New Line is getting musical-happy. The studio, who just announced they were planning a sequel to last year's hit, Hairspray, have won a studio bidding war for the rights to the rock musical Rock of Ages, an off-Broadway show that pairs '80s rock ballads with an on-stage love story (a la Mamma Mia!) that's currently rocking out in New York.

Tags: Broadway, Mamma Mia, musical, New Line, off-broadway, REO Speedwagon, Rock of Ages

Rent is coming to theaters. No, you're not having an acid flashback to 2005. The stage show, set to end its run on Broadway on September 7th, will have its final performance filmed and digitally shown in more than 500 theaters September 24- 28. The performance will feature the current Broadway cast and a couple of special appearances by original cast members. (I'm hoping for more age-appropriate roles for those original cast members, who valiantly came back and tried to portray characters a decade younger than they were in the 2005 Revolution Studios theatrical version.) You can check out the trailer for the special event.

Tags: Broadway, Rent, Taye Diggs

I need to start by saying that I am not an inordinately rabid fan of ABBA, nor am I a musical theater acolyte -- in fact I hate musicals for their campy, over-the-top cheesiness. Needless to say, I did not see Mamma Mia! on Broadway. I went to see an early screening of the film adaptation of said Broadway musical with a fair amount of trepidation. And I was pleasantly surprised by my lack of homicidal feeling once the closing credits rolled.

Tags: ABBA, Amanda Seyfried, Broadway, Christine Baranski, Colin Firth, Mamma Mia, Meryl Streep, musicals, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard

With Josh Brolin getting a lot of press lately for playing a letter of the alphabet and signing on to play Jonah Hex, I naturally wondered when someone would pounce to make a sequel his first big movie, The Goonies. As it turns out, Richard Donner -- who directed the 1985 hit about a motley crew of adventurous kids -- had already been working on a follow-up. Sadly, sequels just don't seem to be happening for Donner lately, and even with Steven Spielberg enthusiastically on his side, things just didn't quite come together, according to Variety. Goonies never say die, though, so Donner is working hard to make sure they'll live on... in a Broadway musical.

Tags: Broadway, Josh Brolin, musical, Richard Donner, sequel, The Goonies