** January 12th 1998 - Movie News/Rumours **

Posters - A whole bunch of new movie posters today, including an advance poster for The X-Files Movie, and one for the upcoming Chris Farley - Matthew Perry movie, "Almost Heroes." I also updated the Poster Section today, took me a few hours, I added lots of new posters, and updated a few links!

Michelle Yeoh - United Artists has hired scribe Mitch Markowitz to script a comedic vehicle for Michelle Yeoh, who co-stars in the newest James Bond pic, Tomorrow Never Dies. In the planned pic, Yeoh would play a bodyguard hired to protect a famous comedian from overzealous fans. Since the comedian primarily appeals to children, however, his fans are harmless -- for the most part.

The Avengers - Right here is a site with lots of pictures from the movie, "The Avengers." Also, the new trailer for The Avengers is available today, haven't seen it myself, but I hear it's okay, the link is further down this page.

Wing Commander: The Movie will star Matthew Lillard (Scream, Hackers), Freddie Prinze Jr. (I Know What You Did Last Summer), Elise Neal (Scream 2, Money Talks), and Saffron Burrows (Circle of Friends, One Night Stand). Production begins later this month in Luxembourg and Germany, with Chris Roberts directing.

Joseph Fiennes, younger brother of Ralph, is set to star opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in Miramax Films' romantic comedy ''Shakespeare in Love.'' Variety reports that the picture, set in the 16th century, depicts William Shakespeare writing a play that turns out to be "Romeo and Juliet'' while a parallel love story develops in his own life. Industry watchers say Joseph Fiennes is likely to follow in his brother's footsteps as a major international star and 1998 is expected to be his breakthrough year. Joseph has three pictures set for release this year: "Martha - Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence,'' "St. Ives,'' and "Elizabeth.''

Box Office - For the fourth consecutive weekend, "Titanic" was the most popular movie at the box office. Studio estimates released yesterday show the film brought in another $29.2 million. A spokesman for Paramount Pictures says the romantic epic has now earned $198.4 million since its Dec. 19 release, and is poised to break the $200 million barrier today, its 25th day in theaters. "Good Will Hunting" took the second spot this week earning $10.3 million. Third place went to the romantic comedy "As Good as It Gets," with $9.3 million. "Wag the Dog" was fourth and the James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies" came in fifth.

** January 13th 1998 - Movie News/Rumours **

Jerry Zucker has committed to direct as his next film "A Course in Miracles," the Michael Petroni-scripted drama at Disney about a young priest with a crisis of faith who's assigned by the Vatican to verify or discount claims of miracles around the world. Over the course of his investigation, his faith is reaffirmed. The film will begin casting for a male lead for a June start.

The Entrapment - Sean Connery has chosen Catherine Zeta-Jones as his leading lady in 20th Century Fox's "The Entrapment." Connery is in L.A. in meetings with Fox on details of the film, to start in March with locations in Hong Kong and on stages at London's Pinewood. Connery tells them the budget is "between $70-100 million." And he sounded excited about the thriller, which will be made under his banner, Fountainbridge Films, whose president Rhonda Tollefson produces with Connery and Michael Hertzberg. Antoine Fuqua directs; he helmed a test of Zeta-Jones with Connery only last week in N.Y. after she had her first meeting with them in Rome earlier that week. In the test, Zeta-Jones told them, "We did one scene with dialog, then improvised, even danced. He was so very easygoing to work with."

Sphere - Six months after wrapping principal photography on "Sphere," director Barry Levinson has recalled the film's cast and crew to shoot a new ending. Test audiences responded coolly to the underwater sci-fi thriller's original climax, sources said. The Warner Bros. project is also getting some last-minute dialog replacement and new computer-generated visual effects, they added. Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone and Samuel L. Jackson star in the story about a secret Navy mission that explores what appears to be an alien spaceship deep in the ocean. It is based on Michael Crichton's 1987 novel of the same name. Warner Bros., which is recovering from a dreadful 1997 when it didn't have a single blockbuster, still aims to release "Sphere" on Feb. 13.

Eyes Wide Shut - It was supposed to finish last May, but Nicole and Tom are hoping it could, at last, be nearing completion. Warner Brothers have ordered the maverick helmster to finish filming Eyes Wide Shut this month so the couple can begin shooting I Married a Witch.

Alien Love Triangle - Kenneth Branagh is in final negotiations to star in “Alien Love Triangle,” the next film from the “Trainspotting” team of director Danny Boyle, writer John Hodge and producer Andrew Macdonald. The film will be funded and distributed by Dimension Films. Filmed as a three-segment anthology a la “New York Stories,” Boyle will direct a section scripted by Hodge. Pic tells the story of a man who finds out his wife is actually a male from another planet. Macdonald will produce under the trio’s Figment Films banner.

S.W.A.T. - Arnold Schwarzenegger and "Tomorrow Never Dies" director Roger Spottiswoode are considering working on a feature version of the '70s TV series "S.W.A.T." Although sources at TriStar have confirmed that they are talking to Spottiswoode about the project, a deal is understood to hinge on whether Schwarzenegger will star. Both Spottiswoode and Schwarzenegger are represented by the same agent, Robert Klein of the William Morris Agency, who declined to comment.