Halle Berry has been absent from the big screen for the last few years, but that is about to change, as she has just signed on to star in a new movie titled Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

The story is about four Chicago women who all wear size 7.5 shoes and trade looks. Filming starts later this year.

Halle will play an agoraphobic who has to shop online to indulge her love — her three friends in the film have yet to be cast.

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Take a look at Halle out & about yesterday:

PHOTOS: Halle Takes Baby Nahla To The Park

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When the place is inevitably held up and their wallets are stolen, the duo must recover a winning lottery ticket that was sitting in Cosby’s wallet.

Humor Mill Magazine is reporting that Will Smith bought the rights to the film in 2002 and has been trying to remake it ever since. Eddie Murphy was approached early on, but a deal with the superstar was never worked out.

According to Humor Mill, Washington has now expressed interest in the “Uptown” remake and in starring alongside with Smith.

Jennifer Hudson is set to star in a drama that casts her as the former wife of South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela.

“Winnie,” based on the Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob biography “Winnie Mandela: A Life,” begins shooting May 30 in the South African locations of Johannesburg, Capt Town, Transkei and Robben Island, where the future president spent 18 of his 27 years in prison.

The film will be directed by Darrell J. Roodt, the veteran South African filmmaker whose 2006 movie “Yesterday” was Africa’s Best Foreign Film nominee, and who also directed “Cry, The Beloved Country,” and “Sarafina!”

Winnie Mandela has been depicted as the mother and wife who was a steadfast supporter of her activist husband and who was jailed herself for campaigning for his release and fighting against apartheid.

Her image subsequently took a hit when she was associated with a bodyguard who murdered a 14-year old alleged informer, and she was later convicted of fraud.

The filmmakers will tell the whole story, good and bad.

“I was compelled and moved when I read the script,” Hudson said. “Winnie Mandela is a complex and extraordinary woman and I’m honored to be the actress asked to portray her. This is a powerful part of history that should be told.”

Hudson is also expected to sing the film’s theme song.

Halle Berry will be honored at The Hollywood Reporter’s 18th annual Women in Entertainment breakfast presented by Lifetime.

The Oscar winner will receive the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award, which recognizes recipients for trailblazing within the industry and for generosity in giving back to the community at large. Previous beneficiaries include Barbara Walters, Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster and Glenn Close.

Hilary Swank and Eva Longoria Parker will also participate in the Dec. 4 breakfast at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The event is held annually in conjunction with the publication of THR’s “Power 100: Women in Entertainment” special issue, which highlights the top 100 women in the motion picture and television industries.

“The complex role that Halle Berry plays in life as a successful, versatile entertainment professional who is committed to furthering the well-being of others, especially minorities, is as inspiring as are her film roles,” THR editor Elizabeth Guider said. “The recognition is also wonderfully fitting in a year in which diversity has been embraced and rewarded at the highest levels of our government and culture.”

Berry, the first African-American woman to win the best actress Oscar, is the national spokesperson for the Jenesse Center, a nonprofit that provides support to heal families victimized by domestic violence.

Swank, a two-time Oscar-winning best actress, will deliver the keynote remarks at the breakfast. Multiple award-winner Longoria Parker will present at the event.

In 1992, at age 19, Gabrielle Union was attacked, beaten and raped at her part-time job in a shoestore. Her attacker later turned himself in and was sentenced to 33 years in prison. The actress recently took to her blog to speak on the gang rape story that took place in Richmond:

So as I’m on the way to shoot Chelsea Lately…I’m sad more than anything. After googling the gang rape story in Richmond and reading comments on blogs, it just leaves me sickened and really sad. The fact that race and socio-economics have been used to explain away a brutal gang rape…just sad…maybe I just have seen every kind of rapist and survivor….every race, color, religion, socio-economic status group…it’s all the same…a lack of regard for violence against women. Tolerated, and in this case encouraged by the mob surrounding the perps…laughing, joking and taking pics.

When I was 19 years old, I was raped. I was working at a shoe store in California, and the store was robbed. The person robbing the store ended up putting a gun to my head and raping me. As he was raping me, I felt as though I was floating over myself, thinking, ‘This isn’t happening.’ I blanked out and had an out-of-body experience, like I was hovering above seeing this ­horrible thing happen to someone else…not me. I was fortunate enough to go the UCLA rape crisis center after this horrific ordeal. It gave me my life back. My dignity and self-esteem were gone and they helped me find them again. That’s why I now lobby for state legislatures across the country and the federal government to help raise funds and awareness for rape crisis centers, and I speak to all different kinds of people across the country about what happened to me. My goal is to never hear the words ‘me too’ from someone after I say ‘I was raped.’

It started as a comedy sketch on the “BET Awards,” but by popular demand, a movie will be produced starring the characters Sheneneh from “Martin” and Wanda from “In Living Color.”

Screen Gems has acquired “Sheneneh and Wanda,” starring Jamie Foxx and Martin Lawrence in the female characters they developed for their respective television shows.

Foxx will write the script and he and Martin will produce together through Foxx’s Foxxhole and Lawrence’s Runteldat production banners, reports Variety.

The project originated as a parody of a movie trailer for a film called “Skank Robbers,” which Foxx and Lawrence made for the BET Awards. [Watch clip below.] The reaction was strong enough that the duo decided to turn the concept into a real film.

In the comedy, Sheneneh and Wanda are modern day independent women trying to make it on their own, one bank robbery at a time.

Foxx, who last starred in “Law Abiding Citizen,” will next be seen in the romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day.” Lawrence will next be seen in the Screen Gems comedy “Death at a Funeral.”

A&E has finally announced plans for its new reality series “The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty,” starring the brothers of late pop icon Michael Jackson.

The one-hour show will premiere on Dec. 13 and run for six episodes, the network said Friday. Cameras follow Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon Jackson as they deal with the death of their brother, and rehearse for an upcoming concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Jackson Five.

The brothers will also be shown recording a song for the soundtrack of Jackson’s movie “This Is It,” and attending a premiere for the film.

Lionsgate’s “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” set a new record for films opening in limited release.

The indie movie’s weekend take of $1.8 million from just 18 theaters is the best gross ever for a film opening in fewer than 100 theaters, reports Variety. Last year, by comparison, Focus Features’ “Milk” grossed $268,487 from 34 theaters on its first Friday.

The LA Times is reporting that the studio behind “Precious,” Lionsgate and its hybrid strategy — playing “Precious” in both highbrow theaters, and in African American communities — worked extremely well.

In LA, for instance, “Precious” played at the Landmark in West L.A. and ArcLight Hollywood, more upscale locations, as well as the Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15, which draw large African American crowds. It also opened this weekend in Atlanta, Chicago and New York.

Interestingly the paper said that a small majority of moviegoers were black, and a lopsided 68% were female.

Here’s the part you’ve been waiting for ifn you live outside LA, NY, Chicago and Atlanta. Lionsgate is planning to build quickly on the positive momentum for “Precious.” On Friday, it will open in Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, as well as expand in the cities where it is currently playing, bringing its total theater count to more than 200. On Nov. 20, it will start playing nationwide.

“It was a fantastic start, but this is our launch, and our goal is to keep it in theaters for a long time to come,” said David Spitz, executive vice president of distribution for Lionsgate.

Meanwhile, Sony’s Michael Jackson documentary “This Is It” jumped the $100 million mark at the foreign box office Thursday, earning more than double the film’s domestic haul of $43.8 million.

That put “This Is It’s” worldwide total at nearly $144 million as the film headed into its second weekend of play, Variety reported.

The foreign box office is led by Japan, where “This Is It” has grossed $18.2 million. That’s followed by the U.K. at $11.1 million, Germany at $8.9 million and France at $8.7 million.

Sony paid AEG Entertainment $60 million for worldwide distribution rights.