Tuesday, June 11, 2002

KELLY HU TALKS X-MEN SEQUEL

Kelly Hu talked about her upcoming role in the X-Men sequel on Monday, calling her character Lady Deathstrike.

"I am playing a character called Anne Reynolds, who is also known as Lady Deathstrike," Hu said during an appearance on E! News Daily.

Hu, who starred in The Scorpion King, was given a copy of the God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel in which her character appears. She was asked if she will be a villain.

"I think so. I don't know. I guess so," Hu said. "They don't even tell us a whole lot about what's going on in the film."

Hu was asked if she could reveal any information about the film.

"I would if I knew, but nobody tells me anything," she said. "I've had like peeks of little parts (of the script) with my character, but they don't really tell you a whole lot. It's all under wraps. It's very secretive."

Hu said she enjoyed the first X-Men film.

"I absolutely loved it," she said. "I thought it was so well done. It was beautiful; it was a visual feast. It was so excellent to watch."

In other X-Men sequel news:

* Producer Ralph Winter told The Continuum that a teaser is already in the works.

"We are looking at teaser ideas and getting very close," Winter told The Continuum.

Fox has yet to confirm reports that trailers for either Daredevil or X2 will air before the June 21-release The Minority Report.

* Katie Stuart, 17, will be playing Kitty Pryde. Stuart was a regular in The Crow: Stairway to Heaven television series, playing Sarah, right.

SPIDER-MAN SEQUEL UPDATE

David Koepp, who wrote the Spider-Man movie, is returning to work on the sequel.

According to a report by Variety, Koepp has emerged as the new writer based on an idea he just came up with.

Smallville executive producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar were originally announced as the writers for Spider-Man 2, which is targeted to begin production in January.

According to the Variety report, Gough and Millar will work on the script after Koepp drafts his idea.

"David had an idea and agreed to take some time off from the other project to write the first draft," Sony's Amy Pascal told Variety. "Gough and Millar will then take his first draft and start working from there."

Spider-Man 2 is set for a May 4, 2004 release.

BATTLE OF THE PLANETS #1 BREAKS 150,000

Top Cow announced on Monday that numbers for Battle of the Planets #1, which reaches stores the second week of July, have exceeded 150,000.

The Battle of the Planets revamp is by Alex Ross, Munier Sharrieff, Wilson Tortosa and Udon Studios.

"This was about twice what I had projected for initial sales of the book, so I announced the sales over the loudspeaker of our office when they came in and everyone cheered," Top Cow president Matt Hawkins said. "In this case, it was nice to be wrong."

"We're all really excited about the initial orders for Battle of the Planets," said Top Cow editor-in-chief David Wohl. "It's nice to see that the fans and retailers have as much faith in this as Alex, Munier, Wilson, Udon, and all of us at Top Cow have for this book! It's truly been a pleasure to work on and I hope it'll be just as much fun to read!"

DARK HORSE COMICS FOR SEPTEMBER

Dark Horse Comics has released its solicitation information for September.

For a complete rundown, CLICK HERE.

BRIEFLY