MONDAY, JULY 7, 2003
REBECCA ROMIJN-STAMOS IN THE PUNISHER
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos has officially joined the cast of The Punisher, Artisan Entertainment and Marvel Studios announced on Monday afternoon.
Romijn-Stamos will play the role of Joan, described as "the alluring neighbor of Frank Castle with a troubled past who comes into his life after his family is killed."
Romijn-Stamos played Mystique in both X-Men and X2. She recently completed shooting Godsend opposite Robert DeNiro and Greg Kinnear for Lion's Gate. Her other credits include Femme Fatale and Rollerball.
"Rebecca is a dynamic addition to the cast of The Punisher," said Marvel's Avi Arad, who is producing. "She is no stranger to the Marvel Universe on screen and will have a chance to showcase her talents in a much different role. We have a great story to tell and a great cast is coming together to match it."
"Rebecca embodies all of the qualities of this character and we are very excited to have her as part of The Punisher cast," said Artisan's Richard Saperstein.
Romijn-Stamos joins Thomas Jane (Frank Castle) and John Travolta (Howard Saint) in the cast. According to recent reports by The Hollywood Reporter, Laura Harring will play Howard Saint's wife, Ivia, and Ben Foster will play Dave, another neighbor of Frank's.
The Punisher is being written and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh. Production will beging this month for a summer 2004 release.
MUTANT X CAST CHANGES?
The cast of Mutant X will change for its third season, The Continuum has learned.
According to a posting on her website by Lauren Lee Smith, who played Emma, she will not be a cast member for Season 3.
"I will not be returning to Mutant X for Season 3," Smith wrote. "Other changes have been made on the show that you will find out eventually...don't ask! Believe me, this came as a shock to me as well! I truly enjoyed the two seasons I got to play Emma, and had such a great time, and you guys made it all worthwhile...so thank you. I'm currently working on a new series which I'm really excited about, but I'm not gonna give too many details just yet."
Sources told The Continuum that Karen Cliche will join the cast as a character called Lexa. Cliche starred in Adventure, Inc. this past season. The show was produced by Tribune Entertainment, which also produces Mutant X.
Cliche played Mackenzie Previn (pictured here) in Adventure, Inc.
As of Monday afternoon, representatives of the show had not returned The Continuum's requests for confirmation of cast changes. According to a public relations representative for Tribune, announcements about the third season of Mutant X will be made in the next two weeks.
X-MEN: EVOLUTION UPDATE
Wolverine is the newest character featured in Hard Hero's line of X-Men: Evolution maquettes.
The character will be featured in his appearance from the first two seasons of the show.
Wolverine will be limited to 2,500 pieces with 200 artist proofs. It will ship in either September or October with a suggested price of $100.
In other X-Men: Evolution news, Warner Home Video will release DVD versions of the previously released home videos from the first season on Sept. 23. They include UnXpected Changes, X Marks the Spot, Xplosive Days and Xposing the Truth.
SPIDER-MAN MOVIE UPDATE
The first Spider-Man movie is moving from HBO to Cinemax in August with multiple showings.
Here's a rundown:
On Cinemax on Saturday, Aug 16 at 10 p.m.; Sunday, Aug. 17 at 5 a.m.; Monday, Aug. 18 at 8 p.m.; Tuesday, Aug. 19 at 4:35 a.m.; Wednesday, Aug. 20 at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Thursday, Aug. 28 at 10:15 p.m.; Sunday, Aug. 31 at 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.
On More Max on Sunday, Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. and Friday, Aug. 22 at 9 p.m.
On Action Max on Thursday, Aug. 21 at 7 a.m.; Sunday, Aug. 24 at 10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m.; and Tuesday, Aug. 26 at 12:30 p.m. and 11:10 p.m.
On @Max on Tuesday, Aug. 19 at 10:15 a.m.; Wednesday, Aug. 20 at 12:35 a.m.; Thursday, Aug. 21 at 7:15 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Monday, Aug. 25 at 9:15 a.m. and 11 p.m.; Wednesday, Aug. 27 at 12:30 p.m.; Friday, Aug. 29 at 4:45 p.m.
In other Spider-Man news, franchise star Tobey Maguire will be a guest on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Wednesday, July 16. Maguire will be promoting his new movie Seabiscuit.
STATIC SHOCK RENEWAL
Kids' WB! and Warner Bros. Animation announced on Monday the fourth season pick-up of Static Shock with 13 more episodes for the 2003-2004 season, when the series will go to strip, airing six days a week, Monday-Saturday.
This announcement was made by John Hardman, senior vice president, Kids' WB! Programming, and Sander Schwartz, president, Warner Bros. Animation.
"We are proud of returning favorite Static Shock, which has warranted this fourth season pick-up order," Hardman said. "This commitment is testament to our support and appreciation of the wonderful creative team behind the series, as well as confirmation of Kids' WB!'s loyalty to giving kids more high-quality, original programming six days a week, all-year round."
"Static Shock is a groundbreaking series that stars animation's first African-American teenage superhero," Schwartz said. "Fans have really embraced this fresh, diverse and entertaining series and we will continue to entertain viewers with its solid storytelling and cutting-edge animation."
Static Shock will begin its fourth season with 13 original episodes on Kids' WB! this winter, bringing its total number of episodes to 52 as the series will join the network's weekday line-up, airing Monday-Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings next season.
For the 2002-2003 season, Static Shock ranked as the #2 overall program in Boys 6-11 (7.5/27), tying with Pokémon: Master Quest (7.5/26), in Tweens 9-14 (4.8/21) and Male Tweens 9-14 (7.5/30), and took the #7 spot in Boys 2-11 (5.6/20). Among the broadcast competition, the series ranked #4 in Kids 2-11 (3.9/15), tying with Jackie Chan Adventures (3.9/16), ˇMucha Lucha! (3.9/15) and The Mummy: Secrets of the Medjai (3.9/14), and #5 in Kids 6-11 (4.8/18), tying with ˇMucha Lucha! (4.8/19).
BRIEFLY
The Zen creative team will be flanked by a 7-foot likeness of the character at the Zen exhibition booth in San Diego.
"We just couldn't wait," said co-founder Shannon Denton, "We're very excited about our first two anthologies, so we wanted to share these books with everyone as soon as possible! The contributors are all professional animators, designers and artists, but many of them are first-time comic creators so this is going to be fun for everyone."
Creators Danny Miki, Andy Kuhn, Aaron Sowd, Matt Haley, S.D. Lara, Vinton Heuck and Caroline Hu -- who have contributed comics to the website and books - will be sitting at the Komikwerks booth signing books for fans throughout the convention.
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