J.J. Abrams Keeps Mission: Impossible 4 in the Family

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· The slowly advancing franchise tank that is Mission: Impossible 4 inched ever closer to firing Thursday. Current producing braintrust J.J. Abrams and Tom Cruise handed the script-writing duties to first-time feature scribes (and Alias alumni) Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec. The duo previously created the series October Road and adapted the U.K. hit Life on Mars for ABC; their MI:4 is underway now for a tentative 2010 shoot and 2011 release. Only the salary math remains before Cruise officially commits, though it's a lot of math; Shia LaBeouf might want to stay by the phone just in case. [Variety]

Jay Leno sets his first musical guests, Jason Reitman plants a flag, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.

· If you had predicted Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West in the music bracket of your Jay Leno Show first-episode guest pool, congrats! All... none of you. [Variety]

· Wait a second: Jason Reitman is just now opening his own production company, Right of Way? Didn't he hand-print business cards and have an assistant rolling calls by the time he was, like, 5? Or was that Jake Kasdan? Well, mazel tov to him anyway. [Variety]

· The sketch series that up-and-coming actor/dancer/choreographer Robert Hoffman has been developing with MTV finally got its series order. As yet untitled, it will build on the viral sensations currently housed at Hoffman's Web site PunchRobert.com. All of which can only mean one thing: We have entered the era of Verge karma. [THR]

· Funny how aggressively ripping mainstream theatergoers off might help IMAX turn a profit for first time in three years, isn't it? Who knew? [NYT]



Comments

  • Old No.7 says:

    Applebaum and Nemec should be forced to write scripts for GoDaddy commercials on rusty IBM Selectrics for the rest of their lives, for the way they fucked up the Life On Mars adaptation.

  • I was going to say, a failed Laura Prepon vehicle and another sucky US version of a good UK show are sterling credentials to write a big-budget spy movie? Hollywood!

  • Pamela Strangeways says:

    Given the high quality of the last MI movie, I'd say that Applebaum and Nemec will certainly maintain the overall trajectory of that franchise.

  • Kittenhead says:

    Win!

  • Furious D says:

    1. Why do I have a feeling that getting this film actually made under Tom Cruise will be the impossible mission?
    2. And for some reason, I find it hard to care.
    3. Reitman's Canadian upbringing precludes him from calling himself a producer until he actually produces something.
    4. Cash your checks right away Hoffman before MTV finds a new celebutard to follow around with cameras.
    5. Never underestimate the power of the rip-off. Though it doesn't work for long, so they better bank it now.