"Spider-Man" producers were so impressed with the $800 million the movie made worldwide that there is now a second sequel in development. Avi Arad, the head of Marvel Comics' film division, recently told reporters "Spider-Man 3" will likely be in theaters in 2007, if not sooner. "Spider-Man 2" opens July 2. ... Marvel Comics, meanwhile, is negotiating with John Singleton ("Boyz N the Hood," "2 Fast 2 Furious") to develop and direct a movie based on Luke Cage, one of the first black crime fighters in comics. The character, which debuted in a comic called "Luke Cage, Hero for Hire," is a wrongly imprisoned former gang member who inherits super strength and bulletproof skin in a medical experiment gone wrong. He later joins forces with Iron Fist, a character also scheduled to have his own movie soon. ...

Matt Stone and Trey Parker are putting the finishing touches on their next movie, "Team America," which will hit theaters in late 2004. "It's all about politics ... the world police," Parker said. "It's actually puppets, all marionettes, and it's really, really hard to do." "We thought it would be a really good idea," Stone added. "The main reason being we wouldn't have to deal with any actors, but puppets are almost as hard to deal with as actors." "They're just as dumb," Parker said. ... Rosario Dawson has yet to read a script for the Outkast movie she'll star in for HBO, but she said it'll be a thriller. The movie is schedule to shoot in the spring. ...

Nikki Reed, who won Best Debut Performance at the recent Independent Spirit Awards, will re-team with "Thirteen" director Catherine Hardwicke on "Lords of Dogtown." a fictionalized version of Stacy Peralta's skateboarding documentary "Dogtown and Z-Boys." Reed will play the sister of one of the skateboarders, who will be portrayed by Heath Ledger, Emile Hirsch ("The Girl Next Door") Victor Rasuk ("Raising Victor Vargas") and John Robinson ("Elephant"). ... McG, executive producer of "The O.C." and director of the "Charlie's Angels" movies, is the latest director attached to a biopic on daredevil stuntman Evel Knievel, which Andrew Walker ("Seven") is writing. Matthew McConaughey was once set to star, but there is no longer an actor attached. McG is currently working on a "Hot Wheels" movie and is also attached to a "Superman" script. ...

MGM and New Line studios are still negotiating over the distribution rights of "The Hobbit," but "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson is already discussing what he would do with the movie if he had the opportunity to make it. "I would want it to feel like it was part of the trilogy," he said backstage at Sunday's Academy Awards, where "The Return of the King" won all 11 categories it was nominated in. "I would want to have Ian McKellen be Gandalf. I would want it to be part of the same mythology that we've done with 'The Lord of the Rings.' " ... In the meantime, Jackson, wife Frances Walsh and writing partner Philippa Boyens have been writing their remake of "King Kong." "We've been actually going around to hotel rooms all around the world, Japan, Tokyo, London, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara. We're looking forward to going back to New Zealand to finish it," he said. ...

Also at the Oscars, Maryann DeLeo, who directed best short documentary winner "Chernobyl Heart," said she wants to make the story into a feature film. "I would love to make a movie about the dangers of nuclear reactors and what happens from radiation and what we can do to sort of fix all that," she said. ... While "The Return of the King" tied "Titanic" and "Ben-Hur" for most wins at the Oscars, "Gigli" fell one award short of tying "Showgirls" and "Battlefield Earth" for the most "wins" at the Golden Raspberry Awards, the annual awards show spoof honoring the worst movies. "Gigli" took home worst picture, worst actor (Ben Affleck), worst actress (Jennifer Lopez), worst on-screen couple, worst director and worst screenplay. ...

Along with developing a reality TV series about boxing, Sylvester Stallone is writing "Rocky VI" and negotiating to play himself in a biopic about Tommy Morrison, the former Great White Hope who appeared in "Rocky V" and tested positive for HIV in 1996. ... Jason Lewis, best known as Smith Jerrod in "Sex and the City," has signed on to co-star with Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley in "The Jacket," about a war veteran convinced he's traveling through time. ... Meanwhile, fellow HBO series star Edie Falco of "The Sopranos" has been cast opposite Tony Shalhoub and Olympia Dukakis in "The Great New Wonderful," a dark comedy about a group of random New Yorkers post-September 11. ...