Angel

ANGEL, SPIKE RETURN (SORT OF): The BUFFY spin-off series ANGEL ended its WB run last year on a hauntingly ambigious note: the titular undead bloodsucker and his cohorts were about to plunge into a seemingly hopeless battle against a vast horde of demonic creatures. Angel fired off one last quip, raised his sword... and that was it. The End. We were left to wonder if any of the so-called "Fang Gang" survived, and we had every reason to suppose they didn’t. But in the latest issue of TV GUIDE, BUFFY and ANGEL creator Joss Whedon reveals that this summer two comic books will reveal what happened after the ANGEL series finale. June 29’s ANGEL: THE CURSE will follow Angel to Europe as he tries to track down the gypsies who cursed him with a soul, while August’s SPIKE: OLD TIMES will follow Spike as he reuintes with a former crush turned vengeance demon. While Whedon isn’t writing June 29’s ANGEL: THE CURSE or August’s SPIKE: OLD TIMES, he is closely supervising them. "You do want to do everything yourself," Whedon admits, "but every now and then somebody shows you something you haven’t thought of, and it’s really charming."

BATMOBILE LOST A WHEEL?: It could be that all this speculation about who will portray the Joker in the BATMAN BEGINS sequel is sadly moot. SHOWBIZDATA reports that the film’s midnight debut screenings of were only "sparsely attended," hardly drawing out the hordes of fans that were expected. Those who attended, however, were apparently very enthusiastic about the movie.

BEOWULF CAST EXPANDS: VARIETY reports that a quartet of well-known actors have been invited to star in the upcoming film version of BEOWULF directed by Robert Zemeckis (THE POLAR EXPRESS) and co-written by Roger Avary (PULP FICTION) and Neil Gaiman (AMERICAN GODS). Ray Winstone (KING ARTHUR), Anthony Hopkins (HANNIBAL), Brendan Gleeson (28 DAYS LATER) and Robin Wright Penn (UNBREAKABLE and Zemeckis’ own FORREST GUMP) "would be committing to a process that is more like a regular movie than the voiceover work commonly done for 3-D animated films," as Zemeckis plans to use the same technology he employed for EXPRESS.

RAIMI, TAPER GRAB THE MONKEY’S PAW: Sam Raimi and Rob Taper’s Ghost House Pictures will finance and develop the MONKEY’S PAW, a "spooky family film" from writers Dave Kajganich and Tom McAlister. Raimi and Taper will produce. The story centers on a father who brings home a cursed monkey paw that is alleged to make wishes come true but in truth brings only misfortune.