Slice of SciFi News Briefs

George Lucas stated in an interview this week that he already has plans for a fifth Indy movie with Shia LaBeouf as the lead and Harrison Ford coming back like Sean Connery did in Indy 3. He also said that he has yet to officially let Steven Spielberg or Harrison Ford know about his story idea. When asked about this Ford, now 65, stated he knew nothing about Lucas’ plans for a fifth film but as far as he is concerned “Till they tell me otherwise, I will continue to be Indiana Jones.”

All new sets have been built for the next season of SCI FI Channel’s “Stargate: Atlantis,” with plotlines that will take the Atlantis Station team to all new worlds inhabited by strange and exciting aliens. The show’s writers and creators also have a bevy of new ship designs in store for the cast.

Speculation has arisen that there could be a sequel to the hit monster film “Cloverfield.” “Star Trek” director and the co-producer of the “Cloverfield” feature, J.J. Abrams was asked this week if there might be a second film featuring the monster. He responded by simply stating that a sequel may or may not happen. Translation of Hollywood-speak: A sequel is most likely.

“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” took a commanding early lead at the weekend box office in North America, but is now looking like it will fall short of Disney’s expectations, according to preliminary ticket sales after box offices across the U.S. and Canada closed on Saturday. The film tallied $19.3 million worth of tickets on Friday, its first full day of release. While not as high as expected, if it does as well for Saturday and Sunday, then it should be enough to put the film in first place, unless “Iron Man” pulls another remarkable weekend for the third week in a row.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and major Hollywood studios agreed to return to the bargaining table by May 28 to resume contract talks that broke off more than a week ago, sources close to the talks said this past Thursday. The SAG contract expires June 30.

Fox finally has some good news about two of its SF offerings. This week the network, infamous for abruptly canceling SF shows without notice or reason, announced it would drastically reduce the number of commercial breaks of two of its new SF-action dramas — “Fringe” and “Dollhouse” — in an effort to reinvigorate broadcast television and make it more competitive with cable.

Scribe James Vanderbilt (”Zodiac,” “Rundown”) has already turned in a working draft of the Spider-Man 4 flick that includes a plot that would allow for a fifth film in the Spidey franchise.

At its Anime Central industry panel on Saturday evening, FUNimation Entertainment announced its acquisition of Romeo X Juliet, Gonzo’s 24-episode science-fiction take on the William Shakespeare play. It will be released in two half-season boxes, with the first due out sometime in the spring of 2009.

New genre-related books seen this past week include Cory Doctorow’s young adult novel “Little Brother,” original anthologies “The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy” edited by Ellen Datlow and “The Starry Rift” edited by Jonathan Strahan, Stephenie Meyer’s adult novel “The Host,” and other titles by Alan Campbell, David Gunn, Charlaine Harris, Tim Lebbon, Scott Mackay, Kimberly Raiser, Travis S. Taylor, Jeff VanderMeer, Matt Wallace, and Sean Williams.

“Sliders – The Fourth Season” will be available on DVD beginning Monday, May 19. “Sliders,” starring Jerry O’Connell, Cleavant Derricks, and Kari Wuher, has the show’s characters continue their travels through parallel universes in search of a way back home after a scientific experiment goes all wrong trapping the traveling team in alternative worlds.