The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd looked into the likelihood of Fuller's TV Trek ambitions bearing fruit, and found that... well, while certain corporate entities may be interested, no-one will admit to anything on the record:

We learned that asking speculative questions about a "Trek" TV show before the movie comes out tends to annoy PR people. We learned new weekly voyages of the Starship Enterprise are a long shot involving a lot of lawyers. And we learned there's a general sense is that, inevitably, "Trek" will return to TV, but not likely without several strong-minded ducks getting into a row.

According to Hibberd, the problem - or, more properly, one of the problems - is that different companies own the rights to Trek in its different incarnations; CBS owns Star Trek as a whole, but isn't actually involved in the JJ Abrams' movie reboot, which is made by (former sister company) Paramount Pictures... even though Paramount made all the Star Trek TV shows from The Next Generation through Enterprise (and Voyager and Enterprise aired on the Paramount-owned UPN). Confusing? Yes, and it involves mergers, acquisitions and CBS now actually being known as CBS Paramount Television, even though it has nothing to do with Paramount Pictures, who are making the movie. As Hibberd puts it,

All parties, by the way, absolutely detest answering questions on this subject, knowing any response they give will spawn headlines and inevitably get them yelled at by somebody.

Perhaps more of a stumbling block may be audience reaction; we're all excited about Star Trek the summer blockbuster movie, but how many people who go and see it would keep tuning in, week after week, to see a smaller, cheaper version of it? And if there was a TV show available for free every week, what would that do to the movie franchise?

Could 'Star Trek' soon return to TV? [THR Live Feed]

Daemon, originally self-published by former IT consultant Daniel Suarez (under the penname Lrienad Zeraus; apparently, Suarez was a big fan of Dracula AD 1972) before being picked up by Penguin, tells the story of a game designer whose death activates a computer program that starts killing people and taking revenge on humanity for its treatment of its creator. The movie will be produced by Men in Black and The Ring's Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald; no writer or director has been announced yet.

Par developing 'Daemon' thriller [Hollywood Reporter]

Talking to the Hollywood Reporter about the concern that releasing a trailer six months before the movie may lessen the impact of May's release, Abrams said,

'Jaws' was a book before it was a movie, and people knew what happened to the Titanic... You can argue that for some of the most successful movies ever, it wasn't that their stories were secret, it's that the experience was fun or a thrill. So I'm praying that we're not going to blow it by revealing some of the secrets, but you can't have it both ways — you can't show the footage to try and make people understand and not give away something. The good news is, there's so much that we're not saying. I think that the risk is ultimately worth it.

So much that isn't being said? Don't people who pay attention to Morning Spoilers already know, like, the entire plot of the movie by now? Abrams hints that he's not just talking about the film itself:

Oh, there's a whole crazy campaign that is going to ... It's insane. We have a life-size Enterprise, but I'm not allowed to talk about it.

Now, given the realities of building a life-size Enterprise, I know that he has to be making a joke. After all, there's no way that Paramount could even afford to attempt a project of that scale. But yet... A life-size Enterprise. Dare we dream?

Video Business is reporting that, while not confirmed, the 9/30 date makes a lot of sense to Paramount and Marvel:

Anticipating an onslaught of blockbuster movies coming to shelves throughout the holidays, retailers believe Paramount is smart to release Iron Man early in the season.

“I think retail is delighted to have a wealth of product coming, but the concern is how the title releases will cannibalize the one prior,” said one source. “Last year, Spider-Man [3] kicked off [the fourth quarter] at end of October. Now we’re excited that Paramount is coming out early. They will have a couple of weeks to themselves. That’s good for Iron Man.”

Amazon is currently offering three different flavors of Iron Home Entertainment: A single-disc DVD, a 2-disc special edition, and a single Blu-Ray disc. If you're wondering what may be so special about the 2-disc version, how about the fact that the packaging looks like Iron Man's helmet? That's what an Australian DVD site is taking orders for, at least. Sure, it's no Roddy McDowell's ape head, but what is these days...?

Iron Man to kick off fourth quarter [Video Business]

Tokyopop's absence is just one in a long line of worries for the publisher, which has just been forced to pull back significantly on its publishing program, either releasing titles online only or cancelling them outright (One of the casualties of this decision is Brandon Graham's awesome King City), as well as having to make large-scale layoffs to its staff.

(One of the unexpected effects of Tokyopop pulling out? No Wil Wheaton at the con.)

Paramount's involvement, however, is slightly more in question. Initially, the studio had explained its absence by pointing out that their next big geek movies (including Transformers: Rise of The Fallen, the Star Trek remake and M. Night Shyamalan's live action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender) weren't coming out until next year, and that "the timing was off this year." But when Variety's Anne Thompson broke this story, she was contacted by a studio spokesman:

Paramount spokesman Mike Vollman just called me to say: "We have a vibrant and exciting schedule of activities planned for Comic-Con." The studio will be unveiling a number of marketing materials on these pics.

So, while they may not have a booth as such, apparently you'll still get fliers for all their products. It may not be as fun as a lifesize Iron Man armor, but I guess that it's something...?

(Flickr image by Karl Monaghan)

Comic-Con Update: Paramount Goes Viral [Variety]