Aziz Ansari and Jason Woliner have scored a hat-trick, selling three movie concepts to Judd Apatow and Universal Pictures.

Recently there has been buzz surrounding one of the three to-be pictures, a spinoff of Aziz Ansari’s Randy character from ‘Funny People.’ The project is still untitled. But now Variety is reporting that the comedic trio will be involved in two other movies together. All three are thematically different.

The second successful sale is a film with the working title ‘Let’s Do This,’ which will be a road comedy about two men who work for a motivational speaking company. The third movie, still untitled, centres around Ansari’s character, a cosmonaut who must return to outer space to clear his name.

Landing all three movie deals came as a surprise to Ansari and Woliner who planned to play a game of odds, initially pitching three ideas hoping one would sell.

“We didn’t expect all three to work,” said Ansari. “We had a breakfast meeting with Judd and pitched them. We were like, ‘Which one do you like?’ He wanted all three.”

Woliner will direct all three projects while Ansari will star in them. The pair are expected to co-write at least one of the films.

This isn’t the first time the comedic duo have teamed up. Actor/writer Ansari, and director/writer Woliner have collaborated on the MTV sketch comedy series, ‘The Human Giant.’

Ansari will be seen next in ‘Get Him to the Greek,’ a comedy produced by Apatow and Universal Pictures, expected to release next year.

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There has been much news about the pending third installment in the ‘Meet the Parents’ franchise. Talk is centering around who is returning for the project — which will be titled ‘Little Fockers’ and involve five-year-old Focker twins — and who is joining anew.

Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Owen Wilson and Robert DeNiro are coming back. Jessica Alba, Harvey Keitel and Laura Dern are coming in. Barbra Streisand’s return as Roz Focker, the sex therapist mother of Ben Stiller’s character Gaylord, seems certain. But Dustin Hoffman reprising his role as Roz’s husband Bernie is looking increasingly unlikely.

EW.com reports that there has been strife between Hoffman and the studio over the size of the part, the scheduling of the days on set and other difficulties.

Sources told the entertainment magazine that Hoffman had tentatively agreed to appear in what was to be a “very funny cameo” at the end of the film but that seems to have now fallen apart, due to either salary or scheduling issues, or both.

Hoffman is reportedly working on the film adaptation of the Mordechai Richler novel, ‘Barney’s Version’ — currently in production — in which he plays Barney’s father Izzy.

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Add another to the list of remakes. Today’s addition? ‘The Howling.’

Variety says indie producers Joel Kastelberg and Moonstone Entertainment’s Etchie Stroh are re-launching the werewolf franchise as ‘The Howling: Reborn.’

Joe Nimziki will write the script and make his feature directorial debut. Nimziki is a former studio marketing executive who has worked at New Line, MGM and Sony.

The original ‘Howling,’ released in 1981,was directed by Joe Dante (‘Gremlins 2: The Second Batch,’ ‘Innerspace’) and written by John Sayles. Dee Wallace-Stone starred as Karen White, a news anchor stalked by a serial killer who turns out to be a werewolf. Karen and her husband are sent by her therapist to a secluded resort in the countryside, called ‘The Colony,’ where the inhabitants may not be what they seem. ‘The Howling’ was based on a novel of the same name by Gary Brandner, and followed by six sequels.

The reboot is due to start shooting in February and a Halloween release is expected. Plot details are being kept under wraps. Variety says Steve Lane and Bob Pringle, who served as executive producers on the original, will also executive produce ‘The Howling: Reborn.’

Kastelberg’s credits include ‘Bodies, Rest and Motion,’ ‘Mr. Jealousy’ and ‘Kicking and Screaming.’ Stroh’s include ‘Cookie’s Fortune,’ ‘Dancing at the Blue Iguana’ and ‘Stranger Than Fiction.’

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Hugh Jackman will star in Steven Spielberg’s new DreamWorks robot tale, ‘Real Steel.’ Variety says the story revolves around Jackman as a former fighter who is forced to reinvent himself as a boxing promoter when human fighters are replaced by robots. Jackman struggles until he discovers a discarded robot that always seems to win, while at the same time, he learns of a young son he never knew he had. A father/son bonding tale ensues as the robot brawls its way up the ranks.

‘Night at the Museum’ director Shawn Levy will direct. Levy describes the film as a “rousing sports movie” with Jackman’s character “a former boxer who can no longer do the only job he’s good at, and one particular robot that may be his return to grace.”

Based on a short story by ‘I am Legend’ author Richard Matheson, Variety says ‘Real Steel’ was one of 17 projects taken in DreamWorks’ split from Paramount last year. The film will be the studio’s first film since raising $875 million from J.P. Morgan Securities, Reliance Big Pictures and Disney. ‘Real Steel’ has a budget of $80 million.

If the plot sounds a little ‘Terminator’ or ‘Transformers,’ Levy assured Sci Fi Wire the movie is “more ‘Rocky’ than ‘Transformers.’”

The story, he says is “very much about a down-on-his-luck, slightly desperate journeyman who works in this robot boxing sport and who is desperately needing redemption and one last shot.”

The robots are “most definitely not Transformers, not Terminators, definitely not WALL-Es, either,” Levy said. “Unlike a lot of these others, these are human-built, human-scale fighting machines. They are built for human spectacle. People in this movie have gotten bored with human carnage and human violence. So in the quest for more, more, more, this sport has evolved to this.”

Production starts in June.

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50 Cent and Val Kilmer will collaborate on a new movie. The rapper and the veteran actor appeared at the American Music Awards together over the weekend. 

At the event, the pair told MTV that 50 cent had written a movie in which he and Kilmer are set to star.

“We’ve got a project that we’re working on together,” said 50 Cent, who just released his album ‘Before I Self Destruct,’ and film of the same name. “It [starts] in December.”

“It’s called ‘The Gun,’ and it’s about a gun,” Kilmer added. “It’s a really good title. He wrote it.”

50 Cent, who has written three feature-film scripts recently, told MTV the role Kilmer will be playing was transported from a different screenplay. “He’s actually a character from a different project, but I got him to come out of there when he saw the value of what he was looking for.”

The project, he said, has a “socially conscious” theme. “It’s about how a weapon goes from manufacturing to its distribution point, to being in a citizen’s custody — and how it ends up in the wrong hands. We watch the actual gun travel through a few different people’s hands.”

“I’m a criminal,” explained Kilmer, who said his were some of the hands through which the gun would pass.

This will be the second joint project for Kilmer and 50 who recently worked together on the straight-to-DVD release, ‘Streets of Blood.’ And there is talk of a musical venture as well.

“I know [Val can sing],” said 50 Cent, referring to the actor’s starring turn as Jim Morrison in ‘The Doors’ as well as an appearance in ‘Top Secret!’ “You think I don’t know?

“Yeah, there’s a possibility…you could hear something from us on this next album, if I can work that into the situation. But that’s hard.”

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Zac Efron wants to play a James Bond villain.

The actor, best know for his role in the ‘High School Musical’ series and who is currently starring in Richard Linklater’s ‘Me and Orson Welles,’ is looking to further expand his repertoire.

Contact Music quoted Efron as telling Absolute Radio host Christian O’Connell, “I’m a huge James Bond fan. I’d love to be a Bond baddie. I’ve seen pretty much every Bond film. Sean Connery is my favourite and I really like ‘Goldeneye’ with Pierce Brosnan.”

Currently, the Bond franchise is starring Daniel Craig.

Efron has played the popular captain of the basketball team in the ‘High School Musical’ movies, an actor in ‘Me and Orson Welles,’ and a grown man trapped in a teenager’s body in ‘17 again.’ He danced his way into Tracy Turnblad’s heart in the latest screen version of John Waters’ ‘Hairspray’ and will soon appear in ‘The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud’ and in ‘Johnny Quest.’ But the ideal role eludes him.

The 22 year old said, “I’m still waiting for that script and that director. I like a lot of movies from the 70s. A movie I just saw again and one of my favourites is ‘The Graduate.’”

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Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender are in talks to star in a feature adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre.’

The classic novel is about Jane, an orphan turned governess who finds herself at Thornfield Manor, in the employ of the surly but enigmatic and mysterious Edward Rochester. A romance ensues but Rochester is harboring a terrible secret. The novel is full of dark, sinister gothic elements, which the period piece will reportedly play up. 

The 1847 book has been adapted many, many times — including five silent film versions – most recently for the big screen in 1996 by Franco Zeffirelli. That version starred William Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg. ‘Jane Eyre’ has also been adapted for stage, ballet, opera and symphony.

Wasikowska, who will soon appear in Tim Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ alongside Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, replaces Ellen Page, who was attached to play Jane but left the project. Wasikowska is also set to star in an untitled Gus Van Sant project.

Michael Fassbender’s credits include ‘Inglourious Basterds’ and ‘Hunger.’ He will also appear in the screen adaptation of ‘Jonah Hex.’

‘Jane Eyre’ will be directed by Cary Fukunaga, whose only other feature is ‘Sin Nombre,’ an award-winning Spanish film.

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‘New Moon’ grossed an estimated $140.7 million at the domestic box office this weekend, and a worldwide opening total of $258.8 million, marking the third best opening weekend in film history.

Variety says the vampire romance flick, starring Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and Rob Pattinson, made $72.7 million on Friday alone, beating out ‘The Dark Knight’ for the best opening day in history. ‘New Moon’ also now boasts the record for most advanced ticket sales, as well as sales for midnight showings, besting ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ on the latter.

‘The Dark Knight,’ which opened in 2008 and features the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, remains the top-grossing weekend opener, with $158.4 million. And ‘Spider-Man 3′ holds still in second place, with $151.1 million in 2007.

‘The Blind Side,’ starring Sandra Bullock took the number 2 slot over the weekend. This was, according to Variety, an astounding overperformance. ‘2012′ was in third place, down from last week’s first, with $26.5 million (and an accumulated $108.2 million) and the animated family pic, ‘Planet 51,’ opened with $12.6 million, coming in at no. 4.

‘New Moon’ grossed nearly double the $69.6 million its predecessor ‘Twilight’ took in over its opening weekend last year.

Reports are that 80% of the ‘New Moon’ audience was female and, of those females, 50% were under 21, proving that one should never underestimate the market power of the teenaged girl

For years, studios have relied on fanboy-driven or family films for big opening grosses (see ‘The Dark Knight,’ ‘Spiderman 3′). But times could be changing.

Richie Fay of ‘New Moon’ production house, Summit Entertainment, said, “This blew away a lot of preconceived notions about who you should play to, and how you get to a certain group.”

As ‘New Moon’ breaks box office records — earning $258 million worldwide over its opening weekend — director Chris Weitz can pretty much have his pick of projects.

And Variety says he is in discussions with Summit Entertainment for his next flick. Weitz said he plans to go to work right away on ‘The Gardener,’ a movie about a hard-working immigrant living in Los Angeles.

“There are no werewolves or vampires, just a Mexican gardener in Los Angeles,” Weitz said.

If you read Weitz’s recent interview with Moviemaker magazine, you might think this will be his last film, as he told the mag he had one more film in him before he planned to call it a day and move onto non-moviemaking ventures. In the interview the director expressed frustration with the filmmaking process and its bureaucracies, particularly his experience making ‘The Golden Compass.’

Weitz maintains that ‘The Golden Compass’ was a difficult experience, saying, “It was an utter violation of my status as a director and the worst thing that has happened to me professionally.” He explained that the film was taken away from him and that heavy-handed editing by New Line eliminated 30 minutes of footage and neutered any of the edge evident in the Philip Pullman books.

However, he was reportedly reinvigorated by the experience of making ‘New Moon.’ Weitz said Summit Entertainment and author Stephenie Meyer trusted him to honour the books while adding his own stylistic touch.

“This was a wonderful experience by comparison,” said Weitz. “I got to work with terrific young actors at the top of their game, and see Taylor Lautner perform so well.”

Weitz said he was very happy to see ‘New Moon’ surpass grosses of ‘The Golden Compass.’

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Rachel McAdams will not be playing Felicia Hardy/Black Cat in Spider-Man 4. Reps for the Canadian actress have dismissed reports attaching her to the role.

Speculation has moved on to other actresses, including Julia Stiles (‘The Bourne Ultimatum’), British actress Romola Garai (‘Atonement’) and now, Anne Hathaway.

Deadline Hollywood’s Nikki Finke is reporting that the ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ star is in talks to appear in the coming fourth Spider-Man installment, and Empire Online is pointing out that Finke is often correct when it comes to Marvel.

Reports are that Felicia Hardy/Black Cat’s father will run the Daily Bugle. Hardy will start out as a hero, but when something happens to her father, she turns villain. It is also rumoured that the character will play rival to Kirsten Dunst’s character Mary Jane as a love interest for Peter Parker.

Word is that the film will feature two villains, one male and one female. Black Cat’s presence is starting to seem like a certainty – regardless of who will eventually play her – and the male foe is rumoured to be the Vulture. 

Tobey Maguire stars and production is supposed to begin early next year for a Summer 2011 release.

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