News

It’s that time of year again! The leaves are changing color, the air is getting more relaxed, and Halloween is just around the corner. For many, Halloween is a time to enjoy fright-filled movies and TV shows. But for others, it’s a time to revisit their childhood with the Halloweentown movies.

These family-friendly films follow the adventures of Marnie Piper, a young witch who discovers her heritage and learns to use her powers.

If you’re looking for a fun way to celebrate Halloween this year, why not watch the Halloweentown movies in order?

Based on characters by Paul Bernbaum, The Halloweentown film series aired as works for television on The Disney Channel as Disney Channel Original Movies. To date, there are four fantasy films released in the Halloweentown franchise.

In this blog post, we’ll look at the films in order and provide some fun facts about each one.

1998’s Halloweentown is one of the most beloved Halloween and Disney Channel movies, and is a gift that keeps on giving as new generations discover the film that is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Starring Kimberly J. Brown, Joey Zimmerman, Judith Hoag and Debbie Reynolds, the film directed by Duwayne Dunham followed Marnie, who on her 13th birthday discovers she’s a witch and is transported to Halloweentown, a magical place that is facing an evil curse. The film spawned three sequels: Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge in 2001, Halloweentown High in 2004 and Return to Halloweentown in 2006.

Halloweentown, written by Paul Bernbaum, Jon Cooksey and Ali Marie Matheson, holds a score of 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. You can currently watch Halloweentown on Prime Video or on Disney+. The franchise is also airing as part of Freeform’s “31 Nights of Halloween.”

In celebration of the film’s 25th anniversary, take a look...

Teen dramas aren't just for teens anymore. In 2022, "Euphoria" became HBO's second most-watched series ever, and season 3 of Mindy Kaling's comedy-drama "Never Have I Ever" continued to attract a massive audience of viewers of all ages. The genre simply continues to expand, to the delight of its many fans.

Perhaps teen dramas persist because becoming an adult is a universally complex stage of life. In her book "Teen TV," Dr. Stefania Marghitu writes, "Certain narrative elements present themselves in nearly every teen series: the protagonist feels alienated from the adolescent world she is on the threshold of entering. This conflict is intertwined with a passionate story of first love and new discoveries during the transition from child to adult." Even for viewers who are no longer teens, the thrills, pains, and misunderstandings of youth aren't too difficult to remember.

Some of the best teen dramas on TV are the...

You can put dinosaurs in just about anything and we'll watch it, which is one reason why we're sharing this first look promo for Syfy's newest Original Series, "Primeval: New World," premiering June 8th. The remaining reasons? All the other creatures that come through the anomalies with them of course! Check it out.

Synopsis:

The 13-episode "Primeval: New World" stars Niall Matter ("Eureka"), Sara Canning ("The Vampire Diaries"), and Danny Rahim ("Eastenders") as a team of animal experts and scientists investigating paranormal events while battling both prehistoric and futuristic creatures. Amanda Tapping, who starred in the Syfy series "Sanctuary" and is currently recurring on "Supernatural," directed several episodes.

Based on the original "Primeval" series from Impossible Pictures, the "Primeval: New World" creative team is led by executive producers Martin Wood ("Sanctuary," "Stargate: Atlantis") and Gillian Horvath ("Sanctuary," Highlander"). The spinoff was created by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens ("Star Trek: Enterprise...

Summer used to be the time that we’d see Warehouse 13, Haven, and – sigh – Eureka return with new seasons, but that’s all changed. Warehouse 13 returns for the second half of its giant 20-episode season on Monday, Haven is now a fall series, and Eureka… well, you know.

But chin up! We have Season 2 of Continuum and standalone seasons of Sinbad and Primeval: New World coming our way, along with the return of Face Off, Ghost Hunters, and many other competition and nonscripted series, not to mention a Twilight Zone marathon, a Roger Corman marathon, and more Original Movies with excellent titles. Check em all out below; series broadcast info will be updated on the SciFiMafia.com Spring and Summer Primetime TV Schedule.

Syfy Launches A Summer Of Imagination And Adventure Premieres Of Reality Series Joe Rogan Questions Everything, Cosworld, Notorious Hauntings And Exit All-new Episodes Of Face Off,...

If you watched the British series "Primeval" (which we absolutely loved), then this news should be of interest: Building on its success with acquired series such as "Lost Girl" and "Continuum," Syfy will air the "Primeval" spinoff "Primeval: New World" beginning Saturday, June 8th.

From the Press Release:

The 13-episode "Primeval: New World" stars Niall Matter ("Eureka"), Sara Canning ("The Vampire Diaries"), and Danny Rahim ("Eastenders") as a team of animal experts and scientists investigating paranormal events while battling both prehistoric and futuristic creatures. Amanda Tapping, who starred in the Syfy series "Sanctuary" and is currently recurring on "Supernatural," directed several episodes.

Based on the original "Primeval" series from Impossible Pictures, the "Primeval: New World" creative team is led by executive producers Martin Wood ("Sanctuary," "Stargate: Atlantis") and Gillian Horvath ("Sanctuary," Highlander"). The spinoff was created by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens ("Star Trek: Enterprise", Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World...

It looks like our summer is shaping up very nicely, thanks to some excellent scheduling by The Powers That Be. At least our weekends will be taken care of. True Blood will almost certainly return in its usual Sunday at 9/8c slot, so there’s Sunday sorted. We told you earlier today that Zero Hour will be airing Saturdays at 8/7c, which fits in perfectly with this latest scheduling announcement: Primeval: New World will be airing Saturdays at 9/8c, followed by Sinbad at 10/9c on Syfy.

You may recall that we told you about the Syfy pickup of Primeval: New World back in October. You’ll recognize it as a spinoff from the original Primeval which aired here originally on BBC America. You’ll also recognize the star, Niall Matter, as Zane from the late great Eureka. Primeval: New World is another series acquired by Syfy from our pals up in Canada,...

We have been reading, longingly, about the upcoming Canadian spinoff of the UK dinosaurs-in-the-modern-world series Primeval entitled Primeval: New World. We thought it would be fun. Then when we heard Niall Matter (Zane on Eureka) had been cast, we got even more jealous of our northern neighbors. Then when we heard it would be promoted as “darker and scarier” than the original series from whence it sprung, it sounded right up our alley. But since it wasn’t literally up Our alley, we sat and stewed.

But that is all behind us now as we rejoice over today’s announcement that Syfy has picked up the series for the U.S. market. First we have a trailer for you to check out, so that you can be as excited as we are, before getting to the details of the press release:

Trailer: Primeval: New World

Click here to view the embedded video.

With a sequel to The Avengers officially confirmed by Marvel/Disney, comic book fans the world over will be contemplating which of the publisher’s other heroes could be added to the line-up, potentially getting their own solo movie as soon as 2014 – filling the popularly acknowledged gap in the schedule alongside Captain America 2 that summer.

Of course, we have to bear in mind that Marvel Studios do not own the film rights to characters as key to their comic book universe as Daredevil, Spider-Man, Wolverine or the Fantastic Four – all of whom have allied with or become members of the Avengers at one time or another – but with that consideration in place, here is another suggestion for Marvel’s Next Avengers Film:

Moon Knight (Marc Spector)

Why?: Moon Knight is often blagged as being a rip-off of Batman. But anyone who says this clearly has not read the comics.

Andrew-Lee Potts will reprise his role as Connor Temple from the original series of Primeval but only as a guest.

Canada’s stellar channel for science fiction, fantasy and horror, Space, has announced the start of production on Primeval: New World, the spin-off from the popular British sci-fi series Primeval. Thirteen episodes of the one-hour drama will be filmed in Vancouver.

“Space is delighted to begin production on an exceptional homegrown series that is a counterpart to one of our channel’s most successful shows,” said Corrie Coe, Senior Vice-President, Independent Production at Space’s parent company, Bell Media. “We are thrilled to work with Omni Film and, with the support of Impossible Pictures, we know it will both capture the essence of the original U.K. series and bring a unique sensibility to the screen. Both existing fans of the Primeval brand and the Space audience alike are sure...

The 17th annual San Antonio Film Festival is back with their 17th annual edition, which will run on June 16-26 at several locations around the city. Once again, the fest is a truly international affair with a special emphasis on films produced south of the border.

The feature films and shorts this year come from as far away as Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Madrid and London, but there are also numerous films from Central and South America, including two features from Mexico: Gerardo Tort’s Viaje Redondo; and Roberto Hernández & Geoffrey Smith’s Presunto Culpable.

There are also lots of regionally-made films, including two special programs featuring short films by local high school students, co-presented with Klrn public television.

Plus, once again, the fest is chock full of documentaries, from sports docs like Robert Herrera’s The Gray Seasons, to activist docs like Jon Cooksey’s How to Boil a Frog,...

Jon Cooksey has been signed to write the script for the first feature based on "ReBoot", one of the earliest computer-animated episodic TV series.

"ReBoot" is being redeveloped as a trilogy of feature-length films by Rainmaker Animation. Originally produced in 1994, the series was created by MainFrame Entertainment, which was acquired by and renamed Rainmaker in 2006.

Meanwhile, as part of a marketing campaign that was developed in conjunction with Zeros 2 Heroes Media, a "ReBoot" relaunch began with a series of writers pitching ideas with one selected to work with Rainmaker's animation team to create a comic that would evolve with the help of fans via the Web.

The new comic, "Paradigms Lost", was the brainchild of writer Jeff Campbell, producer Shea Wageman, artist Shaun Martens and designer Kelly Schmidt. In the story, two mortal enemies, the heroic Guardians and merciless Codemasters, set aside their differences to battle a viral outbreak that threatens the stability of cyberspace.