Duchovny Alleges X-Files Conspiracy
he X-Files star David Duchovny has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the 20th Century Fox Film Corp. alleging that the company has cheated him out of millions of dollars.
Variety reported the suit, which was filed Thursday, Aug. 12, in the Santa Monica Branch of the Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles, Calif.
Although Duchovny did not specify the damages he was seeking in the suit itself, Variety sources said he was looking for $25 million. Duchovny claims that Fox sold various X-Files rights to its associated companies--such as the cable channel FX--for below-market prices, which reduced the value of the series and therefore the profits Duchovny shares in.
Duchovny also alleges that X-Files creator Chris Carter helped cover up the discounted sales in return for $4 million and a deal for a new TV series. However, Duchovny did not name Carter as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Daily Variety contacted a Fox spokesperson about the suit, who said it was "regrettable that Mr. Duchovny and his representatives have opted to communicate this matter through the press rather than directly with Fox."
William Shatner's Wife Found Dead
erine Shatner, the 40-year-old wife of Star Trek actor William Shatner, was found dead in the swimming pool at the couple's Studio City, Calif., home on Monday, Aug. 9.
According to reports, Shatner arrived home at 10 p.m. PDT and discovered Nerine's body, whereupon he dialed 911.
Following the instructions of the 911 operator, 68-year-old Shatner dove into the pool, pulled his wife out of the water and began performing CPR, but he was unable to revive her. Paramedics arrived on the seen shortly thereafter and pronounced Nerine dead.
In a statement to the press, Shatner said: "My beautiful wife is dead. She meant everything to me. Her laughter, her tears and her joy will remain with me the rest of my life."
According to CNN, police are treating the death as an accident. Nerine was Shatner's third wife.
Sixth Makes More Cents Than Blair
he Bruce Willis supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense earned $25.8 million during its debut weekend, beating out the independent powerhouse The Blair Witch Project for the No. 1 spot at the box office.
Blair managed a healthy $24.5 million take in what was its second weekend in wide release, finishing No. 2 overall.
Blair has now passed the $80 million mark and will likely complete its U.S. domestic run with ticket sales of more than $125 million. Meanwhile, Deep Blue Sea picked up another $11 million, finishing No. 5 at the box office and bringing its 12-day total up to $45.3 million.
Mystery Men opened in the No. 6 spot with a modest $10 million, while the critically acclaimed animated SF film The Iron Giant made its bow at No. 9 with a disappointing $5.1 million. Inspector Gadget took in $8.4 million for a seventh place finish, and The Haunting scared up $6.3 million to take the No. 8 position.
Blair Dossier Examines 'Legend'
he New American Library has released The Blair Witch Project: A Dossier, a book that explores the made up mythology behind this summer's most talked about scary movie.
Occult journalist D.A. Stern has compiled the dossier based on the 20 hours of film shot but never used in The Blair Witch Project, "official" police files, transcripts of recorded interviews, photographs and other material.
"What's so compelling here is that the Blair Witch lore rings of a thousand ghost stories we've all heard," said Dan Slater, an editor at New American. "The movie and the dossier both live in that thrilling gray area between the real and the unreal--between truth and legend. The book answers some questions--but not everything."
BBC2 Plans Gormenghast Series
FX Online is reporting that the BBC2 plans to turn Mervyn Peake's epic Gormenghast novel trilogy into a four-part TV series.
The production is being described as a combination of "ingeniously conceived fantasy" and "action-packed comedy."
Peake published the first Gormenghast book, Titus Groan, in 1946, followed by Gormenghast in 1950 and Titus Alone in 1959. The series was not intended to end after three novels, but Peake was unable to complete the saga due to the onset of an illness that ended with his death in 1968 at the age of 57.
The story begun in Titus Groan is described by Amazon.com as "a darkly humorous, stunningly complex tale of the first two years in the life of the heir to an ancient, rambling castle." The series, which has previously been turned into both an opera and a radio play, is considered to be part fantasy and part science fiction.
The Lost World Finds Syndication Deal
ir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World has been cleared in 93 percent of the country and will debut in syndication during the week of Sept. 27.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the John Landis TV series will appear on Tribune Broadcasting stations, which include WPIX in New York, N.Y., WGN in Chicago, Ill., and KTLA in Los Angeles, Calif.
The two-hour pilot for the show made its premiere on TNT in April and earned a healthy 2.9 rating in the Nielsens. The show is based on the famous story of the same name by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, although Landis said the TV series takes the premise much further.
"We were faithful to the book in the two-hour movie," Landis told the Reporter. "The syndicated series takes a wacky left turn about that point, and suddenly our explorers uncover a civilization that has evolved between dinosaurs and humans. They look like lizards and live in a society that is similar to ancient Rome."
Columbia Opens Alien Toy Box
olumbia Pictures paid a six-figure sum for the rights to Alien Toy Box, an SF children's film by writer Steven Elkins.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich's company Centropolis will produce the movie, though no director has been set.
Elkins' story is centered around a young boy who finds a toy box in his back yard that was left behind by an alien child during a visit to Earth. The discovery of the box leads to a magical encounter for the young Earthling and helps him mend his relationship with his father.
The story is described as a science fantasy that blends together elements of E.T. and The Iron Giant.
Avon Announces Terminator Sequels
von Books plans to publish two novels based on the Terminator film franchise that will pick up the story where the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day left off.
S.M. Stirling, who is best known for writing alternate history novels such as the Draka series, will pen the first as-yet-untitled book.
The novels will feature the adventures of Sarah and John Conner, and readers can also expect to run into both the T-800 and T-1000 series of Terminator cyborgs, as well as the human that the T-800 was based on. The first book is due out in July 2000.
The Terminator novels are not related to the on-again, off-again Terminator 3 film project that is rumored to be in the works.
Castle Plans To Scare Again
erry Castle has announced plans to resurrect her father's horror film studio William Castle Productions.
According to Variety, the younger Castle will initially focus her attention on developing films for children as well as on old-fashioned horror movie making.
"Dad buzzed over 20 million butts in Tingler, had a skeleton fly above the theater audience's heads in House on Haunted Hill, insured theater attendees against 'death by fright' in Macabre, and introduced the 'fright break' with 'cowards corner' for those afraid to see the end of Homicidal," Castle told Variety. "People don't forget this kind of unique movie-going experience."
Terry Castle was formerly an executive at Nickelodeon, and she recently served as co-producer for the Robert Zemeckis remake of her father's 1958 film House on Haunted Hill.
Coppola Takes Over Supernova
GM has hired famed director Francis Ford Coppola to try and fix its troubled space-thriller Supernova.
Variety reports that Coppola will oversee the re-cutting of the $60 million film from his American Zoetrope studio in California.
Directors Geoffrey Wright and Walter Hill have already tried their luck with Supernova, though Hill departed the project shortly after principal photography began. The film stars James Spader, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lou Diamond Philips, Angela Basset and Robert Forster.
Briefly Noted
- Wes Craven was reportedly so impressed with Laeta Kalogridis' rewrite of Scream 3 that he has hired the writer to work on the film adaptation of Craven's SF novel The Fountain Society. Craven plans to direct the picture next year.
- Famke Janssen will reportedly play the role of Jean Grey in Bryan Singer's upcoming film The X-Men.
- Precedence Entertainment reports that it has extended its agreement with Warner Bros. to produce the Babylon 5 Collectible Card Game through 2001.
- WWF star Big Boss Man will reportedly make an appearance in an upcoming episode of Star Trek: Voyager. The Voyager production crew is also said to be making plans for other WWF stars to appear on the show.
