Some say that Will Ferrell movies are just the same flick over and over again, but since I always get a giggle from them, I really can't complain. Movieweb is now hosting 10 new photos from Ferrell's latest sports-comedy, Semi-Pro. Farrell plays Jackie Moon, the owner and coach of the American Basketball Association's Flint Michigan Tropics. In hopes of getting the team status in a little organization called the NBA, he must turn his team into winners.

Semi-Pro was written by Scot Armstrong, who was also behind Road Trip, Old School, and The Heartbreak Kid. Armstrong is also hard at work on the sequel to Old School, but this time it will be without *Hank 'The Tank' by the looks of things. Even if you are not a big fan of Ferrell's particular style of comedy, you have to admit he does manage to put together some pretty great comedy casts. Joining Ferrell on Semi-Pro are Woody Harrelson, Will Arnett, Rob Corddry, and the criminally underused Andy Richter. Also joining in on the fun are Outkast's Andre Benjamin and Maura Tierney.

So while some of these pictures have already been released back in November, this latest set has a few new images plus your chance to get a look at Ferrell's 'fro in hi-res. So far, there have already been a few poster releases, a teaser, and the ever-popular "red band" trailer. But, let's be truthful here, if you are a Ferrell fan you are going to want to jump straight to the 'R' trailer for all the good jokes. Semi-Pro opens in theaters on February 29th.

*Correction: Ferrell will forever by haunted by the nickname Frank "the Tank", not Hank.

The interesting thing about the big strike that's looming is that it's causing all these filmmakers to come out of the woodwork and acquire pre-strike gigs with projects nobody's ever heard before. Here's one: Todd Phillips is set to direct and produce Hangover, which is a spec script Warner Bros. just bought from Rebound scribes Jon Lucas and Scott Moore for $2 million. Sounding like a cross between Bachelor Party, Dude, Where's My Car? and Phillips' own Old School (mostly because I picture that cast in this), the comedy will be about three guys who apparently wake up the morning after a Vegas bachelor party and realize they've lost the groom. So, they have to retrace their steps from the night before and find him before the wedding. According to Variety, Phillips said the premise spoke to him.

Another frat boy farce from Phillips? I'm sold, even if I haven't liked much that he's done since Old School, which was probably my favorite comedy of the early 2000s -- it was at least the one I watched the most times, anyway. As I mentioned, I can totally see the cast of Old School being in Hangover, especially Will Ferrell, since I'm imagining it being Frank the Tank's fault the groom has been "misplaced." Then again, the movie could also work with a young, college-age cast, with say Seann William Scott, who starred in both Phillips' Road Trip (and appears in Old School) and Dude, Where's My Car? I know, I'm just kinda rattling off potential names here, but I'm doing so because in a pre-strike world, this is also what Hollywood is doing -- acting fast and thinking quickly in order to lock things into place a.s.a.p.

If you're like me, you eat way too much on Thanksgiving. And the last thing you want to do after eating so much is to watch a film about food or eating. Kevin made up a great list of food movies in honor of the holiday, and Kim wrote about "eating" films with a twist, but following your feast, you might get stomach pains just thinking about most of them. None of them could do too much harm, however, because they are all enjoyable fictional films. As a companion piece, I have come up with seven documentaries that you would definitely want to avoid in the wake of turkey day; A few of them you will want to avoid even after your digestive system has settled.

Yes, its true. One of my favorite movies of the last few years, Old School, finally seems to be moving forward with a sequel. The movie (which Erik wrote about before) has long been rumored, due in large part to the success of the original, and Dreamworks has always seemed committed to the idea, but for one reason or another, a sequel never seemed to get off the ground. The delays now seem to be over though, at least according to IGN, as Director Todd Phillips and co-writer Sean Armstrong, who both did the original, have started work on the script for the sequel called Old School Dos.

Maybe its because I was in a fraternity in college and I kinda miss those "good old days" so perfectly captured by the first film. Or, maybe its because the first film had such great comic performances by Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Will "Frank the Tank" Ferrell. Of course, it could also be that when I saw Old School for the first time (in a great theater in Portland where you can have a beer and watch movies at the same time) I laughed so hard I nearly choked on my frosty beverage.

It could be all of those reasons and any one of a dozen others, but no matter what it is, I am psyched about a sequel and look forward to seeing it when it comes out. But even though Phillips and Armstrong have started on a script, there's still no guarantee the film will get made -- or if it does, arrive at your local theater any time soon. There are many details still to be worked out, not the least of which are the schedules of Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell and a finished script approved by the actors.

Still, if Phillips and Armstrong do manage to get a script together that entices the actors to return, and Dreamworks can manage the schedules and put the rest of the pieces together, we might just see this film after all. And after seeing the film, maybe we'll swing by Bed Bath and Beyond, but I'm not sure if we'll have enough time.

Are you as excited as I am for Old School 2?

I used to have such high hopes for Todd Phillips. Not only was Old School a film so funny that I literally watched it repeatedly for days, its success was not caused solely on the talents of its cast -- which is the case with so many comedies these days. Phillips actually showed promise as a director, too. Then came the wretched Starsky & Hutch, which couldn't even be helped by its cast, and now coming this week is School for Scoundrels, which really can't make up for its casting of the bland monotony of Jon Heder. So, I for one am excited about his returning to Old School for a sequel, if it moves forward.

If it doesn't, Phillips' production company has a project about Russian brides at Warners (previously at Miramax) based on David Benioff's article "Goodbye to Romance", originally published in the magazine Arena. Phillips isn't set to direct the movie, which has a treatment written by E. Max Frye, but with Old School Dos, a remake called Men, a film listed on his IMDb paged called The Dogs of Babel and the postcards-from-god movie The Disassociate, it is obvious that his plate is already overfilled. If he does go with this film, though, I suggest he casts Vince Vaughn and Billy Bob Thornton (who probably doesn't really need another character in the style of Bad Santa/Bad News Bears/School for Scoundrels) as the men who go to Russia in search of women to wed.

Perhaps I'm very much in the minority here, but I wasn't crazy about Old School. Apart from a few scenes, the film just didn't do it for me. Needless to say, director Todd Phillips feels there's definitely enough funny to warrant a sequel and up until this point, all we knew was that a script was being written.

However, according to Skewed and Reviewed, they recently sat down with Phillips and managed to grab a little more info on the upcoming sequel. Apparently, the title will be Old School Dos and, while Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn are currently not signed on to reprise their roles, the script will focus more on Ferrell's "Frank the Tank" character and, especially, why his wife is so concerned with her husband's alter ego. Though all three actors are due for a significant pay raise, I can't imagine they will pass up the chance to return for another go-round. Should the film actually happen, this will mark Phillips' first attempt to create a sequel from the assortment of iffy comedies he's given us over the past six years.

[via Coming Soon]

Ivan Reitman and producing partner Tom Pollock have managed to score co-financing -- to the tune of $200 million over five years -- for 10 new films from their Montecito Picture Company. Mmm ... lots and lots of comedies. The deal is sort of complicated -- for example, the funding body, Cold Spring Pictures, also has the option of financial involvement in Montecito properties that don't get picked up by partner DreamWorks -- but the point is that Reitman and Pollack are very happy men this morning. When taken in combination with their recently extended first-look deal with DreamWorks, this news means they can make what they want, and that what they make will get distribution without a struggle.

Obviously, packages this sweet don't just appear out of the blue: Pollack and Reitman make movies that make money men happy. As Pollack himself told Variety, "The kinds of movies we make are in an exceptionally sweet spot in the studio system; we tend to make comedies at a price. When they work, like with Old School and Road Trip, they make a lot of money. When they don't, like EuroTrip, they don't lose much. From a Wall Street standpoint, that's a good risk."

The suits at Warner Brothers loved Old School and Starsky & Hutch so much, and are so desperate for comedic talent, that they've signed a two year first-look deal with Todd Phillips, who directed those films, and his production company. The deal comes just as Phillips' similar deal with Dimension, for whom he made School for Scoundrels, expires, and Phillips has some big ideas for the future at his new home: "[Warners] is a renowned studio, rich in history and achievement, and I look forward to lowering the bar."

Not willing to wait to get the bar-lowering started, Warners have hired Phillips to direct The Disassociate, Zach Helm's story about "an ordinary man who questions his sanity when he receives postcards from God." Since Phillips is currently in pre-production for Old School 2, though, it's unlikely that we'll hear much more about this project any time soon. Which is sort of a bummer, because I think we really need some more freaking plot details - postcards? From God? What?!

Before he directed Old School and Road Trip, Todd Phillips, along with his partner at the time, Andrew Gurland, won the 1998 Grand Jury Award at Sundance for their documentary, Frat House. Afterward, the film's rights were immediately snatched up by HBO when buzz for the flick was at its highest. However, something happened, and since then HBO has refused to air the documentary as well as allow the filmmakers to self distribute. Yes, it vanished...until now.

Pic, which follows Phillips and Gurland into the secret underworld of fraternity pledging, isn't exactly groundbreaking stuff, and although everyone has their opinion, until this day we still don't know why it disappeared. In my circles, friends say that, halfway through the filming, the fraternities woke up from their drunken stupor and realized a lot of the actions being caught on tape could be deemed criminal and, well, incredibly moronic.

Thus, they decided not to be involved anymore, which then forced Phillips and Gurland to stage the rest of the film. Could this be why HBO never aired it? Because it's a fake documentary? Either way, the film did little to slow down Phillips, who eventually went on to direct some of the more beloved comedies in recent years. Is it real? Is it fake? Judge for yourself, the thing just showed up online.

Old School, I blame you. Now, don't get me wrong - I love you very much, particularly whichever Wilson that is that stars in you. You make me laugh very, very hard, and for that I owe you many thanks. However, there have been unfortunate side effects to your brilliance and success, namely that everyone now wants to make movies about adults trying to recapture their youth. And, unfortunately, it's unlikely that many of them will achieve your level of greatness. Instead, we'll be subjected to dozens of movies about 30-something men having sex with hot college chicks and somehow learning life lessons from the experience. I know - I can't wait, either.

The latest offering in this vein is called The Divorcees, and it's just been bought on spec by Universal. The film is the result of a partnership between a guy who spent the last decade working on Wall Street and his high school buddy, who has made a career out of writing dramas - apparently, in Universal's eyes, they're comedy gold. Their movie, which will be a "hard R...broad comedy" (gee, that's a shock), is about "two guys in their early 30s whose longtime wives up and leave them. They are then forced out into the wild dating scene, trying to party and live like they did when they were bachelors." Sound familiar? Damn you, Old School! Damn you to hell.