PASSAGES: Cruise to Fight Martians

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/10/2002 at 10:43 AM EDT

PLANNED: Tom Cruise, 39, is working on a new feature version of H.G. Wells's 1898 classic Martian invasion tale "The War of the Worlds," that he will produce and possibly star in for Paramount, reports Variety. The most famous version of the story was Orson Welles's 1938 radio rendition that caused panic throughout the country . . . AXED: E! Entertainment's "Talk Soup" has been canceled after an 11-year run, reports Reuters. The show, which made a star out of original host Greg Kinnear, 38, is currently emceed by Aisha Tyler, whose last day will be next Wednesday. Partly to blame for the demise of "Talk Soup" are the exits of two major talk show personalities, Rosie O'Donnell and Sally Jessy Raphael . . . SETTLED: The estate of "Gone With the Wind" author Margaret Mitchell has reached an agreement with author Alice Randall and Houghton Mifflin, the publisher of Randall's "The Wind Done Gone," said to be a parody of Mitchell's Civil War era book, both sides reported to the Associated Press. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is reported in The New York Times that part of the settlement insists that a financial contribution be made to Morehouse College, a historically black college in Georgia where slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received his bachelor's degree . . . DISMISSED: Florida Judge Anne Conway on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. by relatives of Capt. Billy Tyne, whose life was the basis for the film "The Perfect Storm," reports Reuters. The family members said their likenesses were used in the movie without their consent. George Clooney played Tyne in the movie. (Warner Bros., like PEOPLE, is part of AOL Time Warner.) . . . REMINDER: Sunday is Mother's Day. At least call her.