Greg writes: Since Wonderfest and more importantly KING KONG is right up your sites alley and I wasn't sure anyone had ever mentioned it on the site I'm sending you the link and some cool information about it. This year's fest is May 27-28 in Louisville, Kentucky. [More]

Magpie writes: Peter Jackson and Tim Burton are making an appearance in the Heart of the City comic strip to encourage budding filmaker, Dean, to follow his own vision. The teaser for their appearance was on May 6th, but we don't know who has shown up until May 8th, (These comics are only available a week back... checking sooner rather than later is good). The current day's strip is always found here.

Popular game music website Music4Games.net has posted a review of the remastered King Kong game soundtrack: "Composer Chance Thomas has been able to consistently latch onto the spirit of films and create entirely new, stellar game scores... What’s great about this particular soundtrack is it has the epic aura of a cinematic score but is highly functional and pivotal to the player’s enjoyment and progression in the game. That’s what you call the best of both worlds." [More]

If you are a bird that does not fly, having two legs is pretty important. So when a wild kiwi lost one of his legs below the knee to a gin trap, a New Zealand zoo decided to help out this iconic native bird. The zoo decided to see if it could fit a prosthetic leg to the North Island brown kiwi. For help, the zoo turned to its neighbours - the Wellington Artificial Limb Board and the Weta Workshop, makers of special effects for movies such as Lord of the Rings and King Kong. To create a mould of the bird's stump, Gina Acevedo, prosthetic and visual creature effects art director at Weta Workshop, used the same techniques on the kiwi as he would on a film star. [More]

From gaminghorizon.com: Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that Ninja Theory is hard at work on Heavenly Sword for the PlayStation 3...When the invading King (played by Andy Serkis) destroys the warrior clan that guards the Heavenly Sword, the clan leader’s daughter, Nariko, takes up the sword in a desperate fight for survival. Nariko must now pay the ultimate price as she embarks on one last mission of vengeance against the King and his army before her life is finally drawn to a close. Andy Serkis, the world’s leading CG actor, famous for his roles as Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” and Kong in “King Kong”, was heavily involved in the creative process. As well as starring in Heavenly Sword as the villain, King Botan, Andy was a major contributor to the character development, writing, casting, directing and performance capture for the PLAYSTATION 3 game. [More]

The New Zealand feature film THE FERRYMAN commenced principal photography in Auckland, on 31 March and is well on track to wrap on Saturday 13 May. This official NZ/UK co-production is produced by key producing partners Matthew Metcalfe (Nemesis Game) and Atlantic Film’s Alan Harris (Wallis & Edward). Developed initially by New Zealand producer Matthew Metcalfe, this production rallied from concept to production in only 14 months...This independent New Zealand horror has attracted a strong local as well as international award-winning cast including Emmy-Nominated John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones); Kerry Fox (An Angel At My Table, Shallow Grave) winner of the Silver Bear at Berlin in 2001 for her Leading role in Intimacy; Tamer Hassan (The Business, Football Factory); Craig Hall (The World’s Fastest Indian, King Kong, Perfect Creature); Julian Arahanga (Once Were Warriors, The Matrix); Lawrence Makoare (The Lord of the Rings, Die Another Day), Amber Sainsbury (Channelling Baby). [More]

King Kong director Peter Jackson has scotched suggestions his next directorial project could be a remake of second world war epic The Dam Busters. The Mail on Sunday reported the story yesterday but Jackson has now made it clear his next film will be The Lovely Bones, an adaptation of the Alice Sebold book of the same name, in which a murdered 14 year old girl recounts the story of her death from beyond the grave.

Inishere writes: I thought you would like to hear about this new play being put on by the Lyric Stage Company of Boston. It runs through June 3, and you can find out more at www.lyricstage.com.

Batman Begins and King Kong topped the winners at the 32nd annual Saturn Awards, taking home three statuettes each in ceremonies in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. Among the television nominees, SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica dominated the winners, with three awards. The Saturns were given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.

The Batman prequel took home awards for best fantasy film, best actor (Christian Bale) and best writing (director Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer).

King Kong won for best actress (Naomi Watts), best director (Peter Jackson) and best special effects (Joe Letteri, Richard Taylor, Christian Rivers, Brian Van't Hul). Star Wars: Episode III, Sin City and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe each got two Saturns. [More]

The 32nd annual Saturn Awards will be presented tonight. Winners will be announced on the internet after midnight tonight. Here is the list of nominations:

BEST FANTASY FILM:
Batman Begins (Warner Bros.)
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (Warner Bros.)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (Buena Vista)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Warner Bros.)
King Kong (Universal)
Zathura (Sony)

BEST ACTRESS:
Jodie Foster (“Flightplan”)
Laura Linney (“The Exorcism of Emily Rose”)
Rachel McAdams (“Red Eye”)
Natalie Portman (“Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith”)
Tilda Swinton (“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe”)
Naomi Watts (“King Kong”)

BEST DIRECTOR:
Andrew Adamson (“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe”)
Peter Jackson (“King Kong”)
George Lucas (“Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith”)
Mike Newell (“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”)
Christopher Nolan (“Batman Begins”)
Steven Spielberg (“War of the Worlds”)

BEST WRITER:
Steve Kloves (“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”)
David Koepp (“War of the Worlds”)
David Ko, Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer (“Batman Begins”)
Ann Peacock, Andrew Adamson, Christopher Markus, Steven McFeely (“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe”)
George Lucas (“Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith”)
Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson (“King Kong”)

BEST COSTUME:
Trisha Biggar (“Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith”)
Lindy Hemming (“Batman Begins”)
Isis Mussenden (“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe”)
Gabriella Pescucci (“Charlie & the Chocolate Factory”)
Terry Ryan (“King Kong”)
Jany Temime (“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”)

BEST MAKE-UP:
Howard Berger, Nikki Gooley, Greg Nicotero (“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe”)
Howard Berger, Greg Nicotero (“Land of the Dead”)
Howard Berger, Greg Nicotero (“Sin City”)
Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight (“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”)
Dave Elsey, Lou Elsey, Nikki Gooley (“Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith”)
Richard Taylor, Gino Acevedo, Dominie Till, Peter Swords-King (“King Kong”)