Trade Round-Up: A New Barbarian For A New Generation
· Because Warner Bros. knows that a new generation of moviegoers should get the chance to hear a newer, hipper marble-mouthed muscleman declare the purpose of his life is "to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentation of the women," they've charged Boaz Yakin with writing and directing a remake of Conan the Barbarian. We get the feeling Vin Diesel's phone is going ring any minute now. [Variety]
· Nielsen Media Research has pledged to start tracking programming viewership on cell phones, iPods, or whatever future platform people might use for their Deal or No Deal fix. [THR]
· Paramount and Steven Spielberg are developing a sci-fi movie for Spielberg to direct, concerning" a group of explorers who travel through a worm hole and into another dimension," a plot idea apparently not adequately addressed by scores of Star Trek episodes spanning several different series and four decades. [Variety]
· Pretty boy shingle fight! Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt's respective production entities leg-wrestle for the rights to the Max Brooks zombie book World War Z, but in the end, Pitt's team's superior lower-body strength triumphs. [THR]
· Comedy Central will finally air the "Lost Episodes" of Chappelle's Show as part of a new block of original programming on Sunday nights, perhaps signalling that they've finally given up all hope of getting Dave Chappelle to honor his contract. [Variety]