By Kofi Outlaw

Television isn’t the only Hollywood medium feeling the burn of the current WGA strike]. Following a pre-strike scramble to get as many projects as possible scripted and into production, studio executives find themselves at a crossroads, having to determine which projects to move ahead with and which ones to postpone until the strike blows over.

For studio 20th Century Fox, this presents a high-profile problem. The studio has two buzzed-about projects already in the “go” stage: the sequel to 1998’s X-FILES movie, tentatively titled “DONE ONE”, as well as X-MEN spin-off WOLVERINE, starring Hugh Jackman. X-FILES was set to start shooting as soon as December—pulling the plug at this stage could be fatal to the film. While X-FILES could still forge ahead with its shoot (it already has a script and is, for the most part, cast) heading into production without the benefit of re-writes would be like walking a tight rope with no safety net.

Despite that risk, Fox execs insist that all is well in movie-land: “We’re in good shape…” [insists Fox production chief Hutch Parker] “The one caveat is, we’ve never done this before.”

Going with Parker’s optimistic view, Fox is also forging ahead with WOLVERINE, despite the fact that previous X-MEN flicks required the writers to be on hand throughout the shoot in order to tweak dialogue, storylines and action sequences. Though WOLVERINE rests largely on the shoulders of star Hugh Jackman, shooting the film before the writers are on hand to tweak it would be an expensive risk, considering the high-dollar value of the X-MEN franchise. Plus it would plain suck to see WOLVERINE turn out crappy.

As for the X-FILES sequel, December is but a few weeks away, so some hard decisions will have to be made soon. We’ll keep you updated on how it goes. In the meantime, just as an FYI, here are a few other flicks which are facing a possible stall due to the strike: Da Vinci Code prequel ANGELS & DEMONS, TRANSFORMERS 2, G.I. JOE, the next JAMES BOND flick, and PRINCE OF PERSIA: SANDS OF TIME. Get your tanning oils ready boys and girls, you may be seeing a lot more of the sun, and a lot less of the Cineplex, come summer 2009.