The lowdown on when Indiana Jones, James Cameron and Mad Max will be back
"Whatever happened to ..." doesn't just apply to former child stars-turned-liquor store bandits in the pages of People.
In Hollywood, the missing include living legends (Marlon Brando until his massively-timely death), the almost-weres (Gretchen Mol), gifted filmmakers (Stanley Kubrick averaged a film per decade) and long-awaited movies that inch, crawl and claw their way through what's affectionately known as "development hell." In some cases -- George Lucas' Star Wars films, for example -- the long-awaited films actually come to fruition.
In other cases, they end up like Brando himself: bloated, derelict, costly and internally unspooled.
INDIANA JONES 4
The chances of this happening are thinner than Calista Flockhart since her boyfriend Harrison Ford -- the titular adventurer in this series of classic films -- is now older than Sean Connery was when he played Indy's creaky-boned dad. Ford, Lucas and director Steven Spielberg have been tinkering with this movie since 1994, overseeing a revolving door of scripts and concepts -- some of which had Indy searching for flying saucers and Kevin Costner playing his evil brother. Then things finally looked like a lock in 2003 when Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont was signed to pen the screenplay. A production start was set (June 2004) and a release date declared (July 2005). Darabont's hush-hush script was set in the '50s and replaced Nazis as bad guys with Soviets. Ford loved the script. So did Spielberg. So why aren't they shooting? Lucas thought it needed work -- that it wasn't fast-paced enough, that it was too character-driven. And as anyone who has seen The Phantom Menace can tell you, Lucas knows good writing. So while it may still happen one day, someday -- it's not going to happen anytime soon.
JAMES CAMERON'S NEXT
Nothing paralyses a perfectionist like success. So when Cameron achieved the zenith of his profession (11 Oscars and the all-time box office crown for Titanic in 1997), he predictably retreated. Since then he's tinkered with new technology (a 3-D camera that Robert Rodriguez utilized on Spy Kids 3) and return trips to the bottom of the ocean (his documentary Ghosts of the Abyss). Now, though, it appears Cameron is going to direct another movie -- reportedly based on the Japanese comic book Battle Angel Alita (about a robot girl in a post-apocalyptic realm). Cameron hasn't confirmed that -- he'll only say he's working on a big-budget science fiction extravaganza -- but it appears increasingly likely that moviegoers will see it in 2006.
TERRENCE MALICK'S NEXT
Malick waited 20 years between films -- the glorious Days of Heaven in the '70s to The Thin Red Line in the '90s -- but is now stepping behind the camera again with the 1600s-era epic The New World. Starring Colin Farrell and Christian Bale, it explores the effect European settlers had on Native Americans, including Pocahontas.
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
Mel Gibson was all set to reprise his role as Mad Max when the war in Iraq exploded. The problem? The movie was set to film in Africa and the producers, fearing for their safety, put the brakes on the sequel. Problem is, once a movie like this goes off the rails, it's nearly impossible to get it moving again. And, sure enough, at last report, Fury Road was closed down -- possibly for good.
THE VEGA BROTHERS
Quentin Tarantino has long toyed with teaming Michael Madsen and John Travolta in a film since -- as Tarantino mythology has it -- their characters in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction were brothers. But the uber-geek director takes his own sweet time -- and doesn't appear motivated to put this film into motion. His dilemma? The longer he waits, the older the actors get and, as you'll recall, they both died in their movies -- meaning any future film would have to be a prequel and the characters younger than they were a decade ago.
A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES
If you can't get a sequel to one of the biggest hits in history off the ground, imagine trying to mount a production of a much-admired literary property. Yet this Pulitzer Prize-winner came achingly close with Will Ferrell starring as Ignatius J. Reilly. But creative clashes scuttled the project earlier this year with Ferrell recently acknowledging that he's no longer involved with it. Instead he'll work on a property with nearly the same weight and intellectual value -- a big-screen version of Bewitched. Who's the dunce now?
Don't Mess with Texas
The liberal politics of ''The West Wing'' may be out of sync with those of the real-life White House, but during the coming season, the show will mimic reality by focusing more on presidential campaigning. And a central figure may be a politician from Texas. Variety reports that the show's producers are in talks with Jimmy Smits to join the cast as a three-term congressman from Houston with an eye on the Oval Office.
The possible hiring of the former ''NYPD Blue'' leading man and the campaign storyline may add some needed juice to the show as it enters its sixth season. Though ''West Wing'' remains Emmy bait (it earned 12 nominations last month), its ratings have declined, and critics have complained that the quality of the writing has also slumped since creator Aaron Sorkin left at the end of the fourth season. With President Bartlet's (Martin Sheen) term in office winding down, it's natural for the show to develop the election storyline, writer-producer Lawrence O'Donnell tells the New York Times. ''In the evolution of the stories, politics and campaigning has been the arena least explored. We're trying to rectify that balance,'' he says. ''It's a slightly unreal element on the show that we haven't had the political sharks circling the White House. That dynamic will now be added.''
Britney Covers Bobby Brown's 'My Prerogative' For Forthcoming LP
Britney Spears plans to knock Bobby Brown's socks off by covering his trademark hit, "My Prerogative."
The singer has chosen to remake the 1988 song for the first single off her next project, a greatest-hits album due November 16 that is now to be called, Greatest Hits: My Prerogative, according to her label. The cover, according to those who've heard it, doesn't sound much like the original and has a Bloodshy & Avant touch to it, a reference to the Swedish production team of Christian "Bloodshy" Carlsson and Pontus Avant. The pair produced the song and last worked with Spears on "Toxic," where they embellished her vocals with a techno-lite beat.
The choice of this particular song could also be interpreted — like "Overprotected" and "Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" — as a statement on the singer's life and the media reaction to some of her recent decisions, including her engagement to dancer Kevin Federline "It's True: Britney's Engaged"). The song's lyrics read, "Everybody's talking all this stuff about me/ Why don't they just let me live/ I don't need commission/ Make my own decisions/ That's my prerogative."
The song, which will hit radio on September 14, will be one of two new tracks on the collection.
A separate greatest-hits DVD will be released on the same day as the album.
Watts Undergoing Cancer Treatment
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts is being treated for throat cancer, a spokesperson for the band said today (Aug. 14). The 63-year-old musician was diagnosed in June and has completed four weeks of a six-week course of radiotherapy at London's Royal Marsden Hospital.
"He is expecting to make a full recovery and start work with the rest of the band later in the year," the spokesperson said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The spokesperson said Watt's treatment had not interfered with any tour or recording plans for the Stones, who have been "relaxing between work commitments" following a world tour last year.
Known as the most laid-back member of the band he joined more than 40 years ago, Watts has also performed with a variety of jazz ensembles.
'Alien Vs. Predator' Smacks Down Rivals
LOS ANGELES - Movie-goers were easy prey for a double dose of space invaders. The sci-fi smackdown "Alien vs. Predator," featuring the creatures of the "Alien" and "Predator" franchises, debuted as the No. 1 weekend movie with $38.25 million, studio estimates showed Sunday.
"Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement," with Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews reprising their royal roles, opened in second place with a three-day gross of $23 million, pushing its total since premiering Wednesday to $37.2 million.
That was about on par with the $37.9 million "The Princess Diaries" took in over its entire first week in August 2001.
The new movies bumped the previous weekend's top film, Tom Cruise's "Collateral," to third place with $16 million.
The animated kid flick "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie," adapted from the TV cartoon show from Japan, debuted at No. 4 with $9.4 million.
"Alien vs. Predator," featuring Sanaa Lathan and "Aliens" and "Alien 3" co-star Lance Henriksen, centers on a human expedition that stumbles on a space-monster blood feud in an ancient pyramid buried below Antarctica.
The movie debuted slightly ahead of the $36.4 million debut of last summer's horror hybrid "Freddy vs. Jason," which paired the slashers of the "Friday the 13th" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" franchises.
"This continues the trend of combining franchises to very strong box-office results," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "If you're a fan of the 'Alien' movies, you want to see this movie. If you're a fan of 'Predator," you want to see this movie."
Audiences shelled out $16.8 million to see "Alien vs. Predator" on Friday, but the movie's gross fell to $12.5 million Saturday, a steep 26 percent decline. Most new movies do better business on Saturday than Friday.
That's a sign that "Alien vs. Predator" could follow the pattern of "Freddy vs. Jason" and other horror tales, which tend to open well then plunge in subsequent weekends.
Still, "Freddy vs. Jason" topped out at a healthy $82.2 million domestically. Budgeted at $60 million, "Alien vs. Predator" would turn a solid profit for 20th Century Fox if it matches the gross of "Freddy vs. Jason."
Preceded by "Alien vs. Predator" video games, the movie drew a largely male audience, most younger than 25. To broaden its appeal, 20th Century Fox brought the movie in at a PG-13 rating, though the previous four "Alien" films and two "Predator" flicks had hard R ratings for violence.
"I don't think it's a cop-out at all," said Bruce Snyder, the studio's head of distribution. "This is based on a video game that did have a bit of a younger audience. There's a lot of action and violence, but most of it is creature to creature rather than creature to people."
In limited release, the domestic drama "We Don't Live Here Anymore," starring Laura Dern, Naomi Watts, Mark Ruffalo and Peter Krause, opened strongly with $106,000 in just seven theaters. The film expands to more theaters this Friday.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Alien vs. Predator," $38.25 million.
2. "Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement," $23 million.
3. "Collateral," $16 million.
4. "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie," $9.4 million.
5. "The Bourne Supremacy," $8.3 million.
6. "The Village," $7 million.
7. "The Manchurian Candidate," $6 million.
8. "Little Black Book," $3.7 million.
9. "I, Robot," $3.6 million.
10. "Spider-Man 2," $3.4 million.