Movie News Page 1099

William H. Macy is joining the cast of the upcoming "Wild Hogs", so The Hollywood Reporter said. The actor will star in the comedy adventure flick alongside some other actors, including John Travolta, Tim Allen and Martin Lawrence.

The story of the Disney project revolves around a group of frustrated middle-aged biker wannabes who hit the open road in search of adventure, only to encounter a real Hell's Angels group. With Walt Becker is in hand directing, filming is scheduled to start next month in New Mexico.

"Scary Movie 4" apparently isn't as scary as its title. In fact, moviegoers find it amusing, judging from its ticket sales which from Friday to Sunday reached $41 million to open atop the weekend box office in North America. Meanwhile, "Ice Age: The Meltdown," which had been No. 1 the previous two weekends, slips one to No. 2 with $20 million.

No. 3 is "The Benchwarmers" which takes in another $10 million. New wide release, Disney's animated tale "The Wild," debuts at No. 4 with $9.6 million, ahead of "Take the Lead" at No. 5 with $6.7 million. No. 6 is drama thriller "Inside Man" which taking in $6.3 million, followed close behind at No. 7 is "Lucky Number Slevin" with $4.6 million.

At first it was Jay Russell who rode on "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep". And as the man has agreed to direct the drama action flick, Emily Watson, Ben Chaplin and Alex Etel are all joining him.

Based on the Dick King Smith novel, "The Water Horse" tells the story of a lonely boy in Scotland (Etel) who finds a mysterious egg on the shore of a lake. When the egg hatches, what emerges is a "water horse," a mythical sea monster of Scottish legend.

When it comes to "Slipstream", Christian Slater and Gena Rowlands have both become so interested in it. Even more as the project is of Anthony Hopkins'. Thus the twosome has signed on to star in the upcoming drama flick.

As of the story, "Slipstream" follows aging screenwriter Felix Bonhoeffer (Slater) who has lived his life in two states of existence: the world of reality and the world inside his head. Hired to rewrite a murder mystery set in a desert diner, and unaware that his brain is on the verge of implosion, Felix is politely baffled when the characters from his movie start showing up in his life and vice versa.

Variety brings the news that Jeff Daniels is about to join Jon Heder and Diane Keaton to star in "Mama's Boy".

Of comedy genre, the flick centers on a self-absorbed man in his late 20s (Heder) who still lives at home with his mother. The man's world turns upside down when his mother starts dating and considers booting him out of the house.

After creates abuzz in Hollywood film industry with his two films direction, "The Longest Yard" and "50 First Dates", Peter Segal is now taking "Shazam!" as his next project. Besides, he also is giving hand at producing alongside Michael Ewing via their Callahan Filmworks. Elsewhere, set to write the script is William Goldman and Bryan Goluboff.

An adaptation of a DC Comics' comic book, the story of "Shazam!" centers on Young Billy Batson who finds himself gifted with the power of the wizard Shazam to fight against the forces of evil. With the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and speed of Mercury, he is the holder of the power of S.H.A.Z.A.M; he is Captain Marvel.

"Greenbacks" will keep Will Smith busy in the coming days as he's been tapped to star in the action thriller flick.

Based on a script written by Doug Cook and David Weisberg, the story revolves around an American ex-pat who stumbles across a plot to destabilize the world's economy by mass-producing perfect counterfeit greenbacks.

Queen Latifah is the "Welfare Queen". Not exactly in real meaning, but the actress has signed on to star in the drama flick, which is a fact-based story of a woman who scammed the welfare system out of a fortune.

"Welfare Queen" actually is based on the life of Dorothy Woods. Abdul Williams is writing the script. Keep it here for more details on the film project.

Considering the success of "Finding Nemo", the flick is about to be brought into musical version. Featuring original songs by Robert Lopez and wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the so-called "Finding Nemo-The Musical" will be debuted at Disney's Animal Kingdom in late 2006.

Speaking on that project, Jay Rasulo, head of Disney World Parks and Resorts stated, "It is our goal to bring the undersea Nemo characters to Disney's Animal Kingdom in a live setting in a way that captures what is truly special about the film. This production will meet that challenge in a dynamic and wholly original way to bring us into the fantastical ocean world."

Who's on top of US box office? Believe it or not it's still "Ice Age: The Meltdown". Taking in another $33.8 million in ticket sales, the flick satisfyingly remains the top movie for a second-straight weekend while also is becoming the first movie released this year to cross the $100 million mark at the box office.

Debut at 2nd place is sports comedy "The Benchwarmers" which takes in $19.7 million and "Take the Lead" is at 3rd with $12.1 million. No. 4 is "Inside Man," which scores $9.1 million in ticket sales, followed after by "Lucky Number Slevin" at No. 5 with $7 million. Secures the 6th place is "Failure to Launch" which takes in $4.1 million.

The success of the movie version of "Crash" has prompted a great idea to bring the racial drama into small screen. And as the idea has been put to realization, the project will soon appear on televisions across the U.S. next year.

The film's producer Cathy Schulman remarked "I hope it will air in the next year". Actors from the film, like Sandra Bullock, Terrence Howard, Matt Dillon and Don Cheadle, reportedly will show up in the TV version. In the meantime, Cheadle also will serve as producer and be on at least a few episodes.

Hollywood actor Jon Heder has been attached by Universal Pictures to star in the forthcoming flick "Loudermilk" soon as the studio has pre-emptively picked up the project from Chris Bowman.

Despite its widely known concept which supposedly is comedy, details on the story are being kept under wraps. Meanwhile, it is said that Heder also is producing with his brothers Dan Heder and Doug Heder via their Universal-based company Greasy Entertainment.

50 Cent is going to have more and more activities in his agenda. The hip hoper has been attached by Universal Pictures to team up with veteran actor Nicolas Cage to star in the upcoming drama "The Dance".

Based on the life of prison boxing coach Billy "The Kid" Roth, the flick is being directed by John Darling Haynes and produced by Eric Geadelmann. Slated to write the script is Neil Tolkin.

Woody Allen's untitled Paris-set movie apparently has attracted the attention of Michelle Williams that she has signed to star in. While details on the story are being kept under wraps, it is obvious that it will focus on young Americans in the City of Lights.

Written and directed by Allen, the movie is being produced by Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum and Gareth Wiley. Meanwhile, in hand executive producing are Vincent Maraval, Benjamin Waisbren and Daniel Wuhrmann, with production begins in the summer.

Wanna know how it feels to "Become Bill"? Aaron Eckhart will provide the answer soon as he completed the film project.

The actor has signed on to star in the comedy flick, which GreeneStreet Films about to finance and produce.