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SM RUMOR FALSE...OR IS IT?
July 17, 2006

By now, in one form or another, you probably have heard about it, or at least read the many stories, which honestly have been rather conflicting all around the board, about rumors that have surfaced about a possible live-action Sailor Moon movie with Lindsay Lohan as the lead member of the cast. Now, if you have been reading the reports, tons of websites have reported on it. Story is that a Japanese Anime Magazine called Animage was going to report a story that FOX (20th Century Fox) has acquired the rights to Sailor Moon and wanted to make a live action movie from it, Joss Wheldon (of Firefly fame) to direct and Jennifer Garner (of Alias) to co-star as Queen Beryl.

Anime News Network, or ANN, had reported that the rumor was false for one reason: No story that was rumored to be included in the magazine was to be found. And everyone who believed that (and ANN, as I have heard, is rather creditable), thought of it to be true, that the rumor was gone for good.

That is, until a May story on MTV.com talked about Lohan's newest movie works, and one of them that they talked about? Sailor Moon, saying that "the people behind [it] had sent her some material to look at." Now, take that for what it's worth, but here's the main thing I got from that: That ANN wasn't as certain as they thought they were, and whoever first brought up the SM movie rumor is suddenly back in the game by knocking one out of the park (and further into the water than Big Papi did it at the 2006 Home Run Derby).

Now, a person who doesn't take it upon oneself to delve into the media industry won't know how complicated the industry really is. And one who does know how it is won't bother telling you because, quite frankly, it's as hectic as all hell, and any reminder of it will just drive them insane. Not to mention let something slip.

This may sound like a digression, but actually, it is worth mentioning, because this is something that ANN obviously didn't take into consideration. The article that the rumor eluded to, as I had read and understood, wasn't exactly published yet at the time the rumor was leaked (the ANN story mentioned that the person checking it up went through past issues). Thus, between then and the scheduled release of such news, things might've changed or been modified. If you don't believe me, then try getting into the press. You will see how hard that is to report on news, and to be told what you can and cannot publish.

The rumor's truth (and let's assume for a moment that it IS true, all of it) could be proven with a variety of ways:

- Press time is an issue. If no one knows what that is, it is the "cut off" date, like a deadline, but not quite. While a deadline is something a person has to meet or else a job is at stake, a press time date is a date in which a story has to be submitted in order for a story to be included in the upcoming issue of a magazine (because layout issues and editing and printing have to be considered, as well). What if the person who had been responsible for reporting didn't make a press time cut off date? Then, long and behold, this rumor would not be able to reach the daylight? I personally don't know anything about the magazine in question, but they might work like any other mag.

- My mind, however, keeps going onto secrecy. As in, whoever is making the movie does not want the news to be revealed until they are damn good and ready. And FOX is VERY secretive. Where did we know a Simpsons movie (which FOX is well behind) was even being MADE before we saw that trailer? And an animated movie takes YEARS to make. If they were able to keep that under wraps for however long, they could keep this one a secret for who know how long. Now then, why are we being told about it through rumors? Simple. Leaking. There are times in which someone with either an axe to grind or someone who is too excited about whatever it is to keep it secret delivers a story in which we, the general public, aren't really supposed to know yet (something the internet, by the way, knows alot about). Chances are, someone leaked the story, and FOX saw it, told whoever was going to publish the story to not publish it, and bam, done. Now, why would FOX want to worry themselves with a rumor? Have you SEEN how aggressive FOX is with these kinds of things. Their aggressiveness to copyright infringement would make the WWE cringe. And even more so, they respond to nearly EVERY rumor involving them. When you really think about it, this theory isn't that far off. But then what about the MTV.com mention? For one, FOX is never mentioned by name (just "the people behind" it), and it was also an online story, one they couldn't stop because it was a sudden release. My theory entirely.

Editorial decision. We do not know exactly what the staff over there wants to do with the story, or any other story for that matter. We already know the (ridiculous) controversy the New York Times made for "leaking" Bush's money transfer spying thing he had going on. The media has been put under a microscope again and again, and editors of magazines in particular are very wary about what they want to publish, and what they say.

- Just how long do you want to wait for the news to come out in the magazine? Six, eight months? Not that patient? Better take classes, then, because magazines tend to not rush that much when it comes to news (newspapers are Speedy Gonzales, while some mags will be Slowpoke Rogregus). Animage might be reporting on it, just not in that issue. Maybe by September, we will in fact, see it.

Now, my first question is: Why in the hell did ANN NOT say anything about the MTV.com story (I'll give the devil its due here, MTV News has been a rather creditable source in its own right)? Did their creditability feel threatened by that story (which some may say it doesn't prove one damn thing, anyone that really reads that is going to see that the movie rumor has SOME mustard behind it)? I never saw anything on their website saying ANYTHING about the MTV.com story. Maybe they thought the same thing I said in the parenthesis.

Now, the main reasons to debunk this rumor are the rights situation, Joss Wheldon's situation with FOX and his schedule now, the notion that SM isn't profitable now, and the plain silliness such a movie would have. However, I can find ways to debate each:

RIGHTS: There's actually a couple of ways to debate this. First of all, Toei, as I understand it, owns the anime series and the live action series that aired as a Japanese-exclusive. The actual Sailor Moon characters, however, belong to creator Naoko Takeuchi, and maybe (just maybe) she can still choose to grant someone the rights to make a live action movie (and if warranted, expand off of the movie into games and such, like sequels). FOX might've known this (their legal department is smart), and decided to act upon it just when the time is right. Second reason: Since we don't know exactly who owns what now in SM, it is certainly possible that FOX has the rights and no one wants to say anything. We know, from various unnamed sources (I don't know anyone's creditability on this one, so bear with me) that Naoko and Toei have a less-than-pleasent relationship with each other as of late, and if Naoko was successful in a legal battle over the rights that I was reading about on Wikipedia (although the sources were not cited, there was nothing saying that it was false anywhere), then FOX more or less would have a free pass to at least try to. Finally, money speaks, and anyone that knows how aggressive FOX CEO Rupert Murdoch is at buying things knows that he has alot of it. Dead presidents speak for themselves, and Toei might've took the bait. It's all worth noting

WHELDON: His situation, last anyone checked, with FOX was anything but pleasant because of what he felt FOX did with squashing Firefly, the 13 episode series that the Serenity movie spun-off from (Serenity, by the way, was distributed by Universal). However, remember how I said FOX was secretive? How secret do you think they can get with a possible reuniting? A new contract that Wheldon liked? And his schedule now, in which he is making two movie that we know of right now. Something tells me that he is known to be one damn good workaholic, and he loves his job. By the way, one of the two projects we know he's working on is Wonder Woman, and I've read that Lohan is working with him on THAT one, too.

PROFITS: Oh wow, I could go on all day about this one, but the two main debatable points about this: Immortality and timing. Immortality first. SM, even though nothing really huge has happened lately, has been idolized and basically made into immortality. Everyone immediately identifies with the show from their childhood, in the same way they identified immediately with other things from the past (Dukes Of Hazard, Miami Vice, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). The SECOND that this rumor started to spread, everyone began to talk about how they remembered seeing the TV show. Thus, if a live action movie were to be made that was made aggressively, then people would be anxious to see it. Now, hardcore fans may never be pleased by the result (after all, it's impossible to perfect a transition such as that, regardless of how loyal to the source material you try to be), but casual fans, who just want to see a good action movie and the nostalgia of it all, will want to see it and will sit back and enjoy the ride. Action movie buffs will also get their wanted dose of entertainment. Now for the timing, in which I think now would be the absolute PERFECT time to consider a revival like this. As much as these fans won't care to admit it, they are craving for some new SM material of some time. The deprivation of something official has made them rabid in the back of their minds. And when people would ask why FOX would do it now, the answer when considering the timing is simple: FOX is going to feed some starving SM fans, and because of that, would make some HUGE bucks off of this one. Simpily put, if this is true (which I'll go on record in saying that it is indeed a TRUE rumor), then it'll be a VERY good time to be a Moon fan.

SILLINESS: First thing is first, Lindsay Lohan DOES seem like an unlikely fit for the title role. However, we will see. However, Jennifer Garner's role would make me want to see it for her alone. She got many males hot and bothered in Alias, and she would be a perfect fit for Beryl. Secondly, this is FOX we are talking about here. FOX is not known for being skimpy in pulling out all the stops on something many people want to see. Third, look at the comic book movies that have been made lately. Spider Man turned out to be a VERY successful movie franchise with Spider Man 3 getting some HUGE hype, Batman Begins was well received, X-Men I don't even need to TELL you how successful THAT has been, and Superman Returns is getting alot of money. And all of these might've been thought to have been silly when first heard about. Spider Man made into a live action movie? Being a Spider Man fan myself, I was thinking that someone was going to screw up that big time, but FOX didn't disappoint. And Toby Maguire (Mr. calm and cool in Pleasentville himself) a very good Peter Parker? Are you kidding me? But DAMN, are we EVER seeing it turn out better than EVER. My point is that we ARE going to be biased at anything that is being taken from a drawn state to a live action state. But we've seen it done before. In my mind, SM would do JUST FINE, and Lindsay Lohan as Moon could actually be magic in the making.

Now, this is the first of three parts I am doing about this subject. Apparently, the rumor isn't going away (dispute the ANN story, the MTV.com story just rekindled the flame to the point where it seems like the rumor killer became the Hindenberg), and this will be something I will follow very closely, and I predict that, by this time next year, the hype machine will begin for the Sailor Moon film (and by the way, when I start predicting stuff like this, it ends up happening at some point, I've gotten creeped out big time by that, so watch out, as something is going to happen).

Next article, I'm going to tell everyone how the live action Sailor Moon movie SHOULD be made (and no, it is NOT "to not make it at all", don't try that one on me). Until then, enjoy this speculation.

Good night, and good luck.