The town is abuzz over Robert Downey Jr.’s latest arrest and has many wondering what will happen if he is nominated for an Oscar for his role in the re-released “Wonder Boys.”

“There aren’t any rules about that sort of situation,” says Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Director of Communications John Pavlik, who cites a similar incident in 1998. “The co-director of ‘The Farm: Angola USA,’ Wilburt Rideaux, couldn’t attend the Oscars because he was in prison, but then he wasn’t an actual nominee,” says Pavlik.

So if Downey is nominated while in prison, it would be a “first” for the Academy.

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Mike Medavoy, chairman and CEO of Phoenix Pictures, recently made it to Shanghai and back within 36 hours, and being that Shanghai is his home town it seemed to be a fast trip.

But it wasn’t about memories for the movie producer, but rather to sew things up for his next big-budget movie, “Shanghai,” with director Mike Newell.

“It is a war movie about tracking the movements of the Japanese ,” says the usually secretive Medavoy.

In the meantime, he was anxiously waiting to see box-office stats on his recent Columbia release “The Sixth Day,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Unfortunately, the film that cost $82 million to make self-destructed in its second week, with a five-day total last week that was 22 percent less than its initial three-day total from the week before.

“Definitely not a good sign of strength,” says a spokesman for Yahoo’s movie.com. “At this pace, the film looks like it is headed toward a domestic finish of around $40 million, but Schwarzenegger always comes through in the end with big numbers from the overseas box office and home video/DVD sales.”

Schwarzenegger also has “Terminator 3” in the works, which is just part of a slew of sequels ready for 2001 release.

Among them are the wrapped “Jurassic Park 3” (part of a franchise that star Sam Neil says will go on for decades), “Star Trek 10” (which is closer to a reality with “Gladiator” co-writer John Logan, and actors Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner now on board), “Matrix 2 and 3” (in preparation for back-to-back filming), “Blade 2” (in preparation for filming with star Wesley Snipes), more James Bond films (but Pierce Brosnan is a question mark), the new “Indiana Jones” (starring Harrison Ford, about to start filming) and “Hannibal” (the “Silence of the Lambs” sequel starring Anthony Hopkins, ready for release in February 2001).

Also in development is an “X-Men” sequel, and Anna Pacquin is anxious to start filming.

“I’m signed for it and I want to be in it,” says Pacquin, whose commitments to school render her available only during her winter and summer breaks.

Successful comedy sequels include a possible “Nutty Professor 3” and “Dr. Doolittle 2” (currently in production, starring Eddie Murphy), and there is talk that a sequel to Martin Lawrence’s “Big Momma’s House” is readying for release next fall.