photos help you to make sure you’ve found the right spot (more important sites get color photos in an 8-page inset)…