· This isn't what I'd call "news" so much as an update for both 24 devotees and those who are learning sustainable farming to flee the culture that made a 24 movie possible: A script is coming by year's end, with shooting expected to commence in the spring. That really is pretty much it, but now you know. [Deadline]
· The agent/studio-generated hype about Benicio del Toro closing in on Star Trek 2 proved to be precisely that: The actor will not star as the villain in J.J. Abrams's sequel, which is fine since that makes him all the more likely to join Martin Scorsese's next project: Silence, co-starring Daniel Day-Lewis. [Vulture]
· Danny Elfman is out, James Newton Howard is in as the composer for The Hunger Games; T Bone Burnett remains linked to contribute as well. [Variety]
· The only year-end Top-10 list that matters has long belonged to John Waters, and here's why: Justin Bieber: Never Say Never shares the top three with The Skin I Live In and Mildred Pierce, while Waters explains away his inclusion of The Tree of LIfe: "You'd think I'd hate this film, and I almost did--until I realized it's the best New Age, heterosexual, Christian movie of the year." It's all downhill from here. [ArtForum]
· There is no clap slow enough to adequately laud the genius of this lede today in Variety: "After helping bring Harry Potter and Kevin McCallister to life, Chris Columbus is looking to put another famous kid up on the big screen: Jesus Christ." [Variety]
· Bollywood icon Dev Anand has died at age 88. Familiarize yourself with his legend below, in a video that's basically the closest thing we have to a live-action NMA dispatch. R.I.P. [NYT]