· 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]