Tim Burton is in talks with Warner Bros. to direct a new movie adaptation of the Roald Dahl children's classic "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Burton will meet in London in the next few days with surviving members of the Dahl family to discuss the project.

The 1964 novel was first made into a movie in 1971's "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," starring Gene Wilder as the eccentric chocolatier who tempts children all over London with the possibility of finding a golden ticket hidden in one of his candy bars. He then leads the young winners, including meek little Charlie Bucket, on a tour of his mysterious candy factory.

I hope the rumor of Matthew Broderick playing Wilder's part is just a rumor.

Burton is best known in Hollywood for his creative renderings of such fantasy films as "Batman," "Beetlejuice," "Edward Scissorhands," "Sleepy Hollow" and a remake of "Planet of the Apes."

Maybe Marky Mark would be a better choice for Wonka... But I'm thinking Marilyn Manson would be even better.

Manson scared up his second career number one debut with The Golden Age of Grotesque, which also topped charts in Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In British Columbia, Sandra Bohn will have to cough up $74 after stroking a killer whale.

Bohn could have been fined a thousand times as much under the federal Fisheries Act's marine mammal regulations, and whale watchers are on notice that "the sentence next time will be quite different," Judge Peter Doherty said Tuesday.

Bohn admitted petting the male orca known as Luna, who was separated from his family group and settled in remote waters on the west side of Canada's Vancouver Island. She thought it was a Sperm Whale and was just trying to relieve some of his stress.

Walt Disney says it is considering shedding its chain of money-losing Disney stores and will accelerate plans to close stores in North America as it looks for a buyer.

Rival movie studio Warner Bros. closed down its chain of stores in 2001 after failing to find a buyer.

The Disney chain expanded too far and the number of stores has been shrinking since hitting a peak of 741 in 2000.

I'm thinking maybe either Starbucks could purchase them, or better yet, Scores.