Next Herbie flick will act as death knell for New Beetle

Production has already started on the fifth Herbie The Love Bug film, entitled "Herbie, Fully Loaded", due out next summer. The film will have a NASCAR setting in which a lovable VW Beetle that can seemingly think and act for itself engages in good-natured hijinks and mischief while ceaselessly frustrating the other meaner, less lovable racecars, none of which (we may presume) possess any kind of intelligence whatsoever. As if this premise weren't enough to draw serious financial backing, an all-star cast of Matt Dillon and Michael Keaton will practically insure a mammoth opening weekend via name power alone. New Beetle sales are currently down 20 percent, so if you think this is all a shameless marketing ploy, you're right.