Aaron Eckhart moves up from district attorney and supporting player to platoon leader and star of the original SF tale, Battle: Los Angeles.

Columbia Pictures optioned Chris Bertolini (The General’s Daughter)’s screenplay back in April. The story spotlights a Marine platoon’s attempts to repel invaders from the stars. “I love the idea, and I love the script. I like it all,” Producer Neal Moritz of Original Films told The Hollywood Reporter. “We are going to be in production within six months. What’s attractive to me is that it’s a huge event movie that can be done at a modest scale.”

Production is gaining momentum with shooting eyed for early next year and a 2010 release date. No other casting has been announced.

Eckhart has appeared in The Dark Knight, of course, but also gained notice for his work in In the Company of Men and Thank You for Smoking.
 

Last week, we told you that director Guillermo del Toro wanted to produce a new version of Pinocchio.

Today, Variety adds details and says the Jim Henson Co. will be on board for the darker interpretation of the classic Italian children’s tale. The film will be produced by JHC presidents Brian Henson and Lisa Henson along with senior VP Jason Lust. Del Toro will exec produce since he’s busy until 2017.

The busy director is already working on the screenplay with Gris Grimly, who previously illustrated a version in 2002. Grimly and Adam Parrish King will co-direct the film which is estimated to require three years to produce using stop-motion techniques.

Michael Ferris and John Brancato, the men behind the Terminator Salvation script, are negotiating to write the third XXX film, The Return of Ander Cage. Vin Diesel is on board as is director Rob Cohen, according to Variety. Once Columbia had the principals of the first film in place back in September, they got a quick approval from Revolution Studios.

Both Diesel and Cohen skipped XXX: State of the Union which flamed out with Ice Cube as the extreme sports star turned espionage agent. Similarly, after missing the second and third films, Diesel will be back behind the wheel for the fourth Fast and the Furious film, due out next June 12.
 

When Dick Tracy writer/artist Dick Locher told Dubuque’s Telegraph Herald that he was likely to retire, rumors spread quickly that the legendary detective was likely to be retired as well.

Tribune Media Service’s Mary Elson stated “there are no plans to shutdown the comic.” She also said she knew of no formal retirement plans for Locher, who not only does the strip but produces editorial cartoons for the syndicate.

The 77 year old police strip was created by Chester Gould who handled the feature until his retirement in 1977.  Max Allan Collins and Gould’s longtime assistant Rick Fletcher then produced the feature, taking the status quo back to its earliest days.  Locher, who previously assisted Gould, stepped when Fletcher passed away in 1983. Mike Kilian replaced Collins as writer in 1992 until his death in 2005 when Locher took the writing reins as well.

Legal rights stemming from the 1990 Disney film which was directed by star Warren Beatty, have held up any additional media exploitation of the character, one of the longest running adventure strips still being published.

USA Network will air the eighth and final season of Monk during the summer of 2009. The beloved series’ concluding season will include 16 episodes. With luck, he will continue to live on in Lee Goldberg’s delightful novels.

CBS’s Gary Unmarried was blessed with a full-season order while the network ordered three additional episodes of Worst Week.

NBC has given Medium an order for a total of 19 episodes, six more than previously ordered and less than a full season. With the recent cancellations, the peacock network may be short of inventory.  A timeslot for the series’ return has not yet been selected although Monday’s at 10 p.m. following Heroes is most likely.
 

Garry Trudeau wrote a piece that ran in Stars & Stripes, commenting on the current military and their reaction to his comic strip, Doonesbury.

Noting that S&S began running the strip during the Vietnam war impressed him, he said, “the strip was unambiguously anti-war in outlook, it was a counterintuitive move on the part of the editors, and there were several campaigns to dump it. Fortunately, there was always a noisy cadre of readers who stood ready to support it, and the strip somehow survived.”

What prompted him to write was the tenor of the letters he’d been receiving from soldiers and related personnel who took issue with his depictions of soldiers here and aboard.

“Since I was first invited to visit with troops in Kuwait in 1991 (following an in-theater exhibit of my work that toured regional bases), I have talked with hundreds of military personnel. During my visit, I received Certificates of Achievement from both the 4th Battalion 67th Armor (‘For significant contributions to the morale of the United States Forces’) and the Ready First Brigade (For providing aid and comfort to the United States Forces’). More recently, I have toured military hospitals from Landstuhl to Walter Reed to Brooke, and VA hospitals and Vet Centers from Kansas City to Palo Alto, interviewing scores of wounded warriors about their experiences with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI) and military sexual trauma (MST).

“I also maintain and edit a milblog called The Sandbox at doonesbury.com to which scores of active-duty military personnel contribute on a regular basis. A collection of their work was recently published, again to benefit Fisher House. In recognition of the strip, I’ve been honored to receive the Commander’s Award for Public Service by the Department of the Army, the Commander’s Award from Disabled American Veterans, the President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts from Vietnam Veterans of America, the Distinguished Public Service Award from the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and a special citation from the Vet Centers


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