Producers Screen "Stargate: Continuum"

Part of the team in "Stargate: Continuum"

With less than three weeks left before the world premiere of the first direct-to-DVD movie, Robert C. Cooper’s Stargate: The Ark of Truth, producers took the afternoon yesterday to screen Brad Wright’s Stargate: Continuum at Sharpe Sound in Vancouver.

Stargate Atlantis executive producer and co-showrunner Joseph Mallozzi wrote in his personal blog about his reaction to seeing the movie on the big screen: “I really love this movie and, evidently, so did Carl [Binder] who sat beside me, ooohing, aaahing, and laughing throughout the screening. It’s one of those rare productions that both rewards longtime fans of the show, but also offers a great jumping-on point for first-timers.”

Writer and producer Brad Wright explained about the two movies in a recent interview published in the March/April issue of the Official Stargate Magazine, “It just fell to Robert Cooper and I to come up with two movie ideas. We wanted one of them to finish the story that Robert had begun with the Ori in seasons nine and ten and we wanted at the same time to prove that we could just make a stand-alone movie, a Stargate SG-1 movie, and that’s what Stargate: Continuum is.

“I was terribly excited about the movies, but once they’ve been shot and they’re in the can, you’re thinking about the next one, even though this one isn’t finished yet.” He confirmed that they are already pursuing the third movie, not yet announced or titled. “I’ve got a story in mind for movie number three. Robert Cooper and I have discussed it, and I’ve had some preliminary discussions with MGM and Richard Dean Anderson [who also appears in Continuum]. … If the movies are well received, then the third movie will probably be slotted in after production of the third Stargate series [tentatively titled Stargate Universe and pitched to the SCI FI Channel in October 2007], or after Stargate Atlantis [which just began production this week and will conclude sometime in September]. But, if one or the other doesn’t go forward then we’ll probably start shooting our third movie in the spring of 2008 [keep in mind, however, that this interview was conducted before the WGA strike put a temporary halt to Wright’s writing of the script].”

Bus advertising Continuum at San Diego Comic Con 2007

The official world premiere date for Continuum has not yet been announced, but Wright offered, “It will be released in July. It was going to be later, but MGM and Fox decided to take advantage of the energy that comes along with Comi-Con in terms of the release.” At last year’s Comic Con held in San Diego, there were several buses covered in Stargate advertisements, promoting the movies and the two series. According to Mary McNamara at Multichannel News, “MGM’s senior executive vice president of finance and corporate development Charlie Cohen said the studio decorated 10 buses and has already reserved the vehicles for next year.” Comic Con will be held in San Diego from July 24 to July 27 this year, so it is possible that Stargate: Continuum will be released at or around those days (possibly on one of the Tuesdays surrounding the event: July 22 or July 29).

MGM’s Charlie Cohen has been a big player in seeing to the continuation of the Stargate franchise in the form of these direct-to-DVD movies. Wright felt that it was important to include Cohen in the franchise’s legacy, the actual footage, so Cohen has appeared in Stargate Atlantis as an extra. Wright also gave Cohen a cameo appearance in Continuum: “That’s Charlie Cohen, our boss at MGM, pushing Daniel down the corridor in a wheelchair. He loved doing it, and it’s great that he’s part of it.”

Wright concluded, “There will always be Stargate films, that’s inevitable. We’re MGM’s number two franchise after James Bond, so it’s an important franchise and it’s growing still. I don’t see why we can’t do at least one movie a year.”

8 thoughts on “Producers Screen "Stargate: Continuum"”

  1. Anyone surprised that Daniel winds up in a wheelchair in one of the movies? Anyone?

    At least that probably means he’s not dead.

  2. Not to worry, Lady Logain, he doesn’t stay in the wheelchair throughout the movie, just in this part of the story. He’ll be up and at it before long. You know Daniel, he’s a fighter. 🙂

    Debi

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