Producer Alex Kurtzman explained his desire to work with the director, “I remember seeing Underworld and finding it a beautiful advancement of the genre. It was presented in this fresh, incredibly cool concept, but it never gave up its reverence for the mythology and that is what inspired us to meet with Len.”

“We’re reaching into the deep roots of The Mummy, which at its beating heart is a horror movie and then an action movie, and putting it into a context that is real and emotional.”

“Also, we thought it would be cool to see Channing Tatum and Kate Beckinsale do parkour on a pyramid. So, yeah.” (Deadline)

The studio had a plan to reboot Tom Clancy hero Jack Ryan in an origin story film helmed by Jack Bender (“Lost”), with Pine as the lead, a part that’s been portrayed by Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin – good company. Rather than adapt one of Clancy’s many novels, the studio wants someone to rewrite a spec screenplay that had nothing to do with Jack Ryan. The new plot involves young Jack Ryan escaping a deadly helicopter crash. Sounds helicopter-y, and by working the name “Jack Ryan” in there, serious cashola can be acquired by audiences who hate new things.

Many writers are being interviewed, and many more have already banged the script and were kicked out of script’s bed the next morning. Steve Zaillian (Clear and Present Danger) made a deal to do the job last month, but he backed out. Unfortunately for lovers of helicopter destruction cinema, without a solid script, production won’t move forward.

So even though Paramount was trying hard to get this project off the ground before Pine starred as Captain Kirk in the next Star Trek, it looks like the Enterprise is traveling a whole lo faster than the Red October, even though J.J. Abrams hasn’t officially signed on to direct the sequel yet. Paramount hopes that little detail won’t stop them from shooting this Fall and hitting their June 29, 2012 release date.

Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are are working on the Star Trek 2 script. (Deadline)

The film follows a crack FBI squad in a game of cat-and-mouse against a super-team of the world’s greatest illusionists, who pull off a series of daring bank heists during their performances and showers the profits on to their audiences.

They’re like modern day Robin Hoods, except they take from sensible people who put their money in banks, and give to rich people who waste their money buying tickets to expensive magic shows. Well, at least it’s an original premise, and not a reboot of a sequel based on a comic book. It’d also be great to watch FBI agents kick some douchey magician ass. Still, though – magicians robbing banks? That would make a great episode of The Tick…

The screenplay’s by Edward Ricourt and Boaz Yakin (Prince Of Persia) with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Star Trek) producing. (Collider, The Playlist)

Ender’s will carve another notch into Kurtzman and Orci’s producing resume. They have previously produced Eagle Eye, Star Trek, and Cowboys & Aliens. In summation, these guys have enough money and power that they can afford to not look like lesbians anymore. (via /Film)

Wilde was the best part of Tron Legacy, besides the light cycles, and has upcoming appearances in Cowboys & Aliens, Butter, Now, and The Change-Up. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching her on “House” over the past few years and totally support her being in anything and everything. Elizabeth Banks can come too. (THR)

Ethan Hawke is in talks to slum it on Fox with the procedural drama Exit Strategy. The project is backed by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and David Guggenheim and expected to go to pilot if Hawke signs on. The high octane successor to 24“ will star Hawke as the leader of an elite team that helps retrieve CIA agents from missions gone awry. And, like “24,” the project is also presented in real time.

What do you think of this move to TV by Hawke? His film career still seems to have steam left in it, and he’s found success on the stage. Does this spring from a need to keep working, or is it all part of his gradual metamorphosis into Chris O’Donnell? (Deadline)

She's breakin' into your beach house. Snatchin' up your children.

Elizabeth Banks has beat out acting powerhouses Amy Adams and Hilary Swank for the female lead role in Welcome to People, the directorial debut of Star Trek co-writer Alex Kurtzman. In the film, “Chris Pine stars a young businessman who flies home for his father’s funeral and finds out that, in his will, it’s stipulated he deliver $150,000 to an alcoholic older sister he didn’t know he had and her 12-year-old son. He does so without revealing who he is.” The weird title isn’t a greeting for mentally handicapped extraterrestrials, but refers to an anger management program the son is enrolled in. Banks has come a long way since sloppily kissin Paul Rudd in Wet Hot American Summer. She could have her eyes set on a certain little gold, bald man, and I don’t mean David Geffen. (/Film)

Noted screenwriter and producer Alex Kurtzman is set to make his directorial debut with Welcome to People. The film is being produced by a man who, despite his influence in the industry, is not well known outside of Hollywood: director Steven Spielberg. Kurtzman first worked for Spielberg on his production of Transformers. While he has gone on to produce various TV shows, including "Fringe" and CBS’s upcoming remake of "Hawaii Five-0," the director’s chair has alluded him until now.

Welcome to People tells the story of a man whose estranged father dies, leaving instructions for his son to deliver $150,000 to a sister he never knew existed. The man wants to keep the money for himself, but can’t help but investigate his long-lost sibling.

When my dad passed away, he left me $150 and stipulated that I should deliver it personally to my estranged second cousin while she was working at The Box Office, a gentlemen’s club in the next town over. Well, he didn’t really stimpulate it so much as he implied it by not specifically saying that I shouldn’t. I miss you, dad. (Collider)

Director Steven Spielberg is trying his hand at television (again) with an adaptation of the popular graphic novel series, "Locke & Key." Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Josh Friedman are all on board for the project which is still searching for a network.

First released in 2008, Locke & Key revolves around three kids who end up watching over a secret, spooky New England mansion filled with mystical doors that transport them to different worlds and give them special powers (like turning into a ghost).

The source material was created by Joe Hill, the son of author Stephen King. Fans of "Quantum Leap" will remember that it was actually Dr. Sam Beckett who was responsible for inspiring most of King’s major works. Considering that Hill was probably heavily influenced by his father, I think it’s safe to add "Locke & Key" to Dr. Beckett’s long list of time traveling accomplishments, right along side saving Jackie Kennedy and inventing the Heimlich Maneuver.

Godspeed, Dr. Beckett, wherever you are. (Vulture via Movie Line)

Screen Junkies caught up with writer-producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci last night on the Saturn Awards red carpet. The duo who created "Fringe" and co-wrote Star Trek for frequent collaborator J.J. Abrams let us in on a new project they’re producing. New You See Me, scripted by Ed Ricourt and Boaz Yakin, is about a heist crew of illusionists who rob banks and are actively inviting the FBI to try and figure out how they get away with it. Regarding audience expecations for magician movies, Kurtzman told us:

Because I think the trick about a magician movie is that the movie itself has to be a magic act, which is an incredibly difficult thing to do. It requires cleverness and an intelligence. The magic act has to pay off in spades so the setup has to be brilliant and the payoff has to be brilliant.

If we’re talking Heat with magicians, I couldn’t be more all about it. I’m sure they’re going for a broader tone rather than a three-hour crime saga, but magician-robbers is definitely an enticing hook. I’m a huge fan of Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, which finds its conflict in dueling illusionists, so imagine adding semi-automatic wands to the equation. I just naturally assume any magician-robber worth his salt would pack a semi-automatic or sawed-off double-barrel wand.

Source: Fred Topel

Jon Favreau tweeted this little morsel from the set of Cowboys & Aliens to get your appetite so whet your superiors are wondering why the mop handle in your grip is covered in drool. Though can we really be sure this is official just because the director of the movie released it?

My overbearing paronia insists that the pic could be a clever marketing campaign by Disney for Toy Story 3. If Woody was flesh and blood THIS is how he would look, always hauling a backlight around with him so we could never be certain of his identity. Oh no, you’re not pulling the wool over my eyes, Lasseter. First the subliminal Nazi propaganda shorts before the main attraction and now this? If you weren’t so damn awesome at what you do I’d have a good mind to shake an angry fist at your visage. That and my angry fist in buried deep in a tub of animal crackers at the moment. I know there’s an elephant in here somewhere…