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Will Lost and new Star Trek mastermind, J.J. Abrams be trying his hand at reviving an old-school toy line with an updated movie? Possibly. It is being reported that Abrams is in talks to produce a film adaptation of late 70's, early 80's toy line, turned Marvel Comics title, Micronauts.

While one does not typically think of The Wall Street Journal as a regular source for breaking news in the entertainment biz, they may have (and I'll stress "may have") done just that. The Journal ran a piece today about the continuing trend of toy franchises being transformed into major blockbuster films. However, in an almost passive way, they briefly drop the bombshell:

"J.J. Abrams, who created the TV show 'Lost' and directed this summer's 'Star Trek' film, is in discussions to produce a movie about Japanese toy line Micronauts, which Hasbro just acquired."

Unless this tidbit is some kind of serious typo that will be retracted at the bottom of tomorrow's edition, this will be a major project. Abrams would actually have quite a bit of raw material to work with. Micronauts was, ironically enough, a rather deep comic title for something that was essentially a monthly commercial for a toy line. (Although the same could be said of Larry Hama's tenure on G.I. Joe.) However, other than Gen-X'ers, I'm sure there are quite a few other generations of people thinking of a rather obvious question: What the hell is Micronauts?

It's time for a Cliff Notes-like history lesson:

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Hardcore Halo fans will soon have a chance to experience the game’s expansive universe in an entirely new way thanks to Halo Legends, a collection of animated short films created by some of Japan’s most acclaimed animation studios. Microsoft announced today that the collection will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on Feb. 9, 2010 in both a standard edition and 2-disc special edition.

The special edition will include hours of bonus content including:

• Audio commentary with directors Frank O’Connor and Joseph Chou
• “The Making of Halo Legends”
• “Halo: Gaming Evolved” – Explore the Halo phenomenon from its inception as an Xbox title to the massive franchise it is today

The Blu-ray version will include all of the aforementioned content, plus a feature called “Halo: The Story So Far,” which basically just provides an overview of what’s happened over the course of the first three Halo games.

If you don’t feel like waiting until February to see the short films, the entire collection will be streamed live on a weekly basis via the new Halo Waypoint portal on Xbox Live starting Nov. 7. You can find the complete airing schedule over at the Halo Legends official site.

What do you Halo-lovers think about this collection? Are you excited, indifferent, curious?

Possible Steve Guttenberg comebacks have been "close to happening" quite often in the last few years. The latest example of this was his stint last season on Dancing With The Stars. However, it seems that every year or so, we hear something from the Gute about a possible revival of some of his old franchises, and right now is no exception. In an interview with WENN, it seems that the Gute has been talking up a storm yet again about the topic. According to him, he will, in fact, reunite with Tom Selleck and Ted Danson for a new film in the Three Men and a Baby/Little Lady franchise. (Dare I refer to it as such?) As Guttenberg states:

“Disney’s developing Three Men and a Bride. That’s going to be a smash. A smash hit. They’re bringing everybody back for that. Nobody knows about it. I’m the first to talk about it.”

While Guttenberg did not discuss the details of Three Men and a Bride, it seems to adhere to the rather obvious idea that the "baby" or as we last left her, the "little lady" will in fact be getting married, as comedic gold will surely ensue in the wedding-planning stages as her three still awkward adopted dads hilariously deal with late middle-age, as well as love and commitment issues. (Seriously, try and tell me that the film WON'T be like that!)

However, Guttenberg didn't stop there. He continued on about other projects like his desire to star in the (confirmed) upcoming Short Circuit remake, a new Cocoon film, and of course, the crème de la crème, the long-discussed new Police Academy film. According to Guttenberg:

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The movie 2012 may not be officially released yet, but are you ready for the TV series?! The hype behind Roland Emmerich's upcoming big-budget apocalyptic drama is unavoidable, yet ironically enough, very few people know what it's about other than Mayan calendars and lots of stuff getting destroyed. Well, Emmerich seems to be pretty high on the project; so much so that he's been talking with TV producer Mark Gordon (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice) about developing a series based on the film.

The film is essentially a grim, effects-laden epic where the (alleged) date on the Mayan calendar predicting the end of the world seems to come to fruition, as an earthquake displaces the Earth's crust, causing a flood of Biblical proportions. The film centers on a character played by John Cusack, as he struggles to get his family to the Himalayas, where an organization has built arks to preserve humanity and some animal species. (As if it wasn't Biblical enough.) Themes shared by other apocalyptic pieces such as "who decides who lives and who dies?" will also be reflected in the way respective governments of the world handle the dissemination of this info.  

In a red carpet interview on Tuesday with Entertainment Weekly at the advance premiere of the film, Emmerich discusses the project, saying there is plenty to do for a TV show, further adding:

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That's right. Dolph Lundgren is coming to Attack of the Show tonight. Yes, we promised you that he'd be here earlier this week but when a small village in Sweden is under seige by a rogue band of ninjas, SOMEONE has to fly over there and save the day.

So do the right thing. Tune in to G4 tonight at 7:00pm to watch Kevin Pereira get his ass kicked talk to Dolph Lundgren about his directorial debut, Command Performance, his recent birthday celebration and more.

You know how the Wii is positioned as a game system that sells units by offering less than its competitors but having a user-friendly gimmick? Nintendo may be "correcting course" a bit and offering some of the services users of the other two big game systems take for granted.

First off: Playable downloads are coming to the system. On a Nintendo conference call Saturo Iwata said Nintendo will start a test program for WiiWare demos some time this month. The test will cover just a few titles. Apparently, Nintendo wants to test whether people actually want to try out games before they buy them. The demos will be for WiiWare games, but Nintendo could extend this idea and provide demos of retail titles as well. No word yet on whether the pilot program is for Japan only, but we'll keep you posted.

Secondly: Movies. According to the same call, Nintendo plans to offer paid video streaming in Japan on the Wii no Ma channel before the end of the year. Currently, the video content on the service is free of charge. No word yet on what kind of paid content will be offered, but Iwata did say that Nintendo "will be working to take the service to the next step" with an eye on getting more people using the Wii, even people who might not be into playing games at home.

Whether these two changes are indicative of a strategy shift from Nintendo or just a couple of weird things being tested out in Japan remains to be seen. If these start looking more like major initiatives/priorities, we'll let you know. Of course, Nintendo has no hope of competing without an HD version of its machine...

There's only so much you can tell from a trailer, but look at the just-released Prince of Persia: Sands of Time movie trailer.

...and here are my down-and-dirty first impressions:

The Good:

• The cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley are all excellent actors with large-enough movie star personas to pull off a flick of this scale.
• The Effects: I'm bored with Hollywood effects -- they're way too perfect to be interesting -- but these look flawless.
• The Director: Mike Newell is a pro who has been directing since before you were born -- seriously, he has credits that go back to 1964. He'll do a solid job.

The Bad:

• Video game movies always suck.
• Video game movies always suck.
• Video game movies always suck.

What do you think? Is Prince of Persia going to buck the trend for video game movies and actually prove watchable and worthwhile?

Marvel Entertainment released its third quarter financial report this morning, and along with talk of "Q3 2009 net sales of $105.7 million and net income of $20.4 million, or $0.26 per diluted share, compared to net sales of $182.5 million and net income of $50.6 million, or $0.64 per diluted share, in Q3 2008" came the word that Thor and Captain America video games are scheduled to hit shelves in 2011. Both are from Sega, and while we had heard word that the games were coming, we didn't know the dates.

Thor is scheduled for May, 2011 and Captain America for July, 2011. The assumption is these games will come out to accompany their respective movies, just as the Iron Man 2 game is scheduled for an April 2010 release. That assumption is looking more and more true. As of now, the Thor movie is scheduled for May 20, 2011 release where      Captain America is scheduled for July 22, 2011 release.

Anyone have an early prediction on whether these games are going to be good or not?

These days, everyone's off about haunted bedrooms and alien abductions, but did we forget about a particular famous witch?

With a domestic total of nearly $85 million only a few weeks after its wide release, dominating the Saw franchise, and even just this week, coming in just under $5 million shy of spoiling the #1 spot debut of Michael Jackson's This Is It, the power of low budget buzz movie Paranormal Activity is undeniable. However, about this time 10 years ago, everyone was in awe of another low-budget project's rise to dominance, which would eventually set a place for itself in pop culture history. That film, of course, was The Blair Witch Project. Shot with a set of handcams with some unknowns on shoestring budget, the sleeper hit of all sleeper hits would eventually yield over $249 million (worldwide) at the box-office. With the recent success of Paranormal Activity, one may wonder if a fire may have been lit under the long-dormant Blair Witch franchise. It appears that it may have happened.

Co-Writer and Co-Director of the 1999 phenom (partnered with Daniel Myrick,) Eduardo Sanchez recently commented on the possibility of a new chapter in the Blair Witch franchise. The duo initially spent a number of years evading the possibility of returning to their franchise, even passing on involvement in the conventional, big-budget sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. (Good call on that move, btw.) After spending the ensuing years sporadically on various low-key horror/sci-fi projects, it seems that Oren Peli's Paranormal Activity may have inspired the calling to resurrect this franchise. According to Sanchez:

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According to The Hollywood Reporter, the one and only Sir Anthony Hopkins is in negotiations to join the cast of Thor to play Odin, Thunder God and Thor's regal father. While very few details have emerged from this report, it raises questions about the role itself, which was long-rumored to be filled by Shakespearean actor Brian Blessed.

When the rumor (which was ultimately proven false) about Robert De Niro and Jude Law joining the cast initially hit, I took it as a sign that there was some casting scrambling occurring for a film, that while stacked with a solid cast, was without any box-office drawing stars. (Which, while the rumor was false, remains a valid issue.) Whether Brian Blessed's role as Odin was ever actually set, is something that remains to be revealed, although his name was deleted from the cast list on imdb weeks ago.  However, IF Blessed was at any point, actually in consideration, only to be edged-out by a more bankable name, it may speak volumes about the obstacles that this film faces.

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Film purist might find the following trailer for LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues blasphemous, as PR folks have spliced in classic Raider of the Lost Ark film footage to create a parody video. I find it amusing; see you for yourself.

Indy 2 releases November 17.

It seems that Frank Miller is finally moving forward with a film sequel to Sin City. Anyone remember Sin City? Huge Frank Miller graphic novel -- reproduced nearly frame-by-frame by Robert Rodriguez -- Frodo as a spectacled cannibal serial killer -- Jessica Alba in the "cowgirl stripper" outfit that was everyone's desktop wallpaper. That was ages ago (2005!) and the rumors about a sequel were already churning even before the first one hit the theaters. In an interview with Mania, producer, Stephen L'Heureux of Solipsist Films revealed the news that those rumors will finally come to fruition when the project will begin to film sometime in the second half of 2010.

Miller was working on the screenplay for another of his graphic novel film adaptations, Hard Boiled. The future-set film was (and I suppose still is) rumored to star Nicolas Cage as a cyborg tax collector who, despite his homicidal tendencies, finds himself a hero who fights to preserve the robot race when he turns on the monolithic organization he once served. (Brazil meets Robocop?) However, to get things moving on Sin City 2, it looks like Hard Boiled will be put on the back-burner. (Take the pun if you wish.)

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A rumor about the upcoming Guy Ritchie-directed film adaptation of comics' "Main Man," Lobo, has really been making the rounds. According to a recent report by Mania, their "source on the inside" is saying that meetings regarding casting keep pointing to actor Clancy Brown.

WHO is that, you ask? He's been around for a long time, and among his numerous roles over the years, is the main adversary in the original Highlander, The Kurgan, on Lost as Kelvin Inman, the man who shared the Swan hatch with Desmond before trying to steal his boat and leave the island, and perhaps opposite Edward Furlong as the evil zombified dog-killing Sheriff in Pet Sematary 2. However, it is his voice work that may have you even more starstruck in his roles as Mr. Krabs in Spongebob Squarepants, as Lex Luthor in just about every animated adaptation of Superman in the last few decades (including the recent Superman/Batman: Public Enemies,) and as Mr. Sinister in Wolverine and the X-Men.

Ever since the project was announced, the immediate question of who would be playing the genocidal albino intergalactic bounty hunter undoubtedly was raised. Clancy Brown is surely not a name that would typically surface. Why then, is his name suddenly in the mix? Wouldn't they go for someone who had the large build and experience with action genre films like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Gerard Butler, or Vin Diesel? According to Mania's talk with their source:

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Even though we've seen several iterations and spin-offs of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, it's been a few years since someone had the cojones to introduce a new instrument into the mix. DJ Hero changes that, adding a turntable to the lineup. The $119.99 asking price is dicey in an economy where most gamers are scaling back, but as I pointed out in my review yesterday, despite its faults, DJ Hero is a supremely entertaining game. It's a game I expect will quickly find a fiercely loyal audience.

Finally, though, DJ Hero is in the wild. Have you had a chance to play it? What do you think? If you decided to pass on DJ Hero, was it just the price? Did anyone pick up the Renegade Edition?

The demigod James Cameron and the videogame version of his supposed movie-to-end-all-movies, Avatar, has issued the second of five developer diaries. The following video tours the lush and deadly movie/game world of Pandora and it's inhabitants.

Now, if only they could include those fancy pants light pens they're using in these videos as a bonus to buying the game.