Sure Shots: James Wan; The Crow; Ron Howard to direct Spy vs. Spy film

* Saw creator James Wan is probably still basking in the glow of the $1M budgeted Insidious raking in nearly $80M earlier this year. He's not wasting any time setting his next psychological terror, as he's now entered final talks to helm The Conjuring, based on the supposed true story of a family who claimed to live amongst the spirits of dead people in 1970s. [Variety]

* Ignoring all the legal stuff between Relativity and The Weinstein Company that has bogged down the planned remake of The Crow, on the creative side it's full steam ahead. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo(28 Weeks Later) is on board to direct, with Bradley Cooper starring. An odd choice, but ok. While I'm not sold on Fresnadillo, I like Relativity's choice for writer. Alex Tse, who co-wrote Watchmen for Zack Snyder a couple of years ago, has been brought aboard to what is expected to be a darker, grittier franchise relaunch.

* Is it me or is Ron Howard filling up his dance card just in case The Dark Tower crashes and burns? Yesterday he was in talks for the Formula One racing film, Rush. And now today we learn he's going to direct an adaptation of the MAD Magazine comic strip, Spy vs. Spy. Yeah, the one with the black and white spies constantly offing eachother with wacky gadgets and traps. Is this what counts for creativity in Hollywood nowadays?  John Kamps will pen the script, overseen by David Koepp. Y'know what this could turn out like? Clive Owen's Shoot 'em Up, with lots of cartoony violence. Might not be a bad thing. [Deadline]