IGN Filmforce has reported that the Conan movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which was to be scripted by John Milius and produced by the Wachowski brothers ( Matrix ) has fallen apart.

Stephen de Souza, who wrote Die Hard and 48 Hours , is scripting a new film based on Lee Falk's classic comic book hero The Phantom.

Bookseller T.W. Adair of Barnes and Noble Lincoln Triangle in New York City prefers X-Men 2 as the anchor event for FCBD 2003, but also sees potential for The Hulk .

In spite of the obvious success that comic book-based films have had in Hollywood over the past year, and despite the fact that fellow AOL/Time Warner company DC Comics has an enormous roster of characters, Warner Brothers has been unable to pull the trigger and squeeze off another round in the battle of cinematic superheroes.

Big Blast Entertainment, which holds media rights for Oni Press, and Circle of Confusion, a management company (Wachowski Brothers, Brian Michael Bendis, others) announced a cross-development and management deal.

Warner Brothers Consumer Products Division announced that McFarlane Toys has received the master toy license for the second and third installments of The Matrix Trilogy --- The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions -- as well as rights to the original Matrix film.

For 2003 Dark Horse has lined up a number of exciting licensed projects that are going to be much more than mere comic book versions of screen stories.

N2 Toys, the company that was largely staffed with ex-employees of the Cincinnati-based Kenner (after Hasbro acquired Kenner and eliminated 'redundancies'), is no longer in the business of manufacturing toys.

In comics, Spidey still holds three of the Top 10 Cool Comics in June, with the Kevin Smith-penned Spider-Man/Black Cat #1 in the top slot.

Circuit City, the national electronics chain, is the first nationwide mass-market retailer to announce publicly that it is eliminating VHS product from its stores.