Friday Link-A-Mania

Voyage Of The Dawn Writer
Now that 20th Century Fox has stepped in to save the Narnia franchise dropped by Disney last year, things are moving full steam ahead with the announcement that Michael Petroni has been signed to write the script, reports Variety. Petroni has previously worked on Afterlife and The Book Thief. The film is due for a summer 2010 release. Fox is apparently keen for the tone of the film to return of the magic and adventure of the first movie rather then the Lord Of The Rings-lite grimness of the second, which floundered in the US, though had respectable box office world wide.

Jason Back For Even More
Once there was the sequel. Then came the remake. Now we get the sequels to the remakes. Yep, the whole Friday The 13th cycle is to begin again, thanks to the success-beyond-expectation of the recent reboot (we put it down to the presence of Jared Padelecki in the cast – those Supernatural fans are a powerful lobby). According to The Hollywood Reporter, though, “Unlike the sophomore efforts of other franchises, the new Friday is expected to be not a sequel so much as a follow-up, those familiar with the project say. Jason Voorhees will be the villain, of course, but the new picture is expected to use elements of the original franchise more as a jumping-off point than as a template. The reason? The reboot drew from the first four pictures in the “Friday” series, and producers are said not to be keen on the plot elements of the half-dozen movies that followed.” Which must stand as a rare case of Hollywood thinking making sense.

Seth Green Goes To Mars
Seth Green – now officially no longer merely “Oz from Buffy” but “the genius behind Robot Chicken” – is set to star in a new motion-capture kids film called Mars Needs Mums for Disney. Simon (The Time Machine) Wells directs and co-writes the tale of a boy, Milo (Green), whose mum is kidnapped by Martians, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Joan Cusack and Mindy Sterling co-star.

Paquin A Fangbanger For Real… Sort Of
True Blood stars Anna (Sookie) Paquin and Stephen (Vampire Bill) Moyer are not just snogging on screen; they’ve been fating in real life, according to E! Online. Apparently, they even kept their affair secret from the other cast and crew during the shooting of the show’s first season, but are now learning their lines together for season two in their LA home.

Mighty Aphrodite
Top Cow comic Aphrodite IX is to become a 3D movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It’s the story of a female cyborg assassin who becomes self-aware and goes in search of her origins.