Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel, a part graphic novel, part picture book by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett. Developing the movie is Lost creator and Star Trek director J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot Productions.

The movie will portray an alternate history in which a man builds a robot in 1893 in hopes of preventing the deaths of many men in various wars and conflicts. Boilerplate fought with the likes of Theodore Roosevelt and Lawrence of Arabia, and went on to lead something of a Forrest Gump life, traveling the world with the Navy and even taking part in the silent movie era among many other historical adventures. The character caught the attention of studios when many people began thinking that Boilerplate was an actual robot used in combat in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Click over to the other side to read a synopsis and check out a trailer for Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel. [...]

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Directed by Jon Turteltaub Starring Jay Baruchel, Nicolas Cage, Alfred Molina, Teresa Palmer, Toby Kebbell Release date: July 14, 2010 I’ll save you the suspense. Despite the fact that I don’t find it a particularly good movie, I liked The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Don’t mistake that for indecision. I think people’s ability to [...]

Nothing more needs to be said than that, ladies and gentlemen. It’s finally that time of year again, and we wanted to take the chance to remind you that SHARK WEEK begins tomorrow night on Discovery Channel.

If you’re as infatuated with sharks as most people are, then Shark Week is a traditional religious experience, like our own week-long holiday celebration of these fascinating beasts, their many different species and tendencies, and the constant efforts to learn more and more about their existence on our great planet.

As always, the week will be jam-packed with shark specials, and the week will start off right tomorrow night at 9pm with Ultimate Air Jaws. If you haven’t seen them you must immediately, but Air Jaws 1 & 2 take a crew to the famed Seal Island off the coast of South Africa. In this very special location, Great White sharks have evolved themselves to shoot up from deep within the ocean and jump completely out of the water in an attempt to nab a seal. If you thought it was cool to see a dolphin or whale leap from the water, there’s really nothing like seeing a Great White — who aren’t known for doing so — pull it off. These Whites are like the superheroes of their species. [...]

X-Men fans united on last weekend for the Marvel Comics X-Men panel at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con, where the comics company discussed what will happen in the X-Men titles in the next few months.

Of course being that Second Coming just finished, the consequences of the event were discussed as well as the upcoming event Curse of the Mutants and a little bit of what is involved in this event.

The biggest thing that Marvel wanted to talk about was the reboot of all the Wolverine family books. Wolverine is starting over at issue #1 and the Wolverine Weapon X writer Jason Aaron will be writing it. Oh I know what you’re going to say, what is happening to Daken? Well, don’t worry, Dark Wolverine will be a separate series starting over at #1 as well. X-23 will also start a new ongoing series as well which has only been miniseries thus far and Marjorie Liu will be working on it as well [...]

Columbia Pictures presidents Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach have announced that Underworld director Len Wiseman is in final negotiations to direct their remake of the 1990 Paul Verhoeven science fiction favorite, Total Recall. Though still at a late negotiation stage, a press release was put out by the studio (via /Film) to make the announcement, meaning this is a done deal.

Wiseman is best known as the director of Underworld and Underworld: Evolution. He also directed Live Free or Die Hard and is expected to return to helm Underworld 4. He was at one time attached to bring us the feature adaptation of hit video game Gears of War, but budgetary restrictions have that project facing an uncertain future.

The plan is to create a brand new and modernized take on the story — based on Philip K. Dick‘s short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale — which follows a man in the year 2084 who suffers from recurring nightmares involving the red planet, Mars. [...]

Clash of the Titans
Blu-ray | DVD | Video On Demand
Directed by Louis Leterrier
Starring Sam Worthington, Gemma Arterton, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Mads Mikkelsen

Release date: July 27, 2010

Hollowness is found at the center in director Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans. What should be a glorious and romantically fueled approach to the classical Greek myth succumbs to the travesties of CGI. It results into an unnatural depiction; one in which charts Man’s rebellion against the Gods. The 1981 film of the same name managed to depict the same premise so naturally by using special effects of the older Hollywood tradition (stop-motion effects). Greek myths are almost impossible to re-imagine. Their fluency and fantastical aura surrounding them makes such tales inadaptable to the big screen. Their qualities work best when they are intertwined within a contemporary story and setting, working successfully as metaphors and allegorical tales. Leterrier’s version doesn’t depend on adventure tactics and characters’ motives. Its reliance is on solely adhering to so much CGI.

Leterrier imposes upon himself the duties of mythic storyteller. So burdened with this task he tries to elude previous depictions of this myth and venture out on his own limb and recreate the myth from his own vision. He does not want to stay in accordance with the 1981 film. All the more respect for him. But most of the time an untidy representation of this mythical world pervades Leterrier’s entire picture. His picture suggests no orderly activity, offering sporadic moments of engaging action set-pieces and others that hit rock bottom. The 1981 film feasted on extravagant action sequences that felt real and looked plausible enough to represent a Greek myth. Most importantly that film cashed in on the romantic and emotional qualities that managed to drive the film toward recognizing the different uniforms of humanity. Deliberate attention was paid to the emotional aspect whereas the 2010 film shows no inquiry into this subject, resulting with characters that manifest no worthy sentiment. We find our lack of caring and emotional attachment towards the film’s characters deriving mainly from their inabilities, or the script’s (either one), to evoke the slightest notion of feeling [...]

Deadline is reporting that they’ve gotten word of a new deal that will see Lost creator, writer, and producer Damon Lindelof working on a rewrite of the script for Ridley Scott‘s horror classic prequel, Alien.

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This doesn’t mean that Lindelof’s polished script will be the final one used for the movie, but he did meet with Ridley and the ideas shared were impressive enough to bring about the deal. Now Lindelof will get to it, submit his script, and see where things stand from that point.

Lindelof has become a much-recognized name over the past few years due to the incredible success of Lost, but has also quickly begun trying to solidify himself as a top screenwriting talent. In addition to this Alien prequel, the writer has also been collaborating with both Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci on the scripts for J.J. Abrams’ untitled Star Trek sequel and Jon Favreau’s comic book adaptation, Cowboys & Aliens. [...]

There are changes coming to the world of the Amazing Spider-Man in November when the series cuts back from its current schedule of three issues a month and goes to just two issues a month. Each issue will feature 30 issues of the main story and then will have a 9-page back-up story. Another change coming to the series will see the end of the rotating cast of writers, as Dan Slott becomes the sole writer for the series, although others will be writing some of the back-up stories. One further change will see a rotating team of artists handling each story arc. The three rotating artists on the book will be Stafano Caselli (recently on Secret Warriors), Humberto Ramos, and Marcos Martin. Ramos will be drawing the first arc, starting with issue #648. Caselli will draw the next arc, with Martin drawing the third. The price for each issue will be $3.99.

The Brand New Day experiment has worked well for Marvel, making Spider-Man not only one of its best-selling titles, where it should be, but also making it one of its most consistently excellent titles. It will be interesting to see how the book differs with just one writer as opposed to the large group of writers. Marvel has decided to give the book a new subtitle, much as they did with the Brand New Day title. Now they’re subtitling it “Big Time.” [...]

The first trailer and poster for the upcoming live-action/CGI cartoon adaptation Yogi Bear has shown up online. The movie will join Garfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Marmaduke, Scooby-Doo, and the upcoming release of The Smurfs as similar cartoon makeover movies we’ve seen made.

Yogi Bear features the voices of Dan Aykroyd as Yogi and Justin Timberlake as Boo-Boo. The live-action roles will be filled with Anna Faris as Rachel, Tom Cavanagh (TV’s Ed) as Ranger Smith, and Cloverfield‘s T.J. Miller as Ranger Jones.

Click the image to check out the poster and head over to the other side to take your first peek at the live-action Yogi Bear trailer. Does it look as bad as the others have, or is it set to become an exception?

The movie tells the story of Jellystone National Park and its two most famed residents, Yogi Bear and his sidekick, Boo Boo. The park has been losing a lot of business, causing the Mayor to decide to close it forever and sell the land. This forces Yogi to team up with the Park Rangers and try and save the place that they love. [...]

Irish-born illustrator Dave McElfatrick of popular Explosm.net web comic Cyanide & Happiness is asking for help in obtaining a work visa to the United States so he can continue working on animated shorts with co-creators Matt Melvin and Rob DenBleyker.

The only problem is that the U.S. doesn’t think C&H is legitimately popular enough to merit the type of visa McElfatrick would need to work in the country, which just seems insane until you realize how ridiculous it would sound trying to explain the humor of some of their comics to your grandma and/or crochety old uncle.

A little background on C&H for all of you who might be unfamiliar with it right off the bat: According to Alexa, Explosm.net is ranked #2,773 most popular website globally and #1,358 most popular in the U.S. America accounts for over 40 percent of the site’s total traffic. Yet, this isn’t sufficient enough to prove that he’s worthy of the visa apparently.

McElfatrick is asking fans who want to help to sign a petition and spread the word about his plight [...]

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of big reveals from either DC or Marvel about their upcoming material that had not already been announced in some form or fashion. Therefore, I am just going to review what DC talked about throughout most of their panels at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.

Two of my most anticipated books that were announced at the Con were Batman Incorporated by Grant Morrison and Flash Speedforce by Geoff Johns. I am super pumped by the descriptions of both of these books and I am already ready to add these books to my pull list. I definitely suggest that everyone keeps their eyes out for these. Also of note but not newly announced is the Batman Earth One by Geoff Johns about a Batman who fails at everything and his gadgets don’t work [...]

Today, Amazon unveiled its newest version of the Kindle, their popular e-book reader, now available for pre-order in Wi-Fi and 3G + Wi-Fi versions.

The newest version of the wireless reading device still has the 6-inch screen, but now has a smaller, sleeker frame, eliminating a lot of the extra useless space from the previous version, and weighs only 8.7 ounces. Most importantly, it has a new high-contrast e-ink screen, making it even more like reading a paper book; plus, you’re still about to read from the Kindle in bright sunlight with no glare.

The new Kindle — Wi-Fi available in graphite; 3G in both white and graphite — has faster page-turns and quieter keyboard buttons, and can store up to 3,500 ebooks. Also, you can download books in under 60 seconds, and with the wireless turned off, the device lasts for one month on a single charge.

The Wi-Fi model is priced at $139, while the 3G + Wi-Fi model, which includes FREE 3G wireless coverage, is priced at $189. Both versions ship on August 27, 2010.

Watch video of the new Kindle here below [...]

What’s better than having the entire cast of geeky hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory sit in on a panel discussion at San Diego Comic-Con 2010? How about having Sheldon Cooper’s nemesis Wil Wheaton moderating said panel? That’s exactly what fans got this year in the convention center’s second largest meeting space.

After an unannounced performance of the theme song led by Barenaked Ladies and a clip reel of footage from the show [READ: SDCC 2010: Barenaked Ladies Perform ‘Big Bang Theory’ Theme At Cast Panel], the cast — Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Kunal Nayyar, and Simon Helberg — was asked a variety of questions, including what Nayyar’s future as a Bollywood superstar was, what it was like working with Christine Baranski, and what super-hero identity they’d like to take on if given the chance. (Hint: Helberg definitely wouldn’t be Moist).

I fully expect their responses to be illustrated into a comic book and spread among the internets any day now. Check out video of the entire panel below [...]

At Comic-Con this past weekend, Marvel’s Thor was one of the biggest hits of the convention, where Marvel Studios debuted the trailer for the film [read SDCC 2010: Marvel Shows Off New ‘Thor’ Footage].

Now, the first trailer for Thor is now online. Watch it here below.

Prior to the Con, stills from the film were released that were less than stellar, causing fans to worry if Marvel could put off a Thor movie. After I saw this trailer at the Con (which was shown in 3D), I realized that the promo shots didn’t do the film any justice. This film looks great to me, judging by this footage.

Thor, directed by Kenneth Branagh, stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, and Clark Gregg, and will be released on May 6, 2011 [...]

Comic book legend Will Eisner may have left this mortal plane in 2005, but his work continues to amaze all these years later. Similarly amazing is how long it took for adaptations of his work to hit the big screen.

Eisner was a pioneer in stretching the boundaries of narrative and storytelling in sequential art. The term, ‘Graphic Novel’ really came into our collective lexicon when Eisner’s monumental work, A Contract With God was published in October of 1978, and is now getting the big-screen treatment.

The book consists of four short stories — A Contract With God, The Super, The Street Singer, and Cookalein — all set in a Bronx tenement in the 1930s. The stories are semi-autobiographical, drawing heavily from Eisner’s own childhood experiences as well as those of his peers. The narratives are tied together by the common setting/theme of immigrant and first-generation experiences, across cultures [...]