Happy birthday today to Tony Starke!
Graham's Movies With Christian View
By FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR, Courant Staff Writer
Two mountain climbers about to scale the highest peak of their careers approach the summit with different attitudes: One is a hotshot daredevil who likes going it alone, the other a devout Christian who relies on God.
"The Climb" is a made-for-television action movie from World Wide Pictures, the film division of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The movie, to be shown Friday on WTIC, Channel 61, at 8 p.m., is one of several Christian-theme movies released in the past few months.
In most ways a typical made-for-television action film, "The Climb" - like every movie from the Graham organization - "communicates a message of the gospel of Jesus Christ," said John Shepard, the film's executive producer. Shepard, who has made 12 films for World Wide, says the core of each film follows a basic formula.
"The films involve a transformation from no faith to a place of faith," Shepard said.
Over the years, that idea has not always been an easy sell. While the success of a show like "Touched by an Angel" has proven that TV audiences will respond to spiritual themes, that's not the style of a typical Graham film.
"They are very unspecific when it comes to God; they are very careful not to make it specific to Jesus," Shepard said of the popular TV series. "Sometimes networks would say to us, 'If you could talk without being specific to Jesus, we would run it.' But that's not the ministry of Billy Graham."
In "The Climb," the two main characters, played by Jason George and Ned Vaughan, grapple with their belief in God (or the lack of belief) and struggle to hold onto values that get pushed aside in pursuit of a dream. Their tenuous friendship is strained by their clash of values during an well-publicized Andes mountain climb in Chile, sponsored by a wealthy businessman.
Other Graham films that have reached network television in recent years include "The Ride," a 1998 Western starring Michael Biehn; "A Vow To Cherish," with Barbara Babcock in 2000; and "Road to Redemption," a 2001 comedy starring Pat Hingle. Some films are shown in limited release in movie theaters, and most go directly to video.
Besides its message, Graham films "portray Christian characters and people of faith in a positive light," said Barry Werner, managing director of World Wide Pictures, who says Christians are often shown unfavorably in film.
"If a Christian is portrayed in a movie, it's usually as a serial killer or some other character," Werner said. "When all the studies were done, what we found was that 80 to 85 percent of Americans still affiliate with Christianity, more than New Age or Islam or other religions, whether or not they attend church. So we are not going after a niche; we're going after 80 percent of the audience."
Other types of Christian films have been popular in recent years, particularly those with an apocalyptic theme.
"Megiddo," the 2001 sequel to the "Omega Code," earned more than $6 million in limited release, according to Movieguide.org, a website that tries to track performance of films with Christian or moral content. "Megiddo" is based on a biblical prophecy that the Earth will face a final showdown between good and evil on the plains of Israel. "Left Behind: The Movie" is based on the popular Christian book series of the same name.
Shepard, who started out as an actor in the first "Friday the 13th" film, said that although Christian movies now make up only a fraction of films produced, they have the potential to grow in the same ways that Christian books and Christian music have blossomed in recent years. The events of Sept. 11 have made audiences more receptive to the subject, he said.
"It speaks to audiences in a way today that they were not as open to six months ago," Shepard said. "The success of 'The Climb' is a powerful visual demonstration of the gospel in action. There is a character that embodies what it means to be a Christian. There is no greater love than this: than a man who would lay down his life for a friend. That's this story."
On Friday, during the second commercial break of the season premieres of both "Stargate SG-1" (9 p.m. ET) and "Farscape" (10 p.m. ET), Sci Fi will present a 30-second trailer featuring exclusive footage that has, until now, been kept under wraps.
The 20-hour adventure miniseries will run over the course of 10 consecutive nights in December and is produced by the Sci Fi Channel, DreamWorks Television and Spielberg. The story will weave together the stories of three generations and 50 years of close encounters with aliens.
It all starts in the skies over France during World War II and progresses through the modern tales of abduction with the 1977 release of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." As the story reaches the present day, the decades of secrets begin to unravel and the three families must come together to unlock the mystery.
Dakota Fanning, the 8-year-old actress who co-starred with Sean Penn in "I Am Sam," will play the lead role of Allie, a young girl who serves as the film's narrator.
Other cast members include: Matt Frewer ("Max Headroom"), Desmond Harrington ("We Were Soldiers" ), James McDaniel ("NYPD Blue"), Gabrielle Rose ("Double Jeopardy" ), Heather Donahue ("The Blair Witch Project" ), Andy Powers ("Oz"), Joel Gretsch ("Minority Report" ), Ryan Hurst ("Remember the Titans" ), Eric Close ("Now and Again"), Catherine Dent ("The Majestic" ), Julie Benz ("Angel"), Chad Morgan ("Pearl Harbor" ), Michael Moriarty ("Law & Order"), James Kirk ("Dark Angel") and William Garson ("Sex & the City" ).
CBS Achieves Record Revenue in 2002-03 Upfront
NEW YORK, June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- CBS will see record-breaking Upfront advertising revenue -- between $1.9 and $2 billion -- for the 2002-2003 season, the Network announced today. In addition, the network achieved the highest CPM increases of all the major networks. CBS is a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B).
Slightly more than 80 percent of CBS's primetime commercial inventory has been sold, marking the largest Upfront in the Network's history. The Network was buoyed by a strong 2001-2002 season, which propelled CBS to the highest competitive position in 18-49 for regularly scheduled programming in nine years, surpassing both Fox and ABC.
"This is the largest Upfront in the history of CBS," said Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS. "We're coming off a great season thanks to the success of our core schedule, which includes hits like CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION, SURVIVOR and our unstoppable Monday night lineup. Next season, we believe that momentum will continue and we're positioned for further growth with a lineup that makes us stronger every night of the week and the most promising batch of new 10:00 PM dramas we've seen in years."
"The market was really solid, and we were one of the prime beneficiaries doing more business with more advertisers than ever before," said Joseph Abruzzese, President, Sales, CBS Television. "With the improvement of our share in the young adult audience, we're very pleased to have achieved our goals of industry-leading CPM increases and a more substantial shift in advertising dollars than any of the other networks."
Last season, CBS posted growth in regularly scheduled programming among viewers, adults 18-34, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54. CBS's break-out Thursday night hit CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION overtook NBC's "ER," which had been the highest rated drama series for eight years. Not only does CBS have the nation's highest rated drama series, CBS also has the highest rated reality series (SURVIVOR), highest rated family comedy (EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND) and the highest rated news magazine (60 MINUTES). CBS also won more weeks in the 2002-2003 ratings race than any of the other networks.
Blade II (DVD): Wesley Snipes' East European sewer antics are set to hit video shelves on September 3rd, 2002 with a 'Platinum Series' 2-Disc DVD. Disc 1 includes the film with Dolby Digital 5.1 & DTS 5.1 sound, commentary track by Director Guillermo Del Toro and Writer David Goyer, commentary track by Producer Peter Frankfurt and Actor Wesley Snipes and an Isolated Score track. Disc 2 has "Director's Notebook: An Interactive Reproduction of Director's Notes" (with an intro by Del Toro), "A Pact in Blood: Interactive collection of original documentaries", art gallery, theatrical press kit, deleted/alternate scenes, video game survival guide, music video, Cypress Hill and Roni Size "Child of the Wild West" music video, trailers, Script-to-Screen and website links.
* Blade III: David Goyer told Comics2Film that his story has "been modified somewhat from the 'Planet of The Vampires' approach. I'm pretty excited about it, though". Goyer also confirmed his "Ghost Rider" script is being used as a starting point from which Shane Salerno is penning the current draft.
Patrick Stewart : Looking forward to Trek X
Patrick Stewart talks to SFX Magazine and NIck Setchfield about Star Trek X; a sense of closure; X-Men 2 and Picard vs Professor X
"We've just wrapped our next movie, Nemesis, around three weeks ago. And knowing as much as I do about how to play the character now I look back at `Encounter At Farpoint', the pilot episode, and other episodes in that first season, and I see that of course there's a kind of naivete about some of the work. I think, well, they wouldn't be my choices now. But they were the right choices then."
He dismisses talk that Star Trek: Nemesis will mark his farewell to the 24th Century. "There's been a lot of gossip about this being the last Next Generation film. Those conversations are only happening in the fan community. As far as the studio is concerned, and our executive producer is concerned, and indeed as far as all of us are concerned, though we all have our own opinions and feelings, there is nothing official at all about it being the last."
"Although," Stewart concedes, smiling, "this would be a very appropriate way to take our leave of Star Trek. Everything about the ending of this movie has a sense of closure about it, but there is also a huge opportunity for a sequel to this movie just sitting there, should it be taken up. And my feeling is that with Paramount it will totally be a matter of profits. If this film does really well, there will be another one. And that will continue, so long as they do well. The first time one does badly then, `Clang!' We shall be put out to graze."
Not that the passing of Jean-Luc Picard weighs too heavily on Stewart. With X-Men 2 looming, he's in the enviable position of juggling two blockbusting fantasy franchises. "The script for X-Men 2 is very different in tone from the first one, which in any case I always felt was just an extended trailer. It was sort of `This is who the X-Men are, this is the kind of thing that they do, and that's all we can tell you for now.' It was an establishing movie."
As wheelchair-bound telepath Charles Xavier, Stewart found himself charged with delivering vast dialogue-dumps of backstory. He sighs when reminded of his role as Professor X-position. "Yes, indeed. That was tedious. But I had a couple of nice scenes with Sir Ian, which bookended the film. I'm happy to say that this screenplay now assumes that everyone knows what's going on, and who we are. There has to be a little bit of `This is what the X-Men believe in, this is what the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants believe in', but it's minimal, and the script is almost entirely given over to plot and character and growth and development. I suppose Fox think they might have got their hands on their very own Star Trek, which is a curiosity for me, given that one is apparently winding down while the other one is just starting up."
And what if the studios stage a box-office bloodfest between Picard and Professor X? "Well," smiles Stewart, "there was a comic book which was the Next Generation meets the X-Men! And they wanted to put me on the cover. This was right at the beginning of my involvement in the X-Men film, and I was able to use some influence to say `I think it would be best if you didn't do that', because I knew there was a chance I might end up playing both parts. The curiosity is that now we will have Star Trek X, of course, which only adds to the confusion."
"Only the other day, someone came up to me at Long Beach and said `I love your work, everything you do, but I especially love you in Star Wars and X-Files!"' Stewart winces. "It's remarks like that which really put the whole thing into perspective."
The Tomb-inator!
There are pictures from T3, and some spoilers. I wonder how this scene affects MB's cameo?
HE'S BACK! Terminator superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger returns in his most expensive movie...and he's tougher than EVER.
These exclusive pictures from the set of Terminator 3: The Rise Of The Machines show Arnie's most famous character turning into a casket case.
In amazing scenes filmed two weeks ago, he crashes out of a crypt carrying a coffin containing heroine Sarah Connor.
SWAT teams open fire and the cyborg blasts back with a chain gun.
Arnie, 54, signed up to make the ?128 million movie, due out in July next year, for a record ?21 million after battling back from a heart op scare.
This time he faces a sexy Terminatrix with terrifying new abilities.
No problemo. It's sure to be hasta la vista, baby...
Dorn, Perlman to Sign for Star Trek Nemesis!
Michael Dorn (Worf) and Ron Perlman (Viceroy) have agreed to sign trading cards as part of our upcoming Star Trek Nemesis trading card series, scheduled for release in November '02. Dorn's signature cards should be among the most prized this year -- for ANY card set published by ANY company -- because he has never been an official signer before. In fact, he is one of the last "classic" full-time Trek actors (i.e. non-Enterprise) to become an official signer.
"We are really, really pleased to be able to put Michael Dorn at the top of our list of signers for this new movie card set. I've had all of the other starring cast members sign cards for past projects," said Rittenhouse President Steve Charendoff, "but never seemed to be able to connect with Michael...until now."
Genre star Ron Perlman, who is most known from the popular series "Beauty and The Beast" among other well-known TV shows and films, will also be among the key signers for this new Star Trek movie card set.
"With both Michael and Ron on board, we are off to an incredible start. Theirs will certainly be 2 of the most collectable signatures in the hobby, and both obviously transcend this one Star Trek film."
More signers will be added in the weeks and months ahead, and a complete list will be published over the summer.
By: CHRISTOPHER ALLAN SMITH
By: News Editor
Source: Paramount Pictures
There was a ripple of anticipation last week when Paramount Pictures announced the release of ?exclusive? STAR TREK: NEMESIS material at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) convention in Los Angeles. The studio said the material would be available on CD to those who made their way past Paramount?s booth.
Many pre-release reports hinted it would be a teaser or trailer, and while it turned out not to be so grand, the CD still held some interesting images of the latest and greatest in NEXT GENERATION adventures. It hits in December.