Eric Bana, the man who will play the incredible Hulk in Ang Lee's long-awaited comic adaptation, has joined Wolfgang Petersen's war epic Troy. In the adaptation of Homer's Iliad, Bana will play the Trojan prince Hector, sworn enemy to Brad Pitt's Achilles. Shooting is set to begin next spring.

John Travolta is set to play a hitman with a heart in Joe's Last Chance. Described as being similar in tone to Analyze This, the film is about a hitman sent to a tropical island to carry out a job. The man he's supposed to kill ends up saving his life, and the hitman is forced to re-evaluate his life and work. Andrew Bergman (The Freshman, Striptease) will direct.

Beautiful Killer, a new comic, has been snapped up for film treatment by Universal Pictures after just one issue. The comic, published by Black Bull Comics, is about a young woman whose parents are murdered and who then goes all out to avenge their deaths. Jessica Alba, the star of TV show Dark Angel, will play the lead role in the project, which is being adapted especially for her. She said that the project had "very cool, dark material."

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second Potter film, opens in the UK on November 15, but tickets are already on sale in some cinemas. The first film saw the largest advance ticket sales of last year and went on to become the biggest box office hit since Titanic.