Hollywood Ink: Daniel Craig to Cowboy Up Against Aliens?

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· Daniel Craig is in talks to replace Robert Downey Jr. in Cowboys & Aliens, the Jon Favreau-directed graphic novel adaptation that lost Downey earlier this week. The British actor would play a horseman doing battle against an alien invasion of the Old West; DreamWorks and Universal hope the film will kick-start a new franchise with Craig in charge. And why not? You won't be seeing another 007 film for a while, and anyway, a guy's gotta get his action kicks in before Sam Mendes gets a hold of him. [Deadline]

Sony narrows down directors for Spider-Man, Paramount will make a sequel to anything, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.

· (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb is one of the names said to be on Sony's short list of filmmakers for a rebooted, 3-D Spider-Man. Of course, Webb has made only one feature and has no experience with 3-D, but I say if he can credibly stage a Hall and Oates musical dance sequence in the middle of Los Angeles, then the guy should be able to do just about anything. [Deadline]

· Mining its library for franchises of its own, Paramount has its eye on a sequel to the 2005 Mark Wahlberg revenge thriller Four Brothers. Simply titled Five, the film would likely reunite Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson and Andre Benjamin (with director John Singleton) as adopted brothers reuniting to avenge some other heinous crime. The plot is being guarded; the original film made a not-bad-for-an-R $72 million. Still, if it's a spoiler to you that Garrett Hedlund's fourth brother died in that original, then maybe this one didn't get quite wide enough for franchisability. (Which raises the question: Where does Five come from anyway? So confused.) [THR]

· Not surprisingly, Lionsgate is the lead bidder for the Terminator franchise. But definitely surprisingly, they're offering the bankrupt Halcyon Company $15 million and 5 percent of first-dollar gross going forward. My cat could buy the Terminator franchise for that much. Where's James Cameron when we need him? Is he really so over his baby he can't/won't rescue it? Help! [Variety]

· Meanwhile, Peter Chernin wants to buy MGM. Or rather, he wants News Corp. to buy it so he can run it. Rupert Murdoch would get the library, Chernin would get control of The Hobbit, the Bond franchise, and Hot Tub Time Machine 2. [LAT]