Deals: Heavyweights Edition (Eastwood, Stallone, Ford)

-Two months before the release of King Kong, Peter Jackson has sacked composer Howard Shore (who won three Oscars for his Lord of the Rings music) and replaced him with James Newton Howard. In a statement, Jackson called the split amicable, chalking it up to creative differences, but such a last-minute change is not a good omen. At least Howard (best known for scoring M. Night Shyamalan’s thrillers) is fast; he’s already scored three movies this year, including Batman Begins and The Interpreter.

-Clint Eastwood, about to finish shooting Flags of Our Fathers, his film about the Marines who appeared in that famous photo of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima, will follow it up with another film about the battle from the Japanese point of view, tentatively titled Lamps Before the Wind. He describes both films in this Time magazine interview, saying he hopes to release both films simultaneously next fall.

-Sylvester Stallone talks about the recently-greenlit sixth Rocky movie, which will be called Rocky Balboa, and which will pull the 59-year-old actor back into the ring to play Balboa as an underdog, as he was in the first two movies. There’s no Adrian (sorry Talia Shire), but Burt Young will be back as Paulie. ”Rocky Balboa is about everybody who feels they want to participate in the race of life, rather than be a bystander,” Stallone said in a statement, according to the Hollywood Reporter. ”You’re never too old to climb a mountain, if that’s your desire.” Speaking of which, next up for Stallone, according to Variety, will be a fourth Rambo movie.

-Harrison Ford’s Manhunt, where he plays the man who led the search for John Wilkes Booth after Lincoln’s assassination, is moving forward. The film now has a director, Sebastian Cordero, who shot the recent John Leguizamo thriller Cronicas.