Ridley Scott to revisit Blade Runner

Deadline reports that Ridley Scott has committed to directing and producing another Blade Runner movie, almost thirty years after the release of the first cult sci-fi classic. No details yet on whether the new film for Alcon Entertainment, will be a sequel, prequel or reboot to the dystopic franchise that had Harrison Ford portray a cop hunting down replicants, robots that look human in a corporate-controlled urban future.

MTV gleaned from Ford in July that he hasn’t rejected a return to the Deckard role, and that he was in touch with some of the new film’s people. A new Blade Runner won’t be Scott’s first return to one of his masterpieces – he’s currently working on Prometheus, which an Alien prequel – sort of.

With Scott returning to his earlier works, it seems that the 1980s-remake bandwagon is nearly complete – all we need is a reboot to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and a sequel to The Abyss.

Hey man, nice shot: Han Solo on EW’s ‘cool’ list

Entertainment Weekly has placed Han Solo at #7 on their list of the 20 all-time coolest heroes in pop culture. And he’s not even the only Harrison Ford character on it; Indiana Jones makes #2, beat out only by James Bond. The ladies are no slouches, either: Ellen Ripley is #5 and Buffy is #8, with Foxy Brown, Nancy Drew, and Sydney Bristow also making appearances.

UPDATE: Jezebel is annoyed that there weren’t more women on the list. Can’t really blame them there!

Star Wars second on AFI’s top 10 sci-fi

Those crazy list-making folks at the American Film Institute have placed A New Hope in second place on their list of the top 10 science fiction films. Click through to see the original trailer and some clips of James Earl Jones talking about the film.

The top spot goes to 2001, with E.T., A Clockwork Orange, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Blade Runner, Alien, Terminator 2, the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Back to the Future rounding out the choices.

There’s a fantasy list as well, which includes The Wizard of Oz, Fellowship of the Ring, and King Kong.

RIP: Effects master Stan Winston

Numerous media outlets today reported the death of Stan Winston, the Oscar-winning special effects master whose work included Terminator, Jurassic Park, and Aliens. He was 62.

ILM’s Dennis Muren, who supervised Jurassic Park’s digital effects, told Variety:

“When you put (Winston’s creatures and digital effects) together, the audience was confused, and sometimes we were, too, about who had done what.

“But Stan had always said, ‘It shouldn’t be all one or all the other; it should be a combination of the two.'”

Michael Heilemann over at Binary Bonsai has a brief tribute – and a book recommendation.

Movie News: LOTR, Indy, Transformers

This post needs something pretty to look at. NO ELVES!Just in time for Christmas… The complete soundtrack for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King will be released on November 6. Yup, all three hours and 50 minutes of score. Also, this is the first I’ve heard of a soundtrack book: The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films. And here I though it was Lucasfilm that left no revenue possibility unturned.