Movie News & Gossip

LOS ANGELES - Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. says he is being treated for prostate cancer.

In the announcement Tuesday, Gossett says the disease was caught early and he expects to make a full recovery.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Angelina Jolie began two days of meetings with Haiti earthquake victims Tuesday in her role as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency.

The actress, representing the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, met with U.N. officials in Port-au-Prince and visited an SOS Villages camp for orphans outside the capital, where she was cheered by Haitians yelling, "Angie! Angie!"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Roadside Attractions is getting in the aloha spirit, acquiring U.S. rights to the Hawaiian historical biopic "Princess Ka'iulani."

The film, which had its world premiere at the recent Hawaii International Film Festival under the title "Barbarian Princess," stars Q'orianka Kilcher ("The New World") as a princess caught up in the last days of the Hawaiian monarchy who flees to England.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Bob Iger wasn't bluffing. The Disney CEO has been telling Wall Street for months of his plans for studio executives to shorten traditional movie release schedules, and it appears the time has arrived for the first grand experiment.

A day after the revelation that UK exhibitors are being asked to accept a tightened theatrical window for Disney's spring feature "Alice in Wonderland," The Hollywood Reporter has learned that U.S. theater owners have been similarly approached.

Julia Roberts reunited with her "Steel Magnolias" co-star Shirley MacLaine on the red carpet Monday night at the LA premiere of their latest film, "Valentine's Day," and the two reminisced about working together again, sort of.

"[We] didn't have enough [scenes together]," Julia told Access Hollywood's Shaun Robinson, about her "Valentine's Day" time with Shirley.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Universal Pictures has scooped up domestic distribution rights to "Larry Crowne," a comedy that reteams Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, who shared the screen in 2007's "Charlie Wilson's War."

Hanks also is directing the tale of a man reinventing his life. He wrote the screenplay with Nia Vardalos; their working relationship dates to her 2002 smash "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which Hanks and Gary Goetzman's company, Playtone, produced.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Betting that laughs can be found in a cancer diagnosis, Summit Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Mandate Pictures' untitled Seth Rogen/James McAvoy project.

Formerly titled "I'm With Cancer," the project began with an autobiographical script by Will Reiser, who successfully beat the disease.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Paramount Pictures on Tuesday said Tom Cruise will star in a new "Mission: Impossible" movie set for release in 2011 and produced by Cruise and J.J. Abrams.

Cruise and Abrams last teamed up in 2006 for "Mission: Impossible III," with Cruise in the role of super agent Ethan Hunt who battles bad guys and saves the world from evil.