20th Century Fox seems to have a game plan with regards to a sequel to last year’s Prometheus.  While director Ridley Scott made no secret of the fact that he envisioned the Alien pseudo-sequel as the beginning of a new franchise, firm movement on the follow-up had yet to materialize.  Coming off a box office take of over $400 million worldwide for the R-rated sci-fi pic, Fox was initially said to be targeting a 2014 or 2015 release date for Prometheus 2.  Screenwriter Damon Lindelof revealed earlier this year that he opted not to return to pen the follow-up, and a few months ago a story surfaced claiming that Fox was “freaking out” over how to continue the story. Well it appears that a logline for Prometheus 2 has indeed been sorted out, as screenwriter Jack Paglen is in talks to pen the script for the follow-up, with Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender expected to return in the starring roles.  Less certain, though, is Scott’s involvement this time around.  Hit the jump for more.

We’ve got a few release dates to share today.  Briefly:

• Labor Day – Writer/director Jason Reitman’s drama starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin will hit theaters in limited release on December 25th of this year (just in time for awards season, natch), before expanding wide on January 31st.
• Exodus – Director Ridley Scott’s Biblical epic about the life of Moses has been dated for a prime holiday release of December 12, 2014, confirming that this will indeed be Scott’s next project.  Christian Bale may star.
• Assassin’s Creed – The feature film adaptation of the popular video game series has been dated for Memorial Day weekend of 2015, with a firm May 22, 2015 release date.  Michael Fassbender is producing the film and will also star.

Hit the jump for much more on all of the aforementioned projects.

Last month, we reported that director Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class) was set to adapt Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons‘ comic The Secret Service.  The story is about a veteran secret agent who takes his ruffian nephew from the streets of London and into a British spy school that molds its students into suave 007-types.  According to Heat Vision, Colin Firth is being courted for the role of the uncle.  Vaughn was looking to reteam with his Kick-Ass star Aaron Taylor-Johnson for the role of the nephew, but the actor was unavailable due to a scheduling conflict.

Hit the jump for more.  Firth will next be seen in Atom Egoyan‘s West Memphis Three drama, Devil’s Knot.  The Secret Service is set for release on November 14, 2014.

Quite a hubbub occurred earlier today over 20th Century Fox’s supposed difficulty in developing a sequel to Prometheus, and now screenwriter Damon Lindelof has provided a statement on the matter.  Talk of a follow-up to Ridley Scott’s sci-fi film has been around ever since Scott and Co. were doing press for the first film, with both Scott and Lindelof offering up plenty of details regarding where Prometheus 2 might lead.  The first film was developed with an eye towards possibly moving forward with a full trilogy should audiences spark to Prometheus, and with a global box office haul of $403 million, Fox is understandably keen on getting a sequel going soon.

Lindelof opted not to come back and pen the script for the follow-up due to scheduling issues, and a new report today claims that Fox and Scott are “freaking out” over trying to figure out the story for Prometheus 2 after Lindelof “abandoned” the project.  Hit the jump for much more, including Lindelof’s comment on the matter.

Let the battle of the Moses epics begin!  Two high profile films about the Biblical character have been in development for the past year or so—one at Warner Bros. with Steven Spielberg flirting with the director’s chair, and one at Fox that has Ridley Scott attached to direct.  Yesterday, Warner Bros.’ film Gods and Kings was dealt a blow when Spielberg finally left the project, and now it appears that Fox is ramping things up on Exodus as Scott is looking to make the pic his next film after he completes post-production on The Counselor.  The Gladiator filmmaker has taken a big step forward towards production, as he and Fox are apparently courting Christian Bale to tackle the Moses role.  Hit the jump for more.

Ridley Scott…only on Machinima!  The longtime director of such sci-fi greats as Alien and Blade Runner will now set his sights on smaller fare with a series of web shorts.  Scott, his commercials production company RSA and Machinima will team up to produce 12 short sci-fi films with the possibility of developing features from them.  While Scott, now 75, is revisiting new visions of his earliest feature successes, he’ll stay out of the director’s chair for these shorts, sticking to executive producer status only.  Hit the jump for more.

While I was ultimately disappointed with Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, it certainly did conjure up an awful lot of discussion and interest in Scott’s planned sequel.  Star Noomi Rapace recently spoke with the director about the second film and revealed that work on the script is still underway.  We don’t know who the writer is at the moment, but we do know that Damon Lindelof won’t return to the franchise.  Hit the jump to see what Rapace  did manage to talk about.

When it was first announced that Ridley Scott was heading back into the world of sci-fi with the pseudo-Alien prequel Prometheus, fans were doubly excited about the prospect of Scott dabbling in sci-fi again and the fact that he was returning to one of this classics.  The finished film was a bit of a mixed bag, but Scott didn’t seem to mind all that much and is eager to get moving on a sequel.  Alien isn’t the only past film that the legendary director is revisiting, though, as he’s also been working on a new Blade Runner movie for the past couple of years.

At one point, it was reported that screenwriter Scott Z. Burns was being eyed to pen Scott’s new Blade Runner film.  This news was quickly debunked, but Steve recently sat down with Burns to discuss his upcoming film Side Effects directed by Steven Soderbergh, and the scribe clarified his relationship with Blade Runner, saying that he and Scott did indeed have discussions about it.  Hit the jump for more.

20th Century Fox has picked up the rights to Matt Kindt’s Dark Horse comic Mind MGMT, and some big name talent is coming onboard to steer the project through development.  Heat Vision reports that Ridley Scott is producing the feature film adaptation through his Scott Free banner alongside Dark Horse Entertainment’s Mike Richardson and Keith Goldberg.  The story centers on a true crime writer named Meru who is searching for the truth behind a mysterious flight when he stumbles upon a secret government agency made up of psychic spies.  Their estranged top agent, Henry Lime, teams up with Meru to dismantle the organization.

Attention has now turned to finding a screenwriter to put on the project.  Kindt’s graphic novel 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man was previously set up at Warner Bros. with Dustin Lance Black writing and directing, but that project is currently in turnaround.  Hit the jump to read a synopsis for Mind MGMT.

Director Ridley Scott may be 75 years old, but he has no plans to slow down anytime soon.  After making a welcome return to the sci-fi genre with Prometheus, Scott dove right into directing the Cormac McCarthy-scripted drama The Counselor.  Now, before he settles on his next feature film, Scott is set to make his first foray into television.  EW reports that Scott will direct the pilot for a new Showtime series called The Vatican.  Written by Paul Attanasio (House), the show is described as “a provocative contemporary genre thriller about spirituality, power and politics – set against the modern-day political machinations within the Catholic church. The series will explore the relationships and rivalries as well as the mysteries and miracles behind one of the world’s most hidden institutions.”

Scott has experience producing on television through his Scott Free banner, but The Vatican will mark his first time directing in the medium.  The order for the show is only for a pilot at this time, but it’s hard to imagine Showtime passing on a Ridley Scott-helmed project. Hit the jump for the full press release.

A few months ago we reported screenwriter Damon Lindelof might not have the time to pen the Prometheus sequel for director Ridley Scott.  I can now confirm the news.  When I spoke to Lindelof last week at a Bad Robot event for the Star Trek sequel (more on that soon), he told me he wasn’t doing it.  He explained that after Prometheus got released, (Scott and Lindelof) had a meeting “where we started talking again about where this journey would go.”  Before Scott could ask him to write the script, he said he couldn’t do it due to other commitments.

For more on why Lindelof said no, hit the jump.

No matter what you thought about Ridley Scott‘s Prometheus (I thought it was great), it’s amazing that people are still talking about it.  I say this because in our culture of always moving onto the next thing once something’s come out, I love that people are still discussing the ideas and mythology, and what they’d like to see in a sequel (which I hear is definitely moving forward).

As most of you know, Prometheus was penned by two screenwriters: Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof, in addition to the original conception of the franchise elements from Ronald Shusett and the late Dan O’Bannon.  After a number of drafts by Spaihts, Lindelof was brought in to balance the story and to expand on character relationships and mythology, but to leave the characters and the narrative structure in place.  Continued after the jump.

Love it or hate it, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus certainly got people talking. The “prequel” with “Alien DNA” was penned by two screenwriters: Jon Spaihts (The Darkest Hour) and Damon Lindelof (Cowboys & Aliens), in addition to the original conception of the franchise elements from Ronald Shusett and the late Dan O’Bannon.  After five drafts by Spaihts, Lindelof was brought in to balance the story and to expand on character relationships and mythology, but to leave the characters and the narrative structure in place. What resulted was a bit of a mess, in my opinion. But now, Spaihts’ original script, titled Alien: Engineers, is available for the readin’! Hit the jump to see where you can find it and for a summary of some of the major changes that occurred from script to screen.

Ridley Scott’s Prometheus was a geek’s dream. Scott, who directed Alien in 1979, was one of the great science fiction filmmakers, but hadn’t done anything in the genre since 1982 – since Blade Runner. And though Alien spawned a franchise, Scott had never made his own sequel. Prometheus was sold as a semi-prequel, an “in universe” film that takes place before the events of the first film, but may not tie into them directly. After a series of great trailers, there was hope that the film (which was also rated R, rare for a huge summer movie) would be awesome, would be a great Scott film. Alas, it’s more of a mess. Our review of the Blu-ray of Prometheus follows after the jump.

At the recent New York press day for Skyfall, I was able to speak with Javier Bardem.  We talked about what it was like to play the villain, why he wanted the role (he’s been very selective since No Country For Old Men), how this is a very grounded and realistic Bond, and more.  In addition, with Bardem currently filming Ridley Scott‘s The Counselor, we talked about why he signed on to that project.

Let me be very clear: I absolutely loved Skyfall.  Director Sam Mendes has crafted one of the best James Bond movies ever made and it’s also one of my favorite films of the year.  While the Bond franchise is now 50 years old, Mendes has shown the best might be yet to come.  I really can’t recommend this film enough.  For all our Skyfall coverage including clips, posters, my set visit and more, click here.  Skyfall stars Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Helen McCrory, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Berenice Marlohe, and Naomie Harris.  Hit the jump to watch the interview.