SAW II Takes Top Notch for Halloween Weekend Box Office

The surprisingly strong performance of Lions Gate's horror flick Saw II gave shares in the Canadian-based company an 8 percent boost Monday, cutting almost in half the stock's year-to-date loss of 16 percent.

Saw II opened with $31.7 million in ticket sales, much of it derived from teenagers getting into the mood for Halloween. The film cost an estimated $4 million to make. Second place went to The Legend of Zorro, starring Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The film took in a middling $16.3 million but is expected to have strong sales on DVD. Two other new releases fared poorly. Prime, starring Uma Thurman and Meryl Street, placed third with $6.2 million, while The Weather Man, starring Nicolas Cage, drew a paltry $4.2 million.

Overall sales for the top 12 films dropped 6.5 percent to $86.3 million from the comparable weekend last year.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
1. Saw II , Lions Gate, $31,725,652, (New);
2. The Legend of Zorro, Sony, $16,328,506, (New);
3. Prime, Universal, $6,220,935, (New);
4. Dreamer: Inspired By a True Story, DreamWorks, $6,132,856, 2 Wks. ($17,374,339);
5. Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, DreamWorks, $4,302,316, 4 Wks. ($49,694,983);
6. The Weather Man, Paramount, 4,248,465, (New);
7. Doom, Universal, $4,228,385, 2 Wks. ($23,034,930);
8. North Country, Warner Bros., 3,560,238, 2 Wks. ($12,109,718);
9. The Fog, Screen Gems, $3,108,668, 3 Wks. ($25,311,280);
10. Flightplan, Disney, $2,727,697, 6 Wks. ($81,277,630).

Lindsay Lohan Joins BOBBY

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lindsay Lohan, Shia LaBeouf and Brian Geraghty are joining the cast of Bobby, Emilio Estevez' project about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, which he wrote and is directing.

Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Elijah Wood, Nick Cannon and Freddy Rodriguez already are cast in the film, which is set to begin production next week in Los Angeles. Estevez also has a role. Bold Films is financing and producing the ensemble film, which mixes fact and fiction to chronicle the intertwining lives of a grand cast of characters present at Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel in the hours leading up to Kennedy's assassination.

KING KONG: 3 Hour Feature to be Released

According to Variety, less than two months before its December 14 release, Universal Pictures has doubled down, agreeing to release Peter Jackson's three-hour cut, which will push the budget to $207 million.

The budget on the great ape epic went up primarily because of the additional FX work needed. Jackson and Universal had originally contemplated a running time of around two and half hours, with a budget around $175 million. Jackson's original $20 million deal for King Kong -- which covered helming as well as writing and producing with wife Fran Walsh -- included a penalty if he brought it in over budget. Universal and Jackson's camp have been in recent days negotiating how to pay for the overages. The result: Jackson will pay for the bulk of the additional $32 million needed to bring in the super-sized King Kong. However, just the fact that "Kong" carries a $207 million price tag -- despite Jackson's own Weta Digital FX shop doing all of the FX work and the production receiving subsidies from New Zealand -- dramatically illustrates the escalating costs for Hollywood's biggest spectacles.

The Universal delegation knew they were going to see a three-hour version, but hadn't made any decisions on whether to release it. "We expected to see a long movie," said Universal chair Stacey Snider, "and we loved it. It's a brilliant movie, an epic feast. "Studios normally seek to avoid longer runtimes since it limits the number of showings when a pic is released in theaters.

However, some of the biggest grossing pics have had three hour run times, including all of Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The final installment, "The Return of the King” clocked in at three hours and 20 minutes. And of course, the all-time biggest grossing film Titanic reached $600.8 million despite running three hours and four minutes. Still, by opting for a three-hour runtime, Jackson will nearly double the 1933 original "Kong's" one hour and 40 minute length.

Also, Apple.com has posted a new featurette called "A Look Inside" which explores the making-of Peter Jackson's upcoming epic remake. The documentary features tons of new footage and behind-the-scenes effect shots from the film, which brings viewers closer to the production of the massive holiday movie. Interviews with director Peter Jackson, actress Naomi Watts and actors Jack Black, Adrian Brody and Jamie Bell tell what's it's like to work on this film with Jackson as he accomplishes his childhood dream of bringing the magic of this film to a contemporary audience.

Check out the extraordinary Final Full Length Trailer at: http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/king_kong/

Jerry Garcia Biopic Coming

According to Variety, J2 Entertainment partners Justin Berfield and Jason Felts have acquired rights to two books about Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead and intend to make a feature on the rock band's lead singer and guitarist.

The duo, who optioned the Sandy Troy bios "Captain Trips" and "One More Saturday Night," do not fit the prototypical Deadhead profile. Berfield, best known for playing bullying brother Reese in "Malcolm in the Middle," is 19; Felts is 26.

Berfield said he was new to the band's music but his father was a devout Deadhead. The movie will revolve around Garcia's recovery from a drug-induced coma. Garcia's drug problem had pushed ex-wife Carolyn away from the musician, but she returned to nurse him back to health.

Garcia had to relearn to play the guitar, but eventually rebounded and led the band to its biggest success.

FIRST LOOK: Steven Speilberg' Munich

The Hollywood Bureau is proud to give you your first look at the one-sheet teaser art for Steven Spielberg's next film, Munich.

Three-time Academy Award®-winning director-producer Steven Spielberg directs Munich, an historical thriller set in the aftermath of the 1972 massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. Munich recounts the dramatic story of the secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and assassinate 11 Palestinians believed to have planned the 1972 Munich massacre -- and the personal toll this mission of revenge takes on the team and the man who led it.

Eric Bana (Troy) stars as the Mossad agent charged with leading the band of specialists brought together for this operation. Inspired by actual events, the narrative is based on a number of sources, including the recollections of some who participated in the events themselves. The script is the first feature film written by Tony Kushner, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony Award and many other awards for his epochal Broadway drama Angels in America as well as its Emmy Award-winning adaptation for HBO.

The film is produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Barry Mendel, Spielberg and Colin Wilson. The international cast also includes Daniel Craig (Layer Cake), Geoffrey Rush (Shine), Mathieu Kassovitz (Birthday Girl), Hanns Zischler (Walk on Water) and Ciarán Hinds (Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera).

Munich hits theaters on December 23rd, 2005.

UPDATE: 11/30/05 The Los Angeles Times reported today that the December 23rd premiere of Steven Speilberg's Munich will not be accompanied by the usual news conferences, talk-show appearances and print interviews that ordinarily attend the release of a major film. Marvin Levy, Spielberg's personal publicist, told the newspaper that the director "wants everybody not to have preconceptions, to see the movie and make up their own minds."

Will Great Britain Loose Harry Potter & James Bond?

After already witnessing such "quintessentially British" stories as Oliver Twist, From Hell, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen being filmed in Prague, the British film industry may next see the next Harry Potter and James Bond movies shot in the Czech capital, unless the government acts swiftly to provide tax incentives to Hollywood filmmakers, the Associated Press reported today.

The wire service said that British officials are consulting with the film industry about a new tax-credit plan due to be implemented next April but that many in the industry are concerned that the tax break may not be large enough to help the British film industry compete satisfactorily against its counterparts in other European countries.

Sawyer Takes Herself Out of Running for ABC Anchor

ABC has removed Diane Sawyer from the list of candidates to replace the late Peter Jennings as World News Tonight anchor.

Responding to a report in the trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable that Sawyer was interested in the anchor post, ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider told reporters, "She is not a candidate for World News Tonight. ... She has never asked to come off of Good Morning America." However, Sawyer's GMA co-host, Charles Gibson, who has been acting as temporary anchor of the nightly newscast (with Elizabeth Vargas) since Jennings left the show, has reportedly made no secret of the fact that he would like to become its full-time anchor.

the Weinstein Co.'s Television Slate

We were thrilled to learn that Bob and Harvey have decided to build a television division within their new empire. All of us at The Hollywood Bureau share a great respect for the Weinstein Brothers. This duo is responsible for some of the most amazing film projects to be produced in our era.

According to Variety, the Weinstein Co. is in final negotiations with Barbara Schneeweiss to develop a TV slate. Projects include a skein based on Alexander McCall Smith's "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency," with Love Actually helmer-scribe Richard Curtis aboard to draft the pilot, with Anthony Minghella to direct.

The bestseller centers on a female gumshoe in Botswana. Curtis and Minghella have together approached "Boston Legal" creator David E. Kelley to become involved in a producing capacity on the skein.

TWC's TV slate also includes a second season of reality skein "Project Runway," which is co-produced by the Walt Disney Co. Series begins airing on Bravo later this year, and the Weinstein Co. is further producing "Project Catwalk," a U.K. spinoff of "Runway," with Elizabeth Hurley as host.

Also in the works are a skein based on Dimension Films' Sin City -- which would follow in the footsteps of 2006's second pic in Robert Rodriguez's "Sin" series -- and a skein based on the Miramax title Rounders capitalizing on the current craze for poker playing. Latter pic starred Matt Damon and Edward Norton, and was penned by Brian Koppelman and David Levien. John Dahl helmed.

THE SOPRANOS HEAD TO BROOKLYN

According to The Hollywood Reporter, several cast members of HBO's The Sopranos have signed on to the mob-themed indie Made in Brooklyn, which is shooting at locations throughout the New York borough.

The Machine's Jon Sheinberg and Paranormal Films' Malek Akkad are executive producing. Justin Hogan and Jeff Mazzola are producing along with Trancas International Films.

Brooklyn is described as a single story compilation consisting of four short films that focus on the area's people and hangouts.

The four stories are: Happy Birthday Joe Wood, Let It Go! and Choose Life. The Sopranos' Sharon Angela is making her directorial debut. Joe Tabbanella and Greg Alosio also are helming from a script by Luca Palanca.

Seacrest to sub for Larry King

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest is being brought in by CNN to share duties with Bob Costas as Larry King's substitute, the New York Post reported, citing CNN insiders.

The newspaper said that Seacrest, who also hosts the nationally syndicated American Top 40 radio show and works as the morning-drive DJ on L.A. radio station KIIS-FM, has been given free rein to book his own guests.

Last August, Costas refused to host one of King's shows after learning that the show's regular bookers had lined up interviews for him about Natalee Holloway, the teenager who went missing in Aruba.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Prequel Begins Filming

According to Fangoria, New Line Cinema's Untitled Texas Chainsaw Massacre Prequel began shooting in Austin, TX this week under Jonathan (Darkness Falls) Liebesman’s direction. Scripted by once and future Fango columnist David J. ("The Crow") Schow and being produced by the remake mavens at Platinum Dunes, the new Chainsaw stars Jordana (The Faculty) Brewster and Taylor ("The O.C.") Handley, as well as newly cast Matthew Bomer (who appeared in this fall’s Flightplan, but may be best-known for being an early front-runner for the title role of the new Superman Returns movie) and model-turned-actress Diora (Wedding Crashers) Baird.

As previously announced, R. Lee Ermey and Andrew Bryniarski return from the previous film as members of the cannibal clan; so does Heather Kafka in the Henrietta role.

The Untitled Texas Chainsaw Massacre Prequel hits theaters on October 6th, 2006.

PARAMOUNT REMOVES ITSELF FROM THE DREAMWORKS' EQUATION

The Los Angeles Times has reported that Paramount has removed itself as a suitor for DreamWorks. The newspaper indicated that executives at Paramount's corporate parent, Viacom, made the decision because they felt that investors might balk at such an acquisition just as Viacom was planning to split into two publicly traded companies.

The Times said that Paramount chief Brad Grey had "fiercely championed the idea of bringing DreamWorks into the studio's fold" but that his plans to do so were torpedoed last weekend at a meeting with Viacom chief Sumner Redstone and Viacom co-President Tom Freston in Scottsdale, AZ.

Donald Blames Martha for Lower Apprentice Ratings

Donald Trump has acknowledged that the decision by NBC to produce a second The Apprentice program with Martha Stewart as its star was a mistake and that his original show has suffered for it. "I think there was confusion between Martha's Apprentice and mine," he told ABC radio.

"Mine continues to do well, and as you know, the other one has struggled severely." (Trump's Apprentice audience is down almost 40 percent from last year.) Stewart's show, he said, "probably hurt mine and I sort of predicted that it would."

Martha Stewart has also disclosed that the producers of The Apprentice had considered dropping Donald Trump from the show and replacing him with her. When she originally agreed to do the NBC reality series, "I thought I was replacing The Donald," Stewart remarks in an interview that will appear in Fortune magazine's Nov. 14 edition. Trump himself was not informed of such plans. "I don't think he ever knew," Stewart told the magazine. As things turned out, Stewart's Apprentice has fared poorly in the ratings, while Trump's version performs decently, but no where near the ratings level it had reached in recent years.

Espionage at the CAA Agency???

An ongoing investigation into the activities of private detective Anthony Pellicano may disclose that one or more of the partners at the CAA Agency had hired the detective to spy on colleagues, the New York Times indicated today (Wednesday).

According to the report, Kevin Huvane and Brian Lourd, two top partners at the talent agency, were questioned by the FBI last year and asked whether they knew that the then agency head, Michael Ovitz, had hired Pellicano to investigate them and if they knew that their phones had been wiretapped.

Ovitz's lawyer, Bart Williams, told the Times that although the FBI had questioned his client, they had not asked him whether he had hired Pellicano to secretly tape Huvane and Lourd. "In fact, it's come to our attention that Mr. Ovitz was taped by Anthony Pellicano," Williams told the Times. "If one thing's become clear to me, it's that Anthony Pellicano consistently peddled information about Michael Ovitz to third parties."

HOLLYWOOD Threesome

Everyone in Hollywood is talking about the controversial threesome between three very talented actors.

When the very private relationship between Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis became very public, it was only a matter of time until a book about their lives went into publication.

Not ever fully identifying the two stars, Rupert Holmes wrote the book Where the Truth Lies. Director Atom Egoyan, adapting the novel by Holmes, unwraps the tale of a team of comedy legends, Lanny Morris (Kevin Bacon) and Vince Collins (Colin Firth), who are clearly meant to be a fictionalized takeoff on Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

Where the Truth Lies debuted at Cannes this past May.

The film became very controversial because of one scene involving a threesome between Colin, Kevin, and Rachel Blanchard; it was given an NC-17 rating by the MPAA.

Atom, along with the stars and producer, Robert Lantos decided to release the film anyway as unrated.

Antonio Tarver to Co-Star in Rocky VI

Of course by now, everyone has heard that Sylvester Stallone has decided to reprise the role that made him famous, for an upcoming 6th Installment of the Rocky franchise.

In every Rocky movie to date, there has always been an evil nemesis in which hero Rocky Balboa must defeat in the ring. The nemesis in this 6th script is named Mason Dixon. For weeks Hollywood insiders have speculated who would play the movie’s villain.

BoxingTalk.net has reported that Antonio Tarver may be playing the nemesis Mason Dixon.

From BoxingTalk.net: "Moments ago light heavyweight king Antonio Tarver informed Boxingtalk.com that his representatives are in the final stages of negotiations for a deal that would land Tarver the role of Mason Dixon in the eagerly anticipated Rocky VI, which begins filming shortly. Sylvester Stallone will play Rocky Balboa and Tarver will co-star as heavyweight champion Mason Dixon."

Rocky VI is set to hit theaters in 2006.

George Clooney in "Michael Clayton"

George Clooney is set to play the title character in Michael Clayton. Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack have also joined the cast with Tony Gilroy making his directorial debut from his own script.

Clooney's character is an attorney at a high-powered law firm; he's sort of a "janitor" who is called in to fix messes that no one else can handle. However, when Michael's friend and old associate, Arthur Edens (Wilkinson), goes off his meds, melts down in a deposition, and starts helping the plaintiffs build their class action case against Agtek, a chemical company that is the firm's most lucrative client, Michael has his work cut out for him. Arthur's sudden "suicide" has Michael wondering what role Agtek has played in the death.

Production is scheduled to begin January in New York.

The New James Bond: DANIEL CRAIG

British actor Daniel Craig was named as the next James Bond today, ending months of speculation over who would take over from Pierce Brosnan. In the tradition and style surrounding the world of Agent 007, the 37-year-old actor was swept up the River Thames on a large power boat escorted by the Royal Marines to the highly anticipated news conference. The new dashing blonde Bond wore a blue suit and red tie and posed for photographers in the shadow of London’s Tower Bridge.

"I'd like to thank the Royal Marines for bringing me in like that, and scaring the shit out of me," the actor joked. Daniel Craig was speculated by many to take over the role of Agent 007 James Bond prior to Friday's announcement, and his appointment to star in the next Bond film Casino Royale was all but confirmed when his mother let the secret slip to a regional newspaper earlier in the day.

While little is known about the actor in the United States, Craig will be more familiar to British audiences after appearing in the gangster caper Layer Cake. He also played alongside Paul Newman in Road to Perdition and Gwyneth Paltrow in Sylvia.

"It's a huge challenge. Life is about challenges and this is one of the big ones as an actor,” Craig stated. Earlier in the year he had expressed his misgivings about the script for Casino Royale, which is due to begin filming in January, saying that if he were offered the role he'd want "the emotional level" of the script to change, "but I don't know how ready they'd be to change."

At today's news conference, Craig promised to bring something new to a role immortalized by earlier incarnations Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan. "It's not a question of redefining, but a question of taking it somewhere maybe where it's never gone before." He said he spoke to Irishman Brosnan, who had described the decision by Bond film makers to drop him as a "body blow."

Martin Campbell will direct Casino Royale, due for release in November next year, which takes viewers back to the beginning of the super spy's career. "I certainly think it will be a little bit darker than previous Bond films ... more character, fewer gadgets," the director said of Casino, which is expected to cost at least $100 million. He added: "This will be tougher and grittier, and there's a terrific part for the girl and the relationship Bond has with the girl is probably a much more serious one than we've had in the past."

According to franchise producer Michael Wilson, Craig was chosen from a field of more than 200 potential 007 contenders, and the decision took about two years to make in which Craig has signed on to a three-film contract.

Before becoming Bond, Craig will complete his work on the upcoming Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake, The Visiting, alongside Nicole Kidman, as well as finish work on his role in Steven Spielberg's Munich, which also stars Eric Bana.

Keira Knightley & Gore Verbinski Talk Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

MTV.com and IF Magazine recently talked to actress Keira Knightley and director Gore Verbinski about the upcoming "Pirates" sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

"I had my first day back [recently], because we had a little bit of a break over the summer. My first day back was being dragged across the deck by an invisible giant squid, invisible because it's being put in by CGI afterwards," Knightley giggled. "So I just spent the entire time pretending that it was tentacles everywhere, and the director was running around going, 'I'm a tentacle, I'm a tentacle.' It takes a little bit of an imagination; I have no idea what it's going to look like, but hopefully it'll be cool."

For the stunt work, the actress "had a harness on, and a line running down my leg and coming out the bottom of my boot, and it was on a machine. They cranked the machine and it would just whip me over the floor, it was wicked."

The fully-realized beast will attack Knightley as she rides on an ocean vessel in one of the "Pirates" films, due in theaters in the next few years."We're shooting scenes in the third movie without even knowing what the hell we're doing," laughs Verbinski.

"We actually have a pretty good second script and the third script is still on the operating table. And we're in triage constantly, everyday. I don't recommend making two movies at once. I think that we're going to get there, but it's just madness. You're like building ships and the ships aren't ready and you have four hundred extras. There's a lot of fun and I think that the second movie is strong and clever and has a lot going on. The third movie we're still working on.

"And while Johnny Depp stole the show in the original PIRATES film, Verbinski reveals that they’ve been very cautious not to make it solely the "Jack Sparrow Movie."

"It's tricky," says Verbinski. "You can't just phone that in. We actually have a story that's challenging and compelling and dangerous and he's still the character that gets to weave his way through that story and affect everyone else with his own agenda. But you don't want to make the mistake of going, 'Well, they loved Johnny Depp. Put him in every scene.' You'd then kind of wear that out. You need a very unique take."

The rumor of Keith Richards playing Depp’s dad in the film is still, only a rumor, but it’s something the director would like to make happen."We hope so," he says. "We're trying to work out his dates. We all want it to work, but it's his tour dates and his lawyers."

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony Set To Channel Hector Lavoe

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony will begin principal photography on "El Cantante," an independently financed biopic of salsa singer Hector Lavoe.

Leon Ichaso ("Pinero") wrote the script and will direct the couple with Anthony playing Lavoe and Lopez playing Hector's wife Puchi.

Notoriously known as salsa's bad boy, he was a great talent with a brilliant voice. Lavoe was one of the biggest Spanish-language singers in the 1970's, but personal tragedy and a nasty heroin addiction left him penniless and dying from complications from AIDS.

Lavoe's dramatic and difficult life included a childhood of poverty, a lifelong struggle with drug addiction, the accidental shooting death of his son and a passionate but turbulent marriage.

Filming will begin November 14th in New York City for four weeks with one week of filming in Puerto Rico.

NEWS: Television Network Report

The third week of the new season remained a two-way race between CBS and ABC, with CBS winning in overall household numbers and ABC winning among the key 18-49-year-old demographic group. CBS also boasted the No. 1 program in households (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) while ABC claimed the No. 1 program among younger viewers (Desperate Housewives).

Ironically, ABC saw the audience for its new hit series Commander in Chief increase in its second week -- the only new show to see such a rise this season -- but, unlike its other big hits, including Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Grey's Anatomy, the show primarily attracted older viewers.

NBC's efforts to stage a comeback appeared largely ineffective, with only My Name Is Earl landing in the top twenty (tied at 19).

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research:

1. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 17.8/27
2. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 15.9/23
3. Without a Trace, CBS, 13.7/22
4. Lost, ABC, 13.1/20
5. CSI: Miami, CBS, 12.3/19
6. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 11.9/19
7. Commander in Chief, ABC, 11.1/16
8. Law and Order: SVU, NBC, 11.1/18
9. NCIS, CBS, 10.8/17
10. Survivor: Guatemala, CBS, 10.8/17.

Commander in Chief: Surprise Hit of the Season

The third week of ABC's Commander in Chief saw the show retaining most of its audience as it remained the top-rated show Tuesday night.

However, production of ABC's Commander in Chief has fallen so far behind schedule that the network became so concerned that it would have to preempt it or show repeats during the November sweeps, the network has decided to replace creator Rod Lurie with producer Steven Bochco.

The New York Times noted that not only was it unusual to replace the "show runner" of a hit series two weeks into its on-air run, but that it was especially odd to select Bochco, who has previously played a principal role in the creation of every show he has been involved with and has never joined a show that another writer had created.

Steven Bochco, best known for creating the crime dramas NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law. Rod Lurie, a former movie critic at Los Angeles talk-radio station KABC, will remain as executive producer but will play no role in the production of the new hit show.

Newspaper TV writers observed that it was highly unusual for such a change to be made after a show debuts with the kind of success that Commander in Chief has achieved. Saturday's Washington Post quoted sources as saying that Lurie and the network had creative differences about future episodes. The report was denied by an ABC spokesman. The Daily Variety said that the changeover was necessitated because episodes were not being delivered in a timely fashion.

In a statement Lurie said, "I've been a huge fan of Steven Bochco's for over two decades. I'm blown-away excited to see how much more he will electrify Commander In Chief."

Paramount and DreamWorks Join Forces for Dreamgirls

Paramount Pictures will join DreamWorks in producing "Dreamgirls," the Bill Condon-directed adaptation of the stage musical.

The studios will co-finance the film, which is loosely based on the rise to stardom by Diana Ross and the Supremes in the formative years of Motown Records. The feature will star Beyonce and Jamie Foxx.

DreamWorks will release the film in North America; Paramount will handle overseas. Production will begin in January with a December 2006 release. This has been the baby of DreamWorks’ head honcho David Geffen, who has been working closely with producer Laurence Mark. They chose Bill Condon, who scripted the Oscar-winning musical Chicago, to write and direct. Condon adapted the original book by Tom Eyen, and the film will retain the lyrics and music of Eyen and Henry Krieger.

Christian Bale & Hugh Jackman: Magicians???

Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman are in final negotiations to star in Touchstone Pictures' The Prestige, which will serve as Christopher Nolan's next directorial project. Prestige will re-team Bale and Nolan, both of whom worked together on Batman Begins.

Bale and Jackman will play rival magicians in turn-of-the-century London who battle each other for trade secrets. The rivalry is so intense that it turns them into murderers. The title refers to the residue left after a magician's successful trick.

The script is based on Christopher Priest's 1996 novel of the same name and was adapted by Nolan's brother, Jonathan. He has another script in the works, The Exec, to also be directed by his brother Christopher, but we haven't seen anything on the silver screen by him yet, even though he did write the short story that Christopher's Memento was based on.

This should be a great project for both Bale and Jackman, it will be interesting to see how these two great actors play off each other as competing "men of magic."

"Paradise Lost" Prepares to be Feature Film

According to Variety, Hyde Park Entertainment and Vincent Newman Entertainment have partnered to produce a feature version of John Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost, based on an adaptation by Phil DiBlasi and Byron Willinger.

Paradise Lost, published in 1667, tells the story of Lucifer's failed rebellion in heaven and subsequent role in Adam and Eve's fall from grace.

"In its embodiment of ancient literature and mythology, 'Paradise Lost' is a timeless story of the human quest for meaning," Newman said.

Paramount Classics Chiefs Fired

Less than a month after becoming involved in a bizarre wrangle with rivals at Fox Searchlight at the Toronto Film Festival over Jason Reitman's Thank You For Smoking, Paramount Classics chiefs Ruth Vitale and David Dinerstein have been fired.

The pair had been accused of botching negotiations with the producers of Smoking. Although they had claimed that they had a handshake deal to buy the film, producer David O. Sachs later insisted, "Although we had negotiations with Paramount Classics, no deal was ever concluded. ... I am also a lawyer and ... know when we have closed a deal and when we haven't."

Losing out to Fox Searchlight may have been a particularly devastating blow to the pair since the Fox specialty unit has consistently outperformed its Paramount counterpart. Nevertheless, several publications observed that Paramount Classics has been having its best year ever with two films picked up at the Sundance Film Festival, Hustle and Flow and Mad Hot Ballroom, and in exit statements Vitale and Dinerstein observed that they have been profitable in each of the eight years that they have headed the division. Yet in reporting on the firing, today's New York Times observed, "The division did not live up to expectations that it would be a thriving pipeline for talent and filmmakers from the independent film world."

Good Night, and Good Luck

A film eliciting much passion this weekend is Good Night, and Good Luck, co-starring, co-written and co-directed by George Clooney, concerns CBS newsman Ed Murrow's 1954 clash with Communist-hunter Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Ty Burr in the Boston Globe calls the film, "a hermetically sealed period piece so intensely relevant to our current state of affairs that it takes your breath away ... a call to civic responsibility and renewed purpose in broadcast journalism that demands to be seen and discussed by audiences of all ages and political stripes."

Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News calls it "the biggest little movie of the year -- and one of the best ever about the news media."

On the other hand, Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post accuses Clooney of painting a totally black-and-white scenario -- leaving out "nuance, context, empathy, anything that suggests the larger truth that nothing is as simple as it seems. The film, therefore, is like a child's view of these events, untroubled by complexity, hungry for myth and simplicity."

And just for the record, we at The Hollywood Bureau, absolutely loved it.

Michael Eisner Quits Disney Board of Directors

A recent SEC filing has disclosed that on the same day that Michael Eisner stepped down as CEO of the Walt Disney Co. he also gave up his seat on the company's board of directors.

The filing surprised industry observers, who had expected him to remain on the board at least until Disney's annual meeting next year. He had also been expected to remain as a company consultant. However, the SEC filing noted that Eisner "no longer provides any services" for Disney. His move to cut his ties all at once with the company that he headed for 21 years immediately aroused speculation that he was preparing to mount a non-Disney-related entertainment project quickly. However, he remains one of Disney's largest stockholders.