New John Hughes Movie Gets Rewrite by ICE AGE: MELTDOWN Scribe

John Hughes, the iconic writer-director who defined 1980s teendom with movies like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink and 16 Candles, left an unproduced comedy script behind when he died. Jim Hecht, who wrote Ice Age: Meltdown and a couple episodes of "The Fairly Oddparents", has been hired by Paramount to rewrite Hughes' The Grisgbys Go Broke, which is about a greedy family who go from a life of having it all to a move to Mulletville -- and they have to sell all their possessions. The family then must start all over with nothing. The rewrites are no offense to the late great Hughes, nearly every produced script goes through at least one cycle of rewrites with a different screenwriter. John Hughes also wrote the Home Alone, Beethoven and Vacation movies as well as Planes, Trains and Automobiles (and many others!).

Source: Deadline

Quvenzhane Wallis May Replace Willow Smith as ANNIE

UPDATE: The sun will come up tomorrow for Oscar-nominated 9-year old Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), who is being considered to replace Willow Smith as the lead role in Annie. The "Whip My Hair" singer's dad Will Smith is behind Sony/Overbrook Entertainment's remake that features a music makeover by Jay-Z. However, Will Smith says his daughter opted to drop out. He told students at Temple Univeristy that his daughter had a difficult time on her music tour and Willow thought better of taking a star turn in a major motion picture, telling him, "I have a better idea, how about I just be 12."  

Will Gluck (Easy A) is directing the musical. Quvenzhane is one of the PICK Kid Actress nominees in the KidsPickFlicks.com PICK Awards. Vote on the home page of KidsPickFlicks.com

Source: EW

Aug. 6, 2011 - Emma Thompson (aka "Nanny McPhee") is writing the script for Annie for Willow Smith. "Glee" writer and creator Ryan Murphy was originally supposed to write and direct but got sidetracked by a different project. He said, "'American Horror' (Murphy's new TV series) got picked up and Willow is a certain age and you need a script by November. I didn't think I could do it. "So now (Jada Pinkett Smith) got Emma Thompson, who is 50 million times better than me. Love her. I wish I could have had the time to do it. The thing that was the biggest turn on for me was Jay. We talked about how we were going to set it (Annie) in Detroit."

Jan. 27, 2011 -- Yep, this IS happening. Jay-Z is now officially a producer and this looks like one of many projects that Jay-Z will be producing with Will Smith.

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Jan. 20, 2011 -- Willow Smith, the singer of Radio Disney hit "Whip My Hair," may get an acting role that is a real stretch for her: playing Little Orphan Annie. Based on a comicstrip that started in 1924, Little Orphan Annie is a Depression-era tween who lives a miserable existence in an orphanage without a penny to her name. Smith, of course, already has two dedicated parents who have Daddy Warbucks money:  Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.

Willow's dad is reportedly contemplating remaking another movie version of the Broadway musical Annie (the other movie version was in 1982 and there've been some TV versions as well). Playlist reports that if Smith's Overbrook Entertainment production company (the same one that made The Karate Kid and made his son Jaden Smith a household name) goes forward with Annie, Jay-Z would create the soundtrack.Willow is signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation label and Jay-Z also had a hit with his remake of an Annie song, "It's a Hard Knock Life."

This isn't the first project the Smith family was developing for Willow. Overbrook Entertainment was at one time developing a movie called Amulet as a starring vehicle for both Willow and Jaden. Willow previously acted in her dad's movie I Am Legend and in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.

Jason Bateman to Recruit Funny Friends for GAME NIGHT

Jason Bateman will produce and star in the comedy Game Night, about a bunch of couples who get together regularly to play games and one night, something goes awry and they wind up in the middle of a real murder mystery. The writer of the script is Mark Perez, who wrote Disney's The Country Bears and Herbie Fully Loaded. Game Night is said to be in the same vein as Bateman's Horrible Bosses including a big ensemble cast. Bateman stars in Identity Thief, which opens in theaters tomorrow. 

Source: Deadline

Play THE HUNGER GAMES Game on Your iPhone

Do you and your friends play The Hunger Games? Yeah, it's a lot of fun but you know, it's kinda messed up and makes your parents a little twitchy. There's an app that allows you to play The Hunger Games Adventures on Facebook but now it's available to play on your iPhone and iPad and it just got a major upgrade so that it's go to go for the release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  Here is the press release they sent us:

"The Hunger Games Adventures version 2.0 is a major update to all aspects of the mobile version of the game and marks the first availability of the game for iPhone. The Hunger Games Adventures was rebuilt from the ground up to take advantage of the latest Apple devices including stunning Retina graphics, Game Center support with achievements and improved touch controls. In addition to these major feature updates, the new version gives players hours of new official Hunger Games story-based content as a lead in to the release of the second film in the series, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, in theaters November 22, 2013.

"Since the initial launch of The Hunger Games Adventures on Facebook in March we've made it our mission to give fans of The Hunger Games the ultimate fan experience." said Sam Glassenberg, CEO of Funtactix. "This update will allow a new set of fans to step into a beautifully rendered version of the game and dive deeper into the world of Panem."

"This is going to be a tremendous year for The Hunger Games fans." said Danielle De Palma, SVP Digital Marketing at Lionsgate. "The Hunger Games Adventures is a great way for fans to interact with new elements of the Hunger Games universe building up to the release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in November."

Over 100 new quests have been added to the game, including an exclusive new storyline that gives players a sneak peek at District 1. For the first time, the official map of Panem is revealed. Unlock the secrets of The Hunger Games universe and explore areas never before revealed."

Need more info? Go to TheHungerGamesAdventures.com