According to Variety, Matt Damon will re-team with his Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum director Paul Greengrass on the adaptation of Imperial Life in the Emerald City.

Damon would play a composite character based on figures in Washington Post scribe Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s tome about chaos in Iraq.

Chandrasekaran was the Washington Post’s Baghdad bureau chief during the invasion and his book is essentially about the chaotic attempts of the United States to bring down Iraq leader Saddam Hussein and set up a provisional government in his place.

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Disney has inked a first-look deal with legendary Spider-Man creator Stan Lee, says Variety.

The multiyear contract will see Lee - who’s other creations include The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Daredevil and The Silver Surfer - develop and produce all forms of entertainment (movies, DVD, television, publishing) for all Disney divisions.

None of the projects will be a rehash of Lee’s already established stories and characters though. ‘They’re all going to be new and original. The whole purpose is to come up with new things, and Marvel owns the old characters anyway,’ Lee said. ‘Kids don’t change. The surface values change, but the intrinsic qualities don’t. The human condition doesn’t change, and people, no matter what their age or situation, respond to a really good story with characters they can believe in, which is replete with surprises. As long as we can keep coming up with that, I don’t think there’ll be a problem.’

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Transformers producer Tom DeSanto has set his sights on turning the multiplayer online role-playing game City of Heroes into a live-action film that will then be transitioned to television in some form, reports Variety.

The game, first released in 2004 and later spawning a comic book series, focuses on a group of superheroes who live in Paragon City and must team in order to fight an invasion of aliens known as the Rikti. Paying a monthly fee, players design their own superhero character who are sent to battle supervillains, aliens, madmen and other criminals. An expansion of the game also enables players to create their own villainous character.

DeSanto was drawn to the project because it offers ‘one-stop shopping’ for characters and plots. ‘You also haven’t seen a big superheroes vs. aliens movie,’ he said. ’I see this as the next big superhero franchise.’

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Dutch-born, UK-based writer/director Menno Meyjes (The Color Purple) has plans to shoot Last Battle Dreamer, a $20 million love story set in 9th century England against the backdrop of the Viking invasions, says Variety.

The film will be shot on location in the UK this autumn. ‘When I moved to England 10 years ago, I was struck by the countryside, how verdant it was and how tempting it must have appeared to invaders, what a ripe piece of fruit it was,’ the director said. ‘I thought it would be amazing to do a film about a guy who comes from a barren, flinty landscape, and who falls in love with a woman and at the same time with a certain idea of civilization.’ Casting is currently underway for an American star for the male lead, a Viking warrior, and a British actress for the role of the English noblewoman he falls in love with.

Meyjes’ new film Manolete, a Spanish bullfight movie starring Adrien Brody and Penelope Cruz, is currently in post-production.

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An official announcement on IndianaJones.com has confirmed that Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone and John Hurt have joined Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf in the cast of Indiana Jones IV.

Also included in the post is a message from retired actor Sean Connery, who confirms that he will not return to play Indy Sr.: ‘I thought long and hard about it and if anything could have pulled me out of retirement it would have been an Indiana Jones film. I love working with Steven and George, and it goes without saying that it is an honor to have Harrison as my son. But in the end, retirement is just too damned much fun. I, do however, have one bit of advice for Junior: Demand that the critters be digital, the cliffs be low, and for goodness sake keep that whip by your side at all times in case you need to escape from the stunt coordinator! This is a remarkable cast, and I can only say, ‘Break a leg, everyone.’ I’ll see you on May 22, 2008, at the theater!’

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According to Variety, Warner Bros. optioned a script by Paul Sopocy (Staring at the Sun) to adapt the popular 1980s animated series Thundercats into a CGI-animated feature film.

Thundercats revolves around a group of humanoid cats who must flee their planet of Thundera after it is destroyed. Once crash-landing on another planet, Third Earth, they must thwart the evil sorcerer Mumm-Ra, who’s bent on killing them off.

Sopocy’s script is an origin story that expands on the major heroes and villains from the animated series, with the plot focusing on Lion-O coming of age as the leader of the Thundercats.

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With the conclusion to Harry Potter around the corner, Warner Bros. has moved to secure the screen rights to author Terry Brooks’ best-selling fantasy series The Shannara, reports Variety.

The studio is hoping to create a new franchise out of the 14-book series, which is set 1,000 years in the future, in a world populated by elves, trolls, gnomes and dwarves in a post-apocalyptic Earth. The Shannara family is a half-Elf, half-man clan with magical abilities and warrior skills who must save the world.

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