While a number of Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum have had continued success, the most explosive post-fang career for the people behind the scenes is Drew Goddard. He perked things up at the end of the series with some incredibly memorable episodes, then moved to Angel, Alias, and Lost. However, his success is even on the big screen now, as he's the pen behind Cloverfield, and he will be writing the upcoming sequel.

Still, in all of this action, he found time to write one of the comic arcs for Buffy, Season Eight. In his 4-issue arc, called Wolves at the Gate, (check out the cover over at Hollywood North Report) the vampire slayer heads to Tokyo to fight not werewolves, but the fanged ones. His involvement should make for a good read, but it begs a bigger question -- since he's continuing to be involved in the Buffyverse, and is finding success in film, could this mean good things for a potential Buffy movie?

I was a bit of a late-comer to the whole Buffy the Vampire Slayer thing; the series had been on for three or four years when I first got hooked on it. Joss Whedon created some great characters, and one of the best was easily Spike, as portrayed by James Marsters. At times he was evil, at other times he was good -- but he was always cool. Last season he brought his slithery charm to Smallville as the Kryptonian artificial intelligence Brainiac. Now, According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marsters has joined the cast of P.S. I Love You, a romantic drama based on a novel by Cecila Ahern, daughter of the Prime Minister of Ireland. Amazon.com describes the novel as engaging, witty ... and occasionally sappy. The story deals with a young woman named Holly (Hillary Swank) who loses her husband Gerry (Gerard Butler) to a brain tumor and must rebuild her life without her soulmate. Gerry has left her a series of ten monthly messages to ease the transition into a new life. Marsters will play Gerry's best friend. The film will be directed by Richard LaGravenese and distributed by Warner Brothers.

So, Spike does a chick flick? Sounds like the sort of film that will tug at your heart strings if you're into that kind of thing. At this point I think this film could go either way: genuinely moving or Lifetime Channel sappy, but it seems like a good career move for Marsters, exposing him to a more mainstream audience.

• Date Movie - Nowhere in the formula "Comedy = Tragedy + Time" does "Cruelty" figure in, something that this caca-palooza -- "from 2 of the 6 writers of Scary Movie" -- sets out to correct from the very first scene. When they introduce us to morbidly obese Julia Jones (Alyson Hannigan), it is with ridicule as they paint her as a hideous beast that makes men vomit and turn gay. Of course, when we remember that 2 of the 6 writers of Scary Movie were Wayans Brothers, whose stock in trade is that kind of cruelty, it makes sense (even if these are another two writers.)

A parody of romantic comedies like Bridget Jones's Diary, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Hitch, this lame spoof goes for the easy laugh almost every time, beating to death with a golf club every gag with the subtlety of, well ... someone who beats someone else to death with a golf club. The "13" in the movie's "PG-13" rating would seem to be either a limit for either I.Q. or emotional age, as the movie's show pieces are either juvenile blue bits or have something to do with either poop, pee, puke or pus (the dreaded "4 P's"). Putting gifted comic actors like Fred Willard and Jennifer Coolidge in this stinky mess makes them both stinky by association, though as time goes by, the whole lot of them will only be guilty of contributing to a vast background of white noise that we will have learned to filter out when we grow up. Presently #64 on the IMDB's Bottom 100 of all time.
 

You'd think doing the whole writing-a-movie-script thing (in addition to planning for the film because you're also going to direct it) would keep a man and his pen pretty busy. Not so Joss Whedon, however -- one or six projects is not enough to occupy the ever-active mind of one of geekdom's favorite kings. While writing and prepping for the much discussed Wonder Woman film project, Joss Whedon has also made plans to return to his roots and reconnect with his fan base by going back to the still very popular Buffy The Vampire Slayer universe. Whedon is writing an all-new comic book mini-series for Dark Horse Comics with the first book due as early as October of this year.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: while I may not be a huge fan of Joss Whedon's body of work, I absolutely love the man for the way he treats his fans. The man is well aware of who is responsible for his success, and you'd be hard pressed to find a guy who works harder to give his fans what they want. He's also obviously desperately infatuated with the worlds he has created, and that's always fun to see. As long as Whedon continues to treat his fans like royalty he deserves every ounce of the rabid devotion they bestow upon him.

Joss Whedon's Buffy fans have been teased and tantalized lately with persistent rumors of a return to the Buffyverse, most likely in the form of spin-off movies. Such movies would either be made for TV or direct-to-DVD, and would focus around "supporting" characters from the original series. Among the most popular characters for a rumored starring movie role (probably the second most desired after Spike) is Alyson Hannigan's Willow. Her name has been mentioned several times in connection with these rumors, but Alyson has said recently that she doesn't expect any action on this front. She says he has heard the rumors like everyone else, but seriously doubts that Joss would have the time to work on such a project - and she would not want to be involved if Joss wasn't in control, saying "I'm sure he would get great people, but there's nothing like the Joss touch." According to Alyson, if a movie would ever happen, a Spike title film would be the natural first step anyway, not Willow.

Hey, look at that...Joss Whedon is mortal after all, and is apparently bound by some form of time constraints, even if they are thrice the capacity of a normal human. I think Alyson is very wise in suggesting that a movie without Joss in control would lack whatever magic the series contained; and she's probably also right in suggesting that a Spike film would come first anyway. Thoughts, Whedonites?

Despite being horribly bland and boring as Riley Finn on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marc Blucas has landed the starring role - his first, as far as I can tell - in what sounds like a pretty cool movie. The film is a thriller called The Killing Floor, and Blucas will play a character who, upon moving into a new Manhattan apartment, "begins receiving violent crime scene photographs that appear to have taken place in the apartment, followed by stalker videotapes of his every movement." Eventually, all this excitement - augmented by the assistance of a cop, an affair with a hot neighbor, and the presence of a trusty assistant - causes the man to go at least a little bit crazy. Awesome. It sounds sort of like a mix between Caché and Bad Influence (which, I realize, no one else has ever seen), with a touch of Gaslight thrown in. (Also, it's totally the assistant who turns out to be behind everything. She's reassuring him? Please.)

The movie, which also stars Shiri Appleby in an undetermined role, is being produced by Doug Liman and Avi Arad, both of whom have a history of making very savvy choices.

Joss Whedon probably has more rumors swirling about his upcoming works than anyone else in the industry- although that may be the case because the man tries to DO more at one time than most. Chief among the popular rumors is one that contains a fair amount of hard fact, as well- the thought of a return to the Buffy universe for some movie lovin'. Joss has indicated that he's interested in the possibility someday, hinting at possible direct-to-DVD titles focused around characters other than Buffy herself. The rumor got yet another lift today as David Janollari, president of entertainment at The WB, told reporters that the network is eager to air a movie based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer character of Spike. Marsters, the actor who plays Spike, has also expressed interest, if the project can get moving before he ages significantly, since vampires are supposed to be ageless and whatnot. The challenge at this point seems to be getting Joss on board, as the man is a whirling dervish of projects at the moment. Although now that all three of the necessary parties involved have expressed vocal committment to the idea, fans can certainly find a great deal to be hopeful about.