Adaptations

Director Paul Solet will adapt his short film Grace into a movie of the same name. It's a psychological horror about a woman who finds that her unborn child has come back to life. Leomax Entertainment is producing, and will distribute through its Indigomotion label with Anchor Bay Entertainment.

DreamWorks has the rights to Scott Mitchell Rosenberg's Atlantis Rising comic book for a live action movie. The story is, after seismic disturbances, world militaries investigate the deepest parts of the ocean when an underground civilization wages war on Earth. The final installment of the five part comic is out later this month.

Leiji Matsumoto, creator of Space Pirate Captain Harlock, says that he's "bewildered" over Eight Peaks' April 10 announcement that it had signed with Genome Entertainment to make a live action Harlock movie. "This is premature. I have not given my consent to a movie adaptation." He says he heard about the announcement, but was not directly or formally notified it, and that he did not give his consent. Also that there several offers for film adaptations, but he'd never heard about this one before.

Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks have licensed Masamune Shirow's manga Ghost in the Shell for a 3-D adaptation. Spielberg taking a personal interest in it is what tipped the scales for DreamWorks, " 'Ghost in the Shell' is one of my favorite stories. It's a genre that has arrived, and we enthusiastically welcome it to DreamWorks." Set in the near future, Major Kusanagi and Public Security Section 9, an elite paramilitary group, fight technology related and cyber-based crimes and terrorism, specifically a hacker called The Puppeteer.

Gene Simmons says he shot a cameo as the Demon God of Rock and Roll for Toshio Li's live action adaptation of Kiminori Wakasugi's rock parody manga Detroit Metal City.

Zack Snyder will direct Guardians of Ga'Hoole, the animated feature based on Kathrine Lasky children's book series. Barn Owls live in peace in the Forest of Tyto, until an evil threatens to destroy their home. John Orloff and John Collee scripted, Village Roadshow is making it, and Warner Brothers will distribute. Will be ready by 2009 or 2010.

Shia LaBeouf (The LaBeouf) will star in Neil Burger's science fiction thriller Dark Fields, based on the Alan Glynn novel. "The story centers on a young man who comes into possession of the ultimate smart pill and the events that ensue." Leslie Dixon adapted.

Warner Brothers has the rights to Liz Jensen's upcoming novel The Rapture, about a young girl who can predict natural disasters, a psychologist, and a physicist trying to stop an offshore drilling project the girl says will bring about an apocalyptic earthquake.

Fox Atomic has the film rights to Kathryn Mackel's novel The Surrogate (not connected to the Bruce Willis movie). Rod and Bruce Taylor will adapt the thriller that "revolves around a couple who hire a surrogate to carry their child and find out mid-term that the surrogate is insane."

Casey Affleck will star in The Kind One based off the novel by Tom Epperson, who will also adapt. Set in 1930s Los Angeles, [it] centers on an amnesiac who finds himself working for a mobster -- a killer given the nickname ‘the Kind One’ -- and falling in love with the thug's girlfriend.”

Stephen Tobolowsky has been added to the cast of The Time Travellor’s Wife playing a doctor.

While his name was connected to it in the past, Owen Wilson will not star in The Greatest American Hero.

M. Night Shyamalan will direct and write a live action movie based on cartoon series Avatar: The Last Airbender, taking the ‘Avatar’ out of the title to avoid confusion with James Cameron’s movie. The story is about a young hero who can manipulate the elements and stop a ruthless nation from destroying three other nations. Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies have claimed July 2, 2010, as the release date.