Two sequels to INDEPENDENCE DAY being produced

"Welcome to Urf"... again.

(Hah-hah-hah, did you see what I did there? Did you?!)

Word breaking this afternoon is that TWO sequels to the 1996 sci-fi blockbuster Independence Day are in the works. Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich are trying to get everyone from the original back on board. Right now the follow-ups are titled ID Forever Part One and ID Forever Part Two. How clever...

I have extremely mixed feelings about this. Yeah, even considering how much of a fan I was - and always will be - of the original. 1996's Independence Day was a unique product of its era. It should remain as much. At the same time it was such a great concept now tied down to being so dated a film that it's one of the few movies that I could see a reboot/remake being in order. Just as long as those eyeball-goggling practical effects make a return.

Oh yeah, it's also been announced that the sequels will be filmed in 2-D and then converted to 3-D in post-production...

"AWWW HELL NAW!!!"

A tip o' the hat to this blog's good friend Drew McOmber for passing along news of this... thing.

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WATCHMEN 2 is being discussed at Warner Bros.

Read about it here and here.

No. Just, no.

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J.J. Abrams hints at CLOVERFIELD sequel

Cloverfield was one of my very favorite movies from last year. I thought it accomplished just what J.J. Abrams set out to do: give America a leviathan film monster all its very own (read my original review here). It did extremely well at the box office and in DVD/Blu-ray sales, so obviously people are wondering: might we see a second installment of the story?

During the Star Trek panel at WonderCon, Abrams spoke in considerably strong terms that a Cloverfield sequel is indeed in the works...

"We're actually working on an idea right now," Abrams told the packed crowd. "The key obviously at doing any kind of sequel, certainly this film included, is that it better not be a business decision. If you're going to do something, it should be because you're really inspired to do it. It doesn't really have to mean anything, doesn't mean it will work, but it means we did it because we cared, not because we thought we could get the bucks. We have an idea that we thought was pretty cool that we're playing with, which means there will be something that's connected to Cloverfield, but I hope it happens sooner than later because the idea is pretty sweet."

The novelty of Cloverfield is such that the ideas for stories set during the same attack are virtually limitless. I'd love to see at least two or three more Cloverfield movies. And a good video game that lets the player experience the horror of that "terrible thing" as it destroys New York City.

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Striking while IRON MAN is hot: Marvel announces 2010 sequel and Avengers movies

Good friend of this blog Crystal is the first to pass along word that Marvel Comics has already declared that Iron Man 2 will hit theaters in April 2010. No doubt that a $100-plus opening weekend helped expedite the matter :-)

In addition to the further on-screen adventures of Tony Stark, Marvel has also announced Thor for July 2010 (I was wondering the other day if they'd make a Thor movie and if so how could this possibly translate into a big-budget feature), and The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers - which has no relation to that strange 1998 movie of the same name - for 2011. Cinematical is hinting that Samuel L. Jackson's appearance as Nick Fury in the post-credits scene from Iron Man was far more than a mere cameo and with this slate of upcoming films it does indeed look like Marvel is going to be building a cross-brand franchise: something that's never been done before with big-budget comic book movies so far as I can recall.

Cinematical also claims to have a source in the know who reports that in the sequel, Iron Man will take on the Mandarin (not really a surprise: they set that up in the first one with The Ten Rings terrorist group) and that Mandarin will set Fin Fang Foom on his titanium-clad nemesis (doesn't seem likely to me, but wackier things have happened). No doubt we'll also see James Rhodes put on the spare armor and become War Machine too 'cuz that was set up nicely in the first movie. Maybe even an adaptation of the "Demon in a Bottle" story too, which some consider to be the definitive tale of Tony Stark.

Oh yeah, Marvel also said they're doing an Ant-Man film too. If they're this serious about making Avengers movies, maybe they should go ahead and cast Kang the Conquerer? I nominate Michael Emerson, AKA Benjamin Linus from Lost!

(By the way, in case ya missed it here's my review of Iron Man from a few days ago :-)

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BioShock 2 coming in 2009

I rented BioShock for the Xbox 360 from a nearby video store over the weekend to see if this game lived up to the good word that I've heard about it. There haven't been many spare moments lately 'cuz of various projects but I've got to say: no other video game that I've ever played has had me so looking forward to chances to playing it more as has BioShock. Right now I'm in the Medical Pavilion level, which I think is still very early in the game so I don't know anything about where this story is headed. But even so, I'm going to definitely be buying this game for my permanent collection and I'm going to be posting a review of it soon.

So if you too have fallen in love with the haunting beauty and mystery of the underwater city of Rapture, you'll be happy to know that Take-Two Interactive has announced BioShock 2 for the fall of 2009. BioShock's lead creator Ken Levine will be involved with the sequel but what his precise role will be hasn't been announced yet.

Okay, I'm off to play some more BioShock. Maybe this time I'll finally get past the Big Daddy...

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