For fans of The Omen series (and really, who isn’t?) there’s good news.  Fox has announced plans to release the original film plus a box set on Blu-ray this September.  Fans will be able to purchase the original film separately, or a box set containing The Omen, Damien: The Omen II, The Final Conflict, and the 2006 remake The Omen: 666.

While the sequels and the remake may not be of the highest quality, the original Omen remains one of the best horror features of the 1970s.  Interestingly, the box set excludes the made-for-TV Omen IV.  One supposes it’s the type of film that may never see a Blu-ray release, and few will likely care.

That’s the casting choice of Mike Judge, at least.  Judge has said he’d loved to a live action version of the couch-dwellers and have it star Johhny Depp and Sean William Scott.  Sound too bizarre to be true?  Scott thought so too, but obviously doesn’t rule out the idea.

In an interview on Ain’t It Cool News, Scott was asked about the potential pairing.  His personal take is that he’d love to work with Judge and thinks Depp would be a fantastic person to team with, though he obviously is doubtful of Depp’s participation.

OFFICE SPACE is a really solid comedy, but I don’t think Johnny Depp is going to want to work with me. [laughs] Not quite yet. But if Mike Judge asked me to work with Johnny Depp, I’d be all over that, even if it was Beavis and Butt-head. I haven’t seen “Beavis and Butt-head” in a long time, but that’s a pretty huge honor. What do you think about that?

Well, there’s always hope, one supposes.  However, the two seem a bit long in the tooth to take on the roles.  Who would you cast in the roles instead?

While it isn’t exactly official yet, there is now word that Back to the Future is coming to Blu-ray.  A recent screening near Orlando surprised fans when produced Bob Gale premiered a new digital remaster of the film.  He said the new print had been struck for the eventual release of a Blu-ray version.

Gale told the audience, “What you’re going to be seeing today is the digital master for the upcoming high-definition Blu-ray version of ‘Back to the Future.”  Gale added that new, never-before-seen special features would accompany the eventual Blu-ray release.  One wonders if it will feature more of the original Eric Stoltz footage, that only briefly appeared in the DVD version.

Well, that’s the verdict from Latino Review, at least.  They’ve reviewed a draft of the Justin Marks (Supermax, Voltron) penned Grayskull: The Masters of the Universe script and their verdict is that it’s fantastic.  Really?  A fantastic script about He-Man?  The cartoon was never all that serious to begin with, so the idea of a serious live-action film version seems a little off to begin with.  However, apparently that’s just what Marks has pulled off.

GRAYSKULL is LORD OF THE RINGS meets THE MATRIX and a little BATMAN BEGINS thrown in for good measure…

GRAYSKULL is the perfect marriage of Sorcery and Science fiction where in Eternia both Fantasy and Technology co-exist.  The character arc of the hero ADAM works for me because like Bruce Wayne in BATMAN BEGINS, Adam has to overcome his selfish need for revenge and realize his destiny for the greater good of his people – the fallen son of Eternia must rise to occasion and become HE-MAN.

Visit Latino Review for the full script analysis, which obviously features plenty of spoilers.  Now, what does one do with such a script?  Who do you hire to direct?  How do you even go about marketing it?  Nostalgia alone won’t sell it, as this summer’s Speed Racer adaptation showed.  The script reviewer compares the film to 300, with the possibility of it becoming a trilogy.  A trilogy of He-Man movies?

Well, certainly any story told well can be entertaining.  Get the right crew together and this film could sell.  The thing is, there isn’t a built-in market so much.  Whatever direction they go with it, the marketing team will likely be left confused on how to sell it.

While for most people making $300,000 a year would be a nice little salary, the cast of The Simpsons wasn’t satisfied with that amount per episode.  Instead, in their recent contract negotiations they asked for a $200,000 per episode raise from $300,000 to $500,000.  Instead, Fox met them halfway.

Also interesting from this development is that the voice of Homer, Dan Castellaneta, will also get a credit as a consulting producer.  The new $400,000 per episode salaries rank them as the highest paid sitcom stars currently on television, barely edging out Charlie Sheen’s $350,000 per episode.  However, it still leaves them far behind the cast of Friends and Ray Romano from Everybody Loves Raymond.

In what might categorize for the most bizarre film news of the year, Sex and the City was not only the number one film this weekend, but by a long shot.  Taking in an estimated $55.7 million, Sex trounced Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in its second weekend.

Sure, it was Indy’s second weekend of release, but still most analysts predicted a bigger weekend for Indy after its record-setting debut last week.  Instead, Sex showed everyone the meaning of “women power” by outpacing Indy by $9 million.  Even the distributor, Warner Brothers, only expected around $30 million for the TV-to-film transition.  What does this mean for the movie industry?

Well, first of all expect to see many more “women power” movies green lighted soon.  Despite recent bombs such as Because I Said So, Hollywood can’t resist the urge to replicate success by exactly replicating a surprise hit.  They tried the same soon after The Passion of the Christ, without much success.  Also, expect much arm-twisting behind the scenes for a second Sex and the City movie, and much bigger paydays for the leads.

Beverly Hills Cop is an interesting film series.  Originally developed for Sylvester Stalone as a tough and gritty action film, when Stalone backed out Eddie Murphy backed in.  The result?  Much of the comedy in the original is improvised by Murphy, giving the series a decidedly different “feel” to it.  The series is also unique in that many consider the second film, which features much more of Murphy’s strong suit in humor, to be the best in the series.

However, Beverly Hills Cop 3 was a sad note to go out on and now there is word of a part four coming.  Murphy is, of course, back, but this time behind the camera will be Rush Hour’s Brett Ratner.  The film is currently slated for a 2010 release date, but it should be interesting to see how Ratner tries to update the franchise.  Cop is one of those decidedly 1980s film series, at least in tone.  How well one can translate that for today’s audiences will be interesting to see.

Highlander may often be referred to as a “cult” hit from the 80s, but with four film sequels, a cartoon series, an anime movie, two video games, and two live action series–it’s hard to argue it’s not a bona fide franchise.  And while the upcoming remake of Highlander may not generate the same interest as this fall’s Star Trek remake, that doesn’t absolve it from trying hard to be good.  The following five tidbits should help the franchise find its footing again.

Ignore all previous continuity, or lack thereof

While the term “remake” may seem to make it clear that the previous films will be ignored, you can never be too sure.  While many fans will scoff at any writing off of Connor or Duncan, the truth is that both of their tales have become too convoluted to carry on.  In fact, the original Highlander film wrote off the possibility of any sequels and the franchise has suffered trying to write around that gaping plot hole ever since.

Simply ignore it.  Pretend those films, cartoons, etc. never happened.  Start the franchise truly anew.  However, that may lead to a few issues.

Do not ignore the core ideas of Highlander

While it may be fine to pretend the events of the original Highlander universe never happened, it will be much more difficult to rewrite the rules in the new film.  The producer has said he’d like to add more back story and “prequel” elements.  That sounds an awful lot like more flashbacks, which is one of the key ingredients in the series.

So, that’s fine, but tampering with other things really isn’t.  For one, the holy ground rule is essential to the idea of Highlander.  It gives the concept soul and hints at some greater meaning to it all.  Along with that, the TV series’ idea of the Watchers was very much liked by most, and it would be sad to completely toss that aside.

Embrace the past

As noted in the previous point, the producer seems to be hinting at many flashbacks.  That’s good, as Highlander gets much of its appeal from its time-sweeping storyline.  Take away the Renaissance fair-style flashbacks and you lose a lot of fans.

Doubt that?  Just search sometime for the number of fans who dress up like Highlander characters.  The cosplay quotient is fairly high.  Still, a diversity of locations would benefit the new film.  The series showed everything from feudal Japan to lavish French interiors.  Don’t limit the background to just the highlands of Scotland.

God save the Queen

Whatever you do, it just wouldn’t be Highlander without the Queen soundtrack.  You can remix it or use it in inventive new ways, but it needs Queen just like Flash Gordon does.

Spend some time on the sword fights

If you have seen Highlander: The Source (and you shouldn’t), then you know one of the biggest letdowns were the sword fights, or complete lack thereof.  You can’t have Highlander without people fighting with swords, and you might as well not have that if you can’t make them entertaining.  Bring in the best choreographers you can find and spend some real time working on the fight scenes.

Do not simply try to cover up for bad fight scenes with quick cutting and special effects.  Highlander isn’t really an action franchise as much as it is a romance.  But when you do turn to action, make sure it is top notch or else you’re pitching nothing but a romantic drama in kilts.  Even Mel Gibson knew better than that with Braveheart.

When everyone complained about how “dirty” Sex and the City was a few years back, when they crowed about how women simply didn’t talk that much about sex, and when they said nothing like that would ever make it off HBO–the producers of Golden Girls must have really been confused.

Now, finally, someone has made things clearer with Sex and the City: Miami.  Yes, just in time for the big screen adventure comes the small screen spin-off, of sorts.  Funny?  Sure.  Weirdly not too far off from how dirty the show originally was?  Indeed.

It’s difficult to image that after twenty years the world is finally getting a new Indiana Jones film and it isn’t the most hyped film of the summer.  That’s the breaks, however, and instead movie fans are going ga-ga over The Dark Knight.  If you’re one of these rabid fans, then you might enjoy these two new TV spots that showoff some before now unseen footage.

While nothing spectacularly new is shown, it does very much reinforce what was already known.  This is not a Tim Burton Batman and even a bit of a departure from Christopher Nolan’s previous entry in the series.  Daytime shots show an open Chicago shooting location sun soaked.  No more dark alleyways for this film.

It’s an interesting aesthetic choice, but Batman unlike Spider-Man or Iron man has always sort of existed outside of reality.  It will be interesting to see if this new visual look takes away some of the comic book charm or opens it up to be a far more serious dramatic piece.