Newsbites: Knife! Hoodwinked! Ratatouille!

Just a few quickies before I go to bed.

1. The Golden Compass is still in front of the cameras and won’t be out in theatres for another ten months, but Variety reports that New Line has hired Hossein Amini (1996’s Jude, 1997’s The Wings of the Dove, etc.) to write the script for The Subtle Knife — i.e., the second installment of Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials‘ trilogy, which New Line intends to complete if the first movie is a hit.

UPDATE: The ScreenGrab asks the hilarious, necessary question: “How will New Line get tens of millions of American moviegoers to buy tickets to a movie with the word ‘subtle’ in its title?”

2. Cory Edwards reports that Hoodwinked has been nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Animated Feature.

3. Jim Hill follows up his earlier Ratatouille report by interviewing an anonymous Disney executive who insists that they will be able to market the film, not unlike how they have marketed Ugly Betty.