The Revealer linked to both versions of my interview with Bridge to Terabithia author Katherine Paterson today. They note that Christianity Today‘s website has “curiously” posted the article twice, but as I noted here last month, one version was published exclusively on the CT Movies website, whereas the other version originally appeared in the CT magazine and now appears on the magazine’s section of the CT website. Read more

Just a few more quick updates. 1. MTV.com reports that the new Star Trek movie will actually be a complete reboot of the franchise, and not a prequel: First things first: From the sound of it, fans can rest assured that subtitles about undiscovered countries and insurrections are a thing of the past. Kurtzman and Orci told MTV that their film is titled, quite simply, “Star Trek.” “That’s the intended title. I don’t think we want to put any colons... Read more

Time for a few more quickies. 1. Variety reports that Shia LaBeouf really is in “final talks” to play Harrison Ford’s son in Indiana Jones IV. 2. The Los Angeles Times has an article on the problems that face foreign film directors who make the switch to Hollywood, and Exhibit A is Oliver Hirschbiegel’s The Invasion: In fact, a number of gifted foreign directors have struggled trying to make the transition to Hollywood. One recent example is Oliver Hirschbiegel, a... Read more

Scott Derrickson sure has a fair bit on his plate, from Paradise Lost to Devil’s Knot. Now, reports IESB.net, he may also be attached to a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951; my comments). The original movie, which came out at the dawn of the Cold War, concerns an alien and a robot who come to Earth to impose peace on us … or else. While the film is often hailed for its supposedly pacifist message, the... Read more

Time for another batch of updates. 1. Lena Headey, who will soon be seen in 300, tells Sci Fi Wire that Summer Glau is, indeed, playing a Terminator in The Sarah Connor Chronicles — but is she the good one or the bad one? Glau’s character is named Cameron, apparently in honour of franchise creator James Cameron, but that could be interpreted either way. The other Terminator is being played by Owain Yeoman. 2. Variety reports that the producers of... Read more

Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest. Pan’s Labyrinth — CDN $4,873,293 — N.AM $34,215,000 — 14.2%The Number 23 — CDN $3,062,697 — N.AM $24,684,000 — 12.4%Zodiac — CDN $1,227,761 — N.AM $13,100,000 — 9.4%Music and Lyrics — CDN $3,245,415 — N.AM $38,680,000 — 8.4%Ghost Rider — CDN $7,350,957 — N.AM $94,757,000 — 7.8%Bridge to Terabithia —... Read more

It’s been almost a year since it was first announced that Legendary Pictures and Scott Derrickson were developing a movie version of John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost. There hasn’t been much news since — but the New York Times did post this story today: “AS soon as you started talking about a battle in Heaven, he just couldn’t relate,” the screenwriter Philip de Blasi recalled. It was a particularly demoralizing pitch meeting, explained his writing partner, Byron Willinger, because... Read more

The newest issue of BC Christian News is now online, and with it, my film column, which looks mainly at Bridge to Terabithia — this section was posted a few days earlier at ChristianWeek — but also touches on the DVD release of Conversations with God and the upcoming theatrical releases of the Fox Faith films The Ultimate Gift and The Inquiry. The paper also includes an edited version of my interview with Terabithia author Katherine Paterson. Read more

Given all the casting rumours surrounding the next Star Trek film, I have begun to have my doubts that it will, in fact, concern the Starfleet Academy days of Kirk and Spock. Not only are all the rumoured actors at least as old as the original actors were when the TV series began, but it hardly seems likely that so many members of the Enterprise‘s bridge crew would have worked together ten, twelve, however many years in advance. Now IGN.com... Read more

In all the news stories and blog posts that I have seen this week on James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici‘s documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus, I don’t believe I have yet seen anyone make a reference to Jonas McCord’s The Body (2001), which starred Antonio Banderas as a priest who investigates the possibility that a recently discovered skeleton may be the bones of Christ. Then again, considering almost nobody saw that film, and the few who did didn’t care... Read more