Sam Raimi on Hobbit Rumor, Spidey 4, and a New Fantasy Flick

Sami Raimi told EW that he’s interested in directing The Hobbit, but only if Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson approved. If Raimi takes on the project, he might not be able to fit Spider-Man 4 into his schedule, though Sony Pictures has said they plan to make the sequel with or without the director.

In other Raimi news, the Spider-Man helmer will produce an all-ages fantasy adventure about a cynical guy from New York who is forced to go to a land untouched by modern civilization to save a village and a princess from fiendish fairy tale creatures, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project’s title is being kept under wraps, but has franchise potential for Columbia Pictures.

CASTING NEWS

• Chow Yun-Fat has dropped out of the lead role in John Woo‘s big-budget Chinese-language film Red Cliff only three days into shooting, according to Variety. The action star will appear in this summer’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End .
• Clive Owen (Sin City) has signed on to star in Columbia Pictures’ thriller The International, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

OPTIONED

• Fox 2000 has optioned screenwriter Tom Rob Smith‘s debut novel Child 44 for Ridley Scott to direct and produce, according to Variety.
• Actor David Arquette has written and will direct a Braveheart-like epic. [Link]
• Twentieth Century Fox has acquired screen rights to the upcoming fantasy novel The Seems, and has set it as a directing and producing vehicle for Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy, according to Variety.

OBIT

• Wizard of Id Cartoonist Brant Parker Dies
  Brant Parker, who co-created the cartoon strip The Wizard of Id with Johnny Hart, died 4/15/07 at the age of 86. Hart died just 8 days prior. [Link]