BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN?!?!?!?!?!!!!!! X2 TIDBITS!! MORE INDY 4 TIDBITS!! Rumor has it that Warner Brothers has green-lit a film, code-named ASYLUM, which may be the BATMAN vs. SUPERMAN film being written by Andrew Kevin Walker for director Wolfgang Petersen. Filming is rumored to be scheduled for February 2003, aiming for a 4th of July weekend opening in 2004. Rumors also state that this film may take the place of BATMAN: YEAR ONE, which was to be helmed by Darren Aronofsky, but the WB may be eyeing both films for a superhero resurgence of their own, after the success of SPIDERMAN and XMEN with X2, DAREDEVIL and THE HULK on the horizon. Eyes will be kept open for more details on this oneÂ… Edward Furlong and Natasha Lyonne will star in Filmnext\’s MAX AND GRACE, a low-budget feature to shoot in August in NYC. The story centers around two suicidal mental patients who meet and wed in the mental ward, break out and search for ways to end their honeymoon in suicide, only to end up finding new reasons to live. In other words, an upbeat family comedy. Jennifer Lopez will produce and co-star in a biopic of salsa music legend Hector Lavoe, a talented but troubled latino superstar who died tragically at the age of 43 in the early 90\’s. Lopez would play Lavoe\’s wife Nilda Perez. Marc Anthony is in discussions to headline the project for Screen Gems. Franchise Pictures is prepping a sequel to it\’s 2000 sleeper hit THE WHOLE NINE YARDS, with Howard Deutch in talks to helm the project. Bruce Willis has signed to return and castmates Mathew Perry, Natasha Henstridge and Amanda Peet are in negotiations to come aboard for an Oct. 4, shoot. Johnathan Rhys Davies, of LORD OF THE RINGS and INDIANA JONES fame, in an interview on New Zealand TV network Prime, revealed that he will return as Sallah for INDY 4, along with confirming Sean Connery\’s involvement and insinuating that Colin Hanks may have a part as well. Brian Cox will play Stryker in X2. Rumors have also been confirmed of cameo appearances by characters Gambit and Colossus, along the lines of Iceman and Pyro in the original. Iceman and Pyro have now been upgraded to major characters – so expect to see Gambit and Colossus become players in X3. Also initial reports of the plot concerning the \’Legacy Virus\’ have been refuted. The story will concern some other major threat, the capture and conversion of Nightcrawler, the Weapon X program and the creation of the Sentinels, which will be the main adversaries in X3. Reports have been confirmed that MIB 2, due in theatres July 2, will be shipped with the first trailers for LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, and TERMINATOR 3. Will Smith and Ryan Phillipe are teaming to coproduce WHITE BOY SHUFFLE, a feature irritatingly described as \"a hip-hop Catcher In The Rye\’. (Death to the PR guy who came up with that!) The story follows an african-american teen whose Santa Monica beach life is destroyed when his family is uprooted and has to move to South Central L.A. MGM has greenlit GOOD BOY! A co-production with Jim Henson Pictures, to be directed by screenwriter John Hoffman. A CGI/live-action feature, BOY! Will feature effects similar to those which gave Babe the Pig a voice. The story follows an alien dog who comes to earth from Sirius (the dog star) to find out why earth-bound canines have abandoned their initial plan to take over the earth. MGM and Henson Pictures have hopes of turning GOOD BOY! Into a franchise series. John Woo apparently plans to ask Nicolas Cage and Chow Yun Fat to star in his next film, about Chinese railworkers in 19th century America. Following this historical epic, Woo plans to film a romantic comedy about two thieves who fall in love, and follow that with a Western and an action flick with singing and dancing. Lil\’ Romeo has signed to star alongside Jessica Alba in Universal Picture\’s HONEY. Production begins Sept. 9 in Toronto, on the film which follows a fiesty inner-city woman who starts a neighborhood dance studio and is then discovered and destroyed by a music mogul looking for a \’date\’. Universal has paid seven figures for the unpublished manuscript \"The Saint of Dragons\", by Jason Hightman. The story, which will go out to publishers soon, is a Harry Potter-style adventure. Set in the present day, it follows a 14 year-old boy who finds out that he is descended from St.George, the Dragon hunter. The boy then has to train and set out on his new path as a Dragonslayer, chasing highly evolved Dragons that look like people. Shades of \’Buffy\’? Walt Disney Studios has picked up an untitled Pirate pitch from writer Dan Taylor which is said to be an action-oriented story about modern-day Pirates in the South China Sea. Columbia has picked up the pitch for SKIPTRACER by Steve Franks, who also wrote BIG DADDY for Columbia. SKIPTRACER is set in Miami and follows an inept tough-guy who accidentaly kidnaps a young girl caught up in a custody battle. Paramount Pictures has purchased an untitled pitch for a biopic of the Celtic Queen Boadicea that writer Larry Spagnola will pen for Tribeca Films. The project tells the true story of the Celtic warrior Queen who defeated the invading Roman armies in 61 A.D. and burned London to ashes. Her underdog victory brought the British tribes together to end the Roman occupation of the isles. Universal has joined up with Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios to produce the live action version of J.M.Barries PETER PAN, which while still in preproduction is slated for a christmas 2003 release Bernie Mac is in negotiations to headline a remake of GUESS WHO\’S COMING TO DINNER from original producers Columbia Pictures. The original featured Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn as parents who must face their own subconcious racism when their daughter brings home a black boyfriend, played by Sidney Poitier. The new version would feature a reversal of ethnicity with mac playing father to a daughter who announces that she is in love with a white man. TV director Guy Ferland will make his feature debut at the helm of a remake/sequel to 1987\’s cult hit DIRTY DANCING. \’Inspired\’ by the original, HAVANA NIGHTS will be set in Cuba, 1959, and follow the story of a young american girl whose family moves to Havana. She defies her parent\’s wishes when she falls in love with a local dancer who helps her \’discover herself and a world beyond her sheltered life\’.
