Neill Blomkamp's movie about alien refugees in South Africa took in an impressive $14.2 million on Friday, just under half of its $30 million budget, and enough to make it the most successful movie of the day, with The Time-Traveler's Wife taking second place and GI Joe falling to third (and down 68% compared with the Friday of the week before, suggesting that there's not a lot of gas left in the Joe engine longterm).

With a one-day total like that, it's almost impossible that D9 will have earned back its entire budget by the end of this weekend, if it's not done so already (Saturday's box office estimates haven't been released yet).

UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter estimates that the movie will gross $37 million this weekend.

'District 9' easily tops box office [Variety]

Imagine if someone from the future came and told you what was going to happen to you: You'd be trapped in a story. In a sense, that "trapped in a story" feeling is what The Time Traveler's Wife is about — both Audrey Niffenegger's masterful book and the new movie. The difference is, the novel uses a million grace notes to show how you can still live a joyful life, even though you know you're trapped inside a story you can't really change. The movie, meanwhile, just shows us that we're trapped and there's no escape from the plodding story beats.

In most love stories, after all, you know what's going to happen. Including time travel as a concept just solidifies the sense we already have that love stories — especially Hollywood love stories — are utterly predictable, and the most you can expect is carefully titrated levels of quirkiness, mostly coming from the supporting cast. Unless the leading man is Jack Black — then he gets to bring the quirkiness himself.

But of course, in a larger sense, life is a story whose ending is known to us from the beginning, since as Prince says, "We're all gonna die."

The basic story of The Time Traveler's Wife is one that could be intensely schlocky, but isn't at all in the novel. Henry De Tamble has a weird, made-up genetic condition that causes him to become unstuck in time, and he journeys back to emotionally significant moments in his own life. (He visits his own mother's death often.) And he frequently appears during the childhood of Clare Abshire, the woman he marries as an adult. Because she grows up seeing him as this mysterious, sophisticated apparition, she grows to love and mythologize him — only to have to make a relationship with the real Henry when she meets him in real time. And then, of course, Henry's always vanishing into the past and future while he and Clare are building a life.

I just re-read Niffenegger's novel this week, so I apologize if I talk about the book as much as I do the movie. (The truth is, the book impressed me anew, and the movie seemed instantly forgettable.) The novel is a meditation on time, and the way in which we're all trapped inside linear time — even Henry, who can't stop getting older or advancing towards the bad things he knows are waiting for him. And yet, all the ways in which we're all time travelers. Niffenegger packs in funny observations about the socially constructed nature of time — you can travel backward an hour just by crossing over from Michigan to Illinois. The longer Clare and Henry are together, the more she, too, travels backwards in time, except that she does it in her mind. She's constantly thinking about the things that took place between the two of them when she was a child — even when Henry isn't physically returning to them.

As Henry says towards the end of the book, minutes and years are "the same thing" when you're dealing with a traumatic or powerful event — something that happened decades ago can feel like it happened just now. His time-slipping condition just makes that fact less metaphorical.

In all relationships, Niffenegger seems to say, we are constantly living in both the past and the future — you can't help reminiscing about how the relationship started, and you can't help imagining what'll happen when you have a child, or one of you leaves — or dies.

Like I said, this story would be trite, cheesy or even squicky in the hands of a less sure-handed writer. But Niffenegger gives these characters enough life, enough weirdness, to make the Henry-Clare relationship feel like ones you've known. Clare grabs Henry's cock through a hole in his suit, during their wedding, to try and keep him from slipping away through the timestream during their wedding (and it doesn't work.)

So, since I re-read Niffenegger's novel right before going to see the movie, I can report that the film follows the structure of the novel quite closely, with a few changes. (You're not going to see a middle-aged Bana taking an 18-year-old McAdams' virginity. Also, the Gomez-loves-Clare subplot is gone, probably for the best.) The skeleton is the same, but in the movie it's covered with flab.

It would probably be impossible to convey the books's awesomeness in a movie, but the screenplay (by Ghost scriptwriter Bruce Joel Rubin) doesn't even try. Instead, it takes Niffenegger's basic story and uses it as a vehicle for such overwhelming schlockiness that I was sickened. In the novel, Henry and Clare are both witty and weighty, talking about their relationship and their lives in self-aware, clever ways. In the movie, they mostly talk like little kids — Clare, in particular, is whiny and annoying, something she never is in the book.

The biggest problem with the film is the dialogue, honestly — you're not going to be able to pack as much complexity into a movie as you could into a novel, of course, but every single word that comes out of these people's mouths is utterly banal and dull. There were dozens of moments where instead of saying something else and letting the subtext convey an emotion, the characters stated their emotions in the blandest possible way: "I am feeling anxious." "I am filled with unease." That sort of thing. The screenwriting is so hamfisted, after a while everyone sounds like an android trying to identify the proper emotion for the situation.

It's uterly pointless to say that the movie version of a book is worse than the source material, or that the movie ruined the book. I am not saying that at all. Instead, I am saying: Niffenegger's basic story could be intensely schlocky in the wrong hands, and she avoids that pitfall with a balletic grace. The movie dives right into it. It would have taken immense skill and determination to avoid nausea in crafting the story of a man who's constantly vanishing on his wife becuase he's traipsing off to visit her as a little girl. And the movie simply lacks that skill, and what's worse, it doesn't care.

On the plus side, the movie is genuinely funny in parts — including some parts that are deadly serious in the book — and stars Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams have great comic timing, when they decide to play the material for laughs. The audience I saw the film with laughed boisterously and often. So there's that.

My biggest problem with the movie, actually, was that I didn't like these versions of Clare or Henry — they seemed shallow, boring, petulant. Clare whines an awful lot about the fact that Henry keeps disappearing, even though she knows he can't control it and is trying to prevent it at all costs. The movie seems determined to create melodrama out of moments that should be quiet, and to create comedy out of moments that should be dramatic.

In many ways, TTTW reminded me of a slightly worse version of The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button — they're both about a man who has a weird condition, and the woman who loves him. In both, the man's condition compels him to disappear on the woman just as they're building a life together. (Although Benjamin Button has a choice, and just does the wrong thing because he's an asspot.) And they're both intensely cheesy, drowning us in sentimentality because they ultimately don't think there is any meaning in human relationships. (Sentimentality being the rich, creamy sauce you pour over the essential nothingness of empty romance.)

It makes me sad, because there seemed to be a boomlet in smart, quirky literary novels that played with time, about five years ago: Niffenegger's novel was one of them, and Andrew Sean Greer's Confessions Of Max Tivoli was another. And now we've gotten the movie version of that boomlet, with TTTW and Benjamin Button (which felt like an adaptation of Max Tivoli, even though it officially wasn't.) These movies are like the chick-flick versions of G.I. Joe — cheesy, silly, and sporting one-dimensional characters. It's only sad because the books they're based on actually did demand smarter takes, and lord knows we could use some more thought-provoking, grown up science fiction stories.

In the end, though, what I really can't forgive the movie for is saying that we're trapped, there's no point, it's all useless. Because it never even tries to answer the question Niffenegger deals with in her book: What do you do when everything is predestined? How do you make a meaningful life? Instead, it just revels in its own predictability and dullness, because it's a Hollywood love story. And predictability is the Hollywood love story's meat and drink, without which it withers away.

Goldberg, a physics professor at Drexel University, and co-author of the upcoming book A User's Guide to the Universe: Surviving the Perils of Black Holes, Time Paradoxes and Quantum Uncertainty, says that amidst the current glut of more fantastical time travel dramas — in which he includes Lost, Star Trek, and Heroes — The Time Traveler's Wife is a breath of relatively accurate air.

Looking at the theories developed by Albert Einstein, Hugh Everett, Igor Novikov, and Kip Thorne, Goldberg creates a checklist for accurate time travel rules ("You can't visit any time before your time machine was built." "You can't kill your own grandfather."), and explains how well The Time Traveler's Wife fits within those rules. The verdict: the story bends the rules a bit, but in a somewhat justifiable way, and comes out leagues ahead of most popular time travel tales.

One point I wish Goldberg had addressed is whether nudity is a prerequisite for time travel, because personally when they build the time machine, I'd prefer to arrive fully clothed.

Time-Traveling for Dummies [Slate]

Wolverine 2:

As we reported the other day, Logan's second outing is headed to Japan. And Hugh Jackman specifically says it'll be based on the Claremont/Miller Japan "saga," because the fans love it. [MTV via Comic Book Resources]

Iron Man 2:

As we reported a while back, there's going to be some major conflict between Rhodey and Tony in the second movie. Actor Don Cheadle explains:

We kept asking ourselves: How does that play out with Tony Stark being an independent contractor doing what he wants to do, and Rhodes actually being in the military? There's a real chain of command he has to follow. What's the conflict that creates?

And it sounds as though this difference in their outlooks plays into the military's desire to take control of the "Iron Man weapon." [MTV via Comic Book Resources]

District 9:

Here's a new "redband" clip from this alien segregation thriller, opening Friday:

And here are some new TV spots:

New Moon:

Here's a 17-second teaser for this movie's full trailer, which comes out this weekend. [Cinemablend]

Taylor Lautner explains that his character joins a wolf pack, which includes the alpha dog (Sam Uley), the funny one (Jared), the hothead (Paul), and the best friend (Embry). Paul goes out with Jacob's girl, so Jacob tears him to shreds. And Lautner's favorite scene isn't in the books — it involves werewolf Quil Ataera and his attempts to be smooth with the ladies. Bella and Jacob are working on his bike, and Embry and Qui come in. Quil tries to be all 007, saying "I'm Ataera. Quil Ataera." Hilarity, no doubt, ensues. [MTV]

The Time Traveler's Wife:

Here's a new-ish TV spot for this romantic time travel drama, opening on Friday:

Supernatural:

I haven't seen this reported anywhere, so this may actually be a bit of a scoop. A casting agency has posted a casting call for episode five — and they're looking for actors to play Abraham Lincoln and Mohandas Gandhi. Apparently these are "heavily featured co-star" roles, but neither character will actually talk. I'm wondering if they have a voiceover speaking thru Lincoln and Gandhi, or if they just stand around? Actually, I'm really wondering if Sam and Dean will be forced to team up with Lincoln in an arena of death. Did Ben Edlund write episode five? [Casting Call]

Lost:

Elizabeth Mitchell says Juliet is in about 20 percent of season six. And there will be some resolution to the Juliet storyline that will make you sigh — so, possibly a bittersweet resolution? — and later on in the season, something that might make you smile. [E! Online]

Mitchell also told a press conference: "I can't say whether I'm dead or not, but as in all things in Lost, it will be fairly tricky." [Wired]

Fringe:

There's no Leonard Nimoy in the first episode of season two, sadly. But he's already filmed one episode for season two, and will be back after that as well. [The TV Addict]

In episode 2x06, "Earthling," we meet Timur Vasiliev, who's wanted in Russia for stealing his brother and bringing him to the U.S. Timur feared the government was experimenting on his brother, so he spirited him away to Russia, where he's been in hiding the past five years. [SpoilerTV]

A blurry cameraphone copy of a new season two trailer:

Dollhouse:

Episode 2x04 is called "Belonging," and in it, we'll meet Matthew Harding, a powerful businessman in his mid-thirties to mid-fifties. He has a strong presence, and is probably a recurring character. (Rossum Corp., maybe?) [SpoilerTV]

Stargate Universe:

The casting call we mentioned yesterday, for brilliant and beautiful paraplegic scientist Eleanor Perry? It's for episode 16, "Sabotage." [Casting Call]

And here are the first 19 episode titles of this new show: "AIR, PART 1," "AIR, PART 2," "AIR, PART 3," "DARKNESS," "LIGHT," "WATER," "EARTH," "TIME," "LIFE," "JUSTICE," "SPACE," "DIVIDED," "FAITH," "HUMAN," "LOST," "SABOTAGE," "PAIN," "SUBVERSION." Are you getting a theme here? I'm getting a theme. [Gateworld]

Heroes:

Here's the official description for season four/volume five, straight from the network:

Claire is finding that her biggest challenges are forgetting her old life and starting college. How does someone who has led such an extraordinary life assimilate back into everyday college life? Any semblance of normalcy is shortly overturned when Claire's roommate commits suicide and Claire discovers her new friend, Gretchen (guest star Madeline Zima), is hiding a secret herself.

Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) goes back to his old life in Japan, but discovers that he has a terminal illness. When Hiro can no longer keep his illness hidden, he sets out to fulfill his own personal bucket-list – righting the mistakes of his past. But will Hiro be able to correct the errors of his ways without severely altering the past and present?

Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) returns to work as an ordinary New York City EMT, but he uses his abilities to save lives. Peter has become obsessed, looking for redemption and shutting out the rest of the world he once knew. How can he forget the past and begin anew? Peter's life will quickly change when a hearing impaired woman, Emma (guest star Deanne Bray), enters his life. Emma has used her disability as an excuse to shut herself off from the world. But as a new and unique ability manifests, the shell she's built around herself will begin to crack apart – as will Peter's.

H.R.G. is adjusting to life as a single man. Charged with creating a new company, he is rapidly discovering that he needs more from his life. But how does a company man become ordinary? And, when Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) returns and offers H.R.G. compelling evidence of a new danger, it makes H.R.G. wonder if he should get back in the game.

Tracy Strauss, having risen from the dead, is consumed with seeking vengeance, but soon realizes that she has a real opportunity to reinvent herself. The question is: who should she be?

Nathan Petrelli, not realizing who he really is, returns to the Senate and begins to notice strange changes in himself. Most alarming, Nathan discovers that he has new abilities. These changes are not lost on Angela, who recognizes them for what they truly are – the emergence of Sylar.

Meanwhile, racked by the guilt of what he did to Sylar and Nathan, Matt Parkman returns to life as an ordinary family man. All he wants to do is to raise his son, love his wife and return to a fulfilling career as an LAPD detective. But what Matt doesn't know is that something unfamiliar is buried deep within his psyche – Matt can see and hear Sylar. And this specter will haunt him until Sylar is returned to his body.

The biggest challenge for our heroes is a strange and dangerous carnival comprised of a traveling band of outsiders with powerful abilities, led by a charismatic and powerful leader, Samuel (Robert Knepper). Alongside Samuel is his right hand man, Edgar (guest star Ray Park), a deadly Speedster with a talent for knives, and Lydia (guest star Dawn Olivieri) the Tattooed Lady.

Samuel leads his flock to intersect with the lives of all of our heroes. He will find them, and he will entice them to join him. And together, they will ask the same basic questions: Who are we? What does having powers mean to the world? How should we live our lives – shameful or proud? Should we hide or live out in the open? And if the world of powers is revealed, how will the world ever recover?

[Herosite]

Vampire Diaries:

The first three episodes of this vamp-tastic show will be called "Pilot," "Night Of The Comet" and "Friday Night Bites." [SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

The film will be in theaters August 14th.

Avatar:

MarketSaw's description of the Comic Con footage from this film includes a few new details. Like, the disabled Jake Sully muscles his way out of his wheelchair and into his control bed, grabbing each of his legs in turn by the pants leg and swinging it over. Then, his mind is transferred into his alien Avatar body, and everything is different. The technicians tell him "Welcome to your new body," and he tries touching his thumb with his fingers. He steps down onto the floor, and we focus on his giant blue feet. Jake gets startled by his own tail, which wraps around him, and causes havoc in the lab. Jake, unused to his new Avatar body, goes a bit berzerk, and the technicians try to sedate him, but Jake rips off his electrodes and leaves the lab, with the technicians giving chase. [MarketSaw]

Star Trek:

Nero won't fiddle while the Federation burns. Eric Bana confirms he won't be back for any sequels, and his character was just a one-off for the first movie. [MovieWeb]

Iron Man 2:

A couple more tidbits from Marvel's set reports. SHIELD agent Coulson (the guy who couldn't come up with an acronym in the first movie) will be back, which seems surprising since we have Nick Fury now. As for Fury, all that Kevin Feige would say is that his role will be at least comparable to his appearance in the first film — which is an odd statement, given that he was in the first film for 20 seconds, and we've already seen more footage than that featuring him.
[Marvel]

The Time Traveler's Wife:

Warner Bros. released a slew of promo pics from this time-crossed romance film, coming August 14. [Warner Bros.]

Gamer:

There's a new trailer for this deadly-video-games film, plus a new TV spot... and a new trailer in German, which I think is the same as the other one. Only more Teutonic.

Jennifer's Body:

Fangoria visited the set of this film, and watched a scene where Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried visit a bar, pretending to be over 21 when they're still in high school. Also, writer Diablo Cody says her screenplay references horror masters Herschell Gordon Lewis and Dario Argento. And the film is definitely a callback to 1970s-early 1980s horror films, rather than a straight-up gorefest. The movie's horror conceit is a metaphor for what's happening in the relationship between Fox's and Seyfried's characters. Fox's character has to feed on human flesh, or else she wastes away — which only has the effect of making her look like a lot of typical girls. [via SpoilerTV-Movies]

[Rec] 2:

A new trailer for this Spanish horror sequel includes some new footage. [Bloody Disgusting]

New Moon:

Apparently that thing about the ancient and powerful Volturi sitting around stark naked in one scene was just a joke on the part of actor Jamie Campbell-Bower, says director Chris Weitz. [Bella And Edward]

Lost:

A new Italian trailer for season six makes the show sound all suave and sophisticated. And reveals, ummm... that there'll be an island. And stuff.

Dollhouse:

Joss Whedon explains that in the new season, Echo (Eliza Dushku) will start out being aware that "As a person, she exists, and she has a mission. She has something she wants. This year, we're going to see the results of everything she went through... We're going to find her to be a great deal less passive and more directed in what she wants. And that's going to make her life a good deal harder." [New Jersey Star-Ledger]

Fringe:

Here are a set of new promo pics of our cast members. [Fringe Bloggers]

Smallville:

Here's a new teaser for season nine, plus the spoilery clip they showed at SDCC. [OSCK]

Vampire Diaries:

Here's a new trailer for the most hotly anticipated show with "diaries" in the title:

And there are some casting script pages from the third episode, where Jenna meets her old flame Logan, who's in his late 20s and they trade insults and barbs that prove they have tons of unresolved sexual/romantic tension. Like she tells him he has a receding hairline. Smouldering! [SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Gamer:

Here's a sneak peek from this deadly video game movie, showcasing the rapport (or lack thereof) between Kable and his young "player":

G.I. Joe:

New TV spots cover the basics. Legs, boobs, nanomites, disaster, explosions, super-power-armor, grim faces — it is on.

Green Hornet:

The Green Hornet's car will be the original 1966 model, but with huge massive weapons that weren't around in 1966, like Gatling guns and stuff. And Seth Rogen talks how campy the film will be. [Cinematical]

Jennifer's Body:

Here's another new image of the sexy-but-deadly-but-sexy Megan Fox. [Cinemablend]

The Time Traveler's Wife:

Here are a few new TV spots that show off this movie's tormented love story:

Asteroids:

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura says he was attracted to this film because "it tells you that there's going to be this big thing in space." And he explains more about the film's storyline:

We've crafted a really strong, deep mythology for the thing. Without divulging too much about it, it's two lead characters – two brothers – who have to go through a seminal experience to figure out their relationship, against this huge backdrop.

[Sci Fi Scoop]

2012:

Some new stills, plus a new poster. [Sci Fi Scoop]

G-Force:

They're guinea pigs. And they fight evil. Behold:

Harry Potter:

And finally, a Harry TV spot:

The Prisoner:

Wired had a one-on-one interview with Sir Ian McKellen, who plays Number Two — although, really, he's actually Number One. And this version of Number Two has a wife and son, and his family is crucial to the reason for the Village's existence. McKellen described his character:

Number Two is very ironic. At times, he's very loving and bewlidered, because he's confused. He's not convinced that he's doing the right thing, because it causes him a lot of pain. And that's the sign of a mature script. Jim was saying in an interview that it is easy to see Number Six is right and that Number Two is a dreadful man. But then, in the next scene, one can see it from a different point of view.

[Wired]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Star Trek 2:

Is this movie Trek 2 or Trek 12? You decide! In any case, co-writer Roberto Orci hints that some more changes to the timeline could happen in the sequel, although nobody's scribbled so much as a napkin so far:

I think the major lesson we learned is that fans were willing to accept differences and surprises, provided that they were somehow echoes or inspired by canon. We still have to be true to Star Trek the next time around, but we've also been blessed with being able to be unpredictable. And that doesn't mean we can just be shocking for no good reason and just throw everything away. ... It still has to echo everything that Star Trek has been.

[Sci Fi Wire]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

Now it's the trade journals' turn to review this movie. Variety says the special effects are improved and the robots are more expressive, but nothing else has changed. When Sam goes to college, he attends a frat party that appears to take place in a strip club, and then he's "treated to a sort of lap dance by a Decepticon posing as a nymphomaniacal freshman." (But they didn't get the "Desexycon" memo.) And there's a shot of John Turturro in a G-string. Because you demanded it, whoever you are. At one point, Optimus muses, "If God made us in his image, then who made Him?" The big forest battle leaves Optimus Prime ready for the scrap heap. The actors have to shout to be heard over the noises and the thunderous music.

The Hollywood Reporter says the movie is an Indiana Jones-style quest for a 1,000-year-old "matrix" that will bring life back to the stricken Optimus Prime. And the movie is basically 147 minutes of colored metal flying around and people shouting loudly and quickly, so you can't understand what they're saying... but you don't really need to know what anyone's saying anyway.

Empire Online says there's a notable moment during the big robot-smackdown in Egypt, when Devastator (made out of several construction vehicles) is cilmbing a pyramid. The camera tilts so we can see Devastator's underside, and two wrecking balls dangle in our faces. Yes, Constructicon tea-bagging is here. Also, dogs hump each other, robots hump human legs, and the camera is glued to Megan Fox's torso. There are 42 robots, including one that can become a jaguar, one that can become a Dyson vacuum cleaner, and one that can become ball bearings to get inside secure facilities. You won't remember which robot is which, and there are four gremlin-esque bots that seem interchangeable. The Fallen can toss tanks around using his jagged staff. (Oh, and the Fallen is voiced by Tony Todd, not Leonard Nimoy as hinted a while back.) In the movie's opening Shanghai sequence, Optimus jumps on the face of a giant unicycle and tells it to "pull over." [via TLAMB]

We3

The comic-book adaptation I'm most excited about is still on track. Producer Don Murphy says he has a director for this film, John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda) — and the film will be live-action, with a combination of CG, puppetry and real live animals. The cyborg animals' voices will be realized as a sort of robotic monotone, reflecting the fact that the animals have electrodes in their larynxes. Murphy's still looking for a studio for this picture, though. [Sci Fi Wire]

Ghostbusters 3:

During an interview about the new video game, Dan Aykroyd teases what you'll see in the third movie:

Well, for sure we need new recruits. We need a whole new team of Ghostbusters, because the generation of my Ghostbusters are all getting hip and knee replacements. Also, we don't have the strength to handle the heavy equipment to catch the ghosts. We need fresh and new blood to fill up the uniforms. That's the first element we need. And if we can train them with the ethics we had and a similar sense of humor, I think we can have good characters and a good story there. I think as far as bringing back the old cast it will be more like in the new STAR TREK — with cameo styles. But for now, I call this video game our third sequel.

[iF Magazine]

The Time Traveler's Wife:

This time-traveling romance put up a new website, with the following synopsis:

Clare (McAdams) has been in love with Henry (Bana) her entire life. She believes they are destined to be together, even though she never knows when they will be separated: Henry is a time traveler, cursed with a rare genetic anomaly that causes him to live his life on a shifting timeline, skipping back and forth through his lifespan with no control. Despite the fact that Henry's travels force them apart with no warning, Clare desperately tries to build a life with her one true love.

[Time Traveler's Wife via Sci Fi Wire]

Shorts:

Here's the new poster for this Robert Rodriguez joint about a kid who finds a rainbow stone with magical properties. [IGN]

The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Some new set pics show Monica Belucci and Nic Cage... I have a bad feeling about this. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Fringe:

A casting call for the series opener includes three new characters. There's a nurse in her early thirties, who takes care of a patient after an accident. She has olive skin and dark hair, but "could be a dark-skinned caucasian." She seems trustworthy, chatting with a patient in the hospital room, but it's clear there's something weird about her. And the actor should be able to portray an assassin.

Also, there's Rebecca, a "real-looking," not glamorous girl in her late teens, early twenties, around 1978. She gets "stoned beyond belief" on some concoction that Walter was working on back then, and talks in a "sexy/funny/scary stupor." And finally, there's Lloyd Parr, a "hyper-competent" guy in his thirties to early fifties. They're seeking a "strong character actor" who can play someone out of John Frankenheimer movie. [SpoilerTV]

Heroes:

Here are the first set pics from season four. Claire is on campus, with her roommate Gretchen (the black-haired woman behind her) and they're going to some kind of anti-war rally. (I love how this show keeps up with what the kids are doing nowadays.) And she pauses to chat with some cheerleaders. More pics at the link. [The ODI]

Lost:

I don't think Michael Emerson has seen any scripts for season six yet, but he says he's got a vague sense that Ben still has an important role to play in season six, and he "hopes" Ben survives until almost the last episode. And he says that it's entirely possible Ben will escape any retribution for his crimes. If the island itself gets destroyed, Ben will still find a way out, says Emerson:

Ben is a great man for the secret exit. Ben always has an escape, I think. It may be a piece of wood, floating on the ocean. Or it may be a rope, or a secret door. Or, you know, an Ecuadorian passport and a plastic bag, something like that. He's probably going to survive

[E! Online]

Flash Forward:

A couple new promos for this ABC series based on Robert J. Sawyer's book. [FlashForwardSeries.com]

Chuck:

Not sure if this is a spoiler or just speculation, but TV Guide's Matt Roush believes the new shorter season of this show will feature fewer annoying subplots at the Buy More. [TV Guide via Chuck TV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Green Lantern:

Thank goodness, that flawed draft of this superhero movie's script we reviewed a while back wasn't the final version. Screenwriter Marc Guggenheim says he just turned in another draft. And he calls it a "loving, respectful approach" that draws from comics throughout the character's decades in comics. [Sci Fi Wire]

Inception:

A couple of minor details about Chris Nolan's widely anticipated next movie. Joseph Gordon-Levitt confims he has a fairly major role in the film, and says Nolan has a particular way he wants the project to be unveiled to the public — suggesting there's some kind of mystery or secret inside the film. Also, the Calgary Sun quotes sources as saying a lot of filming will happen around Fortress Mountain, with an elaborate set being built. This film's only description says it takes place within "the architecture of the mind" — could that literally be a type of architecture? [MTV and Calgary Sun]

The Time Traveler's Wife:

We showed you a smaller version of this movie's poster the other day. Now here's the giant version. [New Line Cinema]

G.I. Joe:

Someone who claims to have seen a test screening of this powersuit epic has a fairly damning review. There are tons of silly one liners and far fetched tech, but the film also tries to ground itself in today's sociopolitical reality. G.I. Joe is actually a branch of NATO that recruits members from all over the world. The story revolves around a suitcase full of warheads full of self-replicating, super-destructive nanomachines, which keeps changing places between COBRA and the Joes, over and over again. Also, the film starts with a 1700s era flashback explaining villain James McCullen Destro XXIV. Oh, and those famous power suits don't turn up that much in the movie. [Slashfilm]

John Carter Of Mars:

Add another star to this Martian epic. Thomas Haden Church told an interviewer he'll play a role that's "very dramatic," which people are guessing refers to Tars Tarkas, an alien warrior who butts heads with John Carter but eventually becomes his sidekick. [Reel Talk via The Cinema Post]

Wanted 2:

Timur Bekmambetov told Russian media that he plans to start shooting this sequel late this fall or in the winter, and shooting will take place in America, India and Russia. Also, he claimed he's found a way to bring back Fox, Angelina Jolie's character. Also coming back: the Executioner, played by Kostya Khabenskiy. [Coming Soon]

Lost:

There's now mutual interest between Dominic Monaghan and the producers for having Charlie reappear in this show's final season, sources say. [E! Online]

Battlestar Galactica:

Ronald D. Moore says "The Plan," the TV movie airing this fall, has lots of surprises, even though we know how the story ends now. There are lots of breadcrumbs and tidbits that give us a new slant on the events we already know. And apparently the focus of the movie is in-fighting among the Cylons, after their scheme to wipe out humanity leaves resistance fighters and a fleet of refugees. [Wired]

Supernatural:

Sources say Anna will reappear next season. Yay! [E! Online]

True Blood:

In next week's episode, Jessica is having trouble adjusting to her new vampy status, and she misses her family, so she asks Sookie to drive her to her parents' house so she can take a look. But she ends up nearly killing her dad before Bill steps in, and blames Sookie for stirring up a mess of trouble. Also, more is revealed about Tara's boyfriend Eggs, who spent time in prison for drugs, armed robbery, and assault. Lafayette asks Eric to turn him into a vampire. And Sam turns into a dog again. [E! Online]

Also, in season two we'll go deeper into Eric's character and realize that he actually has a sensitive, loyal side. He doesn't like that many people, but if he likes you, he'll be a great friend. [Sci Fi Wire]

Eureka:

Here are the titles of the first four episodes of the new half-season: "Welcome Back Carter," "Your Face Or Mine," "Insane In The P-Brane," and "It's Not Easy Being Green." [SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

The Time Traveler's Wife opens August 14. And hopefully we'll get a bigger version of that poster soon. For now, you can watch the trailer in high definition over at Yahoo. [via RopeOfSilicon]

Let's talk about your character, Nero. He has such a tragic back story. Did you ever feel like a tragic hero?

That's a good question. Tragic hero? I guess to a degree. I never really saw him as a villain, even though he sort of performs that function for the drama of the story. To me, yeah, he was Nero, leader of the Romulans who has been wronged and is seeking revenge, and that's kind of how I see him so I think. Yeah, I like your description.

The writers wrote a whole comic prequel about your character, did you read it?

No, no I didn't, actually. I was so engrossed in the script and had a bunch of ideas for the character, and I was very careful. I learned about some of that stuff, but I didn't want to cloud what I had going on in my own head, but I'm looking forward to reading it now.

So how did you come up with your ideas for the character? Where did you go?

Essentially, I think if a script's well-written, it sparks your imagination, and you almost like start directing the film in your head, with ideas. And for me it was a lot of his back story and the fact that he's been in prison for so long, and was so patient in enacting his revenge, which makes it a lot about the character. So it was essentially, you know, I guess... you join the dots and try to come up with something that's interesting and entertaining. You know, it's a character we haven't seen before.

I'm curious about your movements in character. You're very aggressive and strong, did you come up with any of those reactions and jumps yourself or was it all planned out?

Some of them were a bit spur of the moment. It was a pretty intense character. I passed out, I think, once during one of the takes, I got so carried away. Lost about twenty seconds, down on the floor, and got up, and the camera was still rolling and it was like, "I guess I just continue now." Um yeah. It was pretty crazy.

I can't believe you passed out on set! How did you stay that cranked up on set?

You get used to it. The reality of it is you just ebb and flow. There are times during the day when you're really really peaking, and then you just come down the other side. It's like having an espresso, you know - you just gotta allow for that and just try and jazz yourself up when that camera's rolling, but it is exhausting.

Time traveling should be very familiar to you now. You time-travel in Star Trek and you time travel in The Time Traveler's Wife. How is that time-traveling different from what we see in Star Trek?

Well it was very, very different. The Time Traveler's Wife,... it's very, very emotional context, all the time. I mean, they're going back to visit your wife as she's growing up. It's such a beautiful story, and yeah, yeah, it's a lot less about revenge and destruction.

Does the travel have any special FX in Time Traveler that are similar to Star Trek with the back holes?

No. I wouldn't really describe it as science fiction-y at all, it's a love story with some time-traveling elements.

And are we gonna see more science fiction from you after this?

I don't know. I'm sort of not such a huge science fiction guy. It just sort of happened that way. I got involved in this, you know essentially, because I thought the script was incredible and [I'm] just a huge fan of J.J., and was dying to work with him. And so it was out of a longing to get into science fiction, but yeah, I'm interested in it. It's fascinating.

See Nero in action this Thursday night when Star Trek is released in theaters.

The New York Times weighs in on this recession-defying advance, noting that Time Traveler sold 113,000 copies in hardcover and another 1.3 million copies in paperback, after it was selected by the Today Show book club. Unlike Charles Frazier, who received an $8 million advance for his disappointing follow-up to Cold Mountain, Niffenegger has actually finished her new novel, which is

a supernatural story about twins who inherit an apartment near a London cemetery and become embroiled in the lives of the building's other residents and the ghost of their aunt, who left them the flat.

The new novel, according to Scribner's Nan Graham, is "a spectacular second novel."

Meanwhile, author Robert J. Sawyer puts it more succinctly:

You know what? She deserves it. Her The Time Traveler's Wife is one of the best science-fiction novels I've ever read.

The bad news, though, is that the long-awaited movie of TTTW isn't going to be out until February 2010.

The movie, based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald story, is about an orphaned man/boy who ages backwards. Fincher gives us a traveling slideshow of his Pitted marvels: Button as a brittle old man (shout-out to the makeup artist!); Button weirding-out a woman of ill repute; Button fighting on the frontlines; Button, topless, checking himself out in the mirror; and of course Button looking all strapping as he courts the graceful Blanchett. (Pitt doesn’t exude much here, but then if you saw his exaggerated performance in Burn After Reading, consider this sweet mercy.) It ends gently with a melancholic feeling of certain doom, a nuance hereto unknown to Fincher—which we welcome since he hasn't gone all Notebook on us.

In case you didn’t realize it, Button also has a leg-up in its mini-competition with long-delayed The Time Traveler’s Wife movie about a dude (Eric Bana) who jumps around randomly in time, courting his wife (Rachel McAdams) at different ages. Of course, Pitt comes out a winner either way, since he stars in Button and his Plan B Entertainment is producing the latter. Meanwhile it's looking more and more like we won't be needing a movie based on the lovely, lady-friendly, aging-backwards best-seller The Confessions of Max Tivoli. Or at least anytime soon.

I'm sorry but if my husband was a time traveling Eric Bana, I think I would be making less with the pouty eyes and more with bedroom eyes. Take me to the 70s and let make love with roller skates on.

These photos were taken on reshoots for the movie that is supposed to come out this December. There is a lot of buzz around this movie seeing as Audrey Niffenegger's novel did quite well. The story focuses around a married couple, and whenever Henry DeTable gets stressed out, he travels ends up traveling in time. This means he's gone for lengthy periods of time, leaving his poor wife alone.

Photos By INF