Mark Steven Johnson, director of Simon Birch (1998) and the recent superhero smash Daredevil (2003), has his next project lined up with Horseshoe Bay Productions. Tim Allen has already committed to the project, a big screen adaptation of the popular 60's television show Father Knows Best. While no director has yet been hired, Johnson will be producing and the film is currently being written in time for an expected Spring start date. Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon will distribute the project. The film is not expected to be an exact adaptation of the television series, but will incorporate elements from the show into new ideas for the film. The screenplay is being written by scribes Bob Hilgenburg and Rob Muir.

Director Joel Schumacher (Bad Company (2002), Phone Booth (2003)) is looking to make his next film a big screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, which has been made into a film four previous times. Warner Bros. will handle distributing rights on the film, scheduled to begin principle photography in Britain this fall. Lloyd Webber is apparently very excited to have Schumacher on board the project, as the two have been discussing a film based on the famous opera for years. Casting has not yet begun on the new film, but Antonio Banderas has been associated with the film as a potential star for quite some time now.

In a strange development reminiscent of the music industry's longtime use of sampling, Mike Myers has recently signed a deal with DreamWorks that will allow him to insert himself and other actors into old films in order to make new projects out of them, in a step of parody beyond the odes to other movies that the actor has used in the past in films like Wayne's World and the Austin Powers franchise. DreamWorks has begun calling this process film sampling. This idea isn't new to film, and has been used in such older films like Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966) all the way to the recent Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002). But this is the first time that an actor and studio have teamed up to begin a franchise out of the idea. DreamWorks would acquire rights to the films so Myers would then be able to go in and digitally add new actors and alter elements of the existing film. Austin Powers director Jay Roach is already committed to directing the first film of the new projects.

Currently on the slate for production over at Lakeshore Entertainment is Risk Addiction, a thriller about a male psychologist who is lured into a web of sexual intrigue when he becomes romantically involved with the murder suspect he's keeping an eye on for the local police. If the plot sounds somewhat familiar, it's because the project was originally set to be Basic Instinct 2, a potential sequel that even had star Sharon Stone lined up at one point, but a film that eventually collapsed once Stone left the project over a legal dispute. With producers and studio execs still excited about the script, it's undergone a name change and is currently looking for a new cast and crew. MGM owns the rights to the script, which is seeking a new director. John McTiernan and David Cronenberg were both big profile directors who eventually passed on the project when it was still in the sequel stage under the Basic Instinct name.

The choice for the next Spider-Man super villain is now in the bag. Popular character actor Alfred Molina (Chocolat (2000), Frida (2002)) has beat out the competition and landed the role of Dr. Otto Octavius, the atomic scientist gone nutzo who uses tentacle-like arms to cause mayhem and chaos. Columbia Pictures just made the announcement recently, as they needed to cast the part in order to begin shooting on the action film this summer, which will feature the return of regulars from the first Spider-Man (2002), including Tobey Maguire, Kirstin Dunst, and James Franco. Molina beat out other rumored contenders for the part, including names like Sam Neill, Robert De Niro, and Billy Bob Thornton. Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi-film regular who had a brief part as a ring announcer in the first film, is rumored to be up for the part of another villain, The Lizard, but as he was cast previously this is still a rumor at this time. The film begins shooting in April for a release date of May 7th, 2004.

Director Terry Gilliam, suffering from a series of collapsed projects since 1998's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, is slowly building up steam for his next big studio project. Brothers Grimm is a fictional story based on the fairy tale authors, whereby the two con men, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, travel from village to village pretending to exorcise demons and protect people from enchanted monsters. But the two are turned on their heads when they come up against some bona fide supernatural forces and must use their crafty talents in order to fight the evil creatures. Actors Heath Ledger and Matt Damon are the top choices to play the brothers Grimm, and Robin Williams and Jonathan Pryce are both being considered for the parts of the villains. Brothers Grimm is gearing up for a June production start in Prague, with an eye towards a release date of sometime in 2004.

Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey is finally set to star in the long-rumored project for him, a biopic about late crooner Bobby Darin. According to the trade magazine Variety, Spacey will not only star in the film but will direct it as well. Entitled Beyond the Sea, the film is set to go into production this June. Spacey made his directorial debut with the thriller Albino Alligator (1996). Darin was a popular singer in the 1960's and 70's, who eventually passed away at only age 37 due to complications from heart surgery. Spacey has long wanted to do the project and has committed to doing it with respect, and has contacted Darin's wife Sandra Dee and their son to relay to them his vision for the film. No word yet on whether Spacey will sing his own tunes in the film, as the project recently hit some turbulence about the music rights to Darin's songs, a clause that stated only original recordings could be used. MGM will likely distribute the film.

Charlize Theron will join actors Stuart Townsend and Penelope Cruz in the film Head in the Clouds, to be directed by John Duigan. Townsend will play a young Cambridge student whose life is sent into turmoil when he begins a passionate affair with a photographer, played by Theron. The film will take place in England, Spain, and France and focus on the relationship between those two and their friendship with a Spanish refugee, played by Cruz. Filming will begin in March on location in Canada, as well as London and Paris. Theron will next appear in The Italian Job (2003), where she will star opposite Mark Wahlberg and Edward Norton.

With the onset of increasing tensions in the Middle East, production on Fury Road, the long awaited fourth installment in the Mad Max series of sci-fi films, has been delayed. 20th Century Fox is prepping the film, which was expected to begin filming in Namibia this summer. Director George Miller has decided instead to not begin production until sometime in the fall. The studio, as well as actor Mel Gibon and director Miller have all firmly committed to the project. The film was originally expected to be a summer 2004 release, but with the delay in production, the studio can't confirm if the movie will make that date.

New Line Cinema will be producing a project sold to them by comic actors Will Ferrell and Jack Black, about the lives of a couple of motorcycle cops in Los Angeles. Ferrell will portray a cop who decides to move to L.A. because of the lack of crime in Irvine, and Black will play a young cop who doesn't quite have what it takes to make it in the business. Judd Apatow, writer of television's Freaks and Geeks, will pen the as-yet-untitled script. Apatow was also a producer of the Jim Carrey comedy The Cable Guy (1996). Black will next be seen starring for director Barry Levinson in the dark comedy Envy, while Ferrell recently finished shooting Elf, a comedy directed by Swingers writer Jon Favreau.

Joe Carnahan, the director behind the recent police crime drama Narc (2003), is in final negotiations with Paramount Pictures to direct the third Mission: Impossible film, which will again star Tom Cruise. The studio is hoping to get the film into theaters in the summer of 2004. Legendary screenwriter Robert Towne has already written the script, which is in the process of being rewritten by Dean Georgaris (Cradle of Life: Tomb Raider 2 (2003)). Panic Room (2002) director David Fincher had been in the process of negotiating to direct the sequel, but he has chosen instead to direct Lord of Dogtown for Columbia.