News

While producer Stephen J. Cannell’s TV shows were entertaining on their own, the experience of watching was often enhanced by the shows’ theme songs, back in an era when theme songs were commonplace. For many of his shows, Cannell — like several other producers, including Dick Wolf, Steven Bochco and Donald Bellisario — turned to composer Mike Post for their themes. The work Post did for Cannell’s shows accounted for two of his three Top 10 pop hits: the theme from The Rockford Files and The Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not). Though Cannell passed away in 2010, we enjoyed speaking to him several times, and he once described the process of working with Post on those theme songs. (Click on the media bar below to hear Stephen J. Cannell) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Stephen-_J._Cannell_Mike_Post_Music_.mp3

The Greatest American Hero and The Rockford Files...

A menacing presence took over Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Times Square Odditorium last night. That paranormal habitation was felt by Shockya, as we were generously given the opportunity to to attend a press preview of the supernatural invasion of the popular New York City-based museum. A group of 13 Annabelle dolls from New Line […]

The post Annabelle: Creation Invades Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Times Square Odditorium with Mezco Toyz appeared first on Shockya.com.

Planning to be in or near New York City early next month? If so, Annabelle, the star of New Line Cinema’s Annabelle: Creation, will be taking over a popular Times Square landmark for one day only on Friday, August 4th;… Continue Reading →

The post Annabelle: Creation Invading Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Times Square Odditorium for One Day Only! appeared first on Dread Central.

It’s one of the most unforgettable, uncomfortable moments of 20th century pop culture: Marilyn Monroe serenading President John F. Kennedy as he turned 45 with a sultry, breathy rendition of “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” in May 1962. Considering that Monroe and Kennedy were widely rumored to have been lovers, this might have been some of the most brazenly inappropriate public flirting of all time.

Monroe’s gown from that evening—a skintight, flesh-colored, crystal-bedecked Jean Louis creation based on a Bob Mackie sketch—became an icon in its own right. And this week, the souffle gauze garment brought in a whopping $4.8 million at auction, far exceeding the $3 million guide price. Purchased on Thursday by the RIpley’s Believe It Or Not museum chain (presumably as a future exhibit), the clingy dress was the centerpiece of an extensive, three-day auction of Monroe’s possessions at Julien’s ...

The iconic dress worn by Marilyn Monroe when she sang “happy birthday Mr President” to John F Kennedy has sold for a world-record price at auction, fetching Us$4.8m (£3.87m) in La on Thursday. The sheer, flesh-coloured design, which features more than 2,500 hand-stitched crystals, was bought by museum chain Ripley’s Believe It Or Not

Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Happy birthday, Mr President’ dress sells for record $4.8m

Continue reading...

Sheer dress worn by actor to serenade John F Kennedy in 1962 auctioned in La for world-record sum to museum chain Ripley’s Believe It Or Not

The famous dress worn by Marilyn Monroe when she sang “happy birthday Mr President” to John F Kennedy has sold for a world-record price at auction, fetching Us$4.8m (£3.87m).

Related: ‘Happy Birthday, Mr President’: the story of Marilyn Monroe and that dress

Continue reading...

Available for only 24 hours starting at midnight tonight, Fright Rags presents a Conner family Halloween shirt of epic proportions featuring the "original Becky"! Also in today's Horror Highlights: Stern Pinball Arcade virtual reality AC/DC experience details, Zombies!!! Board Game Soundtrack release details and cover art, and details on XLrator Media's acquisition of Werner Herzog's Salt and Fire.

Fright Rags' Roseanne Halloween Midnight Madness Shirt: This new Fright Rags shirt shows the Conner family from Roseanne getting into the Halloween spirit.

Priced at $18.00, the new shirt will be available for a 24-hour period beginning at 12:01 am Edt on Saturday morning and ending at midnight on Saturday night.

It will never be reprinted by Fright Rags, so if you're interested in purchasing this latest Midnight Madness shirt, then keep an eye on Fright Rags' official website this weekend.

---------

Stern Pinball AC/DC Vr Game: Press Release: "Elk Grove Village,...

Actress Rose Siggins, best known for playing Legless Suzi on American Horror Story: Freak Show, died Saturday at a Denver hospital. She was 43.

According to TMZ, Siggins was admitted on Monday for kidney stone surgery, during which she contracted an infection that ultimately became fatal.

The actress suffered from sacral agenesis, a rare genetic disorder that affects development of the lower spine. She appeared on several nonfiction series to discuss her condition, including Extraordinary People, Born Different and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!

She also appeared in Schlitzie: One of Us, a documentary about the titular sideshow performer.

The upcoming horror flick Ouija is scaring up serious attention with the release of a new viral video featuring Jalisa Thompson and her bulging eyes.

The upcoming horror flick Ouija is scaring up serious attention with the release of a new viral video featuring Jalisa Thompson and her bulging eyes.

Pics: Sexy Frozen Halloween Costumes Are Here

In the video, Jalisa, 25, poses as a psychic for unsuspecting customers that freak out when Jalisa makes her eyes pop out -- a talent that helped her win Ripley's Annual Great Face Off in 2006 and 2011. The contest, designed to find the person who can make the craziest face, is presented annually by the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Odditorium in Atlantic City.

Thinkmodo, the viral video marketing agency behind the telekinetic coffee shop gag for the movie Carrie and the Devil's Due baby prank, helped develop the stunt.

"We took over a little wine store in Brooklyn," said Thinkmodo...

TV/film composer and conductor John Cacavas, whose credits include Airport 1975 and 1970s TV series Kojak, died January 28 at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 83. The South Dakota native scored numerous TV series and films throughout his career beginning with the 1972 feature Horror Express. He went on to score the next two movies in the Airport franchise, Airport 1975 and Airport ’77. Cacavas had developed a strong friendship with Telly Savalas, leading to a long tenure as composer for the Kojak TV series (1973-78), including the series theme for its fifth and final season on CBS. His other TV credits include Hawaii Five-o, Matlock, Switch, Columbo, Mrs. Columbo, Quincy, Buck Rogers, Gangster Chronicles, Lady Blue, Four Seasons and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. He also composed movies-of-the-week, TV pilots, mini-series and specials such as A Time to Triumph, Eddie Capra Mysteries, She Cried Murder, Time Machine, By Reason Of Insanity,...

Secretaries get honored once a year, as do mothers, fathers and even people who talk like pirates, so why shouldn't sword swallowers?

That's what sword swallower Dan Meyer thinks.

For the last seven years, Meyer, president of the Sword Swallowers Association International has declared the last Saturday of February to be "World Sword Swallowers Day," a 24-hour period when the world's 200 or so sword swallowers sharpen their skills collectively.

This year, World Sword Swallowers Day is on Feb. 23, and blade gobblers will gather at various places around the world, including 18 of the 32 Ripley's Odditoriums, to perform solo swallowing and a simultaneous swallow at 2:23 p.m. local time.

World Sword Swallowers Day (Story continues below)

Sword swallowing dates back to around 4,000 B.C. Practitioners of this ancient sideshow art face death each time they attempt the feat -- and not just because the blade usually comes within one-eighth of an inch of the heart.

By Mike Drake

While the country watches Spider-Man fight the Lizard in theatres, author and collector of the unusual, Mike Drake, interviews the real Lizardman aka Erik Sprague.

The Lizardman is a former doctoral candidate and philosophy degree holder known worldwide for his amazing transformation from man to lizard as well as his modern sideshow performance art. He has endured over 700 hours of painful body modification to become one of the most well known and recognizable artists in his field.

Mike Drake: The term Freak, you have it tattooed on your chest; is it offensive? Is it acceptable for someone to refer to you as a “freak”?

Lizard Man: The term ‘freak’ is a title, a badge of honor for me. No matter how someone may intend it, I always take it as a compliment. Any word can be offensive depending on how it is used and how the...

I'd hate to be the guy who has to adapt this book into a movie! Warner Bros. is currently in negotiations to secure the film rights to the Guinness Book of World Records so they can turn it into an action adventure film.

This is such an odd book to turn into a movie. I have no idea how they are going to turn it into a story that makes any sense. There's just a hell of a lot of stuff going on in that book! They could literally take one world record event and turn that into a movie, but there's thousands of them! According to Deadline, "The goal is to blow out the accomplishments of record-setters and turn it into an action movie with global appeal."

The Office TV writer Danny Chun has been hired to pen the script, and I wish him the best of luck. This...

How do you know that the idea of jumping on something that’s a brand name as possible film fodder might have gone just a wee bit too far? It’s because someone actually wants to make a film based on The Guinness Book Of World Records. No, honestly: Warner Bros. is looking to give it a try.According to Deadline, the studio has hired Us Office writer Danny Chun to start finding some way to wrap various achievements into a compelling action-adventure narrative. No, we don't know how that would work either.While the book certainly has name recognition around the world, it would seem to have less of a plot hook than even Battleship. Or What To Expect When You're Expecting. Or He's Just Not That Into You. And while you could compare it, to say, Paramount’s efforts to make a movie based on Ripley’s Believe It Or Not,...

Exclusive: Warner Bros is negotiating a rights deal to use The Guinness Book Of World Records as the basis for an action adventure film. The film has been set up at WB-based Thunder Road, and the studio has hired Danny Chun (The Office) to write the script. Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk will produce with Motion Theory’s Sean Sorensen and Mathew Cullen. It’s going to take some work to find a narrative arc, but there is certainly global name recognition as the Guinness Book Of World Records has sold a ton of books. The goal is to blow out the accomplishments of record-setters and turn it into an action movie with global appeal. Hatched by the Guinness Brewing Company in Ireland after an executive there tried to settle an argument over whether Europe’s fastest bird was the golden plover or the grouse, the brew maker realized a...

It's curious that a director as idiosyncratic and...well, just plain weird as Tim Burton has become one of Hollywood's A-listers. But from 1989's "Batman" to 2010's billion-dollar-grossing "Alice in Wonderland," the helmer has managed to turn his dark, gothic imagination into something that genuinely captures the hearts and minds of the general public. Indeed, even films like "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and the upcoming "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," which are produced by Burton, show that he, like Alfred Hitchcock before him, has become one of the few directors who's a true brand name, with audiences knowing what they can expect when they purchase a ticket.

But despite his success, Burton, like every filmmaker, isn't necessarily able to get everything he wants made. The path of his career has been littered with a number of projects that either didn't get made at all, or got made with radically different interpretations and visions to them.

All this talk about Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows makes me think about the original Dark Shadows, and when considering show creator Dan Curtis’ ovure, I am reminded of his great, and often unfairly overlooked, 1973 take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The film, shot in England in 1973, hit the airwaves on February 8, 1974, just in time for Valentine’s Day. The telepic starred Jack Palance, in retrospect, a natural nod as the fanged fiend. As audiences would see a decade later in the Palance-hosted television hit Ripley’S Believe It Or Not, he has always been the perfect sinister gentleman, a quality played to the hilt in Dracula.

Also starring Simon Ward, Nigel Davenport, Pamela Brown, Penelope Horner, Murray Brown, and the stunning Fiona Lewis, Dracula was shot at famed Pinewood Studios in England, and could easily pass as a Hammer production. Curtis handles the tale like a bigger budget episode of Dark Shadows,...

New York City's ban on smoking in public parks goes into effect next week, and the folks at Ripley's Believe It Or Not! thought they'd conjured the perfect stunt to drive home an anti-smoking message -- Richie "The Human Ashtray" Magic would show the world just how gross smoking could be by extinguishing 200 cigarettes on his pain-proof tongue.

But AOL Weird News has learned that the May 23 event was abruptly cancelled after the sideshow performer admitted to AOL that he had fallen off the wagon and started smoking again.

"We admire Richie for his courageous attempt to bring to light the harmful effects of smoking in such an outrageous fashion," said Michael Hirsch, general manager of Ripley's Times Square Odditorium, in a prepared statement.

"We support Richie in his pursuit for a new world record. However, as Richie is still -- like many others -- battling his addiction to smoking,...

Four years ago, news came out that a film was being developed based on the series of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not books. Then, Paramount Pictures bailed two weeks before production was about to start in China. But they’ve since revived the abandoned movie and gotten Eric Roth, writer of hits like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Forrest Gump to write the script based on the life of newspaper columnist Robert Ripley....

Hopefully this film can actually find some footing, as it’s getting a bit troublesome how difficult the road has been to the big screen for this project.

According to The Playlist, Paramount is still hellbent on bringing Ripley’S Believe It Or Not to theaters, as the studio has tapped Oscar winning writer Eric Roth to pen the film’s screenplay. Roth is apparently doing an entire rewrite of the film’s screenplay, meaning that while it looks good for the project, it’s still a bit of a ways off.

Read more on Paramount hires Eric Roth to rewrite Ripley’S Believe Or Not film; Jim Carrey still in the lead role…...

Apparently it’s Jim Carrey’s world this week.

With a hosting gig this past Saturday on SNL, the actor has since gotten his long talked-about take on Ripley’s Believe It Or Not allegedly re-uped, and even got a chance to talk his career on Inside The Actor’s Studio.

Read more on First Look: Jim Carrey in Mr. Popper’S Penguins…...

Back when Tim Burton was going to direct a biopic of Robert Ripley (the journalist behind Ripley’s Believe It Or Not), I could not wait to see the project get off the ground. With its epic nature and colorful period piece-ness, it seemed like a mixture of Big Fish (a movie he’d just directed) and Ed Wood and Indiana Jones. Burton seemed perfect for the project. Now, that may be a different story. And the script itself will be a different story, because (according to Deadline Dalesville) Paramount has hired Eric Roth to do a completely clean slate script re-write. What does that mean? The screenwriter behind Forrest Gump will most likely make this a sprawling travelogue that focuses on the people more than the oddities. The movie (the script at least) will be huge but feel close to home. Granted, Roth tends to steal from himself a lot, so...

Oh lordy, lordy. Paramount must be getting desperate for a tentpole.

Deadline say the studio are looking at reviving an adaptation of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not for the umpteenth time as a potential film for Jim Carrey, an actor whose ‘creative ideas’ forced the studio in delaying & then pulling the plug four years ago on a near $200 million adaptation with director Tim Burton (and from the writers of Ed Wood) just weeks before was filming was due to start in China.

A later version from Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Percy Jackson) also couldn’t get off the ground for Carrey.

Oscar winning Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Curious Case of Benjamin Button) has been tasked with a fresh screenplay that will once again find Carrey as the newspaper columnist Robert Ripley, who traveled the world to find & chronicle unusual people and places only to appreciate that the oddest people have feelings too.

Eric Roth, Oscar winning writer of films like Munich and Forrest Gump, is set to give the script for Ripley's Believe It Or Not, a rewrite. The project has been kicking around since 2007, with Jim Carrey in the role of Robert Ripley. The film would explore Ripley's life as he explores various countries around the world, looking for unusual people and things. If you're familiar with the brand, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, you'll know that this could certainly make for an interesting film. Tim Burton was once attached to direct but he left the project right before production was about to begin. Then Christopher Columbus took over and the film was once again getting ready to start production. Then Carrey started introducing some expensive ideas for the film, and it has been in standstill ever since.

Further to Sneak Peek's first report October 2008, Paramount continues to develop a bio-pic feature based on the life of Robert Ripley, creator of newspaper strip "Ripley's Believe It Or Not", starring actor Jim Carrey as the eccentric cartoonist/explorer.

Academy Award winning writer Eric Roth ("Forest Gump") has agreed to do a screenplay rewrite.

Travel was Ripley's lifelong obsession, visiting 198 countries, but feeling most at home in China, where he adopted local customs, often greeting guests in traditional Asian costume while presiding over elaborate feasts.

His many Us houses were filled with 'odditorium' artifacts he brought back from his Marco Polo-like travels, including Chinese wallhangings, shrunken heads, totem poles from Alaska and giant bronze guardian statues from the Orient.

He became a self-made multi-millionaire through the syndication of his comic strip, dressing in bright colors and patterns, bat-wing ties and two-toned spat shoes, collecting cars but never learning to drive,...

It seems Paramount just can’t let go of its Ripley’s Believe It Or Not title. The studio has now hired respected screenwriter Eric Roth to breath new life into the film project. Paramount are keen to keep the film ticking because even though quite a few years have elapsed star Jim Carrey remains as committed as ever.

Carrey would play the lead role of Robert Ripley, a newspaper columnist who achieved worldwide fame when he started writing about strange places, customs and people from all over the globe. Ripley’s work has seen attractions spring up in major cities like New York, Los Angeles and London.

So far the project has cost Paramount a fair chunk of money. False starts with Tim Burton and Chris Columbus have added to the misery. Now Oscar winner Roth, who scooped the golden baldie for Forrest Gump, is the man to save Ripley.

Many years ago, when I was but a young lass, I remember reading about a movie based on Robert Ripley. It was supposed to star Jim Carrey. Being a nerd for the oddball things the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not show used to dig up, I was excited to see just who this crazy bastard was. Then, it never happened; despite being mere weeks away from shooting (with Tim Burton directing) in 2007, Carrey decided to come up with a whole bunch of ideas resulting in a script rewrite and the departure of both Burton and its green-lit $175 million budget.[Deadline, The Playlist]

Now it looks like Paramount is willing to give it another go, bringing on Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Munich, Benjamin Button) to do a complete overhaul of the script. And though it’s very likely that Burton is going to stay gone (and hopefully that means Chris Columbus, who was...

Jim Carrey continued to earn rave reviews for his role as a conman convict in love with his cellmate in the specialty film I Love You Phillip Morris and enjoyed a profile boost thanks to his recent hosting duties on SNL. Carrey’s good fortunes continued with news that Paramount Pictures was re-starting the epic adventure film Ripley’s Believe It Or Not with Carrey in the lead role as newspaper columnist and adventurer Robert Ripley. According to Deadline, Paramount hired screenwriter Eric Roth to rewrite the original script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.

Jim Carrey continued to earn rave reviews for his role as a conman convict in love with his cellmate in the specialty film I Love You Phillip Morris and enjoyed a profile boost thanks to his recent hosting duties on SNL. Carrey’s good fortunes continued with news that Paramount Pictures was re-starting the epic adventure film Ripley’s Believe It Or Not with Carrey in the lead role as newspaper columnist and adventurer Robert Ripley. According to Deadline, Paramount hired screenwriter Eric Roth to rewrite the original script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.

A few years ago it looked like Tim Burton would direct Ripley's Believe It Or Not with Jim Carrey set to star as newspaperman Robert Ripley, who created an enduring brand as he collected stories of the exotic and unusual for his entertaining column. The movie didn't happen, but it turns out the script wasn't dead, only dormant. Now Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) is set to do "a complete rewrite overhaul," according to Deadline [1]. Jim Carrey is still set to appear. No idea who might direct, but Eric Roth scripts tend to attract top-flight talent, so it could well be a notable name. The original script was by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, Man on the Moon) and that script had been budgeted at a whopping $175m. Given that it covered the globe-trotting adventures of Ripley and had to build a period piece that spanned decades,...

Like a committed doctor working on a patient who keeps flat lining, Paramount just won’t give up on Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, and has now hired Eric Roth (The Insider/The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) to write a brand new draft of the script.Part of the reason that the studio is so intent on making it is the fact that Jim Carrey remains committed to star as Robert Ripley, the newspaper columnist who became internationally famous after chronicling the world’s strangest places, people and events. But while his work eventually led to attractions springing up around the world, Ripley struggled with the concept of appreciating the people he wrote about as more than just the latest fodder for his newspaper column.There’s also the small matter of the money that has been poured into the film, which was achingly close to production back...

Disc 2 episodes are bonus/supplement episodes of The CriterionCast. Rudie Obias, Ryan Gallagher & Travis George ramble on and on about movies and movie experiences. “On The Screen” is where they discuss anything and everything that has been on their screens in the week. So anything from TV & movies to music & web material, everything “On The Screen” is up for grabs. This is what they recommend to you, their listeners.

Special Guest: Justin Vactor – Host of The Entertainment Overload Podcast and The Geekland Podcast.

What do you think of their show? Please send them your feed back: CriterionCast@gmail.com or call their voicemail line @ 347.878.3430 or follow them on twitter @CriterionCast or Comment on their blog, http://CriterionCast.com.

Thank you for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe to their podcast and please leave your reviews in the iTunes feed.

They broadcast every episode Live on UStream every Friday @ 7pm Est/4pm Pst.

This two-disc collection of theatrical shorts was produced not much more than ten years after Robert Ripley first (and almost accidently) created the Believe It Or Not cartoon for the newspaper he was working for. Ripley didn't even come up with the name. It's almost enough to make one say, "Believe it or not!" especially when you consider that prior to becoming a cartoonist he aspired to be a baseball player and broke his pitching arm on the first pitch of his first major league game. Those odd facts though are nothing compared to what he was able to provide readers for decades.

This collection prefigures the age we live in now where such weirdness is merely a mouse-click away. One can only imagine if Ripley could even still make a living these days. I'd like to think so even if the only place you can get this is via the Warner Brothers Archive.

The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the Fred Weekend Shopping Guide - your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

(Please support Fred by using the links below to make any impulse purchases - it helps to keep us going…)

I’ve spoken to a few of his contemporaries in the past, and all of them described the drive and determination related in Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story (Vivendi, Not Rated, DVD-$26.97 Srp), a documentary which uses the comedian’s build up to his most recent world tour to explore his life and comedy. It’s a brilliant, brilliant portrait of a brilliant comic mind. Bonus...

A first for Bollywood is about to happen at the posh Warner Brothers Studios in Los Angeles. Internationally-renowned cinematographer Amir Mokri (who’s shot Hollywood blockbusters like ‘Vantage Point’, ‘Bad Boys 2’ and ‘Fast and Furious’) will be watching our own desi action flick ‘Blue’ on October 3.

Joining Mokri will be Mitchell Amundsen the American cinematographer who recently shot ‘Mission Impossible 3’.

‘Blue’ director Tony D’Souza who worked in La when he directed the television series ‘Ripley’s Believe It Or Not’ has been close friends with Mokri and.

Television Rating: 3.0/5.0 Chicago – “Medium” is like TV comfort food. NBC’s paranormal mystery will never break new ground but is almost always entertaining. Each episode and overall season has a way of blending into each other, but there’s something comforting about a Monday night staple that is, at the very least, consistently satisfactory and sometimes better.

Take for example the fifth season opener, “Soul Survivor”. It is an episode that, except for a few character details, could have been in any season of the show. If you’re looking for a series with more pronounced character arcs and development, “Medium” is not the show for you.

Patricia Arquette as Allison Dubois

Photo credit: Mitchell Haaseth/NBC The premiere of “Medium” opens with Allison Dubois (Patricia Arquette) having yet another psychic dream, this one playing out like an episode of the classic “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not”. In it,...

While promoting his latest film Yes Man, producer Richard Zanuck spoke exclusively with the IESB about what happened with Ripley's Believe It Or Not, a film he was attached to along with Jim Carrey and director Tim Burton.

{sidebar id=1}Just weeks before they were set to start shooting, Paramount Pictures pulled the plug on the whole thing.

Here's what happened,

IESB: You were supposed to be doing Ripley's Believe it or Not with Jim [Carrey] and Tim [Burton]... that it kind of fell apart on the Tim side?

Zanuck: It fell apart on the studio side, we were ready to go and very close actually, 8 or 9 weeks away from starting and it was the studio that made that decision and it actually caught us off guard, all three of us - myself, Jim and Tim - we were rocked, we spent weeks in China selecting locations with art directors, getting permissions...

The Jim Carrey-centric Ripley's Believe It Or Not, in which the elastic-faced thespian plays newspaper columnist/explorer Robert Ripley is close to finding a director. Chris Columbus, who may not be respected in that film snob kind of way, but is still responsible for classic flicks like Mrs. Doubtfire and Home Alone, is set to direct the long gestating project. Originally this thing was being tapped as a Tim Burton Opus but Mr. Columbus is set to do this right, and is expected to set...

Long in development hell, Ripley's Believe It Or Not may finally get made, this time with Chris Columbus at the helm.

{sidebar id=1}Paramount has been trying to get this film made since Tim Burton attempted a China based storyline back in 2007. Jim Carrey is still attached to star.

Variety had the news,

Paramount is negotiating with Chris Columbus to direct its long-gestating "Ripley.s Believe It or Not!" Jim Carrey is still set to star as newspaper columnist-explorer Robert Ripley.

After being unplugged months before a 2007 production start in China with Tim Burton at the helm, "Ripley.s Believe It or Not!" is getting a complete overhaul, based on a concept that Columbus pitched. Both Paramount and Carrey sparked to it, and the China-based storyline will be scrapped.

Once Columbus. deal is closed, the studio will hire a writer to draft the project, which remains a Par priority: Read...