WONDER WOMAN

Comics2Film/CBR News has learned that Warner Bros. has hired another new

writer on the "Wonder Woman" feature film project. 

Sources in the know tell us that Philip Levens is now on board to write the

script for the project. Levens is best known to fans for his work on

"Smallville" writing the "Tempest" finale to season one and

the "Vortex" opener for season two. Levens is bowing out of season

three of the show to focus on his feature work.

The new writer follows Todd Alcott ("13

Ghosts"), Jon Cohen ("Minority Report") and Becky Johnston

("Price of Tides") who have all taken a pass at bringing DC's classic

female character to the big screen. Joel Silver ("The Matrix") is

producing the movie.

With the superhero movie trend continuing to thrive, no doubt Warner Bros is

eager to see the most well known female hero on the big screen.

 HULKIGN

FilmForce reports another round in the case of the writing credits for

"The Hulk." A few weeks back Comics2Film/CBR News reported that the

Writers Guild of America (WGA) had officially determined that the credits for

the movie would be "Story by James Schamus; Screenplay by John Turman,

Michael France and James Schamus." 

Now, FilmForce reports that Schamus and David Hayter ("X-Men") both

filed separate protests appealing the ruling. Unnamed sources inform the site

that Hayter simply wanted his name included in the existing credits, whereas

Schamus wanted to be named as the sole writer on the movie.

According to FilmForce's source, the WGA hear the complaints on Friday of

last week and determined them to be groundless. C2F's own sources tell us that

the appeal process rarely yields a change in WGA decision, and can only be used

as such if it is found that the WGA did not follow it's own rules for

arbitration.

 

X2The actual box office number for "X2" have come in. They're only

slightly down from the estimates that were reported yesterday. The movie's

actual weekend gross came in $85,558,731 according to Box

Office Mojo. All previously reported rankings and landmarks based on the

estimate still stands.

In other "X2" news, Variety

reports that the mutants are not only fighting intolerance, but video piracy as

well. 20th Century Fox made special efforts to clamp down on security during

screenings (including have press reps like C2F read and sign off on warnings

before viewing the movie).

According to the report, the efforts paid off, slightly. While poor quality

copies of the movie began circulating in Malaysia and Hong Kong the day after

the theatrical release, no copies were in circulation beforehand. 

 

MARVEL MOVIESMarvel reported it's first quarter 2003 earnings today. The emerging

entertainment powerhouse reports record high earnings for the first leg of the

year. This is largely due to licensed products, including a hit movie in "Daredevil."

"The strong box-office debut of the 'Daredevil' feature film in February

further evidences the broad attraction of our characters within the consumer

market both in the U.S. and abroad. We believe this film has forged a new

entertainment franchise around both the Daredevil and Elektra characters, and

Fox is now hard at work on the first sequel film to spotlight Elektra with

another sequel spotlighting Daredevil to follow," Marvel President and CEO,

Allen Lipson, said.

"Last weekend's powerful worldwide opening box office gross of $155.2

million for 'X2: X-Men United' demonstrates the significant consumer demand for

this broad and multi-faceted character franchise."

Marvel published a schedule of upcoming movies for 2004. That list included

the currently filming "Spider-Man 2" as well as "The

Punisher," which is currently in pre-production and set to lens this

summer.

Also on the list for 2004 are "Iron Fist," which now has director

Stephen Carr attached, "Blade 3" and "Fantastic Four."

However, our next report makes the FF release in 2004 seem unlikely.

 

FANTASTIC FOUR

Jo Blo.com

recently chatted with "Fantastic Four" director Peyton Reed about the

status of that movie. Reed told the website that the movie is currently moving

slowly because they don't have a script.

"Twin Peaks" writer Mark Frost is the latest in a line of

screenwriters to come on board the project. Reed told Jo Blo that any reported

release dates are "on hold" until the script is finished.