It looks like the West will be won without “Iron Man 2” and “Sherlock Holmes” star Robert Downey Jr.

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Downey has left the sci-fi Western “Cowboys & Aliens” behind and is rumored to be moving on to a potential “Sherlock Holmes” sequel. However, Jon Favreau will remain with the film as the director and production is expected to begin later this year for a summer 2011 release date.

Downey had been expected to portray Zeke Jackson, a gunslinger who rallies a group of cowboys and Apache Indians when aliens invade Arizona during the mid-19th century. Read more...

News regarding the adaptation of Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley's "Cowboys and Aliens" has put fans of the sci-fi western source material on something of a seesaw since the property was optioned a few years back. From "Iron Man 2" director Jon Favreau's tenuous-seeming involvement to various ongoing casting rumors to producers and screenwriters Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof's admission to moving away from the original storyline, it's been hard to get much of a lock on the project.

According to The Daily Beast, however, there's a few details fans can count on: Favreau is on board to direct and the Dreamworks film begins shooting this July.

Of course, there's still a bit of room for speculation, with TDB wondering if the more than $1 billion to-date box office success of James Cameron's "Avatar" might entice filmmakers to render "Cowboys and Aliens" in 3-D. Read more...

Platinum Studios and Aurora Productions are adapting Scott O. Brown and Ferran Xalabarder’s original graphic novel “Nightfall” into a feature film.

“Nightfall” was first published in 2007 and follows a right-wing survivalist named David Paxton who is sentenced to a brutal Texas prison that is secretly run by vampires using the inmates as livestock.

According to Variety, Platinum Studios' Scott Mitchell Rosenberg is attached as an executive producer, along with William Stuart. Former Universal Pictures senior executive Randy Greenberg negotiated the deal with Platinum and will also be an executive producer on the project. Read more...

Platinum Studios has signed a deal with Fox21 to develop Jorge Vega’s graphic novel “Gunplay” as a potential TV series.

"Final Destination" writer-producer Glen Morgan has also been signed to adapt the project, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Morgan has a long history with sci-fi/genre TV series, including stints on “The X-files”, “Millennium” and “Space: Above and Beyond.”

“Gunplay” was the winning submission of Platinum Studios’ 2007 online "Comic Book Challenge." Created and written by Vega and artist Dominic Vivona, “Gunplay” is a supernatural western that follows a buffalo soldier named Abner Meeks who is cursed to roam the Old West with a demonic gun that forces him to kill once a day or suffer agonizing pain. Read more...

The upcoming Platinum Studios comic book “Indestructible Man” has already been optioned as a potential TV series by Fox21.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series revolves around Nick Rabel, a secret agent who is unable to die, but not impervious to injury.

"[Fox21] really understood this character and the world he inhabits from the very first meeting," explained Platinum Studios chairman Scott Rosenberg. The series will also reportedly mix superpowers with humor. Read more...

The upcoming film adaptation of the sci-fi western “Cowboys and Aliens” will be radically different from the original comic book, according to screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

“We went away from it,” Kurtzman told IGN during the 2009 Screenwriting Expo. “We took the elements we all loved about it and took our own story, which I can't tell you too much about."

The screenwriting duo behind “Fringe” and “Star Trek” also revealed that they have struggled to find the right tone for “Cowboys & Aliens.” (A problem that Jon Favreau addressed—and likened to several films—in an exclusive interview with MTV News.) Read more...

Last week, we brought you the news that Jon Favreau won't direct "Avengers," and some comments from the filmmaker on the relationships between certain characters in "Iron Man 2," but what about that other big film he's attached to these days, "Cowboys and Aliens"?

While chatting with Favreau during the Bora Bora junket for "Couples Retreat," the director offered an update on where things stand with the film and his involvement (as well as that of "Iron Man 2" star Robert Downey Jr.), and how he's approaching the project's sci-fi/western theme.

"When I spoke to [Downey Jr.], it was definitely something he was interested in. I saw him briefly before he went away to shoot 'Due Date,'" said Favreau. "I just started talking [Steven] Spielberg and Ron Howard and [Alex] Kurtzman and [Roberto] Orci. It's a really great bunch of producers and writers, and it's already a great script. It's nice to have a piece of material this far out." Read more...

It's been a little over a month since Jon Favreau was announced as the director of "Cowboys and Aliens," but little has been heard about his involvement in the project since—which is completely understandable given his presumably hectic schedule with post-production on "Iron Man 2."

Still, that doesn't mean Favreau isn't concurrently working on the Platinum Studios adaptation—just ask producers and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who spoke to Collider about Favreau's involvement in "Cowboys and Aliens."

"We just started and we're getting along really well [with Favreau]," said Orci. "We've sent ourselves back to school and we're watching Westerns together and analyzing them. We're just getting into it." Read more...

Platinum Studios certainly has its hands full -- in addition to the Robert Downey Jr.-starring, Jon Favreau-directed "Cowboys and Aliens" adaptation and the Brandon Routh-headlining "Dead of Night," Platinum is planning on bringing yet another comic book franchise to life.

Variety reports that "Mal Chance" is developing in conjunction with Platinum Studios CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and producer Tony Krantz, best known for his work on "24" and "Mulholland Drive." Scott Murphy will adapt "Mal Chance" for the big screen. Read more...

As if this week's bombshell announcement about Disney acquiring Marvel Entertainment wasn't big enough, here comes yet another doozy for the comic book company–except this time, it might not necessarily be to Marvel's betterment.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Iron Man" collaborators Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau will team up as director and star once again for "Cowboys and Aliens," an adaptation of the Platinum Studios comic book by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley. The screenplay was written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof.

Downey Jr. has been attached to star in the film for quite a while now, even if his commitment was wavering at times. Favreau, however, is an entirely new element. Read more...