Slice of SciFi News Briefs

NASA scientists said on Thursday that Martian soil gathered and analyzed by the Phoenix Lander appears to contain the requirements to support life. The key word at this stage of the research is “appears”, with NASA agreeing that further work would be needed to prove it beyond any reasonable doubt. However, things are looking more promising with each new scoop from the Lander’s shovel.

“We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the nutrients, to support life whether past present or future,” Sam Kounaves, the lead investigator for the wet chemistry laboratory on Phoenix, said in a press statement. “It is the type of soil you would probably have in your back yard, you know, alkaline. You might be able to grow asparagus in it really well. … It is very exciting for us.”

Guillermo del Toro, writer and director of the upcoming sequel film “Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” told SCI FI Wire that he thinks the second film is even better than the original. “It’s tenfold better, in my view,” del Toro said in an interview at the Saturn Awards this week. “It’s crazier, bigger, freer, and certainly creatively it was much more fun to make. As an exercise in production it was as creative as the first one, because the first one was [$66 million], this is [$85 million]. But the scope we wanted was like that of a movie of [$200 million] or more.”

Art Marcum, co-writer for “Punisher: War Zone,” stated that even though this next film, starring Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher, is a sequel — it has all the elements necessary to make it a stand-alone film and fans who failed to see or were disappointed in the first movie, won’t be missing out with this second one.

U.S. regulators on Thursday took a step toward adopting stricter rules on the growing use of product placements by television advertisers, according to a report from Reuters. The Federal Communications Commission voted to consider new regulations requiring that viewers are more clearly notified when television advertisers have paid to feature products ranging from soft drinks to cars in television programs.

With the actor’s contract with the AMPTP due to expire in just 3 days, the union representing them (SAG) is looking for an extension on the current agreement while negotiations continue. This will allow ongoing projects to continue unabated while all sides of the issue try to hammer out a deal that both find satisfactory. SAG has launched a campaign to persuade its 40,000 members who belong to both unions to vote “no” on AFTRA’s pact, saying it falls short on many issues and undermines SAG’s position. So far, SAG has not called on its members to give a thumbs-up on a call for strike, something nobody really wants to happen.

Lawyers for Wesley Snipes have asked a Florida judge to allow the actor to eave the country while they appeal his three federal tax convictions. Snipes wants to work on two films, “Gallowwalker” and “Chasing the Dragon,” in London and in Bangkok.

J.J. Abrams and the cast and crew for the next big Star Trek movie won’t be making any of the panels at this years big San Diego Comic Con according to Variety. The reason? Paramount wants their entries for such genre-related films as “G.I. Joe,” “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender” to get the crux of the attention, even though all three debut after the Trek film’s May 2009 premiere. Paramount says it doesn’t mean they don’t have confidence in the Trek film but just the opposite. Because of the 40 year popularity of the franchise and the excitement surrounding Abrams’ vision for its future, Paramount is very upbeat about its success and simply wants to ensure that its other SF projects fair as well.

Director Matt Reeves has put a hold on the “Cloverfield” sequel until he feels he has a good enough followup story to bring to the project.