'How To Train Your Dragon' Sequel and TV Series Flying Our Way

About a month after "How to Train Your Dragon" flew through theaters, DreamWorks knew they wanted a television series, sequel, live show and online virtual world to keep their franchise breathing fire. Now, just ahead of the film's DVD and Blu-ray releases on October 15, a 3-D theatrical sequel has been confirmed for 2013, and [...]

Surprise, surprise: Damon Lindelof's rewrite of Ridley Scott's "Alien" prequel has allegedly made the film infinitely more awesome. Culture Vulture got the exclusive that executives at Fox read the new draft of the screenplay (originally penned by Jon Spaihts) and were "very pleased with it indeed."

While all of Vulture's sources were sworn to secrecy on details of the plot, two big reasons Fox was happier than a pig in poop are that Lindelof's version lacks any big-budget set pieces, which is likely to bring down the suggested $150 million budget, and the film could also could potentially pull off a PG-13 rating, making it more accessible to mass audiences. But the reason we're so psyched for this script is the news that Lindelof and Scott are returning the sci-fi action franchise to the horror-suspense roots planted by Scott's original "Alien."

Focusing on suspense over the elaborately violent action sequences that have characterized the recent "Alien vs. Predator" movies (which this prequel is pretending do not exist, by the way -- shocker!) explains why a PG-13 rating is feasible, despite Scott's earlier suggestion that the movie would be "really tough, really nasty" and closer to an R rating.

One of Vulture's sources explains: "The thinking is that if the original 'Alien' were released today, minus the F-bombs, you could still get a PG-13. 'Alien' is a very 'Jaws'-ian movie: There’s no sex, and while there's lots of violence, most of it is off-camera. Maybe you’d have to cut away from certain scenes two seconds earlier, but it could be done."

Some other exciting news on the "Alien" prequel front? Vulture also learned that Natalie Portman is the first choice to play the lead character of a female Colonial Marine general, with "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo's" Noomi Rapace being a close second. Considering that "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" seems to have stalled and she's turned down Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity," it's nice to see that she's still (hopefully) looking into some awesomely nerdy and just plain awesome material.

Would you like to see the "Alien" prequel with a PG-13 rating? And would Natalie Portman make a great kicker of alien butt? Let us know in the comments!

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