A Mid-Six-Figure Blind Script Deal For Michael Brandt And Derek Haas

Universal Pictures was so thrilled with the script for "The Fast and the Furious 2" that the studio signed its writers, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, to a blind script deal for a mid-six-figure advance.

Universal and producer Neal Moritz, under his Original Film banner, initially commissioned two separate scripts for "Fast" -- one by Brandt and Haas and another by Gary Scott Thompson, one of the writers of the original picture.

The studio has since chosen to shoot the Brandt and Haas script, which jettisons the character of Dominic Torreto, the speed junkie played by Vin Diesel in the original pic. The sequel will also be set in another city.

Among their other credits, Haas and Brandt have written the spec "The Courier," which sold to Intermedia; done a rewrite on "The Watchmen" for Franchise Pictures; and written a TV pilot, "Invincible," executive produced by Mel Gibson and Jet Li, which aired on TBS.

'The War of the Worlds' Remake For Paramount

Paramount Pictures and studio-based C/W Prods. will bring author H.G. Wells' classic Martian invasion tale "The War of the Worlds" back to the big screen.

Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner will produce the project, which is aimed to go into production next year. There is no screenwriter attached and no commitment from Cruise to star in the project.

"War" previously had been brought to the screen in 1953 by Paramount and director Byron Haskin. The film, which starred Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, won a special effects Oscar.

Based on the Science-fiction novel by H.G. Wells, published in 1898. The story, which details twelve days in which invaders from Mars attack the planet Earth, captured popular imagination with its fast-paced narrative and images of Martians and interplanetary travel. The humans in The War of the Worlds initially treat the invasion with complacency but soon are provoked into a defensive state of war. The novel helped launch the career of Orson Welles when he presented an adaptation of it on his radio program, "The Mercury Theatre on the Air," on Oct. 30, 1938. The simulated news broadcast of a Martian landing in New Jersey, complete with regularly updated news bulletins, caused a widespread panic among listeners. Later radio adaptations also produced mass hysteria, including an incident in Ecuador that resulted in several deaths..

" 'The War of the Worlds' is a timeless literary treasure and one of our most exciting properties," Paramount Pictures chairman Sherry Lansing said. "Since Paramount has enjoyed such tremendous success partnering with C/W, there is clearly no better team to entrust this to."

Said Wagner: "Tom and I have had an extraordinary relationship with Paramount. We are delighted to join the studio in producing this thrilling classic."

Cruise/Wagner and Paramount previously worked together on the two installments of "Mission: Impossible" and the thriller "Vanilla Sky," all of which starred Cruise.

Barry Levinson Will Direct Ben Stiller And Jack Black In "Envy

Barry Levinson will direct Ben Stiller and Jack Black in "Envy," a DreamWorks comedy that will start shooting in July.

Stiller and Black will play lifelong best friends and neighbors whose relationship takes a nasty turn when one of them (Black) becomes filthy rich by selling an invention. It drives his pal (Stiller) crazy with jealousy.

The project had been developed by producer Castle Rock Entertainment at Warner Bros. for several years, after "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David set it there as a pitch he hatched with screenwriter Steve Adams.

WB blanched at its $40 million budget and let it go. The price tag includes a salary for Stiller said to be in the range of $10 million, supplemented by a healthy gross profit participation.

DreamWorks stepped up with the money, which was more than a mild surprise given the highly publicized acrimony Levinson had directed at the studio over its handling of "An Everlasting Piece," the Irish comedy about hairpiece salesman. The film barely registered a blip in the marketplace, and Levinson blamed the studio's poor marketing. One of the producers, Jerome O'Conner, even sued DreamWorks; the lawsuit was dismissed in court earlier this month.

DreamWorks is apparently looking beyond the dispute and concentrating on the commercial appeal of the dark comedy and its stars. Stiller just completed the Danny DeVito-directed "Duplex" for Miramax opposite Drew Barrymore. He is developing "Starsky and Hutch" at Warner Bros. and is also expected to reprise his "Meet the Parents" role in "Meet the Fockers." Black was last seen in "Orange County" and "Shallow Hal."

'Crusader" at the Walt Disney Co

One week before the release of 20th Century Fox's "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones," the film's co-writer Jonathan Hales has set up the pitch "Crusader" at the Walt Disney Co., with Firm Films producing.

"Crusader," set in the future on an alien planet, is described as an epic science fiction story in which two brothers battle each other for control of a kingdom.

Firm Films' Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson will produce. Disney senior vp production Jason Reed and creative executive Louanne Brickhouse will oversee the project for the studio.

"We are very privileged to have Disney's support for such an ambitious film and are thrilled to have Jonathan Hales crafting the story for us," Vinson said.

The project reunites Disney with Flynn, whose former company, Bandeira Entertainment, produced the studio's "The Bubble Boy."

Hales was repped in the deal by WMA and attorney Kevin Marks. He recently received a "story by" credit on "The Scorpion King" and was a series writer on "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles."

Samuel L. Jackson runs 'S.W.A.T.' unit; Clark Johnson chief

Samuel L. Jackson has come aboard to star in Columbia Pictures' "S.W.A.T." with actor-helmer Clark Johnson in discussions to make his feature directorial debut on the project. Production is aiming for a start date later this year.

Johnson, best known as Detective Meldrick Lewis on the television series "Homicide: Life on the Street," has been directing episodes of FX's highly rated series "The Shield."

Oliver Stone, Dan Halsted, Chris Lee and Neal Moritz are producing the project, which is rooted in the 1970s ABC series of the same name. David Ayer ("Training Day") wrote the most recent draft of the script.

The film's story line centers around an arrested drug kingpin who is transported by a Los Angeles Police Department SWAT team -- led by Jackson's character -- out of the city and into federal custody. Plans go awry when the kingpin offers $100 million to anyone who can free him.

Columbia executive vp production Amy Baer and creative executive Shannon Gaulding are overseeing the project, reporting to production president Peter Schlessel.

"I'm really pleased that we attached a young director like Clark Johnson, whom I've been a fan of through his days on 'Homicide' and the HBO movie (he directed titled 'Boycott')," said Schlessel, adding that with Jackson on board, he now has the privilege of working with "the guy who I think is the coolest actor on the planet."

"S.W.A.T." has been in development at the studio for several years and most recently had Paul Walker attached to star, with Zack Snyder directing.

Jackson, repped by ICM and AMG/the Firm, is onscreen in "Changing Lanes" and next stars in "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones," "XXX" and "Formula 51." He recently wrapped shooting "Basic."

Johnson, repped by UTA, has directed episodes of such television series as "Homicide," "NYPD Blue," "Law & Order: SVU," "The West Wing" and "Third Watch."

RKO, to remake and Chris Kletzien to write 'Crack-Up'

RKO Pictures has dipped into its vault of feature films to remake the 1946 feature "Crack-Up" and tapped scribe Chris Kletzien to write the updated version.

"Crack-Up" originally starred Pat O'Brien and Claire Trevor in the story of an art curator who remembers surviving a train wreck that never happened. As the Hitchcockian thriller unfolds, he finds himself becoming the unwitting victim of an artist. Irving Reis directed the film based on a short story by Fredric Brown.

"I have always been a fan of Fredric Brown's thrillers, and 'Crack-Up' will make an excellent contemporary film using the original as a blueprint," Kletzien said.

RKO Pictures chairman and CEO Ted Hartley will produce the project along with Kletzien's manager, Aaron Ray of Nine Yards Entertainment. The project was initiated by RKO development vp Peter Morgan, who will oversee the project with creative executive Rachel Murray.

"We are excited to be working with Chris on this film particularly," Hartley said. "His talents will make this a film that we can all be proud of, and we are delighted to find that he shares our enthusiasm and vision for the project."

Kletzien is repped by Nine Yards Entertainment, the Brant Rose Agency and attorney Fred Toczek. He recently wrote Jersey Films' "Orioles," with Elizabeth Shue attached to star, and the real-time action-thriller "Twelve Noon Sharp," set up at New Line Cinema.

Adam Rosen, RKO senior vp business affairs and general counsel, negotiated the deal for RKO.

Chesler/Perlmutter Signed A Two-Year Multi-Picture Output Deal

Montreal-based distributor Remstar has signed a two-year multi-picture output deal with Toronto-based Chesler/Perlmutter, the first such deal the production company has secured in three years.

The two-year pact, which includes development funds, will give Remstar first look for Canadian distribution of upcoming titles including the recently completed "Tempo In Paris", starring Melanie Griffith, Rachael Leigh Cook and David LaHaye, slated for Autumn delivery.

The next three titles in the pipeline are all family-oriented adventures nearing completion: Touching Wild Horses, starring Jane Seymour; "Cybermutt", starring Judd Nelson; and "Time Of The Wolf", starring Burt Reynolds and Jason Priestley.

Completed titles in the deal include "Zebra Lounge", starring Stephen Baldwin and Kristy Swanson, which debuted at Mifed 2001 and "Hostile Intent", starring Rob Lowe and John Savage.

Louise Chesler confirmed to Dealmemo that it's the first output deal Chesler/Perlmutter has had in three years since its deal with Alliance Atlantis lapsed.

 'XXX2'; Rob Cohen and screenwriter Rich Wilkes to reprise their duties

Revolution Studios is moving forward with a sequel to "XXX," closing deals with helmer Rob Cohen and screenwriter Rich Wilkes to reprise their duties.

The sequel, being referred to as "XXX2," is being targeted for release in summer or Christmas 2004, with Original Film back on board to produce.

The film's star, Vin Diesel, already had a sequel deal in place when he signed on to the original project for a $10 million price tag and an executive producing credit.

"XXX," due out Aug. 2, follows Xander Cage, an extreme sports athlete/adrenaline junkie recruited by the government to help nab a group of high-powered Russian Mafia members involved in a plan to wreak havoc on the world.

"(Revolution partners) Joe (Roth) and Todd (Garner) saw the film and think that it will have a long and happy future, so they wanted to get a second one going right away," Cohen said. "It's always a risk to bet on future success in this business -- especially in one of the most competitive summers in history -- but sometimes it's good to bet on yourselves."

There is no plot line for the sequel, but it would mark a third collaboration for Diesel, Cohen and Original Film producer Neal Moritz, who worked together on last year's "The Fast and the Furious." The project also will mark the second franchise for Diesel, who next reprises the role of Riddick in Universal Pictures' sequel to "Pitch Black," "The Chronicles of Riddick," the current draft of which was rewritten by Akiva Goldsman.

Cohen is repped by WMA and Original Films. Wilkes and Diesel are repped by Endeavor. Diesel is additionally repped by the Firm.

Brian Grazer to scan through 48 years of Playboy magazine

Universal Pictures, the Oscar-winning Brian Grazer and his Imagine Entertainment have just finalized a deal with Alta Loma Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of Playboy Enterprises Inc., for archival rights to 48 years of material published in Playboy magazine as source material for new feature films.

The deal follows a pact made in 1999 when the studio and Imagine acquired the rights to develop a feature film about Playboy founder and editor in chief Hugh Hefner.

Grazer said he got the idea to use Playboy's archives for source material several months ago when he visited Hefner at his mansion.

"About six months ago, I went to the guy's house, and I realized that he had this massive inventory," Grazer said in an interview. "I started looking through the stuff and said, 'Who owns this?' Then, in the moment, I said, 'Can I get a first look?' and we started talking about it."

From its debut issue in December 1953, Playboy has published short stories, articles and excerpts from some of the most distinguished writers of the past century, including Ray Bradbury, John Irving, Larry McMurtry, Rod Serling, Jean Shepherd and Ian Fleming. Although Playboy may not have always owned the underlying rights, articles and book excerpts that first appeared in Playboy later went on to become such major motion pictures as "The Hustler," "All the President's Men," "The World According to Garp," "The Fly," "9 1/2 Weeks," and several films in the James Bond series.

Although at the moment there is no immediate project in the Playboy archives that Grazer has his eye on, he did say that he and his company "now have tons of homework to do in going through the assets and intellectual property which we now get to participate in."

Said Alta Loma chairman Richard Rosenzweig: "We are delighted to be teaming with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, the most successful producers in Hollywood, on this project. Playboy has been the genesis of a host of major feature films and television productions and has a plethora of as-yet-untapped archival resources."

Added Stephen Randall, the magazine's executive editor and creative director of Alta Loma: "The magazine has a long history of spotting important writers and subjects early, either as articles or advance book excerpts. It's no surprise that so many went on to a second life as successful movies or TV shows."

Jill Liberman will supervise the Imagine/Playboy archival project for Alta Loma Entertainment.

Universal and Imagine have several feature films due out in the coming months, including "Undercover Brother," "Blue Crush" and "8 Mile." They are readying production on "Intolerable Cruelty" with Alphaville and "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat."

Music: Carey signs for $20 mil revival, own UMG

Her movie flopped, her most recent album fizzled, she had a nervous breakdown, and her label dropped her, but Mariah Carey's star is ready to rise again. The iconic songbird began the next chapter of her storied career Wednesday with a new multi-album deal with Universal Music Group that includes her own record label via a partnership with Island Records.

While the terms of the agreement were not disclosed, sources said it's a $20 million deal for three albums with an option for a fourth. Carey is in the studio recording the first release.

Carey's signing to UMG's Island Def Jam Music Group comes less than six months after Virgin Records terminated its deal with the singer -- opting to pay her $49 million for one album and an exit package rather than continue to invest in her career. Virgin's decision was based on meager sales of Carey's debut album for the label, the soundtrack to the film "Glitter," in which Carey also starred. Additionally, as Virgin parent EMI Recorded Music posted a loss of $77.6 million for the first half of its fiscal year, opting to pay out Carey seemed the right course of action.

At $20 million, UMG's deal with Carey comes at a bargain price, compared with EMI's $80 million agreement to sign her.

"I really believe that this is going to be a moment where she is going to come back," UMG chairman and CEO Doug Morris said in an interview. "Americans love great comeback stories, and I believe what we're starting here today is going to become part of the mythology of the record business."

Carey's lackluster album sales were for a soundtrack album, Morris said, which is in many ways a different beast from a normal studio album. While "Glitter" has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide, Carey's global album sales surpassed the 100 million mark during her tenure as a Columbia Records artist. Carey's most recent studio release, "Rainbow" in 1999, has sold almost 9 million units.

Said Island Def Jam Music Group president and CEO Lyor Cohen, who was responsible for the Carey signing: "(EMI) never even got to her album; they only got to a soundtrack. We have a chance to really make one of the biggest-selling albums in history."

In fact, Carey has been in the studio writing and co-producing new songs with such luminaries as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Cohen said the new Carey album will be released by year's end or early next year.

Cohen won Carey's expensive hand in an extensive bidding war that included Clive Davis' J Records and Elektra Records.

Carey's new record label will be helmed by former Arista Records executive vp Jerry Blair. The yet-to-be-named venture partners Carey with Morris, Cohen, Interscope Geffen A&M chairman Jimmy Iovine and Universal Music International chairman Jorgen Larsen to coordinate the pop star's efforts across all of Vivendi Universal's outlets, including print, television, film and online branding. The new company also reunites Carey with Blair, who was senior vp at Columbia Records Group during her tenure there.

It is hoped that in Blair's hands, Carey's label will fare better than her Sony Music imprint Crave Records, which closed in 1998 after being in operation for about a year.

"The plan is for it to be a real media company," Blair said in an interview. "Our first focus will be her album and then potentially signing other artists. It will be a great opportunity for Mariah to really ensure her legacy going forward."

Blair added that down the road, he also hopes the new label will do publishing, merchandising and TV and film production deals. As far as staffing goes, Blair intends to keep it small in order to foster a "real tight-knit, family atmosphere."

UMG is the world's largest label group, holding more than 28% of the market share. For the week ending May 5, Island Def Jam held the largest market share of current albums released by any label, coming in at 9.2%.

"It's so interesting, this fascination with Mariah," Cohen said of Carey's extensive press and tabloid coverage over the past year. "She's the largest-selling international female in the entire world. But the real story begins when I get to play the new music."

Legal; Marvel Sues Buena Vista Over Spider-Man Artwork

Marvel Enterprises Inc., the comic book giant that owns rights to superhero Spider-Man, is suing Walt Disney Co.'s Buena Vista home entertainment unit, saying Buena Vista used its artwork without permission to promote a Spider-Man cartoon series unrelated to the current hit film.

 The suit, filed in Manhattan federal court late on Wednesday, seeks an immediate injunction against Buena Vista to stop it using the artwork. It also wants the court to order Buena Vista to retrieve and destroy all copies of the artwork already in circulation.

Officials of Marvel and Buena Vista were not immediately available for comment. A court clerk said a hearing date had been set for the morning of May 17.

Marvel said Buena Vista had timed the release of a new Spider-Man home video cartoon series to coincide directly with the opening of Columbia Pictures' new "Spider-Man" movie, which opened last week and set a new box office record by pulling in $115 million in its first weekend.

Marvel said Buena Vista had sought its permission to release the cartoon series but had not been given authorization to use the company's Spider-Man artwork for use in its advertising and promotion materials. It said advertisements appeared in such newspapers as The Daily News and Newsday in New York City and in Toys 'R Us and Wal-Mart stores in different parts of the United States.

"Buena Vista is advertising and promoting its exploitation of the series through the use of artwork that is directly copied from the Marvel 'Spider-Man' artwork," Marvel said in its suit. "Marvel has not consented to or approved of such usage."

Specifically, Marvel said Buena Vista had copied the artwork picturing Spider-Man scaling the side of a tall building from the vantage point of someone on the roof looking down at the character creeping up.

It said the artwork was "virtually identical" to Marvel's Spider-Man image, including the positions of the character's legs, arms, hands and fingers.

Television; Turner Classics Clocks Up Lloyd Comic Classics

Turner Classic Movies has picked up the exclusive rights to 19 movies made by Harold Lloyd, the bespectacled Everyman whose popular comedies made him one of the reigning triumvirate of the silent era with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

"I want to get Harold Lloyd's movies back in circulation," said Suzanne Lloyd, granddaughter of the comedian, who died in 1971. Lloyd engineered the TCM deal in her role as administrator of the Lloyd estate. TCM will pay in the mid-six figures for a three-year exclusive license term to the 19 titles.

Lloyd said she hopes the TCM cablecasts will create enough interest in the movies that one of the studios will employ her to produce new versions of the pictures. "We'd have to update the plots," she said, "but many of the gags and setups are still funny."

The UCLA Film and TV Archive, headed by Robert Gitt and Jerry Goldin, has restored the negatives for the TCM run, Lloyd said, and the silent movies will get fresh music scores, courtesy of composers like Carl Davis and Robert Israel.

The only three sound movies in the package are "First Feet" (1930), "Movie Crazy" (1932) and "Cat's Paw" (1934). The Lloyd estate doesn't own the rights to three of the comedian's later movies that occasionally show up on broadcast and cable TV: "The Milky Way" (1936), directed by Leo McCarey; "Professor Beware" (1938), directed by Elliott Nugent; and "The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947; also known as "Mad Wednesday"), directed by Preston Sturges.

Lloyd's movies and his 44 one-reelers are not nearly as well known as Chaplin's or Keaton's because "my grandfather hated to see his movies cut up for commercials on television -- he was a stickler for that kind of thing," Lloyd said. "So even though he hurt himself financially, he wouldn't sell his movies to TV."

All 19 movies become available to TCM in spring 2003. But five of them will appear in a special Harold Lloyd Festival on May 28 in conjunction with "Harold Lloyd: Master Comedian," the illustrated biography co-authored by Jeffrey Vance and Suzanne Lloyd, which Harry Abrams has just published. The five on May 28 are "Safety Last" (1923), "Girl Shy" (1924), "Hot Water" (1924), "The Kid Brother" (1927) and "Speedy" (1928).

Industry: Sony Makes Push Into Computer-Animated Movies

Sony Pictures Entertainment will begin producing computer-animated films in a bid to grab a share of the box-office success that rival studios have reaped from recent blockbusters like "Shrek" and "Ice Age," the company said on Thursday.

 The Hollywood arm of Japan's Sony Corp. said its new division would be headed by Sandra Rabins and Penney Finkelman Cox, the producing duo who joined DreamWorks SKG when it was formed in 1994 and started its animation unit.

The pair, who left DreamWorks last summer, were executive producers of that studio's 2001's Oscar-winning storybook satire "Shrek."

Sony's goal is to have its first digital feature in theaters by 2005, as it seeks to cash in on the kinds of family-oriented, computer-animated fare that has proven so lucrative for privately held DreamWorks as well as for The Walt Disney Co. and 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. AX>

Sony could hire 150 animators and staff to work at the new unit, as well as drawing on the resources of Imageworks, its existing visual-effects operation, which was behind the recently released smash "Spider-Man," executives said.

The announcement of the new venture came as executives from Sony's far-flung operations told industry analysts in New York that the company's span from consumer technology to entertainment was uniquely powerful and not sufficiently appreciated by investors.

A hit character Spider-Man can sell movie tickets and video games and help carry online and wireless ventures, and the new push into computer animation is partly an attempt to build up Sony's stable of bankable, digital stars, one executive said.

"I think Tokyo is very excited for us to create characters they could use," said Sony Digital Entertainment President Yair Landau.

The new animation group will work with Sony's principal studio, Columbia Pictures, which will finance the computer-generated films and handle their marketing and distribution, the studio said.

Computer-generated animation has become a profit engine for the studios in recent years because it lowers production costs and has proven to be more popular at theaters than traditional, hand-drawn feature animation pioneered by Disney.

Pixar Animation Studios, the computer-animation boutique headed by Apple Computer chief Steve Jobs, for example, has had four hits in a row, culminating in last year's "Monsters, Inc.," that averaged $431 million each.

Pixar is working on the last three films of its distribution deal with Disney, which plans to release them in the summer of 2004 and the holiday seasons of 2004 and 2005. Pixar has not yet said whether it would renew its partnership with Disney, a subject of much speculation in the entertainment industry.

Rabins was a former Disney executive who helped establish Pixar with its 1995 hit debut, "Toy Story."

Sony said Pixar, which went from a standing start to the front ranks of computer animation in just a few years, would be the model for its own animation unit, without precluding the future possibility of a business alliance of some kind.

In its first foray into computer-generated animation, Fox scored a hit this year with the prehistoric adventure "Ice Age," which has grossed about $170 million to date domestically.

Cox and Rabins said they were seeking "great stories" that families could enjoy together and have some insight as working mothers with children ranging in age from six to 14.

The digital effects and marketing spin-offs made possible by computers are meaningless if they are not grounded in memorable narratives that parents and kids can enjoy again and again, they said.

"Everything else we know how to do," Cox said. "It's the stories that are the most important."