‘The Green Hornet’ buzz

Kevin Smith, of Clerks and Chasing Amy fame, will be writing anddirecting an adaptation of the comic book classic “GreenHornet.” The comic tells the story of Britt Reid,multimillionaire newspaper publisher, who puts on the guise of theGreen Hornet to fight crime with his sidekick, Kato. Smith reportsthat he has written about 50 pages of the screenplay, and he willbe meeting with potential actors very soon. There is no specificrelease date, but Smith reports that Green Hornet should be intheaters by August 2005. (Variety, ViewAskew.com)

Big apple on the big screen

“Sex and the City” may be gone from TV, but thatdoesn’t stop Carrie and the gang from sexing up theaterscreens. The cast of the HBO series is currently in talks to starin Sex and the City: The Movie, once executive producer MichaelPatrick King is done with the script. Naturally, there is norelease date yet. (Variety)

Batman 5?

Holy casting update, Batman! Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman havesigned on to play supporting roles in Batman: Intimidation, the newBatman film by Christopher Nolan. Neeson, falsely reported to beplaying the film’s villain (Ra’s al Ghul), will in factbe playing Ducard, Bruce Wayne’s mentor. Freeman will beplaying Lucius Fox, the CEO of Bruce Wayne’s company, WayneEnterprises. Also, Ken Watanabe is up for one of two roles in thefilm, one of which is a villain. This project seems to be shapingup very nicely and is slated for a July 1, 2005 release. (Variety,Comingsoon.net, Counting Down, Film Force)

‘Jumanji’ sequal is a whole new game

One of the fundamental laws of sequels is “Where there isone, make two.” If you have one alien in Species, make twoaliens in Species II, for instance. It should be no surprise, then,to learn that Zathura, the sequel to 1995’s Jumanji, includesnot just the original magical board game from the first film, butalso a second board game “which is marked with a path to apurple planet called Zathura.” Development on this sequel hadbeen stalled until recently, when Jon Favreau (director of Elf)signed on to direct and David Koepp (Spider-Man screenwriter)signed on to pen the script. No word yet on whether Robin Williamswill be in this one, but don’t count on it. (Movies.com,Variety)

A new ‘Twist’ on an old tale

How many times can you repackage the same story and sell it assomething new? When it comes to the works of Charles Dickens, theanswer is apparently, “As many times as you possiblycan.” A new version of Oliver Twist is being produced bydirector Jacob Tierney, with Joshua Close as Oliver and Terminator3 actor Nick Stahl as Dodger. What makes this version differentfrom any other is the setting — instead of being set in 19thcentury London, this Twist is set in 21st century Montreal, withFrench-Canadian gay street hustlers instead of sticky-fingeredbeggar boys. Look for it sometime later this year, most likely inindependent theater chains. And if this interpretation of Twistisn’t your cup of tea, director Roman Polanski is reportedlystarting production on his own version mid-2004. (DarkHorizons)

‘Superman V’ on hold

While production of Batman seems to be moving smoothly,production on its developmentally challenged sibling, Superman V,is allegedly being suspended. After months in development hell, theproject has no definite cast, a constantly re-written script, andvery little good press. The fact that McG (the genius behindCharlie’s Angels: Full Throttle) is in charge of the projectdoesn’t help much. Rumor has it that production has ceased,the script is undergoing yet another massive re-haul, and severalkey crewmembers have left the project entirely.(Superman-V.com)