Today's news round-up: Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes , Hemlock Grove , Aquaman, Gemmell Awards, Pacific Rim 2 and more!
• There's a brand new video from Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes . The video (entitled "Bridge") incorporates footage from Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes and helps bridge the gap between the two films...
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes hits US cinemas on Friday 11 July and you can read about it in SFX issue 250 (on sale Wednesday 25 June).
• Rumour has it that Jason Momoa could be playing Aquaman in Batman Vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice . Game Of Thrones ’ Khal Drogo is set to appear in the next DC blockbuster, but the character’s name is still undecided. Apparently Aquaman is mad about the wreckage left behind after the climactic fight at the end of 2013’s Man Of Steel . The Zack Snyder-helmed movie is set to land 6 May 2016.
• On Friday the Gemmell Awards for Fantasy Fiction were awarded, with the ceremony taking place in London’s Magic Circle. The Morningstar Award for best debut novel went to Brian McClellan for Promise Of Blood . The big winner of the night was Emperor Of Thorns , which snagged author Mark Lawrence the Legend Award for best novel and designer Jason Chan the Ravenheart Award for best cover art. The awards are named after prolific fantasy author David Gemmell, who died in 2006, and were established in 2009. SFX is the media partner.
• Sadly, this weekend saw the loss of voice actors Francis Matthews and Casey Kasem . Matthews was best known for his work as Captain Scarlet in the eponymous 1960s TV show created by Gerry Anderson. Kasem provided the voice of Shaggy in Scooby Doo for most of the cartoon’s run, as well as working on the original Transformers series and Battle Of The Planets . Both men will be sorely missed.
• Guillermo del Toro has confirmed that Pacific Rim 2 will be a sequel to the first film and not a prequel as rumours have suggested. It’s going to continue to follow Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunman) and Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), and Marvel writer Zak Penn is working on the script. However, del Toro admits the film is yet to be formally greenlit by Legendary Pictures, so keep your fingers crossed.
• Netflix has released the trailer for Hemlock Grove season two. The opening slide warns it contains “fever dreams, excessive bloodletting, self-flagellation, leech consumption and human experimentation” and isn’t for the faint of heart (or weak of stomach).
The entire second season will be available to steam on Netflix from Friday 11 July.
• X-Men: Days Of Future Past is still in cinemas, but details are already emerging about its sequel. Writer and producer Simon Kinberg confirmed X-Men: Apocalypse will take place in 1983 , ten years after the events of Days Of Future Past , which in turn was set 10 years after First Class . The third X-Men prequel is due out on 27 May 2016. Maybe they’ll finally explain where the tipping point is when Professor X stops looking like James McAvoy and starts looking like Patrick Stewart.
• The creators of Smallville , Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, have sold a script based on Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea to Columbia Pictures. Named Captain Nemo , the story follows Jules Verne’s iconic anti-hero who debuted way back in 1870, before also appearing in the Victorian author’s The Mysterious Island and Journey Through The Impossible . Maleficent producers Joe Roth and Palak Patel are also attached. Disney has also had a Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea film in production for a while, but it’s been struggling since director David Fincher split.
That's your lot! Remember to pick up SFX issue 249 while you can, and it's now possible to pre-order issue 250 ...
VS Wells
