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X-Men will lead a month that already includes other sequels (Cars 2, Fast Five), prequels (Rise of the Apes), and comic book films (Green Lantern). The Apes picture is the other big caster at the moment, having recently entrapped performance capture-meister Andy Serkis as the lead ape - joining previously announced non-apes James Franco, John Lithgow (long time no see), and Frieda Pinto, who's been in a bunch of stuff since Slumdog Millionaire, none of which has yet seen the light of day (but check back a year from now).

And what else has found its way into the newsroom these last two weeks? Well, there's a newly-planned live action version of The Little Mermaid, something that strangely hasn't excited many comic book fans (or anyone else, for that matter). There was also some sequel and reboot news, I think - I suppose - well, surely there must have been some?

• Footloose / Fright Night - While unknowns will fill the leads in Footloose '11, Dennis Quaid has been somewhat intriguingly cast in the John Lithgow role. And both of these mid-'80s remakes now have release dates, with Footloose scheduled for April 1, 2011, and Fright Night arriving rather brilliantly on October 7th of that year (brilliant because the date allows just enough room for Halloween legs, should the film choose to develop them). 1987, we're coming after you next.
  
  
• Harold & Kumar 3 - This one's really getting made now - no fooling - and it's been lapping up character actors aplenty to prove it: Danny Trejo, Thomas Lennon, Bobby Lee, and Patton Oswalt, just to name a few, with Neil Patrick Harris rejoining the Penn-Cho team in making their inevitable return. I know I've already told you that H & K 3 will be shot in 3D, but that particular piece of information still hasn't quite sunk in.
  
  
• Pee-Wee Herman 3 - Not the actual title, I'm sure, but that's the numerical equivalent. Judd Apatow (!?) will produce, but of all the gone and done franchises out there that one could elect to resurrect (if one so desired), is this really the one?
  
  
• Saw 3D - That's the new title, folks, chosen instead of the much more refreshing "Saw 7", and sounding a little too much like a possibly-related film called Saw III. Anyway, this one's still on track for October 22, 2010, and it's looking more and more certain that it will indeed face off smack dab against Paranormal Activity 2, also scheduled for the 22nd. That's a fight somebody's going to lose.
  
  
• Scream 4 - If you still had doubts that this fourquel would actually be made (by "you", I mean me), take those right out of your mind. It's filming, now, out there somewhere, and it's composited itself quite a cast - Anthony Anderson, Adam Brody, Alison Brie, and Emma Roberts, among others, along with the returning principles - Campbell, Arquette, and Cox-Arquette - many of them unseen on our screens for some time now (it's been ten years since the last wide release for Campbell). I do have to say, though, that I'm not so sure I like that release date (April 15, 2011). As a matter of fact, I happen to know a better one: October 22, 2010, which is absolutely clear and free of any competition - especially from other horror sequels - and it's right before Halloween, too!

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