Zak Penn, one of the producers of the upcoming live-action/animated SF film Osmosis Jones, told SCI FI Wire that filmmakers didn't shy away from grossness. "Here's our general attitude," Penn said in an interview. "We felt like there's nothing wrong with bodily fluids. ... Them getting washed away in a river of snot, you know, whatever. Everyone has snot in their nose; it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's appropriate."

The film is a "buddy cop movie ... set inside Bill Murray," Penn said. Osmosis tells the story of "a white blood cell, played by Chris Rock, who teams up with a cold pill, played by David Hyde Pierce, ... to fight a virus that Bill Murray has ingested. The virus is played by Laurence Fishburne, named Thrax."

The movie combines live-action scenes with animated sequences in which Rock's character pursues Thrax through the cityscape of Murray's body. Live-action directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly, who joined the film relatively late in production, pushed the envelope a little too far on occasion, Penn said. "They definitely made it a little bit harsher," he said. "But actually, we ended up pulling back on most of that. ... When we saw the first cut of the movie, and there was some pretty ... harsh humor, ... it was more like it didn't feel right with the rest of the movie. It's not an R-rated movie. ... [But] we didn't cut some of the grossest stuff."

Penn added, "It's definitely not your typical animated movie," Penn said. "And not just because of the blend of live action and animation, but also because it's much closer to a fantasy or science fiction film in structure than it is to a typical animated movie. ... The model was Men in Black," which Penn also worked on. "There's a lot of 13-year-old boys at heart working on this movie." Osmosis Jones opens Aug. 10.

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has protested a report in the Scottish newspaper The Scotsman that writer's block is preventing her from completing a fifth Potter novel in a timely fashion. In a letter to the newspaper, Rowling wrote, "As I, my publishers and my agent have stated since the publication of Goblet of Fire, in July 2000, there was never any intention of publishing the fifth Harry Potter book in 2001, nor has any deadline ever been set for the delivery of the manuscript. These facts have been on record for over a year and, as children all over Britain have grasped them with ease, I am mystified to know why 'Scotland's national newspaper' is so slow on the uptake."

Rowling added, "There is no writer's block; on the contrary, when your journalists take a break from leaning on my doorbell, I am writing away very happily."

Rowling sent the letter a day after the newspaper ran a story headlined, "Has Harry Potter finally lost his magic for J.K. Rowling?" The story suggested that the fifth Potter book has been delayed again, a suggestion that Rowling denied.

New writers have been hired by Aardman Animations to polish the script for the company's upcoming Tortoise and the Hare movie, the Popcorn U.K. Web site reported. Production halted on the movie, and 90 Aardman workers were laid off last month, because of problems with the film's story, the site reported.

Rob Sprackling and John Smith have been brought on board for a new draft, based on the original work of Chicken Run writers Karey Kirkpatrick and Mark Burton, the site reported. "They have both live-action and animation experience, which makes them ideal for us," executive producer Michael Rose told Popcorn. "And they share the Aardman sense of humor."

The production is likely to be delayed about six months, but Aardman is still aiming for a 2003 release, with Michael Caine and Paul Whitehouse signed on as voice talent, the site reported.

Marvel Studios executive Kevin Feige denied to the Comics Continuum Web site rumors that George Clooney was in talks to play Reed Richards in a proposed Fantastic Four movie. "We have not started casting yet," Feige told the site.

The rumor was started in the British tabloid press. Peyton Reed (Bring It On) is on board to write and direct Fantastic Four for Fox. "Peyton is working hard on the story," Feige said.

Ben Burtt, who created some of the signature sounds in the Star Wars films, has authored The Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide, which comes out this week from Del Rey, the official Star Wars Web site reported. The book, illustrated by Mad magazine artist Sergio Aragonés, contains hundreds of phrases in alien languages, including Huttese, Ewokese, Neimoidian, Jawa, Droidspeak and more.

A "Behind the Sound" segment offers insight into the movie sound creation process. An appendix offers Star Wars scenes with full translation. Among other things, Burtt reveals where he got the sound for lightsabers: the hum from an old movie projector motor combined with the buzz from a TV picture tube.

Christopher Walken voices the villain in the upcoming sequel Stuart Little 2, Columbia Pictures announced. Walken joins returning Stuart Little cast members Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki, Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane and Steve Zahn, as well as Melanie Griffith, in the follow-up movie about a mouse adopted by a human family.

Walken voices the character of Falcon, the sharp-beaked villain. Stuart Little director Rob Minkoff is helming the sequel, which is due in theaters July 19, 2002.

Activision announced that Treyarch will develop Spider-Man: The Movie Game for the PlayStation2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube and GameBoy Advance platforms. The game is inspired by Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man movie, which is based on the Marvel Comics series.

The games are slated for release in May 2002, coinciding with the film's release. Activision and Treyarch are working closely with Columbia Pictures and Spider-Man Merchandising, a limited partnership between Marvel and Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc., during all stages of the game's development.

DreamWorks has created 15 minutes of new animation and 11 hours of other material to enhance the DVD release of its hit computer-animated film Shrek, Variety reported. Shrek videos and DVDs will be released on Nov. 2.

The movie makers have conceived, developed and produced a new three-minute scene that will be incorporated into the VHS version of the film, Video Premieres told Variety. The scene is an extension of the final post-wedding "I'm a Believer" party scene. The other 12 minutes is original animation created for the interactive menus on the DVD, which DreamWorks is pricing to allow retailers to offer it at $19.95.

The Shrek DVD will feature the usual extras, plus a first-of-its-kind DVD-ROM technology that allows users to dub their own voices in place of any of the characters in "Shrek's Revoice Studio." It's one of 12 DVD-ROM games included, the trade paper reported. Other extras include humorous outtakes of computer glitches that caused Donkey to look like a Chia Pet, for example.

DreamWorks has also partnered with Microsoft's Xbox, Nintendo, Baskin-Robbins, Philips Electronics and Kia in a multimillion-dollar cross-promotion blitz for the video release, the trade paper reported.

Rob Minkoff (Stuart Little 2) has optioned the movie rights to Sidney Sheldon's Broadway play Roman Candle, about a psychic woman and her skeptical paramour, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Minkoff will produce the project with an eye to direct, the trade paper reported. The project is not yet set up at a studio.

Minkoff and Sheldon will work together to develop the movie, the trade paper reported. No writer has come on board.

Boris Karloff's Frankenstein monster and Bela Lugosi's Dracula will be immortalized at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in New York, the Reuters news service reported. Offspring of the two horror movie veterans were on hand Aug. 8, when the museum announced it would feature its first-ever wax figures of celebrities in costume and character makeup. The figures are set to be unveiled at the museum on Halloween, Reuters reported.

The wax museum worked closely with Karloff and Lugosi family members on the figures, which are being crafted at its London branch. Karloff's character from The Mummy is also being created, and all three will debut at Universal Studios in Hollywood and Florida ahead of an Oct. 31 unveiling at Madame Tussaud's in Times Square, the wire service reported.

Joel Silver, producer of the two upcoming Matrix sequels, told SCI FI Wire that the release of the first sequel, The Matrix Reloaded, likely won't happen until 2003. "It's going to be summer now, summer 2003," Silver said in an interview at the premiere for Osmosis Jones, in which he has a cameo role. Rumors had The Matrix Reloaded opening as soon as Christmas 2002.

So what does that mean for The Matrix 3's release? "You'll see," Silver said.

Silver assured that the extra time added to the production schedules is simply meant to benefit the quality of both films. "It's just it's an enormous project," Silver said. "It's a staggering project. There's so much dealing with it, it's unbelievable, and they just need time to finish both movies, because we're shooting them as one big movie. It's not back to back. It's one movie, so they'll finish shooting it, and then they'll take the time to finish the movies."

Warner Brothers is developing a movie that will pair DC Comics heroes Superman and Batman, Variety reported. Andrew Kevin Walker (Sleepy Hollow) will write the script for the as-yet-untitled project, and Wolfgang Petersen will direct.

Another Superman film, produced by Jon Peters, is in the works, as are at least two proposed Batman films. Walker is also adapting the Marvel Comics series Silver Surfer for 20th Century Fox, the trade paper reported.

The WB announced season premiere dates for its fall shows, including its new Superman saga, Smallville. The series, starring Tom Welling as a teen-aged Clark Kent, premieres Oct. 16 and will air Tuesdays at 9 p.m.

First up among The WB's genre shows is Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, which premieres Sept. 14 and will air at 8 p.m. Fridays.

Angel begins its third season on Sept. 24 and moves into a new timeslot, Mondays at 9 p.m. The timing is notable: FX begins running reruns of Angel predecessor series Buffy the Vampire Slayer that week. UPN, which acquired Buffy from The WB in a contentious contract dispute earlier this year, unveils the series' sixth season with a two-hour premiere the following week, on Oct. 2.

Charmed premieres Sept. 27, with a two-hour episode that introduces Rose McGowan as a new character to replace Shannen Doherty's departed sister. The show will air Thursdays at 9 p.m.

Philippa Boyens (the Lord of the Rings film trilogy) will adapt Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea series for The SCI FI Channel, the channel confirmed. SCI FI plans to turn the Earthsea books into a six-hour miniseries.

Kevin Brown, executive producer for television at Lawrence Bender's A Band Apart company, will produce the miniseries with SCI FI senior vice president of original programming Ian Valentine.

Boyens, a playwright, teacher, producer and editor, made her debut as a screenwriter with Peter Jackson's upcoming film version of J.R.R. Tolkien's Rings trilogy of novels.

Scarlett Johansson, one of the stars of the upcoming tongue-in-cheek SF movie Arac Attack, told SCI FI Wire that she was ready for fun after performing in the likes of Ghost World, An American Rhapsody and The Horse Whisperer. "Arac Attack is kind of a sci-fi spoof movie," the 16-year-old actress said in an interview. "I don't know if it's really a spoof; it's like a '50s film, like Tarantula."

The film, directed by Ellory Elkayem (They Nest), is tentatively set for release in November by Warner Brothers. It stars David Arquette, Kari Wuhrer and Johansson. "It's about these spiders that come, grow giant and attack this deserted town in Arizona," Johansson said enthusiastically. "It's very campy, gory and scary, all those good elements. It's got all the good elements of a Roland Emmerich-Dean Devlin production [the producers of Independence Day]. I play the teen-age role-model girl who all the teens are supposed to relate to. There's a kid and a love story between my mother [Wuhrer] and David Arquette."

Johansson added, "It was bizarre. I'd never done anything like that before, which is why I took the project. It's acting I've never done, where you have to imagine being chased by 15-foot spiders. It was awesome. I'm excited about it. Everybody makes fun of me. 'Well, you've done The Horse Whisperer AND Arac Attack.'"

Johansson thinks she might get the last laugh. "I saw some of the digital effects when we were looping, and it looks pretty cool," she said. "I loved Jurassic Park III. It was a big chase movie, and it didn't pretend to be anything it wasn't. Arac Attack looks like something I'd enjoy seeing."

John Rogers, who is writing a screenplay based on the DC Comics vixen Catwoman, told the Comics2Film Web site that the film will differ from the established comic mythology. Among other things, Catwoman--to be played by Ashley Judd--won't be Selina Kyle, but rather will be a completely new character named Patience Price.

"If you're starting a new franchise, the decision was to do a totally new character to make it stand on its own," Rogers told the site. "It's both a business decision and a creative decision that I can understand and agree with."

The new Catwoman's origins will resemble those of Kyle, who was played by Michelle Pfeiffer in Tim Burton's 1992 movie Batman Returns. The woman is wrongfully killed and comes back to settle the score.

"We're going to set up a legacy in the first few minutes, so that you understand how it works and the mythology behind it," Rogers said. "In the first half hour of the movie, you will know not only how this happens with this girl, but how that worked back with Selina Kyle." He added, "This movie isn't about the mythology of Catwoman. It's about the adventures of this particular Catwoman, in this particular situation."

Like Kyle, Price will have to struggle with her new persona. "The fun of the movie is watching this nice, pleasant person become this very sexy, viciously sarcastic, extremely talented criminal," Rogers said. "As she evolves into Catwoman, one of the things she's dealing with is 'This can't be good. I'm becoming a criminal.'" Rogers is working on a previous script by Kate Kondell and Theresa Rebeck.

Swedish censors have given Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence its highest rating, barring anyone younger than 15 from seeing the film, Variety reported. The otherwise liberal country's Board of Film Censors believed that the scene in which a young robot boy is abandoned by his mother could upset children.

"We feel that sensitive kids could be really scared and as a result suffer damage," censor Jonas Wall told Variety. "This is the age where kids are emotionally developing."

One Swedish film distributor, Staffan Wallhem, disagreed with the decision. "If violent fare including Pearl Harbor, Jurassic Park and The World Is Not Enough got an 11 rating, we cannot understand why the same would not apply to A.I.," Wallhem told the trade paper. "We have decided to protest and apply for a lower rating."

The Mythopoeic Society announced the winners of its Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards, which were handed out during Mythcon XXXII, held in Berkeley, Calif., Aug. 3-6. The awards honor works from 2000. A full list of winners follows.

Adult Literature

•The Innamorati by Midori Snyder

Children 's Literature

•Aria of the Sea by Dia Calhoun

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

•J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey

Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies

•King Arthur in America by Alan Lupack and Barbara Tepa Lupack

Organizers announced the nominees for the 2001 World Fantasy Awards, honoring the best in the genre. The awards will be presented Nov. 4 at the World Fantasy Convention in Montreal, Canada. A full list of nominees follows.

Novel

•Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay
•Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
•Declare by Tim Powers
•His Dark Materials 3: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
•Galveston by Sean Stewart
•The Grand Ellipse by Paula Volsky


Novella

•"Blue Kansas Sky" by Michael Bishop
•"Pelican Cay" by David Case
•"Seventy-Two Letters" by Ted Chiang
•"Mr. Simonelli or the Fairy Widower" by Susanna Clarke
•"Chip Crockett's Christmas Carol" by Elizabeth Hand
•"Mr. Dark's Carnival" by Glen Hirshberg
•"The Man on the Ceiling" by Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem


Short Fiction

•"The Saltimbanques" by Terry Dowling
•"Lincoln in Frogmore" by Andy Duncan
•"The Pottawatomie Giant" by Andy Duncan
•"Shoe and Marriage" by Kelly Link
•"Is There Anybody There?" by Kim Newman
•"The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O" by Michael Swanwick
•"Down Here in the Garden" by Tia V. Travis


Anthology

•The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Thirteenth Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds.
•Vanishing Acts, Ellen Datlow, ed.
•whispers from the cotton tree root: caribbean fabulist fiction, Nalo Hopkinson, ed.
•Dark Terrors 5: The Gollancz Book of Horror, Stephen Jones and David Sutton, eds.
•Shadows and Silence, Barbara Roden and Christopher Roden, eds.
•Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, Sheree R. Thomas, ed.


Collection

•Perpetuity Blues and Other Stories by Neal Barrett Jr.
•Blackwater Days by Terry Dowling
•Beluthahatchie and Other Stories by Andy Duncan
•Travel Arrangements by M. John Harrison
•Magic Terror: Seven Tales by Peter Straub
•The Perseids and Other Stories by Robert Charles Wilson


Artist

•Jim Burns
•Kinuko Y. Craft
•Les Edwards
•Daniel Merriam
•John Jude Palencar
•Shaun Tan


Special Award, Professional

•Ellen Datlow, for editing Sci Fiction and anthologies
•Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner for Spectrum 7 : The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art
•William Schaeffer, for Subterranean Press
•Tom Shippey, for J.R.R Tolkien: Author of the Century
•Gary Turner and Marty Halpern for Golden Gryphon Press


Special Award, Non-Professional

•Benjamin Cossel, Jeremy Lassen and Jason Williams for Nightshade Press
•Peter Crowther, for PS Publishing
•Philip J. Rahman and Dennis E. Weiler for Fedogan & Bremer
•Barbara Roden and Christopher Roden for Ash-Tree Press
•Raymond Russell and Rosalie Parker for Tartarus Press
•Bill Sheehan, for At the Foot of the Story Tree: An Inquiry into the Fiction of Peter Straub

Carla Gugino, star of James Wong's upcoming SF thriller film The One, told columnist Cindy Pearlman that she just wrapped production on the movie. Gugino plays the wife of Jet Li, a man who discovers he's being hunted by his counterpart from a parallel dimension.

"I play three characters in it," Gugino told Pearlman. "I'm Jet's wife in one universe. I play a bad vixen in a parallel universe, and then there's a third universe where ... well, I can't tell you." The One opens Nov. 2.

Gugino also starred as the mother in this year's hit children's film Spy Kids, which is being re-released Aug. 8, with an additional scene. "It's a few more minutes of the fun," Gugino said.

Shannon Elizabeth, star of Joel Silver's upcoming 13 Ghosts movie, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the update of William Castle's cheesy 1960 horror film will borrow a gimmick from the master showman. Patrons of the original film were handed 3-D glasses that allowed them to see the titular ghosts.

"We've kept the origin of the story," Elizabeth told columnist Cindy Pearlman. "We have special glasses in the haunted house that allow you to see the ghosts. But the deal is, the audience can see through these glasses when one of our characters picks them up. You see what happens while the characters don't know yet."

The film centers on a group of college students in a haunted house. "It really stinks when you come home from college for the summer and find that your inherited house is full of ghosts," Elizabeth said. She added, "It's almost too scary. I've been told that the filmmakers are trying to tone it down." 13 Ghosts opens Oct. 26.

Id Software announced the development of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the sequel to the popular PC game Wolfenstein. Id and Gray Matter Interactive will executive produce the title, which will be developed by Nerve Software for Activision.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein will feature complex, mission-based multiplayer warfare and pit players in a contest for front-line domination in supernatural World War II-themed action, the company announced.

The game's multiplayer mode allows gamers to engage in a series of combat scenarios as an Axis or Allied soldier storming beachheads, infiltrating military installations, holding strategic positions and more. No release date was announced.

The Batman on Film Web site reported rumors about the proposed Batman: Year One sequel movie, from director Darren Aronofsky, and other bat-movies. Citing an anonymous source, the site reported that Aronofsky and writer Frank Miller are having trouble making the Year One script work.

The site added that Warner Brothers is mulling whether to green-light Year One, a second Batman movie based on the Batman Beyond animated TV series, or a third option. That third option, the site reported, is a feature-film version of Miller's Dark Knight Returns graphic novel, supposedly bringing back Michael Keaton as the caped crusader under the direction of original Batman director Tim Burton, with Sean Connery as Commissioner Gordon.

As for Year One, the site reported rumors that Kurt Russell is being considered to play Jim Gordon, not Batman, and that A.I. star Jude Law is up for the lead role.

George Lucas' upcoming Star Wars: Episode II will be subtitled Attack of the Clones, the official Star Wars Web site announced. The title is an apparent reference to the Clone Wars, which will reportedly figure in the prequel's plot.

Clones takes place 10 years after the events of Episode I, the site reported. The galaxy has undergone significant change, as have Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen).

According to the site, Anakin has grown into the accomplished Jedi apprentice of Obi-Wan, who himself has grown from student to teacher. The two Jedi are assigned to protect Padmé, whose life is threatened by a faction of political separatists. Clones opens in the spring or early summer of 2002.

J. Michael Straczynski, creator of The SCI FI Channel's upcoming original TV movie Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight, told Science Fiction Weekly that the film will take the saga into darker territory. "I did want a darker, more serious look to this," Straczynski said in an interview. "I've always felt that we should learn from the B5 tradition, but not be bound by it. We can take it in another direction and expand and improve it--I'm all for that. I just don't want to go backwards."

Rangers takes place in the year 2265, a few years after the events in the B5 episode "Objects at Rest," Straczynski said. The show is a pilot for a possible series. "We've had the Rangers as part of the Babylon 5 universe ever since season three," he added. "I've always been fascinated by them, and the fans have been pretty intrigued by them for a long time. And the creation of the Interstellar Alliance is something that was also dramatized in the series. The nearest point of comparison [for them] would be King Arthur and his knights, because this is about empire building. It's a variety of stories. The thing about the Rangers is that they go everywhere, and therefore the entire B5 universe is open to us, and will definitely be involved [in the stories]."

Straczynski added, "Babylon 5 was really a show about political intrigue, with [this] core wrapped around an action series. This really isn't [the same], for several reasons. The political stuff will be there to inform [the Rangers'] missions, in terms of trying to make new alliances and to steady problems as they come up out there. But I want this to be more action-oriented. Plus, this is a small ship; we've put these characters into a very small, confined situation--a tin bucket in space--and they have to live with each other on a daily basis." SCI FI airs Babylon 5 reruns weeknights at 7 p.m.

Kevin Smith told SCI FI Wire that his upcoming Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back movie pokes fun at Scooby-Doo, Planet of the Apes and other SF entertainment. To make sure he wasn't infringing on anybody's copyrights, Smith consulted the Dimension Films studio lawyers, who instructed him to make slight alterations for safety.

"Scooby doesn't have the triangle or diamond tag. He has a square, but it says 'DOG' on it in the green and [a] kind of yellow shade," Smith said at the film's press junket. "Their outfits are not picture-perfect to the cartoon. Fred is wearing a pink shirt, as opposed to white, but still with an ascot. Daphne's outfit doesn't have the shoes that she has, and the color's a little different, but everything is just close enough to be reminiscent of it or to make you look at it and you're like, 'That's Scooby-Doo.'"

Such changes made it possible to create recognizable likeness for the audience, but allow the studio plausible deniability in case of any legal questions.

"We never call anyone Scooby-Doo, nobody's ever called Daphne, nobody's ever called Fred [or] Shaggy, so you get away with it legally," Smith said. "Planet of the Apes [was the] same thing. We couldn't do the exact same outfits that they had, like I really wanted to do those leather striped vests that they had, and we couldn't do those. We had to do slight variations on them, but you see it and you're like, 'That's Planet of the Apes.'" Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back opens Aug. 22.

Director Kevin Smith told fans on his official View Askew Web site message board that he considered suing Planet of the Apes director Tim Burton for allegedly appropriating Apes' surprise ending from one of Smith's comics. The image in question appeared on page 7 of Jay and Silent Bob No. 3 and mirrors the ending of Burton's Apes remake.

"Believe me, I contemplated legal action," Smith wrote to fans, who first made the connection. The image gives away the controversial ending of Burton's movie.

But Burton denied he stole the idea from Smith. "I have not seen the image, and anybody that knows me knows I do not read comic books," Burton told the New York Post. "And I especially wouldn't read anything that was created by Kevin Smith."

Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II, told reporters that he's not impressed with the movie's just-announced subtitle, Attack of the Clones, the Popcorn U.K. Web site reported. "It's a terrible, terrible title," McGregor said, adding that he found out about the film's subtitle from reporters covering the Hollywood Film Festival.

McGregor reprises his role in the second Star Wars prequel, which takes place 10 years after the events of Episode I.

Aaliyah, who appears in the upcoming Matrix Reloaded and the as-yet-untitled third Matrix movie, told fans during a TeenPeople.com chat that she never shares the screen with star Keanu Reeves. "I don't even think I have a scene with him," the pop star said, according to a transcript on the Matrix Online Web site. "I'm not sure, because stuff changes, but we don't interact."

Aaliyah reportedly plays a character named Zee. "My boyfriend in the film flies their ship, but I don't do much with Neo," she said. "My character's motivation is her boyfriend. She's from Zion. Everything she does is based on him. She gets to be in some of the action in part three for her man, so it's really sweet."

The singer, who also stars in the upcoming vampire movie Queen of the Damned, said she will return to Sydney, Australia, for a month in January to shoot more footage for the Matrix sequels. The Matrix Reloaded is due out in late 2002.

Madonna and Ben Stiller will join Chris Rock and Jason Alexander to voice DreamWorks' upcoming animated fantasy movie Madagascar, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Eric Darnell (Antz) and Conrad Vernon (who wrote dialogue on Shrek) will direct, the trade paper reported.

Madagascar centers on four zoo animals who are sent back to their native homeland by an animal rights group that feels they belong back in the wild. But their ship capsizes, and the animals find themselves in Madagascar.

DreamWorks Pictures is in talks to distribute and possibly finance Kung Fu Theater, a fantasy movie to be directed by music video helmer Nick Quested, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Mandalay Pictures is producing the movie, which is slated to begin production by the end of the year, the trade paper reported.

Kung Fu tells the story of a comic-book artist who finds himself transported into a martial-arts film, where he embarks on an unusual journey to find inspiration. Tom Jankiewicz (Grosse Pointe Blank) wrote the screenplay, after developing the concept with Paul Jay Shrater, who will serve as an executive producer, the trade paper reported.

Can the upcoming live-action/animated SF comedy film Osmosis Jones help teach kids about health? That's what a Tufts University dentistry professor believes, according to the film's distributor, Warner Brothers.

"It can be seen by kids as tremendously funny, as well as an instructive primer in biology and human anatomy," Terrence J. Griffin, an associate professor at Tufts' School of Dental Medicine, told Warner Brothers.

The movie tells the fanciful story of a white blood cell, voiced by Chris Rock, and his partner, a cold capsule voiced by David Hyde Pierce, as they track down a lethal virus, voiced by Laurence Fishburne, in the body of Frank, played by Bill Murray.

"Osmosis Jones gives a good overview of how the body fights infections and how its systems react and work together when you're sick," Tufts student Brendon Chiou told Warner Brothers. His classmate, Davis Rubin, added, "The movie shows that the lymph nodes are where white blood cells hang out. A lot of people don't realize what their lymph nodes are and what they do." Osmosis Jones opens Aug. 10.

Chris Klein, who stars in John McTiernan's upcoming Rollerball movie, told SCI FI Wire that he backs the delay of the SF remake, which was bumped to February 2002 from its original August release date. He added that he doesn't know why McTiernan is re-shooting scenes for the movie, an update of Norman Jewison's original 1975 film of the same name.

"I don't know anything," Klein told reporters while promoting American Pie 2. Rumors have suggested that the film is being re-shot to tone down the violence and earn a PG-13 rating. As for the film's delay, Klein said, "That's not my call. That's not something I can control, as are the re-shoots. We don't really know what's going to happen with those. This is their [MGM's] baby. This has been in the works for over two years, trying to get it made, and they want to do it right. They've got a lot of money invested in it, and they're going to protect their investment as best they can. So good on them, because it was a great experience for me. I'm glad that they're taking care of a product that I was in."

Klein also discussed his costume for the film. "It was pretty awesome," Klein said. "The uniform is made from a full leather motorcycle suit, and it was all taken in and vacuum-sealed. It's all black leather and has red stripes, because our team is red, and it was pretty rocking. It's got inlaid elbow pads and pads on the hips and pads on the knees. It was pretty in-depth. If you need more stimulus than the suit and the heat and the sweat to get you in character, then you're pretty brain-dead."

Michelle Trachtenberg, who plays younger sister Dawn on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, hinted to SCI FI Wire that her character may get a love interest in the upcoming sixth season, which marks the show's move to UPN. "Dawn will be doing regular teen-age things," Trachtenberg said in an interview. "I don't know that I'm allowed to say this, but Dawn might be getting some interests in the crush field."

But Trachtenberg was vague about details and declined to answer a question about what kind of training she's getting for the show. "I can't tell you that," she said. "I have no comment. I cannot confirm or deny anything. We just started shooting last week. A lot of stuff is happening, a lot of fun stuff. You can expect it to be in typical Buffy fashion. We start out, of course, [and] a couple months have passed since the season finale, and it's just jumping right into the regular Sunnydale fun stuff."

Meanwhile, Alyson Hannigan, who plays best pal Willow, told SCI FI Wire that she's already overwhelmed by the new season's work. "We've only been working for a week and a half, and so far, it's been a bitch," Hannigan said in an interview. "I've had to do some stuff that I just really had trouble with." She wouldn't say whether that was physical or emotional stuff, nor did she know what her specific character arc would be this year. "I don't actually, honestly," Hannigan said. "They know, but I have not had time to sit down and figure [it out]. I mean, I have an idea just because people are saying things." Buffy makes its season premiere with a two-hour episode at 8 p.m. Oct. 2.

Earth: Final Conflict will bring back first-season lead actor Kevin Kilner as a guest star in the upcoming fifth season, the official EFC.com Web site reported. Other notable guest stars for the season will include Superman co-star Margot Kidder and Anita La Selva (Zo'or), who left her position as a regular cast member at the end of last season.

Kilner will reprise his role as William Boone in two episodes set to air in November, the site reported. The site reported spoilers that Boone--who supposedly died at the end of season one--has actually been kept in a state of suspended animation aboard the mothership for several years, and reawakens to find that the Taelons and Jaridians have merged to become a new alien species posing an even greater threat to humanity.

Kidder will guest star in a November episode in which she plays a forensic pathologist turned serial killer, who is awaiting her fate on death row. Renée breaks her out of prison, hoping she will be able to provide the information necessary to kill the deadly Atavus aliens, but the plan backfires.

La Selva returns as Zo'or in a "startling new incarnation," the site reported. The syndicated Earth: Final Conflict starts its new season the week of Oct. 6.

Activision announced that it has suspended the development of the PC video game Star Trek: Borg Assimilator, the GameSpot Web site reported. Activision said that the decision was made out of concern that the game's design didn't fully match the Star Trek universe, the site reported.

The decision does not affect any of Activision's other Star Trek games now in development, including Star Trek: Armada II and Star Trek Bridge Commander. Borg Assimilator was to have allowed players to control a small Borg colony and conquer and assimilate enemy units in order to gain access to new technologies. Cyberlore Studios was developing the game, which was slated for a holiday season release, the site reported.

Universal will develop an animated feature film based on Maurice Sendak's fantasy children's book Where the Wild Things Are, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Former longtime Disney feature animator Eric Goldberg is in final talks to direct the computer-animated movie.

Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone Productions is producing, along with Sendak and John B. Carls of Wild Things Productions, the trade paper reported. No start date is set, but the project is expected to move forward immediately, sources told the Reporter.

Wild Things tells the story of a little boy who uses his imagination to take him to a land of giant monsters, where he eventually is made the king. Screenwriter David Reynolds (The Emperor's New Groove) is adapting the project for the screen, the trade paper reported.

Composer Danny Elfman told Cinescape Online that he's not worried about expectations for his score for Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man film. Elfman will reunite with director Raimi, for whom he composed scores to Darkman and A Simple Plan, in January to begin work on Spidey, the site reported.

"I've already been down that road with Batman," Elfman told the site. "You know, whether it is Planet of the Apes, Batman or Spider-Man, you can't worry about what hard-core genre fans are going to perceive of what you do or don't do. You have to take everything for what it is. The movie will be what it will be, and I'll do the best I can with it."

Elfman will also score the upcoming sequel Men in Black 2, the site reported. "I'm attempting to only do two films a year again, which is what I did for most of my composing career," Elfman said. "It's a little tricky getting that and all the other stuff that I want to do."

Kevin Bernhardt will write a script for Johnny Frankenstein, a proposed modern retelling of the familiar monster story, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Independent production company Sobini Films is developing the project.

Johnny Frankenstein tells the story of a lonely Los Angeles misfit who, after a botched suicide attempt, is reconstructed by a visionary female doctor who pushes the limits of organ regeneration and bio-engineering to transform him into a superhuman, the trade paper reported. The film is loosely based on Mary Shelley's classic SF novel Frankenstein.

Disney has bought Indiana Jackson, a proposed supernatural adventure film based on a pitch by Tyger Williams, Variety reported. Described as a hip-hop Raiders of the Lost Ark, the movie is intended to star former Fugees member Pras, the trade paper reported.

The film tells the story of an archaeologist and his pupil, the film's title character, who travel to Ethiopia, where they seek the staff of Moses. Pras will exec produce with Darryl Taja, with that duo sharing story credit with Williams, the trade paper reported.

Planet of the Apes dropped to the No. 2 slot in the box-office rankings in its second weekend of release, with about $28.5 million for the weekend of Aug. 3, the Hollywood trade papers reported. That represented a steep 58 percent drop in Apes' box-office take and a total of about $124.7 million after 10 days of release.

Jurassic Park III took fourth place for the weekend, with an estimated $12.1 million. To date, the sequel has grossed about $146.8 million, the trade papers reported. Genre films rounding out the top 10 included No. 9 Cats and Dogs, with an estimated $2.3 million and a total of $86.7 million, and Dr. Dolittle 2 at No. 10, with about $2.1 million for the weekend and a total of about $105.9 million.

William Sadler told SCI FI Wire that he thought Roswell was dead, dead, dead and was shocked when UPN picked up the series. "I was talking to my agents and managers, saying, 'Let's look for the next gig, boys, because this is it,'" he recalled in an interview. "I couldn't imagine how we'd pull this out of the fire."

Sadler co-stars as Sheriff Jim Valenti, who transformed from threat to ally during the first two seasons. "The WB didn't want us," he said. "The numbers weren't fabulous. But UPN bought 22 episodes. That's indicative [of UPN's faith in the series]. They could have bought six or nine."

Year three will kick off on Oct. 9. When last seen, the aliens (Jason Behr, Brendan Fehr and Katherine Heigl) watched as the murderous and pregnant Tess (Emilie DeRavin) rocketed towards her home planet. Meanwhile, Valenti was without a job, having sacrificed everything to protect the aliens he once pursued. What will unfold remains to be seen--cast and crew only returned to the set in late July--but Sadler believes the leap from The WB to UPN will have a major effect on Roswell.

"The two things I've heard [producer] Jason Katims talk about is that, one, the episodes will be more self-contained," Sadler said. "You can tune in anytime and don't have to have watched the previous episodes to understand this one. The other thing is that they'll be character-driven. They'll be about the people and not so much about evil FBI special units, big threats from the outside and having to deal with them. Those episodes were fun to shoot, but I don't think they served us well, and I'm not sure that's what we do best. The shows that worked the best were the ones that tug at your heart a bit. They're human stories everybody can relate to. It doesn't have to be schmaltzy high-school romance. The episode in which we lost Alex--'Cry My Name'--was an example of that."

John Frankenheimer will direct the next installment in the Exorcist franchise, an as-yet-untitled prequel from Morgan Creek Productions, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Production will begin in the spring in the United States, England and Africa, the trade paper reported.

The prequel will trace the story of Father Merrin back to his first encounter with the devil during missionary work in post-World War II Africa. William Wisher initially adapted the prequel for the big screen from William Peter Blatty's original The Exorcist novel. Best-selling author Caleb Carr rewrote the script, which then caught the interest of Frankenheimer, the trade paper reported.

Warner Bros. will distribute the film domestically, while the studio and Morgan Creek International will distribute overseas. The first installment, released in 1973, has spawned two sequels--1977's Exorcist II: The Heretic and 1990's Exorcist III, the trade paper reported. Last year, Warner Brothers reissued the first film with recovered footage that was cut from the original release.

UPN announced that it has moved up the season premiere dates for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Roswell, shows it picked up from The WB at the end of last season. Buffy will now make its sixth-season debut on the smackdown network at 8 p.m. on Oct. 2, instead of Oct. 9, with a two-hour premiere.

Roswell starts its third season at its new home on UPN at 9 p.m. Oct. 9, instead of Oct. 16.

Other fall premiere dates remain the same. Enterprise premieres with a two-hour pilot episode at 8 p.m. Sept. 26. Special Unit 2 starts its second season at 9 p.m. on Oct. 3.

James Gunn (Scooby-Doo) will write the script for a remake of George Romero's 1978 zombie movie Dawn of the Dead, Variety reported. Beacon Communications will produce the remake.

Dawn of the Dead was the sequel to Romero's seminal 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead. Tom Savini resurrected Night of the Living Dead in 1990, the trade paper reported. The sequel--in which zombies converge on a shopping mall--was in part a sly social statement about the consumer culture of the time, Variety reported.

The Fox broadcasting network and its cable sibling, FX, have locked up broadcast rights to Planet of the Apes, Dr. Dolittle 2 and Kiss of the Dragon, Variety reported. The Fox movie studio produced all three films, the trade paper reported.

Under the deal, rights to the films will revert to the networks in 2004, following their exclusive pay-TV run on HBO, the trade paper reported. Sources told Variety that the networks will together pay about 15 percent of the films' domestic box-office gross.

The Fox network will get the premiere run of the movies, after which they will go to FX, then alternate over the course of the five-year deal, the trade paper reported.

Angel writer Tim Minear becomes a co-executive producer of The WB's vampire series in the upcoming season, working under co-creators Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt, Variety reported. The promotion was part of a seven-figure drama development deal with 20th Century Fox TV, the trade paper reported.

Under the deal, Minear will create, write and produce series programming for the studio. It's also expected that at some point during the length of the deal, Minear will be elevated to executive producer of Angel. "Tim is the heir apparent," Whedon told Variety. "If there was no Tim Minear, there would be no Angel. He's the unsung and unbelievably necessary hero of the show."

Minear has written for Angel since the show was spun off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1999. Last season, he worked as supervising producer of the series, directing two episodes and writing or co-writing nearly one-third of the season's episodes, the trade paper reported.

Taking a page from Roswell fandom, fans of TNT's Witchblade series have been bombarding the network's Atlanta office with letters and Pez dispensers urging the show's renewal, the Zap2it.com Web site reported. Witchblade's main character, Sara Pezzini (Yancy Butler), is nicknamed "Pez," the site reported.

Some fans have already mounted an online petition urging that TNT pick up the show for a second season. Witchblade wraps its first season at 9 p.m. Aug. 21.

A campaign by fans of teen alien series Roswell--in which they sent bottles of Tabasco sauce, the aliens' condiment of choice--helped persuade The WB to renew the show for a second season.

Zak Penn, one of the writers drafting the script for the upcoming X-Men 2 film, told SCI FI Wire not to expect any of the more outlandish villains from the Marvel Comics series. "X-Men is really more about the leaders of a minority group that's persecuted," Penn said in an interview. "Some of the ... [comic] villains ... are hard to bring into the X-Men universe that was created in the first film, because they feel like something out of Batman. So that's the one thing I hope the fans will be understanding of. ... I don't think the X-Men are ready to go into outer space to deal with the Shi'Ar [an ancient avian-based race with advanced technology]."

Penn and writer David Hayter are both working on drafts of the sequel to last year's hit X-Men, based on a common outline developed with director Bryan Singer, Penn said. "What I can tell you is that both David and I are working on drafts of the script, but we are doing that in concert," he said. "We're talking to each other about it. And it's mostly because ... there's just not a lot of time, and they both want us to work on it at the same time. Eventually it will be combined into a single draft, I would imagine, by him and Bryan. We are working separately, but the outline we're working on is based on both of our ideas. Bryan's in charge of the whole thing."

Penn was coy about the plot, except to say "I can confirm that Wolverine will be back, and Professor X probably, and some of the other characters as well. ... I understand everyone's anxious to get information about it. ... It's remaining very faithful to the comic book, I would say. ... It's going to have the same tone. I think they're going to try to do it bigger and better, and I think that they've probably learned [from the first film]. They were on a pretty tight schedule the last time, and I think they were getting their feet wet on some of the type things that they were doing, and I think now they have a much better idea of ... what they know how to do. ... Honestly, as opposed to Batman, ... where I think they've had problems making the movies better, ... I think there is a genuine feeling on X-Men that there's no reason why the second one can't be better than the first."

This time around, Penn added that the movie will interweave stories about several characters at once. "That's what makes it hard to write the script, to tell you the truth," he said. "It's easier to write the setups. ... We were both talking about this the other day--it's just a difficult screenwriting task to balance all these different stories and give them the proper weight. I mean, there's so many different characters that everyone loves. ... There's only so many minutes in a movie."

John Carpenter, director of the upcoming SF horror movie Ghosts of Mars, told SCI FI WIRE that until the day he first rolled cameras, he refused to believe his latest film would actually happen. "You never know," said the director of Halloween, Starman and The Thing in an interview. "One day it's not going to happen, the next day it is. One day this person falls in, and that person falls out."

Carpenter added, "If I say to somebody before I actually start shooting that a film is going to happen, I might be lying, even if I don't mean to lie. This all finally fell into place. Screen Gems wanted to make the script I wrote, and the elements came together." In the cast of Ghosts of Mars, the production was thrown into doubt by the abrupt departure of lead actress Courtney Love, until Natasha Henstridge stepped in at the last minute.

Set for nationwide release on Aug. 24, Ghosts of Mars follows the adventure and terror that befalls a group of human colonists on Mars after long-silent Martian ghosts are accidentally unleashed on the populace. It's up to Lt. Ballard (Henstridge), along with her crew--played by Clea Duvall, Pam Grier, Jason Statham and Liam Waite--to save the day, a task that's complicated by the presence of James "Desolation" Williams (Ice Cube). A dangerous criminal, Williams may or may not join the cause.

Over the years, Carpenter has worked his way up and down the Hollywood ladder. He's made no-budget flicks (They Live, Halloween), mega-movies (The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, Memoirs of an Invisible Man) and more modestly budgeted films (Escape from New York, Starman, Vampires). Ghosts of Mars fits into the last category.

"Usually, the higher-budget films are more ambitious," Carpenter said. "You're usually trying to accomplish something that's bigger and grander visually or story-wise. But often you sacrifice a certain amount of creativity. You're forced to be a little bit more creative when you have no budget. That's when you really have to figure out, 'Well, how do I tell this story? How do I shoot this in the time I have?' Also, the bigger the budget, the more the studio will want to have their say, which is fine. I don't blame them. If I were spending that kind of money, I'd try to protect my investment, too." Bottom line for Carpenter: The budget doesn't matter. "For me, as the director, it's all the same," he insisted. "It's just directing once you get on the set."

Disney's Dimension Films will re-release this year's hit Spy Kids on Aug. 8, with an added three-minute action scene cut from the original release in March, the company said. The new scene has the titular kids underwater.

"It was one of my favorite scenes, but it was never completed, because of the enormous amount of effect shots to be done in the time we had," director Robert Rodriguez said in a statement. "I initially thought of saving the scene for the sequel, but when presented with the opportunity of a re-release, I was too excited for kids to see it now. I believe it is the best scene in the movie."

Meanwhile, Rodriguez will begin shooting Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams in mid-September in Latin America and Austin, Texas; the sequel is slated for release on Aug. 7, 2002. Since its original debut, Spy Kids has grossed more than $100 million at the North American box office, the company reported.

Nicolas Cage campaigned against Johnny Depp for the lead role in the upcoming feature-film version of the Marvel Comics series Ghost Rider, syndicated columnists Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith reported. Producer Steven Paul told the columnists that when Cage heard that Depp would likely be the Rider, he phoned the director and said, "I am the Ghost Rider."

Cage is reportedly a big fan of the series and owns five Ghost Rider motorcycles, the columnists reported. "He flew in from Hawaii for meetings, and that was that," Paul said. "We're closing a deal with him now."

Ghost Rider tells the story of a motorcycle stuntman who sells his soul to a dark force to save his girlfriend. Shooting is expected to start in November in Canada and Arizona; Jon Voight will co-star.

Tommy O'Haver will direct Ella Enchanted, a fantasy film based on the Newberry Award-winning children's book of the same name by Gail Carson Levine, Variety reported. Set in a medieval fantasy world with contemporary elements, the story centers on Ella of Frell, who is given the gift of obedience from a fairy, which Ella eventually realizes is actually a curse, the trade paper reported.

Production of the Miramax film is slated tentatively for January, the trade paper reported. O'Haver is working on a script with writers Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith (Legally Blonde).

Dick Askin, president and chief executive officer of Tribune Entertainment, told reporters that the company has given the green light to several genre TV pilots, Variety reported. Tribune Entertainment is the L.A.-based subsidiary of Tribune Broadcasting.

Speaking at a press conference, Askin unveiled the following genre pilots, the trade paper reported:

•MechWarriors, based on Microsoft's SF game Battletech, from producers Paul Bryant and Michael Wahl of Foundation Imaging.
•Pendragon, an Arthurian series about the establishment of Camelot, from producers Lawrence Bender and Kevin Brown and head writer Jonathan Hale.
•Beyond with James Van Praagh, an hour-long reality show hosted by psychic Van Praagh, from executive producer Kari Sagin.

Makers of the Tomb Raider Four video game have apologized publicly to a French archaeologist who claimed a character seemed to resemble him, the Reuters news service reported. In a statement published in the French daily newspaper Le Monde, Eidos Interactive said that any likeness between Jean-Yves Empereur and the archaeologist Jean-Yves in version four of its adventure game was purely coincidental.

Empereur is famous for discovering the remains of the Pharos lighthouse--one of the seven wonders of the ancient world--near the Egyptian city of Alexandria, Reuters reported. The game features a character of the same name and profession and partly plays out in Egypt.

The British computer gamemaker and its French distributor said Tomb Raider Four would continue to be sold in its present state for technical reasons, but that no such character would appear in any of its games in the future, Reuters reported.

Paul Walker (The Fast and the Furious) will star in the feature-film version of Michael Crichton's time-travel novel Timeline, for which he will receive $3 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Richard Donner will direct the film, which is reportedly near preproduction.

The film--about college archaeology students who travel back to 14th-century France to rescue their professor--is slated to begin shooting in March, the trade paper reported. Walker will join Gerard Butler (Dracula 2000), who will play the lead role of Andre Marek, a site manager on a dig in France who is recruited to save the professor. Walker will play Chris Hughes, an archaeology student who also is the professor's stepson, the trade paper reported.

Donner is producing with his wife, Lauren Shuler Donner. Paramount picked up feature-film rights to the book 18 months ago. George Nolfi wrote the latest draft of the script, the trade paper reported.

Award-winning SF author Poul Anderson, the prolific author of more than 100 books, died July 31 of prostate cancer at his home in Orinda, Calif., according to his publisher, Tor Books. He was 74. With a career spanning more than 50 years, Anderson was considered one of the best writers in the genre, having penned hundreds of short stories and dozens of novels; more than 100 of his novels and short-story collections have been published.

Anderson--born in Pennsylvania of Scandinavian parents, a culture that informed his writing--was just 20 years old when he published his first short story in 1947, according to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. In 1948, he earned a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota. Among his early novels are the SF Brain Wave and the fantasy Three Hearts and Three Lions. Anderson also wrote under the pseudonyms Michael Karageorge and Winston P. Sanders. With SF author Gordon R. Dickson, Anderson also wrote stories about Hokas, a species of furry aliens.

His later books can be grouped by sequence, including the Technic History series, centered on Nicholas van Rijn and Dominic Flandry; the Time Patrol stories, which began with Guardians of Time; the Psychotechnic League stories; and the History of Rustum sequence. Notable singletons include the fantasy A Midsummer Tempest and the SF Tau Zero, and his recent work included the four-book sequence beginning with 1993's Harvest of Stars. In an interview in Locus in 1997, Anderson said that he would like to be remembered for Tau Zero, Midsummer Tempest, The Boat of a Million Years, Three Hearts and Three Lions, The Enemy Stars and Brain Wave.

On July 6, Anderson's 2000 novel Genesis won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the best science fiction novel of the year, the latest in a long string of honors that included three Nebula Awards and seven Hugo Awards, according to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Anderson was a former president of the SFWA and guest of honor at the World Science Fiction Convention. In 1997 he received SFWA's Grandmaster Award, and in 2000 he was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Anderson is survived by his wife and writing partner, Karen; his daughter, Astrid; brother, John; two grandchildren; two nieces; and SF writer Greg Bear, his son-in-law.

Post-production is entering the home stretch on the first of Peter Jackson's three Lord of the Rings films, associate producer Rick Porras told the E! Online Web site. "We're in 'finishing film one' mode, with about 20 percent of the post-production process left," Porras told the site. "The final visual effects are coming in, and we're putting on the final layers."

Porras said that New Line executives have already screened a rough cut. "We're getting the studio's comments and continuing to make it better," he said. But, he added, the studio won't preview the film before its Dec. 19 release. "We aren't previewing in the traditional route," he said. "Considering the amount of interest in the films, I'm glad we're not. This way, there's less chance of people finding out details in advance and releasing clips on the 'Net."

Cast and crew members in New Zealand are completing the dialogue re-recording, and Canadian composer Howard Shore (The Cell) is writing the score. "We'll be showing [Shore] the whole film on this trip to L.A.," Porras said. Shore will spend August and September recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Post-production work has also begun on the remaining two films in the trilogy. "Film two is moving along nicely," Porras said. "Film three is third up, so it's less of an issue right now, but again, there's a lot of overlap with effects and editing."

The SCI FI Channel has picked up reruns of CBS' SF series Now & Again. SCI FI acquired 22 episodes of the series from King World.

The series told the story of a man, played by John Goodman, who is killed off in the first episode and resurrected in the body of a younger man, played by Eric Close. Glenn Gordon Caron produced the show.

CBS aired the series for one season in 1999-2000. SCI FI has a three-year license for the series and will air Now & Again Monday through Thursday at 9 p.m., starting in August.

MGM has slated John McTiernan's upcoming Rollerball remake for wide release on Feb. 8, 2002, Variety reported. The date directly precedes the Presidents Day holiday weekend, the trade paper reported.

Robert Levin, president of worldwide theatrical marketing and distribution for MGM, told the paper that releasing Rollerball on that date was part of a strategy to "eventize" the film; that is, make it into an event. The movie was bumped from its original summer 2001 release date.