Man, I'm totally falling down on the job, here -- there are FOUR magician movies due out in the next 18-24 months, not three. I'm so sorry to have misled you the other day. The fourth, entitled The Illusionist, actually already premiered at Sundance, but it somehow slipped through our collective net while we were there, and we failed to even register its existence. That all changes here and now, however: The Illusionist stars Edward Norton as a magician in Vienna in 1900, and is an adaptation of a short story by Steven Millhauser called Eisenheim the Illusionist. (Just so you know, I just watched some clips and read the review at Variety and, despite the fact that Rufus Sewell is sporting some truly frightening facial hair, I'm now so excited about this movie that I almost wish I still didn't know about it. Dammit. All this wait!) In the movie, Norton's character falls in love with a woman above his proverbial station -- played, boys, by one Jessica Biel -- and when she marries a prince (that's Sewell), instead of giving up he "uses his powers to win her back and undermine the stability of the royal house of Vienna." Mmm ... political intrigue.

The movie is in the news today because producer Bob Yari (you remember him) has elected to distribute the film himself (via Yari Film Group) rather than sell the rights to an outside company; he plans to have it in theaters this August.