Is there a Joe Hill story that isn't optioned right now? I think even the ones unfinished on his laptop are optioned. Combine his name with that of his famous father, Stephen King, and it probably doesn't even have to have more than an opening sentence.

According to Variety, Throttle, the novella Hill co-authored with King, has been optioned by Nick Wechsler. It won't be published until 2009, in an anthology titled He Is Legend that will be dedicated to Richard Matheson. The story follows a father and son, members of a motorcycle gang, who are being chased by an 18-wheeler tanker truck.

When you consider the last poster release we got from I am Legend; at least you knew that it could only get better from there. Movies Online started off by hosting 4 different posters for the the big-screen version of Richard Matheson's 1954 classic. But here's the bad news: two of them were just some pretty convincing fakes. I can't say I'm too disappointed since they look like they are cast offs from the Bad Boys II marketing campaign. Luckily, Warner Bros has produced a brand new poster for the film (which you can see to the right, and click on for a larger version), and it's definitely a step up from the first one (it's still the same general idea, but it's just a teeny bit more stylish).

Legend centers on the lone survivor of a 'vampiric plague'. Immune to the disease, he struggles to find a cure before the infected survivors wipe him out. Directed by Constantine's Francis Lawrence, the script was written by Mark Protosevich (Poseidon). Protosevich has been devoted to the project, writing his first draft almost 10 years ago. After numerous drafts and casting upheavals, the production began filming on location in New York and was completed last spring.

There is still the release of a Legend comic book from DC Comics and Vertigo expected in November that will be the basis for some online animated featurettes. The comic was created by Protosevich, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Orson Scott Card. Even Matheson's son helped out on the project as a consultant. Not content with stopping at a comic book and a series of shorts, WB commissioned a Second Life I Am Legend-related MMO game. Up against all of that, a movie poster seems downright quaint. I am Legend will hit theaters on December 14th.

Donnie Darko fans (I'm a big one) have been waiting impatiently for director Richard Kelly's follow-up, Southland Tales, to finally get a release. Don't hold your breath -- it's currently slated on imdb for March 2008! Also not exactly inspiring confidence is the fact that today brings an announcement about Kelly's upcoming project that doesn't even mention Southland! Cameron Diaz is set to star in Kelly's The Box, an adaptation of the Richard Matheson story "Button Button." The script will be written by Kelly. The announcement states that the film will be "a PG-13 horror film," and I'm guessing that the strange mention of the MPAA rating before the film even begins production has a lot to do with the recent uproar over horror violence. The article states that the $20 million opening of the (PG-13) Stephen King adaptation 1408 "made the star-driven high concept supernatural thriller The Box feel like a viable financial proposition.

In the film, Diaz will play "a young woman who is given a mysterious box by a stranger. She's told that certain things will happen depending on which buttons she presses." They might want to work on getting a more exciting description for this one! This all fills me with mixed emotions. I love Donnie Darko, and I want to see Kelly succeed, but Cameron Diaz? I like Diaz in comedies -- I even like her guttural horse laugh. But in dramas -- yikes. The thought of her trying to convincingly convey fear makes me more than a little skeptical. Kelly feels more confident than I do, saying rather robotically, "My hope is to make a film that is incredibly suspenseful and broadly commercial, while still retaining my artistic sensibility. I am especially excited to be working with Cameron Diaz, an actress I have always admired." Production on The Box begins this fall, expect to see Southland Tales ... some time before the end of the world.