BOP Daily News
July 31, 2004
The spirit of BOP News lives on in
This is So Last Week,
our pop culture week-in-review,
presented in a pleasing quiz form.
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Paramount is apparently happy with what's its been seeing in the Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow dailies, because they've signed its first-time helmer, Kerry Conran, to take the reins of another science fiction/adventure film, Princess of Mars. The film, based on the first of an 11-book series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, follows the adventures of a Civil War officer who finds himself inexplicably transported to Mars, where he is held captive by savage - and possibly little - green men called Tharks. He eventually becomes the greatest warrior the planet Mars has ever known, marries a beautiful woman - no word on whether she or their offspring are green - and sets out on some exciting adventures. Conran is taking over from the original helmer, Robert Rodriguez, who is no longer eligible to direct the film, having resigned from the DGA earlier this year. Conran got the nod over Stephen Sommers, the Mummy and Van Helsing director, who was also in the running to take over the project. Paramount no doubt will look to Conran to employ his groundbreaking filmmaking software again, in a genre that sounds right up its alley. No word on casting yet, but for some reason, we have this overwhelming urge to suggest Leonard Nimoy as leader of the Tharks.
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Further proof that Michael Keaton really needs to fire his agent can be found in the news that the former Batman has signed to play opposite Lindsay Lohan in the upcoming film adventures of Herbie the Love Bug. Called Herbie: Fully Loaded, the film is set in the world of NASCAR, and Disney is obviously hoping to revitalize the '60s franchise, hoping to spawn many sequels. We're not entirely sure with what exactly Herbie is to be "fully loaded", but we do know that if the quality of the flick is less than acceptable, the film's title has handed critics all over the country scathing headline possibilities on a silver platter.
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Stephen Sommers, who was rumored to be in the running to take over directing duties on Princess of Mars until Kerry Conran got the nod, is now apparently being told by Universal to focus his attention on the long-in-planning Mummy 3. Which we were under the impression was The Scorpion King, but apparently we were wrong. At any rate, with Sommers' Flash Gordon project at a standstill, the folks at Universal want Sommers to get the third film in the Mummy franchise underway post-haste. No word on whether stars Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz would return for the third outing, but given Fraser's recent career trajectory, we're thinking he'll make himself available to return to his most successful franchise to date. Hey, maybe Sommers can have Fraser rescue Michael Keaton's career from premature burial by starring opposite an anthropomorphic Volkswagen.
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Gwen Stefani has apparently decided that doing publicity for a film you've made will ruin your music career. Such was reportedly the case when Stefani recently refused to be involved in a photo shoot with her costars from The Aviator for Marie Claire magazine. Stefani reportedly felt her "street cred" as a musician was in danger if she participated in the shoot. How starring in a film is OK but doing publicity for it is not we don't know, but we've got news for Stefani; any "street cred" she had left disappeared after the release of her last album.
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"Please, Captain; not in front of the Klingons."
Previous edition's quote: Batman
Box Office Prophets offers quality, reliable news about the entertainment industry. BOP is also entertaining. To that end, please be advised that some content in this column is intended to be humorous and should not be considered factual.
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