New video production at the Grand/ABC shopping network over the week (20.01.07 - 27.01.07)

Peter Hewitt

Tim Allen, Courteney Cox Arquette, Chevy Chase, Spencer Breslin, Kate Mara

A former superhero is called back to work to transform an unlikely group of ragtag kids into new heroes at a private academy.

Steven Soderbergh

George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire, Robin Weigert, Dave Power

Berlin, 1945. U.S. war correspondent Jake Geismer has just arrived to cover the upcoming Potsdam Peace Conference, where Allied leaders will meet to determine the fate of a vanquished Germany and a newly liberated Europe--and, in the process, carve up what's left of any value for themselves. It's not Jake's first visit to Berlin. He once managed a news bureau here. He once fell in love here. But that seems a lifetime ago as he takes in the staggering devastation on the jeep ride from the airport to his hotel in the American zone. Jake's driver, Corporal Tully, exudes small-town American charm--an eager, guileless, good-natured kid from the Midwest. In reality, he's corrupt to the core, bartering anything and anyone, and playing all sides for the highest price. But that's not unusual. Everyone in Berlin has a secret now. Everyone is working an angle to get what they need: money, power, survival--or just a way out. Tully's black market dealings don't interest Jake, but Tully's girlfriend does. She's Lena Brandt, Jake's former love, although somehow, now, not quite the person he once knew. She has been irrevocably changed by the war, the hardship of life in this ruined city and the burden of her own secrets. When Tully ends up in the Russian zone with 100,000 marks in his pocket and a bullet in his back, Jake finds himself drawn into the mystery of this murder, and the bigger mystery of why both the American and Russian authorities look the other way. The deeper his investigation takes him, the more it leads him back to Lena. Jake discovers that it is nearly impossible to unearth the truth in a time and place where people are still reeling from the horrors of the war and desperate to salvage their humanity in the shadow of the often unbearable knowledge of what they did to survive.

Bill Condon

Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Jennifer Hudson

Effie White, Deena Jones, and Lorrell Robinson - three friends from Chicago - are a promising singing trio called The Dreamettes. Accompanied by their songwriter C.C. White (Effie's brother), they travel to New York to compete in a talent show at the Apollo Theatre. Although the girls lose this first bid for fame, their talent attracts an ambitious manager by the name of Curtis Taylor, Jr., who uses unscrupulous tactics to move the girls from backup singers of superstar James "Thunder" Early to superstars of their own. Curtis reshapes the group to "crossover" from R & B to the lucrative pop music scene. Lead singer Effie gets replaced by the more attractive Deena and is eventually dropped from the trio. The group evolves into a more sophisticated group, The Dreams, with a lighter sound and chic look. They successfully attract a "whiter" audience and The Dreams rise to international stardom. The money, fame, and adulation, however, doesn't bring them happiness.

Nick Cassavetes

Justin Timberlake, Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone, Emile Hirsch, Dominique Swain

Johnny is a Los Angeles drug dealer. He comes from a good family, owns his home, several cars and enjoys partying with his friends. Johnny is 19. When his friend Jake welches on a debt, Johnny and his boys kidnap Jake's 15-year-old brother Butch and hold him as a marker. Even though Butch has numerous chances to escape, he doesn't. He's enjoying partying with them, losing his virginity and having a good time - until something goes horribly wrong.

Gary Winick

Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey, Dominic Scott Kay, John Cleese

Fern is one of only two living beings who sees that Wilbur is a special animal as she raises him, the runt of the litter, into a terrific and radiant pig. As Wilbur moves into a new barn, he begins a second profound friendship with the most unlikely of creatures--a spider named Charlotte--and their bond inspires the animals around them to come together as a family. When the word gets out that Wilbur's days are numbered, it seems that only a miracle will save his life. A determined Charlotte--who sees miracles in the ordinary--spins words into her web in an effort to convince the farmer that Wilbur is some pig and worth saving.

Christopher Nolan

Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, David Bowie, Scarlett Johansson

It all begins in rapidly changing, turn-of-the-century London. At a time when magicians are idols and celebrities of the highest order, two young magicians set out to carve their own paths to fame. The flashy, sophisticated Robert Angier is a consummate entertainer, while the rough-edged purist Alfred Borden is a creative genius who lacks the panache to showcase his magical ideas. They start out as admiring friends and partners. But when their biggest trick goes terribly awry, they become enemies for life--each intent on outdoing and upending the other. Trick by trick, show by show, their ferocious competition builds until it knows no bounds, even utilizing the fantastical new powers of electricity and the scientific brilliance of radical inventor Nikola Tesla--while the lives of everyone around them hang in the balance.

Phillip Noyce

Tim Robbins, Derek Luke, Bonnie Henna, Mncedisi Shabangu, Terry Pheto

In South Africa, Patrick Chamusso is a charming and loving husband to his wife Precious, and a caring father to his two young daughters. He works as a foreman at the centrally located Secunda oil refinery, which is a symbol of South Africa's self-sufficiency at a time when the world was protesting the country's oppressive apartheid system. In his spare time, Patrick coaches a local boys' soccer team. Carefully toeing the hard line imposed on blacks by apartheid, Patrick is completely apolitical. Nic Vos is a Colonel in the country's Police Security Branch. The shrewd and charismatic Vos strives to maintain order in volatile situations, which have become more and more frequent as the outlawed activist organization African National Congress (ANC) rallies blacks against apartheid. Vos is also concerned for the safety of his wife and two daughters. He and his family live a world away from the Chamusso family--until the innocent Patrick comes under suspicion and is arrested (in June 1980) for sabotage of the Secunda oil refinery. His alibi is compromised, and Patrick is desperate to shield Precious from a past indiscretion and keep his job. But he is ill-prepared to withstand brutal interrogations by Vos' men. As Vos further insinuates himself into the lives of the Chamussos, to Patrick's shock and shame, Precious herself is jailed and tortured. Although he and Precious are soon released from custody, Patrick is stunned into action and completely reorients his sense of self and purpose. He leaves his family to join up with the ANC. Becoming a rebel fighter and political operative, Patrick is radicalized on behalf of his people and his country. He ultimately envisions a formidable and dangerous follow-up strike against the Secunda refinery, risking his own life and future. Change must and will come, for Patrick and his family, and for South Africa itself.