Movie Minesweeper - The Flipchart Flipper Edition

Ricky Gervais, Jack and the Beanstalk, Death Proof and Planet Terror DVDs, Anderson Tapes, Johnnie To, Pet Robots, Pros, Mimic special edition DVD, Painkiller.

- After Ghost Town wraps, Ricky Gervais has another studio film in the works. Early Retirement has been developed with Gervais in mind - news which, personally, fills me with dread. The film is a family comedy, in at least two senses of the phrase.

- The artwork for the 2-disc DVD releases of Death Proof and Planet Terror have been revealed, as have the special features for this first release.

- The cast for a live action Jack and the Beanstalk is starting to sound like the US equivalent of an end of the pier panto, or maybe like a VH1 reality show from the year 2015. Katey Sagal, Wallace Shawn, Christopher Lloyd, Chevy Chase - but don't get me wrong, I love them all. And Gilbert Gottfried's in there too, but I don't love him, 9-11 joke or no 9-11 joke.

- A new version of The Anderson Tapes is coming from producer Arthur Sarkissian (I might glibly predict Pierce Brosnan as the star). Also on Sarkissian's slate are Johnnie To's remake of Le Cercle Rouge and a comedy adapted from Everybody Eats There: Inside the World's Legendary Restaurants.

- Disney are to make a film of Pet Robots. No creatives are in place as yet.

- Larry Sanders vets Peter Huyck and Alex Gregory have set up Pros at Universal. The comedy revolves around a class war ignited when blue-collar kids get access to a country club's tennis courts for the summer.

- The videogame Painkiller is to become a film. Expect something cod-gritty, tedious and juvenile. Something like the absolute worst issues of the Spawn comic book.

- A special edition DVD of Mimic is in the works. Hurrah! I think talk of a director's cut is misguided - the interfernece didn't, I believe, take place in the editing room so much as in development, during casting and on set, a litte.