The new film version of the classic '60s small screen spy-medy Get Smart gives fresh worth to that shopworn saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” While the original show, created by comedy luminaries Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, was driven largely by keen jesting in the face of taut national paranoia during the Cold War, the new adaptation, written by Matt Ember and Tom J. Astle finds itself, some 40 years later, making fun in the midst of an era of high national anxiety at the hands of global terrorism.

"Get Smart," the resurrected spy spoof from Warners and Village Roadshow, defeated the forces of boxoffice K.A.O.S., emerging as the top gun in the North American marketplace with an estimated $39.2 million this weekend.

Who knew that shtupping Matt Damon and Ben Affleck could be such a career booster?

"Jimmy Kimmel Live!" segment director Wayne McClammy, who helmed and co-wrote the popular short video spoofs "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" and "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck," has sold a spec titled "Le Car" to MGM that he co-wrote with "Kimmel" colleague Will Burke.

Want some screenwriting advice? Add drawings to your script. And then put your dialogue in bubbles.

If recent studio acquisitions are any evidence, then the fastest way to get a movie deal these days may just be to turn your next Big Idea into a graphic novel. In a faddish frenzy, no fewer than 22 film projects born of graphic novels or comics have been announced in the last six weeks.