Source: MGM January 15, 2007

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) announced today the extension of the hit "Stargate SG-1" franchise with two movies based on the popular series. Titled "Stargate: The Ark of Truth" and "Stargate: Continuum", the movies will both be made available to the television universe and home entertainment marketplace by MGM. The announcement was made by Charles Cohen, Senior Executive Vice President, MGM.

"'Stargate SG-1' is to MGM Television what the 'James Bond,' 'Pink Panther' and the 'Rocky' franchises are to our feature film unit," said Cohen. "We are committed to continuing to release new SG-1 content and its 'Stargate Atlantis' spin-off, and we're also steadfast in our dedication to extending the franchise. 'Stargate' is an indelible brand for MGM and we will support it well into the future."

With its high quality production values, long-term stability in the show's leadership and strong chemistry between the lead actors in the series, all of whom have big audience appeal, "Stargate SG-1" is the longest-running science-fiction series in U.S. TV history. The series has a strong worldwide fan base and can be seen in over 120 countries. "Stargate SG-1" cast members Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Claudia Black and Michael Shanks are confirmed to star in both movies. Written and produced by Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, the new movies will feature the latest visual and sound effects, providing viewers with a theatrical movie-going experience.

In the first movie, "Stargate: The Ark of Truth" will bring a conclusion to the primary storyline of the past two seasons of the SG-1 television series. More thrills and action-packed scenes are planned for this special event movie, which will be directed by Cooper. The suspense will end as fans will see the conclusion of the epic Ori saga.

In the second movie, "Stargate: Continuum" the SG-1 team is now free to embark on new and exciting adventures throughout the endless Stargate universe.

Below are the synopses for the new "Stargate" movies:

"Stargate: The Ark of Truth"

As SG-1 searches for an Ancient artifact which they hope can defeat the armies of the Ori, they learn more Ori ships are about to be sent through the supergate to launch a final assault on Earth. Daniel discovers that the artifact, the Ark of Truth, may be in the Ori home galaxy, and SG-1 embarks aboard the Odyssey to find it, and pre-empt the attack. The IOA has a plan of their own and SG-1 ends up in a distant galaxy fighting two powerful enemies.

"Stargate: Continuum"

While SG-1 attends the execution of Ba'al, the last of the goa'uld system lords, Teal'c and Vala inexplicably disappear into thin air. Carter, Daniel and Mitchell race back to a world where history has been changed: the Stargate program has been erased from the timeline. As they try to convince the authorities what's happened, a fleet of goa'uld motherships arrives in orbit, led by Ba'al, his queen, Katesh, (Vala) and his first prime, Teal'c. SG-1 must find the Stargate and set things right before the world is enslaved by the goa'uld.

Who here has seen Venom from Spider-Man 3? Ok, put your hands down. Who has seen Venom clearly, not on YouTube? That's what we thought.

Aside from leaks last year, one featuring the San Diego Comic-Con teaser attached to a recent trailer, the other being some design art, little has been seen of Venom. Spider-Man 3 director Sam Raimi, Sony and Marvel have been quiet, only releasing one official shot of Eddie Brock transforming into the creature. We've seen Spidey's black suit, and we've seen it crawling onto Peter Parker... but where is his greatest nemesis?

While an official debut is still in the shadows, merchandise is starting to appear for the film which debuts on May 3. Sideshow Collectibles, known for its stellar statues and various Marvel-related collectible figures, has unveiled three toys for Spider-Man 3. The first two are both of Spider-Man, one with the standard costume and one symbiote-laced. The third, however, is Venom.



Venom's movie design is clearly different from the comic books. Sam Raimi's art team has altered Venom to transition directly from Spider-Man's costume to a twisted version. Raimi and actor Topher Grace have both described Eddie Brock as a shadow of Peter Parker. Brock's past is much darker than Peter's; he didn't have the nurturing environment that Peter enjoyed. This design is clearly an extension of that emotional concept. Venom retains the basic costume layout of his heroic opposition while keeping his trademark fangs and tongue. The Venom-ized Spider-Man costume also features the typical distorted spider emblem and wide, white eyes.




Comparing these figures to official screenshots reveals these are not exact replicas of their movie counterparts. Notice the detail and texture of the film costume is far more subdued in these preliminary models. The result is a figure that looks more simplistic than the film version. Skeptics should bite their tongue until Sony releases genuine images from Spider-Man 3.

These are images of prototypes, and they are subject to change. However, preliminary models aren't going to be made without reference materials; it's likely this is very close to Venom's final design. Be sure to stay tuned to IGN for more information, impressions and screenshots of what is sure to be the biggest comic book film this year.

Source IGN.com

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Check back on Monday for an update with the four-day weekend estimates and on Tuesday for the final figures based on actual box office.

Finally! After weeks of Ben Stiller and Will Smith running rampant over the box office with their latest blockbusters, a new movie has entered the box office charts at #1 without the big names that played a big part in the last few weeks. Just two years after their #1 hit You Got Served, Screen Gems released the urban dance drama Stomp the Yard into just over 2,000 theatres where it grossed an estimated $22 million in its first three days with an impressive average of $10.7 thousand per theatre.

Despite being dethroned from their comfy spots at #1 and 2, Ben Stiller's Night at the Museum and Will Smith's The Pursuit of Happyness weren't too affected by the release of four new movies, each dropping less than 30% from last weekend. "Museum" adds another $17.1 million for the three days to bring its total to $186 million, as it makes its way up the Top 10 for '06. Smith's drama grossed an estimated $9.1 million in the first three days of the long weekend to bring its total to $134.5 million.

Each of the next three placements in the Top 10 were filled by movies expanding into more theatres for the holiday weekend, including the Paramount/DreamWorks musical Dreamgirls, which doubled its theatres, but dropped 6% from last weekend, while moving up one spot to fourth place with roughly $8.1 million. It has grossed nearly $65 million to date and is likely to do even better if it wins a couple of Golden Globes on Monday night.

Paramount also expanded MTV Films' scholastic drama Freedom Writers into 2,179 theatres, over 800 more than last week, though it dropped 24% and a single place with $7.2 million over the weekend. One can presume that Stomp the Yard successfully usurped much of the potential business for the two movies in their new regions.

Alfonso Cuarón's futuristic thriller Children of Men won the Scripter Award last week, but still dropped three places to #6 with $6.4 million in 1,508 theatres.

Three other new movies came to theatres this weekend, each taking places in the lower half of the top 10, starting with the Universal crime drama Alpha Dog with a young ensemble cast including Justin Timberlake. Opening in 1,288 theatres, it grossed roughly $6.1 million, an average of $4,728 and doing slightly better than the Touchstone Pictures action-thriller Primeval, which made under $6 million in nearly twice as many theatres.

Luc Besson's half-animated family film Arthur and the Invisibles, starring Freddie Highmore and which cost a rumored $86 million to make, had a tough week. First, it was ousted for consideration as an animated feature by the Academy and then it only grossed a weak $4.3 million over the three-day weekend. That's even worse than last week's showing by Lionsgate's computer-animated family film Happily N'Ever After, which took a tumble right out of the Top 10 despite the normally kid-friendly holiday weekend. The latter wound up with $3.2 million for a total gross of $10.8 million.

Meanwhile, Robert De Niro's CIA drama The Good Shepherd, starring Matt Damon, rounded out the Top 10, at least for the three-day weekend, with $3.9 million bringing its gross to $54.3 million.

Paramount/Nickelodeon Films' Charlotte's Web gave up 790 theatres, presumably to the other Paramount movies, and dropped 43% to 11th place with $3.7 million and a total gross of $72 million. Expect it to end up in the top 10 over The Good Shepherd for the four-day weekend.

Just outside the Top 15, Guillermo del Toro's dark fantasy Pan's Labyrinth made $2 million after quadrupling its theatres, allowing it a similarly impressive per-theatre average as Stomp the Yard. Its current gross of $4.3 million is a good start for the movie, as Picturehouse plans to expand it into over 500 theatres next weekend. By comparison, Chinese master Zhang Yimou's latest Curse of the Golden Flower expanded into 1,234 this weekend, but wound up making slightly less than Pan's Labyrinth.

Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.
Source Comingsoon.net

The future of Stargate is in question today, as SCI FI Channel has cancelled the long-running Stargate SG-1, Multichannel News reported today and a GateWorld source has confirmed. The news regrettably follows the airing of the show's milestone two-hundredth episode on Friday.

Stargate Atlantis, meanwhile, has been renewed for a fourth season, with the network hoping to see that the spin-off series can stand alone, according to a source.

SG-1 has struggled in the ratings all summer, with the record-breaking tenth season premiering with a 1.4 household rating -- down more than 20 percent from last season's average. After a brief climb to a 1.6 in its second week, the show fell to a 1.3 in week four.

Viewers and production personnel alike have blamed a number of factors for the show's dramatically lower ratings, from SCI FI and Sony's lack of promotion to the removal of anchor show Battlestar Galactica from the Friday night line-up, to new competition from such shows as USA's hit Monk.

Though also down significantly in the ratings this summer, Atlantis has consistently scored better than SG-1.

"Studio executives are working to identify an alternative outlet for Stargate SG-1," Multichannel News said, citing sources close to the production.

Stargate SG-1 premiered on Showtime in the United States in July, 1997, where it aired for five years before the pay cable network cancelled it. In 2002 MGM brokered a deal to continue production and move the show to SCI FI Channel, where it became the cable channel's biggest hit and aired ten times per week in reruns.

In addition to holding the record for the longest-running science fiction series ever produced in North America, the series is largely responsible for making SCI FI a Top 10 cable network. Though the writers intended to end the show several times, its larger, newfound audience on basic cable rejuvinated the series, extending its life far beyond the average science fiction series.

Series lead Richard Dean Anderson left the show in 2004, to be replaced by Ben Browder and Beau Bridges when the show relaunched in a new creative direction in Season Nine. Ratings remained strong, though no longer at their historic peak. The show's producers had even intended to rebrand the show Stargate Command, but SCI FI ultimately opted to stick with the established SG-1 name.

Ironically, this is the first year since Season Four that plans were already in place, both creatively and in signed actor contracts, for another year. The show has lived on year-to-year since moving to SCI FI, with the writers forced to write a possible series finale every year -- only to find the show renewed once again.

Following the September 22 mid-season finale, SCI FI Channel intends to air the final 10 episodes of Stargate SG-1 beginning in March, 2007, a source confirmed to GateWorld.

What is to come? Both the producers and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer have expressed a desire to continue the hit franchise with not just Stargate Atlantis, but something new in the future -- be it an SG-1 feature film or TV mini-series, or a third television show. The benefits of a simultaneous dual production in Vancouver, with two projects sharing producers, writers, and crew members, are tremendous for the studio. And Stargate is owner MGM's flagship television property, having recently been compared to its venerable "James Bond" film franchise in importance.

MGM has a great deal invested in an expanding field of licensing, official conventions, syndication, and international TV distribution. Notable is the upcoming MMORPG video game Stargate Worlds, perhaps the franchise's largest licensed project to date, due out at the end of 2007.

Meanwhile, Stargate Atlantis will have the chance to step out of the shadow of its parent show and stand on its own two feet. Though the foundational chapter of the Stargate saga draws to a close, hope remains for the future.

An official announcement with additional details on the future of Stargate is expected this week. Stay with GateWorld for the very latest.

ADDITINAL DETAILS

Don't count Stargate SG-1 out just yet. Though SCI FI Channel has cancelled the long-running series (story), the show's producers are hard at work looking for a new outlet for the story to continue, executive producer Robert C. Cooper told GateWorld exclusively.

"As far as the future I can't comment yet because nothing has been confirmed," Cooper said. "What we want to emphasize is that the franchise is not dying. SG-1 will go on in some way. We're just not ready to announce how."

A formal announcement from the studio and the network is expected later this week.

Cooper also emphasizes that, though emotions are running high among Stargate fans who have just learned the news, it is important to keep the show's ratings strong throughout the remainder of its run on SCI FI. "What's most important is that fans don't take out their frustration with SCI FI by not watching," he said. "In fact, what they need to do is watch both SG-1 and Atlantis LIVE and make sure the ratings stay strong.

"That helps prove to other outlets that might be interested in SG-1 that the show is still as strong as we think it is."

Could Stargate SG-1 find its way to yet another network in 2007? Or might the SG-1 team be headed for a TV movie, mini-series, direct-to-video feature ... or the big screen? Stay with GateWorld for the latest developments.