Sci-Fi Stories: Grogu Goes Down, Spielberg’s Summer of Nonfiction Science Fiction, and Star City Shines

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.

Here are a few sci-fi stories of interest.

—Forbes: “‘Mandalorian And Grogu’ Tumbles Out Of Top 5 After 61% Drop At Box Office“

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” is struggling at the box office, dropping 61% in its third weekend and falling out of the domestic top five. The Jon Favreau-directed film had a soft opening, earning $98 million over Memorial Day, less than 2018’s Solo, and suffered a 69% second-weekend drop. Now projected for $9.5 million, its domestic total nears $155.3 million against a $165 million production budget. It faces stiff competition from new releases like “Scary Movie” and “Masters of the Universe.” Furthermore, low-budget indie hits like A24’s “Backrooms” and Focus Features’ “Obsession” are outperforming it, alongside a strong $22.1 million debut from YouTube’s “The Amazing Digital Circus.”

—Associated Press: “Steven Spielberg on His Faith in Alien Life, the Future of the Movies and the Power of Empathy“

“It’s my first film that will be considered science fiction that I do not consider to be science fiction,” Spielberg said in a recent interview. “It’s much more reflective of the world as it is evolving and discoveries that are being made as we speak.” Spielberg, at 79, is trying to revive and reconsider the alien wonder that’s long lingered in his mind, from “E.T.” to “War of the Worlds.” “Disclosure Day,” Spielberg’s first summer movie in a decade, is already being hailed as one of his best in years. But this time, Spielberg is testing whether he can conjure some of his trademark movie magic less with imagination than with conviction.

—Variety: “Apple TV’s ‘For All Mankind’ Spinoff ‘Star City’ Is a Flawless Alt-History Thriller: TV Review“

While the talk of space, science and ships orbits surround the narrative, “Star City” is riveting because of its characters. For fear of sabotage, death or something even worse, no one in Star City can reveal who they truly are. Instead, the audience is offered glimmers of the truth here and there, which act as puzzle pieces throughout the eight-episode first season. (Critics received five for review.) Cloaked in a gloomy gray tone coloring for a prison-like setting, “Star City” creators unveil not simply a stifling world, but one on the verge of consuming itself and its genius with tyranny and ghastly rigidity.

Sci-Fi Quote: Another Star Wars Movie to Save the Day

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.

“Mainly, I’m tired of the world around us, and I’m tired of everything sucking so much. “The Mandalorian” series, which stylistically harkens back to the great spaghetti westerns of the mid-1960s, has brought great joy and escapism, and I will celebrate this new movie and savor its joy and escapism, no matter what any critic or cinema scold says.”

-Statement by USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke in his column regarding the release of The Mandalorian and Grogu in theaters today. The Hollywood Reporter noted that movie is likely to make some money, but unlikely to give the Star Wars franchise the boost it needs to escape it own inability to create sufficient long-term interest in a galaxy far, far away.

Videos: Fungi Homes and More About Life On and Beyond Earth

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Aeon.co

If you need to stretch your mind, I recommend you check out some of the articles and videos available on the Aeon website. As the website states about its purpose:

We ask the big, existentially significant questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, psychology, society and culture.

One recently posted video with US astrobiologist Lynn Rothschild is a fascinating discussion about the difficulties in humans surviving on another planet or moon, and some of the problems and potential solutions that need to be considered. The video ends with a Q&A where Dr. Rothschild goes into a variety of related topics.

The talk itself comes from The Long Now Foundation, which has this statement about Dr. Rothschild’s talk titled “Nature’s Hardware Store”:

In her Long Now Talk, Dr. Rothschild will open the doors to “Nature’s hardware store” — a vast, largely untapped reservoir of biological strategies available to scientists, engineers, and innovators. Dr. Rothschild’s own work in recent years has included 3D-printing trees, designing fungal-based housing fit for the moon, and building synthetic cells de novo in the lab. In doing so, she has connected theoretical insights about the very nature of life on this planet with practical applications and future directions for innovation on the hardest problems facing our civilization.

The foundation has many other other great talks, including science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson and public policy expert Stephen Heintz talking about geopolitics here on Earth.

But getting back to Aeon, some other videos for you to explore include:

With the news seemingly on a doom loop these days, it is worth contemplating some new ideas, if only to give your mind a rest. For that reason, you need Aeon and The Long Now Foundation in your mental medicine cabinet.

Enjoy.

Movie: Disclosure Day

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Universal Pictures

If the recent release of UFO information by the White House was not all that exciting, then you may want to turn to Hollywood for a boost.

On June 12th, Steve Spielberg’s movie Disclosure Day comes to your local movie screen. From what I read in the press and previews, it should lift your spirits if you are looking for something strange out there, real or imaged.

However, if you want a good summary of the upcoming film then you are out of luck. Everyone is talking about how Spielberg is the master of hiding the plot from the rest of us. I suppose that will keep us in suspense, but will it put butts in theater seats?

This is the totality of what Universal Pictures is sharing about the plot:

If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? This summer, the truth belongs to eight billion people. We are coming close to … Disclosure Day.

While that summary was worthless, you have a lot of information to play with in the film trailers. You can also see what other are saying, from those who are pulling apart the trailer to others who are posting their theories about the real story behind all the hype.

So I recommend you review all of this to determine whether this film might be for you.

Or you can simply await full disclosure on June 12th without ruining the surprise.

Sci-Fi Stories: A New Murderbot Book Arrives, Captive’s War Planned for Prime, and Somewhere Our There Coming to Netflix

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Tor Books

Here are a few sci-fi stories of interest.

—Winter is Coming: “Book review: Platform Decay is Exactly What We Wanted from Martha Wells’s Murderbot Next“

Platform Decay is the eighth book in Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries series, and it gives fans exactly what they love while taking the story in some new directions. If you’ve been following Murderbot since the first book All Systems Red you’ll find plenty to enjoy here...The book picks up after System Collapse (2023). Murderbot gets asked to help with what should be a simple rescue mission. Dr. Ayda Mensah, the person who freed Murderbot and is basically its closest friend, needs help getting some family members off a dangerous space station.

—Polygon: “The Expanse Creators Admit Their New Sci-fi Series will be ‘So Freaking Hard to Adapt’ for TV“

When Syfy began adapting Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck’s space-opera novels The Expanse for television, the authors (who write together under the name James S.A. Corey) were closely involved in the process. Over six seasons and a shift to Prime Video, Franck and Abraham served as screenwriters, producers, media ambassadors, and even walk-on actors. Abraham and Franck are set to have an even bigger role in the developing adaptation of their current book series, The Captive’s War. In 2024, they formed a production company, Expanding Universe, to produce the show, and they already have a development deal with Amazon. But the duo tells Polygon that knowing they’re writing for the screen as well as the page this time around didn’t change their plotting or process at all — which is going to cause a lot of problems in adapting the series for TV.

—Screenrant: “Shawn Levy Confirms New Arrival-Like Netflix Sci-Fi Movie“

Shawn Levy and Netflix unite for an original sci-fi epic.The project, titled Somewhere Out There, is reportedly an “emotional sci-fi” story that is similar to Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, which stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. It also apparently resembles Levy and Netflix’s The Adam Project, featuring Mark Ruffalo, Ryan Reynolds, Jennifer Garner, and Zoe Saldaña. The plot follows a widowed father who, while struggling with the loss of his wife, sends a message into outer space. To his surprise, he receives a mysterious response from something or someone. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix has acquired the script for Somewhere Out There, a science fiction film written by Max Taxe, and Levy has signed on to direct the project. The Deadpool & Wolverine director will also serve as a producer for the project through his 21 Laps banner with Dan Levine.