IGN FilmForce has confirmed that Robert Rodriguez is no longer the director of Paramount’s A Princess of Mars (a.k.a. John Carter of Mars). We were tipped off earlier today that he wasn’t going to be directing and that his decision was final. Rodriguez’s reps at ICM have confirmed that the Spy Kids filmmaker has indeed departed the Paramount/Alphaville project.

Pendragon Pictures announces that its production of WAR OF THE WORLDS will premiere for general release on Halloween, October 31, 2002 instead of summer 2003, as originally planned. Director Timothy Hines explains, “As the details of our production became more refined, we realized we had it within our grasp to release by Halloween, which I really want to do as Halloween is the night Orson Welles broadcast his famous radio version of WAR OF THE WORLDS. I feel the approach to our production has a great deal in common with the approach Orson Welles took with the material, and we will make history on Halloween night, 2002.”

All I can say is, it’s about time we had some news, and more directly… good news, concerning Red Planet. It’s been pretty dry for a while, but hopefully things will pick up now that the first phase of the marketing campaign appears to be officially underway.