On the Movie Front

The western renaissance has largely been confined to TV, but a handful of projects are on their way to the big screen.

This summer

“The Wild Wild West” Barry Sonnenfeld directs Will Smith and Kevin Kline as super-duper secret agents in Warner Bros.’ wild interpretation of the ‘60s TV series.

Next year

“All the Pretty Horses” Billy Bob Thornton directs Matt Damon, Henry Thomas, Bruce Dern, Lucas Black and Penelope Cruz in Columbia Pictures’ story of a Texas drifter who goes to Mexico in search of adventure but finds something more.

“Shanghai Noon” Commercial director Tom Dey makes his feature debut with Jackie Chan, who links up with a train robber to rescue a kidnapped Chinese princess. Al Gough and Miles Millar scripted the Spyglass project for Disney.

“Texas Rangers” Steve Miner (“Halloween: H20”) directs Dylan McDermott and James Van Der Beek in a film about the formation of the famed law enforcers for Miramax/Dimension. Screenplay by John Milius.

In the works

“Cowboys & Aliens” Universal and DreamWorks have in development a tale based on Steve Oedekerk’s script about a spaceship crashing in the Old West.

“The Last Word” Western action-adventure from partners Terence Chang and John Woo, from a script by Trey Callaway (“I Know What You Did Last Summer”) and Gary Glasberg, in what Columbia calls “high-priority development.”

“South of the Border” Script by Robert Pucci (“The Corruptor”), in development at Columbia.

“The Outsider” Phoenix Pictures is developing a script by Jenny Wingfield about a mortally wounded gunman, pursued by killers, who holds a devoutly religious widow and her son captive.