By the power of greyskull, say it ain't so. Yes, Sony have swooped in on the leftovers from Mattel and Warner Bros. and are looking to do He-Man. From scratch. There are no writers, plot, or talent talked of yet, although Skeletor will no doubt fit in there somewhere. Sony's producers will apparently be Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch - people who brought us such wonderful classics as Knowing and The Taking of Pelham 123. You can decide if that's a good thing (although I do still quite like Knowing).

Meanwhile, Mattel's other intellectual property is getting underway. Yes, Barbie's shaping up over at Universal for her own feature film (live-action, not animation). She may not have the following that she used to, but kids everywhere know who Barbie is. Forget Toy Story, though, and Aqua; this will probably be a serious, straight take on the girly toy. Life is plastic - it's fantastic. Mattel must be laughing their heads off.