Baseball project "Million Dollar Arm" has taken a sharp right turn.

The project, with Mark Ciardi, Gordon Gray and Joe Roth producing and Palak Patel exec producing, was in the middle of being snagged by Columbia but now appears to be heading to Disney.

Under the new leadership of Rich Ross and Sean Bailey, Disney has been largely getting attention for focusing on big-name four-quadrant-style tentpoles as part of their film strategy. One staple that had become inactive was the inspirational sports drama, an arena in which Ciardi and Gray made their names. With dealmaking happening a month and a half after the studio picked up an untitled baseball pitch with Bradley Cooper attached, it appears that a rethink of the Disney sports drama is underway.

DreamWorks Studios has bitten into the original comedy pitch “Raised by Wolfs” from writer Les Firestein. Steve Carell is attached to star and produce through his Carousel Prods.

While the studio has its muzzle shut on the plotline, the odd spelling of Wolfs is apparently a reference to the main character’s last name.

Vance DeGeneres and Charlie Hartsock of Carousel are executive producers on the project.

Carell, who is repped by WME and Media Four, most recently starred in “Date Night” and provided the lead voice for the animated film “Despicable Me,” which together have grossed $328 million worldwide this year. His next comedy, “Dinner for Schmucks,” opens Friday. On Tuesday, NBC confirmed that the actor will leave "The Office" after one more season.

A co-founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade and performer with Second City, Adam McKay hit his stride as a director and head writer at “Saturday Night Live” in the late 1990s. After six seasons, McKay peeled off into features and directed the comedies “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” and “Step Brothers,” all co-written with former “SNL” colleague Will Ferrell. One production company (Gary Sanchez Prods.), online venture (Funny or Die) and seminal viral video (“The Landlord”) later, McKay lets loose Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in “The Other Guys,” opening August 6.

Do you expect much trouble with the MPAA in getting your PG-13 rating?
Adam McKay: They’ve given us a hard time on a couple of lines I’m really surprised by. Because this is not a dirty movie. There’s one dirty joke in the end, but it’s still pretty harmless. We don’t even say “fuck.” We say “shit” a bunch of times, but they don’t care about that for PG-13. It’s implied sexual content. They’re so square with that.

What was the original spark for “The Other Guys?”
McKay: We did a song for the Oscars that was Judd [Apatow], myself and Marc Shaiman wrote it, and it was called “The Comedian at the Oscars.” One of the beats in it was a joke about someone giving Mark Wahlberg a hard time, but then saying, “I apologize, I know you actually are a badass.” I heard through the grapevine that he’s a fan of Will’s, and he really made me laugh in “I Heart Huckabees.” So we had dinner with him, and I left going, “You guys have to do a movie together.”

Columbia's low-fi stealth comedy "The Virginity Hit" got some play down at Comic Con when producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay announced an unexpected screening. The movie puts a YouTube-era spin on the old geek-losing-his-virginity trope with at least a few chuckle-worthy bits.

Here's the red-band trailer:

Daniel Craig has closed his deal to star in Sony’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” plus the two potential follow-ups that will be based on author Stieg Larsson’s best-selling trilogy.

David Fincher is on board to direct the adaptation, which Steve Zaillian is writing and Scott Rudin is producing.

With all development and production on the next James Bond film recently halted by producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson in the midst of MGM's endless financial restructuring, Craig needed a new job. The Larsson trilogy provides him with another franchise to nurture until Bond can unholster his Walther.

Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” joined the $100-million club on Thursday, its seventh day of release.

The Warners/Legendary production, which is playing in 3,792 theaters in North America, took in an estimated $8.6 million for the day. Adding that to its other solid mid-week grosses, the thriller, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, has reached $100.1 million domestically as it moves into its second weekend in release.

Here's the Bullseye boxoffice forecast for 7/23. Click to enlarge the image.

The big question heading into this weekend is just how big "Salt" will open. It bodes well for the Angelina Jolie vehicle that it has inched closer from last week to the dead center of the four quadrants. That said, both Flixster activity and interest in the film are moderate, which could cool off its boxoffice prospects (although the good reviews and Comic-Con coverage may provide additional boost).

For all the buzz on "Inception" after its terrific opening weekend last week, there's little change in chart positioning. Same goes for some of the big releases in the coming weeks, "The Other Guys"  and "Dinner for Schmucks," though they could see some lift as media attention increases in the walk-up to their premieres.

By Gregg Kilday

Looks like Jennifer Hudson, who scored a best supporting actress Oscar for 2006's "Dreamgirls," is tackling another ambitious part.

The songstress-turned-actress is currently before the cameras in South Africa filming "Winnie," playing Winnie Madikizela-Mandela opposite Terrence Howard's Nelson Mandela. Though Madikizela-Mandela fought for years to win her husband's release from prison, the couple divorced in 1996, which might be worth a reprise or two of Hudson's "Dreamgirls" anthem, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going."

Darrell James Roodt is directing the feature, a South African-Canadian co-production, produced by Andre Pieterse through his Ma-Afrika Films and Michael Mosca of Equinoxe Films. Ironwood Films said Tuesday that Ellen Wander's Film Bridge International has come aboard to handle worldwide sales.
 

This should be a peak moment in the roller-coaster career of M. Night Shyamalan. But nothing has come easy to the director since he experienced the sky-high hype of his rookie outing, "The Sixth Sense."

Good things have been trickling out about Ben Affleck's new directing effort, "The Town," for the last few months. Now Apple has the brand-new trailer for the Warner Bros. crime thriller, and it looks pretty damn good.

This time, Affleck stars, too, in a script he also co-wrote (as he did with his debut, "Gone Baby Gone"). And he's surrounded himself with great actors such as Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Chris Cooper and Rebecca Hall in a gritty, cat-and-mouse drama about a terrifying bank robbery and torn loyalties. Even Blake Lively has been getting surprised whispers of praise for her work in the film.

In terms of wide openers, Christopher Nolan has the weekend pretty much to himself for his mind-bending thriller "Inception," which opens Friday. Disney's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" bowed early Wednesday night to an estimated $3.9 million, but it won't provide much competition for the "Dark Knight" director, Leo and Warner Bros.

(Click for larger image —> )

As for holdovers, "Despicable Me" retains quite a lot of interest coming into its second weekend and actually boasts the most activity -- four-quadrant activity -- of any film in play this week.

And the July 16 Bullseye welcomes two new early-August titles into the mix: the Sony action-comedy "The Other Guys" and the Disney dance threequel, "Step Up 3D."

If you're in an indie mood, the Weinstein Co. releases "The Concert" and Oscilloscope releases the Irish drama "Kisses" this weekend.

Here’s Carl DiOrio's boxoffice preview and the Bullseye for the weekend of July 9, plus my follow-up from Monday, for added context.

Comments and observations after the jump:

The Writers Guild Foundation is hosting a daylong seminar July 31 on the realities of writing scripted television in the current market.

"What You Need to Know About Your Career in Television Writing" will include panelists Chris Brancato ("Terra Nova"), Glenn Gordon Caron ("Moonlighting"), Jeff Greenstein ("Desperate Housewives"), David Greenwalt ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), Allan Heinberg ("Gray’s Anatomy"), Winnie Holzman ("My So Called Life"), Jay Kogen ("The Simpsons"), Robb Rothman (agent), Michael Cinquemani ("Brothers and Sisters"), Lauren Gussis ("Dexter"), Shireen Razack ("Trauma"), Savannah Dooley ("Huge") and Tara Butters & Michele Fazekas ("Dollhouse").

The event will be held at the WGA headquarters.