Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie starrer Hollywood flick ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ which earned above USD 186 million at the North American box office last summer is remade by ABC for the television series.

The network has ordered a pilot, which the film’s director, Doug Liman, is expected to shoot, subject to availability. It envisages the pilot will be ready for midseason 2006-07 or fall 2007 consideration.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith revolve around a pair of married assassins hired to kill each other. But instead of the original stars reprising their roles, the filmmakers will be casting new unknown faces as married assassins in the latest incarnation of the movie. “We’re going to do a nationwide talent search and find basically the next Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie,” Liman said.

In last 12 months she has earned $225million

Media mogul and TV talk show queen Oprah Winfrey has topped the new 2005 Forbes magazine Celebrity 100 list. The annual Forbes list ranks celebrities according to their power, salaries and media presence. Winfrey was a clear choice to top the list after earning a staggering $225 million in the last 12 months, and her show is one of the worlds toprated. Golf ace Tiger Woods came in second and Mel Gibson, who topped the list in 2004, fell to number three. Star Wars creator George Lucas, who didn’t appear among the Celebrity 100, last year, crashes in at number four on the new list. Meanwhile, funnymen Will Ferrell and Dave Chappelle appear on the list for the first time at numbers 18 and 78 respectively and Denzel Washington is also a Celebrity 100 virgin at number 31. The ladies of Desperate Housewives have replaced the girls of Friends the cast of the hit new show debut on the new list at number 25.

Masters of Horror

Dario Argento has signed to do a new horror portmanteau picture with Tobe Hooper and Monte Hellman. We all knew he had joined Hooper, John Landis, John Carpenter, Roger Corman, Joe Dante etc. for the 13 one-hour TV series ‘Masters of Horror’.

But the so-far-untitled anthology (Three Evil Eyes?) being financed by Japanese backers was a total surprise. Due to start shooting in September, the terror trilogy has been scripted by Dennis Bartok, programme director of the American Cinematheque and one of those people endlessly thanked on such ‘Making Of’ DVD extras for EVIL DEAD, The Fog, The Howling and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

What a dream team this is, Dario Argento, Tobe Hooper and Monte Hellman are each taking one film of a horror trilogy. For horror fans, this is a dream team, although Hellman’s credits are more in cult classics than horror.