Cinematical

ComicCon is officially over ... or has it just begun?

• MTV caught up with Sam Raimi over the weekend, and (as most of us have done and will continually do until the man either throws a punch or gives up a plot point) hassled him about Spider-Man 4. Has anything changed since the director said he wasn't sure if he'd be helming a fourth installment? Kind of. A meeting has finally taken place between Raimi, Avi Arad and Laurie Ziskin -- they're "beginning to gear up to meet with writers" and Raimi still looks extremely uncomfortable in his own skin. The man still doesn't know if he will direct, but he does "want a hand in bringing it to the screen." As far as which villains will show up, Raimi has some ideas but would like to hear from writers on where they think Spidey should go from here. I say he should go to Iraq and help solve some problems over there, but that's me.
• Dark Horizons caught up with screenwriters Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (Reno 911, Balls of Fury) at The Con, and the boys said they're beginning work on the script to Night at the Museum 2. The duo (who also penned the original) are keeping plot details under wraps, but say "there'll be existing characters and plenty of new ones." Both Ben Stiller and Robin Williams are set to reprise their roles. Man, what I would give to see a Salvador Dali exhibit somehow factor into the equation.
• Director Paul W.S. Anderson was also blabbing to folks over the weekend. He told IGN that Tyrese Gibson and Joan Allen have joined the cast (which already has Jason Statham playing one of the leads) of Death Race 3000; a remake of the 1975 flick starring Sylvester Stallone and David Carradine. Gibson is no stranger to high-speed chases, having also starred in 2 Fast 2 Furious. The film will revolve an ultra-violent futuristic car race in which drivers are awarded points for mowing down innocent pedestrians. Can't wait to see the lawsuits that come from this flick -- "Dude, I seriously hit that guy because I thought I'd get 10,000 points. I'm innocent -- blame the movie!" Says Anderson about the film: "We start shooting in four weeks time in Montreal. Jason Statham's playing Frankenstein and Machine Gun Joe's played by Tyrese Gibson. And Joan Allen is the big villain baddie of the movie, which I'm very excited about. She's gonna kick Statham's ass!"