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MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
After a few false starts, Tom Cruise's vanity-plate action vehicle is slated to roll anew on July 18 with writer-director J.J. Abrams (TV's Alias, Lost). But a $150 million budget reportedly had Paramount reaching for the emergency brake. Many in Hollywood are wondering if Cruise is the megahit machine he once was, and if his recent personal antics and hefty cut of the gross make him a liability. The performance of War of the Worlds could help answer those questions. ''There are always people on the sidelines talking about things. I just want to make the movie, so I don't listen,'' says Cruise.
HARRY POTTER
''I'm terribly pleased with the film,'' says director Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco) of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth movie adapted from J.K. Rowling's series of novels, due Nov. 18. In two weeks, Newell will screen his work (minus completed special effects) for Warner Bros. brass for the first time. Nervous? ''Of course!'' he says. ''This is a story where the kids [are] now teenagers. Is the audience ready for an older Harry Potter? They bought the book — I just hope we present a Harry Potter they want to see.'' Couldn't have set the stakes better ourselves. Work has begun on the fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. British TV veteran David Yates will direct, and screenwriter Michael Goldenberg follows Steven Kloves. Harry is still good to go. ''My enthusiasm has absolutely not gone down,'' says Daniel Radcliffe, 15, who wouldn't rule out doing a non-Potter film before starting part 5 in January. ''But it would be a mistake to want to show you can do stuff other than Harry Potter so badly that you just rush into something.''
SHREK
The ogre could stack up greenbacks into the next decade, if plans hold up. Shrek 3, due May 18, 2007, will reunite the original voice talents to send up King Arthur. One new voice will be Justin Timberlake as Artie, a rebellious teen version of Arthur. Shrek 4 is also reportedly in the works, while American Beauty's Sam Mendes will oversee a stage musical, to be directed by Avenue Q's Jason Moore. And Antonio Banderas will anchor a direct-to-video vehicle, Puss in Boots, as his Zorro-esque character, due some time around 2008.
BATMAN
After nearly a decade in deep freeze, the retooled Batman franchise launches anew with Batman Begins on June 15 — and the buzz is good. Christian Bale is contracted for two more films, and director Christopher Nolan and screenwriter David Goyer reportedly have hashed out a trilogy arc that pits the Dark Knight against the Joker in the second film (the final scene of Batman Begins sets up the possibility) and may introduce Two-Face in the third. Whether Nolan actually wants to make those films, though, is TBD. ''I have no idea,'' the director said earlier this year. ''While I'm making a film, it's very hard for me to have any thought of what I would do next.''
(Additional reporting by Liane Bonin, Steve Daly, Daniel Fierman, Michelle Kung, and Benjamin Svetkey)
