Deadline Hollywood are running an exclusive story in which they claim that screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code) will receive $4 million for writing the Angels & Demons screenplay. The sum equals about twice the standard for Hollywood’s most in-demand writers, and seems all the more surprising considering the script will be an adaptation of Dan Brown’s novel (which is set prior to the events in The Da Vinci Code, but revolve around the same main character, Robert Langdon, who’s part in the film Tom Hanks is expected to reprise), and not an original one written directly for the screen.

The source site is very critical of such a deal, as it might make fair deals for fellow screenwriters even more difficult, and it would go against efforts to the contrary currently being undertaken by the Writer’s Guild Association (WGA).

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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest has sensationally become the UK’s fastest selling DVD of all time.

The sequel to 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, released on November 20 has sold just under 1.5 million copies in its first week of release, accounting for one in four DVDs sold during that period. Disney has reacted to the blockbusting sales figures by ordering one million extra copies from its plant in Mexico.

The movie has beaten Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire into second place but still has some catching up to do to equal the combined VHS/DVD record held by Titanic, with 2.2 million sales in its first week.

Click here to discuss Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest on the X-Boards.

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Six new TV spots for Fox’s upcoming fantasy epic Eragon have surfaced on iKlipz. Each clip runs for approximately thirty seconds and features some new footage and dialogue from the film. The last clip of the set even offers a sound extract of Rachel Weisz speaking. The was previously rumoured to be voicing the dragon Saphiran, and the TV spot seems to confirm this, although technically Weisz’s voice is only heard from the off, over a montage of scenes (i.e. we don’t see Saphira actually speaking to Weisz’s voice).

Use the following links to view the clips directly: Clip 2, Clip 3, Clip 4, Clip 5, Clip 6, Clip 7. Eragon opens in theaters December 15.

Click here to discuss the film in Realm of Fantasy on the X-Boards.

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Shirley Ghostman star Marc Wootton is set to star alongside comic Chris O’Dowd (The IT crowd) and American actress Anna Faris (My Super Ex-Girlfriend ) in a British sci-fi comedy called Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Gareth Carrivick is directing the project, which begins shooting next week and will be a Picturehouse release in association with BBC Films and HBO Films. Neil Peplow and Justin Smith are producing via Dog Lamp Films Ltd.

The script, written by Jamie Mathieson, follows three social outcasts — two geeks and a cynic — as they attempt to navigate a time-travel conundrum in the middle of a British pub. Faris plays a girl from the future who sets the adventure in motion.

Click here to discuss Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel on the X-Boards.

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