— Rob Cohen, the man who takes making crap (Stealth, XXX, The Fast and The Furious, Daylight, Dragonheart… need I go on?) very, very seriously, is in rumored negotiations to helm The Mummy: Part Trois. There’s always a request in the forums about “guilty pleasure movies” and I’d have to say apart from Chronicles of Riddick and Stick It, the Stephen Sommers Mummy franchise is right in there. That’s why you’ll hear no snark from me about Universal’s trilogizing of The Mummy. What you will hear is my guilty Mummy pleasure will no doubt end at The Mummy Returns. A solid announcement is rumored to be out later this week.
— Oscars are crouched just around the corner, ready to spring their popularity contest upon you. Naturally, the latest of the lesser Oscar nominations race are trickling out. This round? The seven eligible films for artistry currently known as makeup. Apocylypto, Click, Pan’s Labyrinth, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (Davey Jones wasn’t make-up, weenies!), The Prestige, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause and X-Men: The Last Stand. On January 20, the field will be narrowed to three. Three you’ll probably be left scratching your head at.
— You may not have known this, but those dirty whore dolls, Bratz, are getting their own movie. Barbie-lovers across the nation are no doubt aghast. Probably even more so now that Paula Abdul has jumped aboard to star in and consult on casting, music, dancing and fashion. In short, making this gaud-fest movie holistically crappy. Bratz will revolve around four “diverse” teens who, like, just wanna be who thay are, u know? Sean McNamara (3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain, That’s so Raven) will direct. That fact there is a joke that doesn’t even need be written.
— Ensemble ready novel Freaky Deaky, sitting listless after exchanging hands between Quentin Tarantino, John Malkovich and back to novelist Elmore Leonard, is getting a fourth chance. Charlie Matthau, with love the the novel unfeigned, personally bought the rights to the story and will be helming his own adaptation, setting the 80s stylings back a decade to the now-trendy 70s. The story feels very Tarantinoesque, as it follows a group of 60s radicals whose lives all intersect around blackmail and scheming crime. Sassy dialogue and characters ensue. Production should start later this year. In the mean time, the quest for a distributor is on.
— The massive, worldwide, “are you my daddy?” stage phenomenon of Mamma Mia! can not be stopped. With its first show in London, this ABBA-based musical has gone on to spread its pop confectioney tentacles all over the world, pulling in over $1 billion in 8 years. Now it’s going to become a movie. I’ll get this right out in the open. I’ve seen Mamma Mia!. I enjoyed Mamma Mia!. But let me say, big musical productions tend to fizzle out when converted to the silver screen, where they’re confined in all their raucous and verbose grandeur (good day to you, Evita, Phantom of the Opera, Rent). Despite a spongy track record, Phyllida Lloyd (who has directed stage productions of Mama Mia! in London and Broadway) has been attached to direct the film version. Tom Hanks (Tom Hanks!?) and wife Rita Wilson are co-producing with original ABBA-ites Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus.