Director Sam Mendes, who also made ‘American Beauty’ and ‘Jarhead,’ is starting production on his new romantic comedy in Connecticut this week. The Universal project just added Jeff Daniels and Catherine O’Hara (photoshopped above) to the cast and is about a family trying to find the right place to start a family.

Other than the new cast members above, the movie will star John Krasinski (’The Office’) and Maya Rudolph (’Saturday Night Live’). No release date or year is currently set.

Hollywood is desperate for some Muslim money. Getting ready to set up several theme parks, they are putting their focus on getting all their signature characters out there. “On the one hand, they hate America. On the other hand they love America to the bone,” said Michael Izady, an expert on the Middle East to the AP.

While Captain America might not be a major hit, a ‘bare-shouldered Wonder Wonder’ wouldn’t be a problem “unless we depicted her as a Muslim woman,” said Tsujihara, who’s setting up a Warner theme park in Abu Dhabi.

One of the first theme parks will be a $2.2 billion Universal Studios project, with franchises like ‘King Kong’ and ‘Jurassic Park,’ set to open in 2010. Followed by a $1 billion park by Marvel Entertainment Inc. in Abu Dhabi by 2011, making a new home for ‘Spider-Man,’ ‘Fantastic Four’ and ‘X-Men.’

What else were they going to do, right? Universal Pictures is getting ready to release 40 Blu-ray titles this summer. After furiously backing HD-DVD, they now have no other choice. Other than losing money by not releasing anything of course.

Starting July 22, Universal is going to release these 40 titles simultaneous with the DVD releases. Among the old titles are new ones like:

• The Incredible Hulk
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army
• Mamma Mia
• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor