Despite this sounding like the happy ending that everyone involved had been hoping for, Slate's Kim Masters reports that it's unclear when the kids will be reunited with their now-estranged families, a situation that could be complicated if the children apply for asylum when in America on visas the studio is trying to arrange so that their peripatetic talent can reap some of the acclaim (read: promote the film by cheerily waving to some cameras to let everyone know they're OK) their brave performances have earned them:

Paramount marketing executive Megan] Colligan may feel better, but another source involved in the Paramount effort doesn't. "No matter how you look at it, their families are going to be split—maybe temporarily or long-term," he says. That's a fairy-tale ending? [...]

Of course, as our source on the studio's team points out, it's quite possible that once the children get their feet on American soil, they'll do what many in their position might do: seek asylum. If that's granted, this source says, "The studio doesn't pay anything and the American taxpayer has to cover everything." Family members at home would not be in a position to apply, so the split would seem to be indefinite.

When this idea was raised within the studio, our source says, it was met with a shrug. Asked about the issue, producer Rebecca Yeldham told us that the question of seeking asylum "has never come up in our dialogue with the families." And have the children shared any thoughts on being separated from their families for months, if not longer? Yeldham said she talked to the children last week and found that "all four boys were so happy—so enthusiastic and very excited to be where they are."

No doubt the Kite Runner boys aren't the only kids who might be excited and enthusiastic over a chance to be feted by a Hollywood studio, presumably with a little Disneyland thrown in.

Indeed, it's a dream that every child actor forced to leave their homeland by their participation in a culturally inflammatory rape scene shares, in which untold weeks of fretting about being separated from their parents are quickly forgotten as they placidly glide across shallow water in one of It's A Small World's boats, humming along to its trauma-erasing, endlessly looped theme.

• The Kite Runner Boys [Slate]
• Previously: Paramount Gets 'The Kite Runner' Kids Out Of Danger Zone, Into Temporary, Luxurious Safehouse [Defamer]

"I can't really tell you what a weight came off when they landed safely," said Megan Colligan, a Paramount marketing executive involved in the effort. The group exodus from Kabul did not come in time for the boys to obtain visas and attend the "Kite Runner" premiere, which will take place on Tuesday night at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood.

But Paramount executives and others involved in the relocation effort still hope to bring the co-stars to the United States to be honored somehow and to grant their wish to visit as tourists.

"We owe these kids some carefree moments as children after everything that has gone around them," said Rich Klein, a Middle East specialist at the consulting firm Kissinger McLarty Associates, who was hired by the studio. [...]

Paramount is putting them up at a luxury hotel until more permanent housing and jobs for their guardians can be found; the boys are to attend a school with other Afghan students. The studio is also paying a per diem to relatives left behind in Kabul, and has offered to keep the entire arrangement in place long enough for the boys to graduate from high school if they choose to stay.

Studio executives asked that the specific city in the United Arab Emirates not be named, saying unwanted media attention could make it difficult for the boys to adjust to their new surroundings and could even complicate efforts to extend their temporary visas there. Other news outlets already intend to report on the boys' location, said a consultant to Paramount, who insisted on anonymity because he had not been authorized by the studio to speak on the matter: "People are being excessively aggressive. I understand the interest, but there's something bigger at stake here. The best possible outcome would be in 20 years to see a where-are-they-now piece on VH1."

Unfortunately, best-case scenarios rarely come to pass; Paramount, despite doing its best to shield the minors until they're need for that Where Are They Now? The Lost Children of The Kite Runner' 20 Years Later special mentioned above, might have to settle for a more feasible VH1 property that can simultanesouly build some buzz for the movie's eventual DVD release, such as The Surreal Life: UAE Luxury Hotel, which follows the displaced young stars, their families, and a number of studio handlers as they all try and coexist in a single high-end suite in their new homeland.

• 'Kite Runner' Boys Are Sent to United Arab Emirates [NY Times]

But balancing the Peacock's excitement about its big move is its growing apprehension about the inevitably problematic transfer of The Tonight Show from Burbank to the Universal lot's soon-to-be refurbished Studio One, as a smooth handoff from Jay Leno to Conan O'Brien seems increasingly unlikely; at this point, they'll probably consider the transition a success if their snipers can take out Leno before he has has a chance to detonate the farewell explosives he's rigged beneath his desk to take his final live audience with him into his early retirement.

• MetroStudio&Lankershim [metrostudiolankershim.com via Curbed LA]
• Leno keeping NBC up at night [LAT]

We have no one to blame but ourselves for this crippling loss; had we embraced Gibson during this turbulent time in his life as warmly as the more forgiving Costa Ricans locals, maybe he'd still be building pre-Vatican II megachurches with stunning vistas of Carbon Beach instead of in the bandit-plagued wilds of Central America.

• Today Show [NBC.com]
• Gibson braves kidnap threats [Metro]