The Playlist

'Mr. Ed' Also Headed To The Multiplex, Of CourseSome actors use their newfound fame and clout to try and get more adventurous, ambitious stories movies made. And then there's Robert Downey Jr. If you had said in the late 1990s that the actor would become the star of two major tentpoles and one of the biggest actors in the world, you would have been laughed at. But the actor has not only rebounded, but been given the kind of second chance that pretty much never happens and he's not gonna screw it up with some indie flick. He's already done enough of those those. While he's got the "Sherlock Holmes" and "Iron Man" movies bringing home the bacon, he's now got another franchise ready vehicle lined up to keep the green stuff rolling in.

"Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte... just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by looking from the dorsal to the tail fin. What we didn't know, was our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin', so we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know, it was kinda like old squares in the battle like you see in the calendar named 'The Battle of Waterloo' and the idea was: shark comes to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark will go away... but sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark...he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living...until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they...rip you to pieces. You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday morning, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. He bobbed up, down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist."

The Licensing International Expo, where movie studios court promotional partners to produce toys, Happy Meals and other unnecessary accessories to wring every cent out of potential franchises, is currently underway in Las Vegas, and a selection of early posters for big properties are starting to leak out. Most aren't really newsworthy (if you've ever wondered what a promotional one-sheet for "Men in Black 3" would look like, it involves the letters M, I and B, followed by the number 3, on a black background), but there's one exception.

It's hasn't been all that long since Jon Favreau confirmed that he wouldn't be returning to the franchise that made his name: after reportedly feuding with Marvel on "Iron Man 2," the former-Pete-from-"Friends" opted to helm the Disney blockbuster-in-waiting "Magic Kingdom" over the third installment of the metal-suited comic book hero. But in an unusually streamlined procedure, "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" writer/director Shane Black was officially hired in a directing capacity a few weeks back (Oscar-winner Tom Hooper was also offered the director's chair earlier).