Jennifer Lopez is set to star in the film Plan B, which The Hollywood Reporter describes as a "fertility comedy" about a single woman who "meets the man of her dreams onthe very day she conceives a child through artificial insemination." Alan Poul — a veteran of Six Feet Under, Big Love, and Swingtown — is in negotiations for the project, which would mark his feature directing debut.

Spike Lee has bought the rights to Brendan Koerner’s 2008 nonfiction book Now the Hell Will Start, a manhunt thriller set in World War II, Variety reports. The filmmaker, whose most recent release was the World War II-set Miracle at St. Anna, is set to produce the project, which uses the true story of an African-American soldier who killed his superior and then escaped into the jungles of Burma as a prism through which to examine the treatment of black troops during the Second World War.

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John Carpenter has agreed to direct the ghost story The Ward, starring Amber Heard (Pineapple Express) as a haunted mental patient, Variety reports. It will be the filmmaker’s first feature since 2001′s Ghosts of Mars.

Lionsgate has acquired Sundance Film Festival sensation Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire, and will team up with Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films and Tyler Perry’s 34th Street Films to promote the film, according to Variety. Starring Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz and newcomer Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe as an illiterate African-American girl pregnant with her father’s child for the second time, Push scored the Grand Jury prize, Audience Award and a Special Jury prize for Mo’Nique at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival last month. "The film is so raw and powerful," Winfrey told Variety, "it split me open."

For more on Push & Sundance:
2009 Sundance Awards Ceremony: ‘Push’ sweeps!
Sundance: The women of ‘Push’ make us laugh, weep copiously
Sundance: Feeling the economic pinch, ‘Push,’ ‘Humpday,’ and ‘Art & Copy’

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Woody Allen’s newest film, Whatever Works, and is planning a summer 2009 release. Starring Ed Begley Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood, the project marks Allen’s first film set in his native New York since 2005′s Melinda and Melinda. As per usual with Allen’s films, the plot for Whatever Works remains under wraps. Sony Classics last teamed up with Allen for 1999′s Sweet and Lowdown.

Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) has been cast as Zuko in the M. Night Shyamalan-directed live-action adaptation of the Nick TV series The Last Airbender, according to Variety. The actor steps into a role initially set for actor-singer Jesse McCartney, who backed away due to conflicts with his tour schedule. Patel joins newcomer Noah Ringer, who landed the lead role of Aang off of an Internet audition, as well as Nicola Peltz (Deck the Halls), Jackson Rathbone (Twilight), and Jessica Jade Andres, who had a small part in The Women and on Gossip Girl. Production begins in mid-March in Greenland for a July 2010 release.

Martin Scorsese and Graham King’s GK Films are in talks with Daniel Day-Lewis and Benicio Del Toro for the drama Silence, Variety reports, with Gael Garcia Bernal also considering a role in the project. The story, set in the 17th century, is about two Jesuit priests who face grave danger when they travel to Japan to search for theirmentor and spread the gospel of Christianity. It is based on a Shusaku Endo novel. Scorsese has reportedly been trying to get the project off the ground for more than a decade. Production is scheduled for later this year.