War of the Worlds: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dakota Fanning has closed a deal to join Tom Cruise in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds, a DreamWorks-Paramount Pictures co-production.

The deal continues a streak of projects for the actress. She is prepping for her role opposite Kurt Russell in DreamWorks' Dreamer for helmer John Gatins, and she is attached to play Alice in live action adaptations of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass," which Les Bohem is scripting for DreamWorks.

Even though the young actress has already worked with Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington and Sean Penn, "War" marks Fanning's highest-profile gig, since it will team her with both Spielberg and Cruise. She acted in the Spielberg-created Sci-Fi Channel series "Taken" but did not meet the Oscar-winning helmer during that shoot.

War of the Worlds was released June 29th, 2005 and stars Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins, Rick Gonzalez, Yul Vazquez, Lenny Venito. The film is directed by Steven Spielberg.