• “If they had to do it all over again, would DreamWorks co-founder Steven Spielberg and his partner Stacey Snider have left their lucrative deal at Paramount Pictures, where their slate of films had thrived, if they had foreseen the worsening financial environment?” According to Anne Thompson, DreamWorks is having a lot of trouble raising money during the credit crunch, and Spielberg and Snider may have to settle on a smaller business plan. On her blog, Thompson simplifies things: “But it’s Steven Spielberg! It doesn’t matter. The banks aren’t lending to anybody. It’s sheer bad luck.”
• Ari Folman is following up his winning animated doc Waltz With Bashir with an adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s sci-fi short story The Futurological Congress, which will begin as live-action then transition to animation. “Think of your favorite young actress. She’ll appear that way at the beginning, and then as the film goes on, she’ll be drawn like she’s 50,” Folman explains. So, like Kate Winslet in The Reader, but as a cartoon rather than with distracting aging makeup.
• Barry Sonnenfeld will direct another sci-fi action comedy called The How-To Guide for Saving the World, which sounds like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy if Arthur and Ford had been able to use their book to twart the Vogon’s demolishon of Earth.
• Billy Ray will direct his own adaptation of the supernatural novel Conjure Wife, which has been filmed three times previously. The premise sounds like Bewitched as a horror film.
• Adam Shankman, who raised his comedy rep recently with Prop 8: The Musical (and may lower it again now with Bedtime Stories), has added another musical and another f/x extravanza to his pipeline. The former is the high-concept Bob the Musical; the latter is the long-in-works revival of Sinbad.

• Clint Eastwood will direct a Peter Morgan-scripted supernatural thriller titled Hereafter, which has been likened to The Sixth Sense. But with Steven Spielberg producing, wouldn’t it be better to make comparisons to Poltergeist, Always or even Casper (in which Eastwood appears)? Or is the plot more concerned with a lame twist than it is with ghosts?
• Meanwhile Spielberg’s directorial replacement on The Trial of the Chicago 7 might be Ben Stiller?
• The children’s book adaptation Measle and the Wrathmonk sounds like Honey I Shrunk the Kids meets parts of Beetlejuice, which could be good except that it’s going to be yet another creepy motion-capture animation from producer Robert Zemeckis.
• Anticipating huge numbers for Twilight, Summit has gone ahead and assigned adaptations of the second and third books (New Moon and Eclipse) to Melissa Rosenberg, who also wrote the first installment.
• Now that Hope is upon us, does DreamWorks really need to make a fearful terrorist-attacks-the-president movie like Motorcade?
• And now that he’s made a disappointing 007 film, will Marc Forster also ruin the popular zombie novel World War Z?
• Speaking of that new 007 installment, Quantum of Solace is expected to have the biggest opening for a Bond film ever.

• After being on track to be as perfect as the first film, Iron Man 2 has received a monkey wrench in the form of a recasting: for unspecified reasons (money), Terrence Howard will not reprise his role of Jim Rhodes, aka the future suited-hero War Machine, allowing Don Cheadle to replace him. While the same (or better) level of actor will be involved, the remodeling of the part is sure to be a little discomforting.
• Universal will be the new distributor of DreamWorks films in a deal that everyone expected to happen. But just because it was inevitable doesn’t change how perfect the relationship is. For one thing, their Earth and moon logos fit together so well. And as a team, they’re like Elliot and E.T. riding that bike across the sky (but which studio is in the basket?). Sorry if that only makes sense to me.
• Who knows what the markets will be like when the film is released, but Fox appears to be fast-tracking the sequel to Wall Street, titled Money Never Sleeps, which will see Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gekko released from prison into an unrecognizable financial world. 21 screenwriter Allan Loeb will be rewriting the film so expect the world to also be unrecognizable to most on Wall Street, as all the Asian traders will presumably be replaced by whites.
• In news that is probably only exciting or interesting to me, the National Association of Theater Owners is breaking away from the dog and pony show known as ShoWest to begin a new yearly convention for the exhibition business. Hopefully NATO can use this opportunity for better progress in the industry before the studios turn it into just another celebration of Hollywood.

• The weekend box office went just as expected with Beverly Hills Chihuahua unfortunately coming out on top with $29 million and Rachel Getting Married earning the best per-screen average ($33,667) with an impressive $303,000 gross from only 9 locations. Also, with so many new films debuting, Flash of Genius, Blindness and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People couldn’t even open in the top ten — the latter placed as low as #19 — and An American Carol and Religilous only placed ninth and tenth, respectively. Still, for a documentary, Religilous‘ $3.5 million debut and $6,972 per-screen average are both honorable achievements. The film had the highest non-fiction debut of 2008, and it’s sure to be the highest-grossing non-concert doc of the year.
• Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist also debuted relatively well this past weekend, which made it a perfect time for Mandate Pictures to annouce that the film’s screenwriter, Lorene Scafaria, will make her directorial debut with the romantic comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.
• For awhile now I’ve noticed the headlines about Mamma Mia!’s incredible overseas business, but I’ve so far ignored them. Well, here’s the latest off-balanced tally: compared to its already hit-qualifying $143 million domestic gross, the musical has taken in close to $400 million extra from international markets. That’s nearly three-fourths of its total take, for those who like fractions.
• 200 projects developed by DreamWorks while living under Paramount’s roof will be divided up rather fairly between the two studios now that they’re separating. About one-fifth of those will remain joint efforts, of which one-half will be primarily developed by DreamWorks with Paramount having an option to co-finance and co-distribute. While some of these special-circumstance projects are rumored to be Spielberg’s directing and producing gigs, there’s still no news on what’s going on with the Tintin trilogy.

• Remember how Hollywood feared a Screen Actors Guild strike earlier this year following the devastating WGA strike? Well, after a summer of fruitless negotiating, a strike from SAG may indeed finally happen. The guild is voting today on whether or not to ask its members for a work stoppage, which could have actors walking out around the same time the writer’s started picketing a year ago.
• Adding to my single reason for not switching to a Mac, Netflix’s Watch Instantly service will now stream 1,000 additional movies courtesy of a deal with Starz. Time to finally buy a Roku, if you haven’t already.
• Universal was reportedly already the lead candidate to acquire the available distribution partnership with DreamWorks, but just to clinch the deal the studio is offering Spielberg & Co. an additional $150 million financing safety net from parent company NBC Universal.
• Hilary Swank has found another Oscar-bait role: the two-time Best Actress winner will star as the title role in Betty Anne Waters, about a high school dropout who becomes a lawyer in order to defend her brother, who has been convicted of murder.

• Now that DreamWorks’ detachment from Paramount is officially happening, it’s time to find a distributor for the soon-to-be private company. Universal and Disney are currently the main contenders, but there just seems to be something wrong about a DreamWorks-Disney partnership, even if DreamWorks Animation isn’t part of the move.
• Personally, I think Harvey Weinstein should hold off releasing Stephen Daltry’s The Reader until 2009, but I’d like to see Harv and Scott Rudin literally wrestle each other to see who wins their distribution dispute.
• Who wants to see a giant whale decimate 19th century ships in bullet time? Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov is helming a visual effects-heavy reimagining of Moby Dick.
• Speaking of ruining classics, there’s a Rashomon remake in the works that will update the story’s setting to a modern day rape trial. But then does it have to be an official redo, since there’s tons of Rashomon-influenced movies anyway?
• This would have fit in a lot better in yesterday’s Trade Roughage: Keira Knightley signs on for her millionth period piece, wins a balloon and a flapper costume shopping spree.

• Though they’ve been carefully tasteful about the use of grotesque images of Heath Ledger in the marketing of The Dark Knight domestically, Warner Brothers execs say the actor’s death “had not altered the marketing of the pic internationally.” The film had an Imax premiere at CinemaExpo this week.
• When Dreamworks inevitably splits from Paramount later this year, there’s a possibility that they’ll exist as a stand-alone inde...bankrolled on a billion dollars (yes! Literally!)
• Silvio Berlusconi is taking away government-sponsored subsidies for Italian filmmakers. In response, Italian filmmakers are threatening to take their films away from the Venice, Turin and Rome Film Festivals.
  

• The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has invited 105 member of the industry to join their gang, including 2008 Oscar winners Marion Cotillard and Diablo Cody. Insert stripper to Hollywood establishment joke…here.
• Jeffrey Katzenberg presented “clips, storyboards and early animation sequences from” several Dreamworks animation films in the works at the CinemaExpo in Amsterdam this week, as part of a push to convince European theater owners to convert to digital projection systems.
• The English Surgeon, The Garden, and Throw Down Your Heart won big at the SilverDocs film festival. For our SilverDocs coverage, click here.

• Two Paramount subdivisions are collaborating to produce Jackass 2.5, an almost-feature length, direct-to-internet sequel to last year’s massively successful Jackass: Number 2. The film will premiere at blockbuster.jackassworld.com, where it will be viewable for free (The Hollywood Reporter story doesn’t specify if it’ll be downloadable or streaming) for two weeks, at which point it will hop to other online and DVD venues, totally skipping theatrical release in favor of “light-speed reinvention of the customary distribution-window chain.”
• Today’s dirty secret: I’m writing this post 16 hours before it will be published, and as of this second, the trades haven’t picked up this story yet. So I’ll just link to Matt Dentler: Luke Wilson, Richard Linklater and Zadi Diaz will judge web series for the Greenlight Awards, to be handed out in March at SXSW.
• Pedro Almodovar’s next project: a film noir starring––wait for it––Penelope Cruz. Yaaawwwn.
• Steven Spielberg has issued a statement saying he’s not leaving Dreamworks. What if I issued a statement every time I decided not to leave my house? Actually, that’s basically what blogging is, right?

• Talks resume today between the writers and the studios. The WGA’s chief priority is to “get a better proposal on the table”; the AMPTP seems most concern with stepping up their game on the PR front.
• Viacom is starting to hedge on earlier indications that they’re all but ready to unload Dreamworks. At the UBS Global Media Week & Communications Conference, Viacom’s Philippe Dauman talked sweetly about Steven Spielberg, whilst potential Dreamworks buyer Jeff Zucker of NBC/Universal focused on how his own company “is on a great trajectory, and we feel great about that.” Great.
• Anne Sweeney, co-chairman of Disney Media Network and president of Disney-ABC Television Group, has been named the most powerful woman in entertainment by The Hollywood Reporter. For her achievements, she gets to eat breakfast with John Travolta and Queen Latifah. Yay, girl power!
• Paul Haggis and writing/producing partner Robert Morescu have filed yet another lawsuit against Crash producer Bob Yuri, claiming he still owes them “$4.7 million in adjusted gross receipts for the film.” This is at least the fourth lawsuit to have followed the film’s 2006 Best Picture win, and you’d think it all would have been preventable––if anyone should know the ins and outs of inane misunderstandings, it’s the guys who wrote Crash.

***David Geffen and Steven Spielberg, apparently unhappy with the role Dreamworks has played within the Viacom empire since Paramount’s late-2005 acquisition of the vanity label, are threatening to walk away from their contracts with the mega studio. According to a fascinating piece on the subject by former Paramount employee Peter Bart, Geffen and Spielberg may be able to jump ship with the Dreamworks name in tow, but they’d likely have to leave their staff, existing deals and film negatives behind.

***Netflix is lowering the price of their two most popular subscription plans by $1 each, in an attempt to beat out Blockbuster once and for all. It’s the second price slash from Netflix this year, and it could cost the company millions of dollars.

***Disney has found a director for their remake of the kiddie classic Escape to Witch Mountain. Also, if you were wondering what happened to Ike Eisenmann, in 2002 he wrote, directed and starred in a Witch Mountain/Blair Witch spoof called — wait for it — The Blair Witch Mountain.

***Music video icon Mark Romanek (see his infamous clip for Fiona Apple’s “Criminal” above) is set to direct Ben Stiller in a comedy called In Deep. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Dreamworks is resurrecting the project, which crashed and burned in the late 80s (!) when the prodution company behind it went bankrupt. Steve Conrad has been hired to do a “Page One rewrite/reconceive” on the ancient script, which has something to do with unpaid parking tickets.

***In another high-profile partnership, Frank Miller is turning Raymond Chandler’s noir Trouble is My Business into a star vehicle for Clive Owen. Miller and Owen are apparently BFF since Sin City, and with Trouble Miller will be taking cues from that project, shaping the script around narration to be delivered by Owen.

***Michael Apted, the mastermind behind the 7 Up documentary series, will direct the next Narnia pic.

***The Los Angeles Film Festival will screen a program of celebrity-directed shorts this Sunday to celebrate Live Earth Day, including clips helmed by Casey Affleck and Madonna.