July
2 Tidbits for the holiday slowdown

With Independence Day hitting on a Wednesday, things should be kind of slow this week as people take
holidays and enjoy themselves. Meanwhile, here's a few interesting items to tide you over:

* Bryan Singer's sequel to "Superman Returns" — now being called "Superman: The Man of Steel" — may be a bit further off than expected, according to a report on Rotten Tomatoes. The site reports that Singer, currently working on "Valkyrie" with Tom Cruise, is set to shoot "The Mayor of Castro Street" before returning to "Superman." That may push back "Man of Steel" from a planned 2008 shoot for release in 2009.

* "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" grossed $9 million over the weekend, good for the No. 5 spot and a cumulative gross of $114.8 million. Pic has been rolling out a bit more slowly in foreign markets, but did well with $14 million this past weekend. "Spider-Man 3," meanwhile, took in about $602,000, bringing its domestic cume to $333.7 million.  That makes Spidey the No. 1 domestic pic, but worldwide grosses have it coming in second on the worldwide level, with a global cume of about $882 million to $905 million for "Pirates 3."

* Boom! Studios has set up its upcoming comicbook series, "Foundation," at Paramount. Boom! co-founders Ross Ritchie and Andrew Cosby will produce.

* Irish duo Stephen St. Leger and James Mather have signed on to write and direct "Lost Squad" for Rogue Pictures, based on the Devil's Due comic by Christopher Kirby.

* Mattel has signed a deal with Warner Bros. to become the official toymaker for DC Comics characters. Deal covers the entire DC library and includes plans for a DC heroes branded section of the toy aisle.