Hi, all. It's me, Paul -- mild-mannered editor of AICN Voices. What am I doing here? Well, basically, Harry drafted me. It's that simple. He took off to The Great White North and asked me to hold down the fort. Now, faithful readers will remember that the last time Harry took a trip, we had a catastrophic server crash. So cross your fingers!
Anyway, I've had the surreal pleasure/horror of checking Harry's mail while he's gone. Boy, and I thought my mail was challenging! Of course, about a third of Harry's mail has been to tell him that no, in fact, he is _not_ staying at the hotel used in "The Shining" -- and that the soundtrack to that film isn't available on CD. Another third of his mail is in reference to the mysterious "X-Files" photo. I can't believe how worked up all you people are over that! No, wait a minute... I forgot who all I'm addressing here. ;-) But we'll settle that matter in the next story.
We also got several letters from astute readers offering a correction on the "Mutant Chronicles" report. Here's an example from The Gaming Geek:
I'm sure you've probably heard this from a few thousand people already, but "Mutant Chronicles" is based on a gaming universe called "Doomtrooper" that is completely different from "Warhammer 40,000." "Doomtrooper" is to "WH40k" as "Battlestar Galactica" is to "Star Wars" -- i.e. a low budget clone with maybe 1/10th the heart or coolness of the original... and now that Van Damme is in the movie, I'm sure it's gonna suck too. Now if I heard someone was really making a "WH40k" movie, I might be excited.
We also heard from Mr. Bill, who passes along even more background info that leaves me befuddled, but will surely have meaning to some of you.
WARHAMMER 40K IS NOT the same as Mutant Chronicles! They are produced by two different companies. Mutant Chronicles is a roleplaying game with a companion tabletop wargame called WARZONE. WARHAMMER 40K is strictly a tabletop wargame.
Whatever. In other random tidbits... Yes, AICN heard yesterday that Paramount announced the title of this December's Star Trek 9 as "Star Trek: Insurrection" -- a title almost as compelling as Fox's "Alien Resurrection." (Yes, I'm being sarcastic. No, I haven't had my Rice Krispies yet today, okay?) Buzz on the film, by all accounts, is very encouraging. Make it so, Number One!
Also on the Paramount front, "Titanic" is set for the biggest video push in history with a $50+ million marketing campaign. It will hit shelves September 1, priced to sell at $19.95 on two cassettes -- though there's no word yet on LD or DVD. Word is they expect this to be the best-selling (live action) video title in history, and I tend to agree; look for over 20 million units to sell. Oh, and Cameron himself has been personally supervising the video transfer every step of the way. Meanwhile, "Titanic" is staying in theaters as long as it keeps making money ($1.7 billion worldwide and counting, by the way). And while there does seem to be the vaguest of possibilities that an expanded "special edition" could hit theaters for a limited engagement in August (which I think is a good idea), don't count on it. Said "special edition" (with an extra half hour plus of footage) will be released on video "eventually." Grumble-grumble-grumble...
Lastly, I want to pass along a "call for info" on a project some readers saw announced over the Bloomberg wire yesterday. Apparently Ridley Scott is in talks to direct "Gladiator" for Dreamworks SKG. It's an action-drama period piece about gladiators who fought in the Roman Colosseum. Doug Wick of Red Wagon Productions is attached to produce from a screenplay by David ("Amistad") Franzoni, who will also produce. Anyone know anything else about this project? If so, pass it along. But, gosh, darn, don't y'all wish Scott were doing "I Am Legend" with Arnold? Man, that would've been cool.
