The sun may have set for Patrick Stewart and his crew from “The Next Generation” but Paramount Pictures isn’t giving up its popular “Star Trek” brand because the actors are getting older. The studio has hired “Lost” and “Alias” creator J.J. Abrams to direct the eleventh “Trek” movie and is planning a 2008 release for the film. Abrams is a self-confessed “Star Trek” fan and is planning on rejuvenating the flailing franchise by casting younger actors to play the legendary figures of the first television series, namely Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Doctor McCoy.

A rumor reported by IGN states that offers have gone out to Matt Damon, Adrien Brody and Gary Sinise to play Kirk, Spock and McCoy in the new picture. The story would tell of the first space adventure of these three Starfleet officers as well as introduce younger versions of Chief Engineer Scott, Lieutenant Uhura and Helmsman Sulu. Another rumor has Scottish actor James McAvoy (Mr. Tumnus in “The Chronicles of Narnia”) in the running to play the new Scotty.

But Abrams isn’t shutting out the old school fans of the original “Star Trek” altogether. While the majority of the movie’s story is set in the early days of the original Enterprise crew, the beginning and end of the movie flashes to the “present day” and shows Kirk and Spock reminiscing about their glory days. Both of the actors that originated the roles on TV, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, have been approached to don their Starfleet uniforms again.

The stars of “The Good German” may be working together again very soon. After appearing in director Steven Soderbergh’s black-and-white period piece, George Clooney and Cate Blanchett are in contract talks to lend their voices to “The Fantastic Mr. Fox”, a stop-motion animation movie. Wes Anderson (”The Life Aquatic”) is developing this adaptation of Roald Dahl’s childrens book about a smart fox and his family that has to outthink three mean-spirited farmers. Clooney is thinking about performing the voice for Mr. Fox while Blanchett would play the part of Mrs. Fox.

The style of animation would be similar to the one employed on “The Corpse Bride“. Blanchett is up for an Academy Award this coming Sunday evening and is currently filming “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” alongside Brad Pitt. Clooney is also at work on a new movie that he is directing and co-wrote called “Leatherheads” set in the world of 1920s football.

The creator of the smash hit ABC television series “Desperate Housewives” has signed a new contract with the network that will allow him to work on the show until 2011. Marc Cherry, the “Desperate” mastermind behind the hour-long comedy/drama, brokered a new contract with ABC Televison Studio that will see him earn at least $10 million dollars over the next four years. This ensures that ABC will keep “Desperate Housewifes” on the air until at least the show’s seventh season.

“I think that, at the end of my deal, and after seven seasons, it will be a good time to call it quits,” Cherry told the entertainment magazine “Variety” about his new deal. “I don’t want anyone else to run the show, and I don’t want us to fade away.” But if the show remains a hit for the network that may mean ABC will hire someone new and make sure that the drama happening on Wisteria Lane, and the suburban adventures of Susan, Lynette, Bree, Gabrielle and Edie, continues forever on.

Now in its third season, “Desperate Housewives” has been a ratings boon to ABC on Sunday nights. After a slight dip at the start of the present season the show has rebounded and not only won its timeslot but often emerged as the most-watched program across all networks on Sunday evening.

After finding her way off of the mysterious island in ABC’s “Lost” by way of taking a bullet to her chest, actress Maggie Grace will next find work opposite Liam Neeson in “Taken”. The thriller is to be directed by Pierre Morel and is from a screenplay written by Luc Besson (”Joan of Arc”, “The Fifth Element”) and Robert Mark Kamen.

The 23-year-old blonde will play the estranged daughter of Neeson’s character, an ex-spy. While vacationing in Europe the daughter is kidnapped by an international criminal organization who will soon sell her into slavery, leaving the father no choice but to use his former spy skills and underworld connections to go after his daughter before she is lost forever. The movie begins filming this month in Paris.

Rumors are flying that 20-year-old Shia LaBeouf has landed a coveted role in the new “Indiana Jones” movie. LaBeouf just finished making the live-action “Transformers” movie for producer Steven Spielberg, so it is quite conceivable that the director liked what he saw in the young actor and chose him to star opposite Harrison Ford in the fourth Indy movie. A source for Aint It Cool News is saying that LaBeouf will play the son of Indiana in the movie. If the report proves to be accurate and if Sean Connery reprises his role as Dr. Jones Sr. then the fourth “Indiana Jones” picture will have three generations of Joneses for us to watch.

LaBeouf’s other credits include “Constantine”, “The Battle of Shaker Heights”, “Holes” and “I, Robot”.

Work continues to take place on “The Dark Knight”, the follow-up to 2005’s “Batman Begins”. Director Christopher Nolan will be behind the camera once again, this time working from a screenplay written by himself and his brother Jonathan. Christian Bale is reprising his role as billionaire Bruce Wayne and costumed crime-fighter Batman, the vigilante protector of Gotham City. Also returning are Michael Caine as Wayne’s butler and confidant, Alfred; Gary Oldman as crusading cop James Gordon and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, the developer of Batman’s arsenal of weapons and vehicles.

Three new cast members are joining the movie. Heath Ledger, the hunky star of “A Knight’s Tale”, has already been cast to play Batman’s arch-nemesis, The Joker. Close to signing a contract is Aaron Eckhart (”Thank You for Smoking”) in the role of Two-Face, the scarred villain that bases all of his decisions on the flip of a coin. Finally, Maggie Gyllenhaal (”World Trade Center”) is rumored to also be close to joining the cast to take over the character of Rachel Dawes, the love interest for Bruce Wayne. Katie Holmes played the character in the earlier film.

Filming on “The Dark Knight” commences next month in Chicago and you will be able to see the movie in theaters in the summer of 2008.

Legendary screen star Dennis Hopper is in contract negotiations to star in “Dolan’s Cadillac”, another adaptation of a Stephen King story to the big screen. Hopper would play a Las Vegas gangster/casino owner named Jimmy Dolan who is about to spend the rest of his life behind bars as he awaits trial for his various crimes. The one witness that can put him away for good is the wife of a middle school science teacher who accidentally saw Dolan perform an execution in the desert, so Dolan has her killed before his case can go to trial. As the grieving husband learns that he won’t have justice through legal channels he uses his smarts and comes up with an intricate way to get his revenge on the villain.

Two more Stephen King movies are also in the near future and scheduled for release later this year. “1408″ stars John Cusack as a man that debunks claims of paranormal phenomena called upon to refute claims of a supposedly haunted room of a hotel. Samuel L. Jackson also stars in the film which is slated for release on July 13, 2007. Based on a novella by King, “The Mist” is about to start filming next month under the direction of Frank Darabont (”The Shawshank Redemption”.) Thomas Jane (”The Punisher”) plays one of many frightened customers trapped inside a supermarket that is suddenly surrounded by frightening and hungry creatures that lurk inside a strange mist. It’s slated for a November 21 release.

So, Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix is now post production having cost Warner Brothers an estimated $150M to make. Release date for both the US and UK is 13 July 2007 and with what must be a fan base of 10s of millions is guaranteed to be yet another mega success for the Harry Potter money making machine.

In this, the fifth movie of the series, Harry returns to Hogwarts to find that the majority of the wizard community disbelieves the truth of his encounter with Lord Voldemort. The Ministry of Magic appoints the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge, to maintain watch on Professor Dumbledore but her inadequate tuition leaves the young wizards unprepared to defend themselves against dark forces. This leads to Harry himself teaching a small group of students, ‘Dumbledore’s Army’, lessons on how to defend themselves in the battle that lies ahead.

The film comes out eight days before the release of the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, ‘Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows‘. This instalment is eagerly awaited by the hoards of fans desperate to find out who will stand as ultimate victor, will it be good or evil. The Leaky Cauldron, a popular Harry fan site, is running a visitors poll as to what this close sequence of film and book release will mean.

Get ready to see Indiana Jones don his trademark fedora and crack his whip because the creators of the billion dollar film franchise have set a date for when the next Indy movie arrives in movie theaters. Paramount Pictures, the studio behind the 1980s trilogy of “Indiana Jones” movies, has confirmed that the fourth and as-yet untitled film will be released on Thursday, May 22, 2008. That makes it 19 years since Harrison Ford was last seen playing the iconic character in 1989’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”.

Once again Steven Spielberg will direct the new “Indiana Jones” and George Lucas will serve as the movie’s producer. The screenplay is by David Koepp, the writer who turned in Spielberg’s screenplays for “War of the Worlds”, “Minority Report” and the first two “Jurassic Park” films. Spielberg and Lucas are out to have Sean Connery reprise his role as Indy’s father but the actor is waiting to read Koepp’s script before committing. Also rumored to be back but in cameo parts are the characters of Marion Ravenwood (played by Karen Allen in “Raiders of the Lost Ark“) and Willie Scott (played by Kate Capshaw, Spielberg’s real-life wife, in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom“).

Locations are now being scouted and filming is expected to start this spring. An ultra-tight clamp has been placed on the production, resulting in no leaks about what sort of new adventure Indy finds himself on. The only detail that has been confirmed is that the story does reflect Ford’s age (64), meaning the action in “Indiana Jones 4″ will take place sometime in the 1950s.

The turbulent life of Anna Nicole Smith, former Playboy Playmate of the Year, ex-Guess model, B-movie starlet and fodder for celebrity tabloid television, came to a shocking end on Thursday, February 8. Smith, 39, was found unconscious on the floor of her South Florida room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino by a hotel employee late in the morning. After her bodyguard performed CPR and failed to resuscitate Smith, she was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital where doctors pronounced her dead. Her death comes five months after the passing of Daniel, Smith’s 20-year-old son, who died five days after she gave birth to a daughter, Dannielynn.

Born Vickie Lynn Hogan, the curvaceous blonde blombshell catapulted to fame in 1992 as a centerfold in “Playboy”. After winning the coveted Playmate of the Year title in 1993, Smith turned her Marilyn Monroe looks into a lucrative modeling contract for Guess Jeans and appeared in several movies such as “The Naked Gun 33 1/3” and “The Hudsucker Proxy“. The following year she created scandalous headlines across supermarket magazine racks by marrying an E. Howard Marshall II, an 89-year-old billionaire whom she met while dancing in a Texas strip club. After her husband’s passing in 1995 Smith became broiled in a fierce lawsuit with Marshall’s heirs over her $400 million dollar widow’s inheritance. The lawsuit eventually wound its way to the steps of the Supreme Court where, in 2006, Smith emerged victorious.

In the first half of the decade Smith was also the subject of a popular reality television show for E! Entertainment Television and a spokesperson for the weight loss product TrimSpa. After making several bizarre appearances on live television award programs Smith became the butt of numerous jokes on late-night talk shows and subject to speculation that she was addicted to prescription pills, alcohol or drugs, all of which were denied by the starlet. Her sudden marriage to her lawyer, Howard K. Stern, a court order to determine the paternity of her infant daughter and her involvement in a lawsuit filed against TrimSpa further propelled Smith into the limelight of celebrity gossip.

As plans for an autopsy are made, speculation runs rampant as to what caused Anna Nicole Smith’s death, where her husband was at the time and what will happen to 5-month-old daughter Dannielynn. “I am very saddened to learn about Anna Nicole’s passing,” said Playboy founder Hugh Hefner in a release issued by his company later in the day. “She was a dear friend who meant a great deal to the Playboy family and to me personally.”