It’s now been a decade since we last saw the popular Tom Clancy character Jack Ryan on screen in The Sum of All Fears, but Paramount has been working (for some time now) to bring his adventures back to moviegoers. Chris Pine has been attached to play the lead for a while now, but even that hasn’t gotten things moving very fast. Last week director Jack Bender (Lost) exited the project, creating yet another setback. Luckily, Kenneth Branagh has stepped up to the plate and, if his deal goes through, Paramount will put the untitled film back on the front burner. The movie has gone through several rewrites, but David Koepp has most recently come on for a polish with the idea that production could start after Pine wraps Star Trek 2.

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With director Tarsem’s Mirror Mirror debuting later this month, it’s a good time to take a look at some of his other upcoming projects. It’s already known that Killing on Carnival Row will be his next movie, but now he may have a follow-up with Eye in the Sky, a contemporary war film. Described as “a sprawling, Steven Soderbergh-like hyperlink film” such as Traffic or Contagion, Eye in the Sky concerns a drone attack in East Africa and how the event effects everyone associated with it – from the people on the ground to politicians miles away. The film would feature a large ensemble cast with a whopping 62 parts to fill. Tarsem sees the project as an opportunity to step away from his typical visual-oriented films, although it should retain some level of spectacle.

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While he may not be the most beloved director among cinephiles, studio executives certainly seem to enjoy Brett Ratner’s work. We already know that he’ll helm the Dwayne Johnson vehicle Hercules: The Thracian Wars for MGM, and now it’s being reported that the Tower Heist director is developing I Want My MTV for Sony. Based on the bestselling book by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum, I Want My MTV chronicles the early days of the TV network in the 1980s and how it changed the pop culture landscape for years to come. Ratner will be producing via his Rat Entertainment and may decide to direct as well. The script will come from Jody Lambert, whose previous screenplay for People Like Us will debut later this year.

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Last year, Clint Eastwood was preparing to direct a remake of the popular musical A Star Is Born until his star Beyonce became pregnant. With Beyonce ready to return to work as soon as June, Eastwood is currently searching for the film’s male lead and he is now reportedly in talks with Tom Cruise. Seeing as how Cruise recently completed another music-driven film, Rock of Ages, this may provide a nice follow-up opportunity for him to showcase whatever musical chops he’s developed. A Star Is Born tells the classic tale of an over-the-hill musician who launches the career of an ingenue as his own career fades. The project has drawn interest from top level talent in the past including Will Smith, Christian Bale, and Russell Crowe.

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Based on all the big deals that were made by studios a few years back, you would think that we’d have been bombarded with board game movies by now. But, aside from Battleship making its debut later this year, not much has ever come from the other board game-related properties as of yet. That trend may start to change based on today’s news that Universal has reconfigured their Ouija movie and put it back on track for a 2013 release. Originally set up as a $100 million production to be directed by McG, Universal balked at the budget and will now move forward with a much more modest $5 million version of the film. It is thought that the change comes in part from the success of low-budget genre efforts like Chronicle and Project X. Even though those films featured no star power, they made back their budgets within a matter of days and I’m sure Universal will count on similar results with Ouija.

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For a long time, we’ve heard rumors that a sequel to Top Gun is in the works and it now appears that the project is actually taking a step forward. Peter Craig, screenwriter of The Town, has been brought on board by Paramount to write the follow-up. Craig represents a “sizable hire” for the studio, suggesting that they are getting serious about the film. Craig’s name is also attached to the upcoming Horse Soldiers, a film about “soldiers who did battle on horseback against the Taliban after 9/11.” Tom Cruise has confirmed that he has held talks with director Tony Scott and producer Jerry Bruckheimer about reprising his role of Maverick from the original, so the pieces seem to be coming together. In other Top Gun news, a 3D re-release is still being planned and could happen later this year.

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Edgar Wright has, thus far in his career, remained a fan favorite while staying outside the mainstream. That may change soon since Disney has tapped the director to helm The Night Stalker, featuring Johnny Depp in the lead. Originating as a TV movie followed by a series, The Night Stalker followed the adventures of tabloid reporter Carl Kolchak as his stories led him to supernatural events and creatures, including zombies, vampires, werewolves, and aliens. Since this project is under the Disney banner, it will follow the studio’s family film mandate and likely aim for a PG-13 rating. Wright will shape the film with Depp from the ground up, especially since a screenwriter has yet to be hired. However, since there’s quite a bit of development left to work on, it’s hard to say whether this will be Wright’s next directing effort or not.

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While the name Dean Parisot may not ring the loudest in people’s ears, he’s directed some high profile comedies such as Galaxy Quest and Fun With Dick and Jane while also focusing on TV shows like Modern Family and The Good Wife more recently. Now, the director is in final negotiations with Summit to helm Red 2, a sequel to the 2010 sleeper hit about retired special ops agents. Robert Schwentke, who made the first film, has been out of the running to return since he’ll be busy on post-production of the Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges vehicle R.I.P.D.. The original film’s writers Erich and Jon Hoeber, however, will return to pen the screenplay. Red 2 has a tentative release date of August 2, 2013, which could be a stretch considering that Bruce Willis is the only returning cast member signed on thus far and his schedule for this year will be jam-packed between shooting Die Hard 5 and promoting his other new films.

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We’re jumping on board the remake train again as it’s been announced that the Zorro films will receive an update, although this one comes with a twist. While the Zorro of old was always based in a historical setting, the good people at Fox have decided to send the masked hero into a post-apocalyptic future for a film entitled Zorro Reborn. Not only will the setting undergo a massive change, but the character himself will also be portrayed differently than before, with more motivation for revenge than justice. The man behind the mask this time out will be Gael Garcia Bernal (Amores Perros, The Motorcycle Diaries), a name that film enthusiasts will know fairly well, but one that mainstream audiences probably don’t recognize. Perhaps this project will be the one to introduce him to a wider range of viewers.

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There was a time after Swingers when Vince Vaughn tried his hand at a string of dramatic roles in films like Psycho, Return to Paradise, Domestic Disturbance, and The Cell before returning almost exclusively to comedies. Now he may have a chance to stretch his dramatic muscles again, this time for director Tony Scott in the action/thriller Lucky Strike. The film would tell the story of a DEA agent who “teams with a drug runner to take down a drug cartel.” There’s no word on which part Vaughn would play; only that he would star. Lucky Strike has gained momentum to become Scott’s next project, although nothing has been set in stone yet, especially given the director’s slew of other potential deals. If the film does become next in line for Scott, a late summer or early fall shoot would be planned.

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After co-starring in The Expendables and its upcoming sequel, Arnold Schwarzenegger has chosen to once again act alongside Sylvester Stallone in The Tomb, a good, old-fashioned prison break film. Stallone will play a man who designs an “escape-proof” prison only to be set up for a crime and sent to the prison he designed. He must then plan his escape and uncover who put him there in the first place. Schwarzenegger will play a fellow inmate who fights to maintain the prisoner’s humanity. While that’s about as standard a plot for a prison film that you can get, the idea of these two action heroes co-starring will be the main selling point for audiences anyway. The Tomb will be directed by Mikael Hafstrom (The Rite, 1408) and has a screenplay by Miles Chapman and Jason Keller.

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The trend of actors turning to the director’s chair continues this week as we’ve learned that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will soon be making an effort behind the camera. The untitled film is described as a romantic comedy about a modern day Don Juan who attempts to become less of a “selfish dick.” In addition to directing, Gordon-Levitt wrote the script and will play the lead role. Scarlett Johansson has also been announced as a lead, although her role was not specified. While directing might seem like a big turn for Gordon-Levitt, he’s had aspirations to helm features for quite a while and has made several short films that have played on the festival circuit, in addition to launching a collaborative production company called hitRECord.org. The script for the film took three years to complete, finishing around the time 50/50 was shooting.

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