Firefly was cut short before its time (only one season shown completely out of order), and Serenity didn’t do as well in the theaters as fans hoped. A bigger success in the theater could have meant sequels, but news on that front has been lacking. However, according to MovieHole.net, Alan Tudyk, aka “Wash”, says that there is talk about doing another Serenity movie since the first one did so well on DVD.

“They had to put [the new DVD] out because they’ve been selling out of the other one and so Universal’s like ‘So, let’s do another one’. And now… there’s now a chance there’s going to be another movie”.

(Read more…)

If there is a sequel, it could be a direct to DVD movie rather than a theater release. Anything at all would be awesome though! I’ll take whatever I can get. Can’t stop the signal!

SoundtrackNet has posted a 30+ minute podcast interview with Hans Zimmer. In it he discusses in great detail his work on the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and the other Pirates movies. You can hear clips from the score, and there is also a bit at the end about the new Simpsons movie. Listen to the podcast directly.

It is really fascinating to hear first hand from the composer some of the thought process that goes into producing a full movie score, especially when it spans more than one movie. I’m really looking forward to this soundtrack (more so than the actual movie…). The soundtrack will be released on May 22, just in time for my birthday!

A few other articles of interest at SoundtrackNet:

• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End - First Listen - A full preview of the score, including 30 second clips of each track.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End - Pick of the Week - An extensive review.

SoundtrackNet has posted a First Listen preview of the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End soundtrack. The preview includes a nice long description of the Hans Zimmer score, including 30 second sound clips of each track.

Where the first film brought us the often-played “He’s a Pirate” theme, this third film brings in a whole new melody - a song called “Hoist the Colours”. Originally written for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, this new pirate shanty is heard throughout the score, uniting all the pirates together under one melody. We’re also taken to Singapore, where Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun Fat) gets his own Asian theme, as well as to the ends of the earth where not only do Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly) get a new love theme, but it’s a super-theme that also encompasses the lost love of Davy Jones and Calypso and is versatile enough to work as a new Jack Sparrow theme as well.

Check out the preview and sound clips on SoundtrackNet.

In an interview with iF magazine, Matt Groening revealed that the title of the first direct to DVD Futurama movie will be “Bender’s Big Score”. It will be released in December of 2007, and the movies (four total) will be “reconfigured” into episodes and shown on Comedy Central starting in 2008.

MATT GROENING: We’re doing four DVD movies around ninety minutes and then we’re going to reconfigure those and they’ll be episodes on Comedy Central. The impolite way of saying it is we’re chopping them up and the polite way is to say we’re reconfiguring and we’re going to add narration and more stuff. We’re going to be doing some fun extras on the DVD show, there’s going to be “Everybody Loves Hyptno-Toad” – a whole show of it. The DVD’s are going to be self-contained packages, but the episodes will also work, we hope. That’s the goal.

Read the rest of the interview.

NBC.com has posted a new Spider-Man 3 Trailer in HD. It features scenes from the movie (some pretty long ones), and will only be available today! It was posted last night during Heroes and will be removed today at 9pm PST. Check out the Spider-Man 3 trailer on NBC.

SoundtrackNet is holding a contest for the movie “300″. The grand prize winner will win a “300″ PSP game, an “Art of the Film” book, a leather bag with the “300″ logo, the “300″ special edition soundtrack CD, and a “300″ hat and t-shirt! There are runner up prizes as well, which include the hat, t-shirt, and the soundtrack. The contest ends on March 12th, 2007. Enter the contest.

IGN has posted 9 video clips from the movie 300. Each video is an actual scene from the movie, unlike trailers where it is a mix of different scenes. I especially like the use of primary colors in the cinematography. Hopefully this movie will be what Troy could have been.

View the videos on IGN.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) have announced the winners of this year’s BAFTA awards. Here are a few of the highlights:

FILM:
BABEL - Alejandro González Iñárritu/Jon Kilik/Steve Golin
THE DEPARTED - Brad Pitt/Brad Grey/Graham King
THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND - Andrea Calderwood/Lisa Bryer/Charles Steel
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE - Albert Berger/David T Friendly/Ron Yerxa
THE QUEEN - Andy Harries/Christine Langan/Tracey Seaward

ACTOR in a LEADING ROLE:
DANIEL CRAIG - Casino Royale
LEONARDO DICAPRIO - The Departed
RICHARD GRIFFITHS - The History Boys
PETER O’TOOLE - Venus
FOREST WHITAKER - The Last King of Scotland

ACTRESS in a LEADING ROLE:
PENÉLOPE CRUZ - Volver
JUDI DENCH - Notes on a Scandal
HELEN MIRREN - The Queen
MERYL STREEP - The Devil Wears Prada
KATE WINSLET - Little Children

THE ANTHONY ASQUITH AWARD for Achievement in Film Music:
BABEL - Gustavo Santaolalla
CASINO ROYALE - David Arnold
DREAMGIRLS - Henry Krieger
HAPPY FEET - John Powell
THE QUEEN - Alexandre Desplat

View the rest of the nominees/winners.

Joss Whedon himself posted on Whedonesque to let all his fans know that he will not be working on Wonder Woman any more. He was writing the script and slated to direct the film, but he said that he and the studio saw different movies and it just wasn’t going to work.

Let me stress first that everybody at the studio and Silver Pictures were cool and professional. We just saw different movies, and at the price range this kind of movie hangs in, that’s never gonna work. Non-sympatico. It happens all the time. I don’t think any of us expected it to this time, but it did. Everybody knows how long I was taking, what a struggle that script was, and though I felt good about what I was coming up with, it was never gonna be a simple slam-dunk. I like to think it rolled around the rim a little bit, but others may have differing views.

Their loss. Joss is an amazing writer and director, and I will see anything he works on. So what is this “Goners” movie he mentions? Well time for me to go check it out.

Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray, is one of my favorite movies. I will never look at February 2 again the same way. “Okay campers, rise and shine, ’cause it’s cooold out there today.” “It’s cold out there every day.”

According to the official weather keeper of Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil, there will be an early spring because he saw his shadow. Thank god we have better methods of predicting the weather now, although they are far from perfect.

“I’m not THE God, I’m A god.”