Today’s Goldbox spotlight item of the day over at Amazon is the Burn Notice: Seasons 1-2 on DVD for only $39.99 (that’s 60% off the list price of $98.98).

This is the Season 1 and 2 DVD bundled together for the hit USA series starring Jeffrey Donovan as a Michael, a spy who was given a “burn notice,” which means that he’s been blacklisted from intelligence work and has lost his work history, money, and even identity. Michael lives in Miami, where he takes on freelance work while trying to find out who burned him. Helping Michael out is his pyro happy ex-girlfriend Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), as well as another intelligence agent, Sam, (Bruce Campbell), Michael’s only connection with the spy world [...]

Fox 2000 has pushed forward a seven-figure deal with screenwriter John Logan to script a movie based on the Jordan Ainsley (pen name of Justin Cronin) vampire novel, The Passage. The project is being developed as a possible directing vehicle for Ridley Scott, which would re-team him with Logan, who co-wrote the script for his Oscar-winning epic, Gladiator, with David Franzoni and William Nicholson.

The book is part of a three-book series that Fox 2000 purchased for an equally large sum a couple of years ago. This leads to the potential for a trilogy of films if the first finds success. The real challenge lies in the length of the first book, which runs 1,200 pages. Though Ainsley did sell the book based only on the first 400 pages and an outline, so it must have really impressed some people.

The Passage is of the vampire genre, which some may feel is too over-done, but to its credit, the story is a fairly unique and fresh take. It tells of a group of terminally ill people who are bitten by bats in South America, and miraculously recover from their sickness to full health. [...]

I know I’m not the only one looking forward to the October 27, 2009 release date of The Gathering Storm, the first posthumous novel in Robert Jordan’s massive Wheel of Time series (the book was co-written by Brandon Sanderson).

On this day, the second anniversary of the author’s death, Tor Books has blessed us by releasing the first chapter of The Gathering Storm on their webpage. If you go to Tor.com and register (registering is free), you too can read the first chapter.

The chapter, titled “Tears of Steel,” starts as every other Wheel of Time book begins, with the familiar phrase “The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.” [...]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 comic book series (Dark Horse) will tentatively conclude at issue #41, according to editor Scott Allie, who sat on a Dark Horse Comics panel at Dragon*Con 2009 earlier this month.

While Allie kept mum on all future plot details, he did say the final story arc would be a four-issue run written by Brad Meltzer (DC’s Identity Crisis mini series, Justice League of America) with art by series regular Georges Jeanty.

Buffy head honcho Joss Whedon will follow up the Meltzer/Jeanty run to tie up loose ends and set the stage for Season 9.

“We will do a Season 9 but there will be a break after Season 8 [ends],” Allie said, with no indication of how long the duration of the break would be.

Allie also said Season 9 could have a different editorial approach, possibly having one creative team as opposed to the rotating crop of writers and artists that was done in Season 8 [...]

Today’s Goldbox spotlight item of the day over at Amazon is the Led Zeppelin Definitive Collection Box Set for only $99.99 (that’s 50% off the list price of $199.98).

This CD collection contains all 9 Led Zeppelin studios albums, as well as a remastered edition of the two-disc film soundtrack The Song Remains the Same, including bonus tracks. The Led Zeppelin 40th Anniversary Cardboard Sleeve Reissue Series features advanced cardboard sleeve replicas of the original UK E-style album jackets, plus six bonus cardboard sleeves including five alternate jackets for In Through The Out Door and one alternate jacket for Led Zeppelin I utilizing the original ink. From what the reviews on the site say, Led Zeppelin III even has the spinning wheel!

So, that’s 10 albums — with one double live album — for basically 10 bucks a piece, and with that you get the bonus tracks and the awesome packaging. And do I really need to convince you that buying a Led Zeppelin box set is a good idea? C’mon now. In case you didn’t know, they’re only one of the greatest rock bands of all time. All of their albums have all of their original members on them (and what a line up it was) — Robert Plant (vocals), Jimmy Page (guitars), John Paul Jones (bass, organ), and John Bonham (drums) [...]

Today marks the release of author Dan Brown‘s new book The Lost Symbol, the highly anticipated sequel to his best-seller The Da Vinci Code. The good folks over at Doubleday have provided Geeks of Doom one copy of the novel to give away to one lucky reader!

One (1) winner will receive:
– One (1) copy of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol

What do you have to do to get a chance to win? Glad you asked ’cause it’s really easy. Just make sure you’re a subscriber to our email digest, and then go ahead and fill out the handy dandy form below. Done.

Good luck!

TO ENTER: There’s just two simple steps: (1) Make sure you’re subscribed to the Geeks of Doom email digest. If you’re not then click here and sign up. (If you’re already a subscriber, then go right to the next step.) (2) Fill out the entry form [...]

Steven Spielberg has been trying to make a movie called Lincoln for quite some time now, but to no avail. He even had Liam Neeson attached to star as Abe, but all of those complicated little components to a film’s production became a little too big and the project has been stalled out since then. In what you would think might make things even worse for Spielberg, Robert Redford has announced that he’s now making his own Lincoln movie called The Conspirator, which will begin filming soon, and stars James McAvoy and Robin Wright Penn. Of course, you’d be wrong.

No, it’s actually quite the contrary — Mr. Spielberg is thrilled with this news and welcomes Redford’s movie with open arms. The reason? There are a couple. Most important of all is obvious: the eyes. Spielberg hopes that people seeing this new movie will open more doors for his movie to get the backing that it needs. He also believes that there is plenty of stories to be told about the legendary president, and that his is completely different from theirs. [...]

One of the gaping blemishes that was staring at us in Seth Rogen‘s The Green Hornet, was that it looked like Nicolas Cage was going to be signing on as the villain in the movie. Cage’s star has steadily declined over the years, and though he does still have shining moments, more often than not, his effect is of the negative type.

Now comes word from Nikki Finke that not only is Cage stepping away from this project, but that Inglourious Basterd favorite Christoph Waltz has now been cast in his place, playing the role of Chudnofsky. Waltz is a relatively unknown here in the States, but with his eye-catching turn as Nazi Colonel Hans Landa in Basterds — a role that already has most saying will snag him an Oscar nomination — this is huge step up from Cage. And even though he’s not instantly-recognizable here, keep in mind that Waltz has almost 100 IMDB listings dating back to 1977 (mostly in foreign productions), so he has all kinds of experience in his trade. [...]

It feels like it has been a week since any news that didn’t involve Disney has come out. The Mouse House recently held their D23 Expo and a flood of announcements were made, including some new information on the highly anticipated sequels Toy Story 3 and Cars 2.

Toy Story 3 basically just made a bunch of casting announcements. /Film picked up on some Tweets from director Lee Unkrich and Disney that revealed that John Morris, the boy who voiced Andy in Toy Story and Toy Story 2, has been cast once again in the role, which now sees Andy as an 18-year-old young man. Also added to the cast is a great collection of names, some of which are Pixar veterans. Lending their voices once again will be Bonnie Hunt (A Bug’s Life/Cars/Monsters Inc., Jerry Maguire) and Jeff Garlin (Wall-E, Curb Your Enthusiasm); while new to the Pixar dance is Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost) and Timothy Dalton (Hot Fuzz), who will apparently be playing someone named Mr. Pricklepants. [...]

CBS News is reporting that Patrick Swayze, best known for his many works on screens big and small, has succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of 57. His family was by his side when he passed on.

Swayze’s illness, much like the late Farrah Fawcett, was highly publicized and many people watched on as the actor made every effort to beat this impossible sickness. When it was first reported that he had the disease, he was only given an unbelievable two weeks to live — this was two years ago; proof positive that he fought tooth and nail with all his heart and soul overcome the odds, even continuing to work on shows like The Beast, which earned him a multitude of critical acclaim.

Patrick Swayze is perhaps best known for his many roles ’80s. He first made an impact with his roles in the gang fighting movie The Outsiders and the pre-World War III drama Red Dawn. His then moved onto movies like Dirty Dancing, Road House, and Ghost, which made the man a huge star in the business. Since then, he was seen in the action favorite Point Break, To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar, Black Dog, and Donnie Darko. [...]

If you got the reference in the title, you’re awesome and we’re putting you right up on the fridge.

Many of us cool kids are children of the ’80s, and as such, one of the greatest forms of entertainment ever to be created, is the Muppets. The Muppets are a creation of the late genius Jim Henson, who built an army of funny and lovable puppet characters who appeared in a countless amount of TV shows, specials, movies, music videos, cartoons, and everything in between. As life moved on and new generations of kids showed up, the Muppets faded off slowly, but never completely disappeared, making delightful cameo appearances on shows and events from time to time. But now, thanks to the massive Disney D23 Expo, we’ve learned that the Muppets are coming back in a big way, and their ready to take over the world again!

Back in March of 2008, we learned that we would finally be getting a brand new Muppet movie, with Forgetting Sarah Marshall team Jason Segel and Nick Stoller joining the Jim Henson Company to write and direct a new movie. [...]

As you may have noticed, our video team on the scene (I just made that up — gold star for me), Doug E. Karate and Rob E. Danger did a fantastic job of finding interesting things and people at Dragon*Con ’09 and showcasing them for all who didn’t attend to see.

This time around we have three pretty epic videos for you to enjoy — two interviews, and even an in-depth lesson in the Gothic culture. The first chat is with a woman talks about how she fell in love with The Green Lantern while watching the cartoons in Spanish growing up, and who even attended the convention dressed as a Lantern herself. Next up, you’ll meet a real, live inventor who brought along one of his creations. I can’t honestly tell you what it is or what it does, but it does throws a bunch of random phrases at you. The contraption is rather big and hangs around our new friend’s neck as he strolls. It actually kind of looks like an ’80s computer and a calculator had a romantic romp inside Jeff Goldblum’s The Fly machine, and then was teleported via the ship from Galaxy Quest, resulting in some form of inside-out electronic device. [...]

Yahoo! Movies has put out a new teaser trailer for the Robert Zemeckis motion capture holiday remake of Charles Dickens‘ A Christmas Carol. It was just announced that Zemeckis would be giving this treatment to a remake of the 1968 Beatles’ movie, Yellow Submarine, so this trailer is an instant example of what can be done using the technology.

The movie stars Jim Carrey multi-tasking like a mad man, filling the roles of Ebenezer Scrooge, and the three ghosts: the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come. It of course tells the classic tale of a wicked, greedy, bitter old man who’s cruel to all who interact with him. One holiday season, his wretched treatment of others goes too far and eventually sees him visited by three ghosts who take him on a trip through time, observing his entire life in hopes that this outside perspective of himself will alter how he treats others. [...]

A new extended trailer for The Twilight Saga: New Moon debuted tonight on the MTV Video Music Awards show.

Watch the trailer here below. Note, it’s a not so great youtube version for now, because the video MTV posted says ‘no longer available’ (does that make sense? No, no it doesn’t). Anyhow, when a better quality version surfaces, we’ll post it.

The film’s stars, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, came out to introduce the new trailer, which shows more of the Volturi vampires, and a lot more of the New Moon story — somewhat spoiler-ish if you ask me [...]

Disney has been making some big announcements lately: their acquisition of Marvel Studios; a partnership with the great Guillermo del Toro; the motion capture remake of Yellow Submarine; and now this, the officially announcement of the title for Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

The fourth movie in one of the biggest movie franchises of all time will now be called Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (click image for full title graphic). The flick is locked and loaded with crucial Johnny Depp set to return as Jack Sparrow. To lower the budget a bit, both Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley will not be returning, unless they appear in small cameos.

Also expected to return is Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa, but this is not confirmed yet. The high hopes is that the Fountain of Youth storyline set up at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End will be used here. It also appears that there is a book titled On Stranger Tides that does involve the Fountain, so questions have also arisen as to if this will be the source material for the fourth film. [...]

Another significant announcement made by Disney at their D23 Expo was a confirmation to rumors that director Robert Zemeckis would be writing and directing a remake of The Beatles’ 1968 animated movie, Yellow Submarine.

The 1968 cartoon followed the legendary band as they traveled via the bright-colored submarine to Pepperland, a beautiful world inhabited by friendly, music-loving people that has tragically been taken over by the music-hating Blue Meanies, who have frozen all who live there and destroyed all of the beauty and music. The Beatles are employed to help out and use their music try and take Pepperland back and bring joy to the people once again. Yellow Submarine certainly has to be in the discussion of the most trippy movies ever made.

Instead of the cartoon style they used in ’68, this new version will be in true Robert Zemeckis stylem using the motion-capture technology that he’s found so much success with in previous movies like The Polar Express and Beowulf, as well as the upcoming A Christmas Carol. [...]

Walt Disney Studios made some big announcements yesterday at their D23 Expo. One of which is the reveal that they have entered into a collaboration with none other than visual genius Guillermo del Toro, and will be launching a special new production label called Double Dare You. The goal for this new label: create a slew of new animated feature films for people of all ages, that are a lot more on the dark and scary side of things. The projects will all be overseen and produced by del Toro — who originally came up with the concept and design of the label — with some even being directed by him personally.

This is fantastic news for fans of animated movies. Guillermo del Toro is the absolute king of visually sensational cinema, and to have his hand and his style going into some darker animated films could be truly wonderful. It would be expected that the movies will have something of a Monster House feel to them. [...]

Back in March we received the excellent news that film making masterminds Joel and Ethan Coen would be making a new movie based on the 1968 story by Charles Portis, True Grit (Read: Coen Brothers To Return ‘True Grit’ To The Screen). The story went on to become a 1969 movie starring John Wayne, which netted the legendary actor an Oscar. The first actor whose name has been attached to the project is none other than the Dude himself, Jeff Bridges. Bridges is currently in talks with Paramount to reunite with his Big Lebowski directors and appear in the movie as Rooster Cogburn — the same Academy Award winning role that Wayne played.

The movie follows a 14-year old girl whose father is murdered by his hired hand. She employs the assistance of an infamous old drunk of a U.S. Marshal named Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn (Bridges), who obtains honest and true grit (ta-da!), to track the killer down and get her revenge. The original film followed Wayne’s character, but it is expected that this new movie will be more book-faithful and follow the young girl [...]

Mike Dougherty‘s (writer of X2, Superman Returns) Trick ‘r Treat has been around for a few years now. It was originally slated for release in 2007, it had a good buzz about it, and of the few things there were to see from it, it looked really fun. Sadly, for some reason, something wasn’t working in the mechanics of the project, and it has pretty much been delayed and delayed again since then. The movie never really recovered from this severe mishandling, and instead of being released wide in theaters, it will simply just be put out on DVD on October 6, 2009. Below, you’ll find a brand new HD trailer for the movie. If you haven’t seen a trailer yet, it’s a must watch for fanatics of the Halloween season and of horror movies alike.

While this is semi-good for those who have been waiting for ages to see the movie, it’s also very unfortunate for those involved. We live in a world where really great horror movies are an endangered species, and most horror releases are watered down and genetically modified to adhere to a younger audience that doesn’t even know how to appreciate good horror. Many of the best names and sites who really know their horror rave about Trick ‘r Treat, and as you’ll see, put it among some good company. It’s a movie that fans of the genre just can’t help but be excited to see — I know I’m twitching to finally check it out. [...]

The plus side to having everyone dress in elaborate costumes for an extended weekend is that it gives the fairer of the genders a reason to adopt the likenesses of their favorite fictional characters — even if that means causing them to go half naked and/or require the application of mass body paint. I’m not [...]