The Newsdesk 03.20.09 - Pixar's Up to Open Cannes; Hollywood Honors Richardson
• Rumor has it Star Trek's Chris Pine is the frontrunner for Green Lantern. Chris, do you really want two genres of geek stalking your every move?
• Judi Dench, Jane Fonda, and Lindsay Lohan all paid tribute to the late actress Natasha Richardson. Broadway also dimmed its lights in honor of the star of Cabaret and other productions.
• Peter Segal (Get Smart) has been enlisted to direct the next Meet the Parents installment, Little Fockers.
• Pixar's Up will open the Cannes Film Festival. It will be the first animated movie to open the French festival.
• Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's Dark Shadows film may be delayed. Burton reportedly needs more time to work on his upcoming trippy 3D Alice in Wonderland movie.
• The first trailer for Jack Black and Michael Cera's summer comedy Year One has been released. Might be worth seeing for Paul Rudd and David Cross as Cain and Abel.
• Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke has signed on to direct an adaptation of the children's novel If I Stay.
• Mary J. Blige will star in Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself, an adaptation of one of the prolific writer/actor/director/drag aficionado's many plays.
3-D takes a giant leap into the future
from USATODAY.com Movies - Top Stories
Hollywood is looking at the future through tinted plastic
glasses. My Bloody Valentine, Coraline and the Jonas Brothers concert...
from Variety.com
Exclusives: Premium nets see subscriber counts grow -- While a steep recession continues to wrack the broader ad-supported TV business, operators of premium cable networks including HBO, Showtime and Starz are holding up just fine.
Ex-Reality Show Workers Sue Production Company
from NYT > Television by By EDWARD WYATT
Three former employees claim Fremantle North America forced them to work under "sweatshop" conditions and failed to pay for overtime hours they worked.
Sony Freezes Workers' Salaries
from The Wrap RSS by admin
Sony on Thursday said it would freeze non-managerial employees' salaries this
year as the company tries to recover from a record loss in the face of a global
sales slump.
Economic woes changing MIP model
from Hollywood Reporter by By Mimi Turner
Amid plunging advertising revenue, pink slips by the
thousands and an ever-worsening economic outlook, it's little wonder that
buyers and sellers heading to MIPTV at month's end expect to do business in a
radically changed world.
While CAA Agents Go On Retreat, Their Assistants Go To
"CAA U" ...Mandatory!
from Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily by Nikki Finke
I've confirmed this is for real and marks the first time CAA has done this.
Nielsen IAG Top 10 Most-Recalled In-Program Placements: Reality
from Advertising Age - Madison+Vine
NEW YORK -- Charmin's exposure in the March 12 episode of CBS's "Survivor: Tocantins" led the list of the 10 most-recalled network reality program product placements. See the full list and recall scores.
DirecTV Looks for Advertising Outside Agency Model
from Advertising Age - Madison+Vine
LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- To find new, recession-appropriate advertising, satellite provider DirecTV has gone outside its agency of record, Deutsch, Los Angeles, to forge a marketing partnership with Filmaka, an online community where indie filmmakers are given assignments by brands to create marketing and advertising content. DirecTV is offering prize money in the low six figures to the winning commercial directors.
from Hollywood Reporter by By Steven Zeitchik
As the indie world finds its traditional model less viable, more people are holding up digital media as its salvation. Where else, they say, can you reach so many people for such a low cost?
FESTIVALS
Indie labels talk survival at South by Southwest
Declining album sales, online piracy and rampant layoffs:
The problems that have been afflicting corporate labels for the last decade are
even worse in this niche industry, executives say. The stark realities facing
the independent music sector threatened to cast a pall over the hard-partying
revelry as the South by Southwest music festival began its second full day
Thursday.
'Tyson,' 'Cove' to close AFI Dallas
from Hollywood Reporter by By Gregg Kilday
James Toback's "Tyson" and Louis Psihoyo's
"The Cove" will share the closing-night spotlight at the AFI Dallas
International Film Festival on April 2.
from Variety.com
Front Page: Tribeca event could be moving to fall -- The New
York film scene is undergoing its biggest shakeup in years, mostly due to
possible changes at downtown/uptown rivals Tribeca and the Film Society of
Lincoln Center.
MOVIES
Daily Box Office: Wednesday, March 18, 2009
from Box Office Mojo - Current Box Office Results
Race to Witch Mountain tops Wednesday's box office with $1.7 million
from Box Office Mojo - Top Stories by by Conor Bresnan
At the foreign box office last weekend, Marley and Me was best in show, making $14.1 million, while Watchmen slipped.
Movie
Review | 'I Love You, Man': Best Man Wanted. Must Be Rush Fan.
from NYT > Movies by By MANOHLA DARGIS
"I Love You, Man" is a fitfully funny comedy that owes much to Judd Apatow.
from /Film by orfilms@gmail.com (slashfilm.com)
For the last few weeks, Summit's Knowing, starring Nicolas Cage, has appeared
to be the likely winner of the upcoming box office weekend. But, my sources
tell me that I Love You, Man, the new comedy starring Paul Rudd (Role Models)
and Jason Segal (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) has surged in the latest
pre-release industry tracking.
Box Office Preview: 'I Love You, Man,' 'Duplicity,' and
'Knowing' battle for No. 1
from Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider by Joshua Rich
It'll be a tight fight for supremacy at the box office this weekend, as three big new releases -- the buzzy R-rated comedy I Love You, Man, the Julia Roberts spy movie Duplicity, and the Nicolas Cage sci-fi flick Knowing.
Just a Minute With: Amy Adams for "Sunshine Cleaning"
from Reuters: Entertainment News
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Amy Adams is best known for her squeaky-clean persona in roles like the fairytale princess in "Enchanted," her Oscar-nominated turn as a naive nun in "Doubt" and a young, pregnant woman in "Junebug."
Mary
J. Blige Stars In Tyler Perry Movie
from Billboard News - All by Gail Mitchell, L.A
Mary J. Blige is set to star in Tyler Perry's forthcoming
Lionsgate film, "I Can Do Bad All By Myself."
from EW.com: Movies
By Jeremy Medina
With ''I Love You, Man,'' Paul Rudd and Jason Segel join a long line of dudes
who know there's nothing wrong with a little ''guy love''.
Is John Hamburg the new Judd Apatow?
The writer-director of 'I Love You, Man' takes the bromantic comedy genre to a fresh place.
from /Film by orfilms@gmail.com (slashfilm.com)
Little Fockers, the third film in the Meet The Parents trilogy is
finally entering the casting stages -- Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and Owen
Wilson are in talks with Universal to return. Meet the Parents and Meet
The Fockers director Jay Roach will not helm the third film as he's too
busy prepping Dinner For Schmucks,which leaves an opening for a new
director.
Julia Roberts shines in 'Duplicity'
Though it's every bit as cynical as writer-director Tony Gilroy's previous screenplays for the Bourne movies, "Duplicity" marks a significant shift in tone. It's closer in spirit to the sexual role-playing shenanigans of "The Thomas Crown Affair," albeit punctuated with a healthy ironic wit.
'Where the Wild Things Are': Creepy!
from EW.com: Movies
By Tanner Stransky
Tanner Stransky says the sparse poster with the screaming max only makes him
want to see the movie more.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice Goes Head To Head With Christopher
Nolan's Inception
from /Film by orfilms@gmail.com (slashfilm.com)
Walt Disney Pictures has announced a July 16th 2010 release for the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Jon Turteltaub-directed family adventure film The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
AMPAS taking entries for writing contest
from Hollywood Reporter by Staff report
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is accepting
entries, which are due by May 1, for the 2009 Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships
in Screenwriting competition.
Sam Raimi Calls 'Drag Me To Hell' A 'Fun Horror Ride'
from MTV Movies Blog by MTV Movies Team
In Sam Raimi's return to horror "Drag
Me To Hell," a young woman (played by Alison Lohman) wants to impress her
manager at the bank and goes along with an eviction notice on an elderly lady.
Being a Sam Raimi film, you can probably imagine what happens.
TELEVISION
Ratings: 'American Idol' leads Wednesday as ABC dramas suffer
from Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider by Annie Barrett
Last night's American Idol elimination performed its usual feat of sweeping Wednesday night. Meanwhile, ABC's new Portia de Rossi comedy Better Off Ted debuted to a decent 5.6 million, but the net's hour-longs took a dip: Life lost 20 percent.
Obama on 'Tonight': Hail to the Chief
from EW.com: Today's Latest Headlines by Ken Tucker
Ken Tucker: Jay Leno's interview of the president featured
long, serious answers to non-questions
Obama cracks Special Olympics joke on Leno show
from AP Top Entertainment News At 11:05 ...
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) -- President Barack Obama might have rolled a gutter ball on NBC's "The Tonight Show."
ABC's 'Better Off Ted' Its Lowest-Rated Sitcom Premiere
from Advertising Age - MediaWorks
MINNEAPOLIS (AdAge.com) -- St. Patrick's Day revelry may
explain why Tuesday's viewers disappeared. But it was the networks that had
hangovers Wednesday, as most shows again fell short of their original-episode
season averages.
Lil'
Wayne, Scott Weiland On Board For VH1's Revived 'Behind The Music'
from Billboard News - All by James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter
VH1 is ordering about 10 new episodes of "Music," bringing back the iconic documentary program that ran for several years on VH1 starting in 1997.
'Battlestar Galactica' to air final episode
"Battlestar Galactica," the TV series that has held up a mirror to post-9/11 politics and paranoia for the past four seasons, comes to an end Friday.
Elle Macpherson Signs On To CW's 'Beautiful'
from Entertainment on HuffingtonPost.com by The Huffington Post
News Team
Supermodel Elle Macpherson is returning to acting with a recurring role on CW's
drama pilot "Beautiful Life."
from Hollywood Reporter by By Thomas K. Arnold
Sony is taking aim at the high-end gift market with a lavish
new collection of TV classics, including "All in the Family," from
groundbreaking producer Norman Lear.
CBS' biathlon tests muscles, minds
from Hollywood Reporter by By James Hibberd
"Wipeout" meets "Jeopardy" in the latest
broadcast network reality TV project.
MUSIC
Flo Rida tops Hot 100 a fifth time
from The Hollywood Reporter - Music by By Ayala Ben-Yehuda, Billboard
Flo Rida tops the Hot 100 for a fifth time and Carrie Underwood scores the top debut of the week with "Home Sweet Home," the new elimination theme song for "American Idol."
U2 draws a 'Line' atop Euro album chart
from The Hollywood Reporter - Music by By Paul Sexton, Billboard
U2 starts a second week atop Billboard's European Top 100 Albums survey with "No Line on the Horizon" (Mercury/Universal), while Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" (Interscope/Universal) secures a fourth week at No. 1 on European Hot 100 Singles.
Big Boi, readying a solo album, drops into SXSW
from AP Top Entertainment News At 11:05 ... by By JAKE COYLE
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Big Boi is bouncing on the sidewalk. He is pumped.
Simon and Garfunkel reuniting for tour
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are getting their group back together this spring for a reunion tour of Asia and Australia, according to a source close to the group.
Decemberists: Hear new album now!
from EW.com: Today's Latest Headlines by Whitney Pastorek
Indie heroes' full-on rock opera ''The Hazards of Love'' is
streaming exclusively on EW's Music Mix blog
ETC...
'60 Minutes' creator Hewitt diagnosed with cancer
from AP Top Entertainment News At 11:05 ...
NEW YORK (AP) -- Don Hewitt, the legendary mastermind of CBS News' "60 Minutes," is battling pancreatic cancer.
Ski helmet law mulled after Richardson death
from AP Top Entertainment News At 11:05 ... by By ROB GILLIES
TORONTO (AP) -- Quebec is considering making helmets mandatory on ski slopes following the death of actress Natasha Richardson and after doctors tried to persuade the province's sports minister to do it...
Mister Rogers statue arrives in Pittsburgh
from Entertainment News - UPI.com
PITTSBURGH, March 19 (UPI) -- A 7,000-pound, nearly 11-foot-tall bronze figure of late children's TV star Fred Rogers has arrived in Pittsburgh, Family Communications Inc. said Thursday.
Newsweek: Portia de Rossi on marriage to Ellen
The actress, currently appearing on new series "Better Off Ted," talks about the "Arrested Development" movie, her marriage to Ellen and how she takes care of her lustrous locks.
Fred Durst: Dating Britney Spears "Became A Fiasco Of
Madness"
from Entertainment on HuffingtonPost.com by The Huffington Post News Team
Fred Durst, who publicly bickered with Britney Spears about their reported relationship in 2003 (she's always denied it) and then claimed he was going to "put [the feud] behind me," is once again speaking out about the pop star -- and saying they were indeed a couple.
Rihanna And Chris Brown "Taking A Break"
from Entertainment on HuffingtonPost.com by The Huffington Post
News Team
Rihanna is working hard to get her life back in order -- and for now, she's
doing it without Chris Brown.
Vanessa Williams busy with 'Betty,' new album
from USATODAY.com Life - Top Stories
The actress takes a break from playing Wilhelmina Slater on 'Ugly Betty' and gets back to making music.
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