Babylon 5 To Launch on the Big Screen

<p>Original series creator J&period; Michael Straczynski has announced plans for a feature-length film adaptation of his sci-fi cult series&comma; <em>Babylon 5<&sol;em>&comma; which would see production begin by <strong>2016<&sol;strong>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Announcing his plans in full at San Diego Comic Con&comma; Straczynski said the the film would apparently outright reboot the 1990s series that once played rival to Gene Roddenberry&&num;8217&semi;s <em>Star Trek&colon; Deep Space 9<&sol;em>&period; However&comma; Straczynski didn&&num;8217&semi;t rule out including a number of series favorites&comma; namely Bruce Boxleitner&&num;8217&semi;s starring Commander Sheridan as <strong>&&num;8220&semi;the President of the Earth Alliance&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>News on the film&&num;8217&semi;s budget or support by Warner Bros&period; remains unclear&comma; though it&&num;8217&semi;s reported Straczynski could finance it himself through his own production company&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>TV Wires reports that the &&num;8220&semi;big budget&&num;8221&semi; film would hopefully begin production &&num;8220&semi;<strong>once the script has been completed<&sol;strong>&comma;&&num;8221&semi; but thanks to Straczysnki&&num;8217&semi;s own deal with the studio back in the early 1990s&comma; he&comma; rather than Warner Bros&comma;<strong> &&num;8220&semi;owns the feature film rights to the show&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;strong> Whoever chooses to produce the film&comma; Straczynski might proceed on his own accord&comma; possibly funded and produced through his Studio JMS banner on a budget of <strong>&&num;8220&semi;&dollar;80 – &dollar;100 million&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At least three Babylon 5 feature films were pitched by Straczynski throughout the years&comma; the first being in <strong>1996<&sol;strong> to tell the story of The Telepath war&period; The second&comma; tentatively titled<em> Babylon 5&colon; The Motion Picture<&sol;em>&comma; told the story of President Sheridan investigating when the entire crew of a White Star are found dead&period; The third&comma; the cancelled <em>The Memory of Shadows<&sol;em>&comma; came closest to fruition in 2004&sol;2005 prior to its failing to find funding&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We&&num;8217&semi;ll just have to see where this one goes in the meantime&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sources&colon; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;tvwise&period;co&period;uk&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;babylon-5-movie-eyes-2016-production-start&sol;">TV Wise<&sol;a> via <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;io9&period;com&sol;babylon-5-could-soon-be-rebooted-as-a-feature-film-1619026279">i09<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;