Old Flint Locke just filed the 2nd half of his report from Southern California I won't waste space talking about it. Check it out, lots of coolness.
"Flint Locke" here again. Well after I finally got a decent night's sleep (comic industry people party quite well), I'll hand over some more info I've recalled. Most of the exciting stuff was in the last email, and you may have already heard some of this, but here it is anyway...
The Crow -- Rob Zombie's Crow story is now a non-Crow related entity of it's own, which I believe is called "Black Rider". The next Crow movie will be an entirely new character. The Crow syndicated television series "Stairway to Heaven" will feature the Eric Draven character from the first film. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about that, considering the circumstances of the first movie, but after seeing footage and photos, I feel a little better. The budget is around a million bucks per episode. The Eric Draven character is played by Mark Dacoscos, who's been in a bunch of low-budget movies. Mark is a martial artist (in capoeira I think) and, although a bit bulkier than Brandon was, he looks perfect in the role. Let's hope the writing on the show is decent. Also, there will be more Crow comics from Kitchen Sink Press, with creators chosen by originator James O'Barr.
Dogma-- Depending on who you talked to, Kevin Smith's movie will be released here in either October 1999 or December 1999. I was told that it will be at Cannes in May, however.
Preacher -- The DC/Vertigo title is in the works for a movie, although early in the process. Writer Garth Ennis (who just won an Eisner award) is doing the first draft of the screenplay, which assuages my fears a bit. The movie will follow the first few issues of the comic. If you haven't read it, pick up the collected paperback "Preacher: Gone to Texas", it truly deserves to be made into a movie. For those who already follow the comic, Garth said the the storyline is finite and will end around issue 65.
Star Wars -- I forgot to mention that the Star Wars CD-ROM will also feature cutting-room-floor footage, including cantina and Tattooine scenes (with Luke in his bad hat), along with the Biggs scene. Yay! I also understand that Dark Horse Comics will be releasing a prequel-related comic in December (but I'm sure it's separate from the movie).
The Faculty -- They showed the preview at the Kevin Williamson conference, and it looks pretty damn good. I would have preferred to see some effects scenes, but what was there was certainly enough to pique my interest. The tagline "Please report to the principal's office" is great. Robert Rodriguez can do no wrong in my book.
Shi -- Energetic Shi creator Bill Tucci ranted about the upcoming movie, although I missed a lot of what he said. I know that Tia Carrere has signed on in the lead role, Stephen Baldwin is now on board (they recently did an HBO movie together), and I believe I heard that Tom Berenger will also be in it. Sounds good so far...
Top Cow -- These guys have a ton of stuff in the works, they're giving Wildstorm a run for their money. "Witchblade" is an upcoming tv series on TNT. It was originally scheduled to premiere in January, but considering that they havent cast the lead yet (they want an unknown) and that there will be special effects involved, I wouldn't count on that date. Also, Showtime has grabbed the "Weapon Zero" book for a possible cable movie. Look for the movie to focus much more on the characters, as a girl at the Top Cow booth said that to put the book on the screen "as is" would take well over 100 million dollars. Also, don't be surprised if you see Michael Turner's "Fathom" book become a Hollywood property sometime soon.
John Carpenter's Vampires -- They showed the new trailer at the Q&A session, and it was pretty different from the original I saw on the internet. This one has a lot of the same scenes, but also has Marilyn Manson music in it. There's definitely enough good stuff in the trailer to effectively create that "I GOTTA see it" feeling. The release date is October 30th, moved from the original date of September 11th.
The Mark -- The Rob Liefeld story is at Universal with Will Smith attached, but it sounds to me like Liefeld isn't actively involved now (by no choice of his own). Glen Morgan and James Wong are currently gutting his original draft. This will be a tentpole movie for summer 2000, so expect it to have a huge budget.
Spawn -- I guess the first movie made enough money to merit a second from New Line. The sequel will supposedly not have any supervillains, but will instead be a G&G (grim and gritty) movie that are all the rage these days. No word on any of the original cast returning, but I'd say it's unlikely as Spawn is the only character to be carried to the sequel, and since Michael Jai White was covered with makeup in the first, it doesn't really matter who play Spawn (in my opinion).
Well that's enough for now...
-Flint Locke
