Confirmed for 2009

It happens with the start of every new year. People start gabbing about shit that just isn’t true. Hopes and dreams really. When you break it down and do a little research though you find out that it was never even a thought in the mind of anyone supposedly involved. In some cases it is something that someone hears and blogs about other times it is a hoax and still other it is an out right lie but like I said, it happens every year. This year I decided to start things off by confirming a few rumors that ARE true. I hope that these confirmations have you as excited for 2009 as I am. Honestly after some of the movies that were rumored at in Movie (pre)View:5 Reasons not to leave your house, we need a little good news.

The Godfather 4: After the success of the Godfather video game in 06 Serious talks began about shooting a new chapter in the series. Paramount Pictures declared in 07 that they would never be attached to another Godfather film so in August of that year Coppola began legal proceedings to gain control of the franchise.  In 2008 Coppola signed an exclusive deal with Boll KG to fund and distribute the film. Part of the agreement was to include a CGI “prequel” as well but no word as of yet when that will take place. Coppola then decided to focus on casting. In September of last year he began talking with some pretty big names. The list of male leads was confirmed as Al Pacino, Nicholas Cage, Andy Garcia and Joe Pantoliano. The new Godfather tentatively being called “Godfather: The Unforgiven Sins” is set to begin principal filming in February in Kansas City.

The long awaited Nirvana Reunion: No Kurt didn’t fake his own death. No he hasn’t been living in Europe under a false name. The truth is after the release of “With the Lights Out” in 2004 as well as all of the best selling books relating to the band and overwhelming fan demand Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic have been kicking this around for at least 3 years. This rumor has been going strong for a while now but I didn’t believe it until last week when I first heard from a source close to Austin Winkler of Hinder said that the singer had be tapped to fill in for Kurt if this thing were to get off the ground. After a bit more research I found out from a source at Courtney Love’s management company that she has actually o.k.ed this. Apparently Krist and Dave approached her about doing a “semi-reunion” and asked if she would have a problem with the two of them re-recording some Nirvana songs for a benefit C.D. under the name “Pen Cap Chew” which Krist explained was one of the original names of Nirvana. Love kicked the idea around and said that she was uncomfortable with that idea. If the songs were going to be performed by Dave and Krist she felt it would only be right that it be called “Nirvana”. In December Love, Grohl and Novoselic got together to begin disgussing plans. It was agreed that the band would indeed be called Nirvana and that Krist and Dave would make most of the decisions but Love had to have final approval of everything. By the end of December Pat Smear had been signed up to join the band and Love made one more stipulation. Since she recently became sober  with the help of the “New Approach” clinic, she wanted a protion of the profits to be donated to them. Novoselic, Grohl, Winkler and Smear are expected to begin rehearsing later this month in Los Angeles.

The Sega Bennu: Sega hit its stride with the Sega Genesis in the early 90’s and then had a massive resurgence with the Dreamcast in 99 and the game Seaman. By 2001 though Sega was failing and soon had to restructure itself as a “Software Only” company. It survives in this role still today and it brought the company great success. So much so that Hiroyuki Miyazaki, director of  R&D recently slipped at a press conference in July of 08 and revealed the plan for Sega to return to console production. The console was codenammed “Red Belt” until December 18th when an internal document revealed the name to be “Bennu”. Bennu is the ancient Egyptian name for Pheonix, which makes sense considering this new console will be rising from the ashes. Look for strong marketing to begin around Easter with full on saturation and pre-orders by October. First run to hit U.S. stores by black Friday.