Greetings and salutations! I bring the following news to you with an air of excitement, and a huge warning of caution:

Christian Slater, otherwise known as the sexy, seductive, and utterly unstable Jason Dean, is eager to go back to the Heathers fold. While talking up his new NBC show My Own Worst Enemy with AOL TV, Slater spoke about returning to Sherwood, Ohio and said:

"Yeah, sometimes I see Winona and she's like, 'Are you ready to do Heathers 2?' And I'm like, 'Sure!' I would do it in a heartbeat. I would totally love to do that character again -- J.D. We'd have to have a scene in there where's he's watching The Shining or something, you know? We'd have to see that he's collected all of Nicholson's movies. Just to really make sense of it all. [Laughs] That would be like a dream come true for me. So we'll see -- if they want to put something together, I'd be thrilled."

Why the caution? Well, Winona has been dying to do it for years (I remember reading rumors about it all the way back in the 90s), and there was all that talk about the sequel being a reality two years ago. We saw how far that got. But maybe some things have changed -- the way Slater is talking about this, you'd think he's itching for more than just an "Obi-Wan-type appearance."

Here's a question: Should any studio greenlight a sequel based on advanced buzz and before the original even hits theaters? Sure, if you're a fan of the Twilight novels, I suspect you'd want the studio to greenlight, like, a billion Twilight sequels, like, right this second -- but wouldn't it be a risky move? Nikki Finke over at Deadline Hollywood claims Summit's already prepping the sequel (New Moon), though that's about as far as she goes with it. Finke, however, does state the obvious: that even though the first Twilight film isn't due out until November 21, the latest trailer was viewed over 3.5 million times in 48 hours, the Twilight soundtrack has already hit the Top 5 Best-Selling Albums on Amazon (despite the fact that it doesn't come out until November 4th) and the merchandise for this sucker rivals that of the boy wizard, Harry Potter.

Okay, so obviously there's an audience for not one film, but two -- yet what if that audience doesn't like the first installment? Is that even possible? Is this the sort of film fans will love no matter what the final product looks like? And do you really take a chance greenlighting a sequel with a film whose audience is not comprised of the oh-so-lucrative teen male population. Are teen and pre-teen girls (and their moms) enough to carry this entire franchise?

And for you Twilight fans out there: While early, is there anything different you'd like to see from the sequel?

Despite the heavy hints in Iron Man that Jim Rhodes, best friend to Tony Stark, would come to play War Machine in a future film, it won't be Terrence Howard reprising his role as Rhodes in the forthcoming sequel, but rather Don Cheadle. According to the Hollywood Reporter, there hasn't been a formal announcement by Marvel Studios about it, but the casting swap appears to have come as a result of money matters (natch).

Returning still are stars Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, in addition to director Jon Favreau, as Justin Theroux, fresh off the success of Tropic Thunder, currently tinkers away at the script. Last month, amidst the press blitz for the Iron Man DVD, Favreau confessed to wanting to incorporate both 3-D and IMAX technology in the making of the sequel (to which the world collectively replied "[BLEEP] yeah!").

Alas, it remains for the Paramount/Marvel number-crunchers to determine in which format exactly we'll see Downey Jr. and Cheadle team up come the summer of 2010.

But was he ever considering it in the first place? Not long ago it seemed a Lethal Weapon 5 was all but a lock, what with Shane Black writing the script and Columbus Short supposedly in talks to play Danny Glover's son -- but now, according to a recent interview with Richard Donner in the LA Times, it looks like the whole thing might just go away. Thank God. That's because, in Donner's world, Mel Gibson has already passed on the project. (And here we thought Glover passed over a year ago.) The director notes, "Mel turned it down. I would like to think that Mel turned it down because I wasn't involved. Knowing Mel, I would like to think that. Would that be the kind of thing he does? It sure would be."

Though "Gibson's people" refused to comment, the LA Times is pretty confident in their findings. Donner, who directed all four previous Lethal Weapon films, seems a bit "I toldja so" in the interview, regarding Warners decision to follow Joel Silver's lead: "It's too bad, actually, because Channing Gibson, who wrote the fourth one, and Mike Riva, a designer on three of them, and myself and Derek [Hoffman, an associate at The Donner Company] had an incredibly strong story for the fifth movie. But we weren't given the opportunity and I think maybe I could have convinced Mel to do it. But Warners chose to go with Joel Silver." He later adds, "Yes, the project is pretty much dead in the water unless someone had the sense to come to me."

Of course, Donner could be talking out his rear end ... though, on the surface, it seems like a reach for both Gibson and Glover to agree to a fifth film, especially one without Donner behind the camera. But what do you think? Would you actually be down for a Lethal Weapin 5? Or are these guys just too old for this sh*t?

Back when The Incredible Hulk hit movie theaters -- and because of Nick Fury's appearance in Iron Man -- folks were itching for more Avengers references with their summer movie watching. Thus, fans went bat-sh*t (excuse the DC reference) over a rumor that Captain America popped up in a scene during Incredible Hulk, which was fueled by a sorta confirmation from director Louis Leterrier ... but then the flick hit theaters and nada. Now, with the DVD due out on October 21st, it seems there's a little easter egg awaiting fans. A number of different sites have reported that a shot of Captain America frozen in ice exists within the alternate opening scene -- one that follows Bruce Banner to the arctic circle in search of a very random way to kill himself (see photo above, courtesy of Slashfilm). So there ya go. And seeing as the upcoming Captain America film will be set during WWII, we now know how they'll make that work for the Avengers movie. He was frozen in ice! Hopefully we won't get any corny lines like "What's an iPod" when the good old Captain shows up in theaters in 2011.

Oh, and speaking of Hulk, the Iron Man writers would love to see him play villain in the aforementioned Avengers movie. Mark Fergus tells MTV: "You don't want like 10 super-badass good guys fighting together. Where's the fun in that? Let's break it off a little. Friends or colleagues who become enemies is always an interesting thing because you know it's based on love and friendship and that's always the worst thing to have turn bad - is someone you actually care about and someone you actually believe in."

What do you think? Should Hulk become the villain in Avengers? If not him, then who?

Just three days ago, when we told you that Jamie Foxx was joining Gerard Butler for vigilante thriller Law Abiding Citizen, we were all still under the impression that Frank Darabont remained in the director's seat for the project. Unfortunately, AICN has confirmed word that Darabont has indeed stepped away from the film, for reasons unknown, and I for one share the sentiment that this is a distinctly less exciting prospect now.

What's curious is how descriptions of the film's plot have varied. Our post on Darabont's hiring and the film's IMDb page (at the moment) both shared a synopsis that involved an elaborate scheme by an incarcerated criminal mastermind to control the city. Last week's Hollywood Reporter piece on Foxx coming aboard took it back to an reportedly original, comparably simpler tale of injustice and revenge, which screenwriter Kurt Wimmer (Street Kings) may still be able to spin into something special.

Just not, y'know, Darabont special. (Maybe he could return to Stephen King country and finally bring "The Long Walk" to the screen; one can hope...).

Despite having previously established my feelings about this weekend's Quarantine, I must confess a new willingness to give it a fair shot later tonight. Regardless, this week's Cinematical Seven is all about first-person horror movies, with a couple of oh-so-subjective stipulations:

• We're leaving The Blair Witch Project (1999) out of this. It might not have been the first of these movies, but it was undeniably the most successful and influential. There are only seven slots here, and I feel like everyone has already made clear whether they find this scary or just stupid (I fall in the former grouping, though I say this having not seen the flick since my teens). If you still feel the need to take BWP to task, comment away.
• Also omitted will be The Last Broadcast (1998), which drew mild controversy at the time of its release for its similarity to Blair Witch. I'm only not writing about it because the copy of it sitting just over on my shelf here has remained unwatched. My bad.
• The previous film by the guys behind Quarantine is The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007), which -- being in the hands of the Weinsteins -- has not yet seen the light of day beyond a couple of festivals. Having not attended any of said festivals myself, I'll just sit here and guess that it'll get dumped to DVD (probably under the Dimension Extreme label), and not any earlier than next year at that.

Now, on with the list...

I've been burned by Jonah Hex rumors before, so this time I'm going to tread carefully ... very carefully. Hollywood Elsewhere reports they have reliable information that Josh Brolin (W.) has signed to star in WB's feature film version of DC Comics' Jonah Hex. According to Wells' "friend", it's a done deal -- but a top secret one. So in spite of protestations to the contrary from both Warner Bros. and Brolin's reps, Elsewhere believes they have the real dirt on the comic book adaptation

Hex was created by John Albano and Tony DeZuniga, and it centers on a disfigured bounty hunter who wanders the plains in a tattered confederate uniform. Hex had a rotating cast of villains, and the series was known for its rough-and-tumble plot lines and copious amounts of gore. Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank) have already been hired to write and direct the flick, and not much is known about the story other than the fact that Jonah's "quest in the film is tracking down a voodoo practitioner." According to Elsewhere, there will be plenty of CGI and sci-fi overtones, and even though the earlier incarnations of Hex were strictly in the setting of the Wild West, as the series carried on Hex came up against plenty of supernatural bad guys – making the fantasy element of the flick not as far out as you may think.

I guess we'll have to wait and see if Brolin is really donning the six-shooters for Hex, or whether we'll just have to settle for the actor playing a different 'cowboy with a bad reputation'. So what do you think? Is Brolin a good match for Hex on the big screen? Sound off below....

Last month, Elisabeth shared some concept art for the upcoming Green Lantern movie, and she mentioned the possibility of it being on par with Iron Man. For that to happen, there would have to be a pretty dynamic star in the driver's seat. So how about Ryan Gosling?

A Latino Review source at Warner Brothers has said that the studio wants the Lars and the Real Girl actor to wear that glowing green ring. Now, the concept art I referenced might look a little bit beefy for the thin star, but Hal Jordan was modeled after Paul Newman, at least partially, so Gosling would be a pretty good match for that (should the green dude be Jordan). But even more importantly -- Gosling knows how to make the strange seem natural -- he made a heartfelt and funny film where he was in love with a flipping Real Doll. If he can do that, he can make the green look just as cool as RDJ made Iron Man, and give the same excellent depth to the portrayal.

It's also miles above Seth Green, Justin Long, and David Boreanaz. Agreed?

Man is M. Night Shyamalan ever a strange dude -- and this is coming from probably one of the biggest fans he has left.

In this interview with Sci-Fi Wire, the filmmaker announces that he is still contemplating making a sequel to Unbreakable, his 2000 comic book genre-bender. He doesn't quite have the story, but says that "I know me: As soon as I give up on it is when the idea will come to me." Fantastic! Seeing as Unbreakable is one of my favorite movies of the decade, I'm obviously excited about any prospect of Shyamalan returning to that universe. And maybe it's just the ticket to restore his suddenly-struggling career.

But then I read the rest of the article, and... uh... he needs to hire a (better) publicist. Discussing how he felt after Unbreakable's mixed reception, he says that he was heartbroken, lamenting: "God, I took so many incredible risks." And then, as he describes his (quite correct) realization that the film actually has a good number of admirers, he relates this anecdote: "I'll be on the street, and some kid will run across traffic with it in his backpack--he just is carrying it in his backpack--and he'll be running [saying], 'I can't believe it's you!' Will you sign my Unbreakable DVD?' And quoting the thing and all that stuff."