Rose McGowan has been the go-go dancer with the machine-gun leg, and now she’s going to be the She-Devil With a Sword.

The titian-haired former Charmed star has signed on to play the titular mythical comic book hero in Red Sonja, to be produced by fiancé Robert Rodriguez and directed by Highland: Endgame helmer Douglas Aarniokoski, Millennium Films and Nu Images announced Friday.

“This is an amazing property and film for our company,” studio exec Avi Lerner said. “Working with the talented Robert Rodriguez, having Rose McGowan as Red Sonja and Douglas Aarniokoski directing is a fantastic combination. We could not be happier.”

The action flick will find Red Sonja, a Marvel character who first appeared as she is now in the Conan the Barbarian series, seeking vengeance against the evildoers that destroyed her family and then realizing it has fallen upon her and her kickass ways to save her Soviet-area land of Hyrkania from the sorcerer Kulan Gath.

Red Sonja was first brought to the big screen, B-movie-style, in 1985, with Brigitte Nielsen as the title warrior and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Conan-esque Lord Kalidor.

McGowan, who most recently starred in both parts of the Quentin Tarantino-Rodriguez double-feature Grindhouse, appeared in a range of darkly funny films before settling down as Shannen Doherty’s replacement on Charmed, including Scream, Jawbreaker and Monkeybone.

The 34-year-old actress also currently cohosts The Essentials on Turner Classic Movies.

Shooting on Red Sonja is expected to kick off in October. Millennium and Nu Images are currently scouting locations in Michigan and other U.S. spots.

Lindsay Lohan’s dad has criticised her recent movie choices, telling the actress she should return to “mainstream films”.

Lohan new role will see her playing one of occultist Charles Manson’s devotees in ‘Manson Girls‘, but Michael Lohan thinks his daughter belongs in more traditional fare.

He tells US Weekly, “When you’re the kind of star Lindsay is, you have to appeal to a general audience, not just a specific audience.

“I really hope that Lindsay gets back to the kinds of films that led to her success. I’d like to see her do more mainstream films.”

Michael also commented on Lindsay’s supposed ‘sex tape’ with Calum Best, which he didn’t merely dismiss as a fake like many of the reports this week.

Instead he ranted, “You don’t know what people put out there anymore! So many people have hidden cameras. Our private lives are our private lives - people don’t respect that.”

“Horton Hears a Who,” the Dr. Seuss adaptation starring wacky comedian Jim Carrey as Horton the Elephant set a box office record this weekend, opening at No. 1 with $45.1 million in North America as the year’s biggest release.

Children across the U. S. and Canada crowded to see the animated film “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!” thus giving it the year’s biggest box-office opening with $45.1 million.

The Blue Sky Studios project, produced by 20th Century Fox, is directed by Jimmy Hayward (animator on “Toy Story,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Finding Nemo”) and Steve Martino and has Jim Carrey voice Horton the Elephant and Steve Carell voice The Mayor of Who-ville.

This is Carrey’s second Dr. Seuss adaptation, after the live-action film “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” which opened with $55.1 million in 2000. “The Grinch” went on to gather $260 million in U. S. ticket sales; what with spring break giving kids around the country extra free time, “Horton” has a good chance of reaching similar heights.

Lending his voice to the rubbery elephant has brought Carrey his greatest debut at the box office since 2003’s “Bruce Almighty,” which took $67.9 million in its opening weekend.

Second to “Horton” is last weekend’s number one, the Warner Bros. adventure film “10,000 BC,” which slipped into second place with a $16.4 million take.

“Never Back Down,” from Summit Entertainment, debuted in third place, with a nice $8.6 million gross, while Walt Disney Pictures’ “College Road Trip” earned another $7.9 million at No. 4. Sony Pictures’ political thriller “Vantage Point” is still in the charts and ranking well too, at No. 5, with ticket sales worth $5.4 million in its fourth week.

British film “The Bank Job,” starring Jason Statham and Saffron Burroughs, ranked seventh, with a $4.9 million gross. It was followed by new release “Doomsday,” a British sci-fi film which earned only $4.7 million.

Will Ferrell’s sports spoof “Semi-Pro” was at eight, bringing New Line another $3 million in ticket sales, while Columbia Pictures historic romance “The Other Boleyn Girl” followed at No. 9 with $2.9 million. Family flick “The Spiderwick Chronicles” rounded up the top ten with $2.4 million.

Doomsday is Neil Marshall’s homage to various films from his youth. The Mad Max films and Escape From New York must have made a vivid impression on him. Judging from Doomsday, their pull on his imagination is enthralling and maddening. Last year, Edgar Wright made Hot Fuzz which was an excellent and hilarious homage to American action films. I would not say that Hot Fuzz is as derivative as Doomsday. In fact, the only film I have seen that is more derivative is Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales. Kelly used Kiss Me Deadly, Repo Man and several other films as a template to make his own film. Kiss Me Deadly seemed to have been the most influential film in Richard Kelly’s view of the world. Southland Tales may have been one of the most self-indulgent films ever made. I do not think this is bad thing, but watching Marshall’s Doomsday, I could not stop thinking about the constant barrage of visual quotes that Marshall made throughout the film. Neil Marshall has cited the Mad Max films, Escape From New York, Metalstorm, The Warriors, Zulu, Excalibur and the films of Terry Gilliam as big influences. Trust me, these films are in there and more. I would throw in Def-Con 4 and Damnation Alley as possible influences as well– I see shades of them too. The impact of these films on him is undeniable. The impact of these films on me is undeniable. After his brilliant The Descent, this is the last thing I expected from him. That is not a bad thing, but does it ever rise above homage? Does the film ever feel like it has anything original to say?

It was up, up and away at the boxoffice in 2007. Boxoffice swelled at home and abroad — but so did the costs of making and marketing movies, which grew at an even faster rate.

Domestic boxoffice returns from the U.S. and Canada hit a record $9.6 billion last year, a 5.4% increase over 2006, according to the final figures released Wednesday by the MPAA in its annual state-of-the-business report, which for the first time it compiled in partnership with Nielsen EDI. The figure represents grosses for all commercial releases in North America, not just those of the MPAA companies.

The story was much the same around the world as international boxoffice for all commercial moviegoing hit $17.1 billion, up nearly 5% from 2006. That brought the worldwide boxoffice total for 2007 to a record $26.7 billion. The MPAA companies’ portion of that total international tally of $17.1 billion in grosses was nearly $9.5 billion.

“All in all, 2007 proved a healthy year at the boxoffice,” MPAA chairman and CEO Dan Glickman said. “We had a very good year domestically,” while the international returns were “also bullish.”

But though more money was flowing into Hollywood, more money also was flowing out.

The studios’ investment in the average movie’s negative cost rose to $70.8 million from $65.8 million in 2006. And since the MPAA doesn’t include the outside investment money that the studios now routinely solicit to co-finance many of their films in that calculation, the average production cost of a movie actually is substantially higher than that.

At the same time, the average marketing costs on a film rose from $34.5 million in 2006 to $35.9 million in 2007. As a result, the total average negative and marketing figure also hit a record: a forbidding $106.6 million.

The outlays on the part of the studios’ specialty divisions were even more dramatic. While the divisions that turn out potential Oscar winners — such as Disney’s Miramax, Paramount’s Vantage, Universal’s Focus and Fox’s Searchlight — may concentrate on producing, acquiring and releasing “smaller” movies, in their case, small is a relative term.

The subsidiaries’ average negative investment in 2007 rose to $49.2 million, while average marketing costs soared to $25.7 million. The total negative and marketing cost of the average specialty film soared to $74.8 million, up more than 54% over the comparable 2006 figure of $48.5 million.