Casablanca sequel creeps to light of day

Hollywood has been strip-mining popular culture for years in a dreary string of sequels, prequels, knockoffs and remakes, demonstrating pretty clearly that there are almost no new ideas left.

But nothing matches this: Warner Bros. is working up a sequel to Casablanca.

Hard to believe that the original is 70 years old this year, and I guess that’s the statutory limit on shamelessness. This idea has been kicking around for years but now may actually be coming to life.

The story, says the British paper The Independent, will be about Richard Blaine, illegitimate son of Rick and Ilsa, who goes back to Casablanca, in the ’60s I guess, to find his dad. Working title: Return to Casablanca or maybe As Time Goes By.

I think I’m going to be sick. My pick for least influential celeb: In just the kind of uncharitable, downright mean-spirited action that we all love so well, GQ mag has named the year’s least influential celebrities, in no particular order:

Lance Armstrong, Mitt Romney, Madonna, Amanda Bynes, Belgian emo guy Gotye, Ryan Lochte, Michelle Obama (for her “eat-healthy” campaign), Billy Crystal (for his Oscar-hosting flop) and others. How did they miss Barry Manilow? Pink’s on a roll: The singer Pink, mother of an 18-month-old daughter called Willow with hubby Carey Hart, says she’s not done.

“I want a basketball team (of kids, because having one is) the best thing I’ve done,” she told Stella mag. “In 10 years I’ll have an 11-year-old and an eight-year-old and a fiveyear-old and a three-year-old and a six-month-old and 18 dogs, a horse and a pig.”

There was no comment from Hart.

Pink is 33. Hart is 37. Marley settles with in-law: Rita Marley, Bob’s widow, has settled a trademark dispute with Richard Booker, the late singer’s half brother.

Bob died in 1981, leaving Rita and a bunch of kids. Richard and Bob had the same mother, Cedella Booker. Rich has been living in Miami, promoting concerts and otherwise trying to make a buck under the trade name Mama Marley. A year ago Rita and the kids filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement. Now the suit has been settled out of court, terms kept secret.

Rita’s 66. Holy bat-auction! Interested in buying the Batmobile from the 1960s TV series?

Me neither. But somebody somewhere is, probably, and so it’s expected to fetch at least $1 million when auctioned off in Scottsdale, Ariz., next month.