It’s Friday morning, time for your weekly tidbits of the news. This week there hasn’t been a lot of solid news, but the rumor mill is in full swing with some mighty big possibilities. If any of the rumors are true, there’s apt to be some serious divides among fan-bases as they try to sort out how they feel about some of this.
Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams are planning to adapt Juliet Macur’s upcoming book Cycle of Lies, about Lance Armstrong’s doping scandal. No release date is mentioned, though with typical production times, it’ll probably be out in about two years, which will be about two years after the last person stops caring.
Speaking of Abrams, he may be directing a major science-fiction film set among the stars… and no, I don’t mean Star Trek. According to The Wrap, J.J. Abrams has been selected to direct Star Wars: Episode VII. Which, if true, means all that infighting among sci-fi fans about which franchise is better is about to get a whole lot muddier. (Note, however, that there have been a lot of “confirmed” directors attached already who were debunked within a few days, so until this comes out in the form of an official press release, it may not be a given, especially as Abrams denied wanting to direct the film last November.) EDIT: That press release has now arrived.
Also largely in the “rumor mill” stage, Latino Review cites “sources” as saying the characters have been chosen for Justice League. There will be a core team of five in the film, with the possibility of cameos for other characters. Those five? Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern. As these are probably the best known members of the J.L.A., it makes a certain amount of sense.
All six actors to play James Bond in film will be on stage together at the Oscars. This will take place during Adele’s performance of the Skyfall theme song (nominated for Best Original Song). So there will be at least one cool thing about this year’s Academy Awards — actually, two, considering this implies they’re actually going to play the nominees for Best Original Song instead of doing 10-second clips like they have the last few years.
In a move sure to upset absolutely nobody — except perhaps all the fans of the film — the Weinstein Company is moving forward on a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, based on author Wang Du Lu’s Silver Vase, Iron Knight. The director currently in talks for the film is Ronny Yu, best known in the U.S. for Freddy vs. Jason and Bride of Chucky. This may be the funniest thing I’ve seen all week.
“There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke.”
— Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, 1851
Morgan on Media 
So as potentially exciting as this Abrams rumor is, it’s just a mid level possibility at best … until it isn’t. Nice recap and review.
āI know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.ā
ā Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
Yeah, the Abrams rumor is interesting, but unlike a lot of people out there, I’m not calling it until I see a press release or something else that’s direct and official.
Oh my god, so much to say.
I NEVER thought Crouching Tiger was at risk for a cheap sequel. It’s one of my favorite films, and it just never dawned on me that a knockoff could one day occur. LOL Odds are I will totally ignore this movie.
No Martian Manhunter? WTF. FAIL.
I may have a geek-gasm when all six Bonds unite onstage at the Oscars. Seriously, that may just give me a stroke due to how much glee I’ll experience. It’s unsafe.
Meanwhile, color me completely unexcited over the Abrams rumors. If you asked me to list my favorite directors, my list may never even REACH Abrams, and I’m not the hugest fan of his first Star Trek (its a slick action film, but it loses nearly all that made the original Star Trek franchise work… its as if he took the names and places and abandoned the spirit). I’m not looking forward to seeing him due the same with the Star Wars franchise, though, of course, he’ll be better than Lucas. LOL
I’m glad I included the Bond bit, just so you’d have some good news. š
Personally, I agree about having the Martian Manhunter in the Justice League, but I can see how the studio could see him as a hard sell. Still, it’s worth noting this is coming from Latino Review, and anything from there is pretty much automatically in the “wild rumor” bucket in my opinion; they have a lower rate of accuracy than “Ain’t It Cool News”, which is saying something. But I thought it was an interesting bit of speculation in a fairly sparse week.
CTHD… I wasn’t really a fan of the original, but I knew those who were would find this news to be “interesting” in a non-positive way.
And I’m kind of with you on Abrams… I liked his Star Trek movie, but it’s not like it convinced me he’s a great director or anything. And I could easily see him just genericizing the whole thing and making Star Wars and Star Trek feel a lot alike, even if unintentionally.
Interesting news bites, especially the one about Bond!
Yeah, I imagine the Bond fans are really going to appreciate that.
Well Disney have confirmed it, I was sure it was a fake as well.
Yeah, I updated the post to reflect that. Did seem a bit of a stretch, but I guess the rumor mills are right once in a while.