Remember when you considered George Lucas a demigod because he invented two of the most indisputably great franchises ever created? Well, as if he didn’t disappoint you enough with the last few Star Warses, now he’s doing some kind of cartoon musical with fairies : George Lucas is tackling his first musical. The untitled, top-secret CGI-animated film is in preproduction at Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch in Marin County. Kevin Munroe is directing the CGI film, which is expected to feature music from a variety of sources. Munroe hails from the animated world and made his directorial debut in 2007 with the fourth Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, “TMNT.” Plot details are locked tighter than the plans for the Death Star, but one element known is that the script features fairies. George Lucas makes movies that influence countless future generations of filmmakers; one of those filmmakers does a cheap, straight-to-video CGI Tinkerbell movie that apparently influences George Lucas. The circle is complete.

Man, they just knocked it out of the park. Plus, now we know the bizarre inspiration behind Prince’s Batdance . ( via )

“Yes, I am Daniel Day-Lewis, and, yes, I am WALKING on a COUCH. That’s right, the same manner of couch you’ve been quaintly using as seating for oh so many years, and I’m walking on it–practically the exact opposite of sitting! Sorry I don’t believe in labels. Unconventional? Sure. Offensive? I’m not trying to start a revolution. DDL just plays it like he sees it, and when he sees a couch, sometimes he just wants to take a little backlit stroll across it. Deal.” (Thanks, Phijsl.) ‘Nine’ Pictures [Rotten Tomatoes]

The Grinch may have stolen Christmas, but Kingston's stealing my heart in this little engineer-striped jumpsuit! Gwen and Gavin left Zuma at home to take their eldest to the Pantages theater today to catch a matinee of How The Grinch…

From MSN , here’s the first poster for Nine , Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of a musical based on a play based on Fellini’s 8½ . There’s a bit of an error on the image though; one thing doesn’t belong. Can you spot it? Here’s a hint: it’s the thing that looks like the corpse of a meth-addled Gothic hooker who was brutally beaten and found in a ravine weeks later. Honestly, if they’re going to put Tim Burton’s Battle Damage Fergie on this thing, at least try to bury her on the end or something. Don’t start with her. She’s tainting the whole thing. I’d rather see her septuagenarian co-star Judi Dench in a corset than have to stare at this Victorian brothel Swamp Thing.

Paramount just can’t hang on to alumni of Disney’s musical high school. Variety reports Kenny Ortega, director of This Is It and heir to the Ortega taco-making supplies fortune (unconfirmed), has departed from the studio’s planned Footloose remake over disputes about tone and budget. Fellow High School Musical participant Zac Efron had earlier left the project to be replaced by his faerie brethren, Chase Crawford. Paramount is still looking to keep the film on track for March shooting, and is looking for an immediate replacement. Personally, I’m less concerned about who’s going to replace Ortega than who’s going to replace original theme composer and certified hitmaker, Kenny Loggins. Because the answer is no one can replace Kenny Loggins. A Loggins-less world is not one worth small-town-dancing in, that much I can tell you.

Rock of Ages , the Tony Awards-nominated Broadway musical known for combining live theater with frat boy karaoke–and, locally, for having this really, really obnoxious guy in the commercials (above)–is getting the ol’ movie treatment. Variety reports Adam Shankman ( Hairspray ) will direct, working from a script from Ages creator Chris D’Arienzo. With fellow musical adaptation Mamma Mia! having raked in over $609 million worldwide, New Line Cinema expects similarly impressive numbers for this film–assuming that, between now and the release, no one realizes you can listen to the same songs, sung by the actual artists and without all the annoying story elements, by turning on a radio.

It’s what everyone who thinks Indian and Arab are the same people has been waiting for: an Indian version of Aladin ! It’s like Aladdin , only with one “d”, Bollywood dance numbers instead of Gilbert Gottfried the Parrot, and someone called “The Ringmaster.” And apparently it’s coming to theaters because some people might think it’s Slumdog Millionaire 2 . Here’s the trailer . I like that the initial titles first make you think it’s a porn, then a cheesy corporate video, before finally revealing that it’s actually a lost ’90s NBC TV movie. (Thank you, faithful tipster Brayden Jamez.)

The difficult-to-find cult documentary Hands on a Hard Body is become a musical? So Variety tells me! The film focused on a group of eccentric Texas characters competing in a contest of endurance to hold their hands on a truck the longest, thereby winning the vehicle; the Doug Wright and Amanda Green-scripted musical would presumably focus on the same, but with occasional song-and-dance breaks. Well, at least this might bring enough attention to Hands on a Hard Body for the film to get a proper DVD release. And now visiting tourists have an alternative to Shrek: The Musical that they’ll never see under the assumption it’s “some kinda gay thing.”

The difficult-to-find cult documentary Hands on a Hard Body is become a musical? So Variety tells me! The film focused on a group of eccentric Texas characters competing in a contest of endurance to hold their hands on a truck the longest, thereby winning the vehicle; the Doug Wright and Amanda Green-scripted musical would presumably focus on the same, but with occasional song-and-dance breaks. Well, at least this might bring enough attention to Hands on a Hard Body for the film to get a proper DVD release. And now visiting tourists have an alternative to Shrek: The Musical that they’ll never see under the assumption it’s “some kinda gay thing.”