Variety parses the Comic Book Movies/Itochu pact, boiling it down to a wish to make films based on Shotaro Ishinomori’s work.

Itochu’s interest in the deal mostly derives from CBM’s plans to make live-action pics based on the work of late manga and anime master Shotaro Ishinomori. Itochu owns a 49% stake in Ishinomori Entertainment, Ishinomori’s production company. CBM plans to release the pics beginning as early as 2008 in both the U.S. and Japan.

Titles have not been announced yet, though one possibility is “Cyborg 009,” a series about Japan’s first superhero (or rather super cyborg) team, which Ishinomori introduced to the world in 1963.

Guillermo del Toro’s PAN’S LABYRINTH, which features concept design by Wm. Stout, has been enthusiastically received at the Toronto Film Festival.

Ben Affleck unexpectedly won the Best Actor Prize at the Venice Film Festival for his potrayal of George Reeves in HOLLYWOODLAND.

This fellow is starting a grassroots MySpace campaign to get his tune used as the theme song for the GHOST RIDER movie. That’s American can-do marketing!