• Chris Pine is in talks to join Denzel Washington in Unstoppable, the Tony Scott runaway train action thriller. Dare we hope for a train caper to rival Money Train?
• Kill Bill star David Carradine was found dead in Bangkok at the age of 72. Early reports pegged the death as a suicide, but a rep for the actor claims it was accidental.
• Word has it a Blade Runner prequel could turn up on the Web. Any chance we can wrench this masterpiece out of Ridley and Tony Scott's hands?
• James Cameron's Avatar might clock in at nearly three hours. Oddly enough, it also ends with an old lady staring out into the ocean.
• James Franco, Robert Pattinson and James Marsden are all interested in portraying the late singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley in a biopic. The producer of the recent Joy Division biopic Control is involved, so expect it to make you want to dance and slit your wrists at the same time.
BIZ
from Hollywood Reporter by By Nellie Andreeva
NBC Universal, owner of Oxygen and iVillage, might add another female-driven property to its portfolio.
NAB says House opposed to radio fees
from The Hollywood Reporter - Music by Associated Press
The National Association of Broadcasters said Wednesday that a majority of U.S. House members are now opposed to imposing new fees on radio stations to pay performance artists.
'Lipstick Factor' boosts theatrical box office
from Film Journal by Adina Lebo
Box office continues to be recession-resilient, as Cineplex Entertainment reported a healthy gain in revenue, attendance and earnings for the first quarter ending March 31, 2009.
U.K. film production falls dramatically
from Hollywood Reporter by By Stuart Kemp
It's quiet out there, too damn quiet as this year's first quarter for film production collapsed in on itself here, according to statistics from the U.K. Film Council.
CBS sees ad market improvement
from Hollywood Reporter by By Georg Szalai
CBS Corp. continues to see improvement in the advertising market, CFO Fred Reynolds said Thursday.
YouTube to premiere movie to up ad revenues
from Hollywood Reporter by Reuters
Google Inc's YouTube will premiere a movie, the first simultaneous Internet and theater debut, as the popular video-sharing site aims to lure advertisers and reach profitability, Bloomberg reported.
Agency Feeding Frenzy Over Ice Cube
from Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily by Nikki Finke
Why? I'm told he makes $10 million a year. CAA, WME, UTA all fighting to sign him.
FESTIVALS
Maui fest set for 10th anniversary
from Hollywood Reporter by By Gregg Kilday
The Maui Film Festival, which runs June 17-21 in Kahului, Hawaii, will open with foreign-language Oscar winner "Departures" and Dana Brown's documentary "Highwater." Kristopher Belman's "More Than a Game" will close the fest, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Brooklyn Fest Goes "Open Source"
from indieWIRE News
The 12th Annual Brooklyn International Film Festival kicks off tomorrow under the theme "Open Source."
Short Films, Big Issues at Media That Matters
from indieWIRE News
The ninth annual Media That Matters Film Festival, one of the world's first and largest online film festivals, launches today with a collection of 12 short films "aimed at inspiring online audiences to think, laugh, and take action on today's top issues." This year's festival showcases twelve jury-selected shorts tackling a broad range of issues with humor, humanity, and honesty.
Sydney fest opens with 'Looking for Eric'
from The Hollywood Reporter - Awards by by Pip Bulbeck
Aussie actors Miranda Otto, Rachel Taylor and Bryan Brown,
along with directors Rachel Ward and Gillian Armstrong, were out in force
Wednesday for the opening night of the Sydney Film Festival.
AWARDS
UCLA to honor Dustin Lance Black
from Hollywood Reporter by By Gregg Kilday
UCLA alumnus Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning "Milk" screenwriter, will be honored with UCLA's Distinguished Achievement in Screenwriting Award on June 10 at UCLA's Freud Playhouse.
'The Shield' tops TCA Award noms
from Hollywood Reporter by By James Hibberd
The Television Critics Association announced nominees for
its annual TCA Awards, with the final season of FX's "The Shield"
leading the list.
MOVIES
Daily Box Office: Wednesday, June 3, 2009
from Box Office Mojo - Current Box Office Results
Up tops Wednesday's box office with $6.1 million
Video:
Remembering David Carradine
from Access Hollywood - Movies
Access takes a look back at the life and times of actor David Carradine, who was found dead in Bangkok at the age of 72.
Thai authorities order autopsy on David Carradine
from AP Top Entertainment News At 11:05 ... by By MICHAEL CASEY
BANGKOK (AP) -- Thai authorities conducted an autopsy Friday on actor David Carradine, a cult star best known for the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu," and cited "unusual circumstances" in his death.
Robot Chicken Scribe to Write Short Circuit Remake
from /Film by orfilms@gmail.com (slashfilm.com)
Remakes, remakes, and more remakes! Dimension Films has hired a new writer for
the Short Circuit remake they announced last April.
Shia LaBeouf to star in `Wall Street' follow up
from AP Top Entertainment News At 11:05 ... by By SANDY COHEN
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Shia LaBeouf is heading to Wall Street....
Peter Facinelli Talks New Moon
from E! Online - Movie News
Peter Facinelli is just as excited about New Moon as we are! "You've got a
little bit of a love triangle going on in this one," Facinelli said
from Variety.com
Film Reviews: An efficiently reworked version of a tense, ticking-clock suspense story.
Movie Review | 'Downloading Nancy': Partners in Pain
from NYT > Movies by By MANOHLA DARGIS
"Downloading Nancy" is a nasty exploitation flick tarted up with art-house actors and psychobabble.
Redgrave, Garcia Bernal join 'Letters'
from Variety.com
Exclusives: Seyfried, Nero also sign onto Summit drama -- Summit Entertainment has set Amanda Seyfried, Vanessa Redgrave, Gael Garcia Bernal and Franco Nero to star in "Letters to Juliet," the Gary Winick-directed film that begins production June 25 in Italy.
Are Ridley and Tony Scott Really Working on a Blade Runner
Prequel?
from /Film by orfilms@gmail.com (slashfilm.com)
Today, Ridley Scott announced a new sci-fi webseries from his RSA Films
commercial company, created in conjunction with his brother Tony and nephew Luke.
Purefold is to be a series of 5-10 minute online videos, laden with
product placement and tinged with Phillip K.Dick-like sci-fi themes, concepts
and questions.
Clive Barker's Twitter Feed Brings Hellraiser and Nightbreed
News
from /Film by orfilms@gmail.com (slashfilm.com)
It seems that rasp-voiced cigar-hog Clive Barker has been posting to Twitter
under the name RealCliveBarker,
and posting good stuff too.
Movie Review | 'My Life in Ruins': My Big Fat Crowded Athens
Tour Bus
from NYT > Movies by By STEPHEN HOLDEN
"My Life in Ruins," Nia Vardalos's first movie in five years, might as well be titled "How Georgia Got Her Kefi Back."
Chris Pine looking 'Unstoppable'
from Hollywood Reporter by By Borys Kit and Jay A. Fernandez
Chris Pine has found his follow-up role to his star-making turn in "Star Trek."
Movie Review | 'The Hangover': Dudes Doing Vegas: Eating and
Other Stuff
from NYT > Movies by By A. O. SCOTT
In "The Hangover," Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis incarnate familiar masculine stereotypes in ways that manage to be moderately fresh.
This story of a bachelor party gone wrong mixes crudeness
with a soft side.
Newsweek: 'Hangover' is bromance of the summer
from MSNBC.com: Movies
"The Hangover" is poised to be the sleeper comedy of the summer, thanks in no small part to gags involving a stripper's baby, a missing tiger and Mike Tyson.
Movie Review | 'Land of the Lost': Trapped Way Back in Time
With a Bunch of Dopey Dinosaurs
from NYT > Movies by By MANOHLA DARGIS
The only marginally interesting, if unsurprising, thing about "Land of the Lost" is that a lot of money has been spent on yet another cultural throwaway.
Is Spider-Man Getting Married... Again?!
from Splash Page by Josh Wigler
At this point, Kirsten Dunst's involvement in the Sam Raimi-directed
"Spider-Man
4" is tenuous at best. But if you haven't been reading the comic books
lately, you might not be aware that Mary Jane Watson is on the outs there, too.
EXCLUSIVE: Guillermo Del Toro 'Very Close' To Annoucing Bilbo
Baggins Casting For 'The Hobbit'
from MTV Movies Blog by Eric Ditzian
In what's becoming something of a tradition between MTV News and Guillermo del Toro, every time we have a chance to chat with the Mexican-born director, we harass him for news about who's been cast as Bilbo Baggins in his upcoming adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit."
TELEVISION
NBC executive not happy with Heidi, Spencer
from MSNBC.com: Reality TV
"They are everything that's wrong with America," says executive vice president
of alternative programming for NBC and Universal Media Studios, Paul Telegdy.
Whatever happened to TV theme music?
Music News: Main-title melodies were once cultural
touchstones -- Over the past 15 years, the broadcast networks have demanded
shorter main-title sequences, preferring to jump into the action faster and
thus reduce the chance that viewers will flip to another channel.
from Entertainment News - UPI.com
LOS ANGELES, June 4 (UPI) -- U.S. actor Robert Knepper, best known for his
portrayal of bad-guy T-Bag on "Prison Break," has signed up for a
role on the science-fiction series "Heroes."
Audrina Partridge's Carl's Jr. Ad: Bikini Babe Sells Burgers
from Entertainment on HuffingtonPost.com by The Huffington Post
News Team
Hungry for more Audrina Patridge? Well, the Hills star - making headlines
recently for getting her own reality show - will surely make mouths water with
a steamy new spot for the Carl's Jr. Teriyaki Six Dollar Burger.
from Hollywood Reporter by By James Hibberd
Fox is developing a matrimonial reality series where brides-to-be don't meet their husbands until they exchange vows.
Black Eyed Peas singing a CBS tune
from Hollywood Reporter by By James Hibberd
CBS is partnering with the Black Eyed Peas to employ the group's upcoming single "I Gotta Feeling" in the network's summer marketing campaign.
from Hollywood Reporter by By Nellie Andreeva
BET Networks has acquired Debmar-Mercury's "The Wendy Williams Show" to air beginning Monday, July 13 -- the same day the talk show debuts in national broadcast syndication.
from Hollywood Reporter by By Nellie Andreeva
Cable channel Ovation TV has acquired "Heath Ledger: A Tribute," an hour-long documentary special on the life of the late Oscar-winning actor.
Patrick Swayze's 'The Beast' won't be back on TV
from Los Angeles Times - Celebrity News
His comeback TV series has not been renewed.
Will Ferrell's 'Man vs. Wild' visit spurs record ratings
from The Live Feed by hollywoodreporter
Will Ferrell's visit to Discovery Channel's "Man vs. Wild" drew 4 million viewers
MUSIC
Lady GaGa Takes Two Top 10 Spots On Billboard's Hot 100
from Billboard News - All by Ayala Ben-Yehuda, L.A.
Lady GaGa soars into the top 10 with her third single, "LoveGame," as Keri Hilson and Sean Kingston also break into the top tally on Billboard's Hot 100 this week.
from Variety.com
Music Reviews: Mandy Moore's finally walking the walk in earnest.
Rock the vote: Nirvana bassist seeks county office
from AP Top Entertainment News At 11:05 ...
CATHLAMET, Wash. (AP) -- Nirvana's former bassist is running for clerk of a rural county to protest Washington state's method of letting candidates name their own party affiliation.
Whitney Houston's new album due in September
from AP Top Entertainment News At 11:05 ...
NEW YORK (AP) -- The date for Whitney Houston's comeback has been set....
Brad Paisley Previews His "American Saturday Night"
Album, Tour
from Billboard News - All by Deborah Evans Price, Nashville
Brad Paisley has long been Nashville's sweetheart because of
his ability to write both party songs and ballads perfect for radio. But thanks
to the bucolic boot camp he and his songwriter friends went through,
"American Saturday Night" (out June 30) is more reflective than
anything he's done before. The country artist gave Billboard a sneak preview of
the new album and talked about his upcoming tour.
Jay-Z To Release 'Blueprint 3' On Sept. 11
from Billboard News - All by Mariel Concepcion, N.Y.
Jay-Z will release his "Blueprint 3" album on Sept. 11 on Roc Nation with distribution through Atlantic Records, numerous sources have confirmed.
Duncan Sheik musical to debut in San Diego
from Entertainment News - UPI.com
NEW YORK, June 4 (UPI) -- Songwriter Duncan Sheik is following up his Broadway
hit "Spring Awakening" with his new musical "Whisper
House," Sony Music Entertainment said Thursday.
David Cook continues roadwork behind debut album
from Top Stories from LiveDaily.com
In the wake of losing his older brother to cancer, David Cook [ tickets ] will return to the road for a late-spring and summer run behind his self-titled debut, which hit shelves last fall.
New album, new film for Landon Pigg
from USATODAY.com Life - Top Stories
Landon Pigg is calling his second full-length album, due Aug. 25, 'The Boy Who Never.' But don't let the title fool you: The ...
ETC...
Jolie overtakes Winfrey on Forbes' Celebrity 100
from AP Top Entertainment News At 11:05 ... by By ERIN CARLSON
NEW YORK (AP) -- Angelina Jolie has dethroned Oprah Winfrey as the world's most powerful celebrity, according to Forbes....
Lance Armstrong announces birth of son on Twitter
from AP Top Entertainment News At 11:05 ...
This was one special tweet for Lance Armstrong....
