They have no actors, screenwriter, or director attached, but a group of producers has already figured out the budget for their planned remake of a 1973 prison drama: $90 million. The original film, Papillon, starred Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman as criminals trying to escape from Devil's Island, a French penal colony located in South America.

According to Variety, Spanish production company Atlantia Canarias recently closed a deal for the rights to the autobiography of Henri Charriere, whose best-selling book served as the basis for Papillon. The company has teamed up with veteran Los Angeles-based producers Branko Lustig (Gladiator, American Gangster) and John J. Kelly (Into the Wild, The Black Dahlia). Most of the financing has already been arranged through a Canary Islands tax investment vehicle, whereby taxpayers "earmark part of their payments for film and TV investment."

It's been several years since I've seen Papillon, but it felt very low-key and, frankly, drab and unexciting. Writing in 1973, Roger Ebert wasn't very impressed: "You know something has gone wrong when you want the hero to escape simply so that the movie can be over." The original film had an estimated budget of $12 million. Considering the remake's budget, I imagine the producers have set aside a good portion of that for two big male stars, and probably a star director.

Does this remake stir any interest? Who could put on the prison clothes worn by Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman?

Disney has Pixar. Fox has Blue Sky. Paramount has, for now, Dreamworks. As seemingly the last studio to get into animated features, Universal has offered up the trailer for their maiden effort, The Tale of Despereaux, over at Yahoo! Movies.

Based upon the 2003 Newbury Award-winning novel by Kate DiCamillo, the film follows the adventurous antics of Despereaux (voiced by Matthew Broderick), a mouse with large ears and - I'm just guessing here - an even bigger heart, as he bucks the status quo of cowardice that seems to have imprisoned his kind to a fearsome existence.

Besides being an animated tale of a brave rodent with a tongue-tricky title and thus fated to merit comparison to those which have recently set lofty standards for similar fare, this project genuinely looks and sounds pleasant enough for all its yay-for-being-yourself familiarity. Besides, there's only more hope to be had when we're looking at a voice cast that includes the likes of Broderick, Kevin Kline, Dustin Hoffman, Sigourney Weaver, Stanley Tucci, William H. Macy, and Tony Hale, not to mention a Harry Potter veteran or two.

With its eye on the year-end holiday season, The Tale of Despereaux is scheduled to hit theaters on December 19th.

Perhaps the best thing about Kung Fu Panda is that it's an action comedy that doesn't skimp on the action. Dreamworks Animation's latest effort may stick out a little on the Red Carpet at Cannes -- where it's screening out of competition -- but it's certainly a well-made kid's film that earns high points for how directors John Stevenson and Mark Osborne clearly crafted and contemplated its look and feel with ambition and style. Anyone can make a computer-animated cartoon with fuzzy animals doing kung fu; you have to be at least a little inspired to make a computer-animated cartoon featuring fuzzy animals doing kung fu in widescreen Cinemascope. ...

Kung Fu Panda opens with a rousing, stylish action sequence, as a narrator (Jack Black, in full-on Tenacious D exposition mode) explains how "Legend tells of a legendary kung fu warrior whose kung fu skills were legendary. ..." But then, the heroic panda we've seen unleashing paws of power on the big screen ... wakes up; it was just a dream. Then Po the panda (Black), whose dreams of kung fu glory are the counterpoint to his unsatisfying life, gets ready for his day of helping his father Mr. Ping (James Wong) sell noodles to the people of the Valley of Peace.

On a day like today, when it's cold and hailing in the city, I wish that it was Groundhog Day already. I wish that little Punxsutawney Phil would come out, not see his shadow, and Springtime weather would be imminent. But it's not even technically winter yet, and so I'm just sitting here listening to the ice bricks hitting my porch, glad that I don't have to really leave my apartment today. Now all I need is a good movie to watch, and what better movie to watch when it's icy outside than Groundhog Day? Unfortunately, all we're stuck with currently is the same old special edition DVD version we've had for the last five years. Now I'm at least wishing that it was January 29, 2008, the date that a new 15th Anniversary edition of Groundhog Day comes out on disc.

Never mind that the fact Groundhog Day is 15 years old makes me feel old, this is exciting news. Groundhog Day is one of the best movies of the '90s, let alone best comedies of the '90s, let alone best Bill Murray comedies of the '90s. And this new DVD features some great bonus material, including "newly discovered" deleted scenes. I'm not one for always watching deleted scenes (they're cut out for a reason, right?), but I'll definitely be checking these out -- especially if they feature my beloved Stephen Tobolowsky. Also, director Harold Ramis has supervised a digital remaster of the film and recorded a commentary. And of course, it comes just in time for a marathon viewing (haven't you ever appropriately watched it on repeat for a whole day?) on Groundhog Day.

In the time I've been doing this feature I don't think this has ever happened before: last week's number two film is number one this week. None of the new films from last week were up to the challenge of outselling Bee Movie and American Gangster, and the animated Jerry Seinfeld comedy managed to outdo the Denzel Washington/Russell Crowe crime drama and usurp the top spot. Don't believe me? Look for yourself:

1. Bee Movie: $26 million.
2. American Gangster: $24.3 million.
3. Fred Claus: $19.2 million.
4. Lions for Lambs: $6.7 million.
5. Dan in Real Life: $5.9 million.

Escape from modern life seems to be the key to this week's releases with one taking place in the past, another taking place in a contemporary fantasy world and a third in a fantasy version of the 8th century.

Beowulf
What's It All About: The epic poem believed to have been penned around 700 A.D. is adapted for the big screen using an all digital approach with the actors performances being rendered via motion capture.
Why It Might Do Well: The action looks spectacular.
Why It Might Not Do Well: I can't be the only person who thinks that, despite the remarkable technical achievement at work here, it still looks like a video game.
Number of Theaters: 2,800
Prediction: $30 million

Love in the Time of Cholera
What's It All About: The story of a love triangle in South America at the turn of the 20th century from the director of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Why It Might Do Well: Because love and infectious diseases go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Period drama is a tough sell, and the relatively small release will keep it out of the top five.
Number of Theaters: 800
Prediction: $3.5 million

It took a little longer than expected, since production schedules almost never start on time, but principal photography is now gearing up on Last Chance Harvey. With the cameras about to roll, The Hollywood Reporter has posted the rest of the cast, plus a little more about the plot. Back in June, I shared news of the film, which was written for stars Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson by screenwriter Joel Hopkins. It's about an unlucky man who meets an "unlikely female companion" when he goes to his daughter's wedding in London.

Hoffman and Thompson are being joined by an impressive supporting cast that boasts: Kathy Baker (The Jane Austen Book Club), James Brolin (The Hunting Party), Eileen Atkins (Gosford Park), Richard Schiff (Ray), and Liane Balaban (New Waterford Girl). Hoffman's character is described as "a down-on-his-luck New York jungle writer," who has a tough boss played by Schiff. Balaban plays his daughter, who is getting married in London, and Baker is her mother and Hoffman's ex-wife -- who is also now married to Brolin. Rounding things off is Atkins, who will play Thompson's overbearing mother. It all seems like pretty spot-on casting to me, and they've come up with some great pairings -- such as Baker being the ex-wife who has moved past Hoffman's unlucky life, and Thompson having to deal with the snark of Atkins. Shooting starts today in London.

I'm not sure which I like least: newspaper ink, which gets all over my hands and clothes; or scented perfume and cologne ads, which always manage to open and cover me in their aromas (it's no wonder the internet is doing better than print media!). However, I do know that I will like a certain new innovation, which combines the two annoyances, even less. According to ComingSoon.net, Fox Walden is printing a new kind of ad in the September 9th issue of the L.A. Times that features scented ink. The ad, for Zach Helm's family fantasy film, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, will have designated areas printed in a soy-based ink that, when scratched, emits the smell of frosted cake. Fox Walden chose the specific scent because it should "remind consumers of all ages to be young and have fun."

But what does frosted cake -- or even scented ads in general -- have to do with Mr. Magorium? The movie is about a toy store, not a bakery. Well, I see it as being just another similarity to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, which featured scratch-and-taste stickers of fruits (in the movie, not in its ads). Actually, this new marketing idea would have fit much better with the recent remake, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The plot of Magorium is almost completely modeled on that film -- with a little of Barry Levinson's Toys thrown in for a change of product. Dustin Hoffman plays the title character, a quirky toy-store owner who is searching for a successor to run the magical place. There's no contest or grand-prize tour of the joint -- Magorium's replacement choice is only between his accountant (Jason Bateman) or his store manager (Natalie Portman) -- but the likeness is still obvious. If you aren't as grossed out by the annoying tactic as I, you can check the ad out in Sunday's Fall Movie Sneaks section of the paper.

Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs is an extremely divisive movie. While some people view it as one of the finest explorations of violence and the nature of man on film, others find it offensive and misogynistic. Famed critic Pauline Kael famously dubbed it "the first American film that is a fascist work of art." The 1971 film stars Dustin Hoffman as a mild-mannered professor living in the English countryside with his attractive wife (Susan George). A gang of locals harasses them both, graphically rapes the wife and attacks their home. Hoffman fights back with great vengeance and furious anger.

I saw the movie again very recently in its excellent Criterion edition and found it to be just as powerful and gripping and challenging as I had remembered. As Christopher told you in March, Rod Lurie (director of The Contender and Resurrecting the Champ, which opens Friday) plans to direct a remake of Straw Dogs. Lurie recently spoke with ComingSoon.net about it, calling Peckinpah's work on the film "a little lazy" and the film itself "very imperfect." He says, "It's sort of a classic film in the sense that it's infamous. It's a good not great film by a great director."

"It's an interesting film, isn't it?" Lurie adds. "But it was pretty much killed by a two-second moment on screen where his wife is being raped and she smiles. That was the end of that movie. You can be certain that she's not going to be smiling in the rape in my film." If you ask me (and you didn't), a huge reason the 1970s is referred to as a golden age of cinema is because the films were gritty and uncompromising. They didn't tie everything up with a pretty bow; they left questions. And often, as is certainly the case with Straw Dogs, the questions don't come with easily acceptable or digestible answers. Straightening out the film's politics, making the film clearer morally -- that doesn't strike me as a particularly great notion. What do you guys think? Is Lurie blaspheming here? That "two-second moment" he's referring to is a major reason that people still heatedly debate the film to this day. Will Lurie de-fang the movie by taking that away? Or is he setting things right?

Update: Jeff Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere takes issue with Lurie's statement about the rape scene.

If you take Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and put it in a blender with Babes in Toyland, you'd probably get Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, the new film starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman and Jason Bateman. Just the other day, Erik Davis shared the trailer, which debuted over at Moviefone. If you've seen either of the first films pre-blenderization, you can imagine what it's going to be like -- crazy colors, wacky shenanigans, non-believers and then magic for those who do. Now we've got a new poster to check out, courtesy from the folks over at Rope of Silicon. Before this, we had one of Hoffman's wild, white hair, and there's also one with him sitting amongst his store's wonders. Now we've got the same backdrop, lightened up a whole bunch, with some very plastic-looking stars.

While the last looked like an interesting Jumanji dream, all I can wonder with the new one is: What are they on? I shouldn't be surprised -- movie marketers do this all the time -- slapping up faces that are a little too airbrushed and stiff. And, is it just me, or did they use the same head from the other one, just slapped onto a standing Hoffman body? While the latest poster isn't making me chomp at the bit to see it, I'm sure that a bunch of kids will be begging and throwing tantrums to see this over the Thanksgiving holiday, while their parents suffer from turkey comas.

I loved Will Ferrell's Stranger Than Fiction. When I saw it, the only thing that bummed me out was the lack of air time between Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman) and writer Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson). There's just something about a man who entertains the notion of being realistically stuck in a novel, and a woman who sits in the rain imagining her character's death, while obsessively puffing away at her smoke, that makes the pair seem like romantic kismet. If you agree, you'll probably be happy to hear that they're pairing up for an upcoming dramatic romance called Last Chance Harvey -- and no, this isn't a big rabbit Harvey sequel.

According to Variety, the project is the creation of Joel Hopkins, who won a BAFTA award with producer Nicola Usborne for the 2001 indie film, Jump Tomorrow. Hopkins penned the script with both actors in mind and will direct them in the world where an unlucky man attends his daughter's wedding in London and "finds an unlikely female companion." I can only hope that within that drama, some of the quirk and humor that both actors are so perfect at shines through. So, I'm banking on that "unlikely" bit being something cinematically tasty. The movie will begin filming this September in London, as the latest project for the recently-launched Overture -- who is also cooking up Ferris Wheel with Charlize Theron, 105 Degrees and Rising and Mad Money, which stars Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes.