BY Marc Graser

{Variety} - Benderspink has optioned the rights to the comicbook series "Starkweather" from Archaia Studios Press.

Property, created by David Rodriguez, revolves around a young boy who comes from a line of sorcerers but doesn't learn about his supernatural abilities until he's a twentysomething slacker who's attacked by a mysterious coven. 

BY Michael Fleming

{Variety} -  Twentieth Century Fox has Mark Wahlberg in the crosshairs for "Max Payne," a live-action adaptation of the bestselling Rockstar videogame that will begin early next year. John Moore will direct.

Wahlberg is negotiating to play the titular cop who is haunted by the tragic loss of his family and has little regard for rules as he investigates a series of mysterious murders. He finds himself up against an adversary bent on destroying Max and the streets he protects.

BY FEARSmag

- The line between the living and the dead is once again blurred and taken to terrifying new levels in White Noise 2, coming exclusively to DVD on January 8, 2008 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Rogue Pictures. Starring Nathan Fillion ("Desperate Housewives," Serenity) and Katee Sackhoff ("The Bionic Woman," "Battlestar Galactica"), the shocking thriller dives deep into the eerie real-life phenomenon known as Near Death Experience (NDE), an unpredictable new imension in the communication between the living and the dead, sometimes with unexpected consequences. 

BY Gregg Goldstein

{Hollywood Reporter} - Screen scream queens Shawnee Smith, Erica Leerhsen and AnnaLynne McCord will star in the horror film "Slaughter" for Maverick Films, Angel Baby Entertainment and the Slamdance Film Festival.

Smith ("Saw II" and "Saw III"), Leerhsen ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre") and McCord ("Day of the Dead") will play actresses unknowingly cast in a Japanese snuff film.

BY Michael Fleming

{Variety} - Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have made an offer to Mike Newell to direct "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," a live-action feature based on the videogame.

Newell, who last ventured into franchise fare with "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," met execs at the studio to discuss the project this week, and negotiations are expected to begin shortly. 

BY Borys Kit

{Hollywood Reporter} - osh Lucas has signed to topline "Tell-Tale," Scott Free Prods.' psychological thriller being directed by Michael Cuesta.

Inspired by the classic Edgar Allan Poe story "The Tell-Tale Heart," the contemporized adaptation sees Lucas starring as a single father whose recently transplanted heart leads him on a frantic search to find the donor's killer before a similar fate befalls him.

BY Gregg Goldstein

{Hollywood Reporter} - Sony Pictures is acquiring producer Peter Jackson's sci-fi flick "District 9" in all English-language territories (including North America), Russia, Italy, Korea and Portugal from financier QED Intl.

The deal is in the low-to-middle-eight-figure range, making it one of the heftiest at the American Film Market. Sony's Screen Gems or Columbia Pictures are the likeliest candidates to release director Neill Blomkamp's film, which will begin shooting this spring in South Africa.