Movie Sequels

When "Race to Witch Mountain" director Andy Fickman wanted to track down Kim Richards, the former child star who appeared in the original 1975 version "Escape to Witch Mountain," he sought an unlikely ally: Paris Hilton. As it turns out, Hilton is the niece of Richards, who had all but disappeared from the Hollywood scene 20 years earlier. "My first crush was on Kim Richards. She had long blond hair. It was 90 feet long," the director recalled.

Hell hath no fury like an actor scorned. Anyone who's talked to Terrence Howard recently knows that the actor is still fighting mad six months after being replaced in the upcoming "Iron Man 2." "It was a very, very bad choice," fumed Howard, who played Iron Man's Army buddy Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes in the first film, to Parade magazine about Marvel Studios' decision to reboot the part with Don Cheadle in the role. "You don't make $800 million and then try and shake everyone down.

The rights to "Terminator" are up for sale yet again. Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, who acquired the science-fiction franchise in 2007 for $25 million and produced this year's sequel "Terminator Salvation," are looking to sell the rights as several companies owned by the two producers work their way through Chapter 11 reorganization. Anderson and Kubicek's Halcyon Holding Group has engaged financial advisory firm FTI Capital Advisors, pending approval by U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, to "evaluate strategic alternatives," according to a statement.

Does News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch know something his top lieutenants don't? Apparently so. The media mogul announced Thursday in New York that his studio "will do a sequel" to last year's surprise hit comedy "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," starring Sacha Baron Cohen. "He will first do something else ... then he wants to come back and do a 'Borat 2,' " Murdoch said at a media summit.

David Lagumbay hasn't gone to the movies all year. That changes tonight. The 35-year-old network systems manager from Irvine is gathering friends and family to see "Spider-Man 3," Sony Pictures' newest superhero spectacle. After opening to record business in countries as varied as France and Malaysia, "Spider-Man 3" debuted in U.S. theaters this morning at 12:01, kicking off a summer of big-budget sequels that is likely to shatter Hollywood's box-office records.

IS there anyone besides me who is depressed by the news that Steven Spielberg, a great filmmaker with the clout to get any project he wants off the ground, is going off to make ... "Indiana Jones 4"? Due to start filming in mid-June, the latest installment in the long-dormant "Raiders" series is simply the latest example of the movie industry's maniacal devotion to sequels.

In "Spider-Man 3," Peter Parker's alter ego battles Sandman, Venom and his own inner demons. But the superhero hasn't faced much of anybody at the box office yet. And that's a big reason the Sony Pictures sequel has zoomed to $622 million in worldwide ticket sales through 10 days. In a few days, however, the web slinger may have to play second fiddle to the next big player in Hollywood's early summer season: a green ogre.

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., the studio run by Jeffrey Katzenberg, is planning a fifth and final chapter of its "Shrek" films. The company plans to produce the last movie of the series about a grumpy green ogre after the fourth "Shrek" film is released in 2010, Katzenberg said at the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. But DreamWorks Animation so far has committed only to a fourth film, spokesman Rich Sullivan said in an interview.

"I watched him for 15 years. Sitting in a room, staring at a wall, not seeing the wall, looking past the wall, looking at this night -- inhumanly patient -- waiting for some secret, silent alarm to trigger him off." -- Dr. Loomis in "Halloween" (1978) -- And so here we are, almost 30 years later, with the ninth iteration of the venerable "Halloween" franchise landing in theaters this week.

Hollywood slashed away at another box-office record as a new version of "Halloween" scared up a Labor Day weekend haul of $26.5 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales through Sunday, distributor MGM said. Director Rob Zombie's retelling of the 1978 slasher classic shattered the previous three-day record for the often-sluggish holiday period. The old record was set in 2005 by "Transporter 2," which opened to $16.5 million.