Will Venom Be Back?

Venom fanboys have had to carry around the disappointment of seeing their favorite character shoved into the awful Spider-Man 3.  However, producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach have never given up the ghost of the slobbering Spidey foe.  As recently as this past March, some news surfaced that Chronicle director Josh Trank was in talks to helm a new movie featuring the villain/anti-hero.  However, how do you have Venom without Spider-Man and how do you have a Venom movie if the character isn’t in The Amazing Spider-Man?

Hit the jump for how Venom might fit into the new comic-book world The Amazing Spider-Man is spinning.

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Len Wiseman to Direct Contemporary Remake of Total Recall

Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard, "Underworld" films) is in final negotiations to direct Columbia Pictures' Total Recall, it was announced today by Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach, presidents of Columbia Pictures. The film will be a new, contemporized adaptation of Total Recall, which was based on the story, "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick. Kurt Wimmer is writing the screenplay. Neal H. Moritz will produce through his Original Film banner.

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Jaden Smith is the new ‘Karate Kid’

Columbia Pictures is back in the dojo with a new version of the 1984 hit "The Karate Kid", which has been refashioned as a star vehicle for Jaden Smith.

The film will be produced by Jerry Weintraub (who launched the original franchise) and Overbrook Entertainment's James Lassiter, Will Smith and Ken Stovitz. Will Smith, who is the 10-year-old actor's father, co-starred alongside Jaden in his feature debut, "The Pursuit of Happyness," which Overbrook and Escape Artists produced for Columbia.

The script is being written by Chris Murphy, and the film will shoot next year in Beijing and other cities. While the new film will be set in that exotic locale, it will borrow elements of the original plot, wherein a bullied youth learns to stand up for himself with the help of an eccentric mentor.

China Film Group Corp. will co-produce in China.

The younger Smith, who next stars in "The Day the Earth Stood Still," is a martial arts practitioner.

Columbia presidents Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach said they had been trying to find a way to bring back the series, which began with three films that featured Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita. A subsequent film launched the career of Hilary Swank.