Spider-Man on Broadway, 'Dark Knight' DVD and Jeph Loeb all in Everyday Hero headlines

Mary Jane on Broadway: Gossip maven Elizabeth Snead has a somewhat breathless item about Evan Rachel Wood of "The Wrestler" and "Across the Universe" taking on the role of Spider-Man babe Mary Jane Watson for the Broadway play that is shaping up as the most expensive production in the history of the Great White Way: "Evan Rachel Wood will play Mary Jane in Julie Taymor's 'Spider-Man' on Broadway! 'I start rehearsals in June and will be on Broadway for a year,' she said Wednesday at a press junket for 'The Wrestler.' She's already learned the songs, written by Bono, and did a run-through for Marvel. But that's not why she recently colored her hair red, like Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane movie character. 'No, I didn’t even think about it,' she insists. 'After I got it done, I looked in the mirror and went ‘Duh!' I emailed Julie the picture!' Who will be Spidey?  'We're trying to convince Jim Sturgess (her 'Across the Universe' costar). We did the workshop together, but I don’t know if he can commit to a whole year.' How about the villains? 'There will be some new ones and some old ones,' she said cautiously. And will she have to do wire work? 'Yeah, I’ll be dangling from buildings and things. It should be fun.' But she insists that Spider-Man will never, ever sing in tights. 'That was the deal. He never sings in Spandex,' Wood says. And will she have to do that upside-down kiss? 'Everyone keeps asking me that! I think there might be one at the end. I'm gonna have to have a talk with Julie. I can’t remember if there is one. But people will be waiting for it so we might have to make that happen.' " [The Dish Rag] Read more on the Spidey's Broadway venture here and here.

Heath Ledger's Golden Globe nod: The late actor's family put out a statement expressing their pride for the nomination annouced Thursday. Here's an item by Melenie Ambrose: "Heath Ledger's no-holds-barred performance as the Joker in last summer's Batman blockbuster 'The Dark Knight' has earned the late actor a posthumous Golden Globe nomination, announced Thursday morning. Commenting on the honor of being nominated for best performance by an actor in a supporting role, Heath's Perth, Australia-based father, Kim Ledger, said in a statement to PEOPLE, 'We thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for honoring Heath's performance in 'The Dark Knight.' He added, 'This nomination is deeply appreciated and is not lost on those of us who continue to love and miss him. We are so proud our boy's work is being recognized in this way.' Ledger will compete in the supporting actor category with Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. for their roles in 'Tropic Thunder,' Ralph Fiennes for 'The Duchess' and Philip Seymour Hoffman for his role in 'Doubt.' " [People magazine]

"The Dark Knight" at retail: Business reporter Dawn C. Chmielewski goes into the numbers on the DVD and Blu-ray release of "The Dark Knight," which is a home-video hero that Hollywood hopes will save the day: "The major promotion push behind the DVD release of Warner Bros.' summer blockbuster, 'The Dark Knight,' appears to have worked -- at least out of the gate. The film, which brought in $530 million in ticket sales in the United States, sold nearly 3 million copies Tuesday, the first day of its DVD release in the U.S., Canada and Britain. 'The Dark Knight's' retail reception is reminiscent of strong first-day sales for 'The Matrix' and 'Titanic' (any debut of 1 million or more units is considered a home run). At the present rate, 'Dark Knight' looks to be on pace to catch Paramount Pictures' 'Iron Man,' which sold 7.2 million units in its first week on store shelves this year. Hollywood has been anxiously watching home video sales as the recession deepens because they are a major profit center for the studios. Nielsen VideoScan estimates that home video sales are off 5.2% this year as several movies that did well at the box office didn't sell as well as expected on DVD. The studios have been hoping that the new Blu-ray high-definition format will help to spur the sluggish DVD market. As many as 25% to 30% of the 'Dark Knight' discs sold -- or 600,000 copies -- were purchased in the Blu-ray format. That surpasses the previous record set by 'Iron Man,' which sold 260,000 Blu-ray discs upon its first day of release. [Los Angeles Times]

Standing still, moving forward: Reviewer Kenneth Turan had some fun with "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and then he had some fun writing the review: "Keanu meets Klaatu. It could be a match made in heaven, or at least in a galaxy far, far away. Which is just what 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' wants us to think. This contemporary remake of the science fiction classic knew what it was doing when it cast Keanu Reeves, the movies' greatest stone face since Buster Keaton, as a perplexed alien whose first words on Earth are 'This body will take some getting used to.' When you want distant and disconnected, Reeves is your man. The 1951 original offered the more genial Michael Rennie as the intergalactic visitor, a being arrived on Earth accompanied by giant robot companion Gort. Rennie's alien was a courtly individual with the charm of vintage James Bond, but Klaatu's temperament is not the only thing that has been changed in this enjoyable updating. For one thing, Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), the widow who is Klaatu's main human contact, has been elevated from mom to mom and astrobiologist. And imperturbable robot Gort has gone from a clunky 8 feet to a lithe and bulked-up 28 feet tall. Take it easy on those steroids, big guy!" [Los Angeles Times]

"Ultimatum" tops: Some good news for Jeph Loeb, who was bounced from "Heroes" but still knowns how to write an "event" comic book: "Marvel Comics’ 'Ultimatum' No. 1 was the bestselling comic book title based on total unit sales to comic book specialty shops for November 2008, according to Diamond Comic Distributors. The new five-issue limited series features Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Ultimates, the Hulk and more in the defining moment of truth for Marvel’s 'Ultimate' Universe. Brought to you by award-winning scribe Loeb and superstar artist David Finch, the book spells the end of the Ultimate universe… or it may mean a new beginning. Marvel Comics also nabbed the top publisher spot in November, leading both retail dollar and unit market shares, with a 42.90% unit market share, and a 36.96% retail dollar market share.The top-selling graphic novel for November was DC Comics' 'Fables' tradepaperback 'Vol. 11: War & Pieces,' collecting issues #70-75 of the Eisner Award-winning series from creator Bill Willingham. Kotobukiya’s Iron Man Movie Fine Art Statue netted the No. 1 toy product, and WizKids’ DC HeroClix: Arkham Asylum Booster Pack was the bestselling game product to comic book specialty shops." [Diamond press release]

'The Day the Earth Stood Still' panel: Hollywood + real scientists = awkward

20th Century Fox's update of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" arrives in theaters Friday, and to get the word out, the studio has gone to unprecedented lengths to pair up two of the world's most mismatched fields -- Hollywood glamour and nuts-and-bolts science.

First, it decided to broadcast the film into deep space through the Deep Space Communications Network, which means images of Jennifer Connelly and Keanu Reeves will be, according to the news release, "zipping through space at 186,000 miles per second" en route to distant Alpha Centauri. There, any awaiting audience will get to see the movie roughly four years from now.

With all due respect, this can't turn out well for us. After all, one of the last major attempts to export Earth culture to the stars was the Voyager probe, which will surely mean big trouble for Earth a few thousand years from now.

But perhaps to calm the fears of the science community, Fox and Caltech arranged a panel discussion last Friday at Caltech, in which astrophysicist Sean Carroll, robotic engineer Joel Burdick, director Scott Derrickson and Klaatu himself, Keanu Reeves, sat down to discuss the science -- and science fiction -- of the movie.

Did the two worlds come together harmoniously? Not really.

The audience, made up of Caltech students, was a stickler for accuracy. When a quick flash of a top secret government computer screen flashed a Microsoft logo the audience howled. "It's gonna crash," one student (no doubt a hardcore Mac-man) called out.

Then came the Q&A portion of the evening in which the Hollywood duo were peppered with exam-ready questions: "Do you think the laws of physics would change in different parts of the universe?" and, later, "Are you human?"

The former was answered handily by the scientific half of the panel (not shown in the video above), but it was apparent that Derrickson and Reeves were left bewildered. "These are the strangest questions," Derrickson announced at one point. And a little later, he glanced at his watch and asked the audience, "How much longer will this go on?"

For their part, the scientists did not appear too starstruck, and Burdick in particular had a score to settle with the Hollywood folk, demanding to know why scientists had the highest mortality rate on film.

The space between galaxies may be vast, but the gulf between science and Hollywood still appears to be greater.

-- Patrick Kevin Day

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Brad Pitt, 'Torso' and 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' in Everyday Hero headlines

Welcome to today's edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe.

Does "Torso" have legs?: As far as historical crime theories and graphic novels go, Alan Moore's fascinating argument on the identity of Jack the Ripper in "From Hell" is the most celebrated, but my own personal favorite is "Torso," which was first published a decade ago as a six-issue series by Image. In "Torso," co-writers Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko present Eliot Ness, fresh from the Untouchables squad of Chicago, on the job in Cleveland in the 1930s and on the trail of a serial killer who just might be the same predator who would also commit the infamous Black Dahlia murder in Los Angeles. It's true-crime theory as illustrated entertainment, and it's wonderfully executed and the black-and-white Bendis artwork is perfect for the lurid subject matter. So good, in fact, that there's been talk that it might follow the Hollywood path of "From Hell" (which reached the screen in the Hughes Brothers 2001 film adaptation of the same name), but now Christine Spines reports that the project, renamed "Ness" for the screen, might be losing momentum: '''Ness' sounds like the kind of film most studios dream of: A glossy David Fincher-directed crime thriller about famed Al Capone adversary Eliot Ness, headlined by Matt Damon, Casey Affleck and Rachel McAdams. So why hasn't Paramount gotten around to making the darned thing? That's the question around town as the clock ticks on the studio's rights to the project, which are due to expire on Dec. 15. A source inside the negotiations says Damon and Affleck are ready to go, and that McAdams has expressed interest, but Paramount has yet to pull the proverbial trigger. At press time, the studio insisted it only recently received a finalized script from Ehren Kruger ('The Ring') and would make a decision before the rights ran out." [Entertainment Weekly]

Keanu is huge in the Orion constellation: Ah, there's nothing quite like a good, old-fashioned Hollywood stunt to hype a film. Seriously, I smiled when I read this news release: "Twentieth Century Fox makes history by transmitting the first motion picture into deep space, making "The Day the Earth Stood Still" the world’s first galactic motion picture release. The first deliberate deep space transmission of this highly anticipated science fiction thriller will begin this Friday, December 12, 2008, to coincide with the film’s opening day on Planet Earth. If any civilizations are currently orbiting Alpha Centauri, they will be able to receive and view the film approximately four years from now in the year 2012. Fox Distribution President, Bruce Snyder, said: "We at 20th Century Fox always like to think big, and what's bigger than a 'galactic' release of a major motion picture event?  We look forward to sharing 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' with our galactic neighbors near Alpha Centauri -- and look forward to their feedback ... eight years from now.'" OK, here's predicting that scientists in 2009 will receive a mysterious binary messages from the depths of space that says: "Send ... us ... Jennifer ... Connelly" [Twentieth Century Fox news release]

Brad Pitt wrestles with a different kind of Amazon: There's an announcement story in the trades by Michael Fleming that says Brad Pitt will be getting near Indiana Jones territory with a period piece about a man of adventure on a quest for a lost citadel in South America: "Paramount has set 'We Own the Night' helmer James Gray to direct 'The Lost City of Z.' Gray will adapt the David Grann book for Brad Pitt to star in as British soldier and spy Percy Fawcett. The nonfiction book by Grann, a staffer at the New Yorker, will be published in April by Doubleday. Paramount acquired it earlier this year for Pitt to produce through his Par-based Plan B banner. Fawcett left Victorian society to explore in the Amazon, and he became obsessed by the idea of an advanced civilization he called Z, which he believed existed in the depths of the jungle. Along with his son, Fawcett headed into the jungle in 1925 in search of Z and was never seen again. 'This is a terrific opportunity to do something entirely different for me,' Gray said. 'It is a story that will be told with an epic scale, with a main character who is larger than life.' [Variety]

Free Comic Book Day, five months and counting: I got a news release this morning for Free Comic Book Day, which is not until next May (!) but, uh, I guess it's never too early to spread the word? Ten publishers are participating, and they sent me the artwork to the covers, which suggests that the comic-book industry is far more organized than it appears from the outside. Anyway, here are a few of the covers ...

           

ON THIS DATE: On this date in 1955, "Mighty Mouse Playhouse" premiered on CBS and began a 12-year habit of saving the day. Today is also the 51st birthday of Michael Clarke Duncan, who has a considerable fanboy filmography ("Planet of the Apes," "Sin City," "Daredevil," plus his work in animation), and it's also the 67th birthday of Tommy Kirk, the actor known for so many Disney films of the 1950s and 1960s, among them tender were-comedy "The Shaggy Dog." So let's toast all the actors who know how to wear fur...

-- Geoff Boucher

Photo credits: Brian Michael Bendis art from "Torso" courtesy of Image Comics. "The Day the Earth Stood Still" photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox. Brad Pitt photo by Getty Images.

Hollywood and science fiction, back to the future

This Sunday (Dec. 7) the Los Angeles Times Calendar section features a special package of science fiction stories that include a piece on Keanu Reeves and his alienated role in "The Day the Earth Stood Still," an article on Sci Fi (the cable channel) facing a crossroads with the end of "Battlestar Galactica" and even a fun look at the fashion of sci-fi cinema through the decades. That's just the start -- there's plenty more in the section. I wrote a cover centerpiece for the package, which is a look at three venerable franchises -- "Star Wars," "Star Trek" and "Battlestar Galactica" -- looking for new life and new audiences. Here's an advance excerpt of that story. I will put a link here to the entire story this weekend. It's a great section on Sunday, get a copy if you can. -- Geoff Boucher

(UPDATE: Here's that now-active link to the entire article)

The future looks very familiar. Science fiction, by its nature, is a celebration of the new, but you wouldn’t know that by watching Hollywood’s space operas. "Star Trek," for instance, is on the way back to theaters next summer in hopes that moviegoers will still want to boldly go where millions and millions have gone before. And it’s been more than 30 years since "Star Wars" made film history, but the Force is still very much with us -- whether we like it or not -- with a seventh film in theaters this past summer, one of the year’s bestselling video games and a new weekly animated television show (there’s also talk of a live-action series in the next year or two).

And that’s just the tip of the meteorite. The "Terminator" and "Robocop" franchises are being revved up now for more mechanical-man mayhem, and classic films such as "Forbidden Planet" and "When Worlds Collide" are in the remake pipeline, while the new take on "The Day the Earth Stood Still," starring Keanu Reeves, opens Dec. 12.

Even "Battlestar Galactica," which began as a small-screen "Star Wars" knockoff in the 1970s, has been revived with spectacular results and will break new ground in 2009 with the TV movie "Caprica" on Sci Fi, with a series to follow.

The question, though, is why does Hollywood keep looking to the past? "Science fiction should be about ideas and what it means to be human, it should always be about the new and the challenging," William Shatner said on a recent afternoon as he sipped a Starbucks coffee and watched traffic zoom past his Ventura Boulevard office. So why does Hollywood keep putting its money in the same old Enterprise? "'Star Trek' connected with so many people for so long, and 'Star Wars' is the same way," he said. "There’s a thrill for fans to see the heroes they know."

Shatner won’t be one of those heroes in the new "Star Trek" film -- a sour point for the actor who played Capt. James T. Kirk on television and in seven films and had hoped for a cameo -- but Paramount Pictures is absolutely hoping that the new film, directed by J.J. Abrams ("Mission: Impossible III," TV’s "Alias" and "Lost") will have the warp power needed for a 21st century "Star Trek" franchise built around young stars such as Chris Pine (Kirk) and Zachary Quinto (Mr. Spock). Those ambitions go a long way to explaining the Hollywood fixation on tried-and-true properties.
It’s difficult to find a sci-fi project in recent years that wasn’t based on an earlier film or television show, although "Minority Report," "Signs" and "Children of Men" did buck the trend.

Ronald D. Moore, creator of the modern “Battlestar Galactica,” said that commercial priorities push risk-adverse studios toward properties with established names, but he said it’s wrong to presume that artistic ambition is stifled by remaking the familiar.

'The Day the Earth Stood Still' trailer

Here's the just-released, five-minute trailer for the "The Day the Earth Stood Still," which stars Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly and opens on Dec. 12...

'The Day the Earth Stood Still' 5 Minute Trailer @ Yahoo!7 Video

What do you think, does the film look promising? Just for fun, here again is the trailer to the original 1951 Robert Wise film, which is one of my favorite science fiction films ever...

-- Geoff Boucher

RELATED All Hero Complex coverage of "The Day the Earth Stood Still"

Jules Verne Festival this weekend in downtown Los Angeles

The Jules Verne Festival kicks off this weekend in downtown L.A. with classic movie screenings, some intriguing documentaries and several events that have guests and themes that will certainly appeal to the Hero Complex audience. You can check out the extensive (and inexpensive!) programming at the official website but here are a few scheduled events that jumped out at me.

Disney fans will be excited about a Friday 7 p.m. screening of "Fantasia 2000" but even better is the Saturday afternoon bill with its two grand classics of science fiction cinema: "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) at 1 p.m. and "Forbidden Planet" (1956) at 3 p.m. All screenings at the Edison.

Alfred Gough ("Smallville") will be on hand for a special screening of Richard Donner's "Superman" and his re-edited version of its sequel, which is called "Superman II: The Donner Cut" and well worth seeing if you are a fan of the Last Son of Krypton. Saturday 8 p.m., Imaginasian Center.

Adama himself, Edward James Olmos, will be a special guest at a tribute to Ron Moore, the creative force behind "Battlestar Galactica," the soon-to-be-concluded series on Sci Fi. Saturday, 7 p.m., The Edison.

Linda Harrison, who played Nova in the 1968 film "Planet of the Apes," will be on hand for a special program entitled "Planet of the Apes: 40 Years of Evolution." Sunday night, 6:45 p.m., The Edison. (There will also be a screening of the startling simian classic at the Imaginasian at 7 that night.)

-- Geoff Boucher

2008 photo of Edward James Olmos by Gus Ruelas/Associated Press. "The Day the Earth Stood Still" image from the Hulton Archive via Getty Images. "Superman" photo courtesy of Warner Bros. "Planet of the Apes" courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox. 

'The Day the Earth Stood Still,' the once and future film

Gort, Klaatu barada nikto...

It was 57 years ago this month that "The Day the Earth Stood Still" created a sensation at theaters. The remake starring Keanu Reeves is due in theaters in December. So we thought you might like to check out the trailers for each. First, the original:

The classic was directed by the late Robert Wise who would go on to make "The Sound of Music," "West Side Story" and "The Sand Pebbles" as well as two notable 1970s sci-fi films, "The Andromeda Strain" and "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." "Day" starred Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal and it really retains a certain gravitas even after all these years.

How good was the movie? When Arthur C. Clarke made his list of the best science-fiction films ever, he ranked "Day" ahead of Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, "2001: A Space Odyssey," a film for which, of course, Clarke himself co-wrote the screenplay. The American Film Institute ranked it fifth among sci-fi classics, and it was the oldest film on that particular AFI Top 10 list.

Now here's the trailer for the remake, which is due in theaters on Dec. 12:

I had instant anxiety when I heard about the remake (that's a familiar sensation these days, isn't it?) but I thought the presentation for the film at Comic-Con International looked promising and, well, Reeves can definitely pull off the cryptic-and-detached-messianic roles, just like he did in "The Matrix" films. Director Scott Derrickson said in San Diego that it's the right time for a remake. "The original was so a product of its time, and commented so well on that early Cold War era," he said. "The idea of updating it made sense since the times have changed and we now have different issues."

So is there anyone out there who is amped to see the Earth stand still again?

-- Geoff Boucher

Comic-Con: Keanu Reeves gets his alien on in 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'

Keanu Reeves is playing an alien in December tentpole "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and he couldn't be more thrilled.

The actor bounded on to the main stage all smiles, kicking off the first Hall H presentation by welcoming the crowd. One guy in the audience was extra affectionate: "I love you, Keanu!" Reeves eyed him in the crowd and yelled back, "I love you too, man!"

In "Day," a remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic, Reeves plays Klaatu, an alien sent to take in the human condition. "The original Klaatu was warm and fuzzy, more human than humans. I’m not that guy," Reeves explained. That's for sure. Preview footage demonstrated Klaatu 2.0's painful- looking mind control capabilities. (Think electric shock therapy).

But if you've already seen the trailer, be warned: "The Day the Earth Stood Still" isn't all aliens and special effects. In the original "Day," Klaatu was sent to warn civilization that it would destroy itself if humans didn't change their ways -- a not-so-subtle commentary about the Cold War and nuclear threat.

The new "Day" will again assess the current state of humanity and the environment through the eyes of Klaatu. It's a message movie, to be sure, but it also arrives on the heels of the critically acclaimed "Wall-E," Pixar's story of a lovable but lonely trash compactor set against the future of a used-and-abused Earth.

Co-star Jennifer Connelly said the movie is actually rather tender. "The idea of an alien that comes to Earth to learn about humanity and Earth from an outsider perspective, it's just such a good story," she said. Connelly plays the mom of a boy who bonds with Klaatu.

Director Scott Derrickson added that it felt like the right time for a remake. "The original was so a product of its time, and commented so well on that early Cold War era," he said. "The idea of updating it made sense since the times have changed and we now have different issues."

-- Denise Martin

Photo: Keanu Reeves stars as Klaatu, an alien whose arrival on our planet triggers a global upheaval in "The Day the Earth Stood Still."  Credit: Fox / Doane Gregory