REEL DEALS De Niro, meet Del Toro. Del Toro, De Niro. The Oscar-winning actors are poised to team up on ''Chaos,'' a remake of the Japanese thriller ''Kaosu,'' about a kidnapping gone awry. Benicio Del Toro is attached to play the kidnapper, with Robert De Niro producing and possibly costarring as the kidnap victim's wealthy husband....
The gave Barry Sonnenfeld his first break when they hired him as the cinematographer for their first movie, 1984's ''Blood Simple.'' Now, the ''Men in Black 2'' director is returning the favor. He'd been attached to shoot a remake of the classic Alec Guinness comedy ''The Ladykillers'' (1955). Now, he'll just produce, handing the movie over to the Coens to write and direct. Maybe he should have given them ''Big Trouble,'' too....
Casting doubt on whether any of the Hollywood studios can make money yet on downloadable movies, 20th Century Fox is pulling out of Movies.com, its joint venture with Disney to bring a film-on-demand subscription service to the Internet. ''After considering the potential regulatory process and logistical issues and carefully examining technological and marketplace developments,'' Fox said in a statement, it had ''determined that the joint venture was not an appropriate initiative at this time.'' It's not clear whether Disney will still go ahead with the project alone, but it continues to maintain the movies.com site as a place for film trailers and publicity information.
LEGAL BRIEFS ''Saturday Night Live'' star Darrell Hammond is taking the heat over allegations that he accidentally set fire to his then-girlfriend's apartment in 1995 while cat-sitting. He's being sued by the First Central Insurance Company for allegedly causing $25,000 worth of damage with an unextinguished cigarette. Hammond's lawyer, however, says the comic wasn't even in the Manhattan apartment when the blaze occurred and tells the New York Post that the insurance carrier is ''just trying to squeeze money out of him now that he's famous.''...
It's the battle of the movie-ticketing services, as Fandango is suing AOL Moviefone (like EW.com, an AOL Time Warner company) for alleged interference in a deal with the Loews Cineplex theater chain. In the suit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles, Fandango alleges that Moviefone got Loews to back out of an exclusive deal to sell advance tickets via Fandango and sign with Moviefone instead. ''The loss of the [agreement] may result in the demise of Fandango due to defendants' deceitful activity,'' the plaintiffs argued, asking for punitive and compensatory damages and an injunction and enforcement of its contract with Loews. Moviefone's lawyer called the suit ''baseless.'' If you know the outcome of the suit you would like to see, please press ''1'' now.
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