Starting Saturday, November 22 and running until December 6, 2008 at midnight Pacific time, we’re giving away one copy of “The 4400: The Complete Series” on DVD.

When 4400 alien abductees return to earth just as mysteriously as they vanished, the Department of Homeland Security demands answers. But even more pressing than the concerns of the government are the experiences of the victims as they readjust to life on earth. Upon their return, these formerly missing persons lose all memory of what happened to them. Though they can’t remember where they’ve been, they are haunted by the knowledge that their experiences have changed them. Operating in a cloud of unknowns, the victims start to go through mysterious changes, gaining powers that they can’t always control. This collection presents all four seasons of the sci-fi series.

To enter the  contest send an email to contest [at] sliceofscifi [dot] com. Put “The 4400” in the subject line and please don’t forget to include your name and shipping address in the body of the email.  This is a region one DVD set and this contest is open to our listeners in North America.

Remember: One entry per person per email address per day.

Members and staff of FarPoint Media, W.I.S.E. Retail Solutions, Inc. and their immediate families are not eligible to enter.

Let’s face it–”Heroes” is having a down year.  Despite being NBC’s highest rated scripted drama, the third-year series is in trouble.  It’s been hemorrhaging viewers since the season premiere, it fired two producers earlier this month and it seems to be falling into the same traps that plagued its heavily criticized second season.  And now, speaking to as part of the “Heroes” panel at the  Creative Screenwriting’s 2008 Screenwriting Expo, executive producer and series creator Tim Kring has opened his mouth and firmly inserted his foot.

The panel may have been in trouble before it started.  It was initially supposed to be Kring and producers Jeff Loeb and Jesse Alexander. But then Loeb and Alexander were given pink slips by the show and NBC, leading to some confusion as to who would be a part of the panel.  At first it was all three, then Loeb and Alexander and finally it was Kring flying solo.

As part of the panel, Kring said that his initial desire was to create an serialized ensemble drama along the lines of “24″ or “Lost” for NBC.   The Peacock network didn’t have such a series and Kring thought that “Heroes” would be a perfect fit for the network.

Now, three years in, it appears Kring isn’t quite as sure the idea was so hot.

According to a report on IGN, he joked that quickly he wondered, “What was I thinking?” noting that a serialized show is “an absolute bear to do.”

Kring said he’s also finding, “It’s a very flawed way of telling stories on network television right now, because of the advent of the DVR and online streaming. The engine that drove [serialized TV] was you had to be in front of the TV [when it aired]. Now you can watch it when you want, where you want, how you want to watch it, and almost all of those ways are superior to watching it on air. So [watching it] on air is related to the saps and the dips**s who can’t figure out how to watch it in a superior way.”

Kring went on to say that he has no definite idea how the series could or will end, saying it has “no island to get off of.”  He also said that his original vision for the series was to have the main cast be ever changing.

“My original idea was more of an anthological vibe to it, where you regenerate the characters,” he said.  “The problem is you run into a whole series of issues, where show and business run into each other. The network falls in love with characters, the audience falls in love with characters, the press falls in love with characters. And it’s contractually hard to get people onboard for a brief period. You find yourself writing for characters you thought would be gone.”

Kring also says he doesn’t really respond to audience demands based on specific episodes because of the lead time required in producing the show.

“It’s never directly, because we’re so far ahead of them,” he said. “We were shooting episode 13 [the final chapter of the current volume, “Villains”] when we launched [Season 3]. Any feedback by the audience is irrelevant in terms of that. But bigger trends you want to follow.”

Of course, Kring’s calling his audiences “dips***s” has set off a firestorm of reaction across the Internet.

Time Magazine’s James Poniewozik responded, saying:

First, the requirement of watching live was, in fact, the greatest impediment to serials in the past. If you missed an episode and couldn’t catch a rerun, you were off the train, and it was that much harder to get back on. If you can watch on Hulu, or a second run on cable, or a replay on your DVR, it’s easier to catch up. Anecdotally, I know a lot of people who will only watch serial shows on DVR or DVD, so they can watch several episodes at a stretch. Take Lost: it may never draw CSI numbers, but it does well enough to be well worth ABC’s investment, precisely because of an intense fan base, many of whom DVR it to rewind and catch details—and its huge sales on DVD are not exactly a liability to anyone concerned.

Look, I’ll grant Kring that pulling off a hit serial is hard: when they hit big, it’s a jackpot, but they often fail big too. (It was also hard when Heroes was a hit, all of two years ago.) And who knows: I have a hard time imagining Heroes succeeding as anything other than what it is, but if he can revive it as some kind of Justice League anthology, more power to him. But it does no one any favors to rationalize its problems as the fault of technologies that have mostly benefitted media consumers, or a storytelling format that has produced the best television of the past decade.

Whatever problems Heroes has, the fault lies not in its DVRs but in itself.

And the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen O’Brien responded:

How absolutely infuriating. How does Kring muster the gall to insult anyone who’s still watching his show? What arrogance. What cluelessness. Not only is his argument weak and without merit, he stoops to calling “Heroes” viewers names.

The only sap here is Kring. Any and all insulting terms should be directed at himself. After all, who is responsible for two seasons of mostly muddy, incoherent storytelling? It wasn’t the saps at home on their couches.

We will have to wait and see if Kring’s comments create any “backlash” among fans. Monday’s ratings could be very interesting.

Segal has a background in directing comedies, including the Adam Sandler vehicle, “The Longest Yard.”

Warner Brothers acquired the rights to make a big-screen version of “Marvel” from New Line where Segal and his Callahan Films partner, Michael Ewing were working on developing “Marvel.”

“Captain Marvel” could be the first in a franchise of superhero films for Warner Brothers.

The movie tells the story of teenage Billy Batson, who transforms into the superhero when he says the word “Shazam!”

Albert and Allen Hughes will direct “Eli” which has signed actor Denzel Washington for the lead role.
The script, by Gary Whitta and a rewrite by Anthony Peckham, centers on a lone hero named Eli (Washington) who must fight his way across the wasteland of a near-future America to protect a sacred book that might hold the key to saving the future of humanity.

Kunis plays a woman named Solara; at first enlisted to betray Eli, she ultimately joins him in his quest.

Principal photography begins in February in New Mexico.

The two series will not be picked up for a full second season and will end production after their thirteenth episodes.  ABC president Steve McPherson informed both series of their fate in phone calls yesterday.

“He was very complimentary and thanked everyone for putting their first foot forward,” “Daisies” creator Bryan Fuller said. “He never said we’re canceled but that was the gist of it. He said they’re proud of the show and not ordering episodes at this time. I could read between the lines and interpret that the door could be open in the future but I think that the gist of that is that we weren’t going to be moving forward on ABC.”

ABC plans to run all the produced episodes of each series before bringing them to an end.

Fuller acknowledge that everyone who worked on the show will begin looking for new jobs, which would make it hard for the “door to stay open.” He already has his next gig lined up: returning to “Heroes,” where he worked as a writer in the NBC show’s first season. He also has begun thinking about turning his sweet fairy tale into a movie.

“It’s hard not to be disappointed but I’m walking away with a stronger feeling of pride and gratitude,” Fuller said.

ABC also delivered pink slips for “Dirty Sexy Money.”

The alphabet network will shuffle its schedule in January.  As we previously reported, “Life on Mars” moves to Wednesday evenings following “Lost.”

Today, Yahoo! Movies has a new trailer for you to check out.

Based on Neil Gaiman’s best-selling novel, “Coraline” will open in theaters in February of 2009.

Also just released on Yahoo is a new trailer for the Disney remake of “Race to Witch Mountain.”

Jonah Hex is an anti-hero in stories set in the Old West, horribly scarred down one side of his face where he was burned by a red-hot tomahawk. He fought in the Civil War, and is often shown wearing a ragged Confederacy uniform, and has the sort of cynical, surly attitude you’d expect from a Sergio Leone Clint Eastwood film.

Warner Brother is producing the big-screen adaptation of “Hex” and is currently seeking a new director for the project. Warner wants to keep the film on its current production schedule so actor Josh Brolin can star as Jonah Hex.

“There’s a date that looms very important in ‘X-Files’ mythology, which is December 2012,” Spotnitz teased.

“If we were to make one more feature, I think we would definitely have to deal with alien colonization,” Spotnitz told MovieWeb. “I honestly think that’s the movie that most non-hardcore X-Files fans, as well as a lot of hardcore ‘X-Files’ fans are dying to see. Obviously, I think Chris has had ideas about that from the very beginning when he dreamt up this show, 16 years ago.”

Spotnitz said this summer’s movie had the dubious honor of opening a week after “The Dark Knight” which probably hurt the box-office for “I Want to Believe.”

“I don’t think anybody could’ve anticipated that was going to be such a huge, historic phenomenon,” Spotnitz said. “To be a dark scary movie coming out the week after The Dark Knight was not the best timing. I think there’s life in the franchise still. I think these are great characters.”

Spotnitz said 20th Century Fox hasn’t made a firm decision either way on another movie and that a lot of the future of the franchise may depend on DVD and Blu-Ray sales. The movie hits both formats on December 2.

Should X-Philes buy enough DVDs and Blu Rays, Spotnitz says he thinks the next movie would be the last from “The X-Files” franchise.

“It certainly would be designed to be the period on the sentence,” he said.

So fans who want to see more, may want to place their orders now on Amazon. You can buy a one disc or three disc DVD set or a  two disc Blu-Ray set or the Blu-Ray set of both “X-Files” movies.

According to their sources, the former Muppet Show character designer and animation artist pitched a new take on the Mattel and cartoon character which got him the job. Stevenson has an extensive background in art direction and animation, starting out as a character designer on The Muppet Show in the late 1970’s.

The popular stop-motion animated duo will return in “A Matter Of Loaf And Death”  The pair open a bakery  -  Top Bun  -  only to find a ‘cereal killer’ is targeting all bakers in town.  As Wallace is busy wooing a new love interest, Piella Bakewell, it is left to Gromit  -  who doesn’t speak  -  to uncover the killer.

Not to be confused with the best-selling Stephenie Meyer novel of the same title, the original movie followed a city terrorized by a giant mutant squidlike creature hatched by toxins that flow into a nearby river from a military base. When the creature grabs a little girl, her dysfunctional family must band together to rescue her.

Fredrik Bond is set to make his directoral debut with the movie and Mark Poirier is adapting the script.

Apparently the fans aren’t interested if the latest ratings are any indication.  “Heroes” finished a distant fourth in the Monday at 9 p.m. time slot this week, beating out only Fox’s “Prison Break” and the CW’s “One Tree Hill.”   “Heroes” dropped two percent of its previous low that it put up last week.  The show earned a 4.6 share Monday evening. 

Ratings are down 25 percent for the series since the season premiere.

Sonic plans to use the acquisition to grow its download-to-burn business. It will form a Premium Content Group headed by Mark Ely, Sonic’s exec VP of strategy, whose focus will be on embedding CinemaNow onto devices and expanding the adoption of the company’s Qflix DVD drives in the process.

“CinemaNow is a very logical fit for Sonic,” asserted Sonic prexy-CEO Dave Habiger, who maintains that digital delivery of premium content “is at a tipping point.”

CinemaNow now offers more than 6,000 movies and TV shows for digital distribution over a variety of platforms, and Habiger expects to ramp up existing offerings considerably.

“We hope to have twice that number at this time next year,” he said.

According to Sonic, CinemaNow has been generating around $1 million-$1.2 million per quarter in revenue on expenses of $1 million-$1.5 million. Company, founded in 1999, first offered digital movie rentals, later expanding to downloads when studios allowed that. As it struggled to turn a profit in a tiny market, the service added more profitable softcore adult pics. Nonetheless, it never found much of an aud and, more recently, had a hard time competing against companies like Apple, Amazon.com and Microsoft, which have much greater brand recognition and an ability to leverage existing business with digital distribution.

“3-D is how we see, how we take things in. It’s natural,” Katzenberg said. “This is not a gimmick, it’s an opportunity to immerse the audience, to heighten the experience.”

Walt Disney Pictures Studios Motion Pictures Group president Mark Zoradi echoed Katzenberg’s sentiments and cited the success of 3-D films like “Chicken Little” and this year’s Hannah Montana concert movie. 

“Consumers clearly prefer 3-D if they have a choice,” Zoradi said, adding that 3-D films could bring in two to three times the business of a 2-D release.

Zoradi touted Disney’s new five-picture deal with Imax, which will kick off with Robert Zemeckis’ “A Christmas Carol” in November 2009, adding that the slate could involve projects from Tim Burton and Jerry Bruckheimer.  Zoradi offered no further details on the projects from Burton or Bruckheimer.

Producer John Landau, now working with James Cameron on “Avatar,” said that 3-D would “do for cinema what stereo did for the audio industry.”

All the film industry has to do is “demystify” 3-D for consumers, whose perception of 3-D may be of “gimmicks on B films” and “theme parks that forced things off the screen,” Landau said.

However, while there may be a rush on the studios part to go to 3-D movies, it may take longer than expected.  Earlier this year, we reported that due to the current economic slowdown, most major theater chains have slowed down on the rollout and upgrade to 3-D theaters.

But the 3-D revoluation may not be limited only to theaters. Katzenberg said he hopes the migration to 3-D will happen on all screens, including mobile phones and laptops.

SMALLVILLE” — (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) — Episode: “Bride”

IT’S CHLOE AND JIMMY’S DREAM WEDDING DAY BUT TWO UNEXPECTED GUESTS CRASH THE PARTY — Chloe (Allison Mack) is excited that she’s marrying Jimmy (Aaron Ashmore). Meanwhile, Oliver (Justin Hartley) tells Clark (Tom Welling) he thinks he’s discovered where Lex is hiding and takes off to Cuba to confront him. However, when he arrives, Oliver is shocked to find Lana (Kristin Kreuk) instead.  Clark and Lois (Erica Durance) grow closer but chaos ensues when Doomsday crashes the wedding and tries to kidnap Chloe.  Jeannot Szwarc directed the episode written by Al Septian & Turi Meyer (#3T7460).

Stefanyshyn-Piper and fellow astronaut Stephen Bowen were cleaning and lubing a joint on the wing of the space station’s solar panels yesterday when the untethered toolbag floated away. The mission was one of four planned space walks for the Endeavor’s journey to the orbiting space station. The bag is one of the largest pieces of debris ever lost during a space mission.

‘”What it boils down to is all it takes is one small mistake for a tether not to be hooked up quite correctly or to slip off, and that’s what happened here,” said lead spacewalk officer John Ray.

Stefanyshyn-Piper and Bowen finished the spacewalk in almost seven hours by sharing tools from Bowen’s bag. Ray noted that Stefanyshyn-Piper showed “real character and great discipline” by continuing on. She was the first woman to be assigned as lead spacewalker for a shuttle flight.

Despite my little hiccup, or major hiccup, I think we did a good job out there,” Stefanyshyn-Piper said after returning to the space station.

Flight controllers are considering having the two spacewalkers share Bowen’s pair of grease guns for the three remaining spacewalks on Thursday, Saturday and Monday. They could also use caulking guns meant for repairing the space shuttle. Another option is to have one spacewalker clean the joint while the other uses the grease gun to lubricate it.

For more than a year, the joint has been unable to automatically point the right-side solar wings toward the sun for maximum energy production.

Officials weren’t worried the bag would hit the space station or the docked space shuttle because by late Tuesday it already was 2 1/2 miles (4 kilometers) in front of the orbiting complex, said flight director Ginger Kerrick.

“It is definitely moving away with every orbit,” Kerrick said.

And thanks to the wonders of YouTube, you can check out the footage of the bag floating off and Stefanyshyn-Piper’s reaction.

Disney announced that it will render the 2-D “Beast” into a 3-D movie for release in theaters.  No release date has yet been determined according to Variety.

“Beast” is one of several movies Disney will release in 3-D over the next several years. A 3-D version of the animated “Bolt” will hit theaters this weekend.  Next year will see “Jonas Brothers 3-D Concert Movie,” Pixar’s “Up,” Jerry Bruckheimer’s “G-Force,” and Robert Zemeckis’ “Disney’s A Christmas Carol.”

In 2010, Disney will release Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” “Toy Story 3,” “Rapunzel,” and “Step Up 3″ in 3-D.

Disney is also working on creating 3-D versions of “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2″ that would debut in 2009 and 2010.

The 3-D transformation of “Beast” is expected to take nine months.

Our winners are: Martin L Collins of Terre Haute, IN, Sean D. Evans of Hamilton, ON and Paul Keyser of Tallahassee, FL.

Be on the lookout for your new Blu Rays to arrive in your mailbox soon.  

Cartoon Network has released the episode on-line for you to check out.

Let the hilarity begin.

Schwartz is the creative mind behind “The O.C.,” “Gossip Girl” and “Chuck.”

The new installment of the X-Men series is rumored to be a prequel, focusing on some familiar X-Men as teens or a story focused on several new recruits to Xavier’s School for Mutants.  No word yet on the focus that 20th Century Fox wants to take with the film.

This project hinges on the success of the upcoming “Wolverine” spin-off.  Should that be a hit, “First Class” could be jumped onto the fast track.

Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are reported to be in final negotations to write the screenplay for the upcoming “The First Avenger: Captain America.”   Joe Johnston has previously been announced as the director.

Markus and McFeely adapted the first two Narnia novels for the big-screen.

Mark Protosevich is negotiating to write the live action version of “Oldboy.”  If finalized, the movie would be a reunion of sorts for Petrosevich and actor Will Smith.  Petrosevich wrote the screenplay for Smith’s “I Am Legend.”

But beyond that, we haven’t learned a lot about the mysterious man.  But actor Jimmy Jean-Louis, who plays the Haitian on NBC’s “Heroes,” recently told our partner site, TV Guide On-Line that plans are in the works for audiences to find out more about the character he plays.

“We will get to know him in Haiti, get to know his brother, get to know him,” Jean-Louis said. However, the actor did say that we won’t find out some of the details he’s most interested in learning about his alter-ego.

“Does he have a girl? Does he have a few girls? Kids?” Jean-Louis asked. “Down the line, it would be nice to have a storyline that makes him a little bit more human. Because he’s very intriguing, but we don’t know what he’s up to when he’s finished erasing people’s minds. It’s like, where does he go? Does he go to a club? Does he party all night long?” the actor chuckled. “It would be nice to answer all those questions.”

Jean-Louis even took a few minutes to offer some advice to those taking over in the void left after the termination of Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb.

“I’d definitely say, less action, and let’s concentrate more on the characters,” he said. “In the first season, we had a lot of storylines. And then, from time to time you had an action, and that’s what got people hooked. But now it seems to be a little too much action, like you expect it. Every minute, there’s some hero exercising his power. We have to reduce that a little bit, so when it comes, it surprises people.”

“It will take, obviously, excellent writers to write the storylines in such a way that it’s not boring,” he said. “Because the character is so well written so far that it’s going to take genius to keep writing The Haitian in a very good way.”

“Heroes” airs Monday nights at 9 p.m. EST on NBC.

If you don’t want to know, please stop reading now…

In the webisodes, which are schedule to premiere on-line in mid-December and could air on SciFi on January 15 (that’s the day before the series returns), it will be revealed that two recurring male characters from the series are gay.

Gay characters are nothing new to “Galactica.”  In last year’s “Razor” it was revealed that the Pegasus’ Admiral Cain was gay. 

Fan website, Galactica Sitrep says it has confirmed details on who the two characters are.  Again, if you’ve read these SPOILERS but don’t want to know who it is yet, please turn back now.

According to Sitrep, the two characters are Gaeta and Lt. Hoshi, the former Pegasus communications officer.

As of now, nothing has been confirmed by SciFi or anyone associated with “Galactica”

Actors: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number of discs: 3
Rating: G
Studio: Walt Disney
DVD Release Date: November 18, 2008
Run Time: 98 minutes

Buy the DVD
Buy the Blu-Ray

Russo’s Rating: 10/10

One of the most stellar home video releases of a 2008 theatrical effort yet this year

Pixar films need a disclaimer: Not for kids under the age of seven. While WALL E is a brilliantly executed film, the computer animation titan’s latest picture just can’t hold the attention span of youngsters and even some fidgety adults. While the film is a beautiful homage to the silent era of motion pictures, the limited use of dialogue will likely render the pic unwatchable for rug rats.

WALL E is the last surviving robot on a desolate planet Earth overrun by garbage. While working to achieve his directive of cleaning the planet, something unexpected happens to WALL E, he develops a human personality. Through collecting relicts of our lost civilization, WALL E has become attracted to the human disposition and begins using umbrellas, enjoying the company of a pet, watching bad musicals amongst partaking in many of our other quirky habits. When a scout robot comes down to Earth searching for signs of life, WALL E falls head over heels for the technologically sleek EVE. Afraid of losing the “girl” of his dreams, WALL E follows EVE to the far corners of the universe, leading him on a wild adventure that will not only help him win over his female companion, but save the human race from the excesses of consumerism and laziness.

Andrew Stanton, the director of Pixar’s super successful, underwater adventure Finding Nemo, has again created a flawlessly executed animated project. However unlike Nemo, which could be called a traditional computer animated flick (Now that’s a oxymoron…), WALL E experiments with an extremely different kind of storyline. With very little dialogue throughout the duration of this science/fiction, romance epic, WALL E is going to be a tough challenge for some audiences. Luckily this Buster Keaton meets Johnny 5 meets HAL 3000 experiment works exceptionally well making WALL E one of, if not the most memorable character Pixar has created yet.

Accompanying the genre specific computer animated film is a bevy of nods and winks. While the physical comedy is obviously a throwback to silent legends like the aforementioned Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, Stanton cutely pays homage to science fiction giants like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars in quite memorable ways.

Speaking of Star Wars, sound designer Ben Burtt has again done an outstanding job helping to create a world of sounds for WALL E. The man responsible for making R2D2 the lovable trashcan that he is not only voices Pixar’s titular ‘bot, he constructed every clink and clang in the picture. WALL E is an even richer film thanks to Burtt’s incredible talent.

However what is most remarkable about WALL E is the jaw dropping animation throughout the film. With each passing picture Pixar continues to evolve their craft. WALL E is by far their most cinematic looking movie yet. With gorgeous camera moves, slick snap zooms and rack focuses, Stanton has made a film that looks every bit as good as the story that plays out. From their terrifying vision of a Post Apocalyptic Earth to the wonders of the final frontier, Pixar has created a true visual feast.

Now on DVD and BluRay disc, WALL E comes home in a masterful presentation worthy of displaying Pixar’s greatest animated achievement. While the DVD should suffice for casual viewers, the BluRay disc is a high-def junkies dream. The video and audio presentation alone for WALL E will move more then a few BluRay players this holiday season, as the disc is a great way to show off the technology.

The three disc special edition and BluRay are jam packed with bonus content as well. Offering something for youngsters, movie geeks and everyone in between, WALL E is by far one of the most stellar home video releases of a 2008 theatrical effort yet this year. Viewers everywhere will enjoy the new animated short, BURN-E, about another loveable, fixit robot whose seemingly simple task of fixing a space station sensor is constantly foiled by the paralleling adventures of WALL-E and EVE.

Also included with the discs is the theatrical short that accompanied WALL-E, Presto, as well as a bevy of behind the scenes features. Not surprisingly there is a documentary concerning Ben Burt’s amazing sound design, as well as the evolution of the process, behind the scenes featurettes and a BluRay exclusive picture-in-picture with director Andew Stanton!

While WALL-E may have been difficult viewing for younger viewers at the cinema, proving to be an aggravating movie experience for adults, at home with the ability to stop and start the film at your discretion, Andrew Stanton’s masterpiece should delight children of all ages.

The Hugo-winning novelist also discusses his big screen dreams for the first book in the series.

Check out this exciting text interview HERE.

The big-screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling novel is selling out midnight showings across the country.   Ticket sellers Fandango and Movie Tickets reported yesterday they’ve sold out 700 shows for the vampire movie.  Many of the showings are midnight openings and other popular times during opening day for the movie.

“In the age of big, studio tentpole pictures, it’s a surprise to find such encouragingly strong advance ticket sales for an independent film with no established boxoffice stars,” Fandango COO Rick Butler said. “That’s a tribute to power of the blockbuster novel, solid word-of-mouth on the movie’s early screenings and savvy Internet marketing.”

“Twilight” will open in theaters this weekend on 3400 screens.

You can get a glimpse of what to expect next from the Parsec Award Winning producers of “Star Trek: Disunity.”

“We took inspiration for the creation of this trailer from Abrams’ teaser trailer in large part because of the phrase at the end “Under Construction”,” said director Tanveer Naseer. ” At this point in our series storyline, our ship, the USS Unity, is in fact currently under construction and I thought this line was rather appropriate.  This line also carries the second meaning of referring to our animated series which is also under construction as we continue to design and build our characters and sets.”

Keep your eyes on Slice of SciFi for the release of this exciting new fan project.

Title (Dist.)….Reported Weekend Box Office….# of Engagements….Cumulative Since Premiere

1. Quantum Of Solace (Sony)….$67,528,882….3,451….$67,528,882

2. Madagascar Escape 2 Africa (Paramount)….$35,017,301….4,065….$116,905,195

3. Role Models (Universal)….$11,150,030….2,798….$37,577,245

4. High School Musical 3: Senior Year (Disney)….$5,656,162….3,202….$84,169,216

5. Changeling (Universal)….$4,254,080….1,896….$27,631,772

6. Zack and Miri Make a Porno (Weinstein Co.)….$3,146,312….2,210….$26,465,482

7. Soul Men (MGM)….$2,350,141….2,048….$9,370,925

8. The Secret Life Of Bees (Fox Searchlight)….$2,338,279….1,449….$33,627,359

9. Saw V (Lionsgate)….$1,767,405….2,002….$55,380,488

10. Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Disney)….$1,579,080….1,617….$90,878,127

Data provided by Rentrak

The first visible-light snapshot of Fomalhaut b was released last week in Science. The planet orbits a southern star, called Fomalhaut that is about 25 light-years away. The planet is estimated to be less than three times Jupiter’s mass, and the star is part of the constellation Piscis Australis, or the “Southern Fish.”

Scientists believe that the planet may have a Saturn-like ring of ice and dust that reflects starlight, since it’s brighter than expected for its size.

“Our Hubble observations were incredibly demanding,” Kalas said. “Fomalhaut b is 1 billion times fainter than the star. We began this program in 2001, and our persistence finally paid off.”

NASA hopes that its James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2013, will capture infrared images while searching for other planets and asteroid belts. NASA also will seek signs of water vapor clouds and give a glimpse of how the 100 million-year-old planet evolved.

“Fomalhaut is the gift that keeps on giving,” team member Mark Clampin of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in a statement. “Following the unexpected discovery of its dust ring, we have now found an exoplanet at a location suggested by analysis of the dust ring’s shape. The lesson for exoplanet hunters is ‘follow the dust.’”

(Image: C-Net)

An HD version of the trailer is expected to go on-line tomorrow.