Universal Studios, which is already committed to a feature film based on The Incredible Hulk directed by Ang Lee (see 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Behemoth'), is deep in negotiations with Marvel to acquire the rights to produce a film based on Marvel's first superhero--Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner--who first appeared in 1941.  Marvel Studios President Avi Arad notes that the Sub-Mariner property 'has modern-day implications because if you look at the undersea and what's happening there, you have to address such issues as Exxon Valdez and the oil spills, undersea bomb testing, pollution, and global warming.'

The Witchblade television series debuts tonight on TNT at 9pm.  Based on the popular comic series from Top Cow, the 12-episode television series follows a highly successful TV movie that was also produced by TNT.  Yancy Butler stars as NYC detective Sara Pezzini, custodian of the all-powerful Witchblade.  A successful summer run on TNT should fuel additional interest in the Top Cow comic series, which is now being written by Paul Jenkins and drawn by Keu Cha, who certainly have to be considered one of Top Cow's 'A' teams.

A newspaper in Sydney Australia reports that Steven Spielberg was quoted in a future issue of Starlog magazine as saying that he, George Lucas, and Harrison Ford were all satisfied with the latest version of the script for Indiana Jones 4.  According to this report, the three principals are just waiting for Paramount to give the OK.  They may be waiting awhile since the cost of the salaries of just these three guys alone is enough to put the project into the mega-budget zone.  Still Paramount needs a hit, so you can bet the studio is busy crunching numbers and trying to make it all work.