Up Next: The Flash 4 and Superman 3 II

Warner Brothers just started preproduction on the sequel to a movie that doesn't come out until next year. The writers of Green Lantern -- which I guess Warners has decided is legally required to be a monster hit when it finally comes out in 2011 -- have been hired to start work on the script for Green Lantern 2.

Verdict: This literally cannot fail. Remember how Superman Returns launched a mammoth franchise and made Brandon Routh the biggest movie star in the world? Cha-ching! Money in the bank.

That's Sir Captain Picard to You

Patrick Stewart was knighted at Buckingham Palace last week, joining the illustrious ranks of previous honorees like Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Sir Alexander Crombie, honored "for services to the insurance industry of Scotland."

Verdict: Suck on that, Shatner.

L.A.'s Finest Crack Down on Fake Superman; Drug Gangs Still Running Free

The unlicensed costumed panhandlers on Hollywood Boulevard have become "stars" in their own right, showing up on Jimmy Kimmel (he films across the street) and their own documentary. But the superheroes and Jack Sparrows and Princess Leias and random-cop-stripper-girls are gone after an LAPD crackdown that involved arresting dozens of costumers for loitering. (Best sidebar quote ever: "Hulk calls crackdown 'un-American.'")

Verdict: Booo. The Boulevard feels empty without them, and there's nothing for the tourists to look at except that creepy picture of J-Lo in front of Madame Tussaud's. Does she even qualify as a star anymore? Give me the mother-daughter Marilyns any day.

Thunder, Thunder, THUNDERCATS! Ho-Hum.

In the avalanche of '80s reboots like Transformers and G.I. Joe, it's felt like only a matter of time until a big-budget Thundercats feature, with Michael Bay/McG/whoever at the helm and Chris Pine/Kristen Stewart/whoever in digital fur. Turns out Warner Brothers is thinking a little smaller, with a "21st-century reimagining" that'll use anime-style animation and land on the Cartoon Network in 2011.

Verdict: The MTV guys seem really excited -- they call the promo poster, which is just the name, the logo, and the year 2011, "ridiculously cool" -- but this feels seriously tame. Nothing new to see here, folks.