Universal won't start production this spring on Central Intelligence, the comedy that had The Office's Ed Helms starring and Dean Parisot directing. Rumors raced yesterday that the film was scrapped. Insiders insist that isn't so. What is certain is the comedy won't come before Helms reprises in The Hangover sequel, ... Read More »

EXCLUSIVE: David Fincher is trying again with Heavy Metal, the animated anthology film he set up two years ago at Paramount, only to see the studio drop the project.

Fincher's shopping a version I would call vastly more appealing. I'm told that Fincher has Avatar director James Cameron ready to direct ... Read More »

Renee Zellweger has returned to CAA, after leaving for a nine-month stint at WME. Haven't seen much of the Oscar-winner lately. When Sunday's Academy Awards used past co-workers to give intimate introductions of Best Actor and Best Actress nominees, I wondered why Julianne Moore introduced Colin Firth (she noted she ... Read More »

Since you asked, I've been traveling and will continue to be out of the country next week. However, I'll start posting intermittently. In the meantime, help Mike Fleming continue to do a great job. More exciting developments coming up.

Showtime's announcement of an exclusive output deal with Disney that includes up to 35 DreamWorks films through 2015 begs the question: will Steven Spielberg get behind the camera and deliver one before that deal is up? A flirtation with Paramount ... Read More »

Rupert Wyatt has moved into pole position on 20th Century Fox's Planet of the Apes prequel. No start date, but Wyatt's come aboard to develop to direct. Script's by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. Wyatt last directed The Escapist.

Universal Pictures has set Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman to star in The Change-Up, the David Dobkin-directed body-switching comedy. Reynolds was also being courted for Universal's supernatural comedy RIPD, but chose a comedy that has a priority for the studio since ... Read More »

EXCLUSIVE: How many movie directors does it take to make a comedy pic? Try 17.

Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity Media has signed on to co-finance an untitled comedy. Each of those directors are shooting segments for a film styled in the ... Read More »

The latest author to take a Broadway turn? John Grisham. D.C.-based Arena Stage has rounded out its 2010-2011 schedule with the world premiere of A Time to Kill, the John Grisham bestseller that has been adapted for the stage by Rupert Holmes. The Premiere is set for May 6, 2011,  ... Read More »

CAA has signed Aline Brosh McKenna, the prolific screenwriter of The Devil Wears Prada, 27 Dresses, and the recently wrapped Paramount comedy Morning Glory. She had been repped by Hohman Maybank Lieb but I heard she took agency meetings recently before signing with CAA. Brosh has numerous scripts percolating — ... Read More »

An oft-asked question — do reviewers matter anymore? -- was the subject of lunchtime chatter today in theater circles, after the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Love Never Dies was pummeled by The New York Times reviewer Ben Brantley. Some wondered if ... Read More »

Moving Shutter Island worked for Paramount. Will pushing Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps from April 23rd to September 24th pay off for Fox? The fact that Fox announced this decision after Oliver Stone started showing the film to Fox execs ... Read More »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 10, 2010
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE CONTINUES TO SOAR;
U.S. ADMISSIONS ON THE RISE
3D gives a boost to box office growth

Los Angeles – The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) today released its annual Theatrical Market Statistics Report for

... Read More »

Last week the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival launched its virtual festival. Today it unveiled a competition slate with virtually no films I’ve ever heard of before.

The hottest title in today’s announcement isn't in competition. It is an in-progress showing of an ... Read More »

Corey Haim is the latest actor to die way before his time. He was 38. According to reports, an accidental drug overdose is suspected by the LAPD. Haim was one of Hollywood's hottest young stars in The Lost Boys and License to Drive, but ... Read More »

In February, the new lit agency Verve signed Rob Edwards (writer of the Oscar-nominated film The Princess And The Frog), Alex Litvak (writer of this summer’s Robert Rodriguez-produced Predators), Trevor Munson (creator of CBS show Moonlight), David Silverman (director of The Simpsons Movie, co-director of Monsters Inc, producer on The Simpsons TV show), Rich Wilkes (writer of XXX franchise for Sony).

Seann William Scott has left CAA and signed with ICM. He is currently co-starring in the feature film Cop Out opposite Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis, and recently wrapped the Peter Farrelly/Brett Ratner 2010 comedy project. Seann is best known for the American Pie franchise but also starred in The Dukes Of Hazzard and Dude, Where's My Car? and voiced animated films Ice Age and Planet 51.

On the heels of a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination for An Education, Nick Hornby has signed with WME. It's the first time the British writer has had a U.S. agent. WME will work on film and TV opportunities with U.K.-based Jenne Casarotto. Caroline Dawnay at United Agents makes Hornby's ... Read More »