February 15, 2008

Transformers 2, Justice League Of America, Lost Sort Out What's Next After Writers' Strike

By Shawn Adler (MTV.com)

Three months and billions of dollars in damages later, the writers' strike is officially over, as 92.5 percent of Writers Guild of America members voted to approve a new contract Tuesday.

But as writers everywhere shout, "Woo-hoo!," fans are left asking, "What now?" As in, what can they expect out of their favorite shows and filmmakers?

"It's going to be brutal trying to get the town started up, figuring out which movies are still happening, which TV shows are going to try to finish their seasons," screenwriter John August (Big Fish, Charlie's Angels) wrote last week on his blog. "You know when there's a big evacuation - fire, hurricane - and the residents are finally allowed back to their houses? It will be like that."

We sifted through some of the remains to find out what was still left standing.

Executives close to several major films derailed by the strike, including Oliver Stone's Vietnam drama Pinkville and Michael Bay's Transformers 2, told MTV News that there are no status updates relating to their projects. Representatives from Ixtlan, a production company associated with Pinkville, admitted they are unsure of what will happen with the drama, particularly given that Stone has already been linked in reports to another film, Bush, a biopic of the current president.

Likewise, DreamWorks Studios claims to have no production office set up for the Transformers sequel, despite Bay's controversial claim that he wrote the script for the feature during the strike.

Other films - such as the Da Vinci Code follow-up, Angels & Demons, which will reunite the cast and crew from the 2006 worldwide phenomenon; and Nine, with Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Marion Cotillard - have been pushed back to 2009, according to sources at the studios.

Perhaps the biggest semi-permanent casualty of the strike is Johnny Depp's Shantaram, which centered on a former heroin addict who reinvents himself as a Bombay doctor. The film was originally supposed to begin filming in February, before an incomplete script forced Depp to sign on to another project, Michael Mann's Public Enemies. Two independent sources close to the project told MTV News that there is no current movement on the film and that it remains on hold indefinitely.

The Justice League of America movie, meanwhile, which was put on hold last month, could still move forward with its current cast (including Adam Brody as the Flash and Common as the Green Lantern) as early as the summer, according to Variety.

On the TV front, news is more concrete as it pertains to the current television season. Shows such as Desperate Housewives, The Office, 30 Rock and House should all return to the airwaves with new episodes (as many as six to eight) before the summer, according to statements made to Entertainment Weekly.

Other shows, such as 24 and Heroes, will almost certainly not return until next year, due to the serial nature of their programming.

ABC's Lost currently has eight episodes completed, only two of which have already aired (the third debuts Thursday night [February 14]). With the actors currently on standby, it is the writers' "intention of making sure ... more episodes [are produced] this season," executive producer Damon Lindelof told EW.

"How many and how they will be aired is a conversation we'll be having with our bosses," he told the magazine, "but as soon as we've got a plan, we'll tell the fans first."