IESB reports that Stephen Sommers has turned down directing GI Joe. Apparently he demanded 10 million bucks for the job. Much like the rest of us, he must’ve blocked Van Helsing from his memory and not realized he’s lucky anyone in Hollywood would even talk to him anymore.
But all the same, Len Wiseman is now the top pick. He directed Underworld and Live Free Or Die Hard. Not much of a huge step up. Wiseman is also expected to announce he’ll direct the remake of Escape from New York with 300’s Gerard Butler as Snake Plisskin or the adaptation of Epic Games’ Gears Of War. Obviously of these three movies, he can only do one at a time, so if Escape happens first, GI Joe won’t hit the screen until 2009 at the earliest.
Can anyone buy Kate Beckinsale as Lady Jaye?

In a little poof of momentary genius, the Devon Hillard of Digital Sanctuary has brought about a small miracle for those of us plagued by needing temporary email verifications for services and programs – 10 Minute Mail.

Welcome to 10 Minute Mail

By clicking on the link below, you will be given a temporary e-mail address. Any e-mails sent to that address will show up automatically on the web page. You can read them, click on links, and even reply to them. The e-mail address will expire after 10 minutes.

Why would you use this? Maybe you want to sign up for a site which requires that you provide an e-mail address to send a validation e-mail to. And maybe you don’t want to give up your real e-mail address and end up on a bunch of spam lists. This is nice and disposable. And it’s free. Enjoy!

Will such a thing prove to be a savior to those who hate signing up for multiple email accounts to use on stupid things like signing up for free products or programs? Or, will it prove to be the downfall of email as we know it? The world may never know.

Before Bungie jumped through Halos with Microsoft, they ran the Marathon on Macintosh. Even before creating the instant Xbox seller, Bungie was innovating the first person shooter. Released in 1994, the first installment of the series introduced complex storytelling. Later installments would involve time travel, alternate universes, and Artificial Intelligences going insane. With Halo 3 hitting stores next month, now is a good of a time as any to take a look at Bungie’s other FPS series.

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This is the new trailer on the Metroid Prime 3 Wii channel. This is especially interesting to fans of the original Metroid and Super Metroid (which should pretty much everybody).

After waiting day after day for any type of recap as to what went on and what was announced at the Mattel He-man panel at SDCC 2007, He-Man.org finally came out of its slumber to post a recap. I had little luck finding any information on the panel prior to this posting including in several different forums, he-man.org forums included.

The basic rundown is that nothing was announced that we didn’t already know. There is a movie in the works, but no details to report. They wouldn’t even say if it was definitely a live action, cgi, or animated. They could only posture and say that it was looking like it would most likely be live action.

The DVD news we were all waiting for eagerly? All they divulged was that they are working out the details and will have more to report when all is finalized. Any sort of details of substance that are currently floating around seem to originate from the BCI representative that posts on the He-man.org forums. He mentioned a widescreen format and a couple of other small tidbits, but most of the real details that everyone wants to know about are really still being worked out.

Continue reading for the actual rundown of the panel as posted by He-Man.org.

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CNN reports the Senior Senator from Vermont has been cast in a cameo in The Dark Knight, the next Batman movie.

Patrick Leahy is professed comic book fan, and this will be his third appearance with Batman. He was an extra in the movie Batman & Robin and was the voice of the Arizona Governor in the Batman: The Animated Series episode “Showdown”

Like the rest of the cast, he isn’t talking about his role, except to say that he did share the scene with Christian Bale and Heath Ledger(Batman and The Joker, respectively).

BillyVsSteve.com is the official site for “The King Of Kong: A Fistfull Of Quarters” a documentary film about Billy Mitchell, the worlds greatest Donkey Kong player; and Steve Wiebe, the man who set out to beat him.
The movie opens this weekend in select cities and will be expanding in the weeks that follow. You can see the schedule here, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask your local indie movie house if they’ll get a print soon.

OK, this is the messy part I didn’t want to talk about in my GI Joe update from yesterday. The GI Joe movie has to appeal to an international audience, so it can’t be all US Military. If Mark Wahlberg is Duke, then they need his British counter part, Action Man. Not the most creative name in the world, but its historically correct. The Crank, The Snatch, and The Transporter Jason Statham could be that Action Man according to IESB.

But wait, we’re talking about an adaptation of the old Real American Hero line, right? That was Action Force, and those comics and cartoons were just rebranded by title; Duke, Flint, General Hawk and the rest were still the same guys. Maybe Statham can play Big Ben?

I’ll follow this story to the bloody end, but I’m just going say now that this movie needs fans to speak up and save it like Transformers did. Tom Desanto and Don Murphy understood the rabid fanbase and tried to find some middle ground in Transformers and whether you loved the movie or hated it, they did balance the classic with the new pretty well. GI Joe needs fans to start writing studios and start making ridiculous message board proclaimations now if they want this movie to even remotely resemble the Real American Hero series or comics.

Now that we’ve opened up the casting call, who would you like to to see? Michael Clarke Duncan as Roadblock? Scarlett Johansson as Scarlett? Shia Labeouf as Duke Jr? Leave a comment!