Sci Fi Channel Moves Ahead at Warp Speed
Tue Apr 6, 2004 01:34 AM ET
By Kathleen Anderson
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - A host of new
series, movies and the
return of the popular "Farscape: Peacekeeper War" miniseries took the
spotlight at Sci Fi Channel's presentation to advertisers Monday.
Now billing itself the "imagination" channel with
the aim of picking up
younger viewers, Sci Fi said it produces an average of 22 original
movies a year, more than any TV network.
"Battlestar Galactica," which most recently aired in
December, was the
most-watched cable miniseries of 2003, Sci Fi said. It's being made
into a weekly series to debut in January 2005, and network president
Bonnie Hammer called it the "most expensive" show Sci Fi has ever done.
Previous estimates cited production costs as high as $1.5 million per
episode.
Such projects are part of Sci Fi's rapidly rising
spending threshold,
which a company spokeswoman said is estimated at $150 million and $200
million this year -- four to five times greater than what it was just a
few years ago.
In addition to the return of the four-hour
miniseries "Farscape," Sci
Fi said other miniseries include "Earthsea," where Danny Glover plays a
wizard with sorcerer Shawn Ashmore. Kristin Kreuk and Isabella
Rossellini star alongside them in the mystical fantasy.
"The Dresden Files," based on Jim Butcher's novels
about a detective
with extraordinary powers, is a two-hour pilot movie produced by
Nicolas Cage's company.
"History of the Devil" will be a six-hour series
dealing with the
devil, who is trying to weasel his way back into heaven with the help
of a New York defense attorney.
Original series will include an untitled project
characterized as "Sex
and the City" meets an alien population in an urban drama about an
eventual invasion of the city. Joel Schumacher will direct the series.
Other new series include "Eureka," about a town full
of geniuses in a
government think tank, said Hammer, who called it a funny but smart
"Northern Exposure" meets "The Twilight Zone."
Two other series
are in discussion and projected to close any day.
"Kyra" and an untitled Ridley Scott project. "Kyra," a spinoff of the
2000 film "Pitch Black," sees warrior Kyra join a band of mercenaries
in a search for her mentor. Sci Fi said it is trying to close the deal
with director-writer David Twohy and the film's star Vin Diesel, who
will executive produce. And the untitled Scott project is a New
York-set romance with wolflike creatures secretly living among normal
city folks.
Reuters/Hollywood
Reporter
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