Club Jade

Not so shiny. Catherine Hardwicke is out of Twilight sequel. (Robert Pattinson’s envy must be at least twice the size of glitter budget.)

Of course, the real interest for many of us is the book’s numerous creepy undertones. And finally, for funny Twilight news, aka the actual reason to bother reporting any of it, check out the puppet version.

• Someone has already gotten high and dreamed this movie. Among Harrison Ford’s upcoming projects is a J.J. Abrams comedy. The actual film sounds way too much like Anchorman to be of interest, but my mind is going to a place where there’s a buddy picture with Spy Daddy instead. Make that happen, J.J.

• Taking it slow on Batman sequel. Christopher Nolan still playing it coy on a third Bat-film, and who can blame him? Let’s just hope we avoid the X3 situation. Of course, who needs a sequel when they can just rerelease the ones they already have?
• WB running out of Harry, considers Beedle. With J.K. Rowling in no hurry to turn out more books to feather their money tree, Warner Brothers is supposedly thinking about adapting Beedle The Bard. Umm…
• The rest of the garbage. Fanboys official site; No Jurassic Park 4; Beauty and the Beast 3-D in the works; Sigourney Weaver and the brewing Ghostbusters sequel?
  

The mayor of a town in south-eastern Turkey named Batman is suing!

Spike TV’s SCREAM 2008 awards rewarded The Maker with the Comic-Con Icon Award Saturday. Since the SCREAM awards honor the best in fantasy, sci-fi, comics and horror, plenty of our other faves also took home awards, most notably 12 for The Dark Knight. The awards will air on Spike tomorrow night at 9pm. (via)

UPDATE: StarWars.com has a report

Never met a dead horse he couldn’t beat: Harrison Ford tells the Los Angeles Times that George Lucas is considering a fifth Indiana Jones film. Of course he is.

But for those who might wonder about those fleeting non-franchise projects, Red Tails does now have a director, Anthony Hemingway.

• That parrot is definitely deceased: Johnny Depp is reportedly getting $56 million for a fourth Pirates Of The Caribbean film. Fifty. Six. (Or is it four?) Million.

• The no-brainer: Christopher Nolan to make third Batman film, start production in February. Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman will return. Nothing sarcastic here, move along.
• Okay, so it’s a prequel. Or something: Guillermo del Toro is directing The Hobbit, if you haven’t heard. But he also wants to do a Frankenstein movie. Hopefully he doesn’t pick up any of Peter Jackson’s King Kong mojo while he’s down in New Zealand.

Yes, it’s true… Mark Hamill will be voicing the Joker in the Batman: Arkham Asylum game. It’s been posted on his website.

Rumorville: Perth Now is reporting that the music for a Star Wars TV series filmed in Sydney that “could have 400 half-hour episodes” (umm…) will be recorded in Perth by Malcolm Luker. Okay then! Of course, George Lucas (or a good impersonator) was spotted down under last week. I guess we’ll get the full story (or not) in November.

• But seriously… George is part of Vanity Fair’s New Establishment.

• Good luck with that: British comedian/TV personality Justin Lee Collins is attempting to reunite the Star Wars cast on a show airing this Sunday. (Warning: The Sun.)
• Fans of note: Underwire has a short profile of Slave Leia belly dancer Amira Sa’id. And video of her routines, natch.
• Licensees: The Clone Wars Happy Meals (and the Olympics) helped boost McDonald’s sales. We’re so proud.
• People: Word on the street is that Mark Hamill will reprise the Joker for the Batman: Arkham Asylum game.

Inspired by the success of The Dark Knight’s Joker, io9 has some thoughts on keeping your villains villainy – what makes them great, how they go wrong, and how not to ruin their effectiveness. Darth Vader is used as an example in the last – and I can’t say I disagree. (more…)

Batman kicked ass at the box office yet again this weekend, netting $441.5 million and moving it ever closer to A New Hope’s domestic box office record…

• Travel: InformationWeek’s top vacation spots for geeks features several locations of interest to Star Wars fans, while the S.F. Travel Examiner stays close to home with One Letterman Drive.

• Art: Or, cheapest of all – io9 featured some of Big Rock Ranch’s art today. But come on, guys… Isn’t all Star Wars art inherently cheesy?
• Exhibits: Where Science Meets Imagination’s Minnesota stay has been extended through August 27th. Best go soon if you haven’t already – who know when (or if) it’ll pop up again.
• Box office: The Dark Knight continues it’s climb towards Star Wars domestic record, netting $400.04 million domestically last weekend.
• Gaming: Lego Star Wars has sold 15 million units; Soulcaliber IV is shipping two million.

The Dark Knight’s Joker meets The Fresh Prince of Bel Air in this amusing filk/mashup. (via)