US ambitions to send astronauts back to the moon

US ambitions to send astronauts back to the moon

"Transformers" looks unstoppable at box office

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – The 'bots are still on the trot.

The mega-successful bow last week by Paramount's action sequel "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" has so transformed the competitive box-office landscape, it's hard to see either of two rival movies opening at No. 1 this weekend.

Just a few weeks ago, 20th Century Fox's 3-D animated three-quel "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" seemed to have a shot at debuting atop the Fourth of July weekend rankings. But despite continued prospects of a healthy bow, it's highly unlikely that "Dawn" will capture session bragging rights.

Like Universal's Johnny Depp-starring "Public Enemies," "Dawn" entered wide release Wednesday. But its real showdown will come this weekend. With the Independence Day holiday falling on Saturday, box-office rankings will be based on a three-day span.

"American Werewolf" to strike again

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – "An American Werewolf in London," filmmaker John Landis' 1981 cult horror comedy, is set for a remake.

Dimension Films has picked up the rights to the material from Landis in what was described as a competitive environment. Bloody-Disgusting.com broke the news of the remake.

Landis wrote and directed "Werewolf," which starred David Naughton and Griffin Dunne as two American backpackers hiking in the Yorkshire moors. They're attacked by a mysterious animal who turns out to be a werewolf, and Naughton ends up terrorizing London while Dunne becomes a reanimated corpse who suggests ways for Naughton to kill himself and stop the curse.

No writer or director has yet been hired for the new version. Dimension and the producers aim to keep the comedy elements of the original while making the story relevant to contemporary audiences.

Landis will serve as an executive producer on the project and possibly consult.

Dimension has picked up other horror titles in hopes of relaunching money-making franchises. The company is releasing "Halloween II" at the end of August and is developing a remake of "Hellraiser."

"Transformers" sequel tramples on box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The "Transformers" sequel was well on its way to becoming the biggest hit of the year so far after selling a better-than-expected $126 million in tickets during its first three days at the North American box office, distributor Paramount Pictures said on Saturday.

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," a follow-up to the smash robot hit of 2007, is on course to challenge the seemingly impregnable five-day opening record of $203.8 million set last year by Batman sequel, "The Dark Knight."

The biggest movie of the year so far is "Star Trek," which has grossed $244 million in seven weeks of release across the United States and Canada.

A clearer picture of "Transformers"' trajectory will emerge on Sunday, when the Viacom Inc-owned studio issues sales estimates for the weekend. Earlier in the week, Paramount had conservatively forecast a five-day haul in the $130 million to $150 million range. But industry pundits countered that a tally of at least $175 million was more likely. The film reportedly cost about $200 million to make.

Linda Park

Linda Park

Cameron previews "Avatar" footage for first time

AMSTERDAM (Hollywood Reporter) – "The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!" James Cameron cried Tuesday as he strode onto a stage -- with his 3-D glasses on -- to unveil the first publicly shown clips from his $300 million 3-D sci-fi actioner "Avatar."

The fittingly epic film promo literally added an extra dimension to Fox's presentation at the Cinema Expo industry confab. "Avatar" actors Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang, and producer Jon Landau were also on hand for the preview.

"Three years ago, I stood up here and said the 3-D renaissance is coming," the "Titanic" director said. "And from what we've seen in the business, we can now say it has arrived."

In introducing the 24-minute assemblage, Cameron said much of it came from the first third of the film but that there were also glimpses from unfinished portions of later battle scenes involving warring sides clashing over control of the fantasy world Pandora.

"Transformers" aims to recharge U.S. box offices

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Big-budget "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" hits U.S. movie theaters on Wednesday, aiming to recharge box offices in a summer season that has lost momentum after 2009's strong start.

Early reviews are mixed for director Michael Bay's effects-filled story of an alien vs. robot war on Earth that follows 2007 smash hit "Transformers," which raked in more than $700 million worldwide for its backers at DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures, a unit of media giant Viacom Inc.

But movies like "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" are widely considered to be immune from negative criticism in their first weekend at box offices because, generally speaking, their core audience of mostly young men rarely read reviews.

In fact on Monday, movie ticket site Fandango.com reported that hundreds of midnight showings ahead of Wednesday's debut already are sold out, and advance sales on Fandango are double what they were at this same time ahead of "Transformers."

China to stick to controversial software rule

BEIJING (AFP) — China will not back away from a new rule requiring that Internet filtering software be shipped with all computers sold in the country despite heavy criticism of the plan, state media has said.

The report in the China Daily newspaper came after US officials raised concerns to the Chinese government last week.

Computer makers have been told that all PCs sold from July 1 must be shipped with the Chinese-made anti-pornography software, a move that trade and rights groups say is a bid by Beijing to further tighten Internet controls.

The China Daily quoted an unnamed source at China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology saying the plan would not be changed, giving no other details.

US diplomats expressed their concerns in meetings with Chinese officials last week, an embassy spokesman told AFP on Monday.

BBC enlisting new satellites to broadcast in Iran

LONDON (AP) — The BBC said Friday it is using two extra satellites to broadcast its Farsi-language service after days of jamming it blamed on Iran, as several Western broadcasters seek to overcome obstacles to transmitting coverage of the country's political turmoil.

The British state-funded news organization said the move was meant to help it reach its Iranian audience as the crisis over their country's disputed election deepens. It is also a challenge to Iran's religious government, which has accused foreign broadcasters of stirring unrest, singling out the BBC in particular.

"This is an important time for Iran," BBC World Service Director Peter Horrocks said in a statement. "We hope that by adding more ways to access BBC Persian television, Farsi-speaking audiences can get the high quality news, analysis and debate they clearly desire."

As huge protests have followed the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran has moved to deprive people of independent sources of news.

US prepares for N.Korean missile launch on Hawaii

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US military has moved additional defenses to Hawaii in case North Korea launches a missile towards the Pacific island chain, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said.

The decision to deploy missile defense weaponry to the remote US state came as the US military tracked a North Korean ship possibly carrying cargo banned under tougher UN sanctions.

It was the first vessel to be monitored under the UN sanctions imposed on Pyongyang last week after the Stalinist regime carried out an underground nuclear test on May 25.

Gates said Washington was watching North Korea for missile activity and that there were concerns Pyongyang might "launch a missile... in the direction of Hawaii."

He said he had approved the deployment of THAAD missile defense weaponry to Hawaii and a radar system nearby "to provide support" in case of a possible North Korean launch.

NASA repairing leak on space shuttle fuel tank

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is repairing a leaky hydrogen gas line on Endeavour's fuel tank in hopes of launching the shuttle on its space station construction mission Wednesday, four days after the first try was called off.

But another NASA mission, involving a pair of science spacecraft bound for the moon, is scheduled to blast off Wednesday. Top space agency officials will decide Monday whether to bump the moon mission to make way for Endeavour.

Mission management team chairman LeRoy Cain said it's likely Endeavour will go first — if the repair effort goes well, no other shuttle problems crop up and the weather cooperates.

"A lot of things have to go our way," Cain said Sunday.

Hydrogen gas began leaking from a vent line hookup on Endeavour's external tank during fueling early Saturday, and the countdown was halted just hours before the scheduled morning liftoff.

Angarano, Eisenberg to take part in "Ceremony"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Michael Angarano has signed on and Jesse Eisenberg is in negotiations to star in the indie comedy feature "Ceremony,"

Max Winkler, the son of actor Henry Winkler, is making his feature directorial debut on the NALA Films production.

Winkler's script follows a young man (Eisenberg) who falls hard for an older woman about to be married. The infatuation prompts him to take along his unwitting friend (Angarano) to a beach town in an effort to break up the wedding. Upon arriving, the young men quickly realize just how out of place they are among the stately British groom-to-be and his guests.

Winkler recently co-wrote with Matt Spicer, his writing partner, and Jonah Hill "The Adventurer's Handbook," which was picked up in February by Universal. He also directed the mockumentary "Clark and Michael," a Web series starring Michael Cera and Clark Duke.

Expedition to study Canadas deep sea corals by submarine

Expedition to study Canadas deep sea corals by submarine

What makes a good search engine name?

A new kid has arrived on the search engine block.

Microsoft's Bing has joined the web's big-hitters, Google and Yahoo!, in their mission to help internet users navigate the web's resources.

The computer giant hopes the new search, which updates its old MSN search, will help it gain a bigger share of the search market - with Google currently taking 64%, Yahoo! 20% and Microsoft, despite being the biggest player in the software market, a paltry 8.2%.

Among the crop of more recent search enterprises is Wolfram Alpha, a computation knowledge engine named after its creator, Cuil, from the Gaelic for knowledge, and hazel (that's a lowercase "h"). So what makes a successful search engine name?

Brevity and catchiness, and a word without existing connotations all help.

Those in the web branding and marketing industry say in the age of Web 2.0 - a term referring to a more interactive, second generation of the internet - short and catchy is key.

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" returning to big screen

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – A new incarnation of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" could be coming to the big screen, courtesy of the director of the original movie.

"Buffy" creator Joss Whedon isn't involved and it's not set up at a studio, but director Fran Rubel Kuzui is working on a relaunch with Vertigo Entertainment, which specializes in English-language remakes of Asian films, such as "The Grudge" and "The Departed."

While Whedon is the person most associated with the "Buffy" franchise, Kuzui and her Kuzui Enterprises have held onto the rights since the beginning, when she discovered the "Buffy" script from then-unknown Whedon. She developed the script while her husband Kaz put together the financing to make the 1992 movie, which was released by Fox.

Kuzui later helped bring back Whedon to make the TV series, which began its successful run on the WB in 1997. She received executive producer credits on "Buffy" and its spinoff, "Angel."

The new "Buffy" film, however, would have no connection to the TV series, nor would it use popular supporting characters like Angel, Willow, Xander or Spike. Kuzui and Vertigo are looking to restart the story line without trampling on the beloved existing universe created by Whedon.