By Dave McNary

Paramount's snapped up feature to Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett's "Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel" and set it up with Paramount-based J.J. Abrams at his Bad Robot shingle.

The grahpic novel follows a robot designed in 1893 as a prototype for the stated purpose of "preventing the deaths of men in the conflicts of nations" -- leading to Boilerplate and his creator fighting combat alongside Teddy Roosevelt and Lawrence of Arabia, trekking to the South Pole and meeting with Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla.

Guinan and Bennett have been collaborating on comics and graphic novels since 1989, including the science-fiction series "Heartbreakers."

Abrams' next gig is directing "Super 8" for Paramount, which he's producing with Steven Spielberg.
"Super 8," written by Abrams and based on his original idea, is skedded for a summer 2011 release;  Abrams will follow "Super 8" with the "Star Trek" sequel, which hits theaters in 2012.

While it still has a shot at closing this year's Venice Film Festival, Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" was notably absent from today's lineup.

The Apparition pic, which stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, wasn't finished in time for the Cannes Film Festival this past May and had been anticipated to bow at one of the major festivals this fall. Word has it the film isn't even done yet, which explains why we haven't seen it listed in the Toronto, Venice or New York lineups.

Still, Venice organizers are scheduled to announce the fest's closing film on September 6 and you can bet your wallet they're saving a slot for Malick's "Tree."

"The Tree of Life," starring Pitt, Penn and Jessica Chastain, tells the tragic story of a family deal with loss in the 1950s.

Heath Ledger was originally supposed to star opposite Penn in the film but Pitt stepped in shortly before the actor's death in December 2007.

"The Tree of Life" opens nationwide November 20.

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By Stuart Oldham

Len Wiseman is in final talks to direct "Total Recall" for Columbia Pictures.

Neil H. Moritz will produce through his Original Films banner.

Based on the Philip K. Dick story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," the sci-fi actioner was first made into a feature in 1990 starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Columbia's feature reboot will be a "new, contemporized" adaptation of the story.

Kurt Wimmer is penning the screenplay.

Wiseman last directed "Live Free or Die Hard" having previously helmed the "Underworld" pics.

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By Tatiana Siegel

It's all in the family for Columbia Pictures, Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci. The studio is set to reunite with "Julie & Julia" principals Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci for the comedy "Mommy & Me."
 
Col acquired the package, which will star Streep and Tina Fey as a mother-daughter duo. Tucci is on board to helm. The Joby Harold-penned treatment has been making the rounds for the past few weeks. Studio, which scored a surprise boxoffice hit with "Julie & Julia," took a bite.

By Steven Gaydos

Call me an unrepentant auteurist, but when a seminal filmmaker produces a new work, even if it's a short film hawking a fashion brand, I'm still there.

And you've got to give Hollywood-boy-actor-turned-experimental-cinema-maestro-turned-"Hollywood Babylon"-author Kenneth Anger his props when it comes to changing the vocabulary of cinema.

Martin Scorsese's signature pop music tropes were a been-there, done-that for Anger, whose 1964 "Scorpio Rising" turned Hollywood iconography, rock n' roll, violence, ritualism and gay/biker culture into a frothy and delirious mix that hip young filmmakers are still cribbing from.

Dig back further into the Anger filmography and you find post-WWII-era groundbreakers like his 1947 "Fireworks." And yes, we can blame him for creating Perez Hilton and TMZ and the rest of their ilk with the aforementioned scandalous 1959 tome that linked an ancient culture of debauchery with the excesses of our favorite Hollywood stars, but we won't go there.
 
Kudos to the Italian fashion house Missoni for hiring the octogenerian helmer to create an alluring short film to launch their Fall 2010 line.

Director Zack Snyder returns with the femme-fantasy actioner "Sucker Punch" and judging from its first trailer, the CGI visuals are pretty spectacular.

Warner Bros./Legendary promoted the film this past weekend at Comic-Con.

Based on an original idea by Snyder, the story revolves around girl who's institutionalized by her stepfather and retreats into an alternative reality.

It's also worth noting that while Zack Snyder likes to sex up his visuals ("300") the stories, themselves, tend to suffer (pretty much every Dr. Manhattan scene in "Watchmen") so we'll just have to wait and see where "Sucker Punch" lands.

Emily Browning, Carla Gugino, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, and Jena Malone star in the film while Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn, and Abbie Cornish round out the cast.

"Sucker Punch" opens nationwide March 2011.

Watch trailer below:

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 By Dave McNary 

Rob Reiner is very much the center of attention at the after-party for Warner's premiere of "Flipped" at the Arclight tonight. 

"This is very much a trip back to growing up in New Rochelle," he admitted during the bash at La Vida.

 "My first love was a girl named Kathy, who had the same kind of curly blonde hair as Hayley Mills. I tried to kiss her when I was 12 and she hit me with her hairbrush. I knew it was love because I was willing to endure physical pain."

Reiner and Andrew Scheinman adapted Wendelin Van Draanen's novel after Reiner had spent four years seeking the rights.

"I read it with my son Nick, who'd been assigned it when he was 11 and decided that I had to make the movie," Reiner recalled.

So Reiner inserted a bit of New Rochelle into the film by naming the key street Bonnie Meadow - which was not only the site of his own boyhood home but also the address for Rob and Laurie Petrie in "The Dick Van Dyke Show," which his father created.

The pic also gave Reiner the chance to insert his favorite songs from those days. "I got 'Bird Dog' in - I am such a fan of the Everlys," he added.

Mark Ruffalo joined fellow "Avengers" Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson and Jeremy Renner onstage at Saturday's Marvel panel in Hall H.

Director Joss Whedon rounded out the "Avengers" troupe.

Also on hand for Marvel's mega unveiling were "Thor" stars Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth. 

See pics below: