It Will Be Back: Terminator Salvation, the reboot of the testosterone-filled franchise, is still six months off, but the Halcyon Company and Salvation director McG are already hard at work on a fifth installment. The plan has always been to revive the Terminator as a trilogy, all starring Christian Bale, but work on the fifth wasn’t supposed to start until after Salvation came out and broke box-office records. But positive reaction to early footage of the upcoming pic changed that. Terminator’s Fifth, as we’ve tentatively titled it, will be out in 2011 and may be shot in the Middle East, the world’s closest approximation of a postapocalyptic setting. [Variety]
Let’s Hope No One Dies This Time: Director Stephen Norrington is returning from a five-year hiatus brought upon by League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to direct a reboot of The Crow, James O’Barr’s comic. The story focuses on a rock musician who is murdered and returns from the dead a year later to take revenge. Norrington says his take on the comic is different from 1994’s super-goth adaptation directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee. “The new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style,†Norrington said, seemingly forgetting that it’s about someone who comes back from the dead a year after dying and talks to crows. [Variety]
Space Trilogy Complete: Sci Fi has chosen the next Stargate leader and its Robert Carlyle. The Trainspotting Scot will star as Dr. David Rush on Stargate Universe, which is expected to get a twenty-episode order. SGU is being described as edgier and younger-skewing that its predecessors Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. It follows a group of soldiers, scientists, and civilians who find an ancient ship in the far reaches of space and must unlock its mysteries to return home, which actually does sound like something kids will be into. If by young kids, you mean sci-fi fans in their twenties. [HR]
What A NERD: Preston Whitmore has signed on to direct Zoom, a heartwarming music-themed film produced by Brian Grazer and Pharrell Williams, who’s also composing the score. The story centers on a troubled West Virginia boy who attends a music academy and becomes untroubled. When’s the last time you were looking forward more to a movie’s soundtrack than the movie itself? [Variety]
A TV Show About Lawyers!: ABC is developing a legal pilot with Dave Hemingson who wrote a legal dramedy pilot that failed to get picked up in August. This new version will be more dramatic and emotional in tone and may borrow Matt Long, the star from the earlier pilot. Be thankful that ABC decided not to confuse viewers with the relatively revolutionary idea of a dramedy set in a law firm and is instead trying for much more expected emotional drama. We sure are. [HR]
You Don’t Mess With the Mossad: Guy Nattiv and Erez Tadmor are writing an untitled project about a piece of Mossad history for producer Alain Goldman. The film will be based on the true story of the disappearance of a 9-year-old boy from the streets of Jerusalem in the early sixties. It was a huge case in Israel that required the Mossad to step in after the police failed to do anything. We’re pretty sure it’s the same story that inspired You Don’t Mess With Zohan. [HR]