Will Scorsese's post-'Hugo' project be the serial killer pic' Snowman?'

Martin Scorsese's currently riding the critical (but not box-office) success of Hugo, which received double-digit Oscar nominations. However, with Scorsese passed up for the Directors Guild Award in favor of The Artist's Michel Hazanavicius, it looks like Hugo won't be as much of a winner as some of the director's earlier works. For his next project he may be returning to what he does best--suspense and crime.  After receiving approval by author Jo Nesbø, Scorsese will direct The Snowman, an adaptation of a Scandinavian crime novel. Interestingly, the book is the seventh in the series starring this character, unusual given that most adaptations start at number one. The anti-hero at the center of it all is Norwegian detective Harry Hole. He's a smoker and drinker, and generally only put up with by his police department because he's such a brilliant detective. The case he'll solve is also quite chilling. It involves a boy who wakes up one morning to find his mother missing and her scarf wrapped around a freshly-built snowman. It turns out this incident is just one of many, but Hole's pursuit of the case may be playing directly into the serial killer's hands.

Despite having virtually no violent crime, Scandinavia has been a hotbed for thrilling books, movies, and television shows, perhaps to replace all that drama its people aren't getting in real life. The media that has crossed over to the U.S. includes The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Sweden), "The Killing," (Denmark/Sweden), Let the Right One in (Sweden), and, loosely, Reykjavik-Rotterdam (Iceland), just remade as Contraband and currently in theatres. Another adaptation of Nesbø's work, Headhunters, has become one of the most successful Norwegian films of all time. The material and movement Scorsese's working with must be good.

Matthew Michael Carnahan (World War Z) is scripting the Working Title production. Scorsese has seven directing projects listed on his IMDB page, so there's no word on whether or not it will be his next project. I doubt Scorsese will set a date for anything until after the Oscars at the end of February.

Doug Liman's 'Moon': 'Ocean's Eleven' in outer space?

By Sarah Sluis

Doug Liman's latest project, Moon, may be set out of this world, but its plot reminds me of those jetsetting heist/spy movies. After all, it would just be plain old boring if Jason Bourne or James Bond or the Ocean's Eleven crew did all their fighting stateside. The script for Moon centers on a group of ex-space agency employees, led by a woman (Another switch-up from routine, but maybe it's easier to go the Sigourney Weaver route in space). Their "mission" involves stealing space equipment and eventually capturing a NASA employee in their quest to go to the Moon, where they can mine the celestial body's energy source.

Liman's most famous for directing the first Bourne movie, which had the action sequences, intrigue, and travelogue feel of the Bond movies with a little less swagger. He also directed the stylish Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but misfired in his first foray into the sci-fi genre, Jumper. That film, which centers on a young man with the ability to teleport across time and place, garnered a mixed review from our critic Frank Lovece, who praised aspects of Liman's work. With these kinds of credentials, Liman seems exceptionally qualified to direct. He also has a historical drama in the works, Attica, but perhaps he's shelved it after the tepid box-office reception to Fair Game, another based-on-a-true-story script.

Moon (which will likely be renamed to avoid confusion with the 2009 movie with the same title) managed to keep the same star, Jake Gyllenhaal, even as it cycled from DreamWorks to Paramount. But no more. Up for the male roles are Andrew Garfield, Emile Hirsch, and Chris Pine. The list of possible leading ladies is more extensive. THR reports that Rosario Dawson, Megan Fox, Rachel McAdams, Eva Mendes, Zoe Saldana and Olivia Wilde are being considered for the part.

If Liman can assemble a cast with the proper chemistry, Paramount will greenlight the project for a shoot later this summer. I love space movies, but the genre has been in need of some punching up. Moon seems to be it. With NASA funding being cut and cut, the future of space travel is commercial. What better way to comment on that than by creating a film about anti-heroes pilfering space equipment so they can steal the Moon's energy source? Sign me up.

From 'The Hobbit' to 'Haunted Mansion'?

By Sarah Sluis

When Guillermo del Toro left his directing duties on The Hobbit because of production delays, I expected him to move on to something equally grand. But it's hard to one-up the world of Middle Earth, so it looks as though del Toro will be taking things down a notch, and going either more commercial, or more epic and

off the beaten path.

First up is an announcement that del Toro will tackle an adaptation of the theme park ride Haunted Mansion. While I've gone on that ride a number of times (its short wait times make it a good option for time-conscious theme park-goers) and enjoyed its friendly creepiness, I've never been "inspired" by it the way del Toro claims to be. He told THR that he has a room in his home devoted to memorabilia of the ride, and "When I'm depressed or when I have a problem, I ride the Haunted Mansion ride to clear my head." While I was momentarily buoyed by his clear passion for this idea, I was dismayed by the plan to make it a "four-quadrant" movie. I can't think of many scary movies that appeal to both kids and adults. More likely, there will be either bored adults or kids who remember the movie as a scarring experience. Del Toro will co-write and produce the movie, with a "possibility" of directing.

In an exclusive, Entertainment Weekly speculates that del Toro will next direct At the Mountain of Madness, based on his adaptation of a 1930s H.P. Lovecraft novel. The plot centers on a Shackleton-esque group of explorers traversing the Antarctic who encounter a group of tentacled monsters. I love the way open spaces can look creepy, from Christopher Nolan's Alaska-set Insomnia to the famous cornfield scene in North by Northwest, so I'm more on board with this project due to its setting alone. Since it's expected that del Toro will announce his next project when he previews another haunted house film he co-wrote and produced, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, to Comic-Con audiences this weekend, we'll be kept in blissfully short suspense.

Miley Cyrus eyes a 'Twilight'-like role in 'Wake'

By Sarah Sluis

Miley Cyrus has already gone from being a tween superstar to a household name among all ages. Now she's doing something harder: aging up and into more mature roles. Cyrus may star in Wake, the first in a series of young adult novels about a girl who gets caught up in other people's dreams. It sounds like her character

has a similar talent to Leonardo DiCaprio in this summer's Inception, but her gift is more supernatural and less sci-fi. Because the book has horror and suspense elements, the tone will be edgier without being sexier. She's gotten a lot of heat lately for provocative performances at recent concerts, but the seventeen-year-old's first non-Hannah Montana feature was comparatively tame. She played the lead in The Last Song, a Nicholas Sparks adaptation that was written especially for her and thus certified to be Cyrus family-friendly.

Wake is the first in a series that now encompasses three books, the latter two entitled Fade and Gone. The girl, Janie, has the ability to go inside other people's dreams if they are physically near her. She also discovers that she can direct their dreams, turning the fears expressed in nightmares into something more manageable. She can give people closure. She drops in on the dream of a burnout named Cabel, and discovers that there's a lot more there than meets the eye--he becomes her boyfriend and later her sidekick as she tries to figure out who dreamed one horrible dream she cannot forget. The movie will be distributed by Paramount and MTV Films (which passed on Twilight) is developing the project. Christopher Landon (Disturbia) will write the script, and whether or not Cyrus gets on board will depend on the quality of the script.

So kudos to Miley. The project's supernatural overtones put it in the trendy Twilight territory without being directly vampire-related.Also, although the heroine has a boyfriend, it's not a romance, so Cyrus isn't going the rom-com route--thank goodness. She's still stuck in a hard game, and there's plenty of popular young actresses popular in the tabloids but unable to make the switch to adult roles. Lindsay Lohan crashed and burned her way out of Disney movies, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have more success now with fashion than they do on movie sets. Cyrus has never appealed to me--she has a kind of awkward demeanor that's inconsistent with being a movie star without being charming in its own way. While she has hordes of young fans, it's possible that her grown-up fans may want to cast her off instead of growing up with her. Just one more note to Miley about her image: stop slouching!

Disney's got a date for 'Prom'

By Sarah Sluis

Yesterday, the blogosphere was circulating with the news that Disney had passed on The Proposal 2, despite the fact that the original movie made over $300 million worldwide while costing just $40 million. The supposed reason? Not enough merchandising.

Today, Disney announced that a project developed under previous production head Oren Aviv has been put back on track. Entitled Prom, the movie would follow around nine teenagers as they prepare for the big event. The ensemble focus makes it seem like a teen version of Valentine's Day, but the studio is hoping the young, high school focus will replicate the success of High School Musical. The financial hook for the movie includes a low, low budget, in the neighborhood of $5-10 million, and a cast of unknowns. As in High School Musical, the studio hopes to launch some new stars. Disney, along with Nickelodeon, is a clearinghouse for young stars that it likes to shepherd into fame. If Disney writes a clause in a contract that calls for a sequel or an option to appear in a subsequent film, it could lock in an actor that becomes a star through his/her appearance in Prom, most likely at a lower rate.

Although a teen romance may not seem like the biggest opportunity for merchandising, Google proved me wrong. The High School Musical franchise has fleece blankets, Barbie knock-offs, life-size photos/standees, logo wristbands, pens, hair products, Christmas stockings, hair ties, calendars, toothbrushes, a "four-piece study kit" (a.k.a. pencil pouch, sharpener, eraser and ruler), umbrellas, board games--a child could have an entire room full of High School Musical merchandise.

The one snag to this film in my mind is a theatrical release. The High School Musical movies were able to build a huge following because they were constantly played on the Disney Channel. Because it was a musical (which this movie will not be), it encouraged repeat viewings as kids interacted with the movie, trying to learn the songs and dances that went along with it. While Disney has incredible access and experience with the teen market, launching a movie without any stars will be challenging--but one that Disney is the most equipped to handle. And with a $5-10 million investment, there's not much to lose.