Movie & TV News: The Hobbit, Nowhere Man, TV DVD News, Dragonball Z, Fanboys, Comic Previews

The Hobbit
On his personal blog, Ian McKellen states that he is interested in reprising the role of Gandalf in the Peter Jackson produced movies now in development. McKellan wrote: "Yes, I will [do them], if Peter Jackson and I have anything to do with it, he being the producer and me being, on the whole, a very lucky actor. Encouragingly, Peter and Fran Walsh have told me they couldn't imagine The Hobbit without their original Gandalf. Their confidence hasn't yet been confirmed by the director, Guillermo del Toro, but I am keeping my diary free for 2009! Del Toro is reportedly still in negotiations to direct the pair of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's book.

Nowhere Man
Hugh Jackman and Marc Guggenheim will join with Virgin Comics to bring "Nowhere Man" to the big screen. Jackman stated: "I've had so much fun in the graphic novel world with the 'X-Men' franchise that I wanted to get even more involved. I'm excited to work with Virgin and Marc and create a compelling character and story that hopefully will also make it to the bigscreen." John Palermo of Seed Productions hints that the protagonist is similar to Will Smith in "I Am Legend." Palermo says: "This is our first comic, and we feel the concept is transferable to other arenas, perhaps first as a videogame, and then a movie." "Nowhere Man" is to be published under the Virgin Voices line.

TV DVD News
TVShowsOnDVD.com has posted info about "Gunsmoke" (Season 2, Vol. 2) here, "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." (Season 4) here, "Matlock" (Season 1) here, "JAG" (Season 6) here, "Route 66" (Season 1) here, "Honey West" (Complete Series) here, "The Untouchables" (Season 2, Vol. 2) here, "Melrose Place" (Season 4) here and "Beverly Hills, 90210" (Season 4) here.

Dragonball Z
Emily Rossum said in her blog: "I've been so busy in Mexico finishing up 'Dragonball' but we just wrapped yesterday [Friday] so I JUST got home and this is my first opportunity in front of my computer to write to you. It's been nuts for about a month and a half working nights (on a schedule of about 5pm-8am) outside, but our spirits have been high and it was such a blast. I've missed writing to you but I've been exhausted after coming home from work early in the morning. I'm finally home (at least for a few weeks) and it's a mixture of happy and sad. Wrapping a movie is kind of like the end of school, you miss all your friends that you've bonded with so much but you are eager for a little rest and a break from all the hard work. I'll be starting work on something else in 3 weeks so I won't have much time to rest ..."

Fanboys
There has been an announcement by The Weinstein Co. that they now plan to release two versions of its comedy "Fanboys" (one the original cut; the other the cut ordered by Harvey Weinstein) has has not detered supporters of the original version, who threaten to boycott and picket the Weinstein's "Superhero Movie," when it opens on Friday. The original version of the film tells of a group of "Star Wars" fans (including one who is fighting cancer) who break into George Lucas's studios to see an advance screening of "The Phantom Menace." In the revised cut, references to cancer have been removed. Kevin Mann, one of the producers, said: "This [the Weinstein announcement] is more about avoiding picket lines at Superhero than it was about making a decision about the release of our movie. The original reason we wanted to get involved with this script was because it was a comedy with heart. In my opinion, when the cancer was taken out, the heart went with it." On their website, http://committed.to/stopdarthweinstein, many who had seen the rough cut of the movie and/or clips at Star Wars conventions, say that their protest "will continue until the Weinstein Co. announces that they are returning control of Fanboys to the Star Wars fans who made it, releasing the original version in theaters and doing away with their anti-fan version of the film altogether."
And, here is the trailer: