Earlier, we reported that The Halcyon Company will be auctioning off the rights to the Terminator franchise. Well, looks like they got their first bid.

Firefly creator Joss Whedon has plunked down a whopping $10,000 USD. Yep, you read that correctly. Ten thousand.

When asked if he was serious or just being funny, Whedon, best known as the man behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, said this: “What do you mean, funny?! You think $10,000 is funny?!”

“Here’s the thing: It’s not a slam on The Terminator. I love The Terminator. That part’s totally true. I was thinking to myself, ‘Not since they auctioned off frames from The Little Mermaid have I wished I had more money this much. So you know what, never hurts to ask.’ I loved the movies, even the later movies. I loved the mythology. I loved the TV show [The Sarah Connor Chronicles]–like, really loved. Not for pretend. And not just because of [star] Summer [Glau].

“But mostly, it’s just me being a dumb-ass, because that seems to be what I do best — I’m not even very good at that. So, no, I do not think they’re going to call me and say ‘Congratulations! We’ll have that $10,000 now.’ Although, it would be non-exclusive. Other people could make Terminator movies and TV shows too. I’m just putting that out there in case you publish this.

“But I adore the franchise. I literally did learn a huge amount from that [franchise]. [The Terminator] came out when I was in college, and I was like, This is how you construct a story. It’s very important to me. That part was true. The part where I think I’m going to get it, not so true. And certain ideas, like [bidding for] The Lord of the Rings and the Batman franchise, also possibly not true. If they will give them to me for $10,000, I absolutely would write a check. That’s true. They just didn’t say those [properties] were for sale. They said they were on back-order, is what I understand. It’s all ridiculous, but it comes from love.”

If you think his response is ridiculous, check out Whedon's open letter to the Terminator owners, describing what he'd do to the franchise if he had the rights! Here's a quick preview: "Christian Bale’s John Connor will get a throat lozenge. This will also help his Batwork (ten grand for that franchise too, btw.)"

Fantastic. Keep it comin' big spender!

Walt Disney Pictures has released the trailer for the fantasy-action epic Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina and Toby Kebbell.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Trailer

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the big-budget video game adaptation follows a rogue prince (Gyllenhaal) who reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess (Arterton). Together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time—a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

Prince of Persia opens May 28, 2010.

Sylvester Stallone is hard at work on his next adrenaline-drenched actioner, and as was reported last week, just shot a pivotal scene with action alums Ahnold and Bruce. Well, today Stallone took a break from kicking ass to talk to Entertainment Weekly about that crucial scene.

From the EW article:

Stallone said the superstar-summit scene takes place in a church, where Willis' nasty antagonist has summoned Stallone's macho mercenary to finally meet him face-to-face, take measure of him, and possibly hire him for a death-defying mission. But just as the meeting gets under way and smartass smalltalk is made, in walks another killer-for-hire — Stallone's longtime rival, who Willis has also invited to this job interview: Ah-nuld.

"Bruce says 'Well, there's one other person I want to talk to before I hire you," says Stallone. "And then Arnold, who plays my old rival, walks in. We have a history together. And we go back and forth and I tell him that I should have shot him a long time ago when I had the chance. Then it goes on from there. And here we are, the three of us trying to man up to one another, playing off of who we are, using our baggage in this one scene."

Sounds pretty freakin' awesome! And just look at that picture of Stallone all ripped and tatted up. Everything about this movie screams 80's blow-em up ridiculousness, and after Stallone's ultra-bloody Rambo, I can't help but get excited by the premise of The Expendables.

The Expendables is set to shred theater screens on August 20, 2010.

This week was an interesting one as Halloween weekend came and went.

Michael Jackson proved one last time that he's the King of Pop with This is It, the documentary of what was to be his most recent concert, garnering approximately $21 million and landing the #1 spot at the box office and raising it's 5 day tally to $101 million. 

Oren Peli's micro-budget horror gem Paranormal Activity dropped to number 2, but raked in another $16 million to end up at $84.8 million total, making it the highest-grossing horror movie of the year. Meanwhile, Twisted Pictures' Saw VI dropped off sharply in its second weekend, moving down to number 5 for Halloween, only bringing in $5.5 million for a $20 million take. Saw VII and VIII doesn't look like such a good idea right now...

Here's the top 5 of the weekend:

1. Michael Jackson's This Is It: $21.3 million
2. Paranormal Activity: $16.5 million
3. Law Abiding Citizen: $7.3 million
4. Couples Retreat: $6.1 million
5. Saw VI: $5.6 million

Well, this is an interesting turn of events. Only 2 years after The Halcyon Company's purchase of the sci-fi juggernaut (or so we thought) Terminator franchise, the rights are back on the market.

Halcyon, a then unknown production company spearheaded by Victor Kubicek and Derek Anderson, had bought the rights from C2 Pictures for $25 million to produce Terminator Salvation, the fourth installment of the series. Once the film was done, Halcyon declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

Even with a $380 million worldwide box office tally, the new Terminator couldn't bring Halcyon the salvation they needed. And so, the rights are to be auctioned off this month. Aside from the usual big studio bidders, Twilight Saga producer Summit Entertainment and Bruno producer Media Rights Capital are reportedly interested.

With the Twilight craze in full swing, New Moon about to hit theaters, and Eclipse already in production, it's easy to see how a company like Summit could probably end up snatching the franchise, unless the majors are willing to shell out the cash to make more Terminators.

With Salvation being a critical flop and a lukewarm box office showing for a $200 million dollar film, and the recent canceling of television's Sarah Connor Chronicles, the Terminator franchise might not be that attractive anymore to major studios. The sale certainly puts a damper on the Terminator Salvation sequels Halcyon had planned with McG.

Halcyon says the rights are worth $60 million. The auction does not cover earlier Terminator films. The rights will give the buyer to make new films, TV series and other spin-offs.

The New Moon clips just keep on coming!

This time around, we have a video of Edward and Bella at Bella's birthday party. When Bella accidentally gets a paper cut, Edward's vampire senses go berserk.

Will he hold it together or succumb to his dark nature? Find out when New Moon opens in theaters November 20!

A while ago, we reported that Men in Black 3 was in the works, and now Columbia Pictures has hired Tropic Thunder scribe Etan Cohen (not to be confused with Ethan Coen of the Coen Bros.) to write the script.

There are no deals yet in place for franchise director Barry Sonnenfeld and stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones to return, but the studio is looking to start filming the third installment sometime in 2010 to hit a 2011 release.

The Weinstein Company has released a new trailer for John Hillcoat's The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen, Guy Pearce, Robert Duvall and Charlize Theron. 

The Road is the big-screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. It is the story of a man (Mortensen) and his young son (Smit-McPhee) traveling through a desperate, post-apocalyptic world. The film opens in theaters on November 25, 2009.

Jonathan Rhys-Davies, who played the dwarf Gimli in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, has declined to appear in the forthcoming prequel films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. While Gimli doesn't appear in The Hobbit, Rhys-Davies could have played the dwarf's father, Gloin.

"I've already been asked and to be honest with you, I wouldn't," Rhys-Davies said. "I have already completely ruled it out. There's a sentimental part of me that would love to be involved again. Really I am not sure my face can take that sort of punishment any more."

Guillermo Del Toro will direct both Hobbit films. The first film is scheduled to hit theaters in December of 2011, followed a year later by the second film in December of 2012.

The proposed Alien prequel is moving forward with director Ridley Scott at the helm. Scott, who also directed the original 1979 classic, recently dished out some interesting details about the new movie.

“It’s a brand new box of tricks,” says Scott. “We know what the road map is, and the screenplay is now being put on paper. The prequel will be a while ago. It’s very difficult to put a year on Alien, but [for example] if Alien was towards the end of this century, then the prequel story will take place thirty years prior.”

With Scott back at the helm of the franchise, the Alien franchise can finally look forward to a return to genuine quality, however, Scott has never been big on sequels.

“I never thought I’d look forward to a sequel,” said Sir Ridley. “But a prequel is kind of interesting. I’m looking forward to doing that.”