It's a new, darker take on Yogi, now known as Y.B. After all his years of crime, he finally gets caught stealing pic-a-nic baskets and gets put to sleep by the tearful park veterinarian. I have not read the script, but word on the street is that Boo-Boo snitches on Yogi, allowing Ranger Smith to catch Y.B. red-handed in the act of stealing human food, thus forfeiting his own life and allowing Boo-Boo to step into the #1 slot.

Everyone in the movie business wanted to play the emotional, Shakespearian death scene which is said to be virtually an express train to the Oscar station. The competition for the role was so strong that it oftentimes turned violent. Word has it that some of the also-rans (Pitt? Clooney? DeNiro? Jackman?) ordered a mob hit on Kenneth Brannagh when it appeared he would be chosen for the plum role.

In the intense supporting role as Yogi's tortured, heroin-addicted sidekick Boo-Boo, who yearns and schemes to be the top bear after years of second-class status, Justin Timberlake is expected to take home his own first Oscar.

Ranger Smith has not yet been cast, but Judi Dench's agent continues to argue that the role could add more dimension to the film if played by a woman, in the manner of Dench's role in the Bond films.

The film will be lensed in New Zealand, in the manner of Lord of the Rings, except "bigger."