• Filmmaker Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland over the weekend. Polanski has been living in exile in Paris for the last 31 years, after fleeing the country in 1978 to avoid jail time for his infamous statutory rape case.

• The first trailer for the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street has been released. With Jackie Earle Haley in the lead, it might be safe to be a Freddy Krueger fan again.

• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs took the top spot again at the box office this weekend with an estimated $24.6 million. Meanwhile, Fame failed to live forever, coming in third with a pathetic $10 million.

• The first look at The Other Guys, an action comedy starring Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell, has been released. Ferrell/Wahlberg could be the new Mel Gibson/Danny Glover. 

• Diablo Cody could be penning the Playboy biopic for producer Brian Grazer. Well, at least her terrible puns will do justice to the awful party joke section.

BIZ

Media Brands Bringing Licensing Dollars Home

from Advertising Age - MediaWorks by nives@adage.com(Nat Ives)

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The beleaguered media business is still marching aggressively on at least one front: store shelves at a big retailer near you. More and more media-branded consumer goods are squaring off against similar products from rival media brands.

Desperate Spokeswives: A New Marriage With Ads

from Advertising Age - Madison+Vine by bsteinberg@adage.com(Brian Steinberg)

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- As the TV networks launch shows for the 2009-2010 season, they are working feverishly to make the ads look just like the shows upon which they intrude.

Can Vevo Monetize Music Videos and Help Save the Major Labels?

from Advertising Age - MediaWorks by mlearmonth@adage.com(Michael Learmonth)

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The plot to save digital music -- or one of them anyway -- is being hatched in midtown Manhattan, where Vevo, a digital joint venture between two labels representing nearly 60% of the U.S. recorded music market -- Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment -- is gearing up for a planned December launch.

FESTIVALS

Web comedy wins top N.Y. TV fest prize

from Hollywood Reporter by By Georg Szalai

The People's Choice Award for best pilot at the fifth annual New York Television Festival went to Al Thompson for "Johnny B. Homeless," a Web comedy featuring "Saturday Night Live's" Kenan Thompson that follows a professional couch surfer.

New York Film Festival gets makeover

from Variety.com - Film Festivals

Film Festivals: Event looks to draw indie-loving locals over wealthy auds -- "In a way, the New York Film Festival was a victim of its own success," says fest programmer Richard Pena.

'Cole' takes top honor at Atlantic fest

from The Hollywood Reporter - Awards by By Etan Vlessing

British Columbia director Carl Bessai's small-town drama "Cole" grabbed the best Canadian feature trophy at the Atlantic Film Festival, which wrapped Sept. 26.

FILM

Weekend Box Office: September 25-27, 2009

from Box Office Mojo - Current Box Office Results

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs tops the box office with an estimated $24.6 million

Jackson sneak-peek screenings sell out in 2 hours

from USATODAY.com Movies - Top Stories

Michael Jackson is still playing to sellout crowds.

 

Box Office: "Capitalism" Hits 2009 High; "Coco" Not Far Behind

from indieWIRE News

According to weekend estimates, Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story"'s limited debut this weekend has resulted in 2009's highest per-theater-average.

Disney titles reign over foreign boxoffice

from Hollywood Reporter by By Frank Segers

With four titles generating nearly $34 million, Disney dominated the foreign circuit on the weekend with "Up" leading a largely slow-moving pack.

 

Tight Security At Julia Roberts' 'Eat, Pray, Love' Film Set In India

from Access Hollywood - Movies

Young boys climbed trees and villagers crowded rooftops in a tiny dusty village in northern India Sunday to catch a glimpse of Academy Award winner Julia Roberts shooting her new film, "Eat, Pray, Love."

Stepping Into the Skates of the Director

from NYT > Movies by By MICHAEL ALMEREYDA

"Whip It," Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, prizes feminine self-possession while also relishing the idea of life played out as unapologetic performance.

TELEVISION

New Fall TV Crop Reaps Solid Ratings

from Advertising Age - MediaWorks by ahampp@adage.com(Andrew Hampp)

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Early ratings for a larger-than-average new slate of fall TV shows show signs of life for what is arguably a crucial season for broadcast TV, now in a post-DVR, Hulu and cable environment.

Conan O'Brien released from hospital

from Entertainment News - UPI.com

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien is out of the hospital after hitting his head while taping a stunt for the program, NBC officials said.

'Saturday Night Live' starts season with F-bomb

from AP Top Entertainment News At 11:05 ... by By FRAZIER MOORE

NEW YORK (AP) -- "Saturday Night Live" has started the season with a bang, or, more precisely, an F-bomb....

CBS' '60 Minutes': Changing with the times

from L.A. Times - TV News

As the news show begins its 42nd season (the first since the passing of creator Don Hewitt), it's hot again. They're still using the same recipe, but now there are more cooks in the kitchen.

Seth Rogen pens 'Simpsons' episode

from Variety.com

TV News: Actor co-writes, lend voice to Fox toon -- Seth Rogen has fulfilled a dream, and he's not talking about starring in the box-office hit "Knocked Up" or playing a superhero in the upcoming "The Green Hornet."

Settling Down, After a Career of Cameos

from NYT > Television by By ARI KARPEL

Jane Lynch's flair for playing authority figures on absurd power trips serves her well on the Fox series "Glee."

MUSIC

Early McCartney musings discovered in Liverpool

from AP Top Entertainment News At 11:05 ...

LONDON (AP) -- A discovery in a Liverpool library has revealed that Paul McCartney's talent for writing was winning him prizes when he was just 10 - though for an essay about the queen, rather than a hit song.

Musicians get their close-ups in cable documentary series

from Reuters: Entertainment News

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Mos Def is in a Tokyo hotel room, wearing a bathrobe and smoking a cigarette. He's holding forth on the differences between Japanese and American culture, revealing how impressed he is by the intensity of the local hip-hop fans who have been filling clubs for a week to see him perform.

Barbra Streisand at the Village Vanguard: Quite a scene!

from The Music Mix by Darren Franich

It's Saturday night, and Barbra Streisand is going to perform at the Village Vanguard, a tiny jazz club in Greenwich Village, for the first time since 1961.

Sean 'Diddy' Combs leaving WMG

from Variety.com - Music News

Music News: Hip-hop artist's Bad Boy partnership to continue -- With his contract wrapped, Sean "Diddy" Combs is ankling Warner Music Group/Atlantic Records as an artist.

ETC...

Swiss arrest Polanski on US request in sex case

from AP Top Entertainment News At 11:05 ... by By ERNST E. ABEGG and BRADLEY S. KLAPPER

ZURICH (AP) -- Director Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss police as he flew in for the Zurich Film Festival and faces possible extradition to the United States for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977, authorities said Sunday.

Columnist, speechwriter Safire dies

from Variety.com

Publishing News: Wrote 'On Language' column for N.Y. Times -- Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist, language expert and former White House speechwriter William Safire has died. He was 79.

Khloe Kardashian weds Lamar Odem

from Entertainment Weekly's News Briefs by Kate Ward

Reality star Khloe Kardashian has married her boyfriend of one month, Los Angeles Laker Lamar Odem.