The Marvelous Spider-Man
Spider-Man is joining the Marvel universe, possibly making his debut in "Captain America: Civil War" in May 2016. Marvel and Sony, which owns the Spidey franchise, also are working to bring Marvel characters into the rebooted Spider-Man film due in July 2017. That film will send our favorite webslinger back to high school and feature yet another new actor in the role (Dylan O'Brien of "The Maze Runner" and Logan Lerman of "Percy Jackson" have been mentioned). Please, not another origin story!
Breaking pretty well
"Better Call Saul" had the best cable premiere ever for the under-50 demographic. … Colin Hanks stars in "Life in Pieces," a pilot comedy for CBS. … Kris Jenner will guest-star on "The Mindy Project." … IFC has renewed "Portlandia" for two more seasons. … Laverne Cox ("Orange Is the New Black") has been cast in the CBS legal drama "Doubt." … James Franco will star in Stephen King's "11/22/63" for Hulu. … Netflix mistakenly released the third season of "House of Cards" more than two weeks before its planned premiere, then yanked it with this accompanying tweet: "This is Washington. There's always a leak. All 13 episodes will launch February 27."
Tween fare? Mais oui!
Ah, those nutty, naughty French: The country has rated "Fifty Shades of Grey" PG-12. … Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska and Guy Pearce will star in the western "Brimstone." … Dave Bautista ("Guardians of the Galaxy") will join the "Highlander" reboot. … Tony Hale will play the villain in "Alvin and the Chipmunks 4: The Road Chip." Just in case you were concerned they might mess up that franchise.
'Daily' news
"Hot Tub Time Machine 2" knows who's replacing Jon Stewart as host of "The Daily Show": current correspondent Jessica Williams. The film's version of the show, dated the year 2025, also reveals that Dame Jennifer Lawrence is starring in a Meryl Streep biopic ("Streeping It Real") and that Neil Patrick Harris is the president (sounds about right).
CYNTHIA DICKISON
