Today's Film News: The Sleepless Parent Trap

By Katey Rich

The Parent Trap was real! Lonely only children, rejoice! Mike Rich, a frequent screenwriter for Disney (The Rookie) has sold another spec script to the studio, said by Variety to be a comedy based on a true story that contains elements of The Parent Trap and Sleepless in Seattle. So two kids will be separated at birth and then reunite their parents when one of them calls into a radio advice show? I'm not really clear on the particulars, but the source material is foolproof for sure.

It looks like a new series of crime novels might be threatening John Grisham's work for movie adaptations, and Gary Fleder seems to be just the right director to kick things off. The Kiss the Girls and Runaway Jury director will take charge of The Deep Blue Good-by, the first of John McDonald's series of novels starring Travis McGee. The Hollywood Reporter describes the lead character as "a free-living bachelor and reluctant hero who lives on a houseboat in Florida." Given that the novels were all written in the 60s and 70s, it's hard not to imagine the character resembling Elliott Gould's take on Philip Marlowe in the similarly titled The Long Goodbye. Guess we'll have to wait and see if "it's OK with me" for McGee.

I plan to spend a lot of time in Central Park this summer, to avoid baking myself in my tiny apartment, but I never had high hopes for finding anything mystical there. Apparently Warner Bros. has other ideas. The studio has acquired a spec script about a fantasy realm in the city park, according to Variety, which will be written by Bryan Schulz and Neil Uliano. No word on just how you find the realm, but wardrobes and magical trains are soooo overdone. Magic Metrocard?

And finally, the publicity efforts surrounding San Diego's Comic Con are ramping up-- the three-day convention for sci-fi and comic book geeks has quickly become one of the highest-profile occasions for studios to reach out directly to fans. Warner Bros. is planning a no-holds-barred effort to promote their upcoming City of Ember, according to Variety. They'll outfit a train car like a set from the movie, and screen a 15-minute segment of the film in another car. Unlike most studio's efforts, though, Warner Bros. isn't tangling with the fans-- they're only making the car available to elite members of the press. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't conventions all about bringing people together and sharing ideas? Since when was Comic Con a glorified press junket?