If we look carefully at the movie trends of 2008, it's not hard to make a few predictions for the year ahead. Sure, some of these may seem kind of crazy, or maybe they sound flat-out impossible. But just remember these seven words: Steven Soderbergh to direct Cleopatra rock musical. Anything can happen, so get in on the ground floor of these predictions while you can!

Call it "How the Grinch Stole Watchmen." After initially deciding that it would be impossible for him to make a ruling, Judge Gary Allen Feess (not a typo) has changed his mind and decided -- on Christmas Eve -- that Fox does have the right to distribute Warner Bros'. Watchmen movie. What the...? I'm willing to bet someone on the Warner Bros. legal team made fun of his name. Well, now Warner Bros. is going to have to pay out the nose to get it released, or actually give Fox the distribution rights, assuming Fox even wants either of those things.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop has a lot working against it. For starters, it's comedian Kevin James' vanity project, which came about, as James told ComingSoon.net, because he wanted to do something like TV's ChiPs. Nothing wrong with vanity projects, necessarily. But unless you're, say, Robert Redford or Clint Eastwood, taking on a lot of jobs in your own movie might wave a few warning flags. In James' case, he's writing, producing and starring as the titular security guard. In the hands of an experienced craftsman, this is no problem. For anyone else, this kind of multi-tasking might be a sign to the moviegoing public that the star in question is too close to the project to know what's not working. And indeed, the film's attempt at viral marketing over the summer was so unfunny that it might prove to be a vaccine against the film.

I'm gonna make this brief because I feel like I've contributed quite enough bile to today's various blogs. But I'm real perplexed as to why the Oscars have elected to have Hugh Jackman host this year's telecast. They'd already made it clear that they were looking to cut down on the "funny" bits, and with this announcement, they've preeeetty much confirmed that this year's show is going to be even more boring than in years past. Everyone knows that the best parts of the Oscars are the red carpet fashions and the cheesy hosts' cheesy attempts at comedy. They've just done away with half the reason I watch. What if god forbid this year's bevy of starlets get themselves awesome stylists and nary a sartorial trainwreck shows itself on the pre-show? WTF am I gonna have to look forward to (making fun of)?

That sound you just heard was a bunch of fingers crossing and teeth clenching coming from the general direction of Hollywood. That other sound you just heard was all of those same people saying simply, "Oh, shit." The Screen Actors Guild announced on Wednesday that it had set January 2nd as the date to send out its strike authorization ballots to its 120,000 members. The result of the vote will be announced on January 23rd, and if 75% of SAG members vote yes, then Hollywood could face its second major work stoppage in just over a year.

Johnny Depp' s production company, Infinitum Nihil (do you think he' d sue me if I named my production company "Nihilistic Infinity?") has acquired the rights to the Nick Tosches novel In the Hand of Dante and the announcement has people talking. And what everyone is saying is: Johnny Depp has a production company? While not exactly confidential, the company, founded in 2004, hasn' t gotten a lot of press until this latest announcement in Variety, and is described on Wikipedia as "Depp' s best kept secret." I read the trades nearly every day, and I have to say, "Johnny Depp has a production company?" was my first thought, too. Followed immediately by "Geez, ' Infinitum Nihil' has more 'I' s' than 'Mississippi.' "

For Robert Pattinson's next movie, he'll be embroiled in a surreal romance. More surreal than a 100-year-old vampire dating a teenaged girl? Yes, because he's playing surrealist painter Salvador Dalí, possibly best known to many as that guy who painted all those melty clocks. Filmed before Twilight, Little Ashes won't be out until sometime next year, but promotional clips, trailers, and pics have been coming out fast and furious in recent days, clearly benefitting from Pattinson's newfound fame. How lucky were they to cast him in this before his fee took a sharper upward turn than Dalí's moustache?

Which canceled TV series would you most expect to be getting theatrical movie buzz? (Other than Arrested Development, obviously.) Buffy, maybe? Or Angel? How about Veronica Mars? Nope, nope and nope. Um, Firefly again? Not even close. Friends? Try harder.

The International Press Academy announced its award nominees on Sunday, and no one bothered to notice. See, the few of you who thought I was talking about the Golden Globes would be wrong (that's the Hollywood Foreign Press, and they'll announce their nominees on Dec. 11. No, the International Press Academy gives out the Satellite Awards (and has for 12 years). If you haven't heard of them, there's a reason: Their awards show isn't televised, and if there's anything I've learned in life, it's that if it's not on TV, it didn't happen.

If you've never heard of the new Michael Cera comedy Paper Hearts, you're certainly not alone. The indie film, which will debut at the Sundance Film Festival, has gone under the radar almost everywhere -- you won't find it on movie databases, and despite the fact that it stars Cera and a host of other talent from Judd Apatow's stable, the film is going to Sundance looking for a distributor. Because of those factors, of course, the semi-secret film has already garnered pretty high expectations. The project is described as being part documentary, part scripted comedy about the real-life relationship between Cera and his girlfriend Charlyne Yi (who played the pigtailed stoner girl in Knocked Up) in which music plays a key element.