The Hollywood Universe -- 11/28/07

1) The striking members of Hollywood’s Writers’ Guild have been taking turns attracting media attention to their cause, and now it’s the horror writers’ turn at bat. Chanting, "Out, demons, out!", a group of more than 65 horror writers performed an exorcism ceremony outside the front gates of Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California, on Nov. 27, as talks between the writers and the studios broke down once again.  

The strikers wore T-shirts that said, "Horror Writers on Strike: We Eat Scabs." Some of the writers were dressed in priest and nun costumes and flashed containers of “holy water.” Scott Kosar, who wrote recent remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Amityville Horror, is credited with coming up with the idea for the exorcism stunt, which was meant to cleanse Warner Brothers of evil. Also in attendance were writers Steve Niles, Mick Garris, Stephen Susco and Drew McWeeny.

2) The Ghostbusters movies had long since gone into that good night of movie classics, but now they’re being given a new life as a video-game franchise. Vivendi Games has made a deal with Sony Pictures for their Sierra label, hoping to release the first Ghostbusters title in the fall of 2008. All four major stars of the movies – Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Ernie Hudson and Harold Ramis – will be providing voices for the game, as will supporting players Annie Potts, Brian Doyle-Murray and William Atherton. The films’ original screenwriters, Aykroyd and Ramis, will also write a story for the game that will take place in the early 1990’s, after the events of Ghostbusters II, when a new ghoul invasion strikes New York City.