Please, please, please let this be as good as it could be. The Hollywood Reporter posts that America Ferrera has signed on for a new coming-of-age drama, but it sounds like a little bit more than a pair of magical, traveling pants that fit every friend who tries them on. The project is called An Invisible Sign of My Own, and it's Marilyn Agrelo's first film since her documentary, Mad Hot Ballroom.

My hopes are stemming from the plot. The film is based on Aimee Bender's novel "about a 20-year-old loner named Mona Gray (Ferrera) who as a child turned to math for salvation after her father became ill. As an adult, Gray now teaches the subject and must help her students through their own crises." Now, it sounds like your typical feel-good school story, but I'm really loving the idea of a popular young woman on the big screen who finds comfort in math, rather than makeovers or the rest of the stereotypical scenarios Hollywood throws at us. As long as it's put together in a solid film, this could be really great. That aside, the story is not without its quirks -- this girl has a hidden passion for soap eating and a habit for knocking on wood, but maybe that will come together in a charming manner.

However, I'm not as comforted by the thought that the adaptation comes from Wedding Planner scribes Michael Ellis and Pamela Falk. Please, please, please let this be better than that!

I tried not to make that joke -- but hey, everyone else is using McLovin' ones!

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Gerard Butler joins America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel and Christopher Mintz-Plasse to voice How to Train Your Dragon. Get your minds out of the gutter -- this is a children's comedy about a scrawny Viking teenager who must capture and subdue a wild dragon. Based on the Cressida Cowell book, the story centers on the timid son of a Viking chief who must capture and train a dragon in order to be initiated into his tribe.

Baruchel will voice the boy, named Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, who is saddled with an undersized and uncooperative dragon. Butler is the father and chief of the tribe, Stoick the Vast (how appropriate for a former Beowulf), while Ferrera voices Astrid, who partners with Hiccup for the initiation. Hill will play Snotlout, a bully who thinks he should be the next chief, and Mintz-Plasse portrays Fishlegs, a Viking big in size but small in brains.

Earlier this year, Under the Same Moon (originally titled La Misma Luna) was bought at Sundance by Fox Searchlight and The Weinstein Company for a surprisingly high amount of money. It's understandable because underneath the film's unsubtle messages about undocumented Mexican workers working to survive in the U.S., it's essentially an old-fashioned family melodrama. I caught the film at Austin Film Festival this year, and it's currently scheduled to hit theaters in March 2008.

Rosario (Kate del Castillo) is a young immigrant from Mexico living and working in Los Angeles to support her nine-year-old son Carlitos (Adrian Alonso), who lives with Rosario's mother in Mexico. He hasn't seen his mother in four years and misses her terribly. Meanwhile, Rosario is trying to scrape up enough money for a lawyer to help her bring Carlitos to America legally. When his grandmother dies, Carlitos decides to cross the border himself and travel to Los Angeles to find his mother, because he's scared she'll forget about him. He encounters an unlikely lot of helpers and companions during his attempt, including American college students (America Ferrera and Jesse Garcia) who want to make extra money smuggling children over the border, and Enrique (Eugenio Derbez), a migrant worker who has no desire to deal with a small child on his hands.

You just know you need a sequel when you're talking about magical jeans. There's so many stories to be told when you have pants that can fit 4 girls, of varying sizes, perfectly. There's always more boys to pick up, life lessons to learn, strength to be found. Heck, they could find a new piece of clothing for a sequel -- perhaps a shape-changing bra, or pair of super-stretchy socks. Now that America Ferrera is starring in a hit television show, the powers behind the pants want to cash in and make The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants... Part Two!

When the original came out, you might think that either Alexis Bledel or Amber Tamblyn would be the ones shying away from a sequel. They were the first-billed girls with their big shows and notoriety. Then, out of nowhere, America becomes Ugly Betty, and suddenly her third-billed character is in hot demand. According to sources for The Hollywood Reporter, while Ferrera has no interest in reprising her role, Alcon Entertainment is exercising its sequel option and forcing her to the negotiating table. The plan is to start shooting this June, during her Betty hiatus, with Sanaa Hamri directing Elizabeth Chandler's script (the woman who wrote the original screenplay). Do we need a sequel? Of course not. The original was cute and all, but the shtick has been done. So, the next question: Will Ferrera's new notoriety catapult the sequel to success, or will it be a waste of time and money? I kind of hope it succeeds, because what's worse than starring in a sequel? Starring in a sequel that sucks.

The girl-empowerment flick Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants was a mild hit at the box office, pulling in $37 million and received warm reviews from some critics and from fans of the original teen novel series by Ann Brashares. The film also helped launch the career of America Ferrera (TV's Ugly Betty). Variety recently confirmed that Warner Bros. is now putting together a sequel to the 2005 film, with an early shooting date planned. The original cast (Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Blake Lively, and Alexis Bledel) is currently in talks to return, and set to direct is Sanaa Hamri, who is known for helming music videos by Mariah Carey and Jay-Z, among others; she also made her feature directing debut on the film Something New. The film is being penned by co-writer of the original, Elizabeth Chandler.

The story will be based on the fourth book of Brashare's series (Forever in Blue) and meets up with the four girls, now in their college years, as a pair of jeans sees them through some tough times. Since the girls are growing up, the film is planning on a PG-13 rating this time around -- while still keeping the subject matter family-friendly I'm sure. WB hopes to start shooting on location this June in locations around the world including New York, Turkey, Greece, Providence, and Vermont but WB is apparently willing to accommodate the TV shooting schedules of the principle cast. Ferrera is returning to another season of Ugly Betty, Bledel is apparently going to be coming back for another year of Gilmore Girls, and Tamblyn is working on a drama pilot for CBS. That seems like quite a few schedules to co-ordinate so it might take some time before they can finally agree on a date.