Battleship The Board Game’s March To Big Screen Now Unstoppable

• July 1, 2011. This will be the date when the world sees Peter Berg’s Battleship film, inspired by the Hasbro plastic peg board game. [Variety]

• Only one man in Hollywood would dare step on the toes of Steven Spielberg in the venerable American historical Ken Burnsy territory and that man is Robert Redford, who set into motion his own Abraham Lincoln bio-pic, competing with the Jurassic Park helmer’s long announced, long gestating Lincoln film. [Variety]

• Fashion designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut was the big news in Toronto last night. His film A Single Man received generally favourable reviews, with Hitfix calling it a near home run. [Hitfix]

• The LA Times reports that Carl Icahn’s shareholder agitation against Lion’s Gate appears to have been quieted by the company’s rising share price. With the company’s board meeting scheduled for today, Icahn seems not to have followed through with his threat to nominate a competing slate of directors. [LA Times]

• Helen Hunt will take the lead of Parenthood, a sitcom based on Ron Howard’s 1989 film. Maura Tierney had played the role in the pilot but pulled out due to breast cancer treatments. [Hollywood Reporter]

• One more thing that hasn’t changed about the new Jay Leno—his role as punching bag for America’s critics. [The Wrap]

• Betty White will receive the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award when at the Guild’s big trophy show in January. [The Wrap]