Ghost Protocol Alive At US Box Office

Dragon Tattoo Arrives FourthDespite this weekend boasting Christmas day opportunities for US filmgoers to hit the multiplexes, there was little cheer to go around the box office once the big man in the red suit had been down the chimney and the estimates calculated. But there was good news for another man obsessed with climbing down high objects, as Tom Cruise and his Mission: Impossible team at least claimed the top of the charts, with Ghost Protocol riding the success of last week's IMAX sneak peeks to snatch $26.5 million over the weekend for a $58.9 running total so far.Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows held on well, seeing off the other new competition and falling to second place with $17.8 million, while Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked also stayed strong with $13.3 million in third.As mentioned, Cruise's new release competition didn't fare quite as well. David Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo managed fourth with $13 million but Tintin saw US audiences much more reluctant to embrace it than those over here, earning $9.1 million for a fifth place launch. Still, the movie's overseas success should help it keep the cash registers ringing.Sadly for Cameron Crowe, his big return to filmmaking with We Bought A Zoo appears extinct on arrival. Despite boasting the likes of Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson and a pack of heart-warming animals, the emotional comedy drama could only manage sixth place, taking $7.8 million.New Year's Eve was seventh with $3 million, Arthur Christmas fell to eighth with $2.7 million, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn was down to ninth with $2.1 million and, rounding out the top 10, Hugo made $2 million this weekend.To break into the full charts from outside the server room, head to Box Office Mojo.

Who Authored the Meanest Overview of 'Extremely Noisy and extremely Close'?

"You can write what you would like, when i don't especially care," 'Extremely Noisy and extremely Close' producer Scott Rudin authored within an email to NY Occasions reporter Brooks Barnes earlier this year, when requested about his latest film being Oscar bait. Barnes did not always go ahead and take super producer on that provide, however it seems experts have. Despite a exclusive pedigree, reviews for 'Extremely Loud' happen to be from the savage variety. Who authored the meanest slam of Stephen Daldry's 9/11 drama? Let us investigate! With only a 50 % Fresh rating on Rotten Tomato plants, 'Extremely Noisy and extremely Close' -- in regards to a youthful boy (Thomas Horn) whose father (Tom Hanks) died within the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 -- has presented a viciousness in experts the kind of which has not been seen since 'Jack and Jill.' "Despite its overweening literary pretensions, 'Extremely Noisy and extremely Close' is all about as creatively profound as individuals presented 3-D photos from the Twin Towers imprinted with 'Never Forget' which are still available in Occasions Square ten years after 9/11." -- Lou Lumenick, NY Publish "Poor little Oskar! This kind of adorable, pint-sized heap of neuroses. Selection mouthpiece to have an author, or perhaps a filmmaker, for a means of going through the personal price of an excellent communal tragedy. Do you get the drift that Oskar must leave their own tiny-small personal prison and, yes, embrace the planet? Never has got the tragedy of 9/11 occurred so shrinky-dinked." -- Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline "[I]t will be 'too soon' for 'Extremely Noisy And Extremely Close,' which processes the immense grief of the city along with a family via a conceit so nauseatingly precious it's in some way both too literary and too sentimental, cloying yet aestheticized inside an inch of their existence. It's 9/11 with the eyes of the caffeinated 9-year-old Harper's contributor." -- Scott Tobias, A.V. Club "[Thomas Horn has] a hopeless role within an impossible movie which has pointless to be apart from as the second pop-culture palliative for any trauma it cannot bear to manage. In reality, 'Extremely Noisy & Incredibly Close' is not about Sept. 11. It comes down to our desire to empty on that day of their specificity and transform it into another wellspring of generic feelings: sadness, loneliness, happiness. This is the way kitsch works. It exploits familiar images, whether young puppies or babies -- or, as with the situation of the movie, the twin towers -- and attempts to make us feel great, even virtuous, simply about feeling. And, yes, you might cry, however when tears are milked because they are here, the truer response ought to be rage." -- Manhola Dargis, NY Occasions Yikes. Which critic was the meanest? Most likely Manhola, who pans 'Incredibly Close' such a specialist method in which her slam sneaks on you. Kudos, however, to any or all the participants. 'Extremely Noisy and extremely Close' has gone out in limited release on Christmas it hits theaters countrywide in The month of january. [Photo: Warner Bros.] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

VIDEO: James Franco's NYU-GradeGate Receives Gory, Hard-Hitting News Animation it Deserves

A former NY University film professor made headlines recently for suing the school, which he said fired him for giving barely present graduate student James Franco a D in his class. Jos Angel Santana alleges not only racist employment practices at NYU, but also that, “In my opinion, they’ve turned the NYU graduate film degree into swag for James Franco’s purposes, a possession, something you can buy.” Burn. Anyway, none of this would matter were it not for the requisite Taiwanese news animation showcasing both Santana’s firing and a reimagining of 127 Hours that’s quite possibly better than Danny Boyle’s film itself. NMA.tv has the story below. I’d err on the NSFW side of caution if I were you, but you tell me. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.

Academy plans outside theater

The overseers from the Oscars are building an outside theater and event space on a bit of land in Hollywood that were meant for a movie museum.The La Occasions reported Sunday the Academy of movement Picture Arts and Sciences intends to open the 17,000-square-feet amphitheater next May like a venue to exhibit classic films.The academy bought the land in 2005 with intends to develop a world-class film museum there. Organizers abandoned that idea following the economy went sour, which makes it impossible to boost the funds required to build another facility.In October, the academy introduced intends to lease an old May Co. mall now possessed through the La County Museum of Art and set the film museum there. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Golden Globe Awards: The Nominees

This article appeared in the Dec. 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.Related Topics•Awards Watch Roundtables It shouldn't be a surprise that Kathleen Kennedy cited Steve Jobs as a hero of hers during The Hollywood Reporter's annual Producers Roundtable. After all, the late Apple chief was heralded as a visionary for marrying artistic vision with savvy business practices -- the exact balancing act mastered by movie producers at the top of their game. VIDEO: THR's Producer Roundtable Uncensored Consider the creative and financial achievements of the group THR invited: Letty Aronson, 67, serves as her brother Woody Allen's trusted right-hand woman for all his films, including the time-travel dramedy Midnight in Paris, which became Allen's biggest box-office hit ever. Tim Bevan, 52, pulls double duty as co-chairman of the prolific Working Title Films and as an active producer, including on the spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Jim Burke, 57, managed shooting The Descendants in interesting Hawaii locations on a tight $12 million budget. Chris Columbus, 53, also known for his active directing career (including the first two Harry Potter films), spent months in Mississippi working on the logistics that led to the surprise blockbuster The Help. PHOTOS: Kathleen Kennedy and THR's 2011 Women in Entertainment Power 100 Michael De Luca, 46, the New Line executive turned producer, helped revive Moneyball after the studio fired its original director. Kennedy, 58, shepherded two very different Steven Spielberg projects, The Adventures of Tintin and War Horse, often working on both at the same time. And Bill Pohlad, 56, the Minnesota-based producer-financier, put his own money into Terrence Malick's ultra-arty The Tree of Life and was rewarded with $54 million in worldwide gross. Together, the group, who gathered for an hourlong discussion Nov.13 at The Writers Room in Hollywood, represents the best of the year in filmmaking. PHOTOS: How 'The Help' Was Cast THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: What's been your most difficult moment as a producer? Michael de Luca: Mine actually happened to be this year. (Laughs.) It was when Moneyball ended up not going forward with Steven Soderbergh at the helm. When a plug is pulled on a picture, it's rare that it gets started again. But we had tremendous allies in the people at Sony. [Studio co-chair Amy Pascal] believed in the project, and I think for her, it was never, "Let's move on," it was, "How do we restart?" Kathleen Kennedy: One of the toughest was Empire of the Sun [1987]. No one had ever gone into China from the Western world and done what we ended up doing, which was to close down the Bund and shoot in Shanghai. That took about a year of constant trips to Beijing and then to Shanghai, and then negotiations to get the permission to be able to go in and do what we did. Juxtapose that against something totally different, which is Steven [Spielberg] saying to me [on 1993's Jurassic Park]: "I want dinosaurs that are 30 feet tall and I want them to run in front of the actors." And that's the end of the discussion. Jim Burke: [Descendants director] Alexander Payne and I have known each other for such a long time and we share a sensibility, so I trust him. But there were a couple of small moments where that trust was tested. We had to cast a young girl who was 10 years old. And we looked everywhere and couldn't find her and the clock was ticking. We were three weeks away from starting, we still didn't have a 10-year-old actress. But he was like, "Don't worry, don't worry." And I said, "OK." But I did worry, and then [Amara Miller] presented herself. We saw her on tape and she flew out and she did a terrific job. Tim Bevan: My toughest moments are when you start pictures where things aren't quite ready. Like on Green Zone in 2010, where, for various reasons, including the writers strike, we started the movie without a complete script. You can feel things sort of unraveling from the first day. It's that horrible thing in producing -- your job is kind of putting out fires. But you don't sign up for putting out fires 24 hours a day, 30 days a month and nearly a year. You just have to keep the movie alive. THR: Looking back, what would you have done differently? Bevan: I wouldn't have started it. Starting a film when the script's incomplete is nine-tenths madness. You don't have to make the movie. But as a producer, there's that thing inside where you've got the money and you're off to the races and it's starting and you keep moving anyway. THR: How much harder is getting the money these days? Letty Aronson: My greatest challenge is a yearly challenge, because we raise independent funds on a yearly basis. We don't get any studio money. We don't sell the film in presales to get the money. So every year I'm out there looking for the money. THR: All these producers have multiple projects with many directors, but you work with just one and he's your brother. What happens when you and Woody disagree? Aronson: He's very reasonable. (Laughter.) It has its pluses and minuses, but mostly its pluses. We are a year-round operation. We film in the summer. We film for seven weeks; we come back around Labor Day when Woody edits. In November, he starts thinking about a new project -- that's the hardest part. Once he's finished thinking, then he starts to write. He writes quickly. And then we budget it in January. In February or March, if we're going out of the country, I go with our line producer to Europe to interview all the key positions. We always hire local people. We start preproduction then. And in the middle of June, three weeks before we shoot, we go to the country or the city to look at all the locations, and in July we start to shoot. Kennedy: And why can't we all do this?! (Laughter.) THR: When have you said no to something Woody wants? Aronson: On occasion I have said, "We just can't have rain." Because it's very, very expensive. Or, "We've got to stay the extra day." On Midnight in Paris -- Woody doesn't like to shoot at night and he usually doesn't write anything that requires it -- but this [movie] was 50 percent at night. De Luca: Late Afternoon in Paris isn't as romantic. (Laughter.) Aronson: He was under the impression that we could shoot this between 10 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., because he doesn't like to work late, and that's very late for him. But it gets dark very late in Europe, so you can't even start lighting until 10. So a lot of nights we worked until 3 or 4 in the morning. THR: Kathy, have you had to say no to Spielberg? Kennedy: You never say no. You always give a choice. It's actually a really interesting rule that I use all the time. It's not going to do any good to say no if you don't have a solution. I love the process of trying to figure it out: "OK, what am I going to offer up?" I don't want to say, "You can't do this." If there's a good reason why we can't do it, then the problem needs to be solved, so what's the alternative? Burke: I love that approach; it makes me smarter and it engages me more. Bevan: And it'll make the crew smarter, too. Challenging the crew against budgetary constraints is a good thing, actually. All of a sudden their creativity goes off in a different direction, and quite often you get a more interesting result. Kennedy: Or ask a question rather than saying no. "It doesn't look like we can do this, but what do you think?" You might get three or four different ideas and often those ideas are better than what you started out with. Related Topics Chris Columbus Kathleen Kennedy Roundtable Michael De Luca Moneyball Midnight in Paris 1 2 3 4 next last

Helen Mirren Movie 'Love Ranch' Hit With Another Suit

Getty ImagesMichelle Williams, left, and Tilda Swinton Using the Screen Stars Guild Honours introduced Wednesday and airing Jan. 29, this will make the SAGs the audience and show using the longest nominations in the press. And just how performs this change the red-colored carpet picture? Well, to begin with, you will find likely to be lots of Bridesmaids who require dresses! And Kristin Wiig and Melissa McCarthy have finally moved up to and including-list status, so they'll be benefiting from major dresses offered making on their behalf.our editor recommendsSAG Honours TV: 'Modern Family' Leads Nominations, 'Homeland' SnubbedSAG Honours: 'Suits' Star Patrick Adams Responds to Shocking Nomination, Talks 'Friday Evening Lights' ExperienceSAG Honours: Jon Cryer on His First Nomination: 'I Didn't Have Reason Whatsoever to anticipate I'd Be Included'SAG Honours Nominations: The Entire ListSAG Honours Nominations: The Nominees' ReactionsSAG Honours: The Nominees The women from the Help can also get their pick from the designer litter -- not too Emma Stone hasn't had first dibs on dresses from next season from Europe, however Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer is going to be joining her for the reason that "we'd LOVE to help you an outfit or three" category. Though Davis, Spencer and Chastain aren't your average actress size 2's, they won't be harming for major designer offers. Chastain was lately seen putting on Viktor & Rolf spring 2012 and Lv spring 2012 -- both looks which are very difficult to procure. This may be the entire year from the Large Sexy Gown: Both Spencer and McCarthy are glamazons who like to liven up and lots of designers is going to be aboard to assist them to within their quests. COMPLETE LIST: 2012 SAG Honours TV and Film Nominees Glenn Close is definitely an Armani loyalist, and Meryl Streep has a tendency to put on quite simple things, so very little curiousity there. Tilda Swinton and Michelle Williams would be the fashion will get for designers in the SAGs -- both nominated for the best actress, and both with definitively chic and quasi surprising styles. Will Williams put on Chanel couture (which shows prior to the SAGs air in Paris in The month of january)? She is among the couple of whom the home would consider. Will Swinton have her Euro designer buddies Haider Ackermann or Raf Simmons (now at Jil Sander, stated to become jumping ship to Dior) or Viktor & Rolf make her an avant-garde gorgeous gown or tuxedo -- or will she got with lower-key Prada, which she also wears? PHOTOS: SAG Honours Nominees As well as in the supporting category, we can be certain that Berenice Bejo in the Artist, nominated for the best supporting actress, can get some fashion love -- though in some way we doubt she'll be putting on the 20's looks in the spring collections of Gucci or Marc Jacobs. But it might be wild if she did! In some way we expect she'll opt for what's chic and French, representing her country. If this involves the SAG TV noms, Kate Winslet, Juliana Margulies, Tina Fey, Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara will all have numerous designer options -- with Winslet obtaining the most, obviously. But Margulies always looks amazing at any honours show. STORY:'The Help' Leads Screen Stars Guild Honours Nominations Kelly McDonald and Aleksa Palladino of Boardwalk Empire go for visual appearance -- when they hire good stylists. That's key here. Because following the Experts Choice Honours and also the Globes (both early and mid-The month of january), it requires a knowledgeable stylist to obtain designers to spend the truly great dresses they could be holding back for that Academy awards. And just Williams or Swinton could score couture for that SAGs -- maybe. We're sad Kirsten Dunst isn't going, but you will find more nominations available. PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery SAG Honours: The Nominees Fashion SAG Honours Kristen Wiig Red-colored Carpet SAG Honours 2012

New Year's Eve Tops US Box Office

The Sitter squats in secondGiven the outcomes of the weekend's box office haul, it may sound such as the corridors and lobbies of America's movie theaters were largely full of silence, as no new arrivals made a lot of an effect. Still, with $13.7 million, New Year's Eve crawled out victory despite poisonous reviews. Which was enough to make sure that The Sitter needed to get by with second place along with a disappointing $ten million.In third, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Beginning Part 1 handled to cling on in front of the Muppets, with Bella, Edward and co nabbing $7.9 million and Kermit and buddies making $7 million.Arthur Christmas was lower someone to fifth, generating $6.six million, while Hugo ended up to sixth and $6.a million. The Descendants remained in position at seventh, taking $4.8 million.Happy Ft Two declined lower to eighth place with $3.75 million, Jack And Jill was ninth with $3.two million and Immortals rounded the top ten, generating $2.4 million a few days ago.To celebrate a motion picture holiday with full chart action, mind to Box Office Mojo.

R.I.P. Joseph Farrell

Legendary movie marketing innovator Joseph Farrell died this morning of natural causes. He was 76. Farrell is the former chairman and CEO of The National Research Group which quickly became the leading market research firm in the film industry, serving studios andfilmmakers and distributors worldwide. Among the services he introduced, now taken for granted by the film industry, are trackings, test screenings, trailer and TVspot testing and norms by quadrants and other socio-demographics analyses, and early warning forecasting of movies box office potential. In 2003 Farrell created FP Productions with a first-look deal at Disney where he was special advisor to the chairman. In 2009 FP Productions went indie and its feature films include Joy Full Noise to be released in January by Warner Bros, andThe Leonardo Job in development with Alcon Entertainment.Farrell continued as a marketing consultant to top executives at several major studios and investment banking groups.

Pretty Little Liars, Charlie Sheen Top Twitter's Hot Subjects this year

Chris Hemsworth, Lucy Hale, Charlie Sheen For Charlie Sheen and Twitter, 2011 was the entire year from the tiger (bloodstream). Both Sheen and also the stuff he states runs through his veins made Twitter's listing of hot subjects for 2011. Sheen, who were built with a busy year after being fired from 2 . 5 Males, shows up because the No. 1 most spoken about actor, then Macaulay Culkin, Ryan Dunn and Ough Gervais. His 2 . 5 Males alternative, Ashton Kutcher, also made the very best 10, landing at No. 8. (#tigerblood shows up because the second most spoken about hashtag of the season.) Charlie Sheen, Warner Bros. achieve funds over 2 . 5 Males dispute 2 . 5 Males itself was the 2nd most spoken about TV subject behind No. 1 rated Pretty Little Liars. Rounding the 5 best for television would be the Craig's list Killer, Golden Globe Honours and Individuals Choice Honours. Around the movie front, Thor arrived on the scene on the top, then The Dark Dark night Increases (which is launched This summer 2012), X-Males: Top Class, Fast Five and Eco-friendly Hornet. See other stars who died this season Bette Davis, who died in March, capped probably the most-talked about stars list. One of the others within the top ten were Black Swan castmates Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman, together with Harry Potter's Emma Watson and also the Vampire Diaries' Nina Dobrev. Despite attaining prestige among the worst tunes of the season, Rebecca Black and her tune "Friday" arrived towards the top of the background music list, then the kind of Nate Dogg, Gerry Rafferty and Gil Scott-Heron. Are you currently surprised at the subjects that made their email list?

First Hansel & Gretel: Witch Potential predators Pic

Arterton & Renner type in the woodsJust what type of grownups would Hansel & Gretel develop being like given their distressing encounter inside a witch's gingerbread house? If Hansel & Gretel: Witch Potential predators is going to be thought, the answer then is fairly screwed up, but furthermore badass... Now the initial image within the film remains released, and might be seen below.Witch Potential predators stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton since the titular pair in the story that can the conventional German folktale becasue it is beginning point and kicks into high gear while using sister pair going onto become agents of vengeance against wizards together with other nasty creatures they prefer to victimize kids.Directed by Dead Snow's Tommy Wirkola and produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, it's set to become darkly funny, action-stacked think about the two figures."They have to murder somebody when they are kids! So it's all about being tough," Arterton notifies Entertainment Weekly. "Jeremy which i inside the script moments where we shown the vulnerable side of those. Frequently to use it movies, people are frightened to put that in. It was vital. Just a few moments, tender moments, when the guard drops, then you definitely certainly understand."For further, mind onto EW's piece round the movie. A clip is scheduled to land on Thursday, as well as the film itself will probably be on March 2.

Yoda Can be a Representative for Ramen Noodles (VIDEO)

Yesterday, you jeered and jeered inside a montage of Darth Vader cameos in ads, which ultimately shown the Sith Master was simply a business shill. Sadly, the Gloomy isn't the only person selling out. Behold, a Japanese advertisement for Cup Noodles featuring Yoda. In this place, the all-effective Jedi master uses his capabilities inside the most heroic way possible -- for an additional-large kettle of steaming water and flowing it by having an equally extra-large cup of ramen. For an individual who encourages persistence, this ad seems completely hypocritical. Oh, well. No less than it's Ramen and not, say, Currys PC/World. Right, Darth? [via Movieline] [Photo: YouTube] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

J.R. Martinezs Amazing Dancing Win

First Launched: November 23, 2011 9:50 AM EST Credit: ABC Caption Karina Smirnoff and J.R. Martinez celebrate winning Dwts Season 13, November. 22, 2011LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Lately crowned Dwts champion J.R. Martinez thanked the whole country following this impressive mirrorball victory on Season 13 in the hit ABC reality competition. Access Hollywood guest correspondent Tim Vincent taken up while using military veteran and former The Kids actor after being crowed the ballroom king, where he edged out fellow participants Make the most of Kardashian and Ricki Lake. Its amazing. Its an amazing feeling, an ecstatic J.R. mentioned. We wish to thank everyone in your house who selected for people every single week, and thinking in us once i stood a bad week and whatever it may be. Appreciate pushing us through and giving us an opportunity to win this trophy, he ongoing. The first sort United states . States Military infantryman, who was simply utilized in Iraq, needed the opportunity by means of saying thanks to the nation. Nearly around were experiencing this and holding this, thanks America to become some your way too, he told Tim. The 28-year-old also gushed about his partner and first-time mirrorball champion, ballerina Karina Smirnoff. Its amazing that we might take part for the reason that journey where she'll get her first mirrorball trophy. She warrants it. Outdoors from the great dancer, shes a great person. Shes beautiful round the outdoors clearly, but shes beautiful inside, he told Tim. The fact I possibly could participate for the reason that journey and witness that personally was amazing. Were experiencing this! AH Nation Poll: Did the very best celebrity win Dwts? Follow The Link to election! Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All rights reserved. These elements is probably not launched, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

REVIEW: Woody Harrelson's Menace Yields Diminishing Returns in Rampart

The last few weeks have provided us with some iconic imagery of police violence in response to the Occupy Wall Street movement — Lt. John Pike casually pepper spraying a group of UC Davis students like he’s Febrezing a sofa, 84-year-old Dorli Rainey being helped away from a confrontation in Seattle after being doused herself, Marine Scott Olsen getting carried out through a haze of tear gas in Oakland with a fractured skull. These recent events lend Oren Moverman’s Rampart a queasy immediacy even though it’s set in the ’90s, as the LAPD’s Rampart Division struggles through the notorious police misconduct scandal that ended up implicating dozens of officers and inspired the likes of Training Day and The Shield. Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson), the bad, bad beat cop — the self-proclaimed “one cop who gets it” — at the film’s center, wields far heavier artillery than a canister of spray and regularly crosses major lines of corruption and brutality, but the psychological core stands — there’s room to hide or rationalize away almost anything in the name of maintaining authority, upholding order, us against them and any means necessary. Both enthralling and draining, Rampart is a claustrophobic account of Brown’s downward spiral, or at least an accelerating chunk of it — things haven’t been going quite right for him for a while. Brown is, as his teenager daughter tells him caustically to his face, a “dinosaur,” a would-be mix of Dirty Harry and John Wayne who’s at least half as smart as he’s convinced he is. It’s a dream of a role for Harrelson, who’s the camera’s constant quavering focus, and who keeps us torn between being drawn in and repulsed by this disastrous, magnetic character. And we’re not the only ones — Brown may not have many friends, but he gets applause when he strolls back into the station after being suspended for nearly beating a man do death on camera, and he’s able to temporarily charm the ladies against their better judgment. “Oh, well,” a one-night-stand sighs in the afterglow of their assignation, as if only then coming to terms with the type of man she just slept with. He lives with an unlikely brood of women who are growing increasingly sick of his presence — his two ex-wives (Anne Heche and Cynthia Nixon), who happen to be sisters, and their two daughters, caustic teen Helen (Brie Larson) and the younger Margaret (Sammy Boyarsky). The threat of his family dissolving and leaving him alone is shaking Brown’s universe, but not as much as the thought that he’ll be fired or forced to retire from the LAPD. Being a cop is his everything — the film tracks him cruising the streets in a black-and-white, chain-smoking in his mirrored aviator sunglasses, his preening self-image projecting so strong it basically becomes fact. But being a cop doesn’t mean the same thing it did when he started. “This used to be a glorious soldiers’ department,” he tells a female rookie (Stella Schnabel, daughter of Julian), “and now it’s you.” Not long after, he tells her, “This is a military occupation, kid, emergency law,” and just how much he buys into the bullshit he’s spouting becomes the film’s central question. Any sliver of serious self-awareness, any betrayal of his own one-man-against-the-world ideology could bring everything tumbling down, though an examination of his recent actions by a D.A. investigator (Ice Cube) promises to force the issue. Moverman, whose previous film, 2009’s very good home front drama The Messenger, also featured Harrelson, co-wrote Rampart with crime laureate James Ellroy, and the latter’s nihilism and feel for the grimy side of L.A. are all over this film. While it provides a watchable, nuanced portrait of man in crisis, it’s an insistently one-note affair, repeated until it induces a splitting headache. Brown is one hell of a difficult person to spend a hundred minutes with, and though his desperation grows over the course of the film, as the likes of Sigourney Weaver and Steve Buscemi show up to try and manage the PR disasters he’s sparked, as he begins an affair with a criminal defense lawyer (Robin Wright) he seems drawn to primarily because of what a terrible idea it is, as his shady retired source on department goings-on (Ned Beatty) presents him with questionable info, he doesn’t change. He’s consumed with the concept that he’s being set up, but the trouble he’s in is all his own fault — he’s calcified into the kind of man the world would happily use as a half-deserving scapegoat. The film’s loose camerawork aims to capture Brown’s growing disorientation on his path toward oblivion, but it often draws distracting attention to itself, the seams showing — one conversation is deliberately staged so that you can only see the back of the listener’s head, and another is shot upwards from under a table so that it obscures half the screen. As Brown lurches toward self-destruction, we start to long for him to find it. He’s obviously not interested in fixing anything, and that leaves only his sad but utterly earned solitary trudge toward some form of closure that neither he, nor we, will find in the film. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.

Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin Gives $500,000 to Wikipedia

NY - A basis produced by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and the wife has given a $500,000 grant to Wikipedia that can help fund the organization's annual budget, Ars Technica reported. The internet encyclopedia holds a yearly fundraising event rather than accepting advertising. The grant from Brin and wife Anne Wojcicki would go to the Wikimedia Foundation, which started its latest annual fundraising event to aid Wikipedia and sister sites a week ago, based on the report. The fundraising event will tell you The month of january. The Wikimedia Foundation's total planned investing for that new fiscal year is $28.3 million, based on Ars Technica. This past year's campaign elevated $16 million toward the building blocks's $20 million budget. "If everybody reading through this contributed $5, our fundraising event could be over today," a note on Wikipedia stated. An individual appeal from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, reported by Ars Technica, stated: "Google may have near to millions of servers. Yahoo has something similar to 13,000 staff. We now have 679 servers and 95 staff. Wikipedia may be the #5 site web serves 450 million differing people each month - with vast amounts of page sights. Commerce is okay. Advertising isn't evil. However it doesn't belong here. Not in Wikipedia." Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai Related Subjects Google

Muppets PR Blitz Vamps On with Twilight Parody Posters

We’ve seen enough satirical Muppets promo material to last us through the next hundred Muppet sequels, but I have to hand it to the tireless Disney merchants for their newest gag: a Twilight Saga spoof. The Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog posters are expected, but it’s the third, Lautner-ian one-sheet that left me speechless. The pun is also first-rate. WEREROWLF. Guys, I LMAROWLF’d. Rowlf is such an understated, necessary player in the Muppet klatch. Glad to see he’s earning his own spot in the promotional materials. He’s even fit for his own role in a real Twilight poster, since he’s so brooding and serious. And if he howls at the moon even once during The Muppets, I will bounce him off Taylor Lautner’s abs and back into obscurity. Follow Louis Virtel on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.

Turner CEO Phil Kent to Give Opening Keynote Address at NATPE/Content First

Turner Broadcasting System Chairman and CEO Phil Kent will provide the opening keynote speech at the NATPE/Content First convention and market in Miami Beach on Jan. 23 2012, it was announced Tuesday by NATPE president and CEO Rick Feldman. "Because of all the content that Turner creates and distributes here and around the world," said Feldman. "Phil is in a unique position from which to view the present and the future. He can speak to the creative and business challenges and can also speak to the vast global, multiplatform opportunities which are dramatically changing our business." Kent has oversight of all the Turner networks, both domestic and international, including CNN, HLN, TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, truTV, Cartoon Network and Turner Sports. Worldwide Turner has more than 130 channels in about 30 languages that airs in more than 200 countries. Kent has been with Turner Broadcasting since 1993, when he joined Turner from CAA where he was a TV packaging agent to head Turner Home Entertainment. NATPE will take place from Jan. 23 to 25, providing a marketplace for TV sales both in the U.S. and around the globe. This is the second year in a row it will be held at the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach. Related Topics

'Prime Suspect' Future Uncertain, 'Community' Will Probably Be Back on NBC

NBC"Community" Community and Prime Suspect aren't canceled. Because the Joel McHale comedy as well as the Maria Bello drama series don't immediately easily fit into to NBC's midseason plans simply because they were introduced Monday, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that neither series remains canceled. NBC acquired six additional scripts for Prime Suspect in October and may still air the fighting series (a remake in the British franchise that starred Helen Mirren) with the relaxation of the season before deciding if you should order additional obligations. Prime Suspectthus far has consistently registered your final-place finish within the Thursday at 10 p.m. slotagainst CBS' The Mentalist and ABC's Private Practice. NBC's experiment in sampling Prime Suspect on different nights on its schedule has furthermore not proven fruitful enough. So far, the reboot is calculating 4.97 million audiences together with single.4 rating carrying out a NBC comedies. STORY: NBC Sets Midseason Schedule, Moves 'Whitney,' 'Up With The Evening,' More Community, while standing one of the network's fighting comedies despite its prime slot among its Thursday comedies, will return to the schedule inside a date being determined, sources mentioned. The comedy's latest airing attracted 3.5 million audiences, just shy of the season low it's calculating 3.69 million audiences so far together with single.6 inside the internet marketer-coveted grownups 18-49 demographic.The CW's supernatural drama The Vampire Journals, sooner or later this season, came a larger rating than Community on March. 27. Meanwhile, the fourth-place network has yet to organize a extended report on midseason fare, including Bent, BFFs, Awake and Betty White-colored's hidden-camera series In the Rockers. NBC Community Prime Suspect

Heavy D Autopsy Results Not yet proven, Pending Toxicology Reviews

A contributing factor to dying continues to be not formally known within the situation of Heavy D.our editor recommendsHeavy D's Final Performance at Wager Stylish-Hop Honours Was A part of Comeback Attempt (Video)Heavy D's Friend and Friend, Russell Simmons, Takes note of the Rapper (Video)Heavy D Dies: 5 Things to understand about the Rapper-Actor PHOTOS: Hollywood's Notable Deaths The late rapper and record producer died all of a sudden at age 44 on Tuesday, November. 8. The outcomes from an autopsy have proven not yet proven and therefore are pending the outcomes of toxicology tests, reviews the L.A. Occasions. The L.A. County coroner's spokesperson stated a week ago that there have been no illegal drugs present in Heavy D's Beverly Hillsides home, but he have been recommended a drug for any cough that might have been pneumonia. VIDEO: Heavy D's Friend and Friend, Russell Simmons Takes note of the Rapper Heavy D had came back home from the shopping at the time of his dying, before going through breathlessness and falling apart. The outcomes of his toxicology tests might take several days to find out the official reason for dying. The dying is thought to become medically related and foul play isn't suspected. A funeral for that NY-born rapper is placed for November. 18 in the historic Sophistication Baptist Chapel of Mount Vernon, NY, where P. Diddy and Rev. Al Sharpton are required to talk, based on the AP. Furthermore, Wager is planning for a tribute for his or her Sunday Soul Train Honours with Curtis Blow, Naughty by Character, Large Dad Kane, Doug E Fresh, DJ Eddie F, Whodini and Dad-O of Stetsasonic slated to sign up. Related Subjects Heavy D

Special Forces (Forces speciales)

A Studiocanal relieve an easy Company presentation and production. (Worldwide sales: Studiocanal, Paris.) Produced by Thierry Marro, Benoit Ponsaille, Stephane Rybojad. Directed by Stephane Rybojad. Script, Rybojad, Michael Cooper, Emmanuel Collomp.With: Diane Kruger, Djimon Hounsou, Benoit Magimel, Denis Menochet, Raphael Personnaz, Alain Figlarz, Marius, Mehdi Nebbou, Raz Degan, Tcheky Karyo. (French, British, Pashto dialogue)A Gallic elite commando is shipped to Central Asia to free a blonde, blue-eyed journo within the clutches in the Taliban in "Special Forces," a film that's as elementary and generic becasue it is title signifies. Fiction debut of TV documaker Stephane Rybojad wants to become rousing action-adventure against a geopolitical backdrop, but a gaping hole where the mise-en-scene needs to be proves crippling within the start. Star energy of odd pair Diane Kruger and Djimon Hounsou couldn't atone for an important drubbing in France and you'll be of little help if the hits only one Blighty screen November. 18. German-born Kruger stars as French reporter Elsa (getting a oddly Teuton accent when speaking British), who's kidnapped with the goons from the Taliban chief (Raz Degan). A distinctive French military unit is quickly delivered to Pakistan because France's image abroad reaches risk ("It will not happen that the world will dsicover the decapitation from the Frenchwoman survive TV," a politico helpfully underlines). The small unit of experienced males, seen carrying out an unrelated (as well as the film, irrelevant) job in Kosovo inside the prologue, includes a few stick figures in bulletproof vests, while using thesps' order of billing directly connected using their probability of survival. They are the serious leader, Kovax (Hounsou) his semi-funny partner, Tic Tac (Benoit Magimel), the unskilled youthful 'un (Raphael Personnaz) as well as the inflammed vet (Denis Menochet). Parachuted into enemy territory, they liberate Elsa relatively easily. However, if their radio's destroyed inside the resulting shootout, they need to go to a safer haven by walking while using Taliban around the tail, their mission reduced with a expected wager on cat-and-mouse inside the regal Hindu Kush hills. Even though the soldiers have a very journalist incorporated within this, the larger conflict in the area itself remains very black-and-white-colored (and there's no sense of almost every other forces being on the ground). The script does nothing to illuminate the 3 parties: The Taliban will be the evildoers, the Frenchmen the self-compromising military heroes, as well as the little-seen local population a fascinating bunch caught within the center. Nevertheless the film's finest issue is not its excessively simple and easy , familiar narrative, its scant character development or perhaps the soldiers' frequently miraculous capacity Taliban bullets, but rather Rybojad's poor command of film grammar. Pointing a camera any which way through the various shootouts is not any guarantee with an exciting in addition to coherent action setpiece furthermore the lackluster editing, credited to Erwan Pecher as well as the helmer (who also produced, thus creating a possible inadequate critical distance), as well as the pic every so often is taken away as sloppy. But "Special Forces" wasn't made around the small budget, getting shot for the days in gorgeous locations for instance Djibouti and Tajikistan, with Rybojad overdosing on helicopter shots of arid mountain ranges. The score strikes an unusual balance from the eighties vibe and in your town flavored sounds. Kruger isn't given a great utilize, and isn't the kind of actress who is able to hold her own when poorly directed. Generally, she's offscreen, hiding behind the nearest rock while her rescuers -- generically imposing, with only Magimel and Personnaz adding a sign of humanity -- empty their guns round the hordes of bearded and robed males inside the distance. Israeli actor Degan, playing another eye-linered evildoer after his submit Oliver Stone's "Alexander," is laughably crazy, his Cambridge-educated "butchers of Kabul" every so often insisting his entourage speak British, undoubtedly because that's what crooks do in French movies.Camera (color, widescreen), David Jankowski editors, Rybojad, Erwan Pecher music, Xavier Berthelot production designer, Christophe Jutz costume designer, Celine El Mazouzi appear (Dolby Digital), Arnaud Lavaleix, Benoit Hery, Cyril Holtz. Examined at Le Grand Rex, Paris, November. 3, 2011. Running time: 108 MIN. Contact Boyd van Hoeij at news@variety.com

Nick Jonas to experience a Deadbeat Father on Last Guy Standing

Nick Jonas Who's your child dad? If you are Kristin Baxter (Alexandra Krosney) on Last Guy Standing, he then looks a great deal like Nick Jonas. The 2nd youngest Jonas brother (should not your investment Bonus Jonas, little brother Frankie) will guest-star with an approaching episode of ABC's Last Guy Standing, TVLine reviews. See photos of Nick Jonas Jonas will have Ryan, the deadbeat father of Boyd, Mike's (Tim Allen) grand son. Ryan can have up inside a Christmas-designed episode and test Mike's goodwill towards males. Jonas last guest-starred around the now defunct Mr. Sunshine. He'll undertake charge in How to achieve Business Without Really Fitting Broadway in 2012.

Did a classic ESPN Professional Produce a Large Mistake Suing Around the Crude Erin Andrews Story? (Analysis)

Wesley Hitt/Getty ImagesESPN's Erin Andrews. The other day, former ESPN executive Keith Clinkscalessued a buddy who allegedly shared an inaccurate story aboutClinkscales self pleasuring on the airplane while sitting alongside ESPN reporter Erin Andrews. The complaint alleging defamation is very thin -- just six pages -- and boosts an problem about whether Clinkscales developed a smart relocate acting so quickly to produce this matter in to a NY federal court. What the law states suit happened similar to the sports blog Deadspin was investigatingwhat happened on that flight. Clinkscales, who until recently will be a senior v . p . of content development and companies at ESPN, made a decision he didn't desire to wait to uncover the claims on Deadspin. So he needed action by filing what's being known as just like a "pre-emptive" suit. What intrigues us here's not what went lower on the airplane, but rather what the ESPN executive wanted to attain for this tact. By filing the suit so rashly, Clinkscales virtually assured the strange masturbation claims might be covered on television and also over the dunia ngeblog. Once the Herman Cain sexual harassment coverage has trained us anything, it's that innuendo becomes ripe for media as lengthy because you will find official charges lodged or money paid out out. The primary distinction between salacious gossip and investigative verifying has become, for better or worse, a document trail. Maybe Deadspin may have launched the Clinkscalesstory anyway. But Clinkscales' allegedly "pre-emptive" suit did not do anything whatsoever to change that. No injunction was requested. The legal claim was unlikely to scare away Deadspin within the story nor substantially change how other media shops would treat a raunchy allegation which in fact had Andrews just like a character. Really the only factor the short suit might have changed can be a calculation of damages, be it proven the defendant Joan Lynch did indeed maliciously spread lies about Clinkscales, as well as the situation against her can get that far. Clinkscales may condition that Lynch's gossip-mongering hurt his status, but tend to he provethat the story that did most likely probably the most to interrupt his image may have ever launched had he not first filed the suit? In filing his claims, Clinkscales gave Deadspin an opportune news peg towards the story, in many probability insulation the site in the separate defamation claim and raising the issue whether he brought to, rather than mitigated, the exposure in the masturbation story. The defamation claim has become a energy outlet for sensitive political figures to strike back against unsavory news tales, however these type of cases also frequently incite huge news coverage. It might happy for your complaintant, but we question if this describes an error both around the PR and legal front. Here's a replica of Clinkscales' accusations, which we'll admit to own i i never thought of talking about been there 't be a federal suit: E-mail: eriqgardner@yahoo.com Twitter: @eriqgardner

Shawn Levy: Keep eye on storytelling

LevyAdvancements in filmmaking tools may enable directors to put anything they can think of on the bigscreen, but helmers need to remember to keep an eye one key element: story."Eighty percent of your brain space is taken up by the visual effects; 15% is by the story," said director-producer Shawn Levy at Variety's inaugural Film Technology Summit at Hollywood & Highland on Monday. "Nothing is impossible anymore. That's exciting, but even though most of your time is taken up by the technical stuff, you need to devote the lions share of your time to the emotional stuff."Despite helming big-budget CG-heavy tentpoles like "Night at the Museum" pics and "Real Steel," Levy admitted never to having been enamored with dealing with special effects when choosing which projects to make. "I'm always initially daunted by visual effects," he told Variety associate editor David S. Cohen. "I don't geek out on the how of it. I enjoy the results of it." Still, Levy advised filmmakers not to feel pressured to know everything about the latest tech tools."The director's job is to know what you want the film to look like on the screen," he said. "The rest is up to your team. Don't be daunted. I didn't understand it, now I do. If you're moderately bright and learn it you can tell amazing stories." Waiting for a greenlight for a studio to tackle an effects-heavy tentpole is no longer the norm, Levy said. "The days of a rolling greenlight and the blinking green light" are now typical. "You're not waiting to ramp up anymore, it's on ongoing process." Levy said that's been the case on the James Cameron-produced remake of "Fantastic Voyage" at Fox, which Levy has been developing for six months.Developing digital environments and the look of a film requires financing and "is what it takes to get the studio to fall in love with the project," Levy said.As a director, Levy isn't worried that studios only want to produce expensive tentpoles."There will always be great smaller movies," he said. "Those aren't threatened. But if one is yearning to tell a story with things that don't exist in the real world there is a bottomless well of tools."Levy especially found pre-visualization technology useful while filming DreamWorks' "Real Steel," because it allowed him to "dream and play earlier" and plan out shots before filming began. "Six months before I shot the movie, I was able to capture the fights and direct every punch rather than hand everything to an animator you may never meet," Levy said. "You can do any shot you can imagine and if you don't like it, hit delete."The director also benefited from the use of SimulCam B that enables motion capture performances to be realistically rendered as digital characters in real time in camera on set."You know what you're going to see because you're seeing it," Levy said.But Levy's production team still produced four full-scale remote controlled robots for the shoot. "What you get from performances with practical effects is huge," he said.Although "Real Steel" was not shot in 3D, due to its release close to the third "Transformers," "Fantastic Voyage" will lense in 3D, Levy said. Contact Marc Graser at marc.graser@variety.com

Nicky Whelan counts up to '7500'

WhelanNicky Whelan has boarded the CBS Films pic "7500." The pic already stars Leslie Bibb, Ryan Kwanten and Amy Smart and will be helmed by Takashi Shimizu. Craig Rosenberg penned the script about a group of passengers who encounter what appears to be a supernatural force while on a transpacific flight. Whelan will play a controlling newlywed. Shimizu, Taka Ichise and Roy Lee will produce. Her credits include New Line's "Hall Pass" and "Halloween 2." She is repped by UTA and Untitled. Contact Justin Kroll at justin.kroll@variety.com

'Immortals' Mondays: Relocating God Speed

"Immortals" is simply two days from striking theaters, but when we could relocate God Speed, we'd attend that November 11 release date a great deal faster. I am speaking about how quickly Zeus, Poseidon and also the other immortal forces of Olympus move against their adversaries, the Leaders, within the Tarsem Singh-directed epic. Besides the constantly shirtless Henry Cavill and also the forever gorgeous Freida Pinto, possibly the greatest draw of "Immortals" may be the glorious battles between your Gods and also the Leaders, probably the most breathtaking violence I have seen devoted to the screen, thanks largely towards the otherworldly pacing from the sequences. Have an early take a look at God Speed on your own in present day "Immortals" Mondays exclusive behind-the-moments featurette! "Immortals" hits theaters on November 11, 2011.

Bridges to "Succeed"

BridgesBeau Bridges has signed onto join the cast in the Broadway revival of "How you can achieve Business Without Really Trying," walking to the role John Larroquette exits in the start from the month of the month of january. Bridges will begin perfs inside the tuner Jan. 3 alongside Darren Criss, who'll start a three-week stint since the youthful corporate striver now carried out by Daniel Radcliffe. Criss is going to be transformed (beginning Jan. 24) by Nick Jonas, who'll star with Bridges until both bow out This summer time 1. "The best way to Succeed" reps Bridges' first gig in the musical on Broadway, when they have not came out since the 1974 play "Who's Who in Hell." Thesp may have corporate bigwig J.B. Biggley inside the 1961 satire, with tunes by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert. Larroquette won a Tony for his stint as Biggley this year's spring. Revival opened up up in March to robust B.O., and spent the summer season consistently logging weekly sales more than $millions of per frame. "The best way to Succeed" is produced having a team introduced by Broadway Across America (John Gore, Thomas B. McGrath, Jesse Williams), Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. Larroquette and Radcliffe exit the show Jan. 1. Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com

ABC Builds up Serta Fogelman Alien Comedy With Pilot Production Commitment

EXCLUSIVE: ABC has handed an plane pilot production persistence for a comedy spec by feature author Serta Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love, Cars) The untitled project, initially developed at Warner Bros. TV, concentrates on an regular family who moves in to a condominium complex to uncover that everyone living there but choices are aliens. Helmer Chris Koch (Modern Family) is positioned to direct the pilot, that's executive produced by Fogelman, Koch and Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment. ABC Art galleries is creating the pilot, that's likely to train on a casting director shortly. That is ABC’s next then-cycle pilot order this season, with the Kirstie Alley-starring The Manzanis, also executive produced by Kaplan for ABC Art galleries. In addition, Kaplan is executive creating the midseason ABC/ABC Art galleries dramedy Good Christian Belles. Fogelman, repped by WME and manager Eryn Brown, has partners with ABC parent Disney Co. round the feature side. He co-written animated hits Cars, Cars 2 and Twisted. Koch is to apply UTA.

The Painful Dying of Hollywood's Producers: No Top Quality, No Calls Back

This informative article initially came out inside the November. 4 problem in the Hollywood Reporter. You aren't getting me to go over how awful the art galleries are!" states one veteran producer before beginning in to a tirade about the subject. "The art galleries just don't respect what producers do. They'd rather not need them around. ... Art galleries have a lot of professionals and waste a lot of money on that." States another producer who ranks among the Hollywood elite: "The greater the films get, the higher professionals feel they're creating them. For me you will discover more professionals being delivered to locations than previously. ... When the executive states 'my' movie, it drives you crazy, plus it's happening progressively more.Inch While using movie business dealing with a historic modifying as DVD revenue has shriveled and technology haven't created cash to think about its place, the issues facing the organization are blending the most effective rank of producers, including people who've generous handles art galleries -- on paper. It's trickle-up overall costs, and people who've extended been familiar with getting their voices respected have discovered that sometimes -- ouch -- their calls aren't even returned. Some believe that existence has changed forever inside the movie business, although some -- watching that art galleries are generating progressively homogeneous movies -- are wanting that eventually it's apparent that audiences crave various things which producers are the types while using experience and skill to develop and execute original, frequently even great, material. Evidence of pressure art galleries are imposing on large-title producers is everywhere. Jerry Bruckheimer just experienced what he known to to THR since the toughest settlement of his career with Disney to create The Lone Ranger using the Actor-kaira Pitt. Ron Howard and John Grazer of Imagine have observed their wealthy deal at Universal reduce as well as the studio close the lid on around the ambitious fantasy Western The Dark Tower, with various quantity of books by Stephen King. A-list producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy just departed in the new the new sony after couple of years without any eco-friendly light. The's ultimate 800-pound gorilla, Steven Spielberg, has received struggles raising money. A couple of of the profession's best producers the art galleries are generating them feel, while you puts it, progressively "irrelevant." Together with a high executive at one studio values that oftentimes, there's a place. "If perhaps I really could inform you they're wrong or they're being babies," according to him. "But [their complaints] are legitimate. Plus it doesn't appear enjoy it's to the benefit of the film business. But art galleries tend to be associated with movies because the stakes are very high. You obtain pressure within the bosses to make certain you're manipulating the projects well- but which was formerly producer's job." Which's from the professional inside a studio that's considered relatively sincere. Its not all the first is. There seems being broad agreement among high-level producers that Fox has extended been most likely probably the most contentious with producers, prior to the overall costs increased being so challenging, largely due to a effective-arm culture created by studio chief Tom Rothman. Disney, with companies for instance Marvel and Pixar which is concentrate on the top quality entertainment, now makes handful of movies that belongs to them and scarcely seems to want producers. Vital and Universal also appear largely indifferent, apart from a clutch of stars like J.J. Abrams (who, particularly, can be a filmmaker themselves). The brand new the new sony and Warner Bros. -- because order -- have the finest marks. "Even when they're f--ing you, they're apologetic," states one prominent producer. "Fox, Vital, Universal -- it's simply: 'This is what we're doing. Sorry we did not remember tell you.' " States producer Laurence Mark (Julie & Julia): "The brand new the new sony's really the only studio that type of harks to that particular old studio days. Amy [Pascal] handles the big picture. She's very happy to make bold moves. They have great associations that pay back.Inch Particularly, The brand new the new sony helps make the Social Media and Moneyball with giant producer Scott Rudin -- films that other art galleries might have been unlikely to produce. (Really, one producer states he's heard professionals at other art galleries make snide comments concerning the new the new sony's decision to consider a risk on Moneyball.) However, many with ties for the studio say even Pascal has required to trim her sails in our atmosphere. "The art galleries trust a far more compact and much more compact volume of producers," states Marshall Herskovitz, leader emeritus in the Producers Guild of America. But he adds he got that memo way back when. "I don't have a very deal any more,Inch states Herskovitz. "Am I upset? Yes. But there's pointless in crying relating to this.In . Rather, according to him, he and much more have modified: "Every producer I realize has required to discover about independent financing. It may be these tectonic changes are finally striking people who thought they were invulnerable, but almost everybody has modified. Producers have moved into television and new media and searched for out various ways to purchase features because that's what producers do. They're coping." (One producer states he's, like a lot more, looked for options in television, but even that's difficult. "Out of the blue you're going from office to office, offering TV," according to him. "There's some a Willy Loman aspect in it.In .) "We could yell our heads off, but we with one another need to sit in changes available,In . states current guild co-leader Mark Gordon. "The earth is changing, and that we must change from it.In . Possibly nothing demonstrates more strongly the primary distinction between then now for producers in comparison to assume experience. Last decade, Universal was giving Howard and Grazer a hefty $17 million yearly in overhead additionally to costs of $2 million ahead of time against no less than five percent of gross (more if Howard was pointing). The partners even had two "put" pictures -- meaning they may pressure projects into Universal's pipeline -- though they never exercised that option. Their deal has since been trimmed to $8 million-together with annually, according to an informed source, however when it's the perfect time for renegotiation (it runs through 2013), they will definitely face further pressure. Related Subjects 1 2 next last

Asuncion

Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha star in Asuncion. A Rattlestick Playwrights Theater presentation, by special arrangement using the Cherry Lane Theater, of the play in 2 functions by Jesse Eisenberg. Directed by Kip Fagan.Vinny - Justin Bartha Edgar - Jesse Eisenberg Stuart - Remy Auberjonois Asuncion - Camille ManaJesse Eisenberg has written themself a juicy acting role in "Asuncion" being an idealistic social reformer whose intellectual pretensions lead him to the precise complete opposite of Mark Zuckerberg, the frightening-awesome Facebook founder Eisenberg performed in "The Social Networking." Scribe throws this youthful jerk a neat theatrical curve when he introduces him and the smug roommate to some Filipina who challenges their patronizing presumptions about class and ethnic identity. But Eisenberg puts no further demands on his figures, departing them frozen inside a sitcom plot that goes nowhere. Helmer Kip Fagan feels safe using the louche vibe of downtown theater, which easy confidence shows itself within this production for Rattlestick. Although play is occur an upstate college town, John McDermott's slovenly student apartment and Jessica Pabst's casual-chic rags would your style in to the NYU-nation within the East Village. Eisenberg might possibly not have an idea about plotting, but he's a facile comic skill for drawing eccentric figures and putting them in unhealthy associations. He just does not know what to do next. Roommates Edgar (Eisenberg) and Vinny (Justin Bartha of "Hangover" fame) have among individuals lethal associations. Vinny is definitely an advanced graduate student in Black Studies who grossly over-identifies together with his academic thesis. Edgar is really a self-anointed reformer who romanticizes poverty and blindly occupies social causes they know nothing about. Bartha is sufficient funny giving Vinny as much as Pan African blues ecstasy while stoned. ("You have some African shit the following!Inch) Eisenberg includes a terrific moment when Edgar apologizes for that gang kids who beat him bloody and stole his wallet. ("They are oppressed by everything.") Both thesps locate fairly easily the safe place where their insecure figures draw strength using their sadomasochistic friendship. The amusing if creepy relationship between these mutually desperate roommates is tossed off-balance when Edgar's your government, Stuart (Remy Auberjonois, as overbearing as large siblings are wont to become), drops off his beautiful Filipina bride, Asuncion (a blithe spirit in Camille Mana's animated perf), and will take off on some undisclosed errand. Asuncion is flakier than phyllo dough, which leaves Vinny and Edgar liberated to model of her the things they will. Engaging in her groove, Vinny just really wants to enjoy her, while Edgar, that has been brought to think she's a mail-order bride, projects all his dimwitted social sights on her behalf. But nothing dramatic comes of the awkward threesome. Because Asuncion is really an airhead, she becomes the play's fatal flaw, too vacuous to be the proper catalyst and too shallow to keep happens by herself. Which leaves Edgar and Vinny stuck within their caricatured roles, making funny talk but saying nothing of consequence.Set, John McDermott costumes, Jessica Pabst lighting, Ben Stanton seem, Bart Fasbender production stage manager, Melissa Mae Gregus. Opened up March. 27, 2011. Examined March. 25. Running time: one hour, 40 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Jim Ladd, the muse for Tom Petty's 'The Last DJ,' Let Go From Radio Gig

Lay offs hit radio stations industry difficult on Wednesday as reviews emerged that Obvious Funnel was letting go 100s of employees in promising small to mid-sized marketplaces in support of "Premium Choice" content format-specific programming syndicated to stations on the regional and national basis (like On Air with Ryan Seacrest).our editor recommendsFormer Tribune Co. Boss Randy Michaels Charged With DUIHoward Stern Bids Goodbye to Radio Alma Mater WYSP With Half-Hour Telephone Call (Audio)Why Podcasts Are Comedy's Second Coming: Adam Carolla, Marc Maron and Greg Proops Weigh In (Q&A) And today comes word that Cumulus Media, new proprietors of Citadel Broadcasting's popular La stations KABC (talk) and KLOS (classic rock) have let as much as 27 people go, included in this: legendary disc jockey Jim Ladd, who's praised because the last freeform jock working within the U.S. called the subject of Tom Petty's 2002 song "The Final DJ," itself an indictment from the radio industry that was eventually banned by Obvious Funnel. STORY:Michele Norris Steps Lower From NPR Ladd started his radio career in 1969 at Lengthy Beach rock station KNAC. He spent a lot more than 14 years at KLOS, where his show broadcast from 10 p.m. to two a.m. Mondays through Thursdays, consistently leading in rankings because of its time slot. He launched a magazine, Radio Waves, in 1992. "My disappointment is I didn't possess a farewell show," Ladd told the Oc Register."I had been very stunned and that i still am. I've been through this before, but it's always distressing." His last song was Pink Floyd's "Shine You Crazy Gemstone." STORY:New Study Finds Top Ten Hits Centered by Synths, Lyrics About 'Hooking Up' In 2003, Petty described this is from the song "The Final DJ," from the album of the identical title, telling journalist Jim DeRogatis it's "in regards to a DJ who becomes so frustrated together with his lack of ability to experience what he wants he moves to Mexico and will get his freedom back." Based on radio tipsheet RAMP(Radio and Music Pros), Jack Silver has walked in as PD for KABC and KLOS, with Uncle Joe Benson overtaking the mid-day slot and Gary Moore growing to night time. Tom Petty and also the Heartbreakers are going to play two nights of great benefit shows in the Performance Theater at Cal Condition Northridgefor L.A. public radio station KCSN's fall pledge drive. Pay attention to Ladd's 1974 interview with John Lennon below and browse the lyrics toPetty's "The Final DJ" following the jump... Related Subjects 1 2 next last

VIDEO: Johnny Depp Promotes Rum Diary by Jamming with ZZ Top Frontman

While at the Austin Film Festival to pimp this week’s Hunter S. Thompson adaptation The Rum Diary, star Johnny Depp grabbed his guitar and took to the stage with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top for a surprise rock show. Because that’s how you get the kids to come to your new period movie, folks! Viral marketing meets rock ‘n’ roll! Johnny Depp can do no wrong! Watch the video and stick around for more Buzz Break. [via Gossip Cop] H&M is set to release a Lisbeth Salander-inspired clothing line. Dress like an emotionally-damaged Swedish anorexic punk hacker this winter! [Moviefone via Badass Digest] There’s another bin Laden assassination thriller on the horizon, based on the team of Navy SEALs that brought the political fugitive down in Pakistan, and it’s being directed by… the guy who made Into the Blue. Sure, why not? [Variety] A coalition of Hollywood studios and distributors have filed the biggest copyright lawsuit ever in Russia, charging that Moscow couple Andrei and Natalia Lopukhov with $1.24 billion in damages from pirating films like Resident Evil: Extinction and Shrek the Third. [THR] Beverly Hills Cop IV is dead. But Axel Foley may live on in television! [Rolling Stone] The best imagined explanation of that Kirk Cameron Subway sandwich birthday party picture floating around the web. [FilmDrunk]

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Tops Fortune's 40 Under 40 List

NY - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, 27, took the top spot in Fortune's second annual 40 Under 40 list of the hottest young stars in business ahead of Google CEO Larry Page, the Time Warner publication said Thursday.our editor recommends Rupert Murdoch 'Very Humbled' as He Apologizes Personally to the Family of Murdered Schoolgirl Milly Dowler Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch To Face Questioning Under Oath In Phone-Hacking Judicial Inquiry Other tech stars on the list include Jack Dorsey, co-founder and executive chairman of Twitter, who made the eighth spot, Google co-founder Sergey Brin in the 11th spot. Big entertainment industry names on the list include 13th-ranked Ryan Seacrest, 36, who is immediately followed by Univision Networks head Cesar Conde, 37, and 16th-ranked Kevin Feige, head of Marvel Studios. CBS News president David Rhodes (ranked 17th), Spotify founder Daniel Ek (18), Relativity Media boss Ryan Kavanaugh (22) and CNN's Erin Burnett (33) also made the list. However, News Corp. deputy COO James Murdoch, who came in eighth last year when tech pioneer and investor Marc Andreessen topped the list ahead of Zuckerberg, dropped off the list. Asked by Fortune about the business term he hates the most, Rhodes said: "Worst overused business term: facilitate. Who grew up saying, 'Mom, when I grow up I want to facilitate.' How about instead 'I'd like to report, disclose, reveal'?" Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai Related Topics Google Mark Zuckerberg Facebook Ryan Kavanaugh James Murdoch Erin Burnett

Ratings Pit Of Debt: CBS Wins But Blue Bloods Drops

Another Friday with mostly minor changes from the tenth from the 18-49 rating. CBS’ 10 PM drama Blue Bloods (1.7/5 in grownups 18-49, 10.9 million audiences) released the finest drop from the other day, .2 in 18-49. It absolutely was still the finest rated and several seen program in the evening, tied in 18-49 with another CBS drama, veteran CSI: NY (1.7/5, 10. million). The Next CBS drama in the evening, rookie A Gifted Guy (1.3/5, 7.8 million) was up a tenth inside the demo after being stuck inside a 1.2 returning a couple of days. CBS (1.6/5, 9.6) once again won the evening in 18-49. Fox’s Kitchen Bad dreams or nightmares (1.4/5, 3.6 000 0000) was lower a tenth from the other day’s fast national 18-49 rating (2 tenths within the final). Fringe (1.2/4, 3.millions of) was lower a tenth.Fox (1.3/4, 3.7 million) finished second for your evening in 18-49, tied with Univision. Pretty encouraging sampling for your premiere 2 cases of ABC’s Last Guy Standing, which came single.3/5, 4.9 million together with single.4, 4.9 million from 8-9 PM, while using second episode tied Kitchen Bad dreams or nightmares since the third finest-rated program in the evening in 18-49. The Ultimate Guy Standing rerun also attracted bigger audiences than any non-CBS program last evening. Just like a commenter smartly mentioned, this bodes well for ABC topper’s Paul Lee’s idea to produce back ABC’s TGIF Friday family comedy block. Undertaking a contemporary Family (1.3/4, 3.7 million) repeat, which did perfectly, together with a Suburgatory (1.1/3, 3.millions of) rerun, ABC broadcast 20/20 (1.2/4, 4.7 million), up an tenth inside the demo from the other day. Also up a tenth was NBC’s Dateline (1.5/5)

'Footloose' kicks it up at B.O.

'Footloose' is expected to take the No. 1 at the box office this weekend, grossing north of $15 million."Footloose" is expected to take the No. 1 spot at the domestic B.O., based on early Friday figures. Box office observers expect the pic to bow with grosses north of $15 million. Pic has taken in nearly $1 million as of this afternoon. "Real Steel" is looking to drop less than 45%, and observers expect the pic to pull in somewhere between $12 million and $14 million. That would put it neck-and-neck with "The Thing," which is shaping up with a debut of just north of $13 million based on Friday afternoon grosses. It's tallied about $475,000 as of mid-Friday afternoon. "Ides of March" is likely to be down about 35% to gross somewhere in the $7.5 million ballpark. "Dolphin Tale" is holding over strong in its fourth frame, with B.O. watchers putting the film's take in the $6 million range. Fox's "The Big Year," however, is looking to perform more modestly with $3 million to $5 million.

'Avatar' and 'The Dark Knight' Among the Most Pirated Movies Ever

Imagine how much money "greedy motherf--ker" James Cameron could have made on 'Avatar' if it wasn't stolen by dastardly Internet pirates. According to a report from the website TorrentFreak, 'Avatar' -- the highest grossing movie ever -- is the most pirated movie of all time. The film -- which, as THR notes, was touted by the director as being the best hope against piracy because of 3D -- has been illegally downloaded 21 million times, two million more than runner-ups 'The Dark Knight' and 'Transformers.' All three films grossed over $700 million worldwide, but their DVD revenues could have been hurt by the illegal downloads. Elsewhere on the list, blockbusters like 'Inception,' 'The Hangover,' 'Star Trek' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.' The most surprising entries? 'Kick-Ass' -- which is the only film among the ten to not gross $100 million at the box office -- and the critically derided 'The Incredible Hulk' with Edward Norton. Head over to TorrentFreak for the full list. [TorrentFreak via THR] [Photo: Everett Collection] RELATED: 'Avatar' and Other Movie Theme Park Rides 6 Other Movie-Based Theme Park Rides In honor of 'Avatar' becoming a ride, six other films that have gotten the theme park treatment. Back to the FutureStar TrekIndiana JonesHostelHarry PotterStar Tours (Star Wars) See All Moviefone Galleries » Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook RELATED

Nancy Shevell's Wedding Gown Created by Paul McCartney's Daughter Stella McCartney

Getty Images When Louise Mills married Paul McCartney in 2002, his daughter Stella McCartney -- who apparently loathed her step mother-to-be -- wouldn't even talk to her. Mill's dress -- reputed to become her design -- is made by Caroline Eavis and Annie Brown, who later accused her of not providing them with enough publicity for that free gown.our editor recommendsSir Paul McCartney Marries Nancy Shevell in LondonWill Paul McCartney's Bride Marry in Stella McCartney's Dress? But Stella McCartney must like her father's new love because she designed Nancy Shevell's wedding gown a vintage sleek whitened lengthy sleeved frock with whitened (vegan) open foot heels. The pair tied the knot Sunday (March 9) at Old Marylebone Hall working in london, where McCartney get married his first wife, Linda McCartney, in 1969. McCartney's creating daughter Stella also made his deep blue suit. Along with a smiling Shevell, 51, and McCartney, 69, were seen smiling right in front row at her Spring 2012 fashion show in Paris a week ago. McCartney's youngest daughter Beatrice McCartney, 7 - from his second marriage to Mills - was their flower girl. It's most likely reliable advice that Stella McCartney made her dress too. Or did Louise make that costume call? We might don't know. Visitors in the intimate ceremony also incorporated fellow Beatle Ringo Starr and wife, Barbara Bach Olivia Harrison, widow of George Harrison and Barbra Walters, who's Shevell's cousin and behaved like a matchmaker for that couple. Wait, no Yoko Ono? BTW, Shevell was previous married to attorney and something-time NY Senate candidate Bruce Blakeman. From the lawyer to some Beatle. That's what we should known as getting married to up. In place. Exactly what do you think about Nancy Shevell's dress? Inform us within the comments! Paul McCartney Stella McCartney Louise Mills

The End is Near For The Simpsons (Or Is It?), and Other Stories You'll Be Talking About Today

Happy Wednesday! Also in today’s edition of The Broadsheet: The Academy finally gets some movie museum space… The Coens have their eye on TV… Paul Feig backs out of his next… Another 50 Cent movie, thank God… and more. · Copious cultural hand-wringing followed the news Tuesday that The Simpsons may be at the end of the line; a contract dispute between its cast and Fox — which reportedly wants to cut voice-talent costs by 45 percent — threatens to kill the series following its current, 23rd season. (23rd!) The numbers are all seven figures and ridiculous to argue over in any case, but the bigger issue is: Would you miss it? Because there are compelling cases — both economic and artistic — to be made for pulling the plug. I’d let it die, but I also haven’t watched it in something like two decades, so hey. [The Daily Beast, Deadline] · The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and L.A. County Museum of Art are partnering on what would be the Academy’s long-gestating dream: A movie museum for Hollywood. Well, not quite Hollywood, at least not anymore: The newly located project, at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax, still faces significant fundraising hurdles, a chunk of which can likely be cleared by selling off a Vine Street tract initially intended for the museum. It went for $50 million before the crash, which is like, what, $10,000 and a couple cans of paint today? [LAT] · The Coen Brothers are reportedly planning a television series with Cedar Rapids scribe Phil Johnston. The show, currently titled HarveKarbo, would track the title character, “an ill-tempered L.A. private investigator whose cases frequently involve the depraved doings of the Hollywood elite — and his deadbeat friends in Los Angeles’ El Segundo.” So basically the detectives from Barton Fink get to hang out with The Dude. Or wait, they died. Anyway, something like that. [Deadline] · Paul Feig is out as director of Bridget Jones 3. Cue more febrile Bridesmaids sequel speculation. [Deadline] · Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson will appear in and co-produce The Pursuit, about a cop and criminal who pair up to nab the man who killed both of their partners. Hopefully this does much better things for 50’s love life than Set Up accomplished. [THR] · New Jersey governor Chris Christie really really isn’t running for president. And leave him alone for not running on the treadmill as well, all right? [The Atlantic Wire] · Hank Williams Jr. apologized for his absurd statements Monday comparing President Obama to Hitler: “I have always been very passionate about Politics and Sports and this time it got the Best or Worst of me. The thought of the Leaders of both Parties Jukin and High Fiven on a Golf course, while so many Families are Struggling to get by simply made me Boil over and make a Dumb statement and I am very Sorry if it Offended anyone. I would like to Thank all my supporters. This was Not written by some Publicist.” You’re kidding. [HankJr.com]

Facebook's Private Market Price Has Fallen 8% Since This summer

NEW You are able to - After a long run-up, Facebook's private market price has rejected lately among economic concerns which have pulled lower stock marketplaces, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Shares within the privately owned social networking, brought by Boss Mark Zuckerberg, can be found to wealthy traders and institutions on secondary areas where former employees sell them. During the period of the very first quarter of the season, Facebook's private share of the market cost rose 70 % to $34 before striking around $35, the Journal stated, stating data from buying and selling platform SharesPost. However, Facebook's cost has fallen 8 percent since This summer to $32.10 within an auction held a week ago, pricing the whole company around $77 billion, based on the paper. Facebook continues to be likely to go public the coming year with what the Journal stated sometimes appears among the biggest U.S. initial public choices ever. where can buy shares offered mostly by former employees. Jim Friedland, Internet analyst at Cowen & Co., told the Journal that Facebook and Google are available to struggling with a possible downturn in advertising just in case of the restored recession. But he along with other experts say there's been little manifestation of a downturn in Facebook's longer-term growth trajectory, the Journal stated. Still, some have decreased their forecasts for Facebook's 2011 advertising revenue. Research firm eMarketer has cut its estimate by 6.1 % from the beginning of the season to $3.8 billion, the paper stated. Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai Related Subjects Mark Zuckerberg Facebook

'Steel' heartstrings

Sugar Ray Leonard and Dakota Goyo show their stuff.Actor Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly arrive at the "Real Steel" Los Angeles premiere at Gibson Amphitheatre.Shawn Levy Stacey Snider and Rich Ross Scribe John Gatins celebrates with exec producer Jack Rapke. Give Shawn Levy the story of a gritty, down-on-his luck boxer, an 11-year-old son he doesn't want and dozens of frighteningly destructive killing machines and what do you get?A cynicism-free heartstring-tugger of a family film."You know what? Someone asked me, 'Is this like an Amblin movie?'" Levy said at Sunday's preem of "Real Steel." "And I said, 'If by "Amblin" you mean pre-cynicism, pre-irony, then hell yeah.'"There certainly is Spielbergian DNA running through "Real Steel," as the man himself is an executive producer of the DreamWorks film that opens Friday. Judging by the reactions of the dozens of kids streaming from the Gibson Amphitheater to the after-party out back -- shadowboxing and marvelling at the life-sized mockups of the pic's fighting bots -- there's still some magic left in moviemaking minus misanthropy."That's why I did it," said the pic's Evangeline Lilly. "Because I read the script and for the first time ever, it was pure. It was beautiful. And I had someone tell me before I took the job, 'Why would you take that script? It's hokey.' And I said, 'I like hokey.'" Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

We Can Not Go Back Home Again: Film Review

NEW You are able to - An anti-mainstream final work from Hollywood renegade Nicholas Ray, the excavated feature We Are Able To't Go Back Home Again is definitely an artifact which will interest students from the '70s avant-garde and hardcore Ray fans but puzzle almost everybody else. Sincere notice around the fest circuit and airings on Turner Classic Movies usually supplies a modest PR boost for eventual DVD/digital release.our editor recommendsNicholas Ray: Digital rebel Having a CameraThe Venice Film Festival to Recognition Nicholas RayNicholas Ray retrospective starts This summer 24Oscilloscope release a Nicholas Ray's Last Film 'We Can't Go Back Home Again' Although it is marketed like a film through the director of Digital rebel With No Cause and Johnny Guitar, onscreen credits the film is "by us" -- and also the claim of collective authorship fits a piece whose narrative, such because it is, is thin and scattered enough to possess been sewn together from bull periods and publish-'60s political positions. The film emerges from interplay between your wizened, fight-damaged Ray and the 1971 class at NY's Binghamton College. Early moments make a confrontational meeting between your two, and subsequent material, zigzagging between scripted dialogues and self-conscious behind-the-moments footage, focuses largely around the curiosity each feels for that other. Most of the youthful filmmakers are, not surprisingly, pretty poor stars, plus some recruits (just like a journalist roped into serving as a shoot's soundman) display similarly low aptitude for that technical finish of things. Audiences wishing to suss out an overarching story is going to be disappointed, finding rather a type of fictionalized self-portrait of figures looking for meaning throughout among America's most confused eras. More interesting, though equally time-capule-ant, would be the movie's stylistic affectations, most of which endure much better than others. Individual moments frequently alternate between conventional shots while some which have been heavily altered using primitive video effects at other moments, sloppy noodling on keyboards creates a proto-electronica soundtrack. Most significant may be the picture's multi-screen format, by which static photographs function as a cryptic frame around a black central area where moments overlap one another aimlessly, frequently pairing staged footage with documentary or stock images of political protest. This kitchen-sink experimentation may befuddle most audiences, however it will probably enable them to sustain curiosity about a story that will otherwise lose them inside a half-hour. Venue: NY Film Festival (Oscilloscope) Production Company: Nicholas Ray Foundation Cast: Nicholas Ray, Richie Bock, Tom Farrell, Jill Ganon, Jane Heymann, Leslie Wynne Levinson Director-producer: Nichola Ray Screenwriters: Nicholas Ray, Susan Ray Principal Crew: Steve Anker, Richard Bock, Peer Bode, Charlie Bornstein, Doug Cohen, Danny Fisher, Stanley Liu, Luke Oberle, Helene Kaplan Wright No rating, 95 minutes Nicholas Ray

Saul Zaentz Sues Miramax-Disney (Again!) Inside The British Patient Profits

Thatlegendary movie producer Saul Zaentz is litigious is not new. Today he’s suing Miramax and Disneyfor breach of contract alleging he hasn’t seen enough earn money from the 15-year-oldBest Picture Oscar-winnerThe British Patient. He’saccusingthe art galleries of blatant self-dealing and manipulation and mistating the film’s revenue by millions to have the ability to enrich itself — while not Zaentz. additionally to deceitful and unfair accounting practices concerning the the film.The suit was filedtoday by Lavely & Singer’s Marty Singerin La Superior Court. But here’s the main one factor: this isn’t the first time Zaentz is doing this. He punished Miramax and Disney over virtually the identical stuff inside the same court inside the same picback in 2006. Plus it was Lavely & Singer who filed that fit, too. (Did they just Xerox today’s complaint?) That firstscuffle was overlooked in 2008. In this latest legal fight, Zaentzalso is seeking $20 million in damages — much like before. Clearly, the Weinsteinsowned Miramax when the film was released nevertheless it’s Disney’s problem because Zaentz claims a control button House certain to become ideal for the dough.clearly,Wally disney doesn’t own Miramax any more. This type of mess.

Broadway Shows to experience in Cinemas

LONDON New york city and London-based Supervision Media and NY's Broadway Worldwide have signed a unique multi-year certification arrangement to create four hit Broadway musicals to cinema screens around the world.The offer covers this years Tony Top rated Best Musical "Memphis," presently using Broadway, the recorded live-in-performance Direct From Broadway, "Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical" starring David Hasselhoff.Stephen Sondheim's "Putting It Together," charged like a musical "review" starring Carol Burnett, and Broadway's longest running musical revue and Grammy Award champion, "Smokey Joe's Coffee shop: The Tunes of Leiber and Stoller."The quartet is going to be open to audiences worldwide because they hit cinema screens on every region, the duo stated.The goal is perfect for "Memphis" hitting movie screens over the U.K. and Ireland on November. 24 with Nigeria, Hong Kong and many major European areas to spread out prior to the finish of the season.Latina America, New zealand and australia will follow in March 2012."Smokey Joe," "Jekyll" and "Putting It Together" will launch across Europe in The month of january, Feb and March of the coming year correspondingly using the relaxation around the globe following from April 2012."Memphis" is definitely an original story concerning the cultural revolution that exploded once the vision of the youthful whitened DJ met the voice of the electrifying black singer and also the music transformed forever."Hyde" sees Hasselhoff make his Broadway debut within the dual title role of the re-working from the classic tale of excellent and evil.From producer Cameron Mackintosh, "Together" is Sondheim's humorous, poignant and complicated musical "review" of fabric obtained from numerous his original musicals."Smokey Joe" features the cast carrying out 40 tunes of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The Hollywood Reporter

Simon Cowell Plans X Factor Stage Musical

Simon Cowell may soon have a new venue to go head-to-head with his longtime rival, American Idol creator Simon Fuller: Both are planning musicals for London’s West End. Cowell wants to build a stage show around his global franchise X Factor. Cowell has approached Brit comedian Harry Hill to write the book and comedy music producer Steve Brown — who has worked with UK X Factor finalist Rebecca Ferguson — to come up with musical ideas.Cowells production company Syco tells me that it’s still in very early discussions about the show.Hill fronts popular ITV comedy TV Burp. Itslatest season starts airing soon — right before the current UK run of The X Factor. The comedian pokes fun at clips of the previous weeks TV shows,often singling out Cowells music contest. Brown wrote the music for TV Burp and has also written for Cowells regular UK TV presenters AntnDec, so its all very much in the family. Fuller — who is suing for an executive producer credit on the U.S. version of X Factor — is a step ahead with his planned West End stage musical Viva Forever, based on the songs of his pop group the Spice Girls. Producer Judy Craymer, who dreamed up the worldwide Mamma Mia! phenomenon,begins workshops next month and hopes to open Viva Forever by March 2013. The show promises a glimpse of the underbelly of TV talent shows.Brit TV comedian Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous) has written the book. The problem both The X Factor and Viva Forever could face is finding space in a glutted West End.Only a few theaters can handle big musicals, unlikeBroadway, where most venues are of a similar size. West End theaters are rarely dark, theater consultant Richard Andrews tells me. As a result, theater owners can afford to be more choosey in the shows they take in, and also be more reluctant to book a show a long way in advance. Theres a lot of money at stake. X Factor is being produced in 29 countries, which could enable a stage version to open around the world. Mamma Mia! has just opened in China, having grossed more than $2 billion to date with 50 million people having paid to see it worldwide.

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Ethan Hawke Joins Blue Tilt

With Vincent D'Onofrio in a new TV dramaEthan Hawke hasn't exactly been known for his telly work in the past - he's appeared in a miniseries or TV movie here and there, and cropped up as an agent on JJ Abrams' Alias, but now it appears he's looking to jump in with both feet, signing on new cop drama series Blue Tilt alongside Vincent D'Onofrio. His proposed co-star, of course, is much more experienced on the goggle box, having spent years as a detective on the Law & Order franchise show Criminal Intent. It's there that D'Onofrio met writer/producer Chris Brancato, who worked on the show's final season and who is behind the new concept. Blue Tilt will follow two cops, one married and one divorced, who must juggle their difficult jobs with the demands of family life. In case you were wondering, the title refers to homicide detectives who become a danger to themselves as a result of the horrors they witness while on duty and are ordered to see a shrink on a regular basis. Right now, the show is merely at the pilot stage and it remains to be seen if US network NBC orders it to series. And yes, it took a couple of moments of staring at the title before we could stop thinking it read "Blue Tit" and wondering if it was a Springwatch spin-off...

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Toronto 2011: Elizabeth Olsen, Mary-Kate and Ashley's Younger Sister, On Journey to Oscar Contention (Video)

Elizabeth Olsen -- or "Lizzie," as the 22-year-old introduces herself to me before our interview in Toronto on Saturday -- looks like a star. It's not just metaphorically, in that she's very beautiful, but literally, too, in that she greatly resembles her older twin sisters, Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen. Mary-Kate and Ashley have been famous for the better part of the last quarter-century; Lizzie, meanwhile, has managed to retain her anonymity and attend summer camps, go to college, and live a relatively normal life. For better or worse, though, thanks to a little movie called Martha Marcy May Marlene, Lizzie's life is about to change. Lizzie won the starring role in Sean Durkin's low-budget indie thriller last year. It was just the second film she had ever worked on (the other, Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding, is also playing here at the Toronto International Film Festival), but she did a fantastic job in it playing a girl who is drawn into and then runs away from a cult. It premiered to great acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival back in January. Fox Searchlight, which bought Martha at Sundance, will release the film on October 21, and plans to keep its star in the public eye as much as possible over the coming weeks and months. Their hope is that, based on the strong critical response to the film, the exposure might help Lizzie become one of the youngest best actress Oscar nominees in history. Over the course of my 16-minute conversation with Lizzie -- which you can see in its entirety by clicking on the video at the top of this post -- I was greatly impressed with how composed, articulate, and downright likable she is. These are all attributes that will serve her well over the long, hard slog that is an awards season campaign. Among the topics that we discussed: -- What it was like growing up in the Olsen family (aside from her sisters, her oldest brother is an aspiring screenwriter; her mother was a professional ballet dancer; and her dad who is a top amateur golfer). -- What interested her as a kid ("I have, like, this masculine aesthetic... when I was in high school, I preferred to read Bukowski, and Palahniuk, and men who... write about sex addicts and alcoholics"). -- How she got the part in Martha (she'd only been reading scripts for six or seven months when she received "the movie with the M's" and was soon thereafter commuting between the upstate New York sets of Peace and Martha). -- What she drew upon for her performance (including the true story of a girl that Durkin knows who endured something similar to what Olsen's character goes through). -- The chronological way in which Martha -- which jumps between a farm and a lake house -- was shot. -- Her nude scenes in Martha ("When it's necessary, it's necessary"). -- Oscar buzz ("It's crazy!"). -- And her family's reaction to the film ("They haven't seen it... none of my family has seen it. My dad's gonna see it with me tomorrow [Sunday], and then everyone else in my family is gonna see it at the premiere"). Toronto International Film Festival Ashley Olsen Mary-Kate Olsen Elizabeth Olsen

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