The Neverending Story
Blu-ray Edition
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen
Starring Noah Hathaway, Barret Oliver, Tami Stronach, Moses Gunn, Thomas Hill
Warner Bros Home Entertainment
Release date: March 2, 2010

The Neverending Story was one of the movies that was constantly playing in the background of my childhood. I was 2-years-old when it was released in 1984 and I had no idea I would be referencing it way off into the year 2000 and beyond. Something about the film has always been magical to me and appealed to my inner child ever since my initial viewing.

Based on the German novel of the same name by Michael Ende, the film was directed by Wolfgang Petersen and centers around a boy named Bastian (Barret Oliver) from our world and a boy named Atreyu (Noah Hathaway) from the fantasy world of Fantasia. Bastian is a troubled young boy who is reeling from the recent loss of his mother. He’s not like the other kids who are more likely to frequent the local video arcade than the library. Bastian is a bookworm who often uses literature to escape his real life sorrows. One day while being accosted by bullies on his way to school, he hides in a bookstore, where he finds Mr. Koreander (Thomas Hill), a grumpy bookseller. Bastian is curious about one of the books he sees, but Mr. Koreander warns him it’s “not safe.” Unafraid, Bastian steals the book and races towards school where he proceeds to hide in the school’s attic and begins his journey into “The Neverending Story.” [...]

Neil Patrick Harris has been cast in Sony’s upcoming movie version of The Smurfs. The movie will do what most movies do when turning popular nostalgia cartoons into feature films, which is go with a half live-action, half CGI presentation. Harris will be providing the voice of the lead Smurf in the film, so he will not actually be physically appearing in the flick.

Harris, is one of the more popular actors working today. After bursting onto the scene as a child actor on Doogie Howser, M.D., he disappeared from the spotlight for a while doing a lot of lower-key projects [...]

Comedy Central has confirmed what we’ve all been waiting to hear: Futurama will officially be back on your TV sets on June 24 of this year!

To catch everyone lost in the dark up: back in 2003, 20th Century Fox was silly and canceled a little show called Futurama way before it should have been canceled…as they have been known to do on occasion. Since the show was killed off, its fans have continued to scrape and claw any way that they could in order to try and convince someone to bring the show back. At first these efforts seemed futile, but after another Fox show, Family Guy, proved that it can be done, these pleas have consistently grown stronger and stronger.

Fans of Futurama were convincing enough to persuade the studio into giving the animated sci-fi series one more shot in the form of four straight-to-DVD movies. Bender’s Big Score, The Beast with a Billion Backs, Bender’s Game, and Into the Wild Green Yonder eventually were born and released into the world; and to our pure elation, they did just well enough to force those Suits into a few meetings that lead to the decision to give the show one 26-episode season. [...]

Two very cool items to report tonight regarding The Runaways movie.

First, there’s the final theatrical movie poster. Check it out there at right (click for larger, full view). It’s basically one of the previously released images of Dakota Fanning at Cherie Currie and Kirsten Stewart as Joan Jett. But, it’s one bad-ass picture!

This movie poster image also makes an appearance in the second Runaways news of the night — the full, theatrical trailer! It’s online right now and you can watch it right here below! In the trailer, there’s a quick shot of the two characters in the scene from the poster.

This new trailer gives us a lot more insight on the film, a biopic about the 1970s all-girl teenage rock band, The Runaways. We see a little bit about Joan Jett’s early ambition to start an all-girl rock band, and Cherie Currie’s desire to make a change in her life.

I talked a bit about the movie’s soundtrack earlier this evening [read Listen Now: Dakota Fanning Sings ‘Cherry Bomb’ On ‘Runaways’ Soundtrack for more about the soundtrack and how to hear a song from the album]. The soundtrack contains several Runaways covers, with Fanning and Stewart providing the vocals. In the new trailer, you hear “Cherry Bomb,” which was in the teaser trailer, and for the first time, two other songs: “California Paradise” and “Dead End Justice.” [...]

Last week, the details were released regarding The Runaways soundtrack, which includes some great ’70s tunes, as well as original versions and covers of Runaways songs [see New TV Spot, Pics & Soundtrack Details For ‘The Runaways’].

Now, one of the album’s tracks is streaming online for free at the official Runaways movie site. When you visit the site, you’ll immediately here “Cherry Bomb,” the band’s most popular song; in this case, it’s the movie version sung by Dakota Fanning, who stars in the upcoming film as singer Cherie Currie, with backing vocals by Kristen Stewart, who plays guitarist/singer Joan Jett.

I’ve already read some trashing of Fanning for the song from the Twitter critics, but being the lifelong Runaways fan that I am, I think you should probably take my word above others — Fanning does a good job and this version is definitely enjoyable. I’ve listened to it probably 30 times already. I mean, c’mon, it’s ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb! [...]

Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie
Paperback
By Mark Millar, Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman
Art by John Romita Jr.
Titan Books
Release date: February 23, 2010

F*ck Crime! Kick-Ass.

I’ve been a Kick-Ass fan since before the first issue of the comic hit stands way back in February of 2008. The first viral marketing campaign for the comic was brilliant and it had me excited for the book even before it debuted. The dream team of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. didn’t hurt either. The awesomeness of the comic lead to a movie deal and the rest (we will soon see) is going to be history. Whether the movie catches on with mainstream audiences is yet to be seen, but it sure looks like it was a fun film to make.

Those fine fellows over at Titan Books sent us a copy of Kick-Ass Creating the Comic, Making the Movie and I couldn’t be more thrilled. At first glance you might dismiss the book as being little more than a lame movie-tie in whose sole purpose is to pilfer your wallets, but you’d be sorely mistaken. The book is so much more than that. It does a nice job of satisfying fans of all sorts. The comic fans will enjoy the insights from creators Millar and Romita and the film crowd will be salivating over on-set photos and film stills [...]

The Walt Disney Company has been very busy lately, and they’re looking to keep that going by capitalizing on some upcoming feature films set in the worlds of Tron and Marvel’s The Avengers.

On December 17, 2010, Tron: Legacy will be released in theaters. Disney has decided to use the constantly-growing buzz around this return to Tron to develop a brand new animated TV series to air on the Disney Channel. The show will be aimed at kids aged 6-14, and a 10-part animated mini-series of episodes will begin airing in the Fall of 2011 to set the actual series up.

Disney also announced a second new animated TV series, this time using their massive acquisition of Marvel to reach out to the eyes of younger viewers. The show will be called The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and will be aired this upcoming Fall. The plan is to have this show build up even more excitement, especially in younger audiences, for Marvel’s last three films, which includes The Last Avenger: Captain America, Thor, and The Avengers. [...]

Beyond Wonderland #0-1
Story by Ralph Tedesco, Joe Brusha & Raven Gregory
Written by Raven Gregory
Artwork by Daniel Leister
Colors by Nei Ruffino
Letters by Crank!
Cover by J. Scott Campbell

This Friday, movie lovers will have Alice In Wonderland to satisfy them, but comic fans shouldn’t feel too left though. They can enjoy another dark take on the Wonderland mythos from Zenescope Entertainment.

Newsarama is giving you FREE access to issues 0 and 1 of Beyond Wonderland, the second series of the Wonderland Trilogy.

Head on over to Newsarama for your free look at Beyond Wonderland [...]

Monsters Inc. Laughing Factory
Written by Paul Benjamin
Art by Amy Mebberson
BOOM! Studios
Trade Paperback; Price: $9.99
Release date: March 3, 2010

The interesting thing about creating comic books based on Pixar’s string of successful animated films is that you can further explore the universes those characters live in. One of Pixar’s early successes was Monsters Inc., owing largely to its breakthrough animation and great voice acting work from Billy Crystal and John Goodman.

BOOM! KIDS, now having the contract on all Pixar materials, has produced a volume of comics from the Monsters Inc. universe, following Sullivan and Mike Wazowski (I always thought it was hilarious that monsters would have such boring names) on their continuing adventures in Monstropolis.

At first I didn’t expect much out of Monsters Inc. in comic book form. A fan of the original film, I couldn’t see how much further they possibly could have carried the story. In the end, it turns out I was right not to expect much. While the dialogue still carries much of the humour and charm that made the original script so endearing, it is apparent that Paul Benjamin was hard pressed to come up with new ways to use the characters [...]

Funny or Die is known for their hilarious videos — many of which feature well-known actors in Saturday Night Live-like sketches.

Recently, the site released a new video directed by Ron Howard that reunited a bunch of SNL alumni and some special guests for a message about the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The hopes here is that this message will reach the eyes of President Barack Obama and help him with some majorly important decisions.

SNL is renowned for always having someone who creates a comical caricature of whomever the President is at the time for use in the many skits that will be written using that person. Currently, that job is owned by Fred Armisen, who portrays Obama whenever a skit for him is penned.

Continue on over to the other side to see the video!

In this skit, Armisen is joined by Maya Rudolph as his wife Michelle Obama for the current White House inhabitants. They’re also joined by the likes of Will Ferrell, who is returning to do his famous George W. Bush character; Dana Carvey as his pops, George H.W. Bush Sr.; Darrell Hammond bringing back Bill Clinton; as well as Dan Aykroyd as Jimmy Carter, Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford, and a very special appearance by Jim Carrey as Ronald Reagan. [...]

Disney’s Hero Squad Ultraheroes #2
Written by Giorgio Salati, Ricardo Secchi
Art by Roberta Mighelli, Stefano Turconi
Covers by Magic Eye Studios
BOOM! Studios
Price: $2.99; Release date: March 3, 2010

Turning Disney characters into super-heroes is nothing new: Super-Goof has been around since my father was a kid. The Disney’s Hero Squad Ultraheroes just extends that tradition to the rest of the Disney characters cast. Iron Gus, Super-Goof, The Red Bat, Super-Daisy, The Duck Avenger, and Cloverleaf band together to battle the evil of Roller Dollar and the Phantom Blot!

The story itself is fairly cartoonish and fun. Mickey Mouse hunts for Scrooge McDuck’s money bin, while the Ultra-Heroes match wits with the Roller Dollar and Phantom Blot to hunt down a series of Ultra-pods. What is really interesting about this particular comic is that, in many ways, it throws back to the Stan Lee and Steve Ditko comics of the 1960’s [...]

Since fans of George R.R. Martin‘s “A Song of Ice and Fire” books discovered back in November of 2008 that HBO was pondering turning it into a new series called Game of Thrones, they have been buzzing with excitement. The only problem was that HBO was only ordering a single pilot episode to test the waters and see how the new show would play.

Since then, a great cast headlined by Sean Bean has been put together, and the aforementioned buzz has continued to grow and grow to a point where it was thought that HBO may just decide to give the thumbs up to an entire season without waiting for the completion of the pilot. This, thankfully, has turned out to be very true, as HBO has officially ordered nine new episodes. This now equals out to ten whole episodes, and the first season of Game of Thrones! [...]

What’s the worst possible thing you could think of happening to your favorite Best Picture nominees for this upcoming weekend’s 82nd annual Academy Awards ceremony? For me, the thought of the cast of MTV’s Jersey Shore spoofing them would be pretty high up on that list.

Many Oscar ceremonies over the years have featured spoofs of the nominated films — the most famous of such were presented by Billy Crystal during his many brilliant hosting gigs. Well, apparently someone thought that these kids from Jersey Shore could bring some similar laughs to the table with their own spoofs, and a handful of them were recording for use on George Lopez’s Lopez Tonight show on TBS.

Click on over to the other side to watch a couple of these parodies…if you dare. Included below you’ll find The Hurt Locker and Inglourious Basterds, but you can also head over to TBS’s YouTube page for a second Basterds and Avatar. [...]

Marvel has partnered with RTC23 to release “the ultimate comic fan’s TV.” The 22-, 32-, 42- and 55-inch LCDs/40- and 46-inch LED HDTVs feature Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk, Wolverine, Thor, and other characters on the bottom corners of the frame as well as a themed splash screen that appears for 8 seconds when you turn on the TV.

The smaller LCD sets start out at 720p with a 60Hz refresh rate, 8000:1 dynamic and 3000:1 native contrast with 1 HDMI output and top out at 1080p with 240Hz refresh, 80,000:1 dynamic and 4000:1 native contrast, and 4 HDMI inputs. Prices range from $339 to $1989.

Both the 40- and 46-inch LED sets feature 1080p resolution, 3,000,000:1 dynamic and 5000:1 static contrast, 450 nit brightness and 4 HDMI inputs. Prices are from $1699 to $1989 [...]

Donald Duck and Friends #351
Written by Fausto Vitaliano and Marco Bosco
Art by Marco Mazzarello and Franco D’Ippolito
BOOM! Studios
Release date: February 24, 2010

Remember the days when Donald Duck wasn’t as much of a talker as he was a loud and angry quacker? Well those days are all over. In BOOM! Studios’ Donald Duck and Friends #351, Donald Duck has been re-imagined as a secret agent, working among other secret birds in an attempt to retrieve a disk full of code names from an international criminal named Marlo Burke, all while dealing with a fellow agent named Kay and a pair of crooked agents named B.Berry and B.Black.

To tell you the truth, I was surprised with the complexity of the Donald Duck and Friends comic. The plot was a maze of crossings and double-crossing that could match with any classic spy thriller, from Mission: Impossible to Ronan. For a kid’s comic, it was surprisingly sophisticated. Yet the writers Fausto Vitaliano and Marco Bosco still maintain the cartoonish elements. Donald Duck is still constantly getting in trouble with his cartoon girlfriend Daisy Duck, and he still drives that bright red cartoon jalopy, even though everyone around him drives modern cars [...]

Flash #1
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Francis Manapul
Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 14, 2010

Although the recent Flash: Rebirth series didn’t win me over, I’m actually really excited about the upcoming Flash ongoing series. Francis Manapul is knocking his art out of the park and I’m hoping this series does for Barry Allen what Geoff Johns was able to do with Hal Jordan recently.

DC released this official synopsis for issue #1 (here below). Part One of The Dastardly Death of the Rogues begins April 14. Until then check out Manapul’s gorgeous art in the gallery here [...]

Well hello again, my living lunches. It’s ol’ ObZomb, your favorite zombie correspondent here to offer up another prize from our Geek Read contest series. This time around, we living dead here at Geeks of Doom have five (5) copies of Zombocalypse Now, the choose-your-own zombie survival adventure book [as if there's a chance of survival] by Matt Youngmark for some of you tasty morsels out there.

Five (5) Feasts of Flesh [winners] will each receive:

– One (1) copy of Zombocalypse Now by Matt Youngmark

Zombocalypse Now is a comedy/horror reimagining of the choose-your-own-ending books you grew up with. You’ll be confronted with undead hordes, internet dating, improper police procedure, and the very real danger that you’ll lose your grip on reality and wind up stark raving mad.

The zombie apocalypse has never been this much fun.
Good luck [you'll need it ... to survive!] [...]

Seth Grahame-Smith has been busy on another book since releasing his popular Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and it takes the historical figure of President Abraham Lincoln and adds a few vampires. The book is titled Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and as you may have guessed, a new movie is being developed with none other than Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov attached as producers.

Grahame-Smith has been making quite a name for himself with his work taking classic literature and adding horrific spins to them. After Smith wrote Zombies, which of course took Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice and, well…added zombies, a whole new genre in literature has basically been created. Since that title’s release, many different authors have written their own takes on classic literature and characters with zombies and aliens and all sorts of fun and nasty beasties.

Click on over to the other side to check out a trailer that was made specially Grand Central Publishing for the release of the new book. [...]

Earlier today Marvel released a teaser image with the tagline, “What is HERALDS?” with a hint at how to find out. The question was answered on tonight’s Attack of the Show, the G4 genre-focused show.

The teaser image (here at right) shows several Marvel heroines, including Agent Brand, Hellcat, Emma Frost, She-Hulk, and more. The image is a geek guy’s wet dream, with hot, scantily-clad women fighting a dinosaur, a robot, and zombies, oh my! Looks awesome to me, I’ll be picking it up, will you?

Marvel revealed info about the new series exclusively to G4TV’s Blair Butler. Heralds will be a new 5-issue weekly series, which will debut in June, about a female former herald of Galactus and a new threat she poses. Check out G4′s 4-minute video here below for more details and a sneak peek at the panels [...]

Box 13, the digital comic book series by David Gallaher and Steve Ellis, will see its first time in print as a trade paperback this May 19, 2010.

Red 5 Comics will collect the entire online series into one printed graphic novel, which will sell for $13. The 8-page first chapter will debut in print in Red 5′s 2010 Atomic Robo FCBD issue on Free Comic Book Day on May 1, 2010.

“There will be some extra material exclusive to the print edition,” according to Red 5 Co-founder Paul Ens, who I spoke with directly.

The entire series is actually online for free right now exclusively at Comixology. You can read it online or through the Comixology iPhone/iPod Touch app. Ens said that the free availability of online and mobile versions of the series will “likely to be a limited-time offer” though there’s no set time-limit in place at this time. Therefore, if you’re interested in reading the free versions of Box 13, do so now before your opportunity is over.

ComiXology originally commissioned by Box 13, which was created from start-to-finish with print-ready layouts, and released it exclusively on the iPhone [...]