This clearly falls into the “no surprise” category as Columbia Pictures has confirmed that Dan Brown’s novel, The Lost Symbol, will get the big screen treatment. The third film in the Robert Langdon series, this time we find Langdon traversing the mysteries of the Freemasons in Washington D.C.

Scribe Steven Knight is set to adapt the screenplay from the novel which sold over 1 million copies in the first day. Knight’s other credits include drafts for Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Shutter Island as well as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

While both Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are set to return no word on whether Tom Hanks has committed to the project. That said, I find it highly unlikely that he would not reprise the title role of Robert Langdon.

While the second installment of the series, Angels and Demons, performed less then The Da Vinci Code, $486 Million compared to $768, the resounding popularity of  The Lost Symbol is sure to help.  Moreover, The Da Vinci Code was wrapped in controversy which had people eager to check out what all the fuss was about by seeing the film. Angels and Demons had little to no controversy surrounding it. Regardless, a $400 + million take is by no means a failure.

I, for one, was not blown away by either film. However, they were serviceable thrillers with solid production value. While all these stories involve enigmas at some level, there’s no mystery as to why they’re popular and I’ll certainly check out The Lost Symbol when it hit theaters.

According to an interview with MTV, Ivan Reitman, who directed the first two Ghostbusters movies and some misfires such as My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and the David Duchovny starrer Evolution, will indeed return to direct the third film in the Ghostbusters franchise. He also mentioned that the first draft script from Year One writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky is completed and they are currently at work on another draft.

Regarding rumors from stars Harold Ramis, who said the movie is hopefully to be filmed in time for a 2011 release, and Sigourney Weaver who said Bill Murray’s character would be returning as a ‘Slimer’-like ghost, Reitman kept silent saying he didn’t want to talk about what “cool things” were in the script or what may have been said about it. He did say that he’s hoping to film sometime in the coming year, which fits with hopefully having the movie out next year.

Ghostbusters 3 is set to definitely star Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Sigourney Weaver with Murray, Annie Potts and the retired Rick Moranis all rumored to be returning as well. The story is supposedly about the older generation of Ghostbusters handing the reins over to a younger generation including, again according to Weaver, her movie son ‘Oscar’ who should be all grown-up now.

I defy you to find an 80’s child who doesn’t recognize it when someone poses for the “Crane Kick.” The move was made legendary when it was used to win the “All Valley Karate Championship” at the end of 1984’s The Karate Kid. The film was the beginning of a franchise that became an institution for tons of teens during that decade, and now they’ve gone and remade it.

The reboot stars Jackie Chan as “Mr. Han” and Jaden Smith (The Day the Earth Stood Still and Will Smith’s son), as “Dre Parker.” It’s an updated story that takes the setting from Southern California to Beijing. Mr. Han will be teaching Dre karate (or maybe it will be kung-fu – most American audiences don’t know the difference) and putting him through workouts that might strain Jean Claude van Damme.

The movie also features Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) as Dre’s mother and has Harald Zwart (The Pink Panther 2, One Night at McCool’s) in the director’s chair. I have to admit there are a couple of cute and funny moments in the trailer, all involving Chan’s interaction with Smith.

There’s even a nice nod to the fly-catching scene in the original film. The only problem I see so far is that the “Crane Kick” seems to have been replaced with a high-splits kick – which just isn’t as cool.

Check out the trailer and let us know what you think.

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If you were one of the people clamoring for more of the Men in Black franchise after the second installment ended, then this article is for you. Why? Well, it seems the studio responsible for the Men in Black movies is also interested in more of them and so, has decided to make at least one more.

The studio has enlisted Tropic Thunder writer Etan Cohen to pen the script for Men in Black 3 but that’s about as far as things have gone. No deals for franchise stars Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones are in place as yet though, according to the trade, its unlikely that the film would move forward without them.

Sorry to all you MIB fans out there but to me this seems like a longshot. The studio may have a chance at getting Tommy Lee Jones to reprise his role, although I think that’s pretty unlikely given his recent selection of more “meaningful” projects. Getting Will Smith, who has a very, very lucrative and successful solo career these days, I feel is pretty much impossible.

Still, if they do get them both to come back and director Barry Sonnenfeld, who jumped on the project late yesterday, finds his mojo again and basically forgets MIB 2, this movie might just turn out to be something. Until then, we’ll just have to wait and see what develops.

Though Zombieland hit theaters a week ago, it’s still making headway with viral marketing on its official site. Over at the site, we’ve just stumbled across a cool new tool that is bound to get even the most timid of zombie fans excited.

Welcome to Zombify-Yourself.net where you can turn yourself into a flesh-eating member of the undead, without having to go through all the trouble of being bitten and the actual eating of flesh. The site uses a flash application to upload a picture of your choosing, and adds in great features like “bleeding eye cavity” or “missing lips” to complete your zombie look.

With Zombieland coming it at number 1 at the box office last weekend, and taking home roughly $30 million in a week, we are bound to see more from this franchise, in either a possible sequel or, if we’re lucky, a good old-fashioned Hollywood reboot.

Catch Zombieland in theaters everywhere now.

Zombieland opened this week and let me tell you it is, in my opinion, one of the best films of 2009. Only a day into its release Hollywood insiders were predicting the movie could go onto make $30 million in its opening weekend. If that happens it means Zombieland will have made back the $26 million and change it cost to make. While those numbers may not carry the weight of the billion dollars The Dark Knight made Zombieland’s rapid return on investment cannot be overlooked. Hollywood, take note, Zombieland should be the new standard of success.

All that said, I’m not writing a review of Zombieland by any means (Chris already wrote a great one), nor am I looking to talk about the merits of the film, of which there are many. No, I’m casting all the business stuff aside for the moment to speak about one thing: inspiration. You see, immediately after watching Zombieland I got home and was compelled to write (in this case a novel I’m working on). I had in me a burning desire to create. Therein lies the true success of Zombieland. For this writer, it spurred the creative forces that drive cinema.

How did it do this?  Simply put, the film was honest. There was no allusion to a grand design or twist ending. The characters were endearing and story practically A to B simple. Moreover, it defied stock conventions of the genre.  The girls weren’t running away screaming and guys not always the most heroic. These were characters anyone in the theater could relate to personally or through friends they probably know.  Being able to create that rapport with the audience was the secret weapon of Zombieland.  It connected with viewers (trust me on that, I saw the response from the packed theater first hand) and even if only for a few moments at a time they could see themselves in that world of zombies and loved it. Those are the moments writers, specifically, aspire to.

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Part monster movie, part buddy road comedy with a dash of romance thrown in, Zombieland manages to deliver on pretty much every level. Featuring terrific performances by the entire cast, including Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, this film is able to deliver genuine laughs, genuine scares and genuine entertainment for its entire running time. Its a solid piece of filmmaking by director Ruben Fleischer, and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, that should definitely find an audience.

The premise of the film is, as it should be, relatively simple. The world as we know it has come to an end due to some unspecified reason and the dead are now walking the earth. In this world we first meet Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) who, being the introverted, Mountain Dew drinking, pseudo-loser he is, has managed to stay alive due to his nature and adherence to rules he’s come up with as a new citizen of Zombieland. His rules, such as “Cardio Good, Bathrooms Bad, Always shoot zombies twice, etc.” and his loner, anti-social nature have served him well and enabled him to survive.

So, its somewhat against his better judgment that he decides to team up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) on a road trip to find out if any of his family might still be alive in, you guessed it, Columbus. In case you’re wondering, the names characters call each other in Z-land are where they’re from and not their actual names. Better to not develop real ties with anyone seeing as how they might be eaten by zombies at any moment. This provides a bit of insight into the characters and also a bit of humor as well.

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Being the geek that I am I’ve been keeping a close eye on the slowly developing Green Arrow film, Super Max. Written by David Goyer (Blade, The Dark Knight), the film is not your average comic book fair. Instead of following the typical origin tale, Super Max plans to take super hero Green Arrow and drop him in a “super max” prison full of villains (many of which he probably put there). Wrongfully convicted, Green Arrow would be forced to work alongside his enemies to escape while trying not to unleash the rest of the villains in the process.  Think Prison Break meets Justice League.

Well, you can imagine my dismay when I read today that Columbia Pictures picked up the rights to spec horror script, Supermax by writers Mitch Rouse and Christopher Nelson. Yes, you read that right, two films with the same name (minus the space of course). Worse yet, the similarities don’t end with the name:

“The script [Supermax], a horror/action combo about a supernatural prison, ‘centers on a skilled guard who is re-assigned to Supermax. After a riot erupts, he must join forces with one of the prison’s monstrous inmates in order to survive and fight his way out.’”

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With the Marvel/Disney deal looming, the race is on for studios to secure properties. Variety is reporting that Columbia Pictures is working on a sequel to Ghost Rider, with David Goyer reportedly in talks to create the story, as well as supervise additional writers for the film. Nicolas Cage is expected to reprise his starring role as Johnny Blaze.

The resurrection of Ghost Rider as a franchise comes in the middle of negotiations with other Marvel characters at Sony, Fox, Universal and Paramount. Studios must move on these properties now if they want to retain the rights to their Marvel superheroes.  If the properties languish, Marvel Entertainment can reclaim the rights to those characters. This is exactly what happened with the Dr. Strange, Black Panther and Iron Man properties. Iron Man languished in development hell at New Line before Marvel turned the property into a self-financed blockbuster last year. And we all know how well that went.

Although Goyer stated through a spokesman, that he has not officially signed on to a second Ghost Rider, plans are already under way to base the sequel on a script Goyer penned years ago. Goyer’s, superhero work includes successful screen transfers of DC’s Batman Begins and Marvel’s Blade franchise.

Columbia isn’t the only one getting in on the properties action. Fox plans to reboot Fantastic Four with Green Lantern scribe Michael Green; develop a Wolverine sequel and other X-Men spinoffs; a Silver Surfer film; and a revamped version of Daredevil.

Sony recently tapped James Vanderbilt to pen the fifth and sixth installments of the Spider-Man series, and Universal is continuing work on Sub-Mariner. Paramount will continue to be the distributor for Iron Man 2 and are also expected to distribute the upcoming Thor and Captain America flicks.