'Potter,' 'Avatar' or 'Star Trek': What fanboy film might get a best picture nod?

"The Dark Knight" might not have beaten "Slumdog Millionaire" in last year's Oscar race, but it would've been interesting to see it given a chance.  And "Iron Man" versus "Doubt?"  Many would've chosen the Golden Avenger.  Now we will get to see these types of matchups since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has expanded the best picture field to 10.

Of course, even with the expansion, some movies will still never have a chance in this category ("Watchmen," probably way too polarizing), and aside from a couple of crowd- and critic-pleasers, many may not have the quality to compete. But as this news gently wafts over the awards world, we wonder how it can/will benefit the fanboy community.

-- Jevon Phillips

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I'm headed over to the MTV Movie Awards this Sunday and I'm bracing myself for a whole lotta "Twilight."

The open-to-the-online-public voting process for the trophies means that fan passion trumps all and, well, can you name any fans who are more passionate than Stephenie Meyer's vampy young disciples? Here's a fun promo for the awards show that shows what happens when a group of Twihards run into actor Cam Gigandet, who plays the evil bloodsucker James  in "Twilight."

(There's some obviously fake violence in this spoof, but if you think you might be disturbed by watching young actresses pretend to be punched, skip this one ....)

The funny thing is that "The Dark Knight," which is merely the second-highest grossing film in the history of the U.S. box office, and "Slumdog Millionaire," which only won the Oscar for best picture, both will be underdogs to "Twilight" in the MTV contest for best picture. Voting for that top category goes right up until the end of the show. The other also-rans -- er, sorry -- the other nominees are "Iron Man"  and "High School Musical 3: Senior Year." 

-- Geoff Boucher  

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Photo: Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

Are you a sucker for vampires? Here's the teaser poster for "Twilight: New Moon"...  

The sequel to "Twilight" hits theaters in November and finds Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) broken-hearted by the abrupt departure of her undead love, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), and then drawn to the charismatic Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). That puts Bella in the unsafe middle ground between two alluring souls who desire her heart as well between ancient enemies -- werewolves and vampires.

Hmm. I'm guessing this movie will do well with the journal-keeping crowd.

-- Geoff Boucher

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Poster photo credit: James White / Summit Entertainment. Lower photo: Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

There was quite of bit of angst and confusion among "Twilight" fans when Catherine Hardwicke, the director of the first film, was sent packing before the second movie got underway. Patrick Goldstein, my colleague here at the Los Angeles Times, has an item on his blog, The Big Picture, that will cheer up those Twi-hards who thought the filmmaker was treated unfairly. Here's an excerpt: 

You may remember that the last time we wrote about Catherine Hardwicke back in December, it was to lament the news that the gifted filmmaker, after delivering a lucrative franchise starter to Summit Entertainment in the form of "Twilight," was being pushed aside, with Summit moving ahead on a sequel to the hit film without her. It's fair to say that Hardwicke had her own doubts about continuing with the series. But nonetheless, the fallout from the news -- with fans voicing complaints about the franchise losing its top creative voice, not to mention its top female voice, outside of author Stephenie Meyer -- made it look like a very unhappy parting of the ways.

But, life, and Hollywood in particular, is full of surprises. Guess what? Hardwicke has just signed on to direct a new film, "If I Stay," with -- ahem -- Summit Entertainment. Rumors have been swirling for weeks, but Summit has now made it official: Hardwicke will direct the adaptation of Gayle Forman's upcoming novel, which will hit the stores later this spring from Dutton Children's Books. The novel is the story of Mia, a young classical musician and her indie-rock boyfriend, whose relationship is upended when Mia is badly injured in a car accident with her family. She watches the events unfold as she nears death, trying to decide whether she wants to continue living.

READ THE REST

-- Geoff Boucher

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Stephenie Meyer talks about ... mermaids?

Photos: "The Orphanage." Credit: Picturehouse Entertainment. Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

UPDATED

This post was based on a Variety story that made it sound like Bayona's hiring was a done deal but, according Patrick Goldsten and his Big Picture blog, that may not be the case. We'll keep you posted on the situation.

It's official, according to the trades, the filmmaker behind the hypnotic horror film "The Orphanage" (shown above) will be brought in for the third "Twilight" film. The second movie in the franchise, "New Moon," is due in theaters in November and the third, "Eclipse," is two years out. Here's an excerpt from Dave McNary's story:

Summit Entertainment has tapped Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona to direct "Eclipse," the third pic in the "Twilight" vampire series.

Summit, which had no comment Wednesday, is expected to make the official announcement soon. The minimajor recently gave "Eclipse" a release date of June 30, 2010.

Bayona's a protege of Guillermo Del Toro. He directed the Spanish-language horror-thriller "The Orphanage," which was exec produced by Del Toro, and is attached to helm the Universal thriller "Hater," with Del Toro and Mark Johnson producing.

Summit's opted for a different director on each "Twilight" pic. Chris Weitz replaced "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke on "New Moon."

This promises to take the franchise into some very interesting directions. "Twilight" fans, check out my in-depth 2007 feature on Bayona and the "The Orphanage" to get a sense of the dark place your favorite vamps are headed ... and here's the trailer for "The Orphanage"...

-- Geoff Boucher

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Stephenie Meyer talks about ... mermaids?

Photos: "The Orphanage." Credit: Picturehouse Entertainment. Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

One of my favorite horror films in recent years was the unsettling Spanish ghost story "The Orphanage," so I read with great interest a report by Steven Zeitchik on the Risky Biz Blog on the Hollywood Reporter website. Zeitchik cites unnamed sources who say "Orphanage" director (and Guillermo Del Toro protege) Juan Antonio Bayona (in photo above) has emerged as one of the prime candidates to direct "Eclipse," the planned third movie adapting Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" franchise. Here's an excerpt:

Bayona's name has come up in recent months, though generally in a group of other directors -- an eclectic list that's ranged from Paul Weitz to Drew Barrymore to James Mangold; earlier today, in fact, a report on the Twilighters fansite reported it would be Paul Weitz.

Many of the other names have been batted down. Bayona's name, on the other hand, has surfaced more in recent days as the man who could land the job, in what would mark a bold departure for the franchise.

If he does come aboard, the studio would have brought on a female coming-of-age girl director in Catherine Hardwicke for the first "Twilight" picture, a mainstream Hollywood comedy director in Chris Weitz for sequel "New Moon" and a genre maven for the third picture.

The shift would make sense on a number of levels -- "Eclipse," while continuing the romances and love triangles of previous books, does contain a mystery of unsolved murders that protags Bella and Edward seek to solve. (Notably, Bayona's debut "The Orphanage" also contained a plotline centering on children who had been killed under mysterious circumstances.) It also features battles between werewolves and vampires that could call for a practiced genre hand.

Now, some of that sounds a bit off to me; calling Bayona "a genre maven" and "a practiced genre hand" is a little nutty -- he has made just one feature-length film and it was far more art house than grind house. But bringing him into the "Twilight" franchise would be a bold move not unlike the decision to hand the "Harry Potter" franchise to directors such as Alfonso Cuarón and Mike Newell. I had the pleasure of talking to Bayona in 2007 and I wrote a lenthy piece about him for the Los Angeles Times ... 

Welcome to the latest edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe....

THE NEXT BIG 'THING': The Sci Fi flagship show "Battlestar Galactica" is winding down (we've already told you how the channel will try to soldier on without it) so what is Ron Moore going to be up to while he waits to launch "Caprica"? According to Michael Fleming, writing in the trades, Moore will be taking on a script about the alien who came in from the cold: "Universal will add a new chapter to 'The Thing,' lining up another take on the paranoid horror classic most recently brought to the screen by John Carpenter in 1982. Studio has set 'Battlestar Galactica' exec producer Ron Moore to write the script and commercials director Matthijs Van Heijningen to direct the re-imagining. New project borrows heavily from the John W. Campbell Jr. short story 'Who Goes There,' the basis of the Carpenter film and 1951 Howard Hawks original 'The Thing From Another World.' It is set in a Norwegian camp and chronicles how the shape-shifting alien was first discovered and overcame the inhabitants of that camp ... Van Heijningen has shot blurbs for brands including Toyota, Pepsi, Heineken, Bud Light and Visa. He is also developing 'Army of the Dead' at Warner Bros. with producer Zack Snyder." [Variety] ALSO: Hollywood is gearing up more than a dozen other remakes of classic sci-fi films; you can read about it here.

FAR TO GO, DAKOTA: The "Twilight" fans, a famously mellow and forgiving bunch, are going to love this tidbit from gossip maven Elizabeth Snead: "Dakota Fanning is really, really excited about taking on the role of Jane, the Volturi vampire in 'Twilight's' sequel, 'New Moon.' However, she hasn't even read the book yet. Fanning admitted at this afternoon's junket for her new film, 'Coraline,' that she's only halfway through reading the first 'Twilight' book. Asked if there was any movement on 'New Moon,' Dakota replied, 'It's not 100% for sure yet that I will be doing it, but it's definitely not like a rumor or anything. It's definitely a possibility and something I'm excited about.' Asked if there was any particular scene from the book that she was looking forward to doing, she said, 'I don't know ... I just think the character is what I'd be excited about. It's kind of evil, it's a vampire, it's really cool.'  Does she have any favorite vampires from films? 'I don't. The only vampire movie I've seen is 'Twilight.' " [Dish Rag]

ZACK SNYDER REVEALED: Writer Nisha Gopalan has contributed to the Hero Complex, and we always enjoy her work. That's especially the case with her new interview with "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder, who confesses to dark chapters in his past (Attending Renaissance fairs! Making beer commercials! Hanging around with naked blue men!) and also talks about casting his son as young Rorschach. Here's a chunk of the Q&A exchange: "'Why on Earth would you cast your 11-year-old son in this movie as a younger version of Rorschach, an abused sociopath whose mom was a hooker? My son was in '300,' too, as the young Leonidas -- he fights the dad, and then he punches a kid in the face. [Laughs] I feel like he’s together enough actually, that he can handle [the 'Watchmen' role]. I didn’t try to get too deep into it. Though there is a woman yelling at him, 'I should’ve had that abortion!' " [Nylon Guys] ALSO: Check out all "Watchmen" coverage at Hero Complex right here.

ON THIS DATE: Christian Bale celebrates his 35th birthday today and now clearly reigns as the dark prince of fanboy cinema. He has played Batman in two films (one of which now stands as the second-highest grossing film in U.S. box-office history) and he will star in the new "Terminator" franchise that launches this summer. He has played a dragon slayer, reluctant gunfighter, a serial killer with a penchant for Huey Lewis hits and (in one of my favorite recent films) a magician with a dark secret. To see some video scenes of the Wales native through the years, keep reading....

Welcome to a Wednesday edition of the  Everyday Hero report, your roundup of headlines from across the fanboy universe ...

PATRICK MCGOOHAN DEAD AT 80: Some very sad news today that Patrick McGoohan, an actor who could be simultaneously suave and cryptic, has died. Just the other day we told you that there are plans by AMC to revive the late actor's signature show, "The Prisoner," and if that moves forward as expected, it will only enhance the legacy of the actor and writer. Here's an obituary written by Dennis McLellan: "Patrick McGoohan, an Emmy Award-winning actor who starred as a British spy in the 1960s TV series 'Secret Agent' and 'The Prisoner' and was known for playing various villainous roles in films and on television, has died. He was 80. McGoohan died peacefully Tuesday in St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica after a short illness, said Cleve Landsberg, McGoohan's son-in-law. The family did not provide further details.It was the height of James Bond mania in 1965 when McGoohan showed up on American TV screens in 'Secret Agent,' a British-produced series in which he played John Drake, a special security agent working as a spy for the British government. The hour-long series, which ran on CBS until 1966, was an expanded version of 'Danger Man,' a short-lived, half-hour series on CBS in 1961 in which McGoohan played the same character. But it was McGoohan's next British-produced series, 'The Prisoner,' on CBS in 1968 and 1969, that became a cult classic. Once described in The Times as an 'espionage tale as crafted by Kafka,' 'The Prisoner' starred McGoohan as a British agent who, after resigning his post, is abducted and held captive by unknown powers in a mysterious village, where he known only as No. 6. McGoohan created and executive-produced the series, which ran for only 17 episodes. He also wrote and directed several episodes." [Los Angeles Times]

STAN LEE INVENTS THE FIRST GAY SUPERHERO?: Um, well, that's what the British press is breathlessly reporting today in several spots, such as this piece in the Daily Telegraph: "Lee has reportedly created a character called Thom Creed, a high-school basketball player who is forced to hide his sexuality as well as his superpowers. It is not known what kind of powers Creed will display. Lee, the former head of Marvel Comics -- who also created the Hulk and the X-Men -- will unveil Creed in an hour-long television special made in the US. If he proves popular with audiences, the programme will be shown in Britain. Lee developed the idea of a gay character from the award-winning novel Hero by Perry Moore, the Sun reports. A television industry source told the paper: 'It was only a matter of time before we had our first gay superhero. And if there is one man who can make him a success it is Stan Lee.'" Wow, there are so many things wrong with this. The news is pretty old since I read about it in November and there's the fact that Lee's plan of taking Perry Moore's pre-existing character and putting it on screen is not the same as "creating" that character. Also, there have been more than a few gay heroes in comics (Moore, in fact, chatted about some of them last summer) and I also hate when people don't mention Jack Kirby as a co-creator of classic Marvel characters such as Hulk and X-Men...so, ugh, let's move on ...

TERMINATORS, WARMING UP: I'm headed over to see footage from "Terminator: Salvation" today and to say hi to director McG, who is doing the meet-and-greet "road show" to promote the film. He already did a stop in New York and Michael Avila had a nice (and detailed) summary of it. "Relaunching a franchise is never easy. When you're following in the footsteps of James Cameron, it becomes an absurdly difficult challenge. That is just one of the many obstacles director McG faced when he signed on to reinvigorate the 'Terminator' franchise. The director took the mic to host a special presentation of early footage from 'Terminator Salvation'; Monday at the Time Warner screening room in Manhattan. Most of the 15 minutes or so of clips shown were incomplete, with unfinished special effects and rough audio. However, the clips did provide a clear sense of the look and style of the film. Picture the grime and decay of 'Mad Max' or 'Children of Men,' and you have a pretty good idea of the aesthetic vision McG and his team have created for the movie. We also have answers to some of the key questions surrounding the storyline -- including one major twist that frankly, I was surprised they showed us -- so if you want to remain completely in the dark about the plot of 'Terminator Salvation'....STOP READING NOW!!!" But if you want more, more, more, click here [Newsarama]

"TWILIGHT" MEETS "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL"?: Wow, here's another one in the non-news department. There were great spasms of anger and fear among "Twilight" fans (or the "Twi-hards," as they are called because, well, uh, they try harder than other fans?) at the news that Vanessa Hudgens, she of "High School Musical" fame, might dare turn her brand of peppy, promise-ring style of teen romance into a franchise built around a much more somber, black-clothed brand of teen romance. Just look at some of the comments over at Entertainment Weekly, which broke the news of the "rumored audition." Turns out the character that Hudgens auditioned to play isn't even in the sequel, "New Moon," so apparently everyone can put their torches and pitchforks down and return to study hall.   

ON THIS DATE: It was 19 years ago today that the second episode of "The Simpsons," titled "Bart the Genius," aired and introduced one of the great recurring sight gags in television history: Bart Simpson standing at the class blackboard and writing punishment verses. On that 1990 broadcast, Bart wrote, ironically, "I will not waste chalk" on the board. The ritual has been repeated sporadically over the more than 400 epsiodes that followed and if you want to see my personal Top 20 funniest lines, go to the end of this post. To celebrate this great day, let's all crank call an elementary school teacher.

MICKEY ROURKE IN "IRON MAN 2"?: In a testimony to the benefits of clean, good living, Mickey Rourke may join Robert Downey Jr. in the armor-plated 2010 blockbuster "Iron Man 2." At least that's the rumor that Michael Fleming is floating in the trades, a tidbit timed to land right before the Golden Globes this weekend, where Rourke might put a headlock on the best actor trophy after his career-reviving turn in "The Wrestler." Even if the casting decision is a myth, it's a fact for the next few days and will be repeated a million times. Here's what Fleming writes: "In what would mark his first studio film since resurrecting his career with 'The Wrestler,' Mickey Rourke is in talks to play the heavy in 'Iron Man 2,' the Marvel Entertainment sequel that director Jon Favreau begins shooting this spring. Rourke is in discussions to play a villain described as Tony Stark's Russian alter ego, a heavily tattooed bruiser who is in the arms trade and battles Iron Man in his own nuclear-powered armored suit. The script -- which is still being written -- is a guarded secret, but speculation is that villain is likely comic-book nemesis Crimson Dynamo." (NOTE: I think we should assume that when Fleming wrote "alter ego" he actually meant "counterpart," but he works hard so let's all let it slide.) [Variety]

GEORGE LUCAS PERFECTS MIND CONTROL: In a startling development, George Lucas has apparently figured out a way to harness The Force in everyday settings, a development that may signal the end of the world's energy crisis. But first, of course, Lucas is using the breakthrough to make an expensive toy. Mike Snider has the story: "The Force Trainer (expected to be priced at $90 to $100) comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the 'Star Wars' films. No, you're not tapping into some 'all-powerful force controlling everything,' as Han Solo said in the movies. But you are reaching out with mind power via one of the first mass-market brain-to-computer products. 'It's been a fantasy everyone has had, using The Force,' says Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing.  Mind-control games may be the coming thing: Mattel plans to demonstrate a Mind Flex game (also due this fall), which uses brain-wave activity to move a ball through a tabletop obstacle course, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday. In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower." [USA Today]

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF: (UPDATED) Congrats to Taylor Lautner (who will forever be Shark Boy to me). He had been angling to stay aboard the "Twilight" box-office express by reprising his role as Jacob Black in the second film, "New Moon," but there was some doubt because of a rather hairy situation -- the baby-faced Jacob of the first movie becomes big-scary-werewolf Jacob in the second film. But "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer posted this announcement today quoting "New Moon" director Chris Weitz saying that Lautner, who has bulked up for the role, will indeed be back: "I'm very happy to announce that Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black in 'New Moon' and that he's doing so with the enthusiastic support of Summit Entertainment, the producers, and Stephenie Meyer. The characters in Stephenie's books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance; so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series. But it was my first instinct that Taylor was, is, and should be Jacob, and that the books would be best served by the actor who is emotionally right for the part. I think that fans of Twilight the book and the movie will be surprised by the Jacob Black that Taylor will bring to the screen in New Moon; and I'm looking forward to working with him and the rest of the cast in realizing the film." [Stephenie Meyer's website]

THE ECONOMY IS MY FOE!: I buy many of my comics (and a lot of my son's "Star Wars" toys) at Amazing Comics in Long Beach and I was distressed when, on a recent visit, I found the huge store had been reduced to half its previous size and learned that its stock of back issues is now in storage. I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner but I assume that's not a positive sign of the store's health. Then I read this story by business journalist Muhammed El-Hasan about another Southern California store: "Not even Superman could rescue Third Planet Comics & Games from this recession. The popular Torrance comic book and gaming store at 3631 Pacific Coast Highway will shut its doors Monday after about 13 years in business. 'The deciding factor in this decision is that sales have fallen to a level where we can no longer meet our obligations,' owner Robert North wrote to customers in an e-mail the day after Christmas. In the message, North said his employees 'fought valiantly over this past year' to keep the shop in business." [The Daily Breeze] (Sad stuff. Are you folks hearing about similar situations out there?)

CLINT EASTWOOD, MY FAVORITE: OK, he's never played a superhero and I guess the closest he ever came to making a sci-fi movie was (gulp) "Firefox," but anybody who loves movies has to love Clint Eastwood. And even though we journalists must forever keep our impartiality about the people we write about, I have to say he might be my all-time favorite person to interview. In today's Los Angeles Times, we have a special issue of The Envelope on the Golden Globes this Sunday and I'm happy to say I wrote the cover story, an interview with Eastwood about his great new film, "Gran Torino," and if you have a moment to read it, I think you might enjoy it. I also did a big story with Eastwood on the enduring impact of the "Dirty Harry" films and the misunderstood legacy of the first film, if (like me) you can't get enough when it comes to the most thoughtful tough guy in Hollywood history.

ON THIS DATE: Oh, what a golden day it was in Honolulu on this day in 1950 when Erin Gray was born. The vivacious actress was perfect as the strong, smart and brave Col. Wilma Deering on "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and, sorry Lynda Carter, she replaced a certain star-spangled amazon as my childhood ideal of heroic womanhood. Oh, if only she had been given a chance to play Lois Lane! To celebrate her 59th birthday today, let's all watch out for space vampires. (To see some video of Erin Gray as Wilma Deering and during a Hero Complex interview this past summer, keep reading to the bottom of this post)

Welcome to your Tuesday morning edition of Everyday Hero, the roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe.

ALAN MOORE SAYS 'BWAH-HA-HA-HA!': Well, not really, but I just love posting this photograph of him  any chance I get and I do suspect that he would express some glee about the ugly corporate feud that has raised doubts about the planned release of "Watchman," the big Warner Bros. adaptation of Moore's epic. I would call Moore and ask him directly, but the last time we spoke he made it quite clear that he was done talking about the film and Hollywood in general because he more or less loathes the film industry. A judge's surprise ruling last week has created the very real possibility that "Watchmen" might not hit theaters in March -- a shocking development but, now that I think about it, when Moore talked to the Hero Complex in September he seemed to have some mystic premonition of this latest development. "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come." Spooky! Well, the guy does wear metallic talons and worship an ancient Roman snake god, so I wouldn't want to get on his bad side. And what is the latest on the "Watchmen" case? Here's a statement from Warner Bros.:  "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the Court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film." "Watchmen" has joined the list of truly contentious Hollywood projects. What are some of the other ones? Check out our new photo gallery "Big Hits, Bitter Battles." 

A DIMMER 'TWILIGHT'?: Reporter Michael Cieply (a former colleague here at the Los Angeles Times) has always been a smart and savvy chronicler of the movie industry, and his take on the real story behind the 2008 box-office returns is especially insightful: "What a year for movie openings. I mean, who could forget 'Twilight'? Teenagers screaming for free tickets outside the dual-theater Westwood premiere here. Mayhem in the malls. Girls thirsting for Robert Pattinson. Box-office projections growing bigger and bigger as online vendors sold out theater after theater. It was amazing. When all is said and done, maybe 24 million tickets will be sold to that movie, based on current sales. That makes it almost as big as, what? 'Patch Adams,' the No. 10 movie of 1998. Or roughly the size of 'George of the Jungle,' which placed No. 13 the year before. Or any number of films that are fondly remembered as midsize hits. Looking back, in fact, 2008 may be remembered as the year when Hollywood succeeded in redefining the Big Event. A "movie of the century" — something that made you want to dress up, get in line, and act silly just to see it — used to come along every year or two. The "Star Wars" films had that quality. So did "Titanic," in a quieter, dreamier sort of way. But heart-stopping film events like that have been popping up every few weeks this year.... Even this year’s really big one, "The Dark Knight," was never quite as big as it felt. Clear away the urgent reports about 6 a.m. screenings and Imax-size demand, and you are left, according to an always-sobering tally kept by the Box Office Mojo website, with the 26th-most-popular movie of all time, in terms of tickets sold. A smart, counterintuitive article, and again you can read the rest right here. [New York Times]

A BRIGHTER "TWILIGHT"?: Remember that Will Rogers line about lies, damn lies and statistics? Joal Ryan has a look-on-the-bright-side article compared with that New York Times piece; Ryan points out that, considering its budget, "Twilight" was a bigger hit than "The Dark Knight" (although it ignores the fact that Warner Bros. made a gazillion dollars on all the product and licensing deals for "Dark Knight"): "If only Wall Street had bet on Twilight. Or Hannah Montana. Or Kirk Cameron. With a $167.3-million overall domestic take as of Sunday, per Box Office Mojo, Twilight made more than four times its reported $37-million production budget — the best rate of return on any film in the 2008 Top 10, including 'The Dark Knight.' The Batman epic was a pretty good investment, too, very nearly tripling its gargantuan $185-million budget with a $530.8-million domestic take, Hollywood's second-biggest ever. Still, 'The Dark Knight' was nothing compared to these off-the-charts performers: 'High School Musical 3: Senior Year' ($89.7 million), which grossed about eight times its $11-million budget; the Hannah Montana concert movie, which made about nine times its $7-million budget; and, Cameron's 'Fireproof,' which cost $500,000 to produce, and made $33.1 million — or, more than 60 times its budget." [E! Entertainment News]

'Y'? BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU: One of the more intriguing comics-as-film projects kicking around town is the D.J. Caruso adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn's wry, sublime series "Y: The Last Man." I talked to D.J. a few months back, and he was mightily enthused about the prospects of making the film with his familiar on-screen muse Shia LaBeouf, but in a recent conversation with Edward Douglas it sounds as if the last-man-on-earth tale is presenting the filmmaker with some headaches: "Yeah, it's been a while. I think it's one of those that the source material is fantastic stuff, it's great, but it's a tough one to lick into getting into a screenplay. I've tried to feel like it's a trilogy of movies and I think everyone sort of agrees, but at the same time, just getting the first movie right and getting the right beats and knowing what to put in, it's been really tough. You have great minds like David Goyer and you've got Carl Ellsworth and you've got Brian K. Vaughn, and I'm working with them to just kind of crack it and get it down. And we're almost there. I know it's a slow process, but I think eventually we'll get it. We're going to get it and we'll get it right, but we had a pretty good breakthrough a couple of  weeks ago in the final act, and hopefully we'll get there.... If you're familiar with the source material, there's so much great stuff and he meets so many great characters but it's over the course of a long period of time. When you're telling the story — yes, the fanboys and all the people who love it will go and see it — but if you're just seeing the movie from a filmgoers' perspective and you're not familiar with the source material, you have to make sure you make the movie that they understand and they love, too. Like I said, it's been more difficult than I thought, but we're getting close." [Comingsoon.net]

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY: Here's some consumer news for you fans of the classic Superman cartoons, this from Robert Greenberger's short article: "Warner Home Video is finally releasing their own version of the Superman cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer. The 17 classics have been in the public domain and collected repeatedly over the last 20 years. Come April 7, though, the first authorized collection will be released. In addition to the Paramount cartoons, released in 1941 and 1942, the two-disc set will include two extras: 'The Man, The Myth, Superman' and 'First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series.' The set will retail for $26.99 and if you have never seen these cartoons, they are well worth it." [Comic Mix] If you'd like to see a few snippets from the genius work of the Fleischers on the Man of Steel, there's some video at the bottom of this post. 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: Empire magazine has some exclusive photos from Michael Bay's "Transformers 2" and you can see them right here.

ON THIS DATE: Author Lewis Shiner, whose work began in cyber-punk, drifted into magical realism and often deals with the slippery nature of reality and history, celebrates his 58th birthday today. Today is also the 27th birthday of Kristin Kreuk, the Canadian actress who is best known in the role of Lana Lang on "Smallville," but I especially liked her with Miranda Richardson in the wonderfully weird 2001 television movie "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All." So to celebrate, let's avoid all bad apples today.

'Twilight' fans can be a bit ... intense

I'm headed over to the MTV Movie Awards this Sunday and I'm bracing myself for a whole lotta "Twilight."

The open-to-the-online-public voting process for the trophies means that fan passion trumps all and, well, can you name any fans who are more passionate than Stephenie Meyer's vampy young disciples? Here's a fun promo for the awards show that shows what happens when a group of Twihards run into actor Cam Gigandet, who plays the evil bloodsucker James  in "Twilight."

(There's some obviously fake violence in this spoof, but if you think you might be disturbed by watching young actresses pretend to be punched, skip this one ....)

The funny thing is that "The Dark Knight," which is merely the second-highest grossing film in the history of the U.S. box office, and "Slumdog Millionaire," which only won the Oscar for best picture, both will be underdogs to "Twilight" in the MTV contest for best picture. Voting for that top category goes right up until the end of the show. The other also-rans -- er, sorry -- the other nominees are "Iron Man"  and "High School Musical 3: Senior Year." 

-- Geoff Boucher  

RECENT AND RELATED

'Breaking Dawn' Will Happen, Here's Who Should Be Director

'New Moon' Begins to Rise

Stephenie Meyer and the Future of 'Midnight Sun'

Report From Forks, Wash., the 'Twilight' Town

Robert Pattinson Talks About His Career 'Backup Plan'

Stephenie Meyer Talks About ... Mermaids?

Photo: Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

Are you a sucker for vampires? Here's the teaser poster for "Twilight: New Moon"...  

The sequel to "Twilight" hits theaters in November and finds Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) broken-hearted by the abrupt departure of her undead love, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), and then drawn to the charismatic Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). That puts Bella in the unsafe middle ground between two alluring souls who desire her heart as well between ancient enemies -- werewolves and vampires.

Hmm. I'm guessing this movie will do well with the journal-keeping crowd.

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

The "Orphanage" director?! The third "Twilight" might be super scary

"Twilight" struggle: The reason Catherine Hardwicke was fired

Stephenie Meyer and the future of "Midnight Sun"

Report from Forks, Wash., the "Twilight" town

Robert Pattinson talks about his career "backup plan"

Stephenie Meyer talks about ... mermaids?

Poster photo credit: James White / Summit Entertainment. Lower photo: Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

There was quite of bit of angst and confusion among "Twilight" fans when Catherine Hardwicke, the director of the first film, was sent packing before the second movie got underway. Patrick Goldstein, my colleague here at the Los Angeles Times, has an item on his blog, The Big Picture, that will cheer up those Twi-hards who thought the filmmaker was treated unfairly. Here's an excerpt: 

You may remember that the last time we wrote about Catherine Hardwicke back in December, it was to lament the news that the gifted filmmaker, after delivering a lucrative franchise starter to Summit Entertainment in the form of "Twilight," was being pushed aside, with Summit moving ahead on a sequel to the hit film without her. It's fair to say that Hardwicke had her own doubts about continuing with the series. But nonetheless, the fallout from the news -- with fans voicing complaints about the franchise losing its top creative voice, not to mention its top female voice, outside of author Stephenie Meyer -- made it look like a very unhappy parting of the ways.

But, life, and Hollywood in particular, is full of surprises. Guess what? Hardwicke has just signed on to direct a new film, "If I Stay," with -- ahem -- Summit Entertainment. Rumors have been swirling for weeks, but Summit has now made it official: Hardwicke will direct the adaptation of Gayle Forman's upcoming novel, which will hit the stores later this spring from Dutton Children's Books. The novel is the story of Mia, a young classical musician and her indie-rock boyfriend, whose relationship is upended when Mia is badly injured in a car accident with her family. She watches the events unfold as she nears death, trying to decide whether she wants to continue living.

READ THE REST

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

The "Orphanage" director?! The third "Twilight" might be super scary

"Twilight" struggle: The reason Catherine Hardwicke was fired

Stephenie Meyer and the future of "Midnight Sun"

Report from Forks, Wash., the "Twilight" town

Robert Pattinson talks about his career "backup plan"

Stephenie Meyer talks about ... mermaids?

Photos: "The Orphanage." Credit: Picturehouse Entertainment. Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

UPDATED

This post was based on a Variety story that made it sound like Bayona's hiring was a done deal but, according Patrick Goldsten and his Big Picture blog, that may not be the case. We'll keep you posted on the situation.

It's official, according to the trades, the filmmaker behind the hypnotic horror film "The Orphanage" (shown above) will be brought in for the third "Twilight" film. The second movie in the franchise, "New Moon," is due in theaters in November and the third, "Eclipse," is two years out. Here's an excerpt from Dave McNary's story:

Summit Entertainment has tapped Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona to direct "Eclipse," the third pic in the "Twilight" vampire series.

Summit, which had no comment Wednesday, is expected to make the official announcement soon. The minimajor recently gave "Eclipse" a release date of June 30, 2010.

Bayona's a protege of Guillermo Del Toro. He directed the Spanish-language horror-thriller "The Orphanage," which was exec produced by Del Toro, and is attached to helm the Universal thriller "Hater," with Del Toro and Mark Johnson producing.

Summit's opted for a different director on each "Twilight" pic. Chris Weitz replaced "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke on "New Moon."

This promises to take the franchise into some very interesting directions. "Twilight" fans, check out my in-depth 2007 feature on Bayona and the "The Orphanage" to get a sense of the dark place your favorite vamps are headed ... and here's the trailer for "The Orphanage"...

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

"Twilight" struggle: The reason Catherine Hardwicke was fired

Stephenie Meyer and the future of "Midnight Sun"

Report from Forks, Wash., the "Twilight" town

Robert Pattinson talks about his career "backup plan"

Stephenie Meyer talks about ... mermaids?

Photos: "The Orphanage." Credit: Picturehouse Entertainment. Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

One of my favorite horror films in recent years was the unsettling Spanish ghost story "The Orphanage," so I read with great interest a report by Steven Zeitchik on the Risky Biz Blog on the Hollywood Reporter website. Zeitchik cites unnamed sources who say "Orphanage" director (and Guillermo Del Toro protege) Juan Antonio Bayona (in photo above) has emerged as one of the prime candidates to direct "Eclipse," the planned third movie adapting Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" franchise. Here's an excerpt:

Bayona's name has come up in recent months, though generally in a group of other directors -- an eclectic list that's ranged from Paul Weitz to Drew Barrymore to James Mangold; earlier today, in fact, a report on the Twilighters fansite reported it would be Paul Weitz.

Many of the other names have been batted down. Bayona's name, on the other hand, has surfaced more in recent days as the man who could land the job, in what would mark a bold departure for the franchise.

If he does come aboard, the studio would have brought on a female coming-of-age girl director in Catherine Hardwicke for the first "Twilight" picture, a mainstream Hollywood comedy director in Chris Weitz for sequel "New Moon" and a genre maven for the third picture.

The shift would make sense on a number of levels -- "Eclipse," while continuing the romances and love triangles of previous books, does contain a mystery of unsolved murders that protags Bella and Edward seek to solve. (Notably, Bayona's debut "The Orphanage" also contained a plotline centering on children who had been killed under mysterious circumstances.) It also features battles between werewolves and vampires that could call for a practiced genre hand.

Now, some of that sounds a bit off to me; calling Bayona "a genre maven" and "a practiced genre hand" is a little nutty -- he has made just one feature-length film and it was far more art house than grind house. But bringing him into the "Twilight" franchise would be a bold move not unlike the decision to hand the "Harry Potter" franchise to directors such as Alfonso Cuarón and Mike Newell. I had the pleasure of talking to Bayona in 2007 and I wrote a lenthy piece about him for the Los Angeles Times ... 

Welcome to the latest edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe....

THE NEXT BIG 'THING': The Sci Fi flagship show "Battlestar Galactica" is winding down (we've already told you how the channel will try to soldier on without it) so what is Ron Moore going to be up to while he waits to launch "Caprica"? According to Michael Fleming, writing in the trades, Moore will be taking on a script about the alien who came in from the cold: "Universal will add a new chapter to 'The Thing,' lining up another take on the paranoid horror classic most recently brought to the screen by John Carpenter in 1982. Studio has set 'Battlestar Galactica' exec producer Ron Moore to write the script and commercials director Matthijs Van Heijningen to direct the re-imagining. New project borrows heavily from the John W. Campbell Jr. short story 'Who Goes There,' the basis of the Carpenter film and 1951 Howard Hawks original 'The Thing From Another World.' It is set in a Norwegian camp and chronicles how the shape-shifting alien was first discovered and overcame the inhabitants of that camp ... Van Heijningen has shot blurbs for brands including Toyota, Pepsi, Heineken, Bud Light and Visa. He is also developing 'Army of the Dead' at Warner Bros. with producer Zack Snyder." [Variety] ALSO: Hollywood is gearing up more than a dozen other remakes of classic sci-fi films; you can read about it here.

FAR TO GO, DAKOTA: The "Twilight" fans, a famously mellow and forgiving bunch, are going to love this tidbit from gossip maven Elizabeth Snead: "Dakota Fanning is really, really excited about taking on the role of Jane, the Volturi vampire in 'Twilight's' sequel, 'New Moon.' However, she hasn't even read the book yet. Fanning admitted at this afternoon's junket for her new film, 'Coraline,' that she's only halfway through reading the first 'Twilight' book. Asked if there was any movement on 'New Moon,' Dakota replied, 'It's not 100% for sure yet that I will be doing it, but it's definitely not like a rumor or anything. It's definitely a possibility and something I'm excited about.' Asked if there was any particular scene from the book that she was looking forward to doing, she said, 'I don't know ... I just think the character is what I'd be excited about. It's kind of evil, it's a vampire, it's really cool.'  Does she have any favorite vampires from films? 'I don't. The only vampire movie I've seen is 'Twilight.' " [Dish Rag]

ZACK SNYDER REVEALED: Writer Nisha Gopalan has contributed to the Hero Complex, and we always enjoy her work. That's especially the case with her new interview with "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder, who confesses to dark chapters in his past (Attending Renaissance fairs! Making beer commercials! Hanging around with naked blue men!) and also talks about casting his son as young Rorschach. Here's a chunk of the Q&A exchange: "'Why on Earth would you cast your 11-year-old son in this movie as a younger version of Rorschach, an abused sociopath whose mom was a hooker? My son was in '300,' too, as the young Leonidas -- he fights the dad, and then he punches a kid in the face. [Laughs] I feel like he’s together enough actually, that he can handle [the 'Watchmen' role]. I didn’t try to get too deep into it. Though there is a woman yelling at him, 'I should’ve had that abortion!' " [Nylon Guys] ALSO: Check out all "Watchmen" coverage at Hero Complex right here.

ON THIS DATE: Christian Bale celebrates his 35th birthday today and now clearly reigns as the dark prince of fanboy cinema. He has played Batman in two films (one of which now stands as the second-highest grossing film in U.S. box-office history) and he will star in the new "Terminator" franchise that launches this summer. He has played a dragon slayer, reluctant gunfighter, a serial killer with a penchant for Huey Lewis hits and (in one of my favorite recent films) a magician with a dark secret. To see some video scenes of the Wales native through the years, keep reading....

Welcome to a Wednesday edition of the  Everyday Hero report, your roundup of headlines from across the fanboy universe ...

PATRICK MCGOOHAN DEAD AT 80: Some very sad news today that Patrick McGoohan, an actor who could be simultaneously suave and cryptic, has died. Just the other day we told you that there are plans by AMC to revive the late actor's signature show, "The Prisoner," and if that moves forward as expected, it will only enhance the legacy of the actor and writer. Here's an obituary written by Dennis McLellan: "Patrick McGoohan, an Emmy Award-winning actor who starred as a British spy in the 1960s TV series 'Secret Agent' and 'The Prisoner' and was known for playing various villainous roles in films and on television, has died. He was 80. McGoohan died peacefully Tuesday in St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica after a short illness, said Cleve Landsberg, McGoohan's son-in-law. The family did not provide further details.It was the height of James Bond mania in 1965 when McGoohan showed up on American TV screens in 'Secret Agent,' a British-produced series in which he played John Drake, a special security agent working as a spy for the British government. The hour-long series, which ran on CBS until 1966, was an expanded version of 'Danger Man,' a short-lived, half-hour series on CBS in 1961 in which McGoohan played the same character. But it was McGoohan's next British-produced series, 'The Prisoner,' on CBS in 1968 and 1969, that became a cult classic. Once described in The Times as an 'espionage tale as crafted by Kafka,' 'The Prisoner' starred McGoohan as a British agent who, after resigning his post, is abducted and held captive by unknown powers in a mysterious village, where he known only as No. 6. McGoohan created and executive-produced the series, which ran for only 17 episodes. He also wrote and directed several episodes." [Los Angeles Times]

STAN LEE INVENTS THE FIRST GAY SUPERHERO?: Um, well, that's what the British press is breathlessly reporting today in several spots, such as this piece in the Daily Telegraph: "Lee has reportedly created a character called Thom Creed, a high-school basketball player who is forced to hide his sexuality as well as his superpowers. It is not known what kind of powers Creed will display. Lee, the former head of Marvel Comics -- who also created the Hulk and the X-Men -- will unveil Creed in an hour-long television special made in the US. If he proves popular with audiences, the programme will be shown in Britain. Lee developed the idea of a gay character from the award-winning novel Hero by Perry Moore, the Sun reports. A television industry source told the paper: 'It was only a matter of time before we had our first gay superhero. And if there is one man who can make him a success it is Stan Lee.'" Wow, there are so many things wrong with this. The news is pretty old since I read about it in November and there's the fact that Lee's plan of taking Perry Moore's pre-existing character and putting it on screen is not the same as "creating" that character. Also, there have been more than a few gay heroes in comics (Moore, in fact, chatted about some of them last summer) and I also hate when people don't mention Jack Kirby as a co-creator of classic Marvel characters such as Hulk and X-Men...so, ugh, let's move on ...

TERMINATORS, WARMING UP: I'm headed over to see footage from "Terminator: Salvation" today and to say hi to director McG, who is doing the meet-and-greet "road show" to promote the film. He already did a stop in New York and Michael Avila had a nice (and detailed) summary of it. "Relaunching a franchise is never easy. When you're following in the footsteps of James Cameron, it becomes an absurdly difficult challenge. That is just one of the many obstacles director McG faced when he signed on to reinvigorate the 'Terminator' franchise. The director took the mic to host a special presentation of early footage from 'Terminator Salvation'; Monday at the Time Warner screening room in Manhattan. Most of the 15 minutes or so of clips shown were incomplete, with unfinished special effects and rough audio. However, the clips did provide a clear sense of the look and style of the film. Picture the grime and decay of 'Mad Max' or 'Children of Men,' and you have a pretty good idea of the aesthetic vision McG and his team have created for the movie. We also have answers to some of the key questions surrounding the storyline -- including one major twist that frankly, I was surprised they showed us -- so if you want to remain completely in the dark about the plot of 'Terminator Salvation'....STOP READING NOW!!!" But if you want more, more, more, click here [Newsarama]

"TWILIGHT" MEETS "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL"?: Wow, here's another one in the non-news department. There were great spasms of anger and fear among "Twilight" fans (or the "Twi-hards," as they are called because, well, uh, they try harder than other fans?) at the news that Vanessa Hudgens, she of "High School Musical" fame, might dare turn her brand of peppy, promise-ring style of teen romance into a franchise built around a much more somber, black-clothed brand of teen romance. Just look at some of the comments over at Entertainment Weekly, which broke the news of the "rumored audition." Turns out the character that Hudgens auditioned to play isn't even in the sequel, "New Moon," so apparently everyone can put their torches and pitchforks down and return to study hall.   

ON THIS DATE: It was 19 years ago today that the second episode of "The Simpsons," titled "Bart the Genius," aired and introduced one of the great recurring sight gags in television history: Bart Simpson standing at the class blackboard and writing punishment verses. On that 1990 broadcast, Bart wrote, ironically, "I will not waste chalk" on the board. The ritual has been repeated sporadically over the more than 400 epsiodes that followed and if you want to see my personal Top 20 funniest lines, go to the end of this post. To celebrate this great day, let's all crank call an elementary school teacher.

MICKEY ROURKE IN "IRON MAN 2"?: In a testimony to the benefits of clean, good living, Mickey Rourke may join Robert Downey Jr. in the armor-plated 2010 blockbuster "Iron Man 2." At least that's the rumor that Michael Fleming is floating in the trades, a tidbit timed to land right before the Golden Globes this weekend, where Rourke might put a headlock on the best actor trophy after his career-reviving turn in "The Wrestler." Even if the casting decision is a myth, it's a fact for the next few days and will be repeated a million times. Here's what Fleming writes: "In what would mark his first studio film since resurrecting his career with 'The Wrestler,' Mickey Rourke is in talks to play the heavy in 'Iron Man 2,' the Marvel Entertainment sequel that director Jon Favreau begins shooting this spring. Rourke is in discussions to play a villain described as Tony Stark's Russian alter ego, a heavily tattooed bruiser who is in the arms trade and battles Iron Man in his own nuclear-powered armored suit. The script -- which is still being written -- is a guarded secret, but speculation is that villain is likely comic-book nemesis Crimson Dynamo." (NOTE: I think we should assume that when Fleming wrote "alter ego" he actually meant "counterpart," but he works hard so let's all let it slide.) [Variety]

GEORGE LUCAS PERFECTS MIND CONTROL: In a startling development, George Lucas has apparently figured out a way to harness The Force in everyday settings, a development that may signal the end of the world's energy crisis. But first, of course, Lucas is using the breakthrough to make an expensive toy. Mike Snider has the story: "The Force Trainer (expected to be priced at $90 to $100) comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the 'Star Wars' films. No, you're not tapping into some 'all-powerful force controlling everything,' as Han Solo said in the movies. But you are reaching out with mind power via one of the first mass-market brain-to-computer products. 'It's been a fantasy everyone has had, using The Force,' says Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing.  Mind-control games may be the coming thing: Mattel plans to demonstrate a Mind Flex game (also due this fall), which uses brain-wave activity to move a ball through a tabletop obstacle course, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday. In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower." [USA Today]

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF: (UPDATED) Congrats to Taylor Lautner (who will forever be Shark Boy to me). He had been angling to stay aboard the "Twilight" box-office express by reprising his role as Jacob Black in the second film, "New Moon," but there was some doubt because of a rather hairy situation -- the baby-faced Jacob of the first movie becomes big-scary-werewolf Jacob in the second film. But "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer posted this announcement today quoting "New Moon" director Chris Weitz saying that Lautner, who has bulked up for the role, will indeed be back: "I'm very happy to announce that Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black in 'New Moon' and that he's doing so with the enthusiastic support of Summit Entertainment, the producers, and Stephenie Meyer. The characters in Stephenie's books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance; so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series. But it was my first instinct that Taylor was, is, and should be Jacob, and that the books would be best served by the actor who is emotionally right for the part. I think that fans of Twilight the book and the movie will be surprised by the Jacob Black that Taylor will bring to the screen in New Moon; and I'm looking forward to working with him and the rest of the cast in realizing the film." [Stephenie Meyer's website]

THE ECONOMY IS MY FOE!: I buy many of my comics (and a lot of my son's "Star Wars" toys) at Amazing Comics in Long Beach and I was distressed when, on a recent visit, I found the huge store had been reduced to half its previous size and learned that its stock of back issues is now in storage. I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner but I assume that's not a positive sign of the store's health. Then I read this story by business journalist Muhammed El-Hasan about another Southern California store: "Not even Superman could rescue Third Planet Comics & Games from this recession. The popular Torrance comic book and gaming store at 3631 Pacific Coast Highway will shut its doors Monday after about 13 years in business. 'The deciding factor in this decision is that sales have fallen to a level where we can no longer meet our obligations,' owner Robert North wrote to customers in an e-mail the day after Christmas. In the message, North said his employees 'fought valiantly over this past year' to keep the shop in business." [The Daily Breeze] (Sad stuff. Are you folks hearing about similar situations out there?)

CLINT EASTWOOD, MY FAVORITE: OK, he's never played a superhero and I guess the closest he ever came to making a sci-fi movie was (gulp) "Firefox," but anybody who loves movies has to love Clint Eastwood. And even though we journalists must forever keep our impartiality about the people we write about, I have to say he might be my all-time favorite person to interview. In today's Los Angeles Times, we have a special issue of The Envelope on the Golden Globes this Sunday and I'm happy to say I wrote the cover story, an interview with Eastwood about his great new film, "Gran Torino," and if you have a moment to read it, I think you might enjoy it. I also did a big story with Eastwood on the enduring impact of the "Dirty Harry" films and the misunderstood legacy of the first film, if (like me) you can't get enough when it comes to the most thoughtful tough guy in Hollywood history.

ON THIS DATE: Oh, what a golden day it was in Honolulu on this day in 1950 when Erin Gray was born. The vivacious actress was perfect as the strong, smart and brave Col. Wilma Deering on "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and, sorry Lynda Carter, she replaced a certain star-spangled amazon as my childhood ideal of heroic womanhood. Oh, if only she had been given a chance to play Lois Lane! To celebrate her 59th birthday today, let's all watch out for space vampires. (To see some video of Erin Gray as Wilma Deering and during a Hero Complex interview this past summer, keep reading to the bottom of this post)

Welcome to your Tuesday morning edition of Everyday Hero, the roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe.

ALAN MOORE SAYS 'BWAH-HA-HA-HA!': Well, not really, but I just love posting this photograph of him  any chance I get and I do suspect that he would express some glee about the ugly corporate feud that has raised doubts about the planned release of "Watchman," the big Warner Bros. adaptation of Moore's epic. I would call Moore and ask him directly, but the last time we spoke he made it quite clear that he was done talking about the film and Hollywood in general because he more or less loathes the film industry. A judge's surprise ruling last week has created the very real possibility that "Watchmen" might not hit theaters in March -- a shocking development but, now that I think about it, when Moore talked to the Hero Complex in September he seemed to have some mystic premonition of this latest development. "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come." Spooky! Well, the guy does wear metallic talons and worship an ancient Roman snake god, so I wouldn't want to get on his bad side. And what is the latest on the "Watchmen" case? Here's a statement from Warner Bros.:  "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the Court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film." "Watchmen" has joined the list of truly contentious Hollywood projects. What are some of the other ones? Check out our new photo gallery "Big Hits, Bitter Battles." 

A DIMMER 'TWILIGHT'?: Reporter Michael Cieply (a former colleague here at the Los Angeles Times) has always been a smart and savvy chronicler of the movie industry, and his take on the real story behind the 2008 box-office returns is especially insightful: "What a year for movie openings. I mean, who could forget 'Twilight'? Teenagers screaming for free tickets outside the dual-theater Westwood premiere here. Mayhem in the malls. Girls thirsting for Robert Pattinson. Box-office projections growing bigger and bigger as online vendors sold out theater after theater. It was amazing. When all is said and done, maybe 24 million tickets will be sold to that movie, based on current sales. That makes it almost as big as, what? 'Patch Adams,' the No. 10 movie of 1998. Or roughly the size of 'George of the Jungle,' which placed No. 13 the year before. Or any number of films that are fondly remembered as midsize hits. Looking back, in fact, 2008 may be remembered as the year when Hollywood succeeded in redefining the Big Event. A "movie of the century" — something that made you want to dress up, get in line, and act silly just to see it — used to come along every year or two. The "Star Wars" films had that quality. So did "Titanic," in a quieter, dreamier sort of way. But heart-stopping film events like that have been popping up every few weeks this year.... Even this year’s really big one, "The Dark Knight," was never quite as big as it felt. Clear away the urgent reports about 6 a.m. screenings and Imax-size demand, and you are left, according to an always-sobering tally kept by the Box Office Mojo website, with the 26th-most-popular movie of all time, in terms of tickets sold. A smart, counterintuitive article, and again you can read the rest right here. [New York Times]

A BRIGHTER "TWILIGHT"?: Remember that Will Rogers line about lies, damn lies and statistics? Joal Ryan has a look-on-the-bright-side article compared with that New York Times piece; Ryan points out that, considering its budget, "Twilight" was a bigger hit than "The Dark Knight" (although it ignores the fact that Warner Bros. made a gazillion dollars on all the product and licensing deals for "Dark Knight"): "If only Wall Street had bet on Twilight. Or Hannah Montana. Or Kirk Cameron. With a $167.3-million overall domestic take as of Sunday, per Box Office Mojo, Twilight made more than four times its reported $37-million production budget — the best rate of return on any film in the 2008 Top 10, including 'The Dark Knight.' The Batman epic was a pretty good investment, too, very nearly tripling its gargantuan $185-million budget with a $530.8-million domestic take, Hollywood's second-biggest ever. Still, 'The Dark Knight' was nothing compared to these off-the-charts performers: 'High School Musical 3: Senior Year' ($89.7 million), which grossed about eight times its $11-million budget; the Hannah Montana concert movie, which made about nine times its $7-million budget; and, Cameron's 'Fireproof,' which cost $500,000 to produce, and made $33.1 million — or, more than 60 times its budget." [E! Entertainment News]

'Y'? BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU: One of the more intriguing comics-as-film projects kicking around town is the D.J. Caruso adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn's wry, sublime series "Y: The Last Man." I talked to D.J. a few months back, and he was mightily enthused about the prospects of making the film with his familiar on-screen muse Shia LaBeouf, but in a recent conversation with Edward Douglas it sounds as if the last-man-on-earth tale is presenting the filmmaker with some headaches: "Yeah, it's been a while. I think it's one of those that the source material is fantastic stuff, it's great, but it's a tough one to lick into getting into a screenplay. I've tried to feel like it's a trilogy of movies and I think everyone sort of agrees, but at the same time, just getting the first movie right and getting the right beats and knowing what to put in, it's been really tough. You have great minds like David Goyer and you've got Carl Ellsworth and you've got Brian K. Vaughn, and I'm working with them to just kind of crack it and get it down. And we're almost there. I know it's a slow process, but I think eventually we'll get it. We're going to get it and we'll get it right, but we had a pretty good breakthrough a couple of  weeks ago in the final act, and hopefully we'll get there.... If you're familiar with the source material, there's so much great stuff and he meets so many great characters but it's over the course of a long period of time. When you're telling the story — yes, the fanboys and all the people who love it will go and see it — but if you're just seeing the movie from a filmgoers' perspective and you're not familiar with the source material, you have to make sure you make the movie that they understand and they love, too. Like I said, it's been more difficult than I thought, but we're getting close." [Comingsoon.net]

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY: Here's some consumer news for you fans of the classic Superman cartoons, this from Robert Greenberger's short article: "Warner Home Video is finally releasing their own version of the Superman cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer. The 17 classics have been in the public domain and collected repeatedly over the last 20 years. Come April 7, though, the first authorized collection will be released. In addition to the Paramount cartoons, released in 1941 and 1942, the two-disc set will include two extras: 'The Man, The Myth, Superman' and 'First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series.' The set will retail for $26.99 and if you have never seen these cartoons, they are well worth it." [Comic Mix] If you'd like to see a few snippets from the genius work of the Fleischers on the Man of Steel, there's some video at the bottom of this post. 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: Empire magazine has some exclusive photos from Michael Bay's "Transformers 2" and you can see them right here.

ON THIS DATE: Author Lewis Shiner, whose work began in cyber-punk, drifted into magical realism and often deals with the slippery nature of reality and history, celebrates his 58th birthday today. Today is also the 27th birthday of Kristin Kreuk, the Canadian actress who is best known in the role of Lana Lang on "Smallville," but I especially liked her with Miranda Richardson in the wonderfully weird 2001 television movie "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All." So to celebrate, let's avoid all bad apples today.

'Twilight: New Moon' begins to rise

Are you a sucker for vampires? Here's the teaser poster for "Twilight: New Moon"...  

The sequel to "Twilight" hits theaters in November and finds Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) broken-hearted by the abrupt departure of her undead love, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), and then drawn to the charismatic Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). That puts Bella in the unsafe middle ground between two alluring souls who desire her heart as well between ancient enemies -- werewolves and vampires.

Hmm. I'm guessing this movie will do well with the journal-keeping crowd.

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

The "Orphanage" director?! The third "Twilight" might be super scary

"Twilight" struggle: The reason Catherine Hardwicke was fired

Stephenie Meyer and the future of "Midnight Sun"

Report from Forks, Wash., the "Twilight" town

Robert Pattinson talks about his career "backup plan"

Stephenie Meyer talks about ... mermaids?

Poster photo credit: James White / Summit Entertainment. Lower photo: Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

There was quite of bit of angst and confusion among "Twilight" fans when Catherine Hardwicke, the director of the first film, was sent packing before the second movie got underway. Patrick Goldstein, my colleague here at the Los Angeles Times, has an item on his blog, The Big Picture, that will cheer up those Twi-hards who thought the filmmaker was treated unfairly. Here's an excerpt: 

You may remember that the last time we wrote about Catherine Hardwicke back in December, it was to lament the news that the gifted filmmaker, after delivering a lucrative franchise starter to Summit Entertainment in the form of "Twilight," was being pushed aside, with Summit moving ahead on a sequel to the hit film without her. It's fair to say that Hardwicke had her own doubts about continuing with the series. But nonetheless, the fallout from the news -- with fans voicing complaints about the franchise losing its top creative voice, not to mention its top female voice, outside of author Stephenie Meyer -- made it look like a very unhappy parting of the ways.

But, life, and Hollywood in particular, is full of surprises. Guess what? Hardwicke has just signed on to direct a new film, "If I Stay," with -- ahem -- Summit Entertainment. Rumors have been swirling for weeks, but Summit has now made it official: Hardwicke will direct the adaptation of Gayle Forman's upcoming novel, which will hit the stores later this spring from Dutton Children's Books. The novel is the story of Mia, a young classical musician and her indie-rock boyfriend, whose relationship is upended when Mia is badly injured in a car accident with her family. She watches the events unfold as she nears death, trying to decide whether she wants to continue living.

READ THE REST

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

The "Orphanage" director?! The third "Twilight" might be super scary

"Twilight" struggle: The reason Catherine Hardwicke was fired

Stephenie Meyer and the future of "Midnight Sun"

Report from Forks, Wash., the "Twilight" town

Robert Pattinson talks about his career "backup plan"

Stephenie Meyer talks about ... mermaids?

Photos: "The Orphanage." Credit: Picturehouse Entertainment. Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

UPDATED

This post was based on a Variety story that made it sound like Bayona's hiring was a done deal but, according Patrick Goldsten and his Big Picture blog, that may not be the case. We'll keep you posted on the situation.

It's official, according to the trades, the filmmaker behind the hypnotic horror film "The Orphanage" (shown above) will be brought in for the third "Twilight" film. The second movie in the franchise, "New Moon," is due in theaters in November and the third, "Eclipse," is two years out. Here's an excerpt from Dave McNary's story:

Summit Entertainment has tapped Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona to direct "Eclipse," the third pic in the "Twilight" vampire series.

Summit, which had no comment Wednesday, is expected to make the official announcement soon. The minimajor recently gave "Eclipse" a release date of June 30, 2010.

Bayona's a protege of Guillermo Del Toro. He directed the Spanish-language horror-thriller "The Orphanage," which was exec produced by Del Toro, and is attached to helm the Universal thriller "Hater," with Del Toro and Mark Johnson producing.

Summit's opted for a different director on each "Twilight" pic. Chris Weitz replaced "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke on "New Moon."

This promises to take the franchise into some very interesting directions. "Twilight" fans, check out my in-depth 2007 feature on Bayona and the "The Orphanage" to get a sense of the dark place your favorite vamps are headed ... and here's the trailer for "The Orphanage"...

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

"Twilight" struggle: The reason Catherine Hardwicke was fired

Stephenie Meyer and the future of "Midnight Sun"

Report from Forks, Wash., the "Twilight" town

Robert Pattinson talks about his career "backup plan"

Stephenie Meyer talks about ... mermaids?

Photos: "The Orphanage." Credit: Picturehouse Entertainment. Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

One of my favorite horror films in recent years was the unsettling Spanish ghost story "The Orphanage," so I read with great interest a report by Steven Zeitchik on the Risky Biz Blog on the Hollywood Reporter website. Zeitchik cites unnamed sources who say "Orphanage" director (and Guillermo Del Toro protege) Juan Antonio Bayona (in photo above) has emerged as one of the prime candidates to direct "Eclipse," the planned third movie adapting Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" franchise. Here's an excerpt:

Bayona's name has come up in recent months, though generally in a group of other directors -- an eclectic list that's ranged from Paul Weitz to Drew Barrymore to James Mangold; earlier today, in fact, a report on the Twilighters fansite reported it would be Paul Weitz.

Many of the other names have been batted down. Bayona's name, on the other hand, has surfaced more in recent days as the man who could land the job, in what would mark a bold departure for the franchise.

If he does come aboard, the studio would have brought on a female coming-of-age girl director in Catherine Hardwicke for the first "Twilight" picture, a mainstream Hollywood comedy director in Chris Weitz for sequel "New Moon" and a genre maven for the third picture.

The shift would make sense on a number of levels -- "Eclipse," while continuing the romances and love triangles of previous books, does contain a mystery of unsolved murders that protags Bella and Edward seek to solve. (Notably, Bayona's debut "The Orphanage" also contained a plotline centering on children who had been killed under mysterious circumstances.) It also features battles between werewolves and vampires that could call for a practiced genre hand.

Now, some of that sounds a bit off to me; calling Bayona "a genre maven" and "a practiced genre hand" is a little nutty -- he has made just one feature-length film and it was far more art house than grind house. But bringing him into the "Twilight" franchise would be a bold move not unlike the decision to hand the "Harry Potter" franchise to directors such as Alfonso Cuarón and Mike Newell. I had the pleasure of talking to Bayona in 2007 and I wrote a lenthy piece about him for the Los Angeles Times ... 

Welcome to the latest edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe....

THE NEXT BIG 'THING': The Sci Fi flagship show "Battlestar Galactica" is winding down (we've already told you how the channel will try to soldier on without it) so what is Ron Moore going to be up to while he waits to launch "Caprica"? According to Michael Fleming, writing in the trades, Moore will be taking on a script about the alien who came in from the cold: "Universal will add a new chapter to 'The Thing,' lining up another take on the paranoid horror classic most recently brought to the screen by John Carpenter in 1982. Studio has set 'Battlestar Galactica' exec producer Ron Moore to write the script and commercials director Matthijs Van Heijningen to direct the re-imagining. New project borrows heavily from the John W. Campbell Jr. short story 'Who Goes There,' the basis of the Carpenter film and 1951 Howard Hawks original 'The Thing From Another World.' It is set in a Norwegian camp and chronicles how the shape-shifting alien was first discovered and overcame the inhabitants of that camp ... Van Heijningen has shot blurbs for brands including Toyota, Pepsi, Heineken, Bud Light and Visa. He is also developing 'Army of the Dead' at Warner Bros. with producer Zack Snyder." [Variety] ALSO: Hollywood is gearing up more than a dozen other remakes of classic sci-fi films; you can read about it here.

FAR TO GO, DAKOTA: The "Twilight" fans, a famously mellow and forgiving bunch, are going to love this tidbit from gossip maven Elizabeth Snead: "Dakota Fanning is really, really excited about taking on the role of Jane, the Volturi vampire in 'Twilight's' sequel, 'New Moon.' However, she hasn't even read the book yet. Fanning admitted at this afternoon's junket for her new film, 'Coraline,' that she's only halfway through reading the first 'Twilight' book. Asked if there was any movement on 'New Moon,' Dakota replied, 'It's not 100% for sure yet that I will be doing it, but it's definitely not like a rumor or anything. It's definitely a possibility and something I'm excited about.' Asked if there was any particular scene from the book that she was looking forward to doing, she said, 'I don't know ... I just think the character is what I'd be excited about. It's kind of evil, it's a vampire, it's really cool.'  Does she have any favorite vampires from films? 'I don't. The only vampire movie I've seen is 'Twilight.' " [Dish Rag]

ZACK SNYDER REVEALED: Writer Nisha Gopalan has contributed to the Hero Complex, and we always enjoy her work. That's especially the case with her new interview with "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder, who confesses to dark chapters in his past (Attending Renaissance fairs! Making beer commercials! Hanging around with naked blue men!) and also talks about casting his son as young Rorschach. Here's a chunk of the Q&A exchange: "'Why on Earth would you cast your 11-year-old son in this movie as a younger version of Rorschach, an abused sociopath whose mom was a hooker? My son was in '300,' too, as the young Leonidas -- he fights the dad, and then he punches a kid in the face. [Laughs] I feel like he’s together enough actually, that he can handle [the 'Watchmen' role]. I didn’t try to get too deep into it. Though there is a woman yelling at him, 'I should’ve had that abortion!' " [Nylon Guys] ALSO: Check out all "Watchmen" coverage at Hero Complex right here.

ON THIS DATE: Christian Bale celebrates his 35th birthday today and now clearly reigns as the dark prince of fanboy cinema. He has played Batman in two films (one of which now stands as the second-highest grossing film in U.S. box-office history) and he will star in the new "Terminator" franchise that launches this summer. He has played a dragon slayer, reluctant gunfighter, a serial killer with a penchant for Huey Lewis hits and (in one of my favorite recent films) a magician with a dark secret. To see some video scenes of the Wales native through the years, keep reading....

Welcome to a Wednesday edition of the  Everyday Hero report, your roundup of headlines from across the fanboy universe ...

PATRICK MCGOOHAN DEAD AT 80: Some very sad news today that Patrick McGoohan, an actor who could be simultaneously suave and cryptic, has died. Just the other day we told you that there are plans by AMC to revive the late actor's signature show, "The Prisoner," and if that moves forward as expected, it will only enhance the legacy of the actor and writer. Here's an obituary written by Dennis McLellan: "Patrick McGoohan, an Emmy Award-winning actor who starred as a British spy in the 1960s TV series 'Secret Agent' and 'The Prisoner' and was known for playing various villainous roles in films and on television, has died. He was 80. McGoohan died peacefully Tuesday in St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica after a short illness, said Cleve Landsberg, McGoohan's son-in-law. The family did not provide further details.It was the height of James Bond mania in 1965 when McGoohan showed up on American TV screens in 'Secret Agent,' a British-produced series in which he played John Drake, a special security agent working as a spy for the British government. The hour-long series, which ran on CBS until 1966, was an expanded version of 'Danger Man,' a short-lived, half-hour series on CBS in 1961 in which McGoohan played the same character. But it was McGoohan's next British-produced series, 'The Prisoner,' on CBS in 1968 and 1969, that became a cult classic. Once described in The Times as an 'espionage tale as crafted by Kafka,' 'The Prisoner' starred McGoohan as a British agent who, after resigning his post, is abducted and held captive by unknown powers in a mysterious village, where he known only as No. 6. McGoohan created and executive-produced the series, which ran for only 17 episodes. He also wrote and directed several episodes." [Los Angeles Times]

STAN LEE INVENTS THE FIRST GAY SUPERHERO?: Um, well, that's what the British press is breathlessly reporting today in several spots, such as this piece in the Daily Telegraph: "Lee has reportedly created a character called Thom Creed, a high-school basketball player who is forced to hide his sexuality as well as his superpowers. It is not known what kind of powers Creed will display. Lee, the former head of Marvel Comics -- who also created the Hulk and the X-Men -- will unveil Creed in an hour-long television special made in the US. If he proves popular with audiences, the programme will be shown in Britain. Lee developed the idea of a gay character from the award-winning novel Hero by Perry Moore, the Sun reports. A television industry source told the paper: 'It was only a matter of time before we had our first gay superhero. And if there is one man who can make him a success it is Stan Lee.'" Wow, there are so many things wrong with this. The news is pretty old since I read about it in November and there's the fact that Lee's plan of taking Perry Moore's pre-existing character and putting it on screen is not the same as "creating" that character. Also, there have been more than a few gay heroes in comics (Moore, in fact, chatted about some of them last summer) and I also hate when people don't mention Jack Kirby as a co-creator of classic Marvel characters such as Hulk and X-Men...so, ugh, let's move on ...

TERMINATORS, WARMING UP: I'm headed over to see footage from "Terminator: Salvation" today and to say hi to director McG, who is doing the meet-and-greet "road show" to promote the film. He already did a stop in New York and Michael Avila had a nice (and detailed) summary of it. "Relaunching a franchise is never easy. When you're following in the footsteps of James Cameron, it becomes an absurdly difficult challenge. That is just one of the many obstacles director McG faced when he signed on to reinvigorate the 'Terminator' franchise. The director took the mic to host a special presentation of early footage from 'Terminator Salvation'; Monday at the Time Warner screening room in Manhattan. Most of the 15 minutes or so of clips shown were incomplete, with unfinished special effects and rough audio. However, the clips did provide a clear sense of the look and style of the film. Picture the grime and decay of 'Mad Max' or 'Children of Men,' and you have a pretty good idea of the aesthetic vision McG and his team have created for the movie. We also have answers to some of the key questions surrounding the storyline -- including one major twist that frankly, I was surprised they showed us -- so if you want to remain completely in the dark about the plot of 'Terminator Salvation'....STOP READING NOW!!!" But if you want more, more, more, click here [Newsarama]

"TWILIGHT" MEETS "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL"?: Wow, here's another one in the non-news department. There were great spasms of anger and fear among "Twilight" fans (or the "Twi-hards," as they are called because, well, uh, they try harder than other fans?) at the news that Vanessa Hudgens, she of "High School Musical" fame, might dare turn her brand of peppy, promise-ring style of teen romance into a franchise built around a much more somber, black-clothed brand of teen romance. Just look at some of the comments over at Entertainment Weekly, which broke the news of the "rumored audition." Turns out the character that Hudgens auditioned to play isn't even in the sequel, "New Moon," so apparently everyone can put their torches and pitchforks down and return to study hall.   

ON THIS DATE: It was 19 years ago today that the second episode of "The Simpsons," titled "Bart the Genius," aired and introduced one of the great recurring sight gags in television history: Bart Simpson standing at the class blackboard and writing punishment verses. On that 1990 broadcast, Bart wrote, ironically, "I will not waste chalk" on the board. The ritual has been repeated sporadically over the more than 400 epsiodes that followed and if you want to see my personal Top 20 funniest lines, go to the end of this post. To celebrate this great day, let's all crank call an elementary school teacher.

MICKEY ROURKE IN "IRON MAN 2"?: In a testimony to the benefits of clean, good living, Mickey Rourke may join Robert Downey Jr. in the armor-plated 2010 blockbuster "Iron Man 2." At least that's the rumor that Michael Fleming is floating in the trades, a tidbit timed to land right before the Golden Globes this weekend, where Rourke might put a headlock on the best actor trophy after his career-reviving turn in "The Wrestler." Even if the casting decision is a myth, it's a fact for the next few days and will be repeated a million times. Here's what Fleming writes: "In what would mark his first studio film since resurrecting his career with 'The Wrestler,' Mickey Rourke is in talks to play the heavy in 'Iron Man 2,' the Marvel Entertainment sequel that director Jon Favreau begins shooting this spring. Rourke is in discussions to play a villain described as Tony Stark's Russian alter ego, a heavily tattooed bruiser who is in the arms trade and battles Iron Man in his own nuclear-powered armored suit. The script -- which is still being written -- is a guarded secret, but speculation is that villain is likely comic-book nemesis Crimson Dynamo." (NOTE: I think we should assume that when Fleming wrote "alter ego" he actually meant "counterpart," but he works hard so let's all let it slide.) [Variety]

GEORGE LUCAS PERFECTS MIND CONTROL: In a startling development, George Lucas has apparently figured out a way to harness The Force in everyday settings, a development that may signal the end of the world's energy crisis. But first, of course, Lucas is using the breakthrough to make an expensive toy. Mike Snider has the story: "The Force Trainer (expected to be priced at $90 to $100) comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the 'Star Wars' films. No, you're not tapping into some 'all-powerful force controlling everything,' as Han Solo said in the movies. But you are reaching out with mind power via one of the first mass-market brain-to-computer products. 'It's been a fantasy everyone has had, using The Force,' says Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing.  Mind-control games may be the coming thing: Mattel plans to demonstrate a Mind Flex game (also due this fall), which uses brain-wave activity to move a ball through a tabletop obstacle course, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday. In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower." [USA Today]

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF: (UPDATED) Congrats to Taylor Lautner (who will forever be Shark Boy to me). He had been angling to stay aboard the "Twilight" box-office express by reprising his role as Jacob Black in the second film, "New Moon," but there was some doubt because of a rather hairy situation -- the baby-faced Jacob of the first movie becomes big-scary-werewolf Jacob in the second film. But "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer posted this announcement today quoting "New Moon" director Chris Weitz saying that Lautner, who has bulked up for the role, will indeed be back: "I'm very happy to announce that Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black in 'New Moon' and that he's doing so with the enthusiastic support of Summit Entertainment, the producers, and Stephenie Meyer. The characters in Stephenie's books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance; so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series. But it was my first instinct that Taylor was, is, and should be Jacob, and that the books would be best served by the actor who is emotionally right for the part. I think that fans of Twilight the book and the movie will be surprised by the Jacob Black that Taylor will bring to the screen in New Moon; and I'm looking forward to working with him and the rest of the cast in realizing the film." [Stephenie Meyer's website]

THE ECONOMY IS MY FOE!: I buy many of my comics (and a lot of my son's "Star Wars" toys) at Amazing Comics in Long Beach and I was distressed when, on a recent visit, I found the huge store had been reduced to half its previous size and learned that its stock of back issues is now in storage. I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner but I assume that's not a positive sign of the store's health. Then I read this story by business journalist Muhammed El-Hasan about another Southern California store: "Not even Superman could rescue Third Planet Comics & Games from this recession. The popular Torrance comic book and gaming store at 3631 Pacific Coast Highway will shut its doors Monday after about 13 years in business. 'The deciding factor in this decision is that sales have fallen to a level where we can no longer meet our obligations,' owner Robert North wrote to customers in an e-mail the day after Christmas. In the message, North said his employees 'fought valiantly over this past year' to keep the shop in business." [The Daily Breeze] (Sad stuff. Are you folks hearing about similar situations out there?)

CLINT EASTWOOD, MY FAVORITE: OK, he's never played a superhero and I guess the closest he ever came to making a sci-fi movie was (gulp) "Firefox," but anybody who loves movies has to love Clint Eastwood. And even though we journalists must forever keep our impartiality about the people we write about, I have to say he might be my all-time favorite person to interview. In today's Los Angeles Times, we have a special issue of The Envelope on the Golden Globes this Sunday and I'm happy to say I wrote the cover story, an interview with Eastwood about his great new film, "Gran Torino," and if you have a moment to read it, I think you might enjoy it. I also did a big story with Eastwood on the enduring impact of the "Dirty Harry" films and the misunderstood legacy of the first film, if (like me) you can't get enough when it comes to the most thoughtful tough guy in Hollywood history.

ON THIS DATE: Oh, what a golden day it was in Honolulu on this day in 1950 when Erin Gray was born. The vivacious actress was perfect as the strong, smart and brave Col. Wilma Deering on "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and, sorry Lynda Carter, she replaced a certain star-spangled amazon as my childhood ideal of heroic womanhood. Oh, if only she had been given a chance to play Lois Lane! To celebrate her 59th birthday today, let's all watch out for space vampires. (To see some video of Erin Gray as Wilma Deering and during a Hero Complex interview this past summer, keep reading to the bottom of this post)

Welcome to your Tuesday morning edition of Everyday Hero, the roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe.

ALAN MOORE SAYS 'BWAH-HA-HA-HA!': Well, not really, but I just love posting this photograph of him  any chance I get and I do suspect that he would express some glee about the ugly corporate feud that has raised doubts about the planned release of "Watchman," the big Warner Bros. adaptation of Moore's epic. I would call Moore and ask him directly, but the last time we spoke he made it quite clear that he was done talking about the film and Hollywood in general because he more or less loathes the film industry. A judge's surprise ruling last week has created the very real possibility that "Watchmen" might not hit theaters in March -- a shocking development but, now that I think about it, when Moore talked to the Hero Complex in September he seemed to have some mystic premonition of this latest development. "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come." Spooky! Well, the guy does wear metallic talons and worship an ancient Roman snake god, so I wouldn't want to get on his bad side. And what is the latest on the "Watchmen" case? Here's a statement from Warner Bros.:  "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the Court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film." "Watchmen" has joined the list of truly contentious Hollywood projects. What are some of the other ones? Check out our new photo gallery "Big Hits, Bitter Battles." 

A DIMMER 'TWILIGHT'?: Reporter Michael Cieply (a former colleague here at the Los Angeles Times) has always been a smart and savvy chronicler of the movie industry, and his take on the real story behind the 2008 box-office returns is especially insightful: "What a year for movie openings. I mean, who could forget 'Twilight'? Teenagers screaming for free tickets outside the dual-theater Westwood premiere here. Mayhem in the malls. Girls thirsting for Robert Pattinson. Box-office projections growing bigger and bigger as online vendors sold out theater after theater. It was amazing. When all is said and done, maybe 24 million tickets will be sold to that movie, based on current sales. That makes it almost as big as, what? 'Patch Adams,' the No. 10 movie of 1998. Or roughly the size of 'George of the Jungle,' which placed No. 13 the year before. Or any number of films that are fondly remembered as midsize hits. Looking back, in fact, 2008 may be remembered as the year when Hollywood succeeded in redefining the Big Event. A "movie of the century" — something that made you want to dress up, get in line, and act silly just to see it — used to come along every year or two. The "Star Wars" films had that quality. So did "Titanic," in a quieter, dreamier sort of way. But heart-stopping film events like that have been popping up every few weeks this year.... Even this year’s really big one, "The Dark Knight," was never quite as big as it felt. Clear away the urgent reports about 6 a.m. screenings and Imax-size demand, and you are left, according to an always-sobering tally kept by the Box Office Mojo website, with the 26th-most-popular movie of all time, in terms of tickets sold. A smart, counterintuitive article, and again you can read the rest right here. [New York Times]

A BRIGHTER "TWILIGHT"?: Remember that Will Rogers line about lies, damn lies and statistics? Joal Ryan has a look-on-the-bright-side article compared with that New York Times piece; Ryan points out that, considering its budget, "Twilight" was a bigger hit than "The Dark Knight" (although it ignores the fact that Warner Bros. made a gazillion dollars on all the product and licensing deals for "Dark Knight"): "If only Wall Street had bet on Twilight. Or Hannah Montana. Or Kirk Cameron. With a $167.3-million overall domestic take as of Sunday, per Box Office Mojo, Twilight made more than four times its reported $37-million production budget — the best rate of return on any film in the 2008 Top 10, including 'The Dark Knight.' The Batman epic was a pretty good investment, too, very nearly tripling its gargantuan $185-million budget with a $530.8-million domestic take, Hollywood's second-biggest ever. Still, 'The Dark Knight' was nothing compared to these off-the-charts performers: 'High School Musical 3: Senior Year' ($89.7 million), which grossed about eight times its $11-million budget; the Hannah Montana concert movie, which made about nine times its $7-million budget; and, Cameron's 'Fireproof,' which cost $500,000 to produce, and made $33.1 million — or, more than 60 times its budget." [E! Entertainment News]

'Y'? BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU: One of the more intriguing comics-as-film projects kicking around town is the D.J. Caruso adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn's wry, sublime series "Y: The Last Man." I talked to D.J. a few months back, and he was mightily enthused about the prospects of making the film with his familiar on-screen muse Shia LaBeouf, but in a recent conversation with Edward Douglas it sounds as if the last-man-on-earth tale is presenting the filmmaker with some headaches: "Yeah, it's been a while. I think it's one of those that the source material is fantastic stuff, it's great, but it's a tough one to lick into getting into a screenplay. I've tried to feel like it's a trilogy of movies and I think everyone sort of agrees, but at the same time, just getting the first movie right and getting the right beats and knowing what to put in, it's been really tough. You have great minds like David Goyer and you've got Carl Ellsworth and you've got Brian K. Vaughn, and I'm working with them to just kind of crack it and get it down. And we're almost there. I know it's a slow process, but I think eventually we'll get it. We're going to get it and we'll get it right, but we had a pretty good breakthrough a couple of  weeks ago in the final act, and hopefully we'll get there.... If you're familiar with the source material, there's so much great stuff and he meets so many great characters but it's over the course of a long period of time. When you're telling the story — yes, the fanboys and all the people who love it will go and see it — but if you're just seeing the movie from a filmgoers' perspective and you're not familiar with the source material, you have to make sure you make the movie that they understand and they love, too. Like I said, it's been more difficult than I thought, but we're getting close." [Comingsoon.net]

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY: Here's some consumer news for you fans of the classic Superman cartoons, this from Robert Greenberger's short article: "Warner Home Video is finally releasing their own version of the Superman cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer. The 17 classics have been in the public domain and collected repeatedly over the last 20 years. Come April 7, though, the first authorized collection will be released. In addition to the Paramount cartoons, released in 1941 and 1942, the two-disc set will include two extras: 'The Man, The Myth, Superman' and 'First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series.' The set will retail for $26.99 and if you have never seen these cartoons, they are well worth it." [Comic Mix] If you'd like to see a few snippets from the genius work of the Fleischers on the Man of Steel, there's some video at the bottom of this post. 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: Empire magazine has some exclusive photos from Michael Bay's "Transformers 2" and you can see them right here.

ON THIS DATE: Author Lewis Shiner, whose work began in cyber-punk, drifted into magical realism and often deals with the slippery nature of reality and history, celebrates his 58th birthday today. Today is also the 27th birthday of Kristin Kreuk, the Canadian actress who is best known in the role of Lana Lang on "Smallville," but I especially liked her with Miranda Richardson in the wonderfully weird 2001 television movie "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All." So to celebrate, let's avoid all bad apples today.

'Twilight' director's career gets new lifeblood

There was quite of bit of angst and confusion among "Twilight" fans when Catherine Hardwicke, the director of the first film, was sent packing before the second movie got underway. Patrick Goldstein, my colleague here at the Los Angeles Times, has an item on his blog, The Big Picture, that will cheer up those Twi-hards who thought the filmmaker was treated unfairly. Here's an excerpt: 

You may remember that the last time we wrote about Catherine Hardwicke back in December, it was to lament the news that the gifted filmmaker, after delivering a lucrative franchise starter to Summit Entertainment in the form of "Twilight," was being pushed aside, with Summit moving ahead on a sequel to the hit film without her. It's fair to say that Hardwicke had her own doubts about continuing with the series. But nonetheless, the fallout from the news -- with fans voicing complaints about the franchise losing its top creative voice, not to mention its top female voice, outside of author Stephenie Meyer -- made it look like a very unhappy parting of the ways.

But, life, and Hollywood in particular, is full of surprises. Guess what? Hardwicke has just signed on to direct a new film, "If I Stay," with -- ahem -- Summit Entertainment. Rumors have been swirling for weeks, but Summit has now made it official: Hardwicke will direct the adaptation of Gayle Forman's upcoming novel, which will hit the stores later this spring from Dutton Children's Books. The novel is the story of Mia, a young classical musician and her indie-rock boyfriend, whose relationship is upended when Mia is badly injured in a car accident with her family. She watches the events unfold as she nears death, trying to decide whether she wants to continue living.

READ THE REST

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

The "Orphanage" director?! The third "Twilight" might be super scary

"Twilight" struggle: The reason Catherine Hardwicke was fired

Stephenie Meyer and the future of "Midnight Sun"

Report from Forks, Wash., the "Twilight" town

Robert Pattinson talks about his career "backup plan"

Stephenie Meyer talks about ... mermaids?

Photos: "The Orphanage." Credit: Picturehouse Entertainment. Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

UPDATED

This post was based on a Variety story that made it sound like Bayona's hiring was a done deal but, according Patrick Goldsten and his Big Picture blog, that may not be the case. We'll keep you posted on the situation.

It's official, according to the trades, the filmmaker behind the hypnotic horror film "The Orphanage" (shown above) will be brought in for the third "Twilight" film. The second movie in the franchise, "New Moon," is due in theaters in November and the third, "Eclipse," is two years out. Here's an excerpt from Dave McNary's story:

Summit Entertainment has tapped Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona to direct "Eclipse," the third pic in the "Twilight" vampire series.

Summit, which had no comment Wednesday, is expected to make the official announcement soon. The minimajor recently gave "Eclipse" a release date of June 30, 2010.

Bayona's a protege of Guillermo Del Toro. He directed the Spanish-language horror-thriller "The Orphanage," which was exec produced by Del Toro, and is attached to helm the Universal thriller "Hater," with Del Toro and Mark Johnson producing.

Summit's opted for a different director on each "Twilight" pic. Chris Weitz replaced "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke on "New Moon."

This promises to take the franchise into some very interesting directions. "Twilight" fans, check out my in-depth 2007 feature on Bayona and the "The Orphanage" to get a sense of the dark place your favorite vamps are headed ... and here's the trailer for "The Orphanage"...

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

"Twilight" struggle: The reason Catherine Hardwicke was fired

Stephenie Meyer and the future of "Midnight Sun"

Report from Forks, Wash., the "Twilight" town

Robert Pattinson talks about his career "backup plan"

Stephenie Meyer talks about ... mermaids?

Photos: "The Orphanage." Credit: Picturehouse Entertainment. Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

One of my favorite horror films in recent years was the unsettling Spanish ghost story "The Orphanage," so I read with great interest a report by Steven Zeitchik on the Risky Biz Blog on the Hollywood Reporter website. Zeitchik cites unnamed sources who say "Orphanage" director (and Guillermo Del Toro protege) Juan Antonio Bayona (in photo above) has emerged as one of the prime candidates to direct "Eclipse," the planned third movie adapting Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" franchise. Here's an excerpt:

Bayona's name has come up in recent months, though generally in a group of other directors -- an eclectic list that's ranged from Paul Weitz to Drew Barrymore to James Mangold; earlier today, in fact, a report on the Twilighters fansite reported it would be Paul Weitz.

Many of the other names have been batted down. Bayona's name, on the other hand, has surfaced more in recent days as the man who could land the job, in what would mark a bold departure for the franchise.

If he does come aboard, the studio would have brought on a female coming-of-age girl director in Catherine Hardwicke for the first "Twilight" picture, a mainstream Hollywood comedy director in Chris Weitz for sequel "New Moon" and a genre maven for the third picture.

The shift would make sense on a number of levels -- "Eclipse," while continuing the romances and love triangles of previous books, does contain a mystery of unsolved murders that protags Bella and Edward seek to solve. (Notably, Bayona's debut "The Orphanage" also contained a plotline centering on children who had been killed under mysterious circumstances.) It also features battles between werewolves and vampires that could call for a practiced genre hand.

Now, some of that sounds a bit off to me; calling Bayona "a genre maven" and "a practiced genre hand" is a little nutty -- he has made just one feature-length film and it was far more art house than grind house. But bringing him into the "Twilight" franchise would be a bold move not unlike the decision to hand the "Harry Potter" franchise to directors such as Alfonso Cuarón and Mike Newell. I had the pleasure of talking to Bayona in 2007 and I wrote a lenthy piece about him for the Los Angeles Times ... 

Welcome to the latest edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe....

THE NEXT BIG 'THING': The Sci Fi flagship show "Battlestar Galactica" is winding down (we've already told you how the channel will try to soldier on without it) so what is Ron Moore going to be up to while he waits to launch "Caprica"? According to Michael Fleming, writing in the trades, Moore will be taking on a script about the alien who came in from the cold: "Universal will add a new chapter to 'The Thing,' lining up another take on the paranoid horror classic most recently brought to the screen by John Carpenter in 1982. Studio has set 'Battlestar Galactica' exec producer Ron Moore to write the script and commercials director Matthijs Van Heijningen to direct the re-imagining. New project borrows heavily from the John W. Campbell Jr. short story 'Who Goes There,' the basis of the Carpenter film and 1951 Howard Hawks original 'The Thing From Another World.' It is set in a Norwegian camp and chronicles how the shape-shifting alien was first discovered and overcame the inhabitants of that camp ... Van Heijningen has shot blurbs for brands including Toyota, Pepsi, Heineken, Bud Light and Visa. He is also developing 'Army of the Dead' at Warner Bros. with producer Zack Snyder." [Variety] ALSO: Hollywood is gearing up more than a dozen other remakes of classic sci-fi films; you can read about it here.

FAR TO GO, DAKOTA: The "Twilight" fans, a famously mellow and forgiving bunch, are going to love this tidbit from gossip maven Elizabeth Snead: "Dakota Fanning is really, really excited about taking on the role of Jane, the Volturi vampire in 'Twilight's' sequel, 'New Moon.' However, she hasn't even read the book yet. Fanning admitted at this afternoon's junket for her new film, 'Coraline,' that she's only halfway through reading the first 'Twilight' book. Asked if there was any movement on 'New Moon,' Dakota replied, 'It's not 100% for sure yet that I will be doing it, but it's definitely not like a rumor or anything. It's definitely a possibility and something I'm excited about.' Asked if there was any particular scene from the book that she was looking forward to doing, she said, 'I don't know ... I just think the character is what I'd be excited about. It's kind of evil, it's a vampire, it's really cool.'  Does she have any favorite vampires from films? 'I don't. The only vampire movie I've seen is 'Twilight.' " [Dish Rag]

ZACK SNYDER REVEALED: Writer Nisha Gopalan has contributed to the Hero Complex, and we always enjoy her work. That's especially the case with her new interview with "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder, who confesses to dark chapters in his past (Attending Renaissance fairs! Making beer commercials! Hanging around with naked blue men!) and also talks about casting his son as young Rorschach. Here's a chunk of the Q&A exchange: "'Why on Earth would you cast your 11-year-old son in this movie as a younger version of Rorschach, an abused sociopath whose mom was a hooker? My son was in '300,' too, as the young Leonidas -- he fights the dad, and then he punches a kid in the face. [Laughs] I feel like he’s together enough actually, that he can handle [the 'Watchmen' role]. I didn’t try to get too deep into it. Though there is a woman yelling at him, 'I should’ve had that abortion!' " [Nylon Guys] ALSO: Check out all "Watchmen" coverage at Hero Complex right here.

ON THIS DATE: Christian Bale celebrates his 35th birthday today and now clearly reigns as the dark prince of fanboy cinema. He has played Batman in two films (one of which now stands as the second-highest grossing film in U.S. box-office history) and he will star in the new "Terminator" franchise that launches this summer. He has played a dragon slayer, reluctant gunfighter, a serial killer with a penchant for Huey Lewis hits and (in one of my favorite recent films) a magician with a dark secret. To see some video scenes of the Wales native through the years, keep reading....

Welcome to a Wednesday edition of the  Everyday Hero report, your roundup of headlines from across the fanboy universe ...

PATRICK MCGOOHAN DEAD AT 80: Some very sad news today that Patrick McGoohan, an actor who could be simultaneously suave and cryptic, has died. Just the other day we told you that there are plans by AMC to revive the late actor's signature show, "The Prisoner," and if that moves forward as expected, it will only enhance the legacy of the actor and writer. Here's an obituary written by Dennis McLellan: "Patrick McGoohan, an Emmy Award-winning actor who starred as a British spy in the 1960s TV series 'Secret Agent' and 'The Prisoner' and was known for playing various villainous roles in films and on television, has died. He was 80. McGoohan died peacefully Tuesday in St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica after a short illness, said Cleve Landsberg, McGoohan's son-in-law. The family did not provide further details.It was the height of James Bond mania in 1965 when McGoohan showed up on American TV screens in 'Secret Agent,' a British-produced series in which he played John Drake, a special security agent working as a spy for the British government. The hour-long series, which ran on CBS until 1966, was an expanded version of 'Danger Man,' a short-lived, half-hour series on CBS in 1961 in which McGoohan played the same character. But it was McGoohan's next British-produced series, 'The Prisoner,' on CBS in 1968 and 1969, that became a cult classic. Once described in The Times as an 'espionage tale as crafted by Kafka,' 'The Prisoner' starred McGoohan as a British agent who, after resigning his post, is abducted and held captive by unknown powers in a mysterious village, where he known only as No. 6. McGoohan created and executive-produced the series, which ran for only 17 episodes. He also wrote and directed several episodes." [Los Angeles Times]

STAN LEE INVENTS THE FIRST GAY SUPERHERO?: Um, well, that's what the British press is breathlessly reporting today in several spots, such as this piece in the Daily Telegraph: "Lee has reportedly created a character called Thom Creed, a high-school basketball player who is forced to hide his sexuality as well as his superpowers. It is not known what kind of powers Creed will display. Lee, the former head of Marvel Comics -- who also created the Hulk and the X-Men -- will unveil Creed in an hour-long television special made in the US. If he proves popular with audiences, the programme will be shown in Britain. Lee developed the idea of a gay character from the award-winning novel Hero by Perry Moore, the Sun reports. A television industry source told the paper: 'It was only a matter of time before we had our first gay superhero. And if there is one man who can make him a success it is Stan Lee.'" Wow, there are so many things wrong with this. The news is pretty old since I read about it in November and there's the fact that Lee's plan of taking Perry Moore's pre-existing character and putting it on screen is not the same as "creating" that character. Also, there have been more than a few gay heroes in comics (Moore, in fact, chatted about some of them last summer) and I also hate when people don't mention Jack Kirby as a co-creator of classic Marvel characters such as Hulk and X-Men...so, ugh, let's move on ...

TERMINATORS, WARMING UP: I'm headed over to see footage from "Terminator: Salvation" today and to say hi to director McG, who is doing the meet-and-greet "road show" to promote the film. He already did a stop in New York and Michael Avila had a nice (and detailed) summary of it. "Relaunching a franchise is never easy. When you're following in the footsteps of James Cameron, it becomes an absurdly difficult challenge. That is just one of the many obstacles director McG faced when he signed on to reinvigorate the 'Terminator' franchise. The director took the mic to host a special presentation of early footage from 'Terminator Salvation'; Monday at the Time Warner screening room in Manhattan. Most of the 15 minutes or so of clips shown were incomplete, with unfinished special effects and rough audio. However, the clips did provide a clear sense of the look and style of the film. Picture the grime and decay of 'Mad Max' or 'Children of Men,' and you have a pretty good idea of the aesthetic vision McG and his team have created for the movie. We also have answers to some of the key questions surrounding the storyline -- including one major twist that frankly, I was surprised they showed us -- so if you want to remain completely in the dark about the plot of 'Terminator Salvation'....STOP READING NOW!!!" But if you want more, more, more, click here [Newsarama]

"TWILIGHT" MEETS "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL"?: Wow, here's another one in the non-news department. There were great spasms of anger and fear among "Twilight" fans (or the "Twi-hards," as they are called because, well, uh, they try harder than other fans?) at the news that Vanessa Hudgens, she of "High School Musical" fame, might dare turn her brand of peppy, promise-ring style of teen romance into a franchise built around a much more somber, black-clothed brand of teen romance. Just look at some of the comments over at Entertainment Weekly, which broke the news of the "rumored audition." Turns out the character that Hudgens auditioned to play isn't even in the sequel, "New Moon," so apparently everyone can put their torches and pitchforks down and return to study hall.   

ON THIS DATE: It was 19 years ago today that the second episode of "The Simpsons," titled "Bart the Genius," aired and introduced one of the great recurring sight gags in television history: Bart Simpson standing at the class blackboard and writing punishment verses. On that 1990 broadcast, Bart wrote, ironically, "I will not waste chalk" on the board. The ritual has been repeated sporadically over the more than 400 epsiodes that followed and if you want to see my personal Top 20 funniest lines, go to the end of this post. To celebrate this great day, let's all crank call an elementary school teacher.

MICKEY ROURKE IN "IRON MAN 2"?: In a testimony to the benefits of clean, good living, Mickey Rourke may join Robert Downey Jr. in the armor-plated 2010 blockbuster "Iron Man 2." At least that's the rumor that Michael Fleming is floating in the trades, a tidbit timed to land right before the Golden Globes this weekend, where Rourke might put a headlock on the best actor trophy after his career-reviving turn in "The Wrestler." Even if the casting decision is a myth, it's a fact for the next few days and will be repeated a million times. Here's what Fleming writes: "In what would mark his first studio film since resurrecting his career with 'The Wrestler,' Mickey Rourke is in talks to play the heavy in 'Iron Man 2,' the Marvel Entertainment sequel that director Jon Favreau begins shooting this spring. Rourke is in discussions to play a villain described as Tony Stark's Russian alter ego, a heavily tattooed bruiser who is in the arms trade and battles Iron Man in his own nuclear-powered armored suit. The script -- which is still being written -- is a guarded secret, but speculation is that villain is likely comic-book nemesis Crimson Dynamo." (NOTE: I think we should assume that when Fleming wrote "alter ego" he actually meant "counterpart," but he works hard so let's all let it slide.) [Variety]

GEORGE LUCAS PERFECTS MIND CONTROL: In a startling development, George Lucas has apparently figured out a way to harness The Force in everyday settings, a development that may signal the end of the world's energy crisis. But first, of course, Lucas is using the breakthrough to make an expensive toy. Mike Snider has the story: "The Force Trainer (expected to be priced at $90 to $100) comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the 'Star Wars' films. No, you're not tapping into some 'all-powerful force controlling everything,' as Han Solo said in the movies. But you are reaching out with mind power via one of the first mass-market brain-to-computer products. 'It's been a fantasy everyone has had, using The Force,' says Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing.  Mind-control games may be the coming thing: Mattel plans to demonstrate a Mind Flex game (also due this fall), which uses brain-wave activity to move a ball through a tabletop obstacle course, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday. In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower." [USA Today]

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF: (UPDATED) Congrats to Taylor Lautner (who will forever be Shark Boy to me). He had been angling to stay aboard the "Twilight" box-office express by reprising his role as Jacob Black in the second film, "New Moon," but there was some doubt because of a rather hairy situation -- the baby-faced Jacob of the first movie becomes big-scary-werewolf Jacob in the second film. But "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer posted this announcement today quoting "New Moon" director Chris Weitz saying that Lautner, who has bulked up for the role, will indeed be back: "I'm very happy to announce that Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black in 'New Moon' and that he's doing so with the enthusiastic support of Summit Entertainment, the producers, and Stephenie Meyer. The characters in Stephenie's books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance; so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series. But it was my first instinct that Taylor was, is, and should be Jacob, and that the books would be best served by the actor who is emotionally right for the part. I think that fans of Twilight the book and the movie will be surprised by the Jacob Black that Taylor will bring to the screen in New Moon; and I'm looking forward to working with him and the rest of the cast in realizing the film." [Stephenie Meyer's website]

THE ECONOMY IS MY FOE!: I buy many of my comics (and a lot of my son's "Star Wars" toys) at Amazing Comics in Long Beach and I was distressed when, on a recent visit, I found the huge store had been reduced to half its previous size and learned that its stock of back issues is now in storage. I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner but I assume that's not a positive sign of the store's health. Then I read this story by business journalist Muhammed El-Hasan about another Southern California store: "Not even Superman could rescue Third Planet Comics & Games from this recession. The popular Torrance comic book and gaming store at 3631 Pacific Coast Highway will shut its doors Monday after about 13 years in business. 'The deciding factor in this decision is that sales have fallen to a level where we can no longer meet our obligations,' owner Robert North wrote to customers in an e-mail the day after Christmas. In the message, North said his employees 'fought valiantly over this past year' to keep the shop in business." [The Daily Breeze] (Sad stuff. Are you folks hearing about similar situations out there?)

CLINT EASTWOOD, MY FAVORITE: OK, he's never played a superhero and I guess the closest he ever came to making a sci-fi movie was (gulp) "Firefox," but anybody who loves movies has to love Clint Eastwood. And even though we journalists must forever keep our impartiality about the people we write about, I have to say he might be my all-time favorite person to interview. In today's Los Angeles Times, we have a special issue of The Envelope on the Golden Globes this Sunday and I'm happy to say I wrote the cover story, an interview with Eastwood about his great new film, "Gran Torino," and if you have a moment to read it, I think you might enjoy it. I also did a big story with Eastwood on the enduring impact of the "Dirty Harry" films and the misunderstood legacy of the first film, if (like me) you can't get enough when it comes to the most thoughtful tough guy in Hollywood history.

ON THIS DATE: Oh, what a golden day it was in Honolulu on this day in 1950 when Erin Gray was born. The vivacious actress was perfect as the strong, smart and brave Col. Wilma Deering on "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and, sorry Lynda Carter, she replaced a certain star-spangled amazon as my childhood ideal of heroic womanhood. Oh, if only she had been given a chance to play Lois Lane! To celebrate her 59th birthday today, let's all watch out for space vampires. (To see some video of Erin Gray as Wilma Deering and during a Hero Complex interview this past summer, keep reading to the bottom of this post)

Welcome to your Tuesday morning edition of Everyday Hero, the roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe.

ALAN MOORE SAYS 'BWAH-HA-HA-HA!': Well, not really, but I just love posting this photograph of him  any chance I get and I do suspect that he would express some glee about the ugly corporate feud that has raised doubts about the planned release of "Watchman," the big Warner Bros. adaptation of Moore's epic. I would call Moore and ask him directly, but the last time we spoke he made it quite clear that he was done talking about the film and Hollywood in general because he more or less loathes the film industry. A judge's surprise ruling last week has created the very real possibility that "Watchmen" might not hit theaters in March -- a shocking development but, now that I think about it, when Moore talked to the Hero Complex in September he seemed to have some mystic premonition of this latest development. "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come." Spooky! Well, the guy does wear metallic talons and worship an ancient Roman snake god, so I wouldn't want to get on his bad side. And what is the latest on the "Watchmen" case? Here's a statement from Warner Bros.:  "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the Court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film." "Watchmen" has joined the list of truly contentious Hollywood projects. What are some of the other ones? Check out our new photo gallery "Big Hits, Bitter Battles." 

A DIMMER 'TWILIGHT'?: Reporter Michael Cieply (a former colleague here at the Los Angeles Times) has always been a smart and savvy chronicler of the movie industry, and his take on the real story behind the 2008 box-office returns is especially insightful: "What a year for movie openings. I mean, who could forget 'Twilight'? Teenagers screaming for free tickets outside the dual-theater Westwood premiere here. Mayhem in the malls. Girls thirsting for Robert Pattinson. Box-office projections growing bigger and bigger as online vendors sold out theater after theater. It was amazing. When all is said and done, maybe 24 million tickets will be sold to that movie, based on current sales. That makes it almost as big as, what? 'Patch Adams,' the No. 10 movie of 1998. Or roughly the size of 'George of the Jungle,' which placed No. 13 the year before. Or any number of films that are fondly remembered as midsize hits. Looking back, in fact, 2008 may be remembered as the year when Hollywood succeeded in redefining the Big Event. A "movie of the century" — something that made you want to dress up, get in line, and act silly just to see it — used to come along every year or two. The "Star Wars" films had that quality. So did "Titanic," in a quieter, dreamier sort of way. But heart-stopping film events like that have been popping up every few weeks this year.... Even this year’s really big one, "The Dark Knight," was never quite as big as it felt. Clear away the urgent reports about 6 a.m. screenings and Imax-size demand, and you are left, according to an always-sobering tally kept by the Box Office Mojo website, with the 26th-most-popular movie of all time, in terms of tickets sold. A smart, counterintuitive article, and again you can read the rest right here. [New York Times]

A BRIGHTER "TWILIGHT"?: Remember that Will Rogers line about lies, damn lies and statistics? Joal Ryan has a look-on-the-bright-side article compared with that New York Times piece; Ryan points out that, considering its budget, "Twilight" was a bigger hit than "The Dark Knight" (although it ignores the fact that Warner Bros. made a gazillion dollars on all the product and licensing deals for "Dark Knight"): "If only Wall Street had bet on Twilight. Or Hannah Montana. Or Kirk Cameron. With a $167.3-million overall domestic take as of Sunday, per Box Office Mojo, Twilight made more than four times its reported $37-million production budget — the best rate of return on any film in the 2008 Top 10, including 'The Dark Knight.' The Batman epic was a pretty good investment, too, very nearly tripling its gargantuan $185-million budget with a $530.8-million domestic take, Hollywood's second-biggest ever. Still, 'The Dark Knight' was nothing compared to these off-the-charts performers: 'High School Musical 3: Senior Year' ($89.7 million), which grossed about eight times its $11-million budget; the Hannah Montana concert movie, which made about nine times its $7-million budget; and, Cameron's 'Fireproof,' which cost $500,000 to produce, and made $33.1 million — or, more than 60 times its budget." [E! Entertainment News]

'Y'? BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU: One of the more intriguing comics-as-film projects kicking around town is the D.J. Caruso adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn's wry, sublime series "Y: The Last Man." I talked to D.J. a few months back, and he was mightily enthused about the prospects of making the film with his familiar on-screen muse Shia LaBeouf, but in a recent conversation with Edward Douglas it sounds as if the last-man-on-earth tale is presenting the filmmaker with some headaches: "Yeah, it's been a while. I think it's one of those that the source material is fantastic stuff, it's great, but it's a tough one to lick into getting into a screenplay. I've tried to feel like it's a trilogy of movies and I think everyone sort of agrees, but at the same time, just getting the first movie right and getting the right beats and knowing what to put in, it's been really tough. You have great minds like David Goyer and you've got Carl Ellsworth and you've got Brian K. Vaughn, and I'm working with them to just kind of crack it and get it down. And we're almost there. I know it's a slow process, but I think eventually we'll get it. We're going to get it and we'll get it right, but we had a pretty good breakthrough a couple of  weeks ago in the final act, and hopefully we'll get there.... If you're familiar with the source material, there's so much great stuff and he meets so many great characters but it's over the course of a long period of time. When you're telling the story — yes, the fanboys and all the people who love it will go and see it — but if you're just seeing the movie from a filmgoers' perspective and you're not familiar with the source material, you have to make sure you make the movie that they understand and they love, too. Like I said, it's been more difficult than I thought, but we're getting close." [Comingsoon.net]

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY: Here's some consumer news for you fans of the classic Superman cartoons, this from Robert Greenberger's short article: "Warner Home Video is finally releasing their own version of the Superman cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer. The 17 classics have been in the public domain and collected repeatedly over the last 20 years. Come April 7, though, the first authorized collection will be released. In addition to the Paramount cartoons, released in 1941 and 1942, the two-disc set will include two extras: 'The Man, The Myth, Superman' and 'First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series.' The set will retail for $26.99 and if you have never seen these cartoons, they are well worth it." [Comic Mix] If you'd like to see a few snippets from the genius work of the Fleischers on the Man of Steel, there's some video at the bottom of this post. 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: Empire magazine has some exclusive photos from Michael Bay's "Transformers 2" and you can see them right here.

ON THIS DATE: Author Lewis Shiner, whose work began in cyber-punk, drifted into magical realism and often deals with the slippery nature of reality and history, celebrates his 58th birthday today. Today is also the 27th birthday of Kristin Kreuk, the Canadian actress who is best known in the role of Lana Lang on "Smallville," but I especially liked her with Miranda Richardson in the wonderfully weird 2001 television movie "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All." So to celebrate, let's avoid all bad apples today.

'Twilight' fans, beware: The third film just got a LOT creepier

UPDATED

This post was based on a Variety story that made it sound like Bayona's hiring was a done deal but, according Patrick Goldsten and his Big Picture blog, that may not be the case. We'll keep you posted on the situation.

It's official, according to the trades, the filmmaker behind the hypnotic horror film "The Orphanage" (shown above) will be brought in for the third "Twilight" film. The second movie in the franchise, "New Moon," is due in theaters in November and the third, "Eclipse," is two years out. Here's an excerpt from Dave McNary's story:

Summit Entertainment has tapped Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona to direct "Eclipse," the third pic in the "Twilight" vampire series.

Summit, which had no comment Wednesday, is expected to make the official announcement soon. The minimajor recently gave "Eclipse" a release date of June 30, 2010.

Bayona's a protege of Guillermo Del Toro. He directed the Spanish-language horror-thriller "The Orphanage," which was exec produced by Del Toro, and is attached to helm the Universal thriller "Hater," with Del Toro and Mark Johnson producing.

Summit's opted for a different director on each "Twilight" pic. Chris Weitz replaced "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke on "New Moon."

This promises to take the franchise into some very interesting directions. "Twilight" fans, check out my in-depth 2007 feature on Bayona and the "The Orphanage" to get a sense of the dark place your favorite vamps are headed ... and here's the trailer for "The Orphanage"...

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

"Twilight" struggle: The reason Catherine Hardwicke was fired

Stephenie Meyer and the future of "Midnight Sun"

Report from Forks, Wash., the "Twilight" town

Robert Pattinson talks about his career "backup plan"

Stephenie Meyer talks about ... mermaids?

Photos: "The Orphanage." Credit: Picturehouse Entertainment. Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

One of my favorite horror films in recent years was the unsettling Spanish ghost story "The Orphanage," so I read with great interest a report by Steven Zeitchik on the Risky Biz Blog on the Hollywood Reporter website. Zeitchik cites unnamed sources who say "Orphanage" director (and Guillermo Del Toro protege) Juan Antonio Bayona (in photo above) has emerged as one of the prime candidates to direct "Eclipse," the planned third movie adapting Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" franchise. Here's an excerpt:

Bayona's name has come up in recent months, though generally in a group of other directors -- an eclectic list that's ranged from Paul Weitz to Drew Barrymore to James Mangold; earlier today, in fact, a report on the Twilighters fansite reported it would be Paul Weitz.

Many of the other names have been batted down. Bayona's name, on the other hand, has surfaced more in recent days as the man who could land the job, in what would mark a bold departure for the franchise.

If he does come aboard, the studio would have brought on a female coming-of-age girl director in Catherine Hardwicke for the first "Twilight" picture, a mainstream Hollywood comedy director in Chris Weitz for sequel "New Moon" and a genre maven for the third picture.

The shift would make sense on a number of levels -- "Eclipse," while continuing the romances and love triangles of previous books, does contain a mystery of unsolved murders that protags Bella and Edward seek to solve. (Notably, Bayona's debut "The Orphanage" also contained a plotline centering on children who had been killed under mysterious circumstances.) It also features battles between werewolves and vampires that could call for a practiced genre hand.

Now, some of that sounds a bit off to me; calling Bayona "a genre maven" and "a practiced genre hand" is a little nutty -- he has made just one feature-length film and it was far more art house than grind house. But bringing him into the "Twilight" franchise would be a bold move not unlike the decision to hand the "Harry Potter" franchise to directors such as Alfonso Cuarón and Mike Newell. I had the pleasure of talking to Bayona in 2007 and I wrote a lenthy piece about him for the Los Angeles Times ... 

Welcome to the latest edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe....

THE NEXT BIG 'THING': The Sci Fi flagship show "Battlestar Galactica" is winding down (we've already told you how the channel will try to soldier on without it) so what is Ron Moore going to be up to while he waits to launch "Caprica"? According to Michael Fleming, writing in the trades, Moore will be taking on a script about the alien who came in from the cold: "Universal will add a new chapter to 'The Thing,' lining up another take on the paranoid horror classic most recently brought to the screen by John Carpenter in 1982. Studio has set 'Battlestar Galactica' exec producer Ron Moore to write the script and commercials director Matthijs Van Heijningen to direct the re-imagining. New project borrows heavily from the John W. Campbell Jr. short story 'Who Goes There,' the basis of the Carpenter film and 1951 Howard Hawks original 'The Thing From Another World.' It is set in a Norwegian camp and chronicles how the shape-shifting alien was first discovered and overcame the inhabitants of that camp ... Van Heijningen has shot blurbs for brands including Toyota, Pepsi, Heineken, Bud Light and Visa. He is also developing 'Army of the Dead' at Warner Bros. with producer Zack Snyder." [Variety] ALSO: Hollywood is gearing up more than a dozen other remakes of classic sci-fi films; you can read about it here.

FAR TO GO, DAKOTA: The "Twilight" fans, a famously mellow and forgiving bunch, are going to love this tidbit from gossip maven Elizabeth Snead: "Dakota Fanning is really, really excited about taking on the role of Jane, the Volturi vampire in 'Twilight's' sequel, 'New Moon.' However, she hasn't even read the book yet. Fanning admitted at this afternoon's junket for her new film, 'Coraline,' that she's only halfway through reading the first 'Twilight' book. Asked if there was any movement on 'New Moon,' Dakota replied, 'It's not 100% for sure yet that I will be doing it, but it's definitely not like a rumor or anything. It's definitely a possibility and something I'm excited about.' Asked if there was any particular scene from the book that she was looking forward to doing, she said, 'I don't know ... I just think the character is what I'd be excited about. It's kind of evil, it's a vampire, it's really cool.'  Does she have any favorite vampires from films? 'I don't. The only vampire movie I've seen is 'Twilight.' " [Dish Rag]

ZACK SNYDER REVEALED: Writer Nisha Gopalan has contributed to the Hero Complex, and we always enjoy her work. That's especially the case with her new interview with "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder, who confesses to dark chapters in his past (Attending Renaissance fairs! Making beer commercials! Hanging around with naked blue men!) and also talks about casting his son as young Rorschach. Here's a chunk of the Q&A exchange: "'Why on Earth would you cast your 11-year-old son in this movie as a younger version of Rorschach, an abused sociopath whose mom was a hooker? My son was in '300,' too, as the young Leonidas -- he fights the dad, and then he punches a kid in the face. [Laughs] I feel like he’s together enough actually, that he can handle [the 'Watchmen' role]. I didn’t try to get too deep into it. Though there is a woman yelling at him, 'I should’ve had that abortion!' " [Nylon Guys] ALSO: Check out all "Watchmen" coverage at Hero Complex right here.

ON THIS DATE: Christian Bale celebrates his 35th birthday today and now clearly reigns as the dark prince of fanboy cinema. He has played Batman in two films (one of which now stands as the second-highest grossing film in U.S. box-office history) and he will star in the new "Terminator" franchise that launches this summer. He has played a dragon slayer, reluctant gunfighter, a serial killer with a penchant for Huey Lewis hits and (in one of my favorite recent films) a magician with a dark secret. To see some video scenes of the Wales native through the years, keep reading....

Welcome to a Wednesday edition of the  Everyday Hero report, your roundup of headlines from across the fanboy universe ...

PATRICK MCGOOHAN DEAD AT 80: Some very sad news today that Patrick McGoohan, an actor who could be simultaneously suave and cryptic, has died. Just the other day we told you that there are plans by AMC to revive the late actor's signature show, "The Prisoner," and if that moves forward as expected, it will only enhance the legacy of the actor and writer. Here's an obituary written by Dennis McLellan: "Patrick McGoohan, an Emmy Award-winning actor who starred as a British spy in the 1960s TV series 'Secret Agent' and 'The Prisoner' and was known for playing various villainous roles in films and on television, has died. He was 80. McGoohan died peacefully Tuesday in St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica after a short illness, said Cleve Landsberg, McGoohan's son-in-law. The family did not provide further details.It was the height of James Bond mania in 1965 when McGoohan showed up on American TV screens in 'Secret Agent,' a British-produced series in which he played John Drake, a special security agent working as a spy for the British government. The hour-long series, which ran on CBS until 1966, was an expanded version of 'Danger Man,' a short-lived, half-hour series on CBS in 1961 in which McGoohan played the same character. But it was McGoohan's next British-produced series, 'The Prisoner,' on CBS in 1968 and 1969, that became a cult classic. Once described in The Times as an 'espionage tale as crafted by Kafka,' 'The Prisoner' starred McGoohan as a British agent who, after resigning his post, is abducted and held captive by unknown powers in a mysterious village, where he known only as No. 6. McGoohan created and executive-produced the series, which ran for only 17 episodes. He also wrote and directed several episodes." [Los Angeles Times]

STAN LEE INVENTS THE FIRST GAY SUPERHERO?: Um, well, that's what the British press is breathlessly reporting today in several spots, such as this piece in the Daily Telegraph: "Lee has reportedly created a character called Thom Creed, a high-school basketball player who is forced to hide his sexuality as well as his superpowers. It is not known what kind of powers Creed will display. Lee, the former head of Marvel Comics -- who also created the Hulk and the X-Men -- will unveil Creed in an hour-long television special made in the US. If he proves popular with audiences, the programme will be shown in Britain. Lee developed the idea of a gay character from the award-winning novel Hero by Perry Moore, the Sun reports. A television industry source told the paper: 'It was only a matter of time before we had our first gay superhero. And if there is one man who can make him a success it is Stan Lee.'" Wow, there are so many things wrong with this. The news is pretty old since I read about it in November and there's the fact that Lee's plan of taking Perry Moore's pre-existing character and putting it on screen is not the same as "creating" that character. Also, there have been more than a few gay heroes in comics (Moore, in fact, chatted about some of them last summer) and I also hate when people don't mention Jack Kirby as a co-creator of classic Marvel characters such as Hulk and X-Men...so, ugh, let's move on ...

TERMINATORS, WARMING UP: I'm headed over to see footage from "Terminator: Salvation" today and to say hi to director McG, who is doing the meet-and-greet "road show" to promote the film. He already did a stop in New York and Michael Avila had a nice (and detailed) summary of it. "Relaunching a franchise is never easy. When you're following in the footsteps of James Cameron, it becomes an absurdly difficult challenge. That is just one of the many obstacles director McG faced when he signed on to reinvigorate the 'Terminator' franchise. The director took the mic to host a special presentation of early footage from 'Terminator Salvation'; Monday at the Time Warner screening room in Manhattan. Most of the 15 minutes or so of clips shown were incomplete, with unfinished special effects and rough audio. However, the clips did provide a clear sense of the look and style of the film. Picture the grime and decay of 'Mad Max' or 'Children of Men,' and you have a pretty good idea of the aesthetic vision McG and his team have created for the movie. We also have answers to some of the key questions surrounding the storyline -- including one major twist that frankly, I was surprised they showed us -- so if you want to remain completely in the dark about the plot of 'Terminator Salvation'....STOP READING NOW!!!" But if you want more, more, more, click here [Newsarama]

"TWILIGHT" MEETS "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL"?: Wow, here's another one in the non-news department. There were great spasms of anger and fear among "Twilight" fans (or the "Twi-hards," as they are called because, well, uh, they try harder than other fans?) at the news that Vanessa Hudgens, she of "High School Musical" fame, might dare turn her brand of peppy, promise-ring style of teen romance into a franchise built around a much more somber, black-clothed brand of teen romance. Just look at some of the comments over at Entertainment Weekly, which broke the news of the "rumored audition." Turns out the character that Hudgens auditioned to play isn't even in the sequel, "New Moon," so apparently everyone can put their torches and pitchforks down and return to study hall.   

ON THIS DATE: It was 19 years ago today that the second episode of "The Simpsons," titled "Bart the Genius," aired and introduced one of the great recurring sight gags in television history: Bart Simpson standing at the class blackboard and writing punishment verses. On that 1990 broadcast, Bart wrote, ironically, "I will not waste chalk" on the board. The ritual has been repeated sporadically over the more than 400 epsiodes that followed and if you want to see my personal Top 20 funniest lines, go to the end of this post. To celebrate this great day, let's all crank call an elementary school teacher.

MICKEY ROURKE IN "IRON MAN 2"?: In a testimony to the benefits of clean, good living, Mickey Rourke may join Robert Downey Jr. in the armor-plated 2010 blockbuster "Iron Man 2." At least that's the rumor that Michael Fleming is floating in the trades, a tidbit timed to land right before the Golden Globes this weekend, where Rourke might put a headlock on the best actor trophy after his career-reviving turn in "The Wrestler." Even if the casting decision is a myth, it's a fact for the next few days and will be repeated a million times. Here's what Fleming writes: "In what would mark his first studio film since resurrecting his career with 'The Wrestler,' Mickey Rourke is in talks to play the heavy in 'Iron Man 2,' the Marvel Entertainment sequel that director Jon Favreau begins shooting this spring. Rourke is in discussions to play a villain described as Tony Stark's Russian alter ego, a heavily tattooed bruiser who is in the arms trade and battles Iron Man in his own nuclear-powered armored suit. The script -- which is still being written -- is a guarded secret, but speculation is that villain is likely comic-book nemesis Crimson Dynamo." (NOTE: I think we should assume that when Fleming wrote "alter ego" he actually meant "counterpart," but he works hard so let's all let it slide.) [Variety]

GEORGE LUCAS PERFECTS MIND CONTROL: In a startling development, George Lucas has apparently figured out a way to harness The Force in everyday settings, a development that may signal the end of the world's energy crisis. But first, of course, Lucas is using the breakthrough to make an expensive toy. Mike Snider has the story: "The Force Trainer (expected to be priced at $90 to $100) comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the 'Star Wars' films. No, you're not tapping into some 'all-powerful force controlling everything,' as Han Solo said in the movies. But you are reaching out with mind power via one of the first mass-market brain-to-computer products. 'It's been a fantasy everyone has had, using The Force,' says Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing.  Mind-control games may be the coming thing: Mattel plans to demonstrate a Mind Flex game (also due this fall), which uses brain-wave activity to move a ball through a tabletop obstacle course, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday. In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower." [USA Today]

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF: (UPDATED) Congrats to Taylor Lautner (who will forever be Shark Boy to me). He had been angling to stay aboard the "Twilight" box-office express by reprising his role as Jacob Black in the second film, "New Moon," but there was some doubt because of a rather hairy situation -- the baby-faced Jacob of the first movie becomes big-scary-werewolf Jacob in the second film. But "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer posted this announcement today quoting "New Moon" director Chris Weitz saying that Lautner, who has bulked up for the role, will indeed be back: "I'm very happy to announce that Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black in 'New Moon' and that he's doing so with the enthusiastic support of Summit Entertainment, the producers, and Stephenie Meyer. The characters in Stephenie's books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance; so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series. But it was my first instinct that Taylor was, is, and should be Jacob, and that the books would be best served by the actor who is emotionally right for the part. I think that fans of Twilight the book and the movie will be surprised by the Jacob Black that Taylor will bring to the screen in New Moon; and I'm looking forward to working with him and the rest of the cast in realizing the film." [Stephenie Meyer's website]

THE ECONOMY IS MY FOE!: I buy many of my comics (and a lot of my son's "Star Wars" toys) at Amazing Comics in Long Beach and I was distressed when, on a recent visit, I found the huge store had been reduced to half its previous size and learned that its stock of back issues is now in storage. I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner but I assume that's not a positive sign of the store's health. Then I read this story by business journalist Muhammed El-Hasan about another Southern California store: "Not even Superman could rescue Third Planet Comics & Games from this recession. The popular Torrance comic book and gaming store at 3631 Pacific Coast Highway will shut its doors Monday after about 13 years in business. 'The deciding factor in this decision is that sales have fallen to a level where we can no longer meet our obligations,' owner Robert North wrote to customers in an e-mail the day after Christmas. In the message, North said his employees 'fought valiantly over this past year' to keep the shop in business." [The Daily Breeze] (Sad stuff. Are you folks hearing about similar situations out there?)

CLINT EASTWOOD, MY FAVORITE: OK, he's never played a superhero and I guess the closest he ever came to making a sci-fi movie was (gulp) "Firefox," but anybody who loves movies has to love Clint Eastwood. And even though we journalists must forever keep our impartiality about the people we write about, I have to say he might be my all-time favorite person to interview. In today's Los Angeles Times, we have a special issue of The Envelope on the Golden Globes this Sunday and I'm happy to say I wrote the cover story, an interview with Eastwood about his great new film, "Gran Torino," and if you have a moment to read it, I think you might enjoy it. I also did a big story with Eastwood on the enduring impact of the "Dirty Harry" films and the misunderstood legacy of the first film, if (like me) you can't get enough when it comes to the most thoughtful tough guy in Hollywood history.

ON THIS DATE: Oh, what a golden day it was in Honolulu on this day in 1950 when Erin Gray was born. The vivacious actress was perfect as the strong, smart and brave Col. Wilma Deering on "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and, sorry Lynda Carter, she replaced a certain star-spangled amazon as my childhood ideal of heroic womanhood. Oh, if only she had been given a chance to play Lois Lane! To celebrate her 59th birthday today, let's all watch out for space vampires. (To see some video of Erin Gray as Wilma Deering and during a Hero Complex interview this past summer, keep reading to the bottom of this post)

Welcome to your Tuesday morning edition of Everyday Hero, the roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe.

ALAN MOORE SAYS 'BWAH-HA-HA-HA!': Well, not really, but I just love posting this photograph of him  any chance I get and I do suspect that he would express some glee about the ugly corporate feud that has raised doubts about the planned release of "Watchman," the big Warner Bros. adaptation of Moore's epic. I would call Moore and ask him directly, but the last time we spoke he made it quite clear that he was done talking about the film and Hollywood in general because he more or less loathes the film industry. A judge's surprise ruling last week has created the very real possibility that "Watchmen" might not hit theaters in March -- a shocking development but, now that I think about it, when Moore talked to the Hero Complex in September he seemed to have some mystic premonition of this latest development. "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come." Spooky! Well, the guy does wear metallic talons and worship an ancient Roman snake god, so I wouldn't want to get on his bad side. And what is the latest on the "Watchmen" case? Here's a statement from Warner Bros.:  "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the Court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film." "Watchmen" has joined the list of truly contentious Hollywood projects. What are some of the other ones? Check out our new photo gallery "Big Hits, Bitter Battles." 

A DIMMER 'TWILIGHT'?: Reporter Michael Cieply (a former colleague here at the Los Angeles Times) has always been a smart and savvy chronicler of the movie industry, and his take on the real story behind the 2008 box-office returns is especially insightful: "What a year for movie openings. I mean, who could forget 'Twilight'? Teenagers screaming for free tickets outside the dual-theater Westwood premiere here. Mayhem in the malls. Girls thirsting for Robert Pattinson. Box-office projections growing bigger and bigger as online vendors sold out theater after theater. It was amazing. When all is said and done, maybe 24 million tickets will be sold to that movie, based on current sales. That makes it almost as big as, what? 'Patch Adams,' the No. 10 movie of 1998. Or roughly the size of 'George of the Jungle,' which placed No. 13 the year before. Or any number of films that are fondly remembered as midsize hits. Looking back, in fact, 2008 may be remembered as the year when Hollywood succeeded in redefining the Big Event. A "movie of the century" — something that made you want to dress up, get in line, and act silly just to see it — used to come along every year or two. The "Star Wars" films had that quality. So did "Titanic," in a quieter, dreamier sort of way. But heart-stopping film events like that have been popping up every few weeks this year.... Even this year’s really big one, "The Dark Knight," was never quite as big as it felt. Clear away the urgent reports about 6 a.m. screenings and Imax-size demand, and you are left, according to an always-sobering tally kept by the Box Office Mojo website, with the 26th-most-popular movie of all time, in terms of tickets sold. A smart, counterintuitive article, and again you can read the rest right here. [New York Times]

A BRIGHTER "TWILIGHT"?: Remember that Will Rogers line about lies, damn lies and statistics? Joal Ryan has a look-on-the-bright-side article compared with that New York Times piece; Ryan points out that, considering its budget, "Twilight" was a bigger hit than "The Dark Knight" (although it ignores the fact that Warner Bros. made a gazillion dollars on all the product and licensing deals for "Dark Knight"): "If only Wall Street had bet on Twilight. Or Hannah Montana. Or Kirk Cameron. With a $167.3-million overall domestic take as of Sunday, per Box Office Mojo, Twilight made more than four times its reported $37-million production budget — the best rate of return on any film in the 2008 Top 10, including 'The Dark Knight.' The Batman epic was a pretty good investment, too, very nearly tripling its gargantuan $185-million budget with a $530.8-million domestic take, Hollywood's second-biggest ever. Still, 'The Dark Knight' was nothing compared to these off-the-charts performers: 'High School Musical 3: Senior Year' ($89.7 million), which grossed about eight times its $11-million budget; the Hannah Montana concert movie, which made about nine times its $7-million budget; and, Cameron's 'Fireproof,' which cost $500,000 to produce, and made $33.1 million — or, more than 60 times its budget." [E! Entertainment News]

'Y'? BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU: One of the more intriguing comics-as-film projects kicking around town is the D.J. Caruso adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn's wry, sublime series "Y: The Last Man." I talked to D.J. a few months back, and he was mightily enthused about the prospects of making the film with his familiar on-screen muse Shia LaBeouf, but in a recent conversation with Edward Douglas it sounds as if the last-man-on-earth tale is presenting the filmmaker with some headaches: "Yeah, it's been a while. I think it's one of those that the source material is fantastic stuff, it's great, but it's a tough one to lick into getting into a screenplay. I've tried to feel like it's a trilogy of movies and I think everyone sort of agrees, but at the same time, just getting the first movie right and getting the right beats and knowing what to put in, it's been really tough. You have great minds like David Goyer and you've got Carl Ellsworth and you've got Brian K. Vaughn, and I'm working with them to just kind of crack it and get it down. And we're almost there. I know it's a slow process, but I think eventually we'll get it. We're going to get it and we'll get it right, but we had a pretty good breakthrough a couple of  weeks ago in the final act, and hopefully we'll get there.... If you're familiar with the source material, there's so much great stuff and he meets so many great characters but it's over the course of a long period of time. When you're telling the story — yes, the fanboys and all the people who love it will go and see it — but if you're just seeing the movie from a filmgoers' perspective and you're not familiar with the source material, you have to make sure you make the movie that they understand and they love, too. Like I said, it's been more difficult than I thought, but we're getting close." [Comingsoon.net]

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY: Here's some consumer news for you fans of the classic Superman cartoons, this from Robert Greenberger's short article: "Warner Home Video is finally releasing their own version of the Superman cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer. The 17 classics have been in the public domain and collected repeatedly over the last 20 years. Come April 7, though, the first authorized collection will be released. In addition to the Paramount cartoons, released in 1941 and 1942, the two-disc set will include two extras: 'The Man, The Myth, Superman' and 'First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series.' The set will retail for $26.99 and if you have never seen these cartoons, they are well worth it." [Comic Mix] If you'd like to see a few snippets from the genius work of the Fleischers on the Man of Steel, there's some video at the bottom of this post. 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: Empire magazine has some exclusive photos from Michael Bay's "Transformers 2" and you can see them right here.

ON THIS DATE: Author Lewis Shiner, whose work began in cyber-punk, drifted into magical realism and often deals with the slippery nature of reality and history, celebrates his 58th birthday today. Today is also the 27th birthday of Kristin Kreuk, the Canadian actress who is best known in the role of Lana Lang on "Smallville," but I especially liked her with Miranda Richardson in the wonderfully weird 2001 television movie "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All." So to celebrate, let's avoid all bad apples today.

'Twilight' turning darker? Horror director may take over vamp franchise

One of my favorite horror films in recent years was the unsettling Spanish ghost story "The Orphanage," so I read with great interest a report by Steven Zeitchik on the Risky Biz Blog on the Hollywood Reporter website. Zeitchik cites unnamed sources who say "Orphanage" director (and Guillermo Del Toro protege) Juan Antonio Bayona (in photo above) has emerged as one of the prime candidates to direct "Eclipse," the planned third movie adapting Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" franchise. Here's an excerpt:

Bayona's name has come up in recent months, though generally in a group of other directors -- an eclectic list that's ranged from Paul Weitz to Drew Barrymore to James Mangold; earlier today, in fact, a report on the Twilighters fansite reported it would be Paul Weitz.

Many of the other names have been batted down. Bayona's name, on the other hand, has surfaced more in recent days as the man who could land the job, in what would mark a bold departure for the franchise.

If he does come aboard, the studio would have brought on a female coming-of-age girl director in Catherine Hardwicke for the first "Twilight" picture, a mainstream Hollywood comedy director in Chris Weitz for sequel "New Moon" and a genre maven for the third picture.

The shift would make sense on a number of levels -- "Eclipse," while continuing the romances and love triangles of previous books, does contain a mystery of unsolved murders that protags Bella and Edward seek to solve. (Notably, Bayona's debut "The Orphanage" also contained a plotline centering on children who had been killed under mysterious circumstances.) It also features battles between werewolves and vampires that could call for a practiced genre hand.

Now, some of that sounds a bit off to me; calling Bayona "a genre maven" and "a practiced genre hand" is a little nutty -- he has made just one feature-length film and it was far more art house than grind house. But bringing him into the "Twilight" franchise would be a bold move not unlike the decision to hand the "Harry Potter" franchise to directors such as Alfonso Cuarón and Mike Newell. I had the pleasure of talking to Bayona in 2007 and I wrote a lenthy piece about him for the Los Angeles Times ... 

Welcome to the latest edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe....

THE NEXT BIG 'THING': The Sci Fi flagship show "Battlestar Galactica" is winding down (we've already told you how the channel will try to soldier on without it) so what is Ron Moore going to be up to while he waits to launch "Caprica"? According to Michael Fleming, writing in the trades, Moore will be taking on a script about the alien who came in from the cold: "Universal will add a new chapter to 'The Thing,' lining up another take on the paranoid horror classic most recently brought to the screen by John Carpenter in 1982. Studio has set 'Battlestar Galactica' exec producer Ron Moore to write the script and commercials director Matthijs Van Heijningen to direct the re-imagining. New project borrows heavily from the John W. Campbell Jr. short story 'Who Goes There,' the basis of the Carpenter film and 1951 Howard Hawks original 'The Thing From Another World.' It is set in a Norwegian camp and chronicles how the shape-shifting alien was first discovered and overcame the inhabitants of that camp ... Van Heijningen has shot blurbs for brands including Toyota, Pepsi, Heineken, Bud Light and Visa. He is also developing 'Army of the Dead' at Warner Bros. with producer Zack Snyder." [Variety] ALSO: Hollywood is gearing up more than a dozen other remakes of classic sci-fi films; you can read about it here.

FAR TO GO, DAKOTA: The "Twilight" fans, a famously mellow and forgiving bunch, are going to love this tidbit from gossip maven Elizabeth Snead: "Dakota Fanning is really, really excited about taking on the role of Jane, the Volturi vampire in 'Twilight's' sequel, 'New Moon.' However, she hasn't even read the book yet. Fanning admitted at this afternoon's junket for her new film, 'Coraline,' that she's only halfway through reading the first 'Twilight' book. Asked if there was any movement on 'New Moon,' Dakota replied, 'It's not 100% for sure yet that I will be doing it, but it's definitely not like a rumor or anything. It's definitely a possibility and something I'm excited about.' Asked if there was any particular scene from the book that she was looking forward to doing, she said, 'I don't know ... I just think the character is what I'd be excited about. It's kind of evil, it's a vampire, it's really cool.'  Does she have any favorite vampires from films? 'I don't. The only vampire movie I've seen is 'Twilight.' " [Dish Rag]

ZACK SNYDER REVEALED: Writer Nisha Gopalan has contributed to the Hero Complex, and we always enjoy her work. That's especially the case with her new interview with "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder, who confesses to dark chapters in his past (Attending Renaissance fairs! Making beer commercials! Hanging around with naked blue men!) and also talks about casting his son as young Rorschach. Here's a chunk of the Q&A exchange: "'Why on Earth would you cast your 11-year-old son in this movie as a younger version of Rorschach, an abused sociopath whose mom was a hooker? My son was in '300,' too, as the young Leonidas -- he fights the dad, and then he punches a kid in the face. [Laughs] I feel like he’s together enough actually, that he can handle [the 'Watchmen' role]. I didn’t try to get too deep into it. Though there is a woman yelling at him, 'I should’ve had that abortion!' " [Nylon Guys] ALSO: Check out all "Watchmen" coverage at Hero Complex right here.

ON THIS DATE: Christian Bale celebrates his 35th birthday today and now clearly reigns as the dark prince of fanboy cinema. He has played Batman in two films (one of which now stands as the second-highest grossing film in U.S. box-office history) and he will star in the new "Terminator" franchise that launches this summer. He has played a dragon slayer, reluctant gunfighter, a serial killer with a penchant for Huey Lewis hits and (in one of my favorite recent films) a magician with a dark secret. To see some video scenes of the Wales native through the years, keep reading....

Welcome to a Wednesday edition of the  Everyday Hero report, your roundup of headlines from across the fanboy universe ...

PATRICK MCGOOHAN DEAD AT 80: Some very sad news today that Patrick McGoohan, an actor who could be simultaneously suave and cryptic, has died. Just the other day we told you that there are plans by AMC to revive the late actor's signature show, "The Prisoner," and if that moves forward as expected, it will only enhance the legacy of the actor and writer. Here's an obituary written by Dennis McLellan: "Patrick McGoohan, an Emmy Award-winning actor who starred as a British spy in the 1960s TV series 'Secret Agent' and 'The Prisoner' and was known for playing various villainous roles in films and on television, has died. He was 80. McGoohan died peacefully Tuesday in St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica after a short illness, said Cleve Landsberg, McGoohan's son-in-law. The family did not provide further details.It was the height of James Bond mania in 1965 when McGoohan showed up on American TV screens in 'Secret Agent,' a British-produced series in which he played John Drake, a special security agent working as a spy for the British government. The hour-long series, which ran on CBS until 1966, was an expanded version of 'Danger Man,' a short-lived, half-hour series on CBS in 1961 in which McGoohan played the same character. But it was McGoohan's next British-produced series, 'The Prisoner,' on CBS in 1968 and 1969, that became a cult classic. Once described in The Times as an 'espionage tale as crafted by Kafka,' 'The Prisoner' starred McGoohan as a British agent who, after resigning his post, is abducted and held captive by unknown powers in a mysterious village, where he known only as No. 6. McGoohan created and executive-produced the series, which ran for only 17 episodes. He also wrote and directed several episodes." [Los Angeles Times]

STAN LEE INVENTS THE FIRST GAY SUPERHERO?: Um, well, that's what the British press is breathlessly reporting today in several spots, such as this piece in the Daily Telegraph: "Lee has reportedly created a character called Thom Creed, a high-school basketball player who is forced to hide his sexuality as well as his superpowers. It is not known what kind of powers Creed will display. Lee, the former head of Marvel Comics -- who also created the Hulk and the X-Men -- will unveil Creed in an hour-long television special made in the US. If he proves popular with audiences, the programme will be shown in Britain. Lee developed the idea of a gay character from the award-winning novel Hero by Perry Moore, the Sun reports. A television industry source told the paper: 'It was only a matter of time before we had our first gay superhero. And if there is one man who can make him a success it is Stan Lee.'" Wow, there are so many things wrong with this. The news is pretty old since I read about it in November and there's the fact that Lee's plan of taking Perry Moore's pre-existing character and putting it on screen is not the same as "creating" that character. Also, there have been more than a few gay heroes in comics (Moore, in fact, chatted about some of them last summer) and I also hate when people don't mention Jack Kirby as a co-creator of classic Marvel characters such as Hulk and X-Men...so, ugh, let's move on ...

TERMINATORS, WARMING UP: I'm headed over to see footage from "Terminator: Salvation" today and to say hi to director McG, who is doing the meet-and-greet "road show" to promote the film. He already did a stop in New York and Michael Avila had a nice (and detailed) summary of it. "Relaunching a franchise is never easy. When you're following in the footsteps of James Cameron, it becomes an absurdly difficult challenge. That is just one of the many obstacles director McG faced when he signed on to reinvigorate the 'Terminator' franchise. The director took the mic to host a special presentation of early footage from 'Terminator Salvation'; Monday at the Time Warner screening room in Manhattan. Most of the 15 minutes or so of clips shown were incomplete, with unfinished special effects and rough audio. However, the clips did provide a clear sense of the look and style of the film. Picture the grime and decay of 'Mad Max' or 'Children of Men,' and you have a pretty good idea of the aesthetic vision McG and his team have created for the movie. We also have answers to some of the key questions surrounding the storyline -- including one major twist that frankly, I was surprised they showed us -- so if you want to remain completely in the dark about the plot of 'Terminator Salvation'....STOP READING NOW!!!" But if you want more, more, more, click here [Newsarama]

"TWILIGHT" MEETS "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL"?: Wow, here's another one in the non-news department. There were great spasms of anger and fear among "Twilight" fans (or the "Twi-hards," as they are called because, well, uh, they try harder than other fans?) at the news that Vanessa Hudgens, she of "High School Musical" fame, might dare turn her brand of peppy, promise-ring style of teen romance into a franchise built around a much more somber, black-clothed brand of teen romance. Just look at some of the comments over at Entertainment Weekly, which broke the news of the "rumored audition." Turns out the character that Hudgens auditioned to play isn't even in the sequel, "New Moon," so apparently everyone can put their torches and pitchforks down and return to study hall.   

ON THIS DATE: It was 19 years ago today that the second episode of "The Simpsons," titled "Bart the Genius," aired and introduced one of the great recurring sight gags in television history: Bart Simpson standing at the class blackboard and writing punishment verses. On that 1990 broadcast, Bart wrote, ironically, "I will not waste chalk" on the board. The ritual has been repeated sporadically over the more than 400 epsiodes that followed and if you want to see my personal Top 20 funniest lines, go to the end of this post. To celebrate this great day, let's all crank call an elementary school teacher.

MICKEY ROURKE IN "IRON MAN 2"?: In a testimony to the benefits of clean, good living, Mickey Rourke may join Robert Downey Jr. in the armor-plated 2010 blockbuster "Iron Man 2." At least that's the rumor that Michael Fleming is floating in the trades, a tidbit timed to land right before the Golden Globes this weekend, where Rourke might put a headlock on the best actor trophy after his career-reviving turn in "The Wrestler." Even if the casting decision is a myth, it's a fact for the next few days and will be repeated a million times. Here's what Fleming writes: "In what would mark his first studio film since resurrecting his career with 'The Wrestler,' Mickey Rourke is in talks to play the heavy in 'Iron Man 2,' the Marvel Entertainment sequel that director Jon Favreau begins shooting this spring. Rourke is in discussions to play a villain described as Tony Stark's Russian alter ego, a heavily tattooed bruiser who is in the arms trade and battles Iron Man in his own nuclear-powered armored suit. The script -- which is still being written -- is a guarded secret, but speculation is that villain is likely comic-book nemesis Crimson Dynamo." (NOTE: I think we should assume that when Fleming wrote "alter ego" he actually meant "counterpart," but he works hard so let's all let it slide.) [Variety]

GEORGE LUCAS PERFECTS MIND CONTROL: In a startling development, George Lucas has apparently figured out a way to harness The Force in everyday settings, a development that may signal the end of the world's energy crisis. But first, of course, Lucas is using the breakthrough to make an expensive toy. Mike Snider has the story: "The Force Trainer (expected to be priced at $90 to $100) comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the 'Star Wars' films. No, you're not tapping into some 'all-powerful force controlling everything,' as Han Solo said in the movies. But you are reaching out with mind power via one of the first mass-market brain-to-computer products. 'It's been a fantasy everyone has had, using The Force,' says Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing.  Mind-control games may be the coming thing: Mattel plans to demonstrate a Mind Flex game (also due this fall), which uses brain-wave activity to move a ball through a tabletop obstacle course, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday. In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower." [USA Today]

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF: (UPDATED) Congrats to Taylor Lautner (who will forever be Shark Boy to me). He had been angling to stay aboard the "Twilight" box-office express by reprising his role as Jacob Black in the second film, "New Moon," but there was some doubt because of a rather hairy situation -- the baby-faced Jacob of the first movie becomes big-scary-werewolf Jacob in the second film. But "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer posted this announcement today quoting "New Moon" director Chris Weitz saying that Lautner, who has bulked up for the role, will indeed be back: "I'm very happy to announce that Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black in 'New Moon' and that he's doing so with the enthusiastic support of Summit Entertainment, the producers, and Stephenie Meyer. The characters in Stephenie's books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance; so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series. But it was my first instinct that Taylor was, is, and should be Jacob, and that the books would be best served by the actor who is emotionally right for the part. I think that fans of Twilight the book and the movie will be surprised by the Jacob Black that Taylor will bring to the screen in New Moon; and I'm looking forward to working with him and the rest of the cast in realizing the film." [Stephenie Meyer's website]

THE ECONOMY IS MY FOE!: I buy many of my comics (and a lot of my son's "Star Wars" toys) at Amazing Comics in Long Beach and I was distressed when, on a recent visit, I found the huge store had been reduced to half its previous size and learned that its stock of back issues is now in storage. I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner but I assume that's not a positive sign of the store's health. Then I read this story by business journalist Muhammed El-Hasan about another Southern California store: "Not even Superman could rescue Third Planet Comics & Games from this recession. The popular Torrance comic book and gaming store at 3631 Pacific Coast Highway will shut its doors Monday after about 13 years in business. 'The deciding factor in this decision is that sales have fallen to a level where we can no longer meet our obligations,' owner Robert North wrote to customers in an e-mail the day after Christmas. In the message, North said his employees 'fought valiantly over this past year' to keep the shop in business." [The Daily Breeze] (Sad stuff. Are you folks hearing about similar situations out there?)

CLINT EASTWOOD, MY FAVORITE: OK, he's never played a superhero and I guess the closest he ever came to making a sci-fi movie was (gulp) "Firefox," but anybody who loves movies has to love Clint Eastwood. And even though we journalists must forever keep our impartiality about the people we write about, I have to say he might be my all-time favorite person to interview. In today's Los Angeles Times, we have a special issue of The Envelope on the Golden Globes this Sunday and I'm happy to say I wrote the cover story, an interview with Eastwood about his great new film, "Gran Torino," and if you have a moment to read it, I think you might enjoy it. I also did a big story with Eastwood on the enduring impact of the "Dirty Harry" films and the misunderstood legacy of the first film, if (like me) you can't get enough when it comes to the most thoughtful tough guy in Hollywood history.

ON THIS DATE: Oh, what a golden day it was in Honolulu on this day in 1950 when Erin Gray was born. The vivacious actress was perfect as the strong, smart and brave Col. Wilma Deering on "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and, sorry Lynda Carter, she replaced a certain star-spangled amazon as my childhood ideal of heroic womanhood. Oh, if only she had been given a chance to play Lois Lane! To celebrate her 59th birthday today, let's all watch out for space vampires. (To see some video of Erin Gray as Wilma Deering and during a Hero Complex interview this past summer, keep reading to the bottom of this post)

Welcome to your Tuesday morning edition of Everyday Hero, the roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe.

ALAN MOORE SAYS 'BWAH-HA-HA-HA!': Well, not really, but I just love posting this photograph of him  any chance I get and I do suspect that he would express some glee about the ugly corporate feud that has raised doubts about the planned release of "Watchman," the big Warner Bros. adaptation of Moore's epic. I would call Moore and ask him directly, but the last time we spoke he made it quite clear that he was done talking about the film and Hollywood in general because he more or less loathes the film industry. A judge's surprise ruling last week has created the very real possibility that "Watchmen" might not hit theaters in March -- a shocking development but, now that I think about it, when Moore talked to the Hero Complex in September he seemed to have some mystic premonition of this latest development. "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come." Spooky! Well, the guy does wear metallic talons and worship an ancient Roman snake god, so I wouldn't want to get on his bad side. And what is the latest on the "Watchmen" case? Here's a statement from Warner Bros.:  "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the Court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film." "Watchmen" has joined the list of truly contentious Hollywood projects. What are some of the other ones? Check out our new photo gallery "Big Hits, Bitter Battles." 

A DIMMER 'TWILIGHT'?: Reporter Michael Cieply (a former colleague here at the Los Angeles Times) has always been a smart and savvy chronicler of the movie industry, and his take on the real story behind the 2008 box-office returns is especially insightful: "What a year for movie openings. I mean, who could forget 'Twilight'? Teenagers screaming for free tickets outside the dual-theater Westwood premiere here. Mayhem in the malls. Girls thirsting for Robert Pattinson. Box-office projections growing bigger and bigger as online vendors sold out theater after theater. It was amazing. When all is said and done, maybe 24 million tickets will be sold to that movie, based on current sales. That makes it almost as big as, what? 'Patch Adams,' the No. 10 movie of 1998. Or roughly the size of 'George of the Jungle,' which placed No. 13 the year before. Or any number of films that are fondly remembered as midsize hits. Looking back, in fact, 2008 may be remembered as the year when Hollywood succeeded in redefining the Big Event. A "movie of the century" — something that made you want to dress up, get in line, and act silly just to see it — used to come along every year or two. The "Star Wars" films had that quality. So did "Titanic," in a quieter, dreamier sort of way. But heart-stopping film events like that have been popping up every few weeks this year.... Even this year’s really big one, "The Dark Knight," was never quite as big as it felt. Clear away the urgent reports about 6 a.m. screenings and Imax-size demand, and you are left, according to an always-sobering tally kept by the Box Office Mojo website, with the 26th-most-popular movie of all time, in terms of tickets sold. A smart, counterintuitive article, and again you can read the rest right here. [New York Times]

A BRIGHTER "TWILIGHT"?: Remember that Will Rogers line about lies, damn lies and statistics? Joal Ryan has a look-on-the-bright-side article compared with that New York Times piece; Ryan points out that, considering its budget, "Twilight" was a bigger hit than "The Dark Knight" (although it ignores the fact that Warner Bros. made a gazillion dollars on all the product and licensing deals for "Dark Knight"): "If only Wall Street had bet on Twilight. Or Hannah Montana. Or Kirk Cameron. With a $167.3-million overall domestic take as of Sunday, per Box Office Mojo, Twilight made more than four times its reported $37-million production budget — the best rate of return on any film in the 2008 Top 10, including 'The Dark Knight.' The Batman epic was a pretty good investment, too, very nearly tripling its gargantuan $185-million budget with a $530.8-million domestic take, Hollywood's second-biggest ever. Still, 'The Dark Knight' was nothing compared to these off-the-charts performers: 'High School Musical 3: Senior Year' ($89.7 million), which grossed about eight times its $11-million budget; the Hannah Montana concert movie, which made about nine times its $7-million budget; and, Cameron's 'Fireproof,' which cost $500,000 to produce, and made $33.1 million — or, more than 60 times its budget." [E! Entertainment News]

'Y'? BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU: One of the more intriguing comics-as-film projects kicking around town is the D.J. Caruso adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn's wry, sublime series "Y: The Last Man." I talked to D.J. a few months back, and he was mightily enthused about the prospects of making the film with his familiar on-screen muse Shia LaBeouf, but in a recent conversation with Edward Douglas it sounds as if the last-man-on-earth tale is presenting the filmmaker with some headaches: "Yeah, it's been a while. I think it's one of those that the source material is fantastic stuff, it's great, but it's a tough one to lick into getting into a screenplay. I've tried to feel like it's a trilogy of movies and I think everyone sort of agrees, but at the same time, just getting the first movie right and getting the right beats and knowing what to put in, it's been really tough. You have great minds like David Goyer and you've got Carl Ellsworth and you've got Brian K. Vaughn, and I'm working with them to just kind of crack it and get it down. And we're almost there. I know it's a slow process, but I think eventually we'll get it. We're going to get it and we'll get it right, but we had a pretty good breakthrough a couple of  weeks ago in the final act, and hopefully we'll get there.... If you're familiar with the source material, there's so much great stuff and he meets so many great characters but it's over the course of a long period of time. When you're telling the story — yes, the fanboys and all the people who love it will go and see it — but if you're just seeing the movie from a filmgoers' perspective and you're not familiar with the source material, you have to make sure you make the movie that they understand and they love, too. Like I said, it's been more difficult than I thought, but we're getting close." [Comingsoon.net]

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY: Here's some consumer news for you fans of the classic Superman cartoons, this from Robert Greenberger's short article: "Warner Home Video is finally releasing their own version of the Superman cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer. The 17 classics have been in the public domain and collected repeatedly over the last 20 years. Come April 7, though, the first authorized collection will be released. In addition to the Paramount cartoons, released in 1941 and 1942, the two-disc set will include two extras: 'The Man, The Myth, Superman' and 'First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series.' The set will retail for $26.99 and if you have never seen these cartoons, they are well worth it." [Comic Mix] If you'd like to see a few snippets from the genius work of the Fleischers on the Man of Steel, there's some video at the bottom of this post. 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: Empire magazine has some exclusive photos from Michael Bay's "Transformers 2" and you can see them right here.

ON THIS DATE: Author Lewis Shiner, whose work began in cyber-punk, drifted into magical realism and often deals with the slippery nature of reality and history, celebrates his 58th birthday today. Today is also the 27th birthday of Kristin Kreuk, the Canadian actress who is best known in the role of Lana Lang on "Smallville," but I especially liked her with Miranda Richardson in the wonderfully weird 2001 television movie "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All." So to celebrate, let's avoid all bad apples today.

'Twilight,' Ron Moore and Christian Bale, all in Everyday Hero headlines

Welcome to the latest edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe....

THE NEXT BIG 'THING': The Sci Fi flagship show "Battlestar Galactica" is winding down (we've already told you how the channel will try to soldier on without it) so what is Ron Moore going to be up to while he waits to launch "Caprica"? According to Michael Fleming, writing in the trades, Moore will be taking on a script about the alien who came in from the cold: "Universal will add a new chapter to 'The Thing,' lining up another take on the paranoid horror classic most recently brought to the screen by John Carpenter in 1982. Studio has set 'Battlestar Galactica' exec producer Ron Moore to write the script and commercials director Matthijs Van Heijningen to direct the re-imagining. New project borrows heavily from the John W. Campbell Jr. short story 'Who Goes There,' the basis of the Carpenter film and 1951 Howard Hawks original 'The Thing From Another World.' It is set in a Norwegian camp and chronicles how the shape-shifting alien was first discovered and overcame the inhabitants of that camp ... Van Heijningen has shot blurbs for brands including Toyota, Pepsi, Heineken, Bud Light and Visa. He is also developing 'Army of the Dead' at Warner Bros. with producer Zack Snyder." [Variety] ALSO: Hollywood is gearing up more than a dozen other remakes of classic sci-fi films; you can read about it here.

FAR TO GO, DAKOTA: The "Twilight" fans, a famously mellow and forgiving bunch, are going to love this tidbit from gossip maven Elizabeth Snead: "Dakota Fanning is really, really excited about taking on the role of Jane, the Volturi vampire in 'Twilight's' sequel, 'New Moon.' However, she hasn't even read the book yet. Fanning admitted at this afternoon's junket for her new film, 'Coraline,' that she's only halfway through reading the first 'Twilight' book. Asked if there was any movement on 'New Moon,' Dakota replied, 'It's not 100% for sure yet that I will be doing it, but it's definitely not like a rumor or anything. It's definitely a possibility and something I'm excited about.' Asked if there was any particular scene from the book that she was looking forward to doing, she said, 'I don't know ... I just think the character is what I'd be excited about. It's kind of evil, it's a vampire, it's really cool.'  Does she have any favorite vampires from films? 'I don't. The only vampire movie I've seen is 'Twilight.' " [Dish Rag]

ZACK SNYDER REVEALED: Writer Nisha Gopalan has contributed to the Hero Complex, and we always enjoy her work. That's especially the case with her new interview with "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder, who confesses to dark chapters in his past (Attending Renaissance fairs! Making beer commercials! Hanging around with naked blue men!) and also talks about casting his son as young Rorschach. Here's a chunk of the Q&A exchange: "'Why on Earth would you cast your 11-year-old son in this movie as a younger version of Rorschach, an abused sociopath whose mom was a hooker? My son was in '300,' too, as the young Leonidas -- he fights the dad, and then he punches a kid in the face. [Laughs] I feel like he’s together enough actually, that he can handle [the 'Watchmen' role]. I didn’t try to get too deep into it. Though there is a woman yelling at him, 'I should’ve had that abortion!' " [Nylon Guys] ALSO: Check out all "Watchmen" coverage at Hero Complex right here.

ON THIS DATE: Christian Bale celebrates his 35th birthday today and now clearly reigns as the dark prince of fanboy cinema. He has played Batman in two films (one of which now stands as the second-highest grossing film in U.S. box-office history) and he will star in the new "Terminator" franchise that launches this summer. He has played a dragon slayer, reluctant gunfighter, a serial killer with a penchant for Huey Lewis hits and (in one of my favorite recent films) a magician with a dark secret. To see some video scenes of the Wales native through the years, keep reading....

Welcome to a Wednesday edition of the  Everyday Hero report, your roundup of headlines from across the fanboy universe ...

PATRICK MCGOOHAN DEAD AT 80: Some very sad news today that Patrick McGoohan, an actor who could be simultaneously suave and cryptic, has died. Just the other day we told you that there are plans by AMC to revive the late actor's signature show, "The Prisoner," and if that moves forward as expected, it will only enhance the legacy of the actor and writer. Here's an obituary written by Dennis McLellan: "Patrick McGoohan, an Emmy Award-winning actor who starred as a British spy in the 1960s TV series 'Secret Agent' and 'The Prisoner' and was known for playing various villainous roles in films and on television, has died. He was 80. McGoohan died peacefully Tuesday in St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica after a short illness, said Cleve Landsberg, McGoohan's son-in-law. The family did not provide further details.It was the height of James Bond mania in 1965 when McGoohan showed up on American TV screens in 'Secret Agent,' a British-produced series in which he played John Drake, a special security agent working as a spy for the British government. The hour-long series, which ran on CBS until 1966, was an expanded version of 'Danger Man,' a short-lived, half-hour series on CBS in 1961 in which McGoohan played the same character. But it was McGoohan's next British-produced series, 'The Prisoner,' on CBS in 1968 and 1969, that became a cult classic. Once described in The Times as an 'espionage tale as crafted by Kafka,' 'The Prisoner' starred McGoohan as a British agent who, after resigning his post, is abducted and held captive by unknown powers in a mysterious village, where he known only as No. 6. McGoohan created and executive-produced the series, which ran for only 17 episodes. He also wrote and directed several episodes." [Los Angeles Times]

STAN LEE INVENTS THE FIRST GAY SUPERHERO?: Um, well, that's what the British press is breathlessly reporting today in several spots, such as this piece in the Daily Telegraph: "Lee has reportedly created a character called Thom Creed, a high-school basketball player who is forced to hide his sexuality as well as his superpowers. It is not known what kind of powers Creed will display. Lee, the former head of Marvel Comics -- who also created the Hulk and the X-Men -- will unveil Creed in an hour-long television special made in the US. If he proves popular with audiences, the programme will be shown in Britain. Lee developed the idea of a gay character from the award-winning novel Hero by Perry Moore, the Sun reports. A television industry source told the paper: 'It was only a matter of time before we had our first gay superhero. And if there is one man who can make him a success it is Stan Lee.'" Wow, there are so many things wrong with this. The news is pretty old since I read about it in November and there's the fact that Lee's plan of taking Perry Moore's pre-existing character and putting it on screen is not the same as "creating" that character. Also, there have been more than a few gay heroes in comics (Moore, in fact, chatted about some of them last summer) and I also hate when people don't mention Jack Kirby as a co-creator of classic Marvel characters such as Hulk and X-Men...so, ugh, let's move on ...

TERMINATORS, WARMING UP: I'm headed over to see footage from "Terminator: Salvation" today and to say hi to director McG, who is doing the meet-and-greet "road show" to promote the film. He already did a stop in New York and Michael Avila had a nice (and detailed) summary of it. "Relaunching a franchise is never easy. When you're following in the footsteps of James Cameron, it becomes an absurdly difficult challenge. That is just one of the many obstacles director McG faced when he signed on to reinvigorate the 'Terminator' franchise. The director took the mic to host a special presentation of early footage from 'Terminator Salvation'; Monday at the Time Warner screening room in Manhattan. Most of the 15 minutes or so of clips shown were incomplete, with unfinished special effects and rough audio. However, the clips did provide a clear sense of the look and style of the film. Picture the grime and decay of 'Mad Max' or 'Children of Men,' and you have a pretty good idea of the aesthetic vision McG and his team have created for the movie. We also have answers to some of the key questions surrounding the storyline -- including one major twist that frankly, I was surprised they showed us -- so if you want to remain completely in the dark about the plot of 'Terminator Salvation'....STOP READING NOW!!!" But if you want more, more, more, click here [Newsarama]

"TWILIGHT" MEETS "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL"?: Wow, here's another one in the non-news department. There were great spasms of anger and fear among "Twilight" fans (or the "Twi-hards," as they are called because, well, uh, they try harder than other fans?) at the news that Vanessa Hudgens, she of "High School Musical" fame, might dare turn her brand of peppy, promise-ring style of teen romance into a franchise built around a much more somber, black-clothed brand of teen romance. Just look at some of the comments over at Entertainment Weekly, which broke the news of the "rumored audition." Turns out the character that Hudgens auditioned to play isn't even in the sequel, "New Moon," so apparently everyone can put their torches and pitchforks down and return to study hall.   

ON THIS DATE: It was 19 years ago today that the second episode of "The Simpsons," titled "Bart the Genius," aired and introduced one of the great recurring sight gags in television history: Bart Simpson standing at the class blackboard and writing punishment verses. On that 1990 broadcast, Bart wrote, ironically, "I will not waste chalk" on the board. The ritual has been repeated sporadically over the more than 400 epsiodes that followed and if you want to see my personal Top 20 funniest lines, go to the end of this post. To celebrate this great day, let's all crank call an elementary school teacher.

MICKEY ROURKE IN "IRON MAN 2"?: In a testimony to the benefits of clean, good living, Mickey Rourke may join Robert Downey Jr. in the armor-plated 2010 blockbuster "Iron Man 2." At least that's the rumor that Michael Fleming is floating in the trades, a tidbit timed to land right before the Golden Globes this weekend, where Rourke might put a headlock on the best actor trophy after his career-reviving turn in "The Wrestler." Even if the casting decision is a myth, it's a fact for the next few days and will be repeated a million times. Here's what Fleming writes: "In what would mark his first studio film since resurrecting his career with 'The Wrestler,' Mickey Rourke is in talks to play the heavy in 'Iron Man 2,' the Marvel Entertainment sequel that director Jon Favreau begins shooting this spring. Rourke is in discussions to play a villain described as Tony Stark's Russian alter ego, a heavily tattooed bruiser who is in the arms trade and battles Iron Man in his own nuclear-powered armored suit. The script -- which is still being written -- is a guarded secret, but speculation is that villain is likely comic-book nemesis Crimson Dynamo." (NOTE: I think we should assume that when Fleming wrote "alter ego" he actually meant "counterpart," but he works hard so let's all let it slide.) [Variety]

GEORGE LUCAS PERFECTS MIND CONTROL: In a startling development, George Lucas has apparently figured out a way to harness The Force in everyday settings, a development that may signal the end of the world's energy crisis. But first, of course, Lucas is using the breakthrough to make an expensive toy. Mike Snider has the story: "The Force Trainer (expected to be priced at $90 to $100) comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the 'Star Wars' films. No, you're not tapping into some 'all-powerful force controlling everything,' as Han Solo said in the movies. But you are reaching out with mind power via one of the first mass-market brain-to-computer products. 'It's been a fantasy everyone has had, using The Force,' says Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing.  Mind-control games may be the coming thing: Mattel plans to demonstrate a Mind Flex game (also due this fall), which uses brain-wave activity to move a ball through a tabletop obstacle course, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday. In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower." [USA Today]

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF: (UPDATED) Congrats to Taylor Lautner (who will forever be Shark Boy to me). He had been angling to stay aboard the "Twilight" box-office express by reprising his role as Jacob Black in the second film, "New Moon," but there was some doubt because of a rather hairy situation -- the baby-faced Jacob of the first movie becomes big-scary-werewolf Jacob in the second film. But "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer posted this announcement today quoting "New Moon" director Chris Weitz saying that Lautner, who has bulked up for the role, will indeed be back: "I'm very happy to announce that Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black in 'New Moon' and that he's doing so with the enthusiastic support of Summit Entertainment, the producers, and Stephenie Meyer. The characters in Stephenie's books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance; so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series. But it was my first instinct that Taylor was, is, and should be Jacob, and that the books would be best served by the actor who is emotionally right for the part. I think that fans of Twilight the book and the movie will be surprised by the Jacob Black that Taylor will bring to the screen in New Moon; and I'm looking forward to working with him and the rest of the cast in realizing the film." [Stephenie Meyer's website]

THE ECONOMY IS MY FOE!: I buy many of my comics (and a lot of my son's "Star Wars" toys) at Amazing Comics in Long Beach and I was distressed when, on a recent visit, I found the huge store had been reduced to half its previous size and learned that its stock of back issues is now in storage. I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner but I assume that's not a positive sign of the store's health. Then I read this story by business journalist Muhammed El-Hasan about another Southern California store: "Not even Superman could rescue Third Planet Comics & Games from this recession. The popular Torrance comic book and gaming store at 3631 Pacific Coast Highway will shut its doors Monday after about 13 years in business. 'The deciding factor in this decision is that sales have fallen to a level where we can no longer meet our obligations,' owner Robert North wrote to customers in an e-mail the day after Christmas. In the message, North said his employees 'fought valiantly over this past year' to keep the shop in business." [The Daily Breeze] (Sad stuff. Are you folks hearing about similar situations out there?)

CLINT EASTWOOD, MY FAVORITE: OK, he's never played a superhero and I guess the closest he ever came to making a sci-fi movie was (gulp) "Firefox," but anybody who loves movies has to love Clint Eastwood. And even though we journalists must forever keep our impartiality about the people we write about, I have to say he might be my all-time favorite person to interview. In today's Los Angeles Times, we have a special issue of The Envelope on the Golden Globes this Sunday and I'm happy to say I wrote the cover story, an interview with Eastwood about his great new film, "Gran Torino," and if you have a moment to read it, I think you might enjoy it. I also did a big story with Eastwood on the enduring impact of the "Dirty Harry" films and the misunderstood legacy of the first film, if (like me) you can't get enough when it comes to the most thoughtful tough guy in Hollywood history.

ON THIS DATE: Oh, what a golden day it was in Honolulu on this day in 1950 when Erin Gray was born. The vivacious actress was perfect as the strong, smart and brave Col. Wilma Deering on "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and, sorry Lynda Carter, she replaced a certain star-spangled amazon as my childhood ideal of heroic womanhood. Oh, if only she had been given a chance to play Lois Lane! To celebrate her 59th birthday today, let's all watch out for space vampires. (To see some video of Erin Gray as Wilma Deering and during a Hero Complex interview this past summer, keep reading to the bottom of this post)

Welcome to your Tuesday morning edition of Everyday Hero, the roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe.

ALAN MOORE SAYS 'BWAH-HA-HA-HA!': Well, not really, but I just love posting this photograph of him  any chance I get and I do suspect that he would express some glee about the ugly corporate feud that has raised doubts about the planned release of "Watchman," the big Warner Bros. adaptation of Moore's epic. I would call Moore and ask him directly, but the last time we spoke he made it quite clear that he was done talking about the film and Hollywood in general because he more or less loathes the film industry. A judge's surprise ruling last week has created the very real possibility that "Watchmen" might not hit theaters in March -- a shocking development but, now that I think about it, when Moore talked to the Hero Complex in September he seemed to have some mystic premonition of this latest development. "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come." Spooky! Well, the guy does wear metallic talons and worship an ancient Roman snake god, so I wouldn't want to get on his bad side. And what is the latest on the "Watchmen" case? Here's a statement from Warner Bros.:  "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the Court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film." "Watchmen" has joined the list of truly contentious Hollywood projects. What are some of the other ones? Check out our new photo gallery "Big Hits, Bitter Battles." 

A DIMMER 'TWILIGHT'?: Reporter Michael Cieply (a former colleague here at the Los Angeles Times) has always been a smart and savvy chronicler of the movie industry, and his take on the real story behind the 2008 box-office returns is especially insightful: "What a year for movie openings. I mean, who could forget 'Twilight'? Teenagers screaming for free tickets outside the dual-theater Westwood premiere here. Mayhem in the malls. Girls thirsting for Robert Pattinson. Box-office projections growing bigger and bigger as online vendors sold out theater after theater. It was amazing. When all is said and done, maybe 24 million tickets will be sold to that movie, based on current sales. That makes it almost as big as, what? 'Patch Adams,' the No. 10 movie of 1998. Or roughly the size of 'George of the Jungle,' which placed No. 13 the year before. Or any number of films that are fondly remembered as midsize hits. Looking back, in fact, 2008 may be remembered as the year when Hollywood succeeded in redefining the Big Event. A "movie of the century" — something that made you want to dress up, get in line, and act silly just to see it — used to come along every year or two. The "Star Wars" films had that quality. So did "Titanic," in a quieter, dreamier sort of way. But heart-stopping film events like that have been popping up every few weeks this year.... Even this year’s really big one, "The Dark Knight," was never quite as big as it felt. Clear away the urgent reports about 6 a.m. screenings and Imax-size demand, and you are left, according to an always-sobering tally kept by the Box Office Mojo website, with the 26th-most-popular movie of all time, in terms of tickets sold. A smart, counterintuitive article, and again you can read the rest right here. [New York Times]

A BRIGHTER "TWILIGHT"?: Remember that Will Rogers line about lies, damn lies and statistics? Joal Ryan has a look-on-the-bright-side article compared with that New York Times piece; Ryan points out that, considering its budget, "Twilight" was a bigger hit than "The Dark Knight" (although it ignores the fact that Warner Bros. made a gazillion dollars on all the product and licensing deals for "Dark Knight"): "If only Wall Street had bet on Twilight. Or Hannah Montana. Or Kirk Cameron. With a $167.3-million overall domestic take as of Sunday, per Box Office Mojo, Twilight made more than four times its reported $37-million production budget — the best rate of return on any film in the 2008 Top 10, including 'The Dark Knight.' The Batman epic was a pretty good investment, too, very nearly tripling its gargantuan $185-million budget with a $530.8-million domestic take, Hollywood's second-biggest ever. Still, 'The Dark Knight' was nothing compared to these off-the-charts performers: 'High School Musical 3: Senior Year' ($89.7 million), which grossed about eight times its $11-million budget; the Hannah Montana concert movie, which made about nine times its $7-million budget; and, Cameron's 'Fireproof,' which cost $500,000 to produce, and made $33.1 million — or, more than 60 times its budget." [E! Entertainment News]

'Y'? BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU: One of the more intriguing comics-as-film projects kicking around town is the D.J. Caruso adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn's wry, sublime series "Y: The Last Man." I talked to D.J. a few months back, and he was mightily enthused about the prospects of making the film with his familiar on-screen muse Shia LaBeouf, but in a recent conversation with Edward Douglas it sounds as if the last-man-on-earth tale is presenting the filmmaker with some headaches: "Yeah, it's been a while. I think it's one of those that the source material is fantastic stuff, it's great, but it's a tough one to lick into getting into a screenplay. I've tried to feel like it's a trilogy of movies and I think everyone sort of agrees, but at the same time, just getting the first movie right and getting the right beats and knowing what to put in, it's been really tough. You have great minds like David Goyer and you've got Carl Ellsworth and you've got Brian K. Vaughn, and I'm working with them to just kind of crack it and get it down. And we're almost there. I know it's a slow process, but I think eventually we'll get it. We're going to get it and we'll get it right, but we had a pretty good breakthrough a couple of  weeks ago in the final act, and hopefully we'll get there.... If you're familiar with the source material, there's so much great stuff and he meets so many great characters but it's over the course of a long period of time. When you're telling the story — yes, the fanboys and all the people who love it will go and see it — but if you're just seeing the movie from a filmgoers' perspective and you're not familiar with the source material, you have to make sure you make the movie that they understand and they love, too. Like I said, it's been more difficult than I thought, but we're getting close." [Comingsoon.net]

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY: Here's some consumer news for you fans of the classic Superman cartoons, this from Robert Greenberger's short article: "Warner Home Video is finally releasing their own version of the Superman cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer. The 17 classics have been in the public domain and collected repeatedly over the last 20 years. Come April 7, though, the first authorized collection will be released. In addition to the Paramount cartoons, released in 1941 and 1942, the two-disc set will include two extras: 'The Man, The Myth, Superman' and 'First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series.' The set will retail for $26.99 and if you have never seen these cartoons, they are well worth it." [Comic Mix] If you'd like to see a few snippets from the genius work of the Fleischers on the Man of Steel, there's some video at the bottom of this post. 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: Empire magazine has some exclusive photos from Michael Bay's "Transformers 2" and you can see them right here.

ON THIS DATE: Author Lewis Shiner, whose work began in cyber-punk, drifted into magical realism and often deals with the slippery nature of reality and history, celebrates his 58th birthday today. Today is also the 27th birthday of Kristin Kreuk, the Canadian actress who is best known in the role of Lana Lang on "Smallville," but I especially liked her with Miranda Richardson in the wonderfully weird 2001 television movie "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All." So to celebrate, let's avoid all bad apples today.

'Twilight', Patrick McGoohan, 'Terminator: Salvation' and Stan Lee, all in Everyday Hero headlines

Welcome to a Wednesday edition of the  Everyday Hero report, your roundup of headlines from across the fanboy universe ...

PATRICK MCGOOHAN DEAD AT 80: Some very sad news today that Patrick McGoohan, an actor who could be simultaneously suave and cryptic, has died. Just the other day we told you that there are plans by AMC to revive the late actor's signature show, "The Prisoner," and if that moves forward as expected, it will only enhance the legacy of the actor and writer. Here's an obituary written by Dennis McLellan: "Patrick McGoohan, an Emmy Award-winning actor who starred as a British spy in the 1960s TV series 'Secret Agent' and 'The Prisoner' and was known for playing various villainous roles in films and on television, has died. He was 80. McGoohan died peacefully Tuesday in St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica after a short illness, said Cleve Landsberg, McGoohan's son-in-law. The family did not provide further details.It was the height of James Bond mania in 1965 when McGoohan showed up on American TV screens in 'Secret Agent,' a British-produced series in which he played John Drake, a special security agent working as a spy for the British government. The hour-long series, which ran on CBS until 1966, was an expanded version of 'Danger Man,' a short-lived, half-hour series on CBS in 1961 in which McGoohan played the same character. But it was McGoohan's next British-produced series, 'The Prisoner,' on CBS in 1968 and 1969, that became a cult classic. Once described in The Times as an 'espionage tale as crafted by Kafka,' 'The Prisoner' starred McGoohan as a British agent who, after resigning his post, is abducted and held captive by unknown powers in a mysterious village, where he known only as No. 6. McGoohan created and executive-produced the series, which ran for only 17 episodes. He also wrote and directed several episodes." [Los Angeles Times]

STAN LEE INVENTS THE FIRST GAY SUPERHERO?: Um, well, that's what the British press is breathlessly reporting today in several spots, such as this piece in the Daily Telegraph: "Lee has reportedly created a character called Thom Creed, a high-school basketball player who is forced to hide his sexuality as well as his superpowers. It is not known what kind of powers Creed will display. Lee, the former head of Marvel Comics -- who also created the Hulk and the X-Men -- will unveil Creed in an hour-long television special made in the US. If he proves popular with audiences, the programme will be shown in Britain. Lee developed the idea of a gay character from the award-winning novel Hero by Perry Moore, the Sun reports. A television industry source told the paper: 'It was only a matter of time before we had our first gay superhero. And if there is one man who can make him a success it is Stan Lee.'" Wow, there are so many things wrong with this. The news is pretty old since I read about it in November and there's the fact that Lee's plan of taking Perry Moore's pre-existing character and putting it on screen is not the same as "creating" that character. Also, there have been more than a few gay heroes in comics (Moore, in fact, chatted about some of them last summer) and I also hate when people don't mention Jack Kirby as a co-creator of classic Marvel characters such as Hulk and X-Men...so, ugh, let's move on ...

TERMINATORS, WARMING UP: I'm headed over to see footage from "Terminator: Salvation" today and to say hi to director McG, who is doing the meet-and-greet "road show" to promote the film. He already did a stop in New York and Michael Avila had a nice (and detailed) summary of it. "Relaunching a franchise is never easy. When you're following in the footsteps of James Cameron, it becomes an absurdly difficult challenge. That is just one of the many obstacles director McG faced when he signed on to reinvigorate the 'Terminator' franchise. The director took the mic to host a special presentation of early footage from 'Terminator Salvation'; Monday at the Time Warner screening room in Manhattan. Most of the 15 minutes or so of clips shown were incomplete, with unfinished special effects and rough audio. However, the clips did provide a clear sense of the look and style of the film. Picture the grime and decay of 'Mad Max' or 'Children of Men,' and you have a pretty good idea of the aesthetic vision McG and his team have created for the movie. We also have answers to some of the key questions surrounding the storyline -- including one major twist that frankly, I was surprised they showed us -- so if you want to remain completely in the dark about the plot of 'Terminator Salvation'....STOP READING NOW!!!" But if you want more, more, more, click here [Newsarama]

"TWILIGHT" MEETS "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL"?: Wow, here's another one in the non-news department. There were great spasms of anger and fear among "Twilight" fans (or the "Twi-hards," as they are called because, well, uh, they try harder than other fans?) at the news that Vanessa Hudgens, she of "High School Musical" fame, might dare turn her brand of peppy, promise-ring style of teen romance into a franchise built around a much more somber, black-clothed brand of teen romance. Just look at some of the comments over at Entertainment Weekly, which broke the news of the "rumored audition." Turns out the character that Hudgens auditioned to play isn't even in the sequel, "New Moon," so apparently everyone can put their torches and pitchforks down and return to study hall.   

ON THIS DATE: It was 19 years ago today that the second episode of "The Simpsons," titled "Bart the Genius," aired and introduced one of the great recurring sight gags in television history: Bart Simpson standing at the class blackboard and writing punishment verses. On that 1990 broadcast, Bart wrote, ironically, "I will not waste chalk" on the board. The ritual has been repeated sporadically over the more than 400 epsiodes that followed and if you want to see my personal Top 20 funniest lines, go to the end of this post. To celebrate this great day, let's all crank call an elementary school teacher.

MICKEY ROURKE IN "IRON MAN 2"?: In a testimony to the benefits of clean, good living, Mickey Rourke may join Robert Downey Jr. in the armor-plated 2010 blockbuster "Iron Man 2." At least that's the rumor that Michael Fleming is floating in the trades, a tidbit timed to land right before the Golden Globes this weekend, where Rourke might put a headlock on the best actor trophy after his career-reviving turn in "The Wrestler." Even if the casting decision is a myth, it's a fact for the next few days and will be repeated a million times. Here's what Fleming writes: "In what would mark his first studio film since resurrecting his career with 'The Wrestler,' Mickey Rourke is in talks to play the heavy in 'Iron Man 2,' the Marvel Entertainment sequel that director Jon Favreau begins shooting this spring. Rourke is in discussions to play a villain described as Tony Stark's Russian alter ego, a heavily tattooed bruiser who is in the arms trade and battles Iron Man in his own nuclear-powered armored suit. The script -- which is still being written -- is a guarded secret, but speculation is that villain is likely comic-book nemesis Crimson Dynamo." (NOTE: I think we should assume that when Fleming wrote "alter ego" he actually meant "counterpart," but he works hard so let's all let it slide.) [Variety]

GEORGE LUCAS PERFECTS MIND CONTROL: In a startling development, George Lucas has apparently figured out a way to harness The Force in everyday settings, a development that may signal the end of the world's energy crisis. But first, of course, Lucas is using the breakthrough to make an expensive toy. Mike Snider has the story: "The Force Trainer (expected to be priced at $90 to $100) comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the 'Star Wars' films. No, you're not tapping into some 'all-powerful force controlling everything,' as Han Solo said in the movies. But you are reaching out with mind power via one of the first mass-market brain-to-computer products. 'It's been a fantasy everyone has had, using The Force,' says Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing.  Mind-control games may be the coming thing: Mattel plans to demonstrate a Mind Flex game (also due this fall), which uses brain-wave activity to move a ball through a tabletop obstacle course, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday. In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower." [USA Today]

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF: (UPDATED) Congrats to Taylor Lautner (who will forever be Shark Boy to me). He had been angling to stay aboard the "Twilight" box-office express by reprising his role as Jacob Black in the second film, "New Moon," but there was some doubt because of a rather hairy situation -- the baby-faced Jacob of the first movie becomes big-scary-werewolf Jacob in the second film. But "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer posted this announcement today quoting "New Moon" director Chris Weitz saying that Lautner, who has bulked up for the role, will indeed be back: "I'm very happy to announce that Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black in 'New Moon' and that he's doing so with the enthusiastic support of Summit Entertainment, the producers, and Stephenie Meyer. The characters in Stephenie's books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance; so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series. But it was my first instinct that Taylor was, is, and should be Jacob, and that the books would be best served by the actor who is emotionally right for the part. I think that fans of Twilight the book and the movie will be surprised by the Jacob Black that Taylor will bring to the screen in New Moon; and I'm looking forward to working with him and the rest of the cast in realizing the film." [Stephenie Meyer's website]

THE ECONOMY IS MY FOE!: I buy many of my comics (and a lot of my son's "Star Wars" toys) at Amazing Comics in Long Beach and I was distressed when, on a recent visit, I found the huge store had been reduced to half its previous size and learned that its stock of back issues is now in storage. I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner but I assume that's not a positive sign of the store's health. Then I read this story by business journalist Muhammed El-Hasan about another Southern California store: "Not even Superman could rescue Third Planet Comics & Games from this recession. The popular Torrance comic book and gaming store at 3631 Pacific Coast Highway will shut its doors Monday after about 13 years in business. 'The deciding factor in this decision is that sales have fallen to a level where we can no longer meet our obligations,' owner Robert North wrote to customers in an e-mail the day after Christmas. In the message, North said his employees 'fought valiantly over this past year' to keep the shop in business." [The Daily Breeze] (Sad stuff. Are you folks hearing about similar situations out there?)

CLINT EASTWOOD, MY FAVORITE: OK, he's never played a superhero and I guess the closest he ever came to making a sci-fi movie was (gulp) "Firefox," but anybody who loves movies has to love Clint Eastwood. And even though we journalists must forever keep our impartiality about the people we write about, I have to say he might be my all-time favorite person to interview. In today's Los Angeles Times, we have a special issue of The Envelope on the Golden Globes this Sunday and I'm happy to say I wrote the cover story, an interview with Eastwood about his great new film, "Gran Torino," and if you have a moment to read it, I think you might enjoy it. I also did a big story with Eastwood on the enduring impact of the "Dirty Harry" films and the misunderstood legacy of the first film, if (like me) you can't get enough when it comes to the most thoughtful tough guy in Hollywood history.

ON THIS DATE: Oh, what a golden day it was in Honolulu on this day in 1950 when Erin Gray was born. The vivacious actress was perfect as the strong, smart and brave Col. Wilma Deering on "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and, sorry Lynda Carter, she replaced a certain star-spangled amazon as my childhood ideal of heroic womanhood. Oh, if only she had been given a chance to play Lois Lane! To celebrate her 59th birthday today, let's all watch out for space vampires. (To see some video of Erin Gray as Wilma Deering and during a Hero Complex interview this past summer, keep reading to the bottom of this post)

Welcome to your Tuesday morning edition of Everyday Hero, the roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe.

ALAN MOORE SAYS 'BWAH-HA-HA-HA!': Well, not really, but I just love posting this photograph of him  any chance I get and I do suspect that he would express some glee about the ugly corporate feud that has raised doubts about the planned release of "Watchman," the big Warner Bros. adaptation of Moore's epic. I would call Moore and ask him directly, but the last time we spoke he made it quite clear that he was done talking about the film and Hollywood in general because he more or less loathes the film industry. A judge's surprise ruling last week has created the very real possibility that "Watchmen" might not hit theaters in March -- a shocking development but, now that I think about it, when Moore talked to the Hero Complex in September he seemed to have some mystic premonition of this latest development. "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come." Spooky! Well, the guy does wear metallic talons and worship an ancient Roman snake god, so I wouldn't want to get on his bad side. And what is the latest on the "Watchmen" case? Here's a statement from Warner Bros.:  "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the Court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film." "Watchmen" has joined the list of truly contentious Hollywood projects. What are some of the other ones? Check out our new photo gallery "Big Hits, Bitter Battles." 

A DIMMER 'TWILIGHT'?: Reporter Michael Cieply (a former colleague here at the Los Angeles Times) has always been a smart and savvy chronicler of the movie industry, and his take on the real story behind the 2008 box-office returns is especially insightful: "What a year for movie openings. I mean, who could forget 'Twilight'? Teenagers screaming for free tickets outside the dual-theater Westwood premiere here. Mayhem in the malls. Girls thirsting for Robert Pattinson. Box-office projections growing bigger and bigger as online vendors sold out theater after theater. It was amazing. When all is said and done, maybe 24 million tickets will be sold to that movie, based on current sales. That makes it almost as big as, what? 'Patch Adams,' the No. 10 movie of 1998. Or roughly the size of 'George of the Jungle,' which placed No. 13 the year before. Or any number of films that are fondly remembered as midsize hits. Looking back, in fact, 2008 may be remembered as the year when Hollywood succeeded in redefining the Big Event. A "movie of the century" — something that made you want to dress up, get in line, and act silly just to see it — used to come along every year or two. The "Star Wars" films had that quality. So did "Titanic," in a quieter, dreamier sort of way. But heart-stopping film events like that have been popping up every few weeks this year.... Even this year’s really big one, "The Dark Knight," was never quite as big as it felt. Clear away the urgent reports about 6 a.m. screenings and Imax-size demand, and you are left, according to an always-sobering tally kept by the Box Office Mojo website, with the 26th-most-popular movie of all time, in terms of tickets sold. A smart, counterintuitive article, and again you can read the rest right here. [New York Times]

A BRIGHTER "TWILIGHT"?: Remember that Will Rogers line about lies, damn lies and statistics? Joal Ryan has a look-on-the-bright-side article compared with that New York Times piece; Ryan points out that, considering its budget, "Twilight" was a bigger hit than "The Dark Knight" (although it ignores the fact that Warner Bros. made a gazillion dollars on all the product and licensing deals for "Dark Knight"): "If only Wall Street had bet on Twilight. Or Hannah Montana. Or Kirk Cameron. With a $167.3-million overall domestic take as of Sunday, per Box Office Mojo, Twilight made more than four times its reported $37-million production budget — the best rate of return on any film in the 2008 Top 10, including 'The Dark Knight.' The Batman epic was a pretty good investment, too, very nearly tripling its gargantuan $185-million budget with a $530.8-million domestic take, Hollywood's second-biggest ever. Still, 'The Dark Knight' was nothing compared to these off-the-charts performers: 'High School Musical 3: Senior Year' ($89.7 million), which grossed about eight times its $11-million budget; the Hannah Montana concert movie, which made about nine times its $7-million budget; and, Cameron's 'Fireproof,' which cost $500,000 to produce, and made $33.1 million — or, more than 60 times its budget." [E! Entertainment News]

'Y'? BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU: One of the more intriguing comics-as-film projects kicking around town is the D.J. Caruso adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn's wry, sublime series "Y: The Last Man." I talked to D.J. a few months back, and he was mightily enthused about the prospects of making the film with his familiar on-screen muse Shia LaBeouf, but in a recent conversation with Edward Douglas it sounds as if the last-man-on-earth tale is presenting the filmmaker with some headaches: "Yeah, it's been a while. I think it's one of those that the source material is fantastic stuff, it's great, but it's a tough one to lick into getting into a screenplay. I've tried to feel like it's a trilogy of movies and I think everyone sort of agrees, but at the same time, just getting the first movie right and getting the right beats and knowing what to put in, it's been really tough. You have great minds like David Goyer and you've got Carl Ellsworth and you've got Brian K. Vaughn, and I'm working with them to just kind of crack it and get it down. And we're almost there. I know it's a slow process, but I think eventually we'll get it. We're going to get it and we'll get it right, but we had a pretty good breakthrough a couple of  weeks ago in the final act, and hopefully we'll get there.... If you're familiar with the source material, there's so much great stuff and he meets so many great characters but it's over the course of a long period of time. When you're telling the story — yes, the fanboys and all the people who love it will go and see it — but if you're just seeing the movie from a filmgoers' perspective and you're not familiar with the source material, you have to make sure you make the movie that they understand and they love, too. Like I said, it's been more difficult than I thought, but we're getting close." [Comingsoon.net]

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY: Here's some consumer news for you fans of the classic Superman cartoons, this from Robert Greenberger's short article: "Warner Home Video is finally releasing their own version of the Superman cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer. The 17 classics have been in the public domain and collected repeatedly over the last 20 years. Come April 7, though, the first authorized collection will be released. In addition to the Paramount cartoons, released in 1941 and 1942, the two-disc set will include two extras: 'The Man, The Myth, Superman' and 'First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series.' The set will retail for $26.99 and if you have never seen these cartoons, they are well worth it." [Comic Mix] If you'd like to see a few snippets from the genius work of the Fleischers on the Man of Steel, there's some video at the bottom of this post. 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: Empire magazine has some exclusive photos from Michael Bay's "Transformers 2" and you can see them right here.

ON THIS DATE: Author Lewis Shiner, whose work began in cyber-punk, drifted into magical realism and often deals with the slippery nature of reality and history, celebrates his 58th birthday today. Today is also the 27th birthday of Kristin Kreuk, the Canadian actress who is best known in the role of Lana Lang on "Smallville," but I especially liked her with Miranda Richardson in the wonderfully weird 2001 television movie "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All." So to celebrate, let's avoid all bad apples today.

Mickey Rourke for 'Iron Man 2,' 'Twilight' and The Force all in Everyday Hero headlines

MICKEY ROURKE IN "IRON MAN 2"?: In a testimony to the benefits of clean, good living, Mickey Rourke may join Robert Downey Jr. in the armor-plated 2010 blockbuster "Iron Man 2." At least that's the rumor that Michael Fleming is floating in the trades, a tidbit timed to land right before the Golden Globes this weekend, where Rourke might put a headlock on the best actor trophy after his career-reviving turn in "The Wrestler." Even if the casting decision is a myth, it's a fact for the next few days and will be repeated a million times. Here's what Fleming writes: "In what would mark his first studio film since resurrecting his career with 'The Wrestler,' Mickey Rourke is in talks to play the heavy in 'Iron Man 2,' the Marvel Entertainment sequel that director Jon Favreau begins shooting this spring. Rourke is in discussions to play a villain described as Tony Stark's Russian alter ego, a heavily tattooed bruiser who is in the arms trade and battles Iron Man in his own nuclear-powered armored suit. The script -- which is still being written -- is a guarded secret, but speculation is that villain is likely comic-book nemesis Crimson Dynamo." (NOTE: I think we should assume that when Fleming wrote "alter ego" he actually meant "counterpart," but he works hard so let's all let it slide.) [Variety]

GEORGE LUCAS PERFECTS MIND CONTROL: In a startling development, George Lucas has apparently figured out a way to harness The Force in everyday settings, a development that may signal the end of the world's energy crisis. But first, of course, Lucas is using the breakthrough to make an expensive toy. Mike Snider has the story: "The Force Trainer (expected to be priced at $90 to $100) comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the 'Star Wars' films. No, you're not tapping into some 'all-powerful force controlling everything,' as Han Solo said in the movies. But you are reaching out with mind power via one of the first mass-market brain-to-computer products. 'It's been a fantasy everyone has had, using The Force,' says Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing.  Mind-control games may be the coming thing: Mattel plans to demonstrate a Mind Flex game (also due this fall), which uses brain-wave activity to move a ball through a tabletop obstacle course, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday. In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower." [USA Today]

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF: (UPDATED) Congrats to Taylor Lautner (who will forever be Shark Boy to me). He had been angling to stay aboard the "Twilight" box-office express by reprising his role as Jacob Black in the second film, "New Moon," but there was some doubt because of a rather hairy situation -- the baby-faced Jacob of the first movie becomes big-scary-werewolf Jacob in the second film. But "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer posted this announcement today quoting "New Moon" director Chris Weitz saying that Lautner, who has bulked up for the role, will indeed be back: "I'm very happy to announce that Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black in 'New Moon' and that he's doing so with the enthusiastic support of Summit Entertainment, the producers, and Stephenie Meyer. The characters in Stephenie's books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance; so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series. But it was my first instinct that Taylor was, is, and should be Jacob, and that the books would be best served by the actor who is emotionally right for the part. I think that fans of Twilight the book and the movie will be surprised by the Jacob Black that Taylor will bring to the screen in New Moon; and I'm looking forward to working with him and the rest of the cast in realizing the film." [Stephenie Meyer's website]

THE ECONOMY IS MY FOE!: I buy many of my comics (and a lot of my son's "Star Wars" toys) at Amazing Comics in Long Beach and I was distressed when, on a recent visit, I found the huge store had been reduced to half its previous size and learned that its stock of back issues is now in storage. I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner but I assume that's not a positive sign of the store's health. Then I read this story by business journalist Muhammed El-Hasan about another Southern California store: "Not even Superman could rescue Third Planet Comics & Games from this recession. The popular Torrance comic book and gaming store at 3631 Pacific Coast Highway will shut its doors Monday after about 13 years in business. 'The deciding factor in this decision is that sales have fallen to a level where we can no longer meet our obligations,' owner Robert North wrote to customers in an e-mail the day after Christmas. In the message, North said his employees 'fought valiantly over this past year' to keep the shop in business." [The Daily Breeze] (Sad stuff. Are you folks hearing about similar situations out there?)

CLINT EASTWOOD, MY FAVORITE: OK, he's never played a superhero and I guess the closest he ever came to making a sci-fi movie was (gulp) "Firefox," but anybody who loves movies has to love Clint Eastwood. And even though we journalists must forever keep our impartiality about the people we write about, I have to say he might be my all-time favorite person to interview. In today's Los Angeles Times, we have a special issue of The Envelope on the Golden Globes this Sunday and I'm happy to say I wrote the cover story, an interview with Eastwood about his great new film, "Gran Torino," and if you have a moment to read it, I think you might enjoy it. I also did a big story with Eastwood on the enduring impact of the "Dirty Harry" films and the misunderstood legacy of the first film, if (like me) you can't get enough when it comes to the most thoughtful tough guy in Hollywood history.

ON THIS DATE: Oh, what a golden day it was in Honolulu on this day in 1950 when Erin Gray was born. The vivacious actress was perfect as the strong, smart and brave Col. Wilma Deering on "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and, sorry Lynda Carter, she replaced a certain star-spangled amazon as my childhood ideal of heroic womanhood. Oh, if only she had been given a chance to play Lois Lane! To celebrate her 59th birthday today, let's all watch out for space vampires. (To see some video of Erin Gray as Wilma Deering and during a Hero Complex interview this past summer, keep reading to the bottom of this post)

Welcome to your Tuesday morning edition of Everyday Hero, the roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe.

ALAN MOORE SAYS 'BWAH-HA-HA-HA!': Well, not really, but I just love posting this photograph of him  any chance I get and I do suspect that he would express some glee about the ugly corporate feud that has raised doubts about the planned release of "Watchman," the big Warner Bros. adaptation of Moore's epic. I would call Moore and ask him directly, but the last time we spoke he made it quite clear that he was done talking about the film and Hollywood in general because he more or less loathes the film industry. A judge's surprise ruling last week has created the very real possibility that "Watchmen" might not hit theaters in March -- a shocking development but, now that I think about it, when Moore talked to the Hero Complex in September he seemed to have some mystic premonition of this latest development. "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come." Spooky! Well, the guy does wear metallic talons and worship an ancient Roman snake god, so I wouldn't want to get on his bad side. And what is the latest on the "Watchmen" case? Here's a statement from Warner Bros.:  "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the Court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film." "Watchmen" has joined the list of truly contentious Hollywood projects. What are some of the other ones? Check out our new photo gallery "Big Hits, Bitter Battles." 

A DIMMER 'TWILIGHT'?: Reporter Michael Cieply (a former colleague here at the Los Angeles Times) has always been a smart and savvy chronicler of the movie industry, and his take on the real story behind the 2008 box-office returns is especially insightful: "What a year for movie openings. I mean, who could forget 'Twilight'? Teenagers screaming for free tickets outside the dual-theater Westwood premiere here. Mayhem in the malls. Girls thirsting for Robert Pattinson. Box-office projections growing bigger and bigger as online vendors sold out theater after theater. It was amazing. When all is said and done, maybe 24 million tickets will be sold to that movie, based on current sales. That makes it almost as big as, what? 'Patch Adams,' the No. 10 movie of 1998. Or roughly the size of 'George of the Jungle,' which placed No. 13 the year before. Or any number of films that are fondly remembered as midsize hits. Looking back, in fact, 2008 may be remembered as the year when Hollywood succeeded in redefining the Big Event. A "movie of the century" — something that made you want to dress up, get in line, and act silly just to see it — used to come along every year or two. The "Star Wars" films had that quality. So did "Titanic," in a quieter, dreamier sort of way. But heart-stopping film events like that have been popping up every few weeks this year.... Even this year’s really big one, "The Dark Knight," was never quite as big as it felt. Clear away the urgent reports about 6 a.m. screenings and Imax-size demand, and you are left, according to an always-sobering tally kept by the Box Office Mojo website, with the 26th-most-popular movie of all time, in terms of tickets sold. A smart, counterintuitive article, and again you can read the rest right here. [New York Times]

A BRIGHTER "TWILIGHT"?: Remember that Will Rogers line about lies, damn lies and statistics? Joal Ryan has a look-on-the-bright-side article compared with that New York Times piece; Ryan points out that, considering its budget, "Twilight" was a bigger hit than "The Dark Knight" (although it ignores the fact that Warner Bros. made a gazillion dollars on all the product and licensing deals for "Dark Knight"): "If only Wall Street had bet on Twilight. Or Hannah Montana. Or Kirk Cameron. With a $167.3-million overall domestic take as of Sunday, per Box Office Mojo, Twilight made more than four times its reported $37-million production budget — the best rate of return on any film in the 2008 Top 10, including 'The Dark Knight.' The Batman epic was a pretty good investment, too, very nearly tripling its gargantuan $185-million budget with a $530.8-million domestic take, Hollywood's second-biggest ever. Still, 'The Dark Knight' was nothing compared to these off-the-charts performers: 'High School Musical 3: Senior Year' ($89.7 million), which grossed about eight times its $11-million budget; the Hannah Montana concert movie, which made about nine times its $7-million budget; and, Cameron's 'Fireproof,' which cost $500,000 to produce, and made $33.1 million — or, more than 60 times its budget." [E! Entertainment News]

'Y'? BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU: One of the more intriguing comics-as-film projects kicking around town is the D.J. Caruso adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn's wry, sublime series "Y: The Last Man." I talked to D.J. a few months back, and he was mightily enthused about the prospects of making the film with his familiar on-screen muse Shia LaBeouf, but in a recent conversation with Edward Douglas it sounds as if the last-man-on-earth tale is presenting the filmmaker with some headaches: "Yeah, it's been a while. I think it's one of those that the source material is fantastic stuff, it's great, but it's a tough one to lick into getting into a screenplay. I've tried to feel like it's a trilogy of movies and I think everyone sort of agrees, but at the same time, just getting the first movie right and getting the right beats and knowing what to put in, it's been really tough. You have great minds like David Goyer and you've got Carl Ellsworth and you've got Brian K. Vaughn, and I'm working with them to just kind of crack it and get it down. And we're almost there. I know it's a slow process, but I think eventually we'll get it. We're going to get it and we'll get it right, but we had a pretty good breakthrough a couple of  weeks ago in the final act, and hopefully we'll get there.... If you're familiar with the source material, there's so much great stuff and he meets so many great characters but it's over the course of a long period of time. When you're telling the story — yes, the fanboys and all the people who love it will go and see it — but if you're just seeing the movie from a filmgoers' perspective and you're not familiar with the source material, you have to make sure you make the movie that they understand and they love, too. Like I said, it's been more difficult than I thought, but we're getting close." [Comingsoon.net]

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY: Here's some consumer news for you fans of the classic Superman cartoons, this from Robert Greenberger's short article: "Warner Home Video is finally releasing their own version of the Superman cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer. The 17 classics have been in the public domain and collected repeatedly over the last 20 years. Come April 7, though, the first authorized collection will be released. In addition to the Paramount cartoons, released in 1941 and 1942, the two-disc set will include two extras: 'The Man, The Myth, Superman' and 'First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series.' The set will retail for $26.99 and if you have never seen these cartoons, they are well worth it." [Comic Mix] If you'd like to see a few snippets from the genius work of the Fleischers on the Man of Steel, there's some video at the bottom of this post. 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: Empire magazine has some exclusive photos from Michael Bay's "Transformers 2" and you can see them right here.

ON THIS DATE: Author Lewis Shiner, whose work began in cyber-punk, drifted into magical realism and often deals with the slippery nature of reality and history, celebrates his 58th birthday today. Today is also the 27th birthday of Kristin Kreuk, the Canadian actress who is best known in the role of Lana Lang on "Smallville," but I especially liked her with Miranda Richardson in the wonderfully weird 2001 television movie "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All." So to celebrate, let's avoid all bad apples today.

'Watchmen,' D.J. Caruso and 'Twilight' in Everyday Hero headlines

Welcome to your Tuesday morning edition of Everyday Hero, the roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe.

ALAN MOORE SAYS 'BWAH-HA-HA-HA!': Well, not really, but I just love posting this photograph of him  any chance I get and I do suspect that he would express some glee about the ugly corporate feud that has raised doubts about the planned release of "Watchman," the big Warner Bros. adaptation of Moore's epic. I would call Moore and ask him directly, but the last time we spoke he made it quite clear that he was done talking about the film and Hollywood in general because he more or less loathes the film industry. A judge's surprise ruling last week has created the very real possibility that "Watchmen" might not hit theaters in March -- a shocking development but, now that I think about it, when Moore talked to the Hero Complex in September he seemed to have some mystic premonition of this latest development. "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come." Spooky! Well, the guy does wear metallic talons and worship an ancient Roman snake god, so I wouldn't want to get on his bad side. And what is the latest on the "Watchmen" case? Here's a statement from Warner Bros.:  "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the Court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film." "Watchmen" has joined the list of truly contentious Hollywood projects. What are some of the other ones? Check out our new photo gallery "Big Hits, Bitter Battles." 

A DIMMER 'TWILIGHT'?: Reporter Michael Cieply (a former colleague here at the Los Angeles Times) has always been a smart and savvy chronicler of the movie industry, and his take on the real story behind the 2008 box-office returns is especially insightful: "What a year for movie openings. I mean, who could forget 'Twilight'? Teenagers screaming for free tickets outside the dual-theater Westwood premiere here. Mayhem in the malls. Girls thirsting for Robert Pattinson. Box-office projections growing bigger and bigger as online vendors sold out theater after theater. It was amazing. When all is said and done, maybe 24 million tickets will be sold to that movie, based on current sales. That makes it almost as big as, what? 'Patch Adams,' the No. 10 movie of 1998. Or roughly the size of 'George of the Jungle,' which placed No. 13 the year before. Or any number of films that are fondly remembered as midsize hits. Looking back, in fact, 2008 may be remembered as the year when Hollywood succeeded in redefining the Big Event. A "movie of the century" — something that made you want to dress up, get in line, and act silly just to see it — used to come along every year or two. The "Star Wars" films had that quality. So did "Titanic," in a quieter, dreamier sort of way. But heart-stopping film events like that have been popping up every few weeks this year.... Even this year’s really big one, "The Dark Knight," was never quite as big as it felt. Clear away the urgent reports about 6 a.m. screenings and Imax-size demand, and you are left, according to an always-sobering tally kept by the Box Office Mojo website, with the 26th-most-popular movie of all time, in terms of tickets sold. A smart, counterintuitive article, and again you can read the rest right here. [New York Times]

A BRIGHTER "TWILIGHT"?: Remember that Will Rogers line about lies, damn lies and statistics? Joal Ryan has a look-on-the-bright-side article compared with that New York Times piece; Ryan points out that, considering its budget, "Twilight" was a bigger hit than "The Dark Knight" (although it ignores the fact that Warner Bros. made a gazillion dollars on all the product and licensing deals for "Dark Knight"): "If only Wall Street had bet on Twilight. Or Hannah Montana. Or Kirk Cameron. With a $167.3-million overall domestic take as of Sunday, per Box Office Mojo, Twilight made more than four times its reported $37-million production budget — the best rate of return on any film in the 2008 Top 10, including 'The Dark Knight.' The Batman epic was a pretty good investment, too, very nearly tripling its gargantuan $185-million budget with a $530.8-million domestic take, Hollywood's second-biggest ever. Still, 'The Dark Knight' was nothing compared to these off-the-charts performers: 'High School Musical 3: Senior Year' ($89.7 million), which grossed about eight times its $11-million budget; the Hannah Montana concert movie, which made about nine times its $7-million budget; and, Cameron's 'Fireproof,' which cost $500,000 to produce, and made $33.1 million — or, more than 60 times its budget." [E! Entertainment News]

'Y'? BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU: One of the more intriguing comics-as-film projects kicking around town is the D.J. Caruso adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn's wry, sublime series "Y: The Last Man." I talked to D.J. a few months back, and he was mightily enthused about the prospects of making the film with his familiar on-screen muse Shia LaBeouf, but in a recent conversation with Edward Douglas it sounds as if the last-man-on-earth tale is presenting the filmmaker with some headaches: "Yeah, it's been a while. I think it's one of those that the source material is fantastic stuff, it's great, but it's a tough one to lick into getting into a screenplay. I've tried to feel like it's a trilogy of movies and I think everyone sort of agrees, but at the same time, just getting the first movie right and getting the right beats and knowing what to put in, it's been really tough. You have great minds like David Goyer and you've got Carl Ellsworth and you've got Brian K. Vaughn, and I'm working with them to just kind of crack it and get it down. And we're almost there. I know it's a slow process, but I think eventually we'll get it. We're going to get it and we'll get it right, but we had a pretty good breakthrough a couple of  weeks ago in the final act, and hopefully we'll get there.... If you're familiar with the source material, there's so much great stuff and he meets so many great characters but it's over the course of a long period of time. When you're telling the story — yes, the fanboys and all the people who love it will go and see it — but if you're just seeing the movie from a filmgoers' perspective and you're not familiar with the source material, you have to make sure you make the movie that they understand and they love, too. Like I said, it's been more difficult than I thought, but we're getting close." [Comingsoon.net]

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY: Here's some consumer news for you fans of the classic Superman cartoons, this from Robert Greenberger's short article: "Warner Home Video is finally releasing their own version of the Superman cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer. The 17 classics have been in the public domain and collected repeatedly over the last 20 years. Come April 7, though, the first authorized collection will be released. In addition to the Paramount cartoons, released in 1941 and 1942, the two-disc set will include two extras: 'The Man, The Myth, Superman' and 'First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series.' The set will retail for $26.99 and if you have never seen these cartoons, they are well worth it." [Comic Mix] If you'd like to see a few snippets from the genius work of the Fleischers on the Man of Steel, there's some video at the bottom of this post. 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: Empire magazine has some exclusive photos from Michael Bay's "Transformers 2" and you can see them right here.

ON THIS DATE: Author Lewis Shiner, whose work began in cyber-punk, drifted into magical realism and often deals with the slippery nature of reality and history, celebrates his 58th birthday today. Today is also the 27th birthday of Kristin Kreuk, the Canadian actress who is best known in the role of Lana Lang on "Smallville," but I especially liked her with Miranda Richardson in the wonderfully weird 2001 television movie "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All." So to celebrate, let's avoid all bad apples today.