Yesterday, a few movies sites (JoBlo and FirstShowing.net) received some awesome packages from Disney PR, containing some AWESOME viral marketing schwag for 2011’s Tron sequel. Tron will be at Comic-Con on Thursday, and in preparation, some sites received not only some completely badass Flynn’s Arcade tokens, but a USB thumb drive containing an animated gif file with a coded message.

I found three of the four different gif files yesterday and was able to figure out about 80% of the coded message (it used unicode characters in place of the alphabet), but needed the final file to complete the code. I stopped messing with stuff early in the afternoon, since I didn’t get any schwag myself (Disney, CALL ME), but early this morning, the minds of the Internet came together and two new “Tron” related websites were unleashed!

The two sites are http://homeoftron.com and http://flynnlives.com and both are absolutely fantastic relics for any fan of the 1982 animated-classic. HomeofTron is set-up as sort of a memorial to Flynn’s Arcade (which according to the website’s new section, closed in 1990, *sniff*), whereas FlynnLives has more obvious ties with the upcoming film. Not only does it have Kevin Flynn sightings (for the uninitiated, Kevin Flynn was one of the main characters in the original Tron), it also has a little spider at the bottom of the website that includes a timer and instructions for where to meet up at Comic-Con.

Chris and Matt, you better hit that spot! According to Disney’s previous press releases and announcements at Cine Expo International, the Tron sequel should land in theaters sometime in 2011.

The release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has reopened discussions about what makes a good book to film adaptation. The Potter series often divides fans, and the latest chapter is no exception. I’ve heard from a number of fans of the book series who are  disappointed with the current film’s adaptation, while I’ve also talked to fans who are satisfied. Brad Brevet from RopesofSilicon reflected on some of the more negative fan reactions and he asks, “how faithful should film adaptations be?”

Adapting a book into a film is not an easy process. Squeezing a 300-page novel into a 120-minute film is difficult, especially if the book has lots of exposition or other elements that are not easily cinematic. For books that are rich and deeply characterized, like the Potter books, adaptation is almost always going to mean losing some characters or the minute characterizations that many fans hold dear.

That said, making an adaptation that is too close to the original work can often be just as problematic as making an unfaithful adaptation. Brevet mentions this spring’s Watchmen as an example of a film that while remarkably true to its graphic novel counterpart, still didn’t end up endearing itself to even diehard Watchmen fans. I would argue this was because despite getting the character and plot details correct, Watchmen didn’t effectively bring enough of its own cinematic virtues to the project. In contrast, Frank Miller’s Sin City was a tremendous adaptation of various vignettes from the graphic novel series, and it managed to be both accurate and bring in its own voice.

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Two and a half weeks ago, Columbia Pictures shut-down the Steven Soderbergh helmed Moneyball, just days before it was to start production. Last week, Soderbergh formally bowed out of the project.

Since then, the explanations as to why the project was put into turnaround at the last-minute, especially with a big star like Brad Pitt have been fast and furious, with each side wanting to get their view across.

Trying to parse the entire situation is very (forgive the pun) “inside baseball.” That said, here is a brief summary of this summer’s hottest off-screen drama.

Initially, the explanation for the “Moneyball” axing was blamed on a script that had deviated from its original awesomeness. By all accounts, the original script by Steve Zaillian was great. Soderbergh’s rewrite, well, the consensus was “not so great.”

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If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 1000 times, So You Think You Can Dance is one of my favorite shows on TV. I honestly think it is the best pure-talent show in the reality competition genre. As good as Bravo’s shows like Top Chef and Project Runway are, you still have some idiots who are just good TV sneak in. On Dance, after the obligatory audition rounds (which are shockingly short if you’re an “Idol” fan), everyone who makes it through to Vegas has serious chops.

They’d have to. Make a wrong move doing some of those routines and a dancer could hurt not just themselves, but their partners too.

I’m also a huge Katie Holmes fan. Yeah, yeah, the TomKat craziness sort of hurt her rising star a bit, but what can I say, Dawson’s Creek rocked my world. Plus, in my teenage years, when I was still trying to do the acting thing, pretty much every big part I ever got was because I decided to don my best Joey Potter impression.

Enough preamble; on July 23, 2009 So You Think You Can Dance celebrates its 100th episode. During that episode, Katie Holmes will dance and sing in a Judy Garland tribute piece choreographed by frequent-judge/choreographer, Tyce Diorio.

As Variety reports (and as Wednesday’s show announced), the performance will serve as promotion for the new Dizzy Feet Foundation. Director (and frequent Dance collaborator) Adam Shankman, Nigel Lythgoe (who is executive producer and head judge), Dancing With the Stars’s Carrie Ann Inaba and Katie Holmes are the foundation’s founders. Dizzy Feet is dedicated to promoting dance education, giving scholarships to talented dancers and choreographers and bringing dance education programs to disadvantaged children.

FOX’s SYTYCD blog has more details.

Check out the video of Cat Deely and Katie Holmes discussing the Dizzy Feet Foundation and the upcoming performance.