4VF News – Daily News Channel

The familiar wheezing and groaning of the TARDIS materialising will probably be heard in New Zealand after Sir Peter Jackson finishes the last film in his Hobbit trilogy.

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat told SFX magazine he’d met Jackson about the idea.

“He’s still incredibly busy on The Hobbit,” Moffat said.

“I’ve spoken to him face to face, and he would like to do one. He accepts that there’s no money and that there’s no time, and it would have to be when he’s available – and I don’t think he’s even been available enough to answer our emails of late!”

Jackson’s last Hobbit movie will go on general release in December.

The 11th Doctor himself, Matt Smith, suggested Jackson helm an episode during an interview with Fairfax Media in 2012.

“Hey, let’s get Peter Jackson to direct one and go and make it in New Zealand,” Smith said.

Jackson was quick to respond with: “I’m a huge Doctor Who fan, and I think Matt’s fantastic. Just name a time and place, and I’ll be there!”

Smith has since made way for Peter Capaldi.

Moffat, who worked with Jackson on The Adventures of Tintin movie, is talking up the eighth season, starring Capaldi, of the show in the press. The season starts in the UK on August 23.

Prime is yet to announce a screening date.

“I think it will probably happen at some point,” Moffat said.

“I mean, he [Jackson] can do what the hell he likes – he owns New Zealand! I think he’s sincere in his Doctor Who fandom, to say the least. He’s a nice guy, he quite often drops me a line after a show goes out. He’s into it – it’s just ‘can you make it work’

“I think he would also like us to go and make it in New Zealand! And I’m like ‘Okaaay… I’d rather we just flew you to Cardiff!’

Asked for Jackson’s comments on Moffat’s interview, Jackson’s executive assistant, Matthew Dravitzki, said: “Nothing to say on this, Chris. We’re working on The Hobbit, and only The Hobbit.”

Moffat, Capaldi and his onscreen companion, Jenna Coleman, will be live on stage in the State Theatre, Sydney, as part of the Doctor Who World Tour on August 12.

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– Waikato Times

A new image of Ben Affleck as Batman has been released online, not long after director Zack Snyder tweeted a pic of Henry Cavill looking more Star Wars than Superman.

Fans keen to see Affleck’s physique will be disappointed. The image is a close-up shot of the actor’s partly-masked, stubbled face, as he looks downward – in thought, on Gotham, who knows

The image is part of a 75th anniversary montage of Batman images created for Comic-Con. After speculation, DC Entertainment confirmed it was the indeed a Affleck’s version of Caped Crusader who will appear in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

“Yes, as fans have started pointing out, within the dozens of photos and illustrations on the wall is a brand new image of Batman from the upcoming film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” a post on DCComics.com blog read.

“The filmmakers wanted to include this new cinematic version of the Dark Knight in the anniversary mosaic so it could be discovered by fans.”

Not even 24 hours before, the Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder also gave fans a glimpse of Cavill as Superman, although not what they were expecting.

Snyder tweeted a pic of Cavill’s Man of Steel dressed in a hooded cloak, holding a red lightsaber at ready, with his Superman suit just visible beneath.

Fans start lining up as Comic-Con floor opens

Comic-Con is all about bringing fans close to the artists and properties they love – after navigating crowds and waiting in line.

The lineups began as soon as the San Diego Convention Center opened its doors.

Fans with four-day passes to the sold-out pop-culture spectacular gained early admission to the showroom floor , where they were the first to see a 10-foot-tall Transformer, a Lego Spider-Man and a life-sized, road-ready Hot Wheels car inspired by Darth Vader.

Some planned to wait in line overnight for a chance to attend the most popular film and TV presentations. But first, they queued up inside the convention centre to buy limited-edition toys released just for the festival.

“You buy it here, you sell it on eBay and it pays for your whole trip,” said Chris Schultz, a 26-year-old from Edmonton, Canada.

After shopping at the Marvel booth, where he bought “Guardians of the Galaxy” merchandise in multiples, he was set to “give up all night in line” to earn a spot inside the 6,500-seat exhibition hall where movie and TV studios present exclusive previews of anticipated properties.

“For Hall H, it’s worth it,” he said.

“Game of Thrones” and “The Walking Dead” are expected to be major draws, as are panels from Warner Bros. and Marvel Studios.

Ten-year conventioneer Sandra Licea, 22, began waiting in line at 7 am for a DreamWorks Animation panel featuring Benedict Cumberbatch.

But even those who don’t make it into Hall H can get a taste of their favourite programs on the showroom floor.

“The Walking Dead” offered a recreation of its Terminus set, inviting fans to creep through a dark tunnel and have their photo taken in the jail-like setting. The A&E show “Bates Motel” also had a photo booth, where fans could pose with taxidermy animals.

After more than four decades of Comic-Con, the festival has outgrown the San Diego Convention Center and spills out onto neighbouring streets and hotels.

A giant Parkour course occupies the normally vacant grassy area just across from the convention centre, while the nearby baseball stadium, Petco Park, boasts a Fun House built by Adult Swim.

Wonder Women, Batmen and other costumed characters fill the downtown streets, where businesses have been transformed into temporary showcases for video games, toys and movies.

“You can’t get this stuff anywhere else,” said Lionel Torres, 47, who travelled from North Carolina to buy collectible toys and indulge in community fandom. “People are fighting for a place in line, but there’s camaraderie out there.”

Comic-Con, which attendee Sara Brushaber described as “the nerd hub of the world,” continues through Sunday.

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– AP

I Am Giant are working hard to live up to their big name.

The New Zealand rock band based in London released their album Science & Survival this month and it went straight into the charts at No 2.

It’s the follow-up to The Horrifying Truth, the nation’s highest selling rock album of 2011.

The band, British vocalist Ed Martin, drummer Shelton Woolright (ex Blindspott) and bassist Paul Matthews (Stylus/ Tadpole), spent the best part of six months kicking the album into shape. They hung out in France, at DC Shoes’ Drop In Studios in St Jean De Luz, working with long- time collaborator and acclaimed producer/engineer Forrester Savell (Karnivool/Helmut).

Matthews finished off the album in his London-based studio.

It was then dispatched to New York where it was mastered at the Grammy Award-winning studio Sterling Sound.

I Am Giant has toured extensively in the last year, notching up passport stamps from Asia to Germany and Poland.

Last month they performed at Orange Warsaw in Poland on the same bill as Limp Bizkit, Outkast and Snoop Dogg before heading on tour with Queens of the Stone Age as part of the Hard Rock Truck Tour through Germany.

“We wanted to make a traditional album that you could play from start to finish. I was thinking Pink Floyd,” Matthews explains while pacing around the carpark outside his London studio.

“We spent a long time getting everything right. For some songs we recorded the vocals three times in some parts.”

From the opening chords of Guethary through to the band- polarising 13-minute closer Bought With Ignorance, Sold With Arrogance, he believes they’ve achieved what they set out to do.

“The songs we picked were, this time around, the edgier, darker tracks. We’re proud of the album. Bought With Ignorance, Sold With Arrogance caused a bit of debate in the band. It’s a long, epic outro. It’s got Gregorian monk chanting in the middle. I got my mate Andy from an Irish band from Kingston to come in for that.”

The title is drawn from a lyric on the album. Matthews talks of a “collision” between science and survival.

As a band they took risks, Matthews says, experimenting with different timings and time signatures.

“On Minefield, the intention was to take a non-traditional time signature and actually get the groove of it from beginning to end.”

Caught up in their French surroundings, they included field recordings of French dialogue, a choir and church bells from the historic village of Guethary throughout the record.

“We were in France, so we decided to try to use some of the natural environment.”

First single Razor Wire Reality is accompanied by a video by award-winning Berlin-based director/producer team Soren and Martin (Bring Me The Horizon, Crystal Castles).

“They are really cool guys who do great videos.”

The video for the second single, Death of You, was shot at Kingseat, a former psychiatric hospital considered by some to be one of New Zealand’s most notorious haunted locations.

I’ve often wondered why Woolright chooses to paint his face black in their music videos and also live shows.

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“You’ll have to ask him,” Matthews laughs.

“It’s an artistic thing. Some of those songs will be played live for the first time. We’re trying to remember the words.” Fairfax NZ

– The Dominion Post

John Malkovich and Benedict Cumberbatch each made their Comic-Con debuts – as themselves and as their first animated characters.

The two actors were in San Diego Thursday to offer an early look at DreamWorks Animation’s Penguins of Madagascar, a sequel to 2012’s Madagascar 3.

They revealed they’d only just met one day earlier. Each did their voice-recording sessions alone in a sound booth while making the film.

“I was really gutted about that, because I was really looking forward to working with the penguins and John,” said Cumberbatch, who drew swoony screams from the audience every time he spoke. “That’s the hardest thing: You don’t have the usual camaraderie which you do in most other mediums.”

He called Malkovich “a legend of acting” and an “extraordinarily brilliant man.”

Cumberbatch plays a wolf in the film – a super spy who runs an organisation called the North Wind, which protects animal welfare. The Sherlock star joked that he went undercover to prepare for the role.

“I worked in Yellowstone Park as a wolf for a while,” he said. “It got a bit hairy when, no pun intended, when I became the alpha male.”

Malkovich plays the villain, an evil scientist octopus named Dave, whom Malkovich said looks like his youngest sister.

“She’s going to have to learn about this,” he said. “I didn’t even call her before.”

Hosted by Craig Ferguson – who worked in a few playful jabs at DreamWorks chief Jeffrey Katzenberg – the panel included several clips of the penguins in action, as well as the first six minutes of the new film, which is set to open at Thanksgiving.

The 90-minute presentation also included a peek at Home, which stars Jim Parsons as a lost alien who befriends a human girl, voiced by Rihanna. The film is set to be released in March 2015.

The studio also announced its newest star-studded effort, BOO, which stands for the Bureau of Otherworldly Operations. Featuring the voices of Seth Rogen, Melissa McCarthy and Bill Murray, BOO is set to open next summer.