I'll Be Suing You

REEL DEALS Paramount has optioned the rights to the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs series about John Carter of Mars. Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan, wrote 11 Carter novels, starting in 1912. Production duties will be handed over to Alphaville's James Jacks and Sean Daniel, makers of ''The Mummy'' movies and this month's ''The Scorpion King.'' The series follows the adventures of Carter, a Civil War veteran who finds himself transported to the red planet, where he becomes involved with warring alien factions, Martian monsters, and an imperiled princess. There have been several abortive attempts to bring the sprawling fantasy to the screen, including one by pioneering animator Bob Clampett in the 1930s, and a more recent one by Disney, which spent a decade and millions of dollars developing both a cartoon Carter saga and a live-action version that was to star Tom Cruise and be directed by John McTiernan (''Die Hard''). Apparently, Paramount believes it can succeed where others have failed because computer-generated imagery finally makes the project practical....

Another attempt to film the seemingly unfilmable: Warner Bros. is developing a live-action version of Katsuhiro Otomo's ''Akira,'' the graphic novel and 1988 animated movie that is the favorite of many anime buffs. ''Blade'' director Stephen Norrington has signed on to write and direct the postapocalyptic sci-fi thriller....

In other anime news, Disney has picked up the U.S. rights to distribute ''Spirited Away,'' the biggest box-office hit in Japanese history. Pixar chief John Lasseter will oversee the American release, and the ''Toy Story'' director says that, aside from being dubbed into English, the movie will be released here unedited and unaltered. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (''Princess Mononoke''), it's a ''Labyrinth''-like tale of a girl who must rescue her family from a secret, magical world after they get lost in a hillside tunnel....

Comics fans will be coddled in conjunction with the release of Columbia's ''Spider-Man'' movie on May 3. Comics publishers have named May 4 Free Comic Book Day, with more than 2,000 comics stores nationwide giving away some 2 million issues. Columbia is also releasing a profile of Spidey creator Stan Lee to home video on May 14. Called ''Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters, and Marvels,'' the video features the Marvel Comics guru showing off items from his personal archive, interspersed with a two-hour interview conducted by comics-loving filmmaker Kevin Smith, who cast Lee as himself in 1995's ''Mallrats.''

In the tradition of such auto racing legends as Jay Leno, Anthony Edwards, and Elaine Irwin-Mellencamp, Jim Caviezel will get to drive the Corvette pace car at this year's Indianapolis 500. ''For a race fan like me, being in control of the pace car ahead of those 33 race machines will be an adrenaline rush second to none,'' said the 33-year-old ''Frequency'' star in a statement. ''I know I could win a race, but only if it was written into a movie script. For me, an Oscar would come easier.'' Given the reviews of his movies ''Angel Eyes'' and the current, ''High Crimes,'' don't be too sure.