Moviefone has just debuted the first Hotel for Dogs trailer (watch it above or over on Moviefone in glorious HD), starring Emma Roberts, Don Cheadle, Lisa Kudrow and Johnny Simmons. Based on Lois Duncan's 1971 children's book of the same name, Hotel for Dogs tells of two mischievous orphans who hole up and attempt to hide dozens of stray dogs in an abandoned hotel. God bless these kids, because I currently have one dog and she's more than a handful. Imagine taking care of an entire hotel full of dogs ... and having to feed them, bathe them and, well, clean up the poop! Hate the poop! Hate picking up the poop! Why do dogs have to poop all the time? Who knows, but I do love the way the kids in this film deal with the poop issue and it's given me a few new ideas. The flick actually looks pretty cute and cuddly, especially if you're an animal lover or a young kid ... or a young kid who also happens to be an animal lover. Check it out above.

Hotel for Dogs barks into theaters on January 16, 2009.

The big screen is about to get lymey. Variety reports that Derick and Steven Martini's dramedy Lymelife is finally getting made, and it's got a solid cast along for the ride. Alec Baldwin and Emma Roberts lead the pack, followed by Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City), Rory Culkin (Zodiac), Kieran Culkin (Igby Goes Down), Jill Hennessy (Crossing Jordan), and Timothy Hutton (The Last Mimzy).

A retro piece taking place in late '70s Long Island, the coming-of-age project focuses on "two families who fall apart when precarious relationships, real estate problems, and Lyme disease converge in the heart of suburbia." It's a film that the brothers have been trying to get made for years. The project was developed during the 2001 Sundance Filmmakers Lab, and experimental scenes were even shot with Kieran. (He's since been replaced by Rory, as he's grown too old for his original role. He'll now play an older brother.) Heck, even Baldwin has been attached to the project for years, so while the film might have struggled to get to this point, there's something in it that has a long-term hold on two of the main players.

Filming gets underway next week in New Jersey, and the picture has a tentative release date for January 2009.

With production set to begin next month, the Hotel for Dogs is about to turn off its vacancy sign. In June, I alerted you to the project when Thor Freudenthal was tapped to direct Lois Duncan's children's book from the '70s, about two orphaned teens who hide stray dogs in an abandoned hotel. After getting a director, Eric Roberts' offspring, Emma Roberts, was tapped to star as one of the kids, and then Don Cheadle signed on to play the orphans' social worker. Now we've got much of the cast in place, although there's still no familial cohort for Roberts in sight.

Topping the recent additions is Friends alum Lisa Kudrow, fresh off the upcoming Butler/Swank romance, P.S., I Love You. She will play the foster parent of the two dog-loving kids, which will be a bit of a contrast to her other upcoming work -- she's going to produce and star in a black comedy called Intense Girl Scouts. The other new cast member is Johnny Simmons, who recently hit the screen in Evan Almighty, and who is already set to play the young Denny Colt in The Spirit. Since the brother spot is still open, Simmons will be playing Roberts' crush.

They don't have too much time left, so hopefully they pick a co-star soon. Otherwise, it'll be mighty weird to see Roberts act with an imaginary person, and it will be an entirely different story. Instead of a feel-good tale of two kids and some cute canines, she'd be talking to people who aren't there and surrounding herself with dogs -- first step, foster, second step, asylum!

Replace Rwandan refugees with dogs and what do you get? Don Cheadle's next film. The actor, who earned an Oscar nomination for Hotel Rwanda, has been cast in the similarly titled yet very differently themed movie Hotel for Dogs. It isn't just the title of the new project that reminds us of the earlier film; the synopsis provided by Variety tells us that Hotel for Dogs features a hotel that serves as a refuge and sanctuary for beings that would otherwise be dispose of. Of course, this time they are in fact dogs and not human victims of a civil war in Africa. Last month, when Monika brought you the story of Hotel for Dogs, it was said that Emma Roberts (I'll continue reminding you that she's Julia's niece) would star as one of two orphaned teens who hide stray dogs in an abandoned hotel. We had also learned that it was based on a 1971 children's book by Lois Duncan and that it would be effects artist Thor Freudenthal's directorial debut. The adaptation has been scripted by Jeff Lowell (John Tucker Must Die) and is being produced by Jon Gordon, Lauren Shuler Donner (Unaccompanied Minors) and Jack Leslie.

Cheadle apparently will not be a hotel manager this time. Instead, he will play a social worker who keeps the teens out of trouble. I can't find a plot description of the book, but I have a feeling that his role will not be too huge. Seeing as how he mostly appears in R-rated films (including his other 'Dog' title, The Dog Problem), Cheadle is probably just doing this for his preteen daughters. Despite coming from a book by Duncan, who also wrote the source of I Know What You Did Last Summer, this movie will likely be more family friendly. Hotel for Dogs begins shooting in early November, which is probably just after Cheadle finishes the espionage thriller Traitor and should fill some time while he continues to wait on start date announcements for the biopics about Toussaint L'Ouverture and Miles Davis.

Back in June, I posted that Thor Freudenthal, an effects guy from Stuart Little, was going to tackle Lois Duncan's children's book, Hotel for Dogs for his feature directorial debut. Unlike Duncan's young adult thriller novels, Hotel is about two teen orphans who hide stray dogs in an abandoned hotel. Now Reuters is reporting that Emma Roberts, the next in the line of Roberts successes, is going to star. Unlike her family, who got their start with more adult fare, the young Emma is definitely taking the bubble-gum kids route.

I'm torn. I loved that she took on Nancy Drew, but she's really racking up the kid fare -- Unfabulous, Aquamarine, Wild Child... That's not bad on its own, but young acting lives filled with big smiles and perfect skin seem to often end in a mess -- and the last thing I want is for Emma to become the next in the line of celebrity crashes. The eerie correlation between smiling on the outside and dysfunction on the inside goes back for years. Well before Britney was shaving her head and Lindsay was driving drunk, there were seemingly perky stars like Patty Duke and Judy Garland struggling with drugs and personal demons.

I know not every kid falls onto that path, but it's hard not to fear it when you see someone going down a road riddled with young celebrity roadkill. (And seeing that my last favorite teen star was Lohan, I'm trying not to curse the poor girl.) Sometimes I wonder: if we showed the world lots of realistic, pissed off, negative teens, as opposed to what we usually get, would they grow up differently? At the very least, they'd have a real, true outlet for their adolescence and angst.

The cute and estranged daughter of Eric Roberts is sure exploding on the cinematic scene. ShoWest named Emma Roberts the Female Star of Tomorrow, and as Patrick Walsh recently shared, she's signed on for a sequel to Nancy Drew. Of course, the first one isn't out yet, but that won't stop the star of the future! Now Variety has reported that she's got another film to add to her calendar, a comedy directed by Nick Moore called Wild Child, which will begin production shortly, as the summer hits.

At first glimpse, you might groan at the premise -- it's about "a spoiled Malibu princess whose penchant for wildness drives her father to send her to a strict, all-girls English boarding school." Yawn. It sounds like any other teen film, right? Sure, it has a bit of a British twist, but we all know the story of teen wild ones like the back of our hands. However, this film isn't coming from some chewed up Bic pen that was tossed away and picked up by a random, inconsequential passerby. It was written by Lucy Dahl, the daughter to Roald Dahl. If you happen to be one of the few uninitiated, I'll give you a tip before rabid fans shun you, or throw fruit at you -- he's the guy that wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, amongst other popular works. Sure, she's not her dad, but perhaps the talent is similar.

Emma isn't her dad either, and the media machine has done a decent job of trumping the young actress' ties to Julia, rather than her estranged, actor father. However, she's going to show some edge for this role, so maybe we'll finally get a Roberts reunion? Papa Eric is really making a strong go of things lately, and he definitely has more edge than his sweeter sister.

Coined by Elinor Glyn in the 1920's, "It girl" was first used to describe silent film star and flapper sex symbol Clara Bow, for her 1927 film, It. Since then, it has been used to describe a myriad of women who hold that elusive appeal. They explode on the scene, flowing from the lips of the masses, and then usually fade off into obscurity or they hand over the title whilst continuing their career. Unfortunately, these days the girls are often more of the troublesome variety like Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. Nevertheless, if ShoWest has any say, the next It girl will be the upcoming Nancy Drew star, Emma Roberts.

She definitely has the formula down-pat. One of her first roles was in Johnny Depp's Blow. And, while she wasn't a member of the Mickey Mouse Club like Spears, Ryan Gosling or Justin Timberlake, she's got the teen show and singing credits under her belt. She currently stars in the ultra-popular Nickelodeon show, Unfabulous, about a junior high student who writes songs about her life. She's recorded music for both Ice Princess and Aquamarine, and released her debut album in 2005. If you're wondering about her name -- you're right. She's the daughter of Eric Roberts, the niece of Julia -- and is also part of the infamous Roberts feud.

But that was years ago, and now she's been picked by ShoWest as the Female Star of Tomorrow. Roberts will receive the award on March 15th as part of the closing-night ceremony in Las Vegas. Mitch Nehhauser, co-managing director of ShoWest has described her as "an actress with a remarkable range of talent, on the big screen as well as on television." Considering the fact that last year's honoree was Jennifer Hudson, they seem to have an eye for talent! Me, I'm waiting to see what she does with my beloved Nancy Drew.

Good ol' Nancy Drew is back. Yep, everyone's favorite tweenie crime-solver is returning to the silver screen for the first time since ... 1939? Can that be right? According to the IMDb it is, but if you definitely have strong memories of seeing the young detective in other movies, you're probably just thinking of an old TV series.

Updated and modernized for an all-new generation of kids girls, Nancy Drew hits screens anew courtesy of first-time screenwriter Tiffany Paulsen (who, once upon a time, was skewered with a spear by Jason Voorhees), the director of The Craft and Warner Bros. Pictures. Cast as the legendarily brilliant lass is Ms. Emma Roberts, whom you might remember from Aquamarine -- and if you found yourself sitting in a movie theater that was playing Aquamarine, then I'm betting you're precisely the target audience for this new Drew to-do.

The plot sees Ms. Drew transplanting herself into the alien landscape of California, where she initially has some trouble fitting in ... but when a local mansion's murky mysteries prove too much for Nancy to resist, well, you know the drill: The chick solves crimes! (Yes, just like Veronica Mars, girls.) Cast members of legal drinking age include Rachael Leigh Cook, Tate Donovan and Laura Harring.

Anyway, a Nancy drew flick is obviously not geared for mid-30 male-types, but I think this trailer looks pretty darn solid. No over-the-top gross-out gags or stupid slapstick stuff. Heck, I think the flick (which doesn't open until June 15!) actually looks kinda cute. Ooh, and maybe if Nancy Drew is a hit, someone will make a new Hardy Boys adventure! Or hell, maybe (finally) Encyclopedia Brown!

Starring Eric Roberts-spawn (and Aquamarine's girl-who-finds-the-mermaid) Emma Roberts, the Nancy Drew movie has had a lot of people (many of whom totally won't admit it) in a nostalgic frenzy since news of its existence was announced way too long ago. Now, finally, there's some good news: production has begun. Woo hoo! Not only that, but we've got a plot (the news of which is possibly slightly less good).

In order to get her somewhere with lots of pretty people and parties (and, of course, because the title is Nancy Drew: The Mystery in Hollywood Hills), Tiffany Paulsen and Andrew Fleming's script has Nancy traveling to Hollywood with her dad (Tate Donovan) on what is apparently a very, very long "business trip," since Nancy ends up enrolling in Hollywood Hills High School and meeting a boy (Josh Flitter). Because she is a girl detective, Nancy inevitably "stumbles across evidence about a long-unsolved crime involving the mysterious death of a beautiful movie star." However, in addition to wearing her play dress and solving the mystery, innocent little Nancy also finds herself temped by the "fast-living, self-indulgent world of Hollywood." Now, I don't know anything for sure, but knowing our girl, I'm pretty sure she'll come out of it ok.

While the relocation to Hollywood is a little scary, the fact that Fleming, who co-wrote and directed Dick, is also writing and directing here is just awesome news. If anyone can effectively balance sweetness with the smart sense of humor that's going to be required to deal with this whole Hollywood thing, it's him. The movie's not slated for release until 2007, though, so we've plenty of time to sit and worry.