12.2.08: Keanu may "Speed" again, Rob Zombie does Halloween 2, Ben Stiller wants Zoolander 2, and other news that has nothing to do with sequels

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT KENTUCKY FRIED BOOB TUBE

Its power is somewhat diluted after so many years, but Kentucky Fried Movie remains the king of a very small genre – the sketch comedy feature film.  (As a kid I watched Amazon Women on the Moon about a zillion times, although I've yet to meet another human being who understands what I mean when I explain that "There ain't no Selma here!"  Alas.)  Most recently the comedy gods over at The Onion tried (and failed) to revive the genre, although they've been making up for that with their generally terrific Onion News Network videos.  Now Variety reports that a Farrelly brother (Peter) and a cadre of additional filmmakers (including Brett Ratner and Mike Judge) are collaborating on an as-yet-untitled sketch comedy movie with 24 segments of inevitably variable quality. A great comedy trumps most every other genre in my book, so fingers crossed that this diverse team can deliver a consistently funny film.

HANDS OFF THE EUGOOGOOLY

Ben Stiller is contemplating Zoolander 2.  /Film questions the box office viability of the project given the original's lackluster performance, but over the years Zoolander's reputation has improved to the point where it's considered one of the best films by all involved.  The first Austin Powers movie didn't do terribly well theatrically (although the budget was much smaller than Zoolander's) but its home video success justified a sequel; home video sales saved The Family Guy; Zoolander 2 is not implausible.

ODDS AND ENDS

• LaBeouf does Grisham in The Associate. (Variety)

• Keanu may Speed again for the first time.  (Jason Patric did all the speeding in the first sequel.)  I guess every actor who succeeds long enough hits that part of of their career when they have to remind audiences of why they loved the actor to begin with (Die Hard 24, etc.)  There are classy ways to go about doing this, but I doubt Speed 3 will be akin Eastwood's Unforgiven return to westerns. (AICN)

• Ever comb the internet for an image to use in a report or presentation, knowing full well that you don't have permission from the owner to use it but not caring because you'll never get caught? Well here's an interesting tale of how one man's vacation photo ended up with a feature role in Iron Man.  (via Boing Boing)

• The Annual Annie Awards honor the best in animated filmmaking. Obviously there's much less competition in the animated world than in live action, so this year's nominees aren't terribly surprising. Wall-E may be the critics' darling, but with only 8 nominations it trails both Bolt (9 nominations) and Kung-Fu Panda (a whopping 17 nominations). The winners will be announced on January 30. (annieawards.org via IESB)

• A few more stills have been releases for the eagerly anticipated, yet deeply troubled adaptation of The Road.

• The Arrested Development movie seems more and more likely to happen with each passing day, astoundingly enough. But rumor has it that one cast member is refusing to sign on.  Hmm... might it be the one whose career has gone into overdrive since the film ended?

• Spike Jonze is not only finishing up his overdue adaptation of Maurice Sendack's Where The Wild Things Are, but he's also working on a documentary about the author. Sounds like a PBS special/DVD bonus item to me. (via The Playlist)

• Catherine Hardwicke is agonizing over how to handle the werewolf transformations in Twilight sequel New Moon.  She hasn't actually landed the directing gig yet; I wonder if Summit is trying to figure out how to gently say "Thanks, but we're going in a different direction." Combine Twilight's mediocre reviews, outright rejection by most everyone with a penis, the sequel's significantly higher budget, and New Moon's reduced emphasis on breakout star Robert Pattinson's character Edward, and you can understand why Summit might want to bring in someone with a history of handling big genre films.  You don't want to put all your eggs in the fangirl basket, especially with no new novels being released anytime soon to keep the fad alive between films. (CHUD)

• Hugh Jackman is back in the water tank for X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  See a handful of actual production stills (rather than promo shots) here. Not all of them are new, but it's nice to see Jackman and Liev Schrieber's "Quien es mas macho?" moment again.

• As reported some weeks ago, Ridley Scott is hoping we've all forgotten the horror of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves as he attempts to relaunch the character with his Own Personal DeNiro,  Russell Crowe, playing both Hood and his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham.  Wait, what?  The Mad Men-esque explanation is over at MTV. (via CHUD)

• Rob Zombie's reboot of Halloween was decidedly meh, but rumor has it he'll be back for Halloween 2.  Zombie's sequel history is pretty good – The Devil's Rejects is loads better than House of 1000 Corpses – so here's hoping that he's gotten over the pressure of relaunching a classic series and is set free to do his own, perverse thing.

• If Harrison Ford immigration drama Crossing Over ends up being as mediocre as the trailer suggests, this long, sad inside-Hollywood story may explain why.  (via The Playlist)

• Fantasy hero Guillermo del Toro has a billion projects on his plate, most immediately the two-film adaptation of The Hobbit (which won't even begin filming until 2010).  But that hasn't stop him from piling on more, most recently a stop-motion adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Witches (well adapted 18 years ago [!] by Nicolas Roeg). (Empire via io9)

• A bit o' fun: Akira, America style.  (For fans only.)