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[Time UK]

Time UK up for sale.

Meredith is buying Time.

But Meredith may not have bought Time UK.

The current negotiations are believed to be for the entire portfolio, minus several divestitures that are already in the works (Sunset, Golf, Time Inc. U.K.), which has led to speculation that Meredith might decide to unload the newsweeklies after acquiring them. (Perhaps to the Kochs as a play thing?, some of my sources wondered.) Meredith would presumably be more keen on keeping Time Inc.'s resident cash cow, People, and perhaps Entertainment Weekly.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/time-inc-deal-meredith-koch-brothers

Apologies for hijacking this thread, but do we know which PKD story Pat 'Damnation Alley' Mills alleges* was plagiarised by a 2000AD drold, only to be rumbled by the readers?


*in 'Be Pure, Be Vigilant, Behave!'.

I thought it was One Man's Meat (Beyond Lies the Wub)?

I would love to see Red Skull again.

They don't seem to trust another Hulk standalone movie

They're not allowed to make one, due to a right's dispute with (iirc) Universal. Hulk was the breakout character of Avengers 1 - Marvel would definitely have made a second standalone Hulk film by now if they were able to.

As I understand it Marvel can produce a Hulk film however they want to but they must offer the distribution to Universal. It's a much less complex situation than the deal they have with Sony and Spider-Man so I don't see how it's that much of a problem since they had distribution deals with both Paramount and Universal before Disney took over. I believe the more pertinent reason we aren't seeing a Hulk solo film is because the previous 2 films underperformed at the box-office and the Hulk is doing well enough as a supporting character/co-lead.

Strange as a Rotten Tomato delay the reviews - is that bad omen?

As I understand it, Rotten Tomatoes has been banned from posting reviews until a week after release.

I'm sure it's merely a coincidence that Warner owns RT...

WB own a minority stake in the merged entities of Flixter/RottenTomatoes/Fandango but it's Comcast/Fandango own Rotten Tomatoes.

RT reviews are up tomorrow but the percentage score has all ready leaked.

https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/11/14/16648850/justice-league-rotten-tomatoes-score

But back then most people didnt even know there are Star Wars comics around.Now your bombarded by movie promotions 24/7.

Most people still don't know there are Star Wars comics or cartoons so one film a year is easily digestible for the great unwashed. We're in a era where people don't mind chaining box-sets and entire seasons in a weekend so 2 hours of Star Wars every year seems conservative.

[spoiler]I assume Luke Skywalker dies in The Last Jedi [/spoiler]

I doubt it. Doesn't make much sense to repeat that kind of story point after doing it with Solo in TFA. With the added death of Fisher/Leia, it would be even worse. I suspect the original plan was for both to die in Episode IX and whatever they originally planned for Leia's role in IX will be taken up by Luke.

what would actually make it Star Wars?

The clue's in the title.

Doesn't seem that radical an idea. Non-Skywalker stories have been part of the expanded universe for decades. Can't rely on the same storylines for the rest of time.

Yep. Maybe his stunt-casting would've worked, for once. All down to the context.

I agree Bowie's being terminally ill would have been plaintive and therefore effective but is that why he was even considered for the role?

They didn't even know he was sick when he refused the offer. It was only when he died they found out the reason for his refusal. Same with Twin Peaks.

Disney...is planning a live-action "Star Wars" TV series to air on its entertainment streaming service that is expected to launch by the end of 2019.

http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/star-wars-tv-series-disney-streaming-service-1202611408/

Lucasfilm is excited to announce that Johnson will create a brand-new Star Wars trilogy, the first of which he is also set to write and direct, with longtime collaborator Ram Bergman onboard to produce.

As writer-director of The Last Jedi, Johnson conceived and realized a powerful film of which Lucasfilm and Disney are immensely proud. In shepherding this new trilogy, which is separate from the episodic Skywalker saga, Johnson will introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored.

"We all loved working with Rian on The Last Jedi," said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm. "He's a creative force, and watching him craft The Last Jedi from start to finish was one of the great joys of my career. Rian will do amazing things with the blank canvas of this new trilogy."

"We had the time of our lives collaborating with Lucasfilm and Disney on The Last Jedi," Johnson and Bergman said in a joint statement. "Star Wars is the greatest modern mythology and we feel very lucky to have contributed to it. We can't wait to continue with this new series of films."

http://www.starwars.com/news/rian-johnson-writer-director-of-star-wars-the-last-jedi-to-create-all-new-star-wars-trilogy

"Let's cast a moderately adequate actor simply because he's David Bowie and hope his otherwordliness does the trick like it didn't do in LABYRINTH and THE PRESTIGE."

I've never been impressed by Bowie's film performances, but I would've been intrigued to see an older – albeit dying – Bowie in the world of BR. The idea seems to fit; even if he was just playing himself. Certainly be more interested in that than watching Leto's attempts to chew the sets.

As for Scientology stuff, I heartily recommend checking out the episode of the Joe Rogan podcast with outspoken former scientologist Leah Remini. It's a real eye-opener....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ0-VeWMr-A

Unfortunately his worst interview is with a potentially more interesting subject: David Miscavige's father, Ron Miscavige.