News
June 2009 | | June 11, 2009 ![[LINK]](linkoff.gif) Sasha Obama and the Best 8th Birthday EVER
(First Family, President Barack Obama, younger daughter Sasha Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Maternal Grandmother Marian Robinson, and elder daughter Malia Obama, pictured at the White House Easter Egg Hunt this past April.)
Earlier reports have been confirmed that while in London, Michelle Obama, along with daughters, 10 year-old Malia, and Sasha who just turned 8, paid a visit to the set of the Harry Potter films to celebrate Sasha's birthday.
The First Lady and the Obama daughters met the stars of the Harry Potter films in Leavesden yesterday and enjoyed a party in Hogwarts Grand Hall, as reported by the Watford Observer, a local British newspaper.
Reportedly the First Family arrived on site at about 1pm and were taken on a tour of the set before celebrating with author J K Rowling and a large group of youngsters. The visit ended by about 4:15 PM. The motorcade was seen leaving the area at about that time.
Michelle Obama and J.K. Rowling had recently also met at the Spouses' Dinner at the G20 summit in London, earlier this year.
| | June 10, 2009 SDCC's newest Star Wars exclusive: Hallmark Christmas Ornaments
Hallmark has announced their first-ever Christmas ornament to be a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive. The two-pack will consist of a pair of clones, a Shock Trooper and a Shadow Trooper in identical running poses. It will be a very limited run of only 700 pieces, to be sold at the Hallmark booth within the Lucasfilm Pavilion at SDCC across the four days of the con, as well as on the Preview night on Wednesday night, which is open only to those with 4-day badges. The figures are sculpted by Keepsake Artists Kristina Kline-Gaughran and Anita Marra Rogers. The Hallmark Booth will also feature all the 2009 Star Wars and Indiana Jones ornaments, exclusive Star Trek ornaments, and prototypes for the 2010 ornaments.
This move is sure to up the ante for Star Wars collectors (whether they will be attending San Diego Comic Con or not). With such a limited run as 700, this item is sure to sell out fast and could become a potential pain in the neck for anyone attending the con to secure. Likewise, that could make it a tough item to slapfight for on ebay for both Star Wars collectors and Hallmark ornament collectors who won't be at the show.
As if that wasn't daunting enough, Hallmark is continuing its practice of creating limited edition ornaments to be sold in low numbers only during their Keepsake Ornament Premiere Weekend, taking place July 11 and 12. This is the weekend where (while most people are laid out on a beach somewhere) Hallmark's Christmas ornaments become available at retail in Hallmark Gold Crown stores. This year's Star Wars offering is a figural Greedo. What makes these Premiere weekend items particularly elusive is that once Premiere weekend is over, they never appear again. That is to say, not only do they cease to be available at retail, but they also are not described in the Hallmark Wishbook (which has always traditionally been the complete guide to all the ornaments available in years past) and they do not appear anywhere on Hallmark's web site. If one did not know about them and turned their attention to Christmas ornament purchasing in the fall, they'd never even know they'd ever existed.
Collectors have really needed to keep their ear to the ground with Hallmark these past few years. And if this new SDCC exclusive does well, it may get even more difficult in the future to stay on top of collecting these popular items.
| | June 9, 2009 Starbuck and Jack Bauer Take Manhattan
Fox confirmed last week that the eighth season of "24" would take place in New York City, "amidst the shadows of the Statue of Liberty and the United Nations", in their words. But today, Fox outdid itself by a few thousand parsecs with confirmation that Katee Sackhoff, a.k.a. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace of the Sci-fi (that's right, not Syfy) network's Battlestar Galactica will be joining the cast. She'll play Dana Walsh, an analyst at the New York branch of CTU (Counter Terrorism Unit). Oh yeah, CTU is back too. It's been reopened under the command of another new cast member, Mykelti Williamson, who will play Brian Hastings, CTU's MBA degree toting new boss.
In further casting news, Freddie Prinze Jr. will play Cole, a CTU agent who will run field operations and providing a love interest to Sackhoff's character. Jennifer Westfeldt (who played the title character in the indy film, "Kissing Jessica Stein") will play journalist Meredith Reed. And Omar Hassan ("Slumdog Millionaire") will play a "Middle Eastern leader who comes to the U.S. on a peace-making mission.". He'll be the subject of an assassination plot that will be the central storyline of Day 8. President Taylor (Cherry Jones) will return, but her husband and daughter will not. Taylor will be joined by her Chief of Staff played by Chris Diamantopoulos (of "The Starter Wife". FBI agent Renee Walker (Annie Wersching) will also be back.
Season 8 of "24" premieres Jan. 17, 2010 on Fox.
| | June 8, 2009 Up Remains Tops at the B.O. as Land of the Lost Suffers from Tremendous Hangover
Disney and Pixar's animated feature, "Up" accomplished what is becoming more and more impossible each summer by staying number one at the box office for a second week. Dropping only 35% on its second weekend, the lowest figure for any summer movie this year, it just narrowly beat "The Hangover"'s $43.3 million to take the number one spot this weekend with $44.2 million. Its total domestic gross in 10 days is $137.3 million.
"Up"'s second number one may be mostly attributable to the surprisingly huge flop of Universal Pictures' big-budget "Land Of The Lost", which opened with an anemic $19.5 million. In 2008, "Speed Racer," the biggest flop of that summer, opened to a similar $18.5 million and went on to earn only $44 million in the U.S. and Canada. "Land of the Lost" seems to be following in those shallow footsteps.
"The Hangover"'s big opening was a please surprise for Warner Brothers. The R-rated comedy, was not a contender in the traditional sense for a mainstream summer movie, as it does not feature any name stars or draw on any established franchise. The film has been expected to open with only about half what it actually earned in its opening weekend.
| | June 5, 2009 Sideshow Collectibles' Final SDCC Exclusive Pre-Orders & 1:6 RotS Shocktrooper
  
Sideshow Collectibles final two SDCC Priority Pre-Orders will go live at 10AM PDT today at www.sideshowcollectibles.com for newsletter subscribers. The Non-Attendee versions of the Mort Vinyl Figure - Black and White Edition and Runaway Brain Mickey Mouse Oversize VCD. There will only be 250 TOTAL of the Mort collectible and a very limited quantity of the Disney collectible available, so they should go fast.
Sideshow has also revealed their next 1:6 scale Star Wars figure. The 12-inch Imperial Shock Trooper Figure is sure to shock and awe 'Star Wars' fans! Click through for a closer look and to find out more about the pre-order for this figure. | | June 4, 2009 SUCKADELIC 'Gets' Land Of The Lost, (Despite Will Ferrell)
With the potentially dreadful new "Land of the Lost" movie opening this weekend, the renowned Star Wars urban superartist and general pop-culture beacon, SUCKADELIC swoops in with his bootleg take on the Sleestaks that might have been and his generally spot-on rendering of the exact place that this beloved little slice of the late 20th century actually holds in our hearts. And he's mighty pissed at Will Ferrell on behalf of us all. Legendary for his Star Wars breakbeats of the 1990's, SUCKADELIC along with his always-brilliant current musical partnership "Band Of The Lost" and their video can be found by clicking through.
And be sure to check out his new Sleestak figures as they "Evolve" in a series of three, not unlike certain other action figures produced by some other giant corporation, based on some giant space opera. | | June 3, 2009 New Terminator: Salvation TV Spot Features Arnold
With "Terminator: Salvation" going into its third week in release, Warner Brothers is pulling the CGI cat out of the bag in a new TV spot for the film, hoping to slow the inevitable box office dropoff as the summer movie season rolls forward, crushing all comers after their initial week. Check out CGI Arnold in the new spot by clicking through. While this is about as much of him as is in the film itself, CGI Arnold doesn't disappoint and is arguably worth the price of admission to the film for any fan of the franchise on its own. | | June 2, 2009 Star Wars The Old Repulic MMORPG Cinematic Trailer Now Online
"Deceived" is the title of the new cinematic trailer for the upcoming Star Wars MMORPG, "The Old Republic". Now viewable online, the trailer premiered yesterday at the EA booth at E3, currently underway in Los Angeles. Click through for a look at the trailer, in which the Jedi certainly have their hands full. | | June 1, 2009 LEGO® Harry Potter Video Game Officially Announced
With E3 Expo 2009 off to a running start in Los Angeles, Warner Bros and TT Games today announced LEGO® Harry Potter: Years 1-4, ending over four years of anticipation and rumors that began with the annoucement of the first LEGO® Star Wars video game in 2005. Click through for all the details from the press release and to view the game trailer.
| | |
|
