A few weeks ago, following the death of Apple Co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, Sony acquired the movie rights to an authorised biography by CNN chairman and Time Magazine managing editor Walter Isaacson who interviewed Jobs 40 times over the space of two years. Isaacson also interviewed family members, friends, colleagues and fans.

Mark Gordon (Saving Private Ryan) is producing, and in their search for a screenwriter Sony has gone for an obvious choice. Aaron Sorkin, writer of The Social Network and Moneyball.

The L.A Times says Sorkin is “considering the prospect”, but he is just “one of the writers being courted by producers”. Sorkin actually knew Steve Jobs, which could make him decide against writing the movie, or he could take it on in memory of the Apple co-founder.

The biography, which was published October 24, is described as “a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur, whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionised six industries – personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing”.

As well as co-founding Apple Steve Jobs also served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios and became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. Jobs actually asked Sorkin to write a Pixar movie but he declined, saying he couldn’t “make inanimate objects talk.” Perhaps he’ll find writing a movie about Jobs himself a little easier.

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Following the death of Apple Co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs earlier this week there has been a considerable amount of interest in the book Steve Jobs, an authorised biography by CNN chairman and Time Magazine managing editor Walter Isaacson who interviewed Jobs 40 times over the space of two years. Isaacson also interviewed family members, friends, colleagues and fans.

Since Jobs’ passing the book has risen from 437 to 1 on Amazon’s bestseller list on pre-orders alone, and also topped the list of iTunes’ bestsellers. Now Deadline reports that Sony Pictures “is making a deal to acquire feature rights” to the book.

Sony was behind David Fincher’s Oscar-nominated movie The Social Network which followed the founding of Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg, so they’ve produced movies on a similar topic before. Mark Gordon (Saving Private Ryan) will produce if the deal closes.

The biography, which has been pushed forward from November 21 to October 24 by publisher Simon & Schuster, is described as “a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur, whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionised six industries – personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing”.

As well as co-founding Apple Steve Jobs also served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios and became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.

A movie based on the life of Steve Jobs will need the same care and attention as The Social Network received. David Fincher directing would be an obvious choice, but i’m sure there are a number of other directors who could produce a high quality film. Hopefully they wait a while and give people time to mourn before hiring anyone. This isn’t a movie that needs to be rushed.

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Due to the billion dollar success of Alice in Wonderland last year studios are now throwing money at any re-imagining/reboot/remake of classic literature that comes their way. We have 3 Snow White movies in development, Sam Raimi’s Oz, The Great and Powerful, Tim Burton’s Maleficent, and now we can add another to that list. Peter Pan.

Last week Heat Vision reported that Channing Tatum and his production company came up with the idea for a dark re-imagining of Peter Pan, so they took it to Alice in Wonderland producer Joe Roth. He liked it, and together with The Hunger Games screenwriter Billy Ray they developed the idea and pitched it to studios.

Now according to Deadline “Sony Pictures is in negotiations to acquire Pan, which will be scripted as a starring vehicle for Channing Tatum.” While I admire Tatum’s skills for spotting a trend in the market and making an opportunity for himself, I doubt many would have him as their first choice to play Peter Pan (if that is who he intends to play. I doubt it’s Captain Hook).

Enforcement of Tatum as Peter Pan aside, a “dark re-imagining of Peter Pan” does sound quite cool, although we’ll have to see who they bring on-board to direct before making too many assumptions. According to Heat Vision the movie envisions “Pan and Captain Hook as brothers.”

Producer Joe Roth is responsible for all of these updated classics as he producing Oz: The Great and Powerful, Snow White and the Huntsman, and now Peter Pan, so if you have an idea for a dark and gritty Bambi reboot you want to get made he’s your guy to call.

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Marc Webb’s Spider-Man reboot is gearing up for production and meanwhile his star Andrew Garfield is on his way to becoming a household name. With solid performances in both Never Let Me Go and The Social Network, indifference toward the 27-year-old’s casting as Peter Parker is slowly turning toward interest.

Now, Deadline brings word of some actresses up for the role of Spidey’s love interest: Dianna Agron (“Glee”) and Georgina Haig (Wasted on the Young) join the already-listed Emma Stone (Easy A), Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland), and Dominique McElligott (Moon). There’s also a really interesting bit about a potential recasting of Venom. Find out the latest after the jump.

Before we move into Venom discussion, I should mention that the women listed above are not specified for any particular roles. That means any of them could be in contention for Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, or perhaps a completely original personality created for this film. My take? I’d love to see Emma Stone as MJ and Dianna Agron as Gwen Stacy. (Assuming they can’t bring the gorgeous Bryce Dallas Howard back to reprise her role.)

The role of Venom/Eddie Brock is a key rival to Peter Parker in the Spider-Man mythology. Brock and Parker are constantly in competition – not only in their love lives, but also professionally as freelance photographers at the Daily Bugle. Topher Grace portrayed the character in Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, and in a casting decision that will make your head spin, Deadline presents “early unconfirmed talk” that Sony is considering Philip Seymour Hoffman as a replacement. This is a wildly off-base decision that I can’t possibly get behind. Hoffman is a great actor, for sure – but Venom? No way. The dynamic between the characters will be completely thrown off because of the age difference (Garfield is 27, Hoffman is 43).

Now it’s your turn: give me your dream casting scenario in the comment section. No holds barred: it doesn’t have to be just the people mentioned above – let’s open the floor to all suggestions. Who would you like to see?

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We heard that Sony may be aiming for a late 2010 start following the casting of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man last month, and now SHH has learned that the reboot will begin filming in December in Los Angeles.

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy also filmed parts of the movie in Los Angeles, with New York City as the main shooting location. No word yet on whether Marc Webb’s reboot will be filming in New York too, but I would imagine so given that Peter Parker lives there. There are budget and access issues to deal with in New York though, which is why Sony can’t shoot there exclusively.

With around 5 months left before cameras roll we should be hearing casting news on the villain, Mary-Jane Watson and Aunt May soon. It’ll be tough to find a replacement for J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, but if they make the character more serious as opposed to just being the comic relief it may aid the transition.

Who do you want to join the cast alongside Andrew Garfield?

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Deadline are reporting that Sony is edging closer to finding its new Peter Parker, having viewed the screen tests of most of the young actors they are seriously considering.

Jamie Bell, Logan Lerman, Anton Yelchin, Aaron Johnson, Andrew Garfield and Alden Ehrenreich are all said to be in contention. Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) may have ruled himself out as he is expected to attend London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art later this year.

Out of the names above i’d go for either Jame Bell or Anton Yelchin, but that’s mainly because i’m familiar with them. For all we know relative unknowns Andrew Garfield and Alden Ehrenreich could have knocked their screen tests out of the park.

Sony wants to lock in its Spider-Man soon so that supporting roles can be cast around him. Production will begin before the end of the year with a July 3, 2012 release date set. The script by Jamie Vanderbilt is still being worked on, and (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb is gearing up for a 3D shoot.

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Just over a week ago we heard that Jamie Bell, along with other actors such as Frank Dillane and Josh Hutchinson, was up for the role of Peter Parker in the upcoming Marc Webb-directed Spider-Man reboot. Well today Bleeding Cool are reporting that they have “received repeated reports that Sony have settled on their new Spider-Man”, and that Jamie Bell is the man.

The 24 year old British actor made a name for himself as Billy Elliot and went on to star in Peter Jackson’s King Kong, Defiance and Jumper. He also portrayed Tintin for Steven Spielberg, although the film won’t be released until December 2011.

Out of all the actors on the list Bell was the one I would have gone for (he’s the only I was familiar with), so if he gets the role I’d be happy. Some fans may not be keen about having a British Peter Parker, but we’ve got a British Batman and an Australian Wolverine so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

What would your thoughts be if Bell was confirmed as the new Spider-Man?

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We haven’t heard much on the Spider-Man reboot for a while, although Sony are still aiming to start shooting later this year and according to HeatVision they have hired Alvin Sargent to fine-tune the script.

Sargent, who turned 83 last month, did uncredited rewrite work on the first Spider-Man movie and shared credit on Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. He was also working on the Spider-Man 4 script before Sony cancelled it, so its safe to say Sargent knows his stuff when it comes to Peter Parker.

Zodiac writer James Vanderbilt penned the original draft, which he wrote at the same time Spidey 4 was in production (Sony needed a back-up plan as it was looking likely that 4 wasn’t going to happen).

Marc Webb will begin pre-production on the reboot shortly, so expect casting announcements and other news over the upcoming months.

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Following the announcement that Paramount are developing a movie based on the Magic-8 Ball it was clear movie studios are pretty much out of ideas, and that any toy, board or video game could potentially be at risk from a movie makeover.

Well today we have news that another movie based on a video game is in development: Rollercoaster Tycoon.

From HeatVision:

Sony Pictures Animation has pre-emptively picked up rights to the Atari video game “Rollercoaster Tycoon.” Harald Zwart is spearheading the development of the big-screen adaptation as a possible directing project and will executive produce.

David Ronn and Jay Scherick, who penned the upcoming Kevin James comedy “The Zookeeper,” are attached to write what will be a live-action/CGI hybrid.

The “Tycoon” franchise, created by Chris Sawyer, is a popular series of computer games that simulate a combination of designing roller coasters and amusement park management. Each game challenges players with open-ended amusement park management and development while allowing them to construct and customize their own unique roller coasters.

The games are popular in the PC world, generating more than $300 million in sales and giving Atari bragging rights for having the third-best-selling PC title of all time in the U.S.

I’m not sure how they’ll develop a story out of this, but I imagine it’ll probably be a kids movie so a plot that makes sense won’t be required.

Do you want to see a movie based on Rollercoaster Tycoon?

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We’ve been following the plight of the Terminator rights since it was announced they would be going to auction last November. According to Deadline Hollywood the rights were sold today during a bidding war that lasted 5 hours. Both Sony (who distributed Terminator Salvation) and Lionsgate were interested in the rights, with the latter hoping to make “a complete re-boot, back to basics, with real emotional stories, and effects that will be secondary.”

Unfortunately for both studios they were outbid…by an investment advisor.

Halcyon Holding Corp accepted the $29.5 million bid from, of all parties, the debtholder which pushed it into bankruptcy, Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor. (This is the same Pacificor whom Halcyon accused in a lawsuit of extortion, bribery, and fraud and demanded $30M in damages.)

Tonight, Sony and Lionsgate dropped out at just under $29.5 million when it became clear that Pacificor “was willing to pay almost any amount of money for Terminator,” an insider tells me. Halcyon will receive $5 million for every Terminator movie made from now on, as well as retains the rich revenue streams from the movies Terminator 3 and 4.

Ideally James Cameron would have turned up to the auction by private jet, outbid everyone for the franchise he created, and put the rights in a safe for 10 years so nobody could expolit them. Alas, some company looking to make a quick buck will be in charge of the franchise, so we can expect either a reboot or Terminator 5 over the next few years.

Update: According to the L.A Times Sony and Lionsgate are jointly in talks with Pacificor to “take control of the property”. Pacificor has no experience making movies whatsoever, so they will need to work with studios if they are to put the rights into good use.

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