The helpful folks at http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/ maintain an excellent guide to B5 web sites and resources.
Talking of Fox, the temptation to release the refurbished Star Wars trilogy on video proved too great, despite repeated promises to the contrary. Perhaps George Lucas, currently supervising post-production on The Balance of the Force (with the ubiquitous Ewan McGregor as the youthful Obi-Wan Kenobi), needed the cash to lure Steven Spielberg into the director's chair for the second sequel (presumably as soon as the latter has lensed Indiana Jones and the Plague of Darkness).
Things must be tight, judging from the "cease and desist" order Lucasfilms recently slapped on the Chicago stage show Jedi! A Musical Tour de Force, claiming the production "seriously jeopardises our ability to profit from our licensing programs [sic] and threatens to cause us serious economic harm". Hope no one's told George about the spoof short Hardware Wars - and why didn't he use the same muscle to save us from Mel Brooks' Spaceballs?
Inkberrow-based video distributor Sovereign Marketing (run by former Encore exec Stephen Haynes) launched its new Satanica label in November, with a brace of horror films directed by Norman [Inseminoid] Warren. Satan's Slave [1976] and Terror [1978] are both presented in full ratio and excellent value at 12.99.
Those heading down to London over Christmas may care to check out the Museum of the Moving Image, which launched the exhibition "Hammer Horror: A Horribly Hair-Raising Experience" (typical South Bank gibberish) on 3 December (coincidentally, the birthday of guest Jimmy Sangster). As well as behind-the-scenes photographs and recreations of key images from the studio's heyday, MOMI plans to display a wealth of Hammer artefacts and merchandise. The exhibition runs until 19 May.
The neighbouring National Film Theatre also raised the goosebump stakes on 31 October, with a rare screening the Spanish-language Dracula, shot simultaneously with the famous Bela Lugosi version and utilising the same sets, substituting Carlos Villarias in the lead.
Director Philip Noyce, whose career has slid from the excellent thriller Dead Calm to the tedium of The Saint, is back on the remake trail with an extraterrestrial update of the classic John Ford western The Searchers; the script will be provided by Ebbe Roe Smith [Falling Down].
Other projects allegedly in the pipeline include: Freddy Vs Jason, the Krueger-Vorhees confrontation tipped in the closing frames of the "final" Friday the 13th gorefest; Tim Burton's remake of the 1960s b-movie The Man With the X-Ray Eyes, though this may have to wait until he's directed Nicholas Cage in the long-awaited Superman Reborn; a big-screen version of the 1960s sitcom My Favourite Martian, possibly starring Jeff Daniels and Christopher Lloyd; Uma Thurman as the comic-strip anti-heroine Modesty Blaise, courtesy of director Luc Besson (who really should know better - but then so should have Joseph Losey, who directed Monica Vitti in the 1966 incarnation).
Finally, I feel certain you'll want to join me in extending every sympathy to impoverished American author Stephen King, who's been forced to demand a $17m advance for his new manuscript, in order to ensure "my ass is covered, the mortgage payments are taken care of [and] we've got food in the regrigerator". You've got to feel sorry for someone whose arse is that huge.
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