An actor can star in a movie or TV show and reach a certain number of people, even a lot of people.
Neal Patrick Harris gets ‘Horrible’ to go viral

Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan

An actor can star in a movie or TV show and reach a certain number of people, even a lot of people.

But that actor will never approach the level of exposure of the skateboarding bulldog or that guy who sang “Chocolate Rain.”

Will Ferrell knows this, and that’s why FunnyorDie.com has become as popular, if not more so, than his recent movies.

Now Neil Patrick Harris is going viral, too.

The “How I Met Your Mother” funny man will soon team up with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” alum Joss Whedon for an Internet series called “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.”

What that title even means is still something of a mystery. But we’re guessing that it’ll mean Mr. Harris plans to sing. Now just add co-star Alyson Hannigan to the formula, and the queer “Buffy” diehards will forward that link all day.



The Sarah Jessica Parker ‘Chronicles’
Sarah Jessica Parker to sell her Manolos!

Okay, that’s not actually happening.

But in her next film role, the “Sex and the City” diva will be seen sliding down the social status summit to something a little more realistic than regular trips to the $700-a-pair shoe boutique.

Parker is in negotiations to star in “The Ivy Chronicles,” based on the novel by Karen Quinn.

The book — similar in tone to other recent successes, like “The Devil Wears Prada” and “The Nanny Diaries” — concerns an upwardly mobile woman who loses her job and her moneyed husband and winds up living in a less-than-chic neighborhood.

Of course, once there, her job is to pull herself back up to socio-economic satisfaction again.

It promises to be a heartwarming love story — that is, “Girl loves money, girl loses money, girl gets money back again.” Expect “Sex and the City”-fueled goodwill box office to follow.


All singing, all dancing, all ‘Shakespeare’
Got an old project that’s already exhausted its revenue stream possibilities? Then musical-ize it.

It worked for “The Producers,” “Hairspray” and almost every Disney animated feature of the 1990s.

And if the Weinstein Company has anything to say about it, the musical car wash is going to work for them, as well.

The vehicles in question — the crossdressing romantic comedy “Shakespeare in Love,” the woman-as-Willy-Wonka fable “Chocolat” and the movie-nostalgia-wallowing “Cinema Paradiso” — were all hit films for Miramax, the Weinsteins’ former movie releasing arm. Now they’re being eyed by the company for development into ongoing Broadway ATMs.

“Finding Neverland” and Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” are already on track for the Weinsteins, but this latest batch could be just the tip of the iceberg if they produce songs people can hum as they exit the theater.

Try to remain un-cynical, Broadway fans.


Nathan Lane in outer space
Legendary 1960s Japanese anime character Astro Boy has maintained a strong cult following in the United States, but the Pinocchio-like figure (a flying child robot seeking father-like acceptance from the man who created him in the image of his own deceased son) will soon get an English-language makeover that’s certain to increase his profile.

The animated film “Astro Boy” will feature an all-star voice cast: Freddie Highmore as Astro Boy, with assistance from Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Bill Nighy, Eugene Levy and Nathan Lane (most recently seen ogling the half-naked male stars of Broadways’s “Xanadu” in a much-passed-around Internet clip).

And longtime fan buzz seems to be cautiously hopeful for the moment.

But will mass audiences care?

Studios are clearly wishing upon a star for another huge animation franchise, so look to 2009’s release date to see if that dream comes true.