'Chronicle 2' Gains a Writer; Renny Harlin Directing 'Fallen Cross'; Sheldon Turner Rewriting 'Splinter Cell'

* 20th Century Fox is moving ahead with Chronicle 2, despite Josh Trank moving on to Fantastic Four and screenwriter Max Landis' script ideas being tossed in the garbage. They've hired Jack Stanley to start work on a script, but a director still needs to be found. Stanley is a relative newcomer whose script for a female assassin/high school reunion flick titled Sweetheart ended up on the Black List. This is a small first step to seeing this sequel happen, assuming anybody still wants it to?  [Deadline]

* Renny Harlin, who is probably still smarting from how awful The Legend of Hercules performed a few weeks ago, has signed on to his next project. He'll direct Fallen Cross, which "centers on Timothy Cole, a reformed ex-mafia enforcer who is in a desperate struggle to protect his family from the crime syndicate he once served, the Chicago Cross. But first he must find a way to escape the confines of prison and return to his ruthless killer ways to cut down the Cross before they can get to his children." At some point Harlin has to recapture his old 1980s glory, right? RIGHT? [Deadline]

* Doug Liman's Splinter Cell movie with Tom Hardy as badass Black Ops dude Sam Fisher just found a new writer in Shelton Turner. It's a reunion of sorts because Turner also penned Everest, the mountain climbing-flick Liman and Hardy are a part of, but it was shelved due to the presence of another Everest movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, and Jason Clarke. Turner will rewrite the script drafted by Eric Warren Singer (American Hustle), with plans for Splinter Cell to shoot this August.

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Doug Liman to Direct Tom Hardy in 'Splinter Cell'

Doug Liman's career kicked off with indie comedies Getting In, Swingers, and Go, but he's long since given that up for the big money of studio films. After wrapping up the future sci-fi film Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise, Liman was set to team up with Tom Hardy on mountain-climbing pic, Everest. That project seems to have cooled, though, and the two have found something even bigger to work together on, like a big screen version of the Splinter Cell video game.

Liman has come aboard to helm Splinter Cell, which previously cast Hardy as terrorist-fighting black ops agent, Sam Fisher. Tom Clancy helped create the video game franchise with UbiSoft back in 2002, and it has since expanded to include a series of best-selling novels. The script will come courtesy of Eric Warren Singer, hot off his Oscar-nominated American Hustle screenplay.

This one's moving fast to begin shooting in August for potential release in 2015.

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