Slice of SciFi News Briefs

We’ve just learned that our good friend Wil Wheaton has signed on to do a SF publishing panel at this month’s Comic Con in San Diego, CA. He will hold his panel, “Star Trek in Print: The New Golden Age,” on Saturday July 28 at 10:30-11:30 AM in Room 2 on the second floor on the convention center. Wil will discuss his penned story titled “Te Cura Ipsum,” for TOKYOPOP’s second volume of Star Trek manga, “Kakan ni Shinkou,” coming out in September. If you wanted to get a 4-day pass for this great SF event you are too late, however there are a few 1 and 3 day passes left, but you better hurry, those won’t last long.

The Wachowski Bros’ film “Speed Racer” has announced the addition of yet another actor for the live-action flick showcasing the famous racing family. Nayo Wallace has joined the cast and will play Minx, the girlfriend of Racer X (Matthew Fox), who is the rival of Speed (Emile Hirsch).

“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” continues to blow previous box office records out the window when it posted the largest mid-week opening on record with a $44.2 million ticket take. This bodes very well for the book sales of part seven “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” which debuts this week.

CHUD.com, is reporting that “Heroes” actor Zachary Quinto, who plays villain Sylar on the series, is definitely “in negotiations” to play the young Spock in J.J. Abrams Star Trek XI movie. We reported earlier in the year that Quinto had stated he would love doing the Spock role in this new film. He is a real Star Trek fan, but wants to do it mostly because of the great acting challenge it would afford him. We will keep you posted on the validity of this report. Of course we should know a lot more about the film’s casting after this month’s San Diego Comic Con.

China has been rocked by the “Transformers” selling over $5 million in tickets in just two days. This juggernaut has been unstoppable in nearly every international market with impressive figures throughout the Far East, including $33 million in South Korea and half that in Australia, according to Variety. With Europe and Japan next on the list for showings, those numbers have no where to go but further up. In the U.S. “Transformers” has grossed over $189 million dollars since it debuted on July 3rd.

The 7-disc DVD set for the TV hit SF series “Heroes” becomes available on August 28, 2007 with the inclusion of the never-before-aired 73 minute scenes producer/creator Tim Kring had to cut from the pilot episode. Bonus features include 5-featurettes and 50+ deleted scenes. It will be available in DVD and HD DVD formats with a S.R.P. of $59.98 (USD).