I know what you’re thinking, “Holy shit, is Michael Bay trying to kill Shia Labeouf or what”? Of course it’s just burnt make-up that is covering the young actor. These shots are from the set of “Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen”, which shows a badly “burned” Shia LaBeouf walking around the set with his shirt off. It’s a good thing he doesn’t have a beer gut, huh? I guess Sam Witwicky’s in for a pretty hard time in the sequel. But hey, at least he has Megan Fox to help him out. Lucky bastard.

Vin Diesel’s “Babylon AD” hasn’t been getting a whole lot of publicity in the U.S., even though the film is scheduled to be released into theaters on August 29, 2008. There have been some TV commercials, but you get the feeling the film’s U.S. distributors doesn’t have all that much confidence that it can do the kind of business a big ad push would have helped it to achieve. But don’t let that stop you; the film looks like a blast, and we’ve just gotten a new batch of stills from the movie.

With a title like “The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag”, you gotta figure that the story behind it has to be pretty groovy, right? Let’s hope so, because with a director like Alex Proyas calling the shots, this is yet another must-see film on my very short list of must-see sci-fi films. Yes, I’m even including the Nicolas Cage movie “Knowing” on that list, even though it looks like it’ll have nothing of the visual flair that I’ve come to associate with Proyas’ works. But anyways, back to “Jonathan Hoag”. So what’s the movie about?

Really? The Powers That Be are actually considering a third installment in the “X-Files” franchise, despite the beating the second film took at the box office? Apparently so. Or at least, according to some guy who knows some guy, who wrote in to Dread Central telling them about it. As DC states, I think this is just wishful thinking, especially considering how awful “X-Files 2: I Want to Believe” did. Seriously, really? A sequel to a sequel that no one wanted in the first place, and those who got it didn’t even liked it? Wow.

Still holding your breath for a live-action Voltron movie? Well you’re going to have to keep waiting, because it doesn’t look like the movie is anywhere closer to becoming reality, what with news that New Regency has recently put the film, the full title of which is “Voltron: Defender of the Universe” into turnaround. Everyone involved still plans to get the movie made, but the budget isn’t there, and if anything, the budget may get slashed before a deal is agreed upon. That, and the Japanese right holders are being fidgety about letting a big Hollywood studio mess with their animal robots.

Diehard Joss Whedon fans (or Whedonites, I think is what they call themselves) want it to happen desperately, and even the cast thinks it would be just too cool if they could go back and do a sequel to the movie “Serenity” (the feature-length movie version of the cancelled Firefly TV show), but according to the franchise’s creator, writer, and do-it-all guy Joss Whedon — it ain’t gonna happen. Ever. Well, maybe not ever, but definitely it’s not going to happen anytime soon, because according to Whedon, no one is telling him they WANT the sequel. At least, no one with the money to bankroll it.

I’ve never seen Rian Johnson’s teen high school noir “Brick”, but I sure have heard good to great things about it. People who have seen it seems to really love it, which means I gotta give it a shot sooner or later. Anyways, Rian Johnson’s next movie is more in line with us, a sci-fi time-travel movie in the vein of a Philip Dick short story. Or at least that’s how the writer-director is describing it.

Look, kids, it’s our first look at Simon Pegg as Scotty from J.J. Abrams’ new Star Trek movie! Well not really. It’s just Simon Pegg looking like Simon Pegg, but with the Trek emblem and artwork around the image, he’s “officially” Scotty. Kinda. Anyways, if that’s enough to get your engines revving, then you’ll love these new Trek 11 character posters that Paramount has just released online to the masses. Yup, real Star Trek-y. If you like that sort of thing, I mean, what with the movie still a year away. I still think the Pike kid looks like a deranged, “serial killer next door” type with that pose…

Two new images from Scott Derrickson’s remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” have arrived online. The most curious image is the one with stars Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly. What you have here is the incredibly expressive Connelly with the incredibly stilted Reeves. The difference, on the big screen, should be worth a nice laugh or two. And hey, maybe they won’t get as heavy handed with the whole “global warming is going to destroy us all!” message that we’ve been hearing rumors about. Probably not, though.

Good news for those of you who still have a passion for all things Flash Gordon after the lackluster TV show by the Sci Fi Channel — Sony has hired two writers, Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, to take a crack at the script. No stranger to fiction, the writing duo of Sazama and Sharpless are already in the process of writing vampire flick “Dracula Year Zero” for Universal and are also penning “300″ director Zack Snyder’s “Cobalt 60.” So yeah, these guys seem to know what they’re doing.