Today's Film News: Seth Rogen Can Save the World?

By Katey Rich

Turns out Seth Rogen is more powerful than any of us ever imagined. Not only has the Pineapple Express star and co-writer managed to get a feature film made of a short Internet video he made with his friends, but he and co-writer/producer Evan Goldberg will get final cut on the project at Mandate Pictures. The Hollywood Reporter says Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse will star Rogen and Knocked Up co-star Jay Baruchel as two guys who, cooped up in hiding after monsters take over the world, still can't stop fighting.

Speaking of Knocked Up alums, Katherine Heigl will take on her first big dramatic role, starring as Carolyn Jessop in an adaptation of her memoir Escape, about her life with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints. The polygamist FLDS church came under scrutiny in 2006 when its leader, Warren Jeffs, was arrested for arranging marriages between older men and teenage girls (Jessop was in one of these marriages at the compound in Utah). Variety writes that Heigl will produce with her mother, Nancy, along with Michael Menchel and Cat Williams.

What Just Happened?, one of Sundance's most high-profile entries that did not get picked up for distribution, will finally see release thanks to Magnolia Pictures, a distribution sibling of the movie's own production company, 2929 Pictures. Variety writes that the movie, which stars Robert De Niro, Stanley Tucci, Catherine Keener and others, will open in limited release on October 3. 

And finally, I love the headline of this Reporter piece: "License to print money for Disney." Apparently the company's earnings for film-related merchandise will rise 12% this year to a record $30 billion globally. After all, this is the company that can sell you not just your own stuffed Nemo or Cars pajamas, but posters of the "High School Musical" cast and virtually anything you want with Hannah Montana's face on it. I'd complain about consumerism and the like, but I'll have to wait until I get my stuffed WALL-E.