Mid-week news roundup

We just sent the new issue to press, so here are some news stories we missed over the last few days...

Item! Colm Meaney, formerly of Star Trek and, more recently, Stargate Atlantis, is in final talks to star in the US version of Life on Mars, playing whatever the US equivalent of Gene Hunt turns out to be. Source: Sci-Fi Wire .

Item! Peter Jackson may be back in line to direct a movie version of The Hobbit. Just months after claiming that he'd never work with Peter Jackson again, the co-chairman of New Line Robert Shaye has admitted that he's been trying to resolve their issues, saying that he "respects and admires" Jackson. Source: Sci-Fi Wire .

Item! The US is set to get its first On Demand TV channel aimed purely at sci-fi fans in October, called Illusion On-Demand. Read the press release at Sci-Fi Storm .

Item! Yet another classic sci-fi movie is to get the revamp treatment, and this time it's going to be Fantastic Voyage. It'll be directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) and screenwriters Marianne and Cormac Wibberley (National treasure) are in talks for script duties, according to Variety . We can tell how excited you are by that prospect.

Item! Fans were a little confused by the news that Zak Penn was no longer writing the Incredible Hulk script and that writing duties had been taken over by Edward Norton. According to Dark Horizons , the simple explanation is that Penn produced three unsatisfactory drafts in a year, while Norton just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

Item! Rosario Dawson is set to produce and star in The Gemini Division, a live action/motion capture sci-fi series online. Dawson stars as a cop who investigates the murder of her husband, but in the process uncovers a global conspiracy involving simulated life forms that have assimilated with human society. Source: The Hollywood Reporter .

And that's our bit done for today! Time for a nice cup of tea now, we think...

SFX Magazine is the world's number one sci-fi, fantasy, and horror magazine published by Future PLC. Established in 1995, SFX Magazine prides itself on writing for its fans, welcoming geeks, collectors, and aficionados into its readership for over 25 years. Covering films, TV shows, books, comics, games, merch, and more, SFX Magazine is published every month. If you love it, chances are we do too and you'll find it in SFX.