And Now, the News -- for April 1999

Judging by the number of actual and potential SF/Fantasy movies scheduled to appear over the next year or so, one might almost hope the genre will eventually gain some respect. On the other hand, it's probably best if we don't hold our breath.

~~Neil Gaiman, creator of the Sandman comic series and writer of modern fantasy, will write the script for his current novel, Stardust, for Miramax. Gaiman will also be executive producer. As if that and the six figures he's getting for the film rights weren't sufficient good news, Miramax is reportedly also negotiating to buy his 1997 novel, Neverwhere.

~~The battle over who finally gets to do the long-awaited Spiderman movie is over. The winner: Sony. Alas, despite the studio's fond hopes, they will not have James Cameron to direct it.

"With the amount of time and energy that I put into a film, it shouldn't be somebody else's superhero," King James told Premiere magazine. "I don't want to labor in somebody else's house."

~~Another film that won't be seeing any more of Cameron's time and energy is the Planet of the Apes remake. Rumor is that he bowed out of the project when 20th Century-Fox balked at hiring Peter Hyams to direct.

What's scary is that the man who is allegedly at the top of Fox's A-list, Armageddon director Michael Bay, has gone on record saying he'd like to give the new version a "teen-friendly cast," according to The Hollywood Reporter. Leonardo di Caprio, Adam Sandler and Sarah Micelle Gellar replacing Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter?

I don't think so.

~~John Travolta's production of L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth will film in Montreal with Roger Christian in the captain's chair. Christian is fresh from a stint as second unit director on The Phantom Menace and will commence filming in July.

The book should not to be confused with Gene Roddenberry's BattleGROUND Earth, which is currently being shown on WB affiliates as Earth: Final Conflict

~~As if there were a shortage of good original material, TV producer Glen Larson will resurrect his 1970's series Battlestar Galactica. The $40 million flick, scripted by Wing Commander writer Mike Finch, will reportedly pick up where the series left off. Galactica fans might want to hold their applause -- no studio has evinced any interest in the project yet. They might also want to spend a few weekends re-viewing all the Star Trek movies as a lesson in what can happen when bad things happen to good series.

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