Rumour time again. Take your pick from the following crop of sequels, follow-ups and the odd, very occasional, original idea. Starting with the biggie, “Batman II”, rumoured to be costing, wait for it, $100 million, is being planned, pitting Keaton and Basinger against Nicholson (if he accepts the ‘write your own cheque offer’) plus the Penguin (Dustin Hoffman?? I kid you not…), Catwoman (Cher) & The Riddler (Robin Williams). Michael Jackson for the soundtrack this time?

Alien III, scripted by William Gibson, will have Arnold Schwarzenegger playing alongside Sigourney Weaver & Michael Biehn. It doesn’t take place on Earth or the aliens’ planet and may not be until 1992 however. Terminator II, also with big Arnie, is shelved indefinitely. Predator II doesn’t have Mr. Schwarzenegger in it and is set in New York – the preds taken on his brother instead.

Robocop II, written by comics man Frank Miller is being/has been filmed, with both Weller & Allen returning. In it, Murphy is ‘retired’ and his replacement goes wrong necessitating a swift come-back. Also on the comics front, we have ‘The Watchmen’ which is now being directed by Terry Gilliam, after a brief flirtation with James Cameron. The name of Mickey Rourke to play Rorschach has been heard.

On the ‘wise move’ front, Bruce Willis has realised that ‘Die Hard’ was the only good thing he’s done since ‘Moonlighting’ and has signed up for the sequel, which shows startling originality in being called, not ‘Die Hard 2’, but ‘Die Harder’. Renny Harlin, having parted company with ‘Aliens 3’, is down to direct. Set on a 747, the lead villain may well be Steven Berkoff.

THE 1989 TRASH CITY AWARDS.

Nominations, please, with descriptions where appropriate, for the following categories, ideally based on films you saw in 1989. Should I still have a video or two left from the competition, I’ll give them to the senders of the best suggestion.

• a) The ‘Bambi’ Award for the film which gave the censors LEAST trouble.
• b) ‘Manon des Sources’ Trophy for most blatant moment missed by the censors in a U/PG certificate film.
• c) ‘Ghostbusters’ Shield: the BBFC certificated movie with the smallest chance of getting turned into a Saturday morning cartoon series.
• d) ‘Man is the warmest place to hide’ Cup for best line used to advertise a movie…
• e) ‘The name in laughter from the hereafter’ Dagger …for the worst!
• f) ‘Son of the Return of the Sequel II’ Tombstone: most uninspired general cash-in.
• g) ‘Prison Ship Star Slammer’ Bust for the most totally gratuitous piece of nudity.
• h) The ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’ Furry Dice for the best car chase.