A joint lawsuit has been filed against Sony Pictures and Revolution Studios alleging copyright infringement for the upcoming superhero flick, "Zoom." The suit, brought by Twentieth Century Fox and Marvel Enterprises, challenges that the 2006 release about children with superpowers who train at a private Academy bears too close a resemblance to their own phenomenally successful "X-Men" franchise.Furthermore, the litigants accuse Sony/Revolution of deliberately changing the release date of "Zoom" to May 12, 2006 — two weeks before their own "X-3" debuts. While the plot for "Zoom" does revolve around a superhero school much like Professor X’s Mutant Academy, the comedy will star Tim Allen in the mentor role, with support from Chevy Chase and Courtney Cox-Arquette.
Elsewhere, we hear the announcement that David Spade, master of the sardonic, is bringing his SNL "Hollywood Minute" bit to television this fall in the form of a half-hour entertainment news show to be run on Comedy Central. Scripted as a "Daily Show" with Hollywood gossip, "The Showbiz Show" will skewer celebs of the minute and include parodies, famous guest stars, and reports by "correspondents." Spade previously wrote and starred in the big-screen laughfests "Joe Dirt" and "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star," if that’s any indication of the laughs he’ll draw with his "Show."
And finally, world diplomacy has one more ambassador as "Rush Hour 3" star Jackie Chan was quoted urging foreigners to marry "Shanghai ladies" in order to promote good international relations. Chan, in town for the Shanghai International Film Festival, told a Beijing newspaper Tuesday that this plan would surely "help spread Chinese culture far and wide," but didn’t elaborate on how exactly this might happen, or if his idea included Chinese women outside of Shanghai.
