Good news for fans of mythology! Zak Penn is to write and produce a new take on The Argonauts, the crew who accompanied the Greek hero Jason in his search for the Golden Fleece.
Penn's story will be an "original take" on the legend, maybe placing more emphasis on the crew of the Argo and less on Jason for a change. If so, we're guessing it'll be an ensemble comedy / action movie with lots of cheeky chappys helping a slightly ineffectual Jason fulfil his destiny - but perhaps that's unfair to Penn, so let's see what he can come up with. Tradition holds that the Argo had a crew of about 50, but we wouldn't be surprised if that number is significantly reduced for dramatic effect.
But this is just one of a wave of Greek-themed projects in Hollywood at the moment. Let's see if we can round them up: there's Louis Leterrier working on Clash of the Titans; Warners is planning a 300 sequel (presumably called 1); Relativity Media is making War of Gods about Theseus; Brett Ratner's mulling God of War (don't confuse those two; this one's based on a game); and there are at least three Hercules projects in development, including Peter Berg's Hercules: The Thracian Wars (based on a comic, that one). Oh, and DreamWorks is making a different film called The Argonauts, about modern treasure-hunters thrown back through time when they find the original Argo.
That all clear? You'd think Greece was the cradle of civilisation or something, the way Tinseltown is obsessed with its mythology. Either that, or someone saw the numbers for My Big Fat Greek Wedding and got a little confused in their attempts to cash in.
Penn has to fit this project in with writing The Avengers, which at least gives him the chance to branch out and write about a Norse god as well. Let's just hope that someone, someday, widens the net a little more and tries something different - Irish mythology's where it's at, studio execs, honest.