The Random - Frank, The Zookeeper, Go Mutants!, The Testament, Scrubs, Burlesque, Lake Mungo

- Fox 2000 has set Enchanted director Kevin Lima to direct the romantic comedy Frank from Radar Pictures. The story centers on a teenage prodigy who's on the cutting edge of cell research in medical school and is encouraged by her guidance counselor to take a break from the lab and make some friends. After several unsuccessful attempts at socializing with her peers, she decides to use her scientific prowess and piece together a friend out of the med school's instructional cadavers.

- Adam Sandler, Cher, Jon Favreau, Sylvester Stallone and Judd Apatow are set to voice the animals in MGM's live-action comedy The Zookeeper, that stars Kevin James and Rosario Dawson. According to Variety, Sandler's Happy Madison shingle is also a producer on the film. Sandler will voice a capuchin monkey, Cher a giraffe, Favreau a bear, Stallone a lion and Apatow an elephant. Jim Breuer, Faizon Love and Bas Rutten round out the voice cast. The film centers on zoo animals trying to teach the keeper their methods of dating and mating to help him win back the woman of his dreams. Frank Coraci is directing from a screenplay by Jay Scherick and David Ronn, James, Rock Reuben and Nick Bakay.

- Universal Pictures has picked up screen rights to Larry Doyle's novel Go Mutants!, with Imagine Entertainment head Brian Grazer to produce. According to MovieWeb, Doyle will write the script. Go Mutants! is a teen comedy/adventure set in a high school where all of the tropes from classic 1950s alien invasion movies came true. Years later, the children of those mutant creatures have assimilated among the other kids. Doyle said the book and movie invites cameos from '50s fright fixtures like Gort -- the robot from The Day the Earth Stood Still -- and the creature from the black lagoon.

- John Grisham's 1999 novel The Testament is finally set to become a film over at 821 Entertainment Group says Variety. In the novel, a billionaire defies his greedy relatives and leaves his $11 billion fortune to a mysterious illegitimate daughter doing charity work in the Brazilian wetlands. A down-and-out lawyer helps her battle her relatives over the fortune. Mark Johnson and Hunt Lowry ("A Time to Kill") will produce.

- The resurrected Scrubs will shift from the hospital to the classroom next season with John C. McGinley's Dr. Cox and Donald Faison's Turk becoming med-school professors. The characters will visit the Sacred Heart hospital and regulars like Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes and Ken Jenkins will put in guest appearances.

- Cher is poised to star opposite Christina Aguilera in Burlesque, a contemporary musical for Screen Gems that Steven Antin will direct from a script he wrote. Aguilera will play an ambitious small-town Iowa girl with a big voice who comes of age in a neo-burlesque club on Sunset Boulevard that's run by Tess (Cher), a former dancer who struggles to keep the club open and gives the young girl a chance to shine. Cher will sing onscreen. While her voice has been heard in many films, Burlesque will mark the first time she'll be seen singing in a film she stars in.

- Screenwriter David Leslie Johnson has been set to write the remake of the Australian horror suspense film Lake Mungo for Paramount Vantage. Vantage picked up rights to Lake Mungo in November, when it premiered at the American Film Market. The story revolves around the paranormal events that envelop a grieving family when their teenage daughter apparently dies. The original, written and directed by Joel Anderson, used a faux-documentary style to lay out the film's mystery, but the updated version will take a more traditional narrative approach.

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Punisher will be R rated after all

Thanks to Frank for leaving a comment on the previous article which led to this on Film School Rejects. Cheers Frank:

There is a rumor that has started circulating around this little thing called “the internet” that Lionsgate is pushing for the next installment of The Punisher to be rated PG-13. Given all we know of the franchise, this immediately smelled foul. Not being without charms and fully utilizing our ruggedly handsome looks, we tracked down our own source who is, of course, “close to the production.” Their word? “Bullshit.”

We could add some words in front of that, like “complete,” “total,” or “utter,” but it throws off the feng-shui of the post, but they would be appropriate. It looks like this originated over at Latino Review, who indicate that they have their own source. Now, I love those Latino Review guys, but I have no idea who they’re talking to. I do, however, definitely know our source and know that I trust them completely. Punisher: War Zone will be Rated R for Rambo-Levels of violence. Which is a good thing, because the kill count of Rambo (another Lionsgate release) was 236 and featured some of the best gore violence in years.

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