The best news anyone has heard in weeks has just surfaced on Twitter. Megan Ellison, a billionaire heiress who has been backing unfinanced films, revealed through her Twitter account a glimpse of hope for a once thought dead franchise. She answered someone’s question about “Terminator 5,” which I assumed died with the poorly received “Terminator Salvation,” by stating that “Terminator” is alive and will be R rated as God and James Cameron (“Titanic”) intended. This news, in the wake of the appalling word that “Expendables 2” will be PG-13, brings a glimmer of hope to the action genre we all know and love. Long live the machines, and may the violence and profanity never stop!

The most interesting movie I had never heard of has added two powerful actresses to its roster. Charlie Kaufman (“Adaptation.”) has a new film, “Frank of Francis,” that is turning into quite the impressive ensemble piece. Vulture has learned that Kate Winslet (Kaufman’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) and Catherine Keener (Kaufman’s “Being John Malkovich”) have joined the impressive cast of Kevin Kline (“Wild Wild West”), Jack Black (“King Kong”), Nicolas Cage (“Adaptation” and my favorite film to hate, “The Wicker Man”), and Steve Carell (“Little Miss Sunshine”) in a surprising musical. The plot concerns a director (Carell) who becomes obsessed with a message board commenter (Black) trashing his movies on a Hollywood website (remember “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back?” Explicit). Nicolas Cage stars as a washed-up actor (that’s a stretch), and Kevin Kline plays dual roles as the director of the highest grossing film of all time and an animatronics head who helps create a machine that develops a completely inoffensive product with the broadest possible appeal. This movie sounds amazing. Not only is it unnecessarily a musical, but it appears to be a satire about the movie industry as a whole, which is always hilarious. Hopefully there is some fourth wall breaking (when actors talk to the audience).

It looks like Warner Bros. is getting lucky with one of the greatest filmmakers of our time. Producers Dan Lin and Matti Leshem are developing a Moses epic called “Gods and Kings,” and now Steven Spielberg is ready to sign on the dotted line to direct. Spielberg just finished filming “Lincoln,” and is already working on “Robopocalypse,” so he is looking toward the past for his future projects. According to Deadline, the movie is said to be a “Braveheart”-ish version of the story, and is very gritty. Spielberg has related it to “Saving Private Ryan” as opposed to “The Ten Commandments.” The movie will go over the major events of Moses’ life from birth until his death, and include the ten plagues of Egypt. I can’t think of anyone more suitable for a film like this (aside from Mel Gibson, who already had his religious film “The Passion of the Christ”). He is expected to begin production in the spring of 2013 for a late summer 2014 release, and it can’t come soon enough.

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