As pleasantly surprised as I was by last summer's musical remake of Hairspray, I can't say that the prospect of sequel potential ever once came to mind. Thankfully, that's why we have Hollywood bean counters and the like, who see the success of that film, Mamma Mia! and High School Musical (including a fair amount of CD and DVD sales for each) as reason enough to have John Waters -- who wrote the 1988 original -- whip up a treatment for a Hairspray sequel.

According to Variety, returning for the project is director Adam Shankman and ... um, no one else at the moment. There isn't a writer attached, nor are any of the original stars lined up to return, although I have little reason to think that most of the young cast wouldn't be down for another one (just what is Nikki Blonsky up to now, anyway?).

Warner Bros. hopes to have Hairspray 2 (Hairspray-ier?) in theaters by July of 2010.

Prepare to roll your eyes in disbelief. The remake of Akira Kurosawa's venerated classic The Seven Samurai has been completed. But it's not the one planned by The Weinstein Co. And it's scored to The Rolling Stones?!!

Let's clarify: Don Brown at ryugangi says that Hiroyuki Nakano, director of the excessively stylish Samurai Fiction and Red Shadow, has been busy creating a new version of Samurai for a pachinko machine. (Yes, you read that right.) The official site features a half-dozen clips. The ones I've watched look surprisingly good and faithful to the spirit of the original -- except, er, for Mick Jagger singing "Paint It Black," "Jumping Jack Flash," and "Satisfaction."

How could this happen? Kurosawa's son Hisao has reportedly irked many by licensing his father's films and image for everything from remakes to a canned coffee commercial. Seven Samurai itself was made into a video game in 2004 (Seven Samurai 20XX) that was recently named one of the worst movie games ever by Wired.com. The same Japanese company that produced the video game (Sammy) also makes pachinko games, so I suppose this was inevitable.

Initially, I thought the article was either a bad joke or a slam at Nakano's directing style. Surely this was an advance peek at the Weinsteins' remake. But that project won't start shooting until later this year and the cast will feature American, European and Asian stars (per Variety), not just the Japanese actors pictured. My eyes are still rolling.

This latest cameo in The Dark Knight made be both happy and disappointed. You see, Nicky Katt is so much more than just the Stuka shtick. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out the clip above. Basically, it's the dude being super, extra talkative when most other people probably wouldn't. In Sin City, that meant blabbering on after getting an arrow right through your torso. In TDK, that means going on and on about how the high-speed chase just isn't good.

Yes, that super-talkative cop from the chase scene is none other than Nicky Katt, Stuka, the detective in The Brave One, the puss-filled guy in Planet Terror, the Carnoburger Cashier in The Doom Generation, and the marijuana-smoking Clint in Dazed and Confused.

I'm happy to see him wherever he pops up, but please -- Hollywood Powers that Be, don't relegate Katt to just over-talkative guys in the action. He's so much more than light-tongued typecasting!

Frankly, the news that a screenwriter had been hired to pen the latest installment in a horror franchise would not normally merit much attention.(Other than from the writer's agent and immediate family.) But when we're talking Wesley Strick and A Nightmare on Elm Street, my curiosity soared.

New Line Cinema has hired Strick to create their new version of Nightmare, according to The Hollywood Reporter. One of his first credits was as co-writer of Arachnophobia, Frank Marshall's clever creature feature, followed by Martin Scorsese's heavy-handed remake of Cape Fear, and later Mike Nichols' post-modern Wolf. His other credits include Final Analysis, The Saint, The Glass House and Doom.

While it's always tricky to assign credit or blame based solely on screen credits, I think it's safe to say that Strick has a distinct track record: complex psychological tension, sarcastic humor, and mucho macho boom boom (to coin a phrase for his uber-male characters). I'm not saying that all of these elements succeed in every movie he's had a hand in writing, but I am hopeful that Strick can come up with a fresh twist on Freddy Krueger.

The new Nightmare will retain the high school setting and "delve deeper in the psychology of nightmares and Krueger himself. The plan is to have a dark tone." If the plan is also to forget about a PG-13 rating, so much the better. New Line aims to release the film in time for the 25th anniversary of the original -- which would be November 2009.

Maybe I missed something, but since when did releasing films on a Wednesday become a commonplace strategy? I know, for years and years, several titles have opened mid-week, albeit typically on a handful of NY/LA screens or to capitalize on a holiday weekend.

But due to some recent moves, every Wednesday in August now has at least one wide release opening on it instead of Friday. On the 6th, we have Pineapple Express and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2; the 13th brings us Tropic Thunder; the 20th, The Rocker; and then Traitor on the 27th.

There are at least three other wide releases on the last three Fridays of the month, but I see no distinct point at which a two-day head start would make any great deal of difference (although I presume that Pineapple still wanted to have seven days on Tropic instead of five when it comes to their similar target demographic).

Was there a holiday I overlooked somewhere? Is it now cooler for kids to go to the movies on a school night once classes are back in session? Do you guys have any theories, or will you still wait for the weekend to catch any of these regardless?

Last weekend, the box office exploded with The Dark Knight, which broke the opening weekend record, while Mamma Mia! did what it could in the shadow of bat wings and Space Chimps couldn't reach the top five with its $7.2 million. Matt was almost spot-on with his predictions last week, but I'll try to hold down the fort this week while he's away.

The top five totals:

1. The Dark Knight: $158,411,483 *
2. Mamma Mia!: $27,751,240
3. Hancock: $14,040,178
4. Journey to the Center of the Earth: $12,340,435
5. Hellboy II: The Golden Army: $10,117,815

There's two new wide releases this week -- one for laughs, and one for those who yearn to believe.

Step Brothers
What It's All About: It's the typical new-family scenario with a much older twist. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly star as spoiled adults who live at home and are less than pleased when their parents meet and get married. Quickly, however, they become best friends who indulge in all the fun things kids do. You know, whispering after lights out, making things... But then their folks have had enough and want to kick them out, spoiling their fun.
Why It Might Do Well: It's Ferrell and Reilly acting like kids, the bunk beds scene is flipping hilarious, and the two actors have a solid following.
Why It Might Not Do Well: The duo's shtick could be getting old, and it still has to face the roaring-forward Dark Knight.
Number of Theaters: 2,800+
Prediction: $23 million

So last night I was twiddling my thumbs, watching a re-run of Design Star (shut up) and I suddenly remembered that our friends from Slashfilm had Kevin Smith as a guest on their podcast. Since we're in no way above pimping out something pretty awesome on another site, I'll let you know now that I truly enjoyed listening to Smith talk about how much he loved The Dark Knight -- and, essentially, just hearing these guys all geek out over the flick. (I think they just posted the full podcast for those of you who missed it.)

So anyway, at one point they were talking about the intense marketing for The Dark Knight, and how the hype had reached a ridiculous level just prior to the flick arriving in theaters. But then Smith brought up the point that the hype surrounding The Dark Knight was not even close to the hype surrounding Tim Burton's Batman back in 1989. I was still kinda young (12), but I do remember Batman being the first giant summer movie. And Kevin made a good point in that with The Dark Knight, most of the buzz was online and other folks didn't really know much about it until we got closer to release -- whereas Burton's Batman was everywhere. Of the things I remember, the Bat symbol was on everything -- I vaguely recall walking through the mall in Staten Island and seeing it on walls, on stands and, at one point, in cardboard box form all piled up in the center of the Macy's wing. The hype was out of control for that flick.

So, is Kevin Smith correct in saying the hype for Burton's Batman far exceeded the hype leading up to The Dark Knight? Sound off below ...

Earlier this month, we learned that Diablo Cody was taking over LA's New Beverly Cinema to screen some of her favorite films, and she put together some awesome double features. The most recent was a screening of Midnight Madness and Wet Hot American Summer, and as CHUD reports, director David Wain was there for a Q&A with Ms. Cody, and he revealed some little nuggets of news.

First, there's going to be an anniversary DVD release at some point, which would probably means the 10th anniversary in 2011, since new releases usually don't come out on eight or nine-year anniversaries. It would contain more footage, as anniversary editions often do, but Wain also said that it might come with a soundtrack. If you remember the music from the flick, this CD could include Rick Springfield, Kenny Loggins, Loverboy, Jefferson Starship, KISS ... Basically, it would be awesome.

Then he shared some others news -- he might do a prequel to the film. This sounds half serious and half completely ludicrous, but he said that he was scheming up a prequel that would star the same cast -- playing younger versions of themselves. CHUD says: "I didn't know if Wain was kidding, but he seemed pretty serious, and mentioned that he had just worked with a bunch of Wet Hot alums -- including Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks -- on his new movie, tentatively titled Role Models."

What say you? Are you ready to get Wet Hot again?

Here's hoping this whole "Christian Bale arrested for assaulting his mother" thing will go away soon (or at least be explained more) because I was getting excited for Terminator: Salvation next summer. And after absolutely adoring The Dark Knight, I really don't want to have to dislike this dude. I'm a big Bale fan, and call me a traditionalist, but I'd like it if my favorite celebs didn't assault their family members. So we'll see ...

But in the meantime, McG is back talking up Terminator: Salvation over on the official production blog. And in all honesty, I'm really starting to come around on this flick. I have faith in McG, I'm loving what we've seen and read so far and I have total confidence in this film kicking lots of ass. That said, McG talked a bit about the way it's all being shot; he says, "We're shooting the film on color stock but are using a method inspired by the Oz process which was developed at Technicolor by Mike Zacharia and Bob Olson. Basically we are adding three times as much silver. It creates a surreal texture that is in keeping with the notion of the entire picture - feeling detached from the world we know today."

It all sounds very trippy, and I look forward to the stuff we're shown at Comic Con later this week. Cinematical will be at the panel, and we'll be speaking with McG and his cast ... so stay tuned ....

At least not any time soon. That's from this article in The Independent, which quotes author Phillip Pullman as saying that following the disappointing box office returns for The Golden Compass, no one has talked to him about adapting The Amber Spyglass (or, obviously, The Subtle Knife). Director Chris Weitz, who had been determined to make a sequel happen, is staying mum, as is New Line, now part of Warner Bros. At this point, the age of star Dakota Blue Richards -- already 14 -- is going to be a problem for any big plans to continue the franchise.

The Independent article is a little annoying, since it insists on blaming (crediting?) the Christian protests against The Golden Compass for the film's commercial failure in the US. That seems a little facile, though even Pullman seems to believe it. The source material didn't turn out to be much of a brand name, the marketing was a bit generic, and I think the movie just never caught on as a must-see holiday blockbuster. I'm not sure the protests had that much pull.

No regrets here, since I think the first film was a bit generic, not doing justice to the book. Though I guess now I really wish Weitz hadn't decided to move the first book's ending to the then-envisioned sequel. Oh well.