Two spin off movies are now in development to continue on the “X-Men” franchise. 20^th Century Fox has just hired “Blade: Trinity” director and writer David S. Goyer to direct “Magneto”, a new tale about the X-Men’s most dangerous villain. Sir Ian McKellen may reprise his role as the mutant that has absolute control over magnetism but he would only appear in bookend sequences at the start and ending of the picture since most of the action takes place in the past. The new movie would show how a young Magneto was saved from a German concentration camp at the end of the war by a young Professor X (played by Patrick Stewart in the three “X-Men” movies) and how the war changed his outlook on justice and revenge. After being freed Magneto would use his powers to seek justice on escaped Nazis which would place him at odds with Xavier’s more compassionate teachings.

Also in development is a stand-alone “Wolverine” movie which would see Hugh Jackman playing the clawed crime fighter once again. Wolverine is the most popular of the X-Men and his solo movie would expand upon his mysterious origins and how he came to be molecularly bonded with the metal adamantium. No director has been hired so far for this project but Fox is hoping to make an announcement shortly.

Fresh off from his $120 million dollar grossing hit film “Wild Hogs”, John Travolta is preparing to make another movie with that film’s director. “Old Dogs” is the title of the new movie that will be directed by Walt Becker for Walt Disney Pictures, the same company that made “Wild Hogs”. Unlike the earlier film which saw Travolta rekindling the flames of his youth by taking a road trip around the country with his motorcycle pals, “Old Dogs” sees the “Grease” star play one of two middle-aged men who have their lives flipped upside-down when the duo are suddenly confronted by being the caretakers of a 7-year-old twins. Robin Williams will play the other half of the odd parents and Travolta’s real-life wife, Kelly Preston, and the couple’s daughter Ella will also have roles in the film.

Travolta can next be seen in the dress of Edna Turnblad in the musical remake of “Hairspray” which arrives in theaters this July. Coincidentally the 53-year-old is also lending his voice for the part of a different Hollywood pooch in Disney’s “American Dog” coming out next year.

The whip is finally out of the bag! Hot on the heels of having his latest film, “Disturbia“, debut in number one spot at the box office, rising star Shia LaBeouf has been officially cast in the new “Indiana Jones” movie.We are excited about bringing Shia into our Indy family,” said the movie’s director, Steven Spielberg. “His talent has impressed not only his audiences throughout his young career but the directors, producers and fellow actors who have worked with him in his television career and now his film career.”

Spielberg did not say what LaBeouf’s character would be in the movie but the best guess so far is that he will be playing the son of Indiana Jones.

Speed Racer has found his girlfriend. Raven-haired Christina Ricci has been cast in the part of Trixie, the love interest of the hero in the live action adaptation of the classic Japanese cartoon series. As she was portrayed in the cartoon Trixie is an independent young woman who helps Speed as a part of the Mach 5 racing team as well as holds the key to his heart. Ricci joins the previously announced Emile Hirsch as Speed Racer, John Goodman as Pops Racer and Susan Sarandon as Mom Racer.

Christina Ricci is a young actress of extraordinary range, who has become a favorite of both critics and audiences in a wide variety of movies, from mainstream features to acclaimed indie films. She is an amazing talent and we think she is going to do a great job with the role of Trixie,” said Jeff Robinov, President of Production for the movie company that is releasing “Speed Racer”.

The 27-year-old actress was most recently seen starring opposite Samuel L. Jackson in “Black Snake Moan”. Ricci also appeared in two recent episodes of the small screen hit series “Grey’s Anatomy”. She is probably still best remembered as gloomy daughter Wednesday Addams in the two “Addams Family” movies from the 1990’s.

The world got a sneak peek at the first costume that the Marvel Comics superhero “Iron Man” will wear in the movie to be released next spring. The grey metal costume is the first of several suits of armor that billionaire industrialist Tony Stark creates using the resources of his company, Stark Industries. Eventually Tony streamlines his Iron Man armor into a lighter, sleeker form and uses the colors red and gold, but for his first try this is his result.

The “Iron Man” movie is being made by Paramount Pictures. Robert Downey Jr. (“Zodiac”) has been cast as Tony Stark, the tormented hero inside the powerful suit. When Tony wears the armor he can fly, shoot beams of force, use powerful scanners to detect approaching targets and weapons and survive the deadly pressures found in space or the depths of the ocean. Co-starring in the movie are Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia “Pepper” Potts, Tony’s company attaché, Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes, one of his trusted employees and Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, a longtime friend of Stark’s. Jon Favreau (“Zathura”, “Elf”) is directing.

“Iron Man” has set its sights on a May 2, 2008 release date.

The director of Adam Sandler’s latest movie has a new boss in the form of Julia Roberts. “Reign Over Me” director Mike Binder has agreed to turn Kate Jacobs’ novel “The Friday Night Knitting Club” into a screenplay for Universal Pictures and producers Christine Peters and Julia Roberts. The Oscar-winning Best Actress will also headline the movie as well as help produce it.

Julia will play a mom named Georgia Walker who somehow finds the time to run a busy Manhattan knitting store as well as be a single mother to a feisty young girl just entering her teens. Her regular customers meet every Friday evening in the store to share what’s happened with their lives and talk about their newest knitting projects while eating baked goods and sipping coffee. However, Georgia’s life is about to become more complicated when the father of her daughter unexpectedly returns back into her life, and as the strands of her life start to unravel she discovers that the members of her knitting club can help reattach them back together.

Roberts will next be seen on the movie screen in “Charlie Wilson’s War” opposite Tom Hanks. That movie opens in theaters on Christmas Day, 2007.

Before he dons the fedora of adventurer Indiana Jones leading man has another movie project to work on first. Ford, Ray Liotta (“GoodFellas”) and Sean Penn (“Mystic River”) will start work on “Crossing Over” beginning this Wednesday, April 11. The drama is being directed by Wayne Kramer (“The Cooler”) and is being produced by the Weinstein brothers, Frank Marshall, Gregg Taylor and director Kramer.

The movie will examine the cloudy reality behind illegal immigration into the United States from Mexico. Ford will play an enforcement agent that stages raids to capture the illegal immigrants while Liotta plays a USCIS district adjudicator trying to solve the problems through the legal system. Penn’s role will be minor and he will only be needed for three days of filming playing a border patrol agent.

Like “Traffic”, which examined the drug problem and also starred several high profile actors, “Crossing Over” will hire more cast to round out the rest of the roles. Ironically, Ford turned down the part that Michael Douglas wound up playing in “Traffic”.

It seems that telling spooky stories runs in Stephen King’s family. King’s second-oldest son, Joe Hill, has been outed as the blood relative of the world-famous horror novelist, causing a run by curious fans to their local bookshop to see if the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Now it also seems that Hollywood is taking an interest: Hill’s first novel, “Heart-Shaped Box”, has been optioned by Warner Bros as a possible movie. “Interview With a Vampire” and “The Crying Game” director Neil Jordan is writing the movie’s screenplay and will direct the film.

Hill’s story tells the tale of a rock star named Judas Coyne who decides to buy a suit on eBay that the owner claims is haunted by a spirit. Coyne doesn’t believe it’s true but nevertheless can’t resist picking up the online oddity, only to learn to his horror that there is a ghost and that it wants to kill the new owner of the suit. As Coyne learns more about his otherworldly nemesis he discovers the reason why the ghost wants to kill him and a secret connection to the ghost’s past.

Hill’s daddy has two movies coming out later this year based on his stories, “1408” and “The Mist”. Also being planned is a remake of “Christine”, King’s novel about a possessed automobile that was originally turned into a 1983 movie directed by John Carpenter.

Adam Sandler has signed a deal with Walt Disney Pictures to star and produce a new comedy movie. “Bedtime Stories” is the title of the project which will see the “Click” star play a fast-moving real estate developer who suddenly finds his life a lot more frantic when the over-the-top bedtime stories he tells to his niece and nephew start to actually come to life. Adam Shankman, who directed “The Pacifier” and “Bringing Down the House” for the movie studio before, will helm the new Sandler movie. Shankman is putting the finishing touches on the second big screen version of “Hairspray“, based on the Tony award-winning stage musical which was originally based on John Waters‘ 1988 movie of the same name, for New Line Cinema which is due out in theaters in July.

The first business arrangement between Aardman Animation and Hollywood proved to be a disappointment with both parties. After a highly publicized announcement that the creators of Wallace and Gromit had signed a deal in 1999 with Steven Spielberg’s powerful DreamWorks Pictures movie studio to deliver animated films. The duo’s first release, “Chicken Run“, earned admirable box office dollars when it was released in the summer of 2000 but it took five years before the next Aardman movie, “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” was ready for theaters. That picture only made a reasonable return but it was the failure of “Flushed Away” that ultimately signaled the dissolution between Aardman and DreamWorks. The two companies signaled that they were parting ways in January and that Aardman was seeking out new partnerships for its future endeavors. Now it seems that the time is right to announce that deal.

Aardman has arranged a new partnership with Sony Pictures, the studio that recently made the CG animation film “Open Season“. Under the terms of the Aardman/Sony pact, the British animation company would bring its latest projects first to Sony for worldwide distribution for the next three years. Aardman also revealed that they currently have five new projects in various stages of development including a new “Wallace & Gromit” idea that may take the shape of a short film or a feature length movie. Another movie project is a version of “The Tortoise and the Hare“, an idea that was originally developed for DreamWorks by Aardman but fell apart due to creative differences between the two companies.