To Mars & Beyond!

According to what Mouse House insiders recently told me, Mark Andrews (i.e. the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of "Ratatouille") has allegedly already completed a first pass on a screenplay for the first film in the proposed "Mars" series. And given that both Pixar and Disney execs have reportedly responded very enthusiastically to Andrews’ script … Well, both companies are now anxious to put this project in the development pipeline ASAP.

says Hill. Hill also says that the film might be slated for a 2012 release date or possibly earlier, this is of course, depending on how well The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian performs at the box office this year. If Prince Caspian does not meet expectations at the box office, Hill says that the Mouse House will likely go forward with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and then pull the plug on the Narnia series, using the JCoM trilogy to fill the gaps in the release schedule.