Prize-winning actor and director Tommy Lee Jones is suing the makers of No Country for Old Men, the 2007 West Texas crime thriller that garnered four Academy awards, claiming they have failed to pay him more than $10 million he is owed according to his contract. ...

In the lawsuit, Jones claims he signed a contract with N.M. Classics on April 3, 2006, agreeing to act in the film, as well as to provide "additional related services" for the movie's promotion. In exchange, the lawsuit says the company promised to pay Jones a fixed "up-front" fee and, depending upon the film's financial success, "significant box-office bonuses and 'back-end' compensation."

Those pledged to be "significant," according to the lawsuit, because they were supposed to compensate for Jones' reduced up-front fee. ... Jones also argues the company breached his contract by failing to pay him the bonuses and wrongly deducting unauthorized expenses from his back-end pay. He says he was fraudulently made to render his services under a contract the company knew contained mistakes, though they didn't inform him of them until after the movie had been made, by which time it was too late.

The "mistakes" allegedly included an unspecified "major issue involving the deduction for home video expenses" and — shocker! — the formula used to calculate box-office-based bonuses. Jones reportedly agreed to back-end terms similar to those of Rudin and the Coens, none of whom have yet sued (nor are expected to sue) for restitution of their own. It's a mournful, illusion-shattering turn of events, to be sure; they seemed so happy, and Paramount has never, ever screwed anyone! We hope a resolution can be achieved swiftly and amicably out of court, lest the ensuing trial suddenly entitle Bardem to sue over the "mistakes" that yielded three months of coiffure-induced sex deprivation. No studio can survive slopes this slippery.

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  Tommy Lee Jones sues Paramount [SA Express-News via DHD]

Scott Bowles has more at USA Today (including the troubling potential for yet another Indy franchise entry), and of course we'll have our own infallible figures Friday morning in Defamer Attractions. Meanwhile, a cadre of contrarian fanboys are even rallying now to defend current Memorial Day-weekend record-holder Spider-Man from the indignity of second place: "Save Spidey! Boycott Indy!" wheezes a recent headline at Comics 2 Film. "Spidey 3 tallied up $151.1 million this time last year. However, the web-slinger did it in a traditional three-day weekend, whereas Indy IV will have a five-day stretch. Fans who want Spidey to hang on to his cred may want avoid Indy this weekend and catch up with the adventure next week." Or, more realistically, pick up another pair of Spidey jammies and/or Underoos to help prevent total brand subsumption over the holiday frame.

• 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' Can Possibly Deliver the All-Time Best 5-Day Opening! [Fantasy Moguls]
• 'Crystal Skull' poised to rocket to the top [USA Today]

Some film tie-ins (Mission: Impossible, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) have already been announced, but a half-dozen more rumored attractions trickling out of Paramount HQ have us even more jacked:

—The Sonny Corleone Tollbooth Adventure: Buckle up and grab the phone — it's your sister Connie! Her husband's got the belt again! Swoop down the New Jersey turnpike at speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour before plunging almost 300 feet into a hail of ice water and shrieks. On your way out, purchase your photo with optional Marlon Brando Sobbing Picture Frame™: "Look how they massacred my boy!"

—The "Ow Shia's Balls" Jungle Coaster: Settle in for the ride of your crotch's life as you straddle vehicles on two tracks through the Peruvian rainforest, just like the the young hero from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Don't let the spiky jungle cacti thwacking your genitals distract you as you battle an animatronic Soviet swordstress and her Commie henchmen — it's either your balls or America, kid!

—Ash Wednesday Eye-Lift Experience: Go under the knife just like desperate housewife Liz Taylor did in her forgotten 1973 melodrama, and then leave the park with a younger date than you arrived with.

—Ripley's Believe or Not Development Vortex: See how exactly how movies aren't made as cuddly Paramount mascot Jim Carrey guides guests on a winding backlot tour of production meetings, script revisions, salary haggles and other rollicking studio inertia.

—There Will Be Fun! Daniel Plainview Musical Revue: Relive the joy and wonder of There Will Be Blood with sociopathic oil baron Plainview and your entire family. The entire history of California oil drilling gets the stage treatment with numbers including "Bastard in a Basket," "Give Me the Blood, Eli" and the famous show-stopper "(I Drink Your) Milkshake."

—Sumner Redstone: The Ride: Climb 350 feet over Seoul before a wizened finger brushes you into a terrifying freefall back to Earth. (Sorry kids! You must be taller than Tom Cruise to ride.)

Let us know if you've heard about any others!