FANTASTIC FOUR 2

A scooper wrote in to Superhero Hype about work on the sequel to the Marvel adaptation. "I was just at a church creative arts conference, and I saw Ralph Winter speak (the Executive Producer of the 'X-Men' and 'Fantastic 4' movies). There he said that he had already rejected two 'Fantastic 4 2' scripts and that the third script was almost finished and he hoped to have it on his desk by tomorrow (Thursday). He did say that the '07 release date is still expected."

ASTERIX

According to Variety, the Czech firm SPI, Intl. has secured the rights for the movie "Asterix at the Olympic Games" for central European territories.

CONAN

Variety also reported that Boaz Yakin will write and possibly direct a reboot "Conan the Barbarian" film, with an early 2007 start on production, and being produced by by Irving Azoff, Jon Jashni, Richard Alexander and Akiva Goldsman.

GREEN LANTERN

Apparently, actor Jack Black was interviewed on the radio in Portland, and said he was still in negotiations to play a servant of Oa, and was waiting on a script.

ULTRA

There's a new "failed pilot" review over at Televisionary, talking about the former CBS project. Thanks to Danielle Maris for the heads up.

SUPERMAN RETURNS

The studio has set up a new interactive promotional campaign for fans to show themselves wearing the Superman logo over on the movie's MySpace page. The studio statement reads, "In a most unique interactive campaign, Superman supporters are visiting the MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/supermanreturns where they can upload their favorite photos of themselves with the Superman 'S' symbol. In its first day nearly 10,000 fans have posted their photos!"

Meanwhile, Bryan Singer told IF Magazine about choosing the Man of Steel over Marvel's merry mutants. "[It was] 'Sophie's Choice,'" he said. "I developed the ['X-MEN'] scripts from the beginning and I'm part of that process and I co-write the stories, so there was never a material issue. It was literally an issue of me very much wanting to do [SUPERMAN]. Part of the reason that I got involved in 'X-MEN,' which was a universe that I was not familiar with was inspired by my love of 'SUPERMAN.' So everyday, we had a five hour bootleg version of Richard Donner's 'SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE' that we would watch everyday on the set of 'X-MEN' in the trailer."

Also, actress Kate Bosworth originally refused the Lois Lane part, according to Star Pulse. ""When I met with Bryan," she said, "I was really freaked out because I had never been in anything so big. I didn't know if I'd be completely giving up my privacy. I sat down with him and I said, 'I think you're going to make an amazing film, and I'm such a huge fan of yours, but I don't really feel like I'm ready for something of this magnitude, so good luck and thank you very much. I appreciate your time.'"

Finally, in case you missed it, CBR's very own interview with screenwriters Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty has the guys talking about paying tribute to what has gone before.

SPIDER-MAN 3

According to another scooper at Superhero Hype, the production will be south of Broome Street on Broadway in New York from 6 AM to midnight, so all fans in that area can mob the set and report back anything they see!

Ain't It Cool News claims that a new trailer might be attached to prints of "Superman Returns."

BATMAN BEGINS 2Batman-On-Film has new rumors about casting for Harvey Dent and the Joker, claiming that actor/director John Cusack is up for the role of the doomed district attorney, while cable channel G4 ran a crawl across the screen saying former Pee Wee Herman actor Paul Reubens would become the Clown Prince of Crime.

WORDS FAIL ME ...

Here's where you get in on the action. Did you see a link we didn't catch? Have you snuck into a closed movie set, and have inside data? Maybe your cousin is dating somebody who knows something, and they had to tell you? Whatever it is, we wanna know it all -- fire off an email and let us know whether you want your name used or your contributions to geekdom to go down anonymously. Broadcasting live from Los Angeles, this is novelist/karaoke host/all-around lunatic Hannibal Tabu saying thanks for your time and indulgence, you've got fresh comics reviews today, the movie "Dorm Daze 2" is actually pretty funny (saw a screening last night at DGA) and [tagline sent back to development hell until something hipper can be dreamed up].