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.

George Clooney (Ocean’s Eleven) is reportedly in talks to star in Disney’s 1952, an extraterrestrial pic in the vein of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  Written by Damon Lindelof (Star Trek) and  Jeff Jensen, 1952 will be directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles).  Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the picture is said to center on the journey of a middle-aged man and his contact with alien life.  We previously reported that the title is a reference to a banker’s box of files and documents that had been left in Walt Disney’s personal development lab.  The contents of the box were documents and primary source materials that look like someone had been working on a project about alien contact.  Additionally, “1952″ could refer to the appearance of seven UFOs on radar at Washington’s National Airport.  Hit the jump for more, including how this affects Bird’s schedule and chances to direct Star Wars: Episode VII.

Back in May, we reported that Brad Bird was set to direct a mysterious blockbuster for Disney entitled 1952.  Written by Damon Lindelof, details on the project were practically non-existent, but new information has come to light.  According to Vulture, the movie is about aliens making first contact on Earth in the present day.  Furthermore, Bird and Lindelof are reportedly looking to make the movie in the vein of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and the protagonist will be a man in his mid-40s like Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss).  No word if this man will go crazy, play with his food, and abandon his family to live with the aliens.  [Correction: Vulture has updated its story to note that while 1952 is similar in the sense of Neary's journey--putting the pieces together to solve a mystery--the film will not involve contact with aliens.]

Hit the jump for more on 1952.

One of the most frustrating things about Prometheus is its potential.  There are simply too many plot holes (which, admittedly, I didn’t notice when I saw the film; I was wrapped up in the visuals, performance, and strength of Ridley Scott‘s direction).  The fact that the marketing for the Blu-ray has had to be “Questions Will Be Answered” is preposterous.  This isn’t Lost.  This is a movie, and either the questions should have been answered or they should purposely be left ambiguous.  Looking back on Prometheus, I’ve wondered if the more fulfilling picture is out there either in a director’s cut or in screenwriter Jon Spaihts‘ original script.

Hit the jump for why we won’t be seeing the director’s cut, but we can learn a bit more about what Spaihts intended before screenwriter Damon Lindelof came on board.  Prometheus hits DVD, Blu-ray, and 3D Blu-ray tomorrow.

It looks as if the Prometheus sequel is indeed moving forward.  Anticipation for Ridley Scott’s Alien-esque sci-fi pic was at a fever pitch when the film hit theaters, but reaction was enthusiastically polarized.  Some loved that Scott left many questions unanswered and tackled large ideas, while others were distracted by the script’s plot holes and ridiculously inept scientists.  I fell somewhere in between, but I’d by lying if I said I wasn’t interested in seeing where Scott plans to go for the follow-up.

Fresh off the film’s healthy box office take (especially for an R-rated sci-fi movie), Fox has now revealed that they are actively moving forward with the Prometheus sequel, and screenwriter Damon Lindelof may not be returning this time around.  Hit the jump for more.

Karl Urban came to Comic-Con with the intention of bringing some exclusive footage from Star Trek 2.  He teased the release of the footage by the end of the week and delivered on his promise.  However, it’s not exactly what we expected to see.  Urban was in hot water earlier for a possible slip up during an interview in which he may have revealed the villain in the upcoming untitled sequel.  Writer Damon Lindelof reportedly said that he had no idea what the footage was that Urban was referencing and said the prankster was “off the reservation.”  Now, it’s the end of Comic-Con and some Star Trek 2 footage has finally been released.  Hit the jump to check it out (and keep your expectations in check as well).

In the long line of complications accompanying the adaptation of the Max Brooks’ novel, World War Z, yet another writer has come on to hash out the script.  Damon Lindelof was previously reported to be working on the ending of the troubled picture starring Brad Pitt, but it’s now being reported that his Lost co-writer, Drew Goddard, actually did the majority of the writing.  Lindelof apparently dreamed up the possible ending of the film but ran out of time to do the actual scripting.  That chore fell to Goddard, who recently co-wrote Cabin in the Woods with Joss Whedon and also scripted the Robopocalypse adaptation for Steven Spielberg. Hit the jump for more on the fate of World War Z.

Director Ridley Scott’s sci-fi pic Prometheus opened early last month as one of the year’s most anticipated films.  Though some weren’t exactly thrilled with the finished product, the amount of debate over the film’s true meanings, unanswered questions, Alien connections, and common sense-impaired scientists has been immense and unending.  The pic is set to hit Blu-ray later this year, at which point further debate is sure to ensue.  An unofficial full list of extras included on the home video release have landed online, and just as Scott previously mentioned to Steve, they include a significant amount of deleted scenes.

In addition to 15 minutes of deleted or alternate scenes and the entirety of the film’s viral material (including the full Peter Weyland TED Talk), the disc includes a text document of the first and final draft of the script by Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts.  Hit the jump for much more, including details on a 9-disc collection of every Alien film up to and including Prometheus.

Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof is joining forces with Election author Tom Perrotta to create a drama series for HBO based on Perotta’s 2011 book The Leftovers.  The project will be Lindelof’s first return to a television project since leaving Lost‘s Island two years ago (leaving fans with plenty of strong emotions about the show’s finale), and is part of a recently signed three-year deal with Warner Bros TV.  Lindelof and Perotta will write the new series together.

The Leftovers takes place after the Rapture, but is about the people who didn’t make the cut.  In addition to co-writing the series, Perotta and Lindelof will also serve as executive producers, along with Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger.  If the series moves forward (it’s currently in development) then Lindelof will also serve as showrunner.  Hit the jump for what Lindelof has to say about the book, how the series might differ, and why he’s not interested in doing another show with “wackadoo mythology” (that was my favorite part, Damon).

Yet another interesting tidbit from that sci-fi film that people are still debating has come to light.  We recently got a look at an unseen alien from Prometheus courtesy of some behind-the-scenes images, and we also shared a couple of featurettes that reveal how the opening sequence of Ridley Scott’s thriller was created.  Now some information has come to light that answers one of the more pressing questions audiences were left with when the film ended: what exactly did David say to the Engineer towards the end of the film?

Hit the jump to find out.  Obviously spoilers for Prometheus follow.

Paramount almost didn’t make a PG-13 blockbuster adaptation of Max Brooks‘ zombie novel World War Z, and that would have probably been for the best.  The project, which was envisioned as the first part of a potential trilogy, would have been dead if the movie didn’t get a co-financier, but the studio eventually found partners in producer Graham King‘s GK Films and David Ellison‘s Skydance Productions.  Now they’re all paying the price as the production has spun wildly out of control, soared to more than a $170 million budget, requires five weeks of complex reshoots (others have put the number at 7-8 weeks), and brought in Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof to do re-writes on a picture that won’t be able to get back in front of cameras until September.

So how did production on World War Z go so horribly wrong?  Hit the jump for more.

One of the most anticipated films of the year has now finally been unveiled to the moviegoing public, and boy is there a whole lot of discussion going on.  Ridley Scott’s Prometheus was met with a passionately mixed-to-positive reaction, with those on both sides of the fence ardently stating their case for why Prometheus is awesome and/or terrible.  Interviews with many of the key creative people involved—including Scott and co-writer Damon Lindelof—began to hit the interwebs days before the films release, and I’m assuming a good many of you (like me) steered clear of any and all Prometheus related interviews for fear of spoiling the film before seeing it yourself.  As such, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

Those who saw the film were probably left with quite a few unanswered questions.  It’s no secret that Scott really wants to make a follow-up to Prometheus in which some of those questions are further explored and answered, so we’ve rounded up what we know so far about said possible Prometheus sequel.  Hit the jump for a recap.  Obviously MASSIVE SPOILERS for Prometheus follow.

Writers are brought on to perform rewrites on projects all the time, but it’s not every day that a scribe is hired to rewrite a film’s script after the film has already been shot.  Such is the case with director Marc Forster’s (Quantum of Solace) zombie apocalypse pic World War Z.  The film is based on Max Brooks’ novel of the same name and stars Brad Pitt as a United Nations employee “who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.”  Production took place last year in various European locales, with Paramount even considering a potential trilogy based off of the dailies they were seeing.

Back in March, it was announced that the film was vacating its December 2012 release date for the summer date of June 21^st, 2013.  The move didn’t turn many heads, as most assumed that Paramount thought the zombie pic would do better business in the heart of the summer rather than in the midst of the crowded holiday season of 2012.  Heads did turn, however, when rumblings began that the film was set to undergo some massive 6-7 week reshoots later this year.  Hit the jump for more.

With Prometheus opening this weekend, 20th Century Fox held a massive press junket in London last week where I was able to interview most of the cast and director Ridley Scott.  Here’s my print interviews with Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Michael Fassbender and Scott, and here’s my on camera interviews with Charlize Theron and Guy Pearce and Logan Marshall-Green.  For more on the film, here’s four clips and five minutes of behind-the-scenes footage and Matt’s review.

During my interview with screenwriter Damon Lindelof we talked about getting to watch Ridley Scott direct, what he added to Jon Spaihts‘ original script, how he got an executive producer credit, the Star Trek sequel, and a bit on Lost.  Hit the jump to watch.