MOLEN/MINORITY REPORT: Once films drop from the Top 10 in weekend grossing totals, they rarely return. With new films being released weekly, and a reduction in the number of theaters where the film is playing, it is unlikely that a film can climb back up the rankings. However, this weekend, "Minority Report" (Producer - Gerald Molen) beat the odds and came in at the number 9 spot after finishing number 11 the previous week, although it played in over 300 fewer theaters this weekend.

SMOOT: Another impressive number is the number 1000 now attached with "Galapagos" (Cinematographer - Reed Smoot). As of this week, "Galapagos" has been playing in theaters for over 1000 days - equal to just under 2 3/4 years. Granted, IMAX films do tend to play longer than typical theatrical releases. Still, this is a very impressive milestone. Another film with Reed Smoot as cinematographer, "China: The Panda Adventure" passed the one year mark this week.

HALE, DANSIE, DeVILLIERS, KIRN: "The RM", the next LDS-themed comedy from HaleStorm Entertainment has begun production. The film, which stars Kirby Heyborne, as a young man who returns from his mission with big plans for the future, only to have his life fall apart around him, is scheduled to be released in January. In other production news, Tucker T Dansie's latest short film "Quarters & Rocks" is set to film tomorrow (Wednesday July 31, 2002) and Rocco DeVilliers' children's film "Up in the Air" is scheduled to film beginning in September.

Funny thing to note: "Up in the Air" is ALSO the title of a novel by lapsed Latter-day Saint novelist Walter Kirn, which has been optioned to be made into a feature film directed by Jay Roach, the director of the "Austin Powers" movies. Meanwhile, shooting is reportedly under way on the movie version of Kirn's novel THUMBSUCKER. The movie stars Elijah Wood (star of "Lord of the Rings") in the central role. In the novel, Elijah Wood's character meets missionaries, joins the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and serves part of a mission. "Thumbsucker", which will be released in 2003, is the feature film directorial debut of Mike Mills, who should NOT be confused with Latter-day Saint director Michael Mills, the director of "He Took My Licking", which was written by Elizabeth Hansen and photographed by "Handcart" director Kels Goodman.

BIOS: The first stage of the "Brief Biographies of Latter-day Saint and/or Utah Film Personalities" section of the ldsfilm.com website is complete. The completed versions of all of the pages are finished and online.

Well over 1,000 capsule biographies are provided, covering the majority of film personalities listed on the ldsfilm.com filmography pages (primarily actors, directors, producers, writers, and cinematographers, with some miscellaneous crew such as production designers, costume designers, etc.) There are no biographies for film composers. The LDSFilm.com composers links directly to composers' websites.

The capsule biographies are listed alphabetically, one page for each letter of the alphabet. The bio section is located at: http://www.ldsfilm.com/bio/

GOODMAN/HANDCART: Kels Goodman's long-awaited "Handcart" was given a "preview" showing at the Scera Theater in Orem on July 23rd. It was a video projection, rather than film, and some of the sound work is still not done. But those invited were able to see the film essentially in its final form. Kels and company still have some time before the scheduled October 11th official release, scheduled for 20 theaters in Utah, Arizona, Idaho and Nevada to polish the final product. LDSFilm.com co-webmaster Thomas C. Baggaley was there. For Thomas, highlights of the film were the relationships between the characters, and the acting, especially a strong performance by male lead Jaelan Petrie. Although the video projection was not as clear as film would have been, it is clear that this will be a very good looking film as well as a nice tribute to the handcart pioneers.

At the preview, Kels announced that he is going to begin working on his next film immediately. It will be an action/adventure film about Boy Scouts.

SWAN: The long-awaited premiere of "The Princess and the Pea" will be on August 16th. Although the film does not have Latter-day Saint characters, most of the key filmmakers are Latter-day Saints, including director Mark Swan, producers Forrest S. Baker III and Don Judd, and composer Alan Williams. Local voice actors include Frank Gerrish and Chrystine Potter Hyatt.