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A.J. Focht

A new batch of photos from Star Trek: Into Darkness have been released. While we’ll all have to wait until May 15 to see the full movie, in a heartwarming act of compassion, J.J. Abrams and Paramount arranged for Star Trek fan Dan Craft, who served as the director of the New York Asian Film Festival and was dying of cancer, to see the film on his deathbed. He had a expressed a desire to see the nine minute Star Trek preview, but instead he was allowed to watch a rough cut of the entire movie on DVD. Craft passed away earlier this week, his final words were: “I’m going… into the future.”

This year is the Doctor Who 50th anniversary bash. The BBC has announced that as part of the celebration they will be releasing eleven short stories written by beloved children’s authors set in the Doctor Who universe. No authors are confirmed, yet, but at the top of the assumed list is J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series. Each of the eleven authors will write one story about one of the eleven Doctors. The first short story will be out at the end of the month, and the book will be available in November.

Joss Whedon is back behind the camera and filming the pilot for the S.H.I.E.L.D. television series for ABC. Whedon is currently working on both the pilot and the sequel to the Avengers movie. He mentioned that he wants to spend as much time on the show as possible, but he needs to maintain balance between the projects. While the Avengers sequel is his number one priority, Whedon is confident that he has enough people he trusts to take care of the S.H.I.E.L.D. show. There is not a set release date for the pilot, but you can count on seeing it sometime next fall.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be coming out on April 4, 2014, but not everyone is returning. Hayley Atwell played Peggy Carter in the first Captain America, but she confirmed she will not be in the sequel. Winter Soldier will take place in the present day so her character would be older, if in the movie at all. This also means we shouldn’t expect to see her in flashbacks, unless they were directly from the first movie. It is likely that the character Sharon Carter will replace Peggy Carter as the love interest in the upcoming film.

Possible character details from the 2015 Justice League movie have been released. If an inside source is correct, the movie will follow Gerry Conway’s 1980 Justice League of America story arc from issues 183-185. The main team will consist of: Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman. Both Alfred Pennyworth and Lois Lane are listed as having cameos. While the notes don’t mention if Batman will be linked to the Dark Knight series, most sources believe not. The source does mention Superman is being written like the incarnation in Man of Steel, with a little help from Zack Snyder who is consulting. It looks like Green Lantern will be Ryan Reynold’s character, with a complete revamp. Also, the Wonder Woman script is in development currently as well, and will be set before the Justice League movie. Assuming this information is correct, the Justice League film will not only be more tied in to past DC movie continuity than previously expected, but it will also be a very elaborate venture requiring several rewrites to tie in anticipated sequels.

Universal Studios first added the Wonderful World of Harry Potter, and now Universal and Tolkien Estate are planning a Middle Earth theme park. For everyone who can’t afford to fly out to New Zealand in order to experience a Hobbit-like landscape, there is a chance a little slice of Middle Earth will be coming to the US.