Mummy Joe, Babylon Butchered & Bloom Madness!

Welcome to our next edition of Top Maniacal Rumors of the Week, the place to cover all those wild and wacky rumors that sometimes were a bit too unsubstantiated to cover elsewhere. This week was filled with some big ones, enough so that vocal Maniacs made them known on any articles they could.

From a possible Mummy star appearing in Joe duds to a possible really big robot landing in the next Bay project to the real reason why Gough and Millar left Smallville, here’s the place to catch up.

Brendan Fraser and Dwayne Johnson in G.I Joe?

Rumor: As some of our more vocal readers are aware, El Mayimbe opened a can of ‘Gung Ho’ rumor mongering last Friday by saying that Mummy star Brendan Fraser has filmed scenes as the G.I Joe character Gung Ho and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is set to appear as Shipwreck.

Source: Latino Review

Mania Verdict: MAYBE---We can testify that Latino Review seems to get a lot of these rumors correct and it fits that Fraser would reunite with Mummy director Stephen Sommers for a bit part. We’re leaning towards true but we have yet to see any confirmations on these points from the trades or the actors.

Al Gough Left Smallville because of a rift with leading star Tom Welling?

Rumor: Smallville showrunner Al Gough was forced out before next year’s Season 8 because of a rift between him and Tom Welling over character development.

Source: Action-Figure.com

Mania Verdict: FALSE---We can see leading star Welling wanting to establish some control on development over his Kent character and we can certainly see Gough and Millar wanting to keep control in the executive producers’ camp but as TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello reports, the likely reason for them leaving is “money and movies”. Both Gough and Millar have been focusing on movie projects in recent years and WB could save money by just paying the leading writers who have been more hands on lately.

Rumor: While Ausiello was dispelling the Smallville rumors, he brought in a fresh rumor of his own by revealing that Carlton and fellow “Lost” producers may fit in an extra hour this season for their hit ABC series.

Source: TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello

Mania Verdict: TRUE---It seems fitting that they will end the current season with 14 episodes instead of the unlucky 13 previously expected. The question remains on how they will fit it in before their May 22 finale night.

Rumor: At the same time, LR was producing the Joe rumors late last week, another wildfire rumor sprang up centering on the possibility of a really big robot---the Constructicons’ unified Devastator--- making a cameo appearance as well.

Source: IESB

Mania Verdict: TRUE---Michael Bay will want to expand on his original “Really Big Robot” theme in the upcoming sequel and we know one Constructicon, the Bone Crusher, already made an appearance in the first film.

Heroes: Origins isn’t coming to TV after all?

Rumor: The WGA strike halted plans to have a spin-off series of NBC’s “Heroes” featuring the origins of new possible characters to later be introduced into the original series. The latest rumors says even if the writers are back at work, the spin-off has been called off.

Source: Various

Mania Verdict: TRUE—The confirmation came straight from NBC’s Ben Silverman at last week’s “Infront” conference. For now, there will be no spin-off for the hit series but what’s to say it won’t happen a few years down the road.

Rumor: Sources have indicated that French director Matthieu Kassovitz turned in a 160 minute sci-fi action film for their U.K version and the studio wants to cut it down to 90 minutes for distribution in the US and turned it from R to PG-13.

Source: Twitch Film

Mania Verdict: FALSE---Here's the official response from the production company.

Rumor: A wild rumor popped up that Pirates’ star Orlando Bloom was reuniting with a new Disney franchise upstart Prince of Persia, based on the best selling video game series.

Source: WENN

Mania Verdict: FALSE---Disney was quick to shoot the rumor down to all media sites online within hours.