Friday Night Lights: "Country star Tim McGraw just scored his first big movie job. He'll play a bullying father in "Friday Night Lights," the Imagine Entertainment /Universal adaptation of the H.G. Bissinger book about a Texas town's devotion to its high school football team. Jay Hernandez ("Torque") has also joined and will play Brian Chavez, a defensive tackle on the football team. A straight-A student, Chavez is the "smart" one on the team..." (more info).

The Man: "New Line Cinema has greenlit "The Man" -- a fish-out-of-water comedy that will star Samuel L. Jackson and Eugene Levy. Les Mayfield ("Blue Streak") will direct the pic, budgeted in the mid-$20 million range. "Man" was developed for the last two years as a starring vehicle for Levy, who'll play a bumbling traveling salesman who stumbles into an ATF sting. Jackson will play an ATF agent who is forced to make an ersatz partner of the salesman, lest his undercover operation go awryperation go awry..." (more info).

The Weatherman: "Paramount Pictures has added Michael Caine to Chicago-based drama "The Weather Man" opposite Nicolas Cage and Hope Davis. Pic, to be directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Escape Artists, is due to start lensing Feb. 23 in Chicago. Caine will portray a Pultizer Prize-winning author who's the father of Cage's character, a successful TV weathercaster who's about to leave Chicago for Gotham..." (more info).

Chasing Fate: "Kip Pardue will be chasing Jordana Brewster for helmer Nigel Dick and Madonna and Guy Oseary's Maverick Films. Brewster has been cast in the lead female role opposite Pardue in the romantic comedy "Chasing Fate." Production is scheduled to start in the spring, with shooting set for Los Angeles and San Francisco..." (more info).

Country Girl: "Regency Enterprises has plunked down low- against mid-six figures for "Country Girl," a romantic comedy set in the world of country music by first-time scribe James Raymond. In the vein of "The Princess Diaries," the story concerns a pampered teenage country music star who decides to trade in her mansion for a trailer park to get inspiration for an album. The experiment introduces her to the world of teen rivalries, friendship & romance..." (more info).

House of Wax: "Commercial director Jaume has been given the keys to Dark Castle Entertainment's "House of Wax" for Warner Bros. Pictures/Village Roadshow Pictures. Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis and Susan Levin are producing. Jaume -- a native of Barcelona, Spain, whose full name is Jaume Collet-Serra -- is known for commercials filled with black humor..." (more info).

Alien Quadrilogy (DVD): The Japanese get one hell of a casing for their DVD set, see Creature Corner for pics.

Assault on Precinct 13: Erika Baydau, Alicia Keyes and Mary J. Blige are apparently being considered for 'Eve', 50 Cent and Method Man for 'Smiley'.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason: Some great new set pics from Austria are up at The Z Review.

Catwoman: Pics from the Performing Arts Centre shoot are up at HNR.

DVD News: Details are now out for Big Fish, Love Don't Cost a Thing & Gothika.

Jennifer Government: Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney have renewed their option for the movie rights to Max Barry's book. They're apparently burning through screenwriters, rejecting one adaptation script after another until they get one they really like.

Miss Congeniality 2: Filmjerk reports that William Shatner and Heather Burns are returning for Miss Congeniality 2 with Sandra Bullock, but filming on Batman: Intimidation may prevent Michael Caine from returning.

Seed of Chucky: Rumours are going around that Brad Dourif may not reprise his role as the voice of Chucky due to script concerns.

The Chill Factor: Details of a new Tom Savini TV series is now online.

The Lion King 1.5: The director of the sort-of-sequel talked about the project recently to About.Com.

TV News: Mediasharx indicates Nathan Fillion will join "Hollywood Division", Eric Christian Olsen has joined the Alyson Hannigan sitcom, and Jonathan Cake has joined ABC's Roman epic "Empire".

X3: Patrick Stewart tells the Bradenton Herald that he expects this in 2005.

Thanks to 'Marcus', 'Patrick', 'Ryan', 'Chris', 'Antoine', 'Tom', 'Gary', 'Fred', 'Jeff', 'HNR', 'Jocker', 'KarlChilders' & 'Micah'