NEWSCHUNKS: Comic-Con roundup

The news is still erupting out of Comic-Con, covering the international geekosphere with a thick layer of headlines.

JACKSON TALKS HOBBIT, LOVELY BONES AND MORE: The Io9 folks cornered Peter Jackson, and got him to cough up new info about the Hobbit pictures, his adaptation of The Lovely Bones, and even his yearning to do the kind of gross-out monster movie he specialized in early in his career.

BATMAN SEQUEL SHOOTING IN 2010: That's what Gary Oldman says, anyhow.

FLYNN'S ARCADE OPENS IN SAN DIEGO: In a truly epic press event, Disney led reporters on a scavenger hunt that led to a full-size recreation of Flynn's Arcade from Tron, complete with working Space Paranoids games and a full-size lightcycle on display. Damn it... A decade as a pro journalist, and I never saw anything that cool. Here, watch the video, so we can stew in our envy together:



MORE GALATICA MOVIES COMING, OLMOS INSISTS: Even though the Battlestar Galactica sets were torn down and Ron Moore hasn't hinted at any plans to continue the series beyond the upcoming TV movie The Plan, Edward James Olmos says he can "guarantee" there will be more movies if this one sells well on DVD. Then he goes off into this whole weird story idea he has about how the cylons on Earth eventually evolved into the replicants in Blade Runner, and that's when you realize the poor guy is basically hoping he can convince the suits at SyFy to buy his fanfic. Here's hoping they do, because a BSG/Blade Runner crossover movie is so wacky it's awesome.

KEATON IN TOY STORY 3: Michael Keaton will voice a Ken doll in Toy Story 3, as part of a storyline that apparently has a much bigger role for Barbie. Pixar honch John Lasseter said that "It's a totally different emotional core that this movie has. We're really excited for it." Honestly, this makes me a little nervous. More Barbie stuff and "a totally different emotional core" makes this sound like it might not focus enough on Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang from the first two films. On the other hand: Michael Keaton!

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