“Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum were big hits on DVD when the original movies debuted in 2008 … so what’s the hold-up, MGM? With 2009 rapidly passing by, the studio has yet to begin production on the third SG-1 movie and the first Atlantis movie.
Executive producer Robert C. Cooper recently told SciFi Wire just why there is a delay, echoing what he and fellow executive producer Brad Wright told GateWorld in April (interview).
“We’re ready to go,” he told the site. “We’re just waiting for the right opportunity. We want to be successful with it. The studio wants to be successful, and we really don’t want to proceed with something in the wrong climate, which I think financially it is right now.”
“We were very successful with the first two SG-1 movies,” Cooper added. “Since then, the economics have changed a little bit. DVDs aren’t selling the same way they were when we released those even just a year, and a year and a half ago.”
Meanwhile, the Atlantis set is still standing (and costing MGM rent) — a good sign that the studio plans to film the movie, eventually. The S.G.C. set was recently converted for use in the Stargate Universe premiere, and there are rumors that the real-world closing of Cheyenne Mountain may result in a relocation of the SG-1’s home base in a future film.
Wright said in April that the SG-1 movie had received a green light from the studio and would almost certainly film before the year is out (story). Whether MGM is still planning that schedule remains to be seen. The script is complete, penned by Wright and Carl Binder.
The Atlantis movie script has also been written, by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, and is still waiting for the go-ahead. Its working title is Stargate: Extinction.
Cooper said that the Atlantis film takes place shortly after the end of the final episode of the television series, while the SG-1 movie (which will feature Richard Dean Anderson as Jack O’Neill) takes place sometime in the period between Continuum and the start of Stargate Universe.”
STARGATE:ATLANTIS
STARGATE:EXTINTION
WAREHOUSE 13
