Adam Sandler, Mitch Albom Team Up to Jerk Your Tears

Albom Writes Sandler Vehicle: Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions preemptively buys Mitch Albom’s feature screenwriting debut, a “comedy with emotional elements� set in the world of baseball. Given that Albom is the author of Tuesdays With Morrie, we’ll guess that “emotional element� is … mawkishness? Mawkiness? Mawk? [Variety]

Wilson and Nolte Go to War: Owen Wilson and Nick Nolte join cast of Tropic Thunder for DreamWorks. Already the project, about the shooting of an Apocalypse Now–style war drama gone awry, is chock-full of comedic star wattage; Ben Stiller (also directing), Jack Black, Steve Coogan, Robert Downey Jr., and Bill Hader co-star. [Variety]

Law, Whitaker Are Repo Men: Jude Law and Forest Whitaker sign on to The Repossession Mambo for Universal. Thriller, debut of director Miguel Sapochni, is set in the future, when organ donation is commonplace but so are repossessed organs. We hope there’s a Monty Python’s Meaning of Life homage in there somewhere. [Variety]

Martin Cops Out: Jesse L. Martin will return for another season of Law & Order, signing on for at least thirteen more episodes. Rumor had it that Martin planned to leave the show and open up a restaurant in Santa Fe, leaving New York to the roaches and the mice. [Variety]

Bening on Broadway: Annette Bening’s star vehicle, Joanna Murray-Smith’s Female of the Species, will move to Broadway next spring after an opening tryout at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. [Variety]

Roundabout’s Black Box Announces: Roundabout Underground, theater company’s 65-seat black box, will debut this fall with Speech & Debate, high-school drama from Stephen Karam (Columbinus) and directed by Jason Moore (Avenue Q). [Playbill]

If Simpson Did It…: …�He won’t see a dime,� says lawyer for Ron Goldman’s family. Federal bankruptcy judge awards rights to O.J. Simpson’s canceled ReganBooks title, If I Did It, to Goldman’s family. [NYT]

DC Comics Into Manga Business: DC Comics buys stake in Flex, Japanese manga company, becoming one of first Western comics publishers to invest in producing manga directly in Japan. [PW]

Sonic Youth at Starbucks?: Sonic Youth is compiling an album of their own songs, plus recording a new one, to be sold in Starbucks. Perhaps the best way to respond to this item is to repeat it, emphasizing the bizarre aspects: Sonic Youth is compiling an album of their own songs, plus recording a new one, to be sold in Starbucks. [Pitchfork]