Hollywood is finally coming back to life, with a full slate of movies getting ready to go into production. The combination of a Screen Actor's Guild strike (the one that never happened) and the horrific tagedy that was 9/11, created a one-two punch that left the film business down for the count.

Finally, things have begun to bounce back... What does this mean to you, dear reader? It means that LIGHTS OUT ENTERTAINMENT is gonna have lot's and lot's of stuff for you in the months to come... So make sure to check in with all your favorites here, cuz this town is about to get hot again.

DMX: After a successful turn as an actor in the Steven Seagal action flick Exit Wounds, producer Joel Silver immediately signed the well-known rapper to a follow-up film. This time, "X," as he's known on set would co-star with Jet Li who is also reuniting with the film's director Andrzej Bartkowiak. The film is Cradle 2 The Grave, just another in the Joel Silver pantheon (Die Hard, The Lethal Weapon Series, Matrix I, II & III) ... What makes this one different? Rumors of trouble on the set.

LOE has been informed that the film finally wrapped the main unit somewhere near twenty-five days over-schedule. The reason? DMX. The rapper would come in late, leave as it suited him and occasionally just not show at all! One particularly amusing story (at least to me it's amusing, Silver probably had a coronary) has DMX not showing up on time... When they finally got in touch with him, he said that he was on his way. He left out the part about having to fly back from New York!

Why would anyone put up with this? Because of $$$. Word is that the studio behind the film (Warner Bros.) made so much cash off the soundtrack for Exit Wounds, that they could almost write that film off as an expensive commercial for the record sales! I guess in Hollywood, sometimes it does come down to the bottom line sometimes.

Anyway, DMX is already linked to a number of new films... We'll let you know more when we do.

Ivan Reitman: The director of such classics as GhostBusters, has plunked down... (take a deep breath) a little over $3 million dollars to outbid nearly every major studio for the rights to a screenplay titled The Ugly American. The script is about five friends who go on a cross-country European adventure after graduating high-school. The screenplay was written by three guys who will also get to direct (that's right, three director's!) The only thing I wanna know is: What agency represents these guys, and how do I sign up???!!!

Samuel "This Party's Over" Jackson: The bad mother-f'er is in final negotiations to join Ashley Judd in Blackout for Kopelson Entertainment (The Fugitive) and director Phil Kaufman. The film, which will shoot in San Francisco, follows a female cop who gets deep into an investigation when all of her ex-lovers begin to turn up dead. Jackson will play a well respected cop who is Judd's mentor. Hm. Guess Morgan Freeman didn't want to be her mentor anymore...

Sex Pistols: Penelope Spheeris will bring to screen the life of Johnny Rotten (John Lydon) and the birth of the British punk rock scene. The film will be based on Rotten's autobiography "Rotten:No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs." You may think that Spheeris is an odd choice based on her recent career (Wayne's World 1 & 2, The Little Rascals), but Spheeris began her career with the crtically acclaimed 1981 film The Decline of Western Civilization, a documentary on the punk music scene.

Thanks to: The Hollywood Reporter, MrMoJO, KizoWizzo, THX1137 and Rtifishal.

From Somewhere on the Beach...~Jane Doe