This video by Slate's Jack Shafer is not only entertaining but also rather informative. 

Lore has it that, if a sucker is born every minute, all eventually land in Hollywood. After exhausting the German dentist money, then the American tycoon scion money, then the Greenwich hedge fund money, now Tinseltown is exploiting the Abu Dhabi real estate money. Warner Bros announced today a "long-term, multi-faceted strategic alliance" calling for a theme park, hotel, multiplex cinemas and joint fund to finance films, develop video games, and build out the infrastructure for Abu Dhabi's new media. UPDATE: I'm told this is a multibillion dollar deal, with the film and video game funds alone worth $500 million each. The Warner pact is with Abu Dhabi’s leading real estate developer ALDAR and the newly established Abu Dhabi Media Company. According to the studio's PR, the deal was unveiled today by Barry Meyer and Alan Horn with Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Chairman and Ronald Barrott, CEO, ALDAR; Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Chairman and Riyad Al Mubarak, CEO, Abu Dhabi Media Co.; and Hunt Lowry, who brought the two parties together and will serve as the CEO of the yet-to-be-named film company formed by this venture. For the hotel and theme park project, Warner Bros. Entertainment will draw on select properties from its live-action and animated libraries to provide themes for the overall project as well as individual attractions. The film production fund, a 50-50 venture, calls for the development and production of broad-appeal films, with Warner Bros. retaining worldwide distribution options/rights. Separate from this arrangement, Warner Bros. Pictures International will work with Abu Dhabi Media Company to develop and produce a slate of Arabic-language films for local and pan-Arabic distribution.

Bob Iger can breathe a sigh of relief at today's legal decision. Since the Disney Channel has My Friends Tigger & Pooh, a re-launch of the company's very profitable Winnie The Pooh franchise. Tens of millions of dollars have been poured into the creation of this new CG TV series, all with the hope of making Pooh & pals more appealing to the SpongeBob generation. And the Mouse House has already lined up dozens of licensees to create My Friends Tigger & Pooh merchandise, which is due to hit store shelves this fall. So it's great timing that the Walt Disney Co today won a California appeals court ruling in that 16-year battle with the Slesinger family over hundreds of millions of dollars in Pooh royalties. The judge's panel affirmed a 2004 trial judge's decision to throw out the Slesingers' long running lawsuit against Disney after concluding that the Slesinger side had illegally obtained evidence by hiring a private dick to go Disney dumpster diving.

In case you've forgotten, Stephen Slesinger acquired the rights to the Winnie The Pooh characters in 1930 from author A.A. Milne, and Slesinger's widow licensed the rights to Disney. Slesinger's company filed a 1991 lawsuit claiming Disney hadn't accurately accounted for hundreds of million in unpaid royalties for sales of Pooh merchandise. In turn, Disney has unsuccessfully tried to terminate Slesinger's rights to the Pooh characters by backing a lawsuit filed by the granddaughters of Milne and illustrator Ernest Shepard. The U.S. Supreme Court last year turned away an appeal by Clare Milne that could have ended Disney's obligation to pay Slesinger royalties. Slesinger filed counterclaims in the federal lawsuit, seeking more than $2 billion in damages for trademark and copyright infringement and for underpaid royalties. That counterclaim is still pending. So, no, this isn't over.

1. Bad Timing For Disney's Legal Pooh-Pooh
2. Is Disney Now In Deep Legal Pooh-Pooh?

What the hell is going on at Saturday Night Live? First, NBC privately claimed it didn't ask Maya Rudolph back to SNL for an eighth season "to freshen the cast." Then NBC reversed itself and said it was her decision not to return. Now I receive this announcement via NBC from Maya: "It was an agonizing decision, but ultimately, I feel I made the best choice both as a mother and as an actress. I couldn’t be happier to be returning to SNL." And all of this happened in one day. Huh? "While both the previous reports about Maya Rudolph have been accurate at the time they were reported, Maya has had a change of heart and is returning to the show," NBC tells me. Not only is this way strange because of the lateness of the decision but also the different reasons. Well, at least SNL won't be winnowing the women on the show down to just two actresses, Amy Poehler and Kristen Wiig. Plus, Maya was known for playing a wide range of races and ethnicities from white to Asian to black to Latina and more and doing dead-on impressions of Oprah Winfrey, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Condoleezza Rice, Paris Hilton, Tyra Banks, Liza Minnelli, Whitney Houston, and Donatella Versace.

DreamWorks Animation SKG named Tom Freston to its board of directors today. The former Viacom Inc. president and CEO, who OK'ed the deal to bring DreamWorks into Paramount, was axed by old coot Sumner Redstone a year ago. Nothing like having a common enemy to bring Hollywood types closer together. I should also remind you that, within hours of Freston's firing before his body was even cold, David Geffen called up Redstone and suggested Jeffrey Katzenberg take Tom's place. But Redstone said fuhgeddaboudit.  

What a scumbag studio New Line Cinema is turning out to be. Because of this nugget buried in that legal victory which Lord Of The Rings director Peter Jackson just won during the discovery phase of his 2005 lawsuit to enforce the audit provision of his contract: Back in October 2006, New Line's counsel produced only "one third of a box" of audit documents for Jackson's discovery process and claimed that's all there was. This, even though Jackson's side had requested communications and documents from profit participant audits on any New Line property: film, television, sound tracks or video games. But, in a deposition, New Line auditor Ken Horowitz described five to 10 cabinets filled with audit records. (I haven't seen discovery this egregious since the Disney vs Slesinger Winnie The Pooh royalty case.) The federal magistrate on September 18th blasted New Line's "persistent disregard" of not just the U.S. District Court's discovery orders, but Jackson's right to documents "that the court has already determined are relevant to the claims and defenses in this action. Without the true facts, there can be no just result." The magistrate sanctioned New Line $125,000 and ordered the studio to produce all third-party audits, as well as any internal audits of licensees from The Fellowship Of The Ring, the first in the Rings trilogy which grossed nearly $3 billion at the worldwide box office. A week earlier, the court refused to grant 8 out of 11 summary judgments that New Line had brought in the case. The great irony here is that, while New Line and Jackson litigate, the two sides continue to work on a diplomatic track to solve their differences. "The ice is thawing, meaning the first focus is on having consistent civil dialogue," an insider tells me. "They're not near a settlement yet, but there is dialogue." Yet I have to ask: how can anyone negotiate with prick Bob Shaye? A source concurs: "A PR picture is beginning to be painted, not by Peter's side, but by the courts."

1. Bob Shaye's Mea Culpa Too Little Too Late
2. It's Official! Carlisle To New Line
3. Is This Russell's New Line Replacement?
4. Another Reason Why Bob Shaye Is A Prick
5. Bob Shaye Looks Like Even Bigger Idiot...
6. Studios To Fight Over Unusual Peter Jackson Pic Deal (But Not New Line) 
7. Bombs Away: Shaye's 'Mimzy' Tracking 0
8. Peter Jackson Answers Lord Of The Rants

Instead of just two movies competing at the box office this Friday, there are two moguls slugging it out. Vying for No. 1 will be The Game Plan from Disney, and The Kingdom from Universal. But the behind the scenes catfight is what's really interesting because both titles are the first films greenlit by their respective and recently installed (as in 2006) studio chieftains. The Game Plan was part of the trio of films (including Dan in Real Life + National Treasure: Book of Secrets) that Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production Prez Oren Aviv OK'ed for his first slate. At Universal Pictures, The Kingdom was in chairman Marc Shmuger's first slate as well. So there's an undeclared war between them and their signature films for bragging rights. Right now, distribution (between 2,700-2,800 theaters) and marketing money (about $30+ mil each) are even steven. But the pics are apples vs oranges: PG-rated family fare featuring The Rock (and a terrible trailer) vs R-rated action drama starring Jamie Foxx (and a kick ass ad campaign). Awareness for The Game Plan is tracking better than for The Kingdom, but the latter movie (appealing mainly to men older than 25) has Oscar buzz and should stick around longer.   

... Ken Burns' The War which began last night on PBS. Let's not forget Tinseltown's small role in this production. Narrated by actor Keith David, the 7-part series also features the first-person voices of Tom Hanks, Josh Lucas, Bobby Cannavale, Samuel L. Jackson, Eli Wallach, Robert Wahlberg, Carolyn McCormack, Adam Arkin, and Kevin Conway. But, sadly, I'm sure there will be no mention of William Morris Agency' legendary leader, Abe Lastfogel, who reluctantly took over, after much prodding, Hollywood’s USO shows. At first in November 1941 he refused to accept a title (he finally accepted the presidency in December 1942), feeling that he couldn't afford to spend enough time away from the Morris office to deserve one. But Lastfogel soon devoted himself full-time to the war effort and left the running of the agency to the men below him. (Well, at least those who weren't being drafted, like Johnny Hyde -- Norman Brokaw's uncle -- who had a bad ticker.) Lastfogel's daunting task was to establish order among a number of earnest but bewildered citizens of the entertainment community who were anxious to do their part for every U.S. soldier on every battlefield on every war front. Largely because of Lastfogel, the United States never had to enact Great Britain's and Russia's national service laws which made most performers subject to the wishes of their governments. In all, there were 17 fatalities among these performers known as "soldiers in greasepaint" who forged the largest production entity in the history of the world. After the war, Lastfogel refused all official and military honors, but did accept the nation's highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom, which he received from President Harry Truman.

Happened today. He plans to appeal. He had been trying to withdraw his guilty plea from before. (See my previous, Big-Time Movie Director Cops Guilty Plea) MORE

Disgusting filmmaker Eli Roth sounds increasingly desperate. (Recall when he reacted badly to the failure of his Hostel II)? Here's the latest from his MySpace:

"And did anyone read that absurd article by Lisa Schwartzbaum in Entertainment Weekly, about how she'd never watch a "Torture Porn" film? I think it's time for her to hang up her critic's pen. I mean, seriously, I hate to break it to you Lisa, but there is no such thing as "torture porn." It's a made up term, made up by people who don't understand these movies, who are afraid to even watch them, and who feel some bizarre sense of moral obligation to warn the public about them, despite the fact they don't watch them and never would. Lisa Schwartzbaum has let others define for her what the films are - she admits that she's never seen any of the Saw films, and that she never would. Well, why wouldn't you? Because someone else TOLD you that's what they were? Are you that weak minded that you couldn't even decide these things for yourself? What makes me sick is her smug, holier-than-thou attitude, as if to say "I wouldn't watch these films because I don't enjoy torture!" Well, no shit lady, nobody does, but maybe these films are actually making a statement about torture.

Would you not watch Three Kings because there's torture in it? What about Marathon Man? And are you implying that the millions and millions of people who do watch these films actually endorse torture themselves? No, it seems to me you're directly saying it. Well, I have a suggestion: GET ANOTHER JOB. I'm not saying you have to like every movie made, but you do have to see every movie made if you're going to be a critic, and watch them with a critical eye. But you're watching them with a prejudice, a prejudice that was decided for you not by the filmmakers, but by some jealous critic who probably wishes he had the balls to actually write and direct his own movie, but who never would because he's too fucking chickenshit to put himself out there where anyone can take shots at him. It's too bad, she doesn't know what she's missing. Which is why I'm thankful they have Owen Glieberman over there, who's someone who clearly gets it.

Here's what film critic Schwartzbaum posted back in July, explaining under the headline "What I Hate" why she refuses to cover Captivity and other ''torture-porn horror'' flicks:

This week, my colleague Owen Gleiberman describes the majority of Captivity as being ''not sick enough to disturb anyone who'd go to see this film.'' For the sake of readers who appreciate guidance in the nuances of the genre referred to as ''torture-porn horror,'' I'm glad Owen took the assignment. I wouldn't.

It's quite simple: I hate these movies. I won't see these movies. Never saw Saw or its sequels, never will. I'm not impressed with the ''quality'' of the gore or the ''wit'' of the filmmaking. I'm not enjoyably scared; I'm horrified, and not in the way horror fans get off on, groaning and screaming with pack-mentality excitement. Instead, my horror is one of disturbance and anger: Who makes this vile crap? What is remotely defensible about a movie like Captivity, in which a woman is abducted and tortured for the sake of ticket sales? Nothing, that's what. While moviegoers can vote with withheld wallets, I vote with my computer keyboard. Or rather, the silence of the keys, as I stay away from stuff I have no stomach for seeing, even on the job.

So now it's official: the Friars Club of New York did score that legal victory over the Friars of Beverly Hills I reported way back on September 7th. (See my previous, Bicoastal Friars Club War Ends: NY Wins?) The court order was officially signed last week instructing the Friars of Beverly Hills to stop using the Friars’s name. Of course, it took the flacks at Rubenstein 17 days to get back to me on this. Here's the PR:

THE FRIARS CLUB WINS WITH SUMMARY JUDGMENT AGAINST THE FRIARS OF BEVERLY HILLS: Attorneys from Pryor Cashman Prove the Friars of Beverly Hills Violated Trademark Law in Using the Friars’ Name

Los Angeles, CA -- Attorneys for The Friars Club at Pryor Cashman have officially obtained a summary judgment against the Friars of Beverly Hills in a Lanham Act and Anti-Dilution lawsuit, which they filed in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California. The Friars Club, renowned for its legendary Friars “Roasts” and whose members have included entertainment luminaries such as George Burns, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor, claimed that the defendants infringed and diluted The Friars Club’s trademark by operating “Friars of Beverly Hills” and by falsely claiming that it was the successor to the Friars Club of California, a now-defunct former licensee of The Friars Club.

In its decision, the Court found that the name “Friars” was not transferable from the Friars Club of California to the defendants.  Furthermore, it found that the evidence clearly demonstrated actual confusion on the part of the consuming public and blurring between the two organizations, and that The Friars Club had acquired “secondary meaning.”  The Court concluded that the defendants “may not evade trademark law by adopting” the Friars Club name and then “adding a geographic reference to try and distinguish its name.”  Relying on the fact that the defendants admitted that the name “Friars” is a “luxury brand,” that “everybody knows the Friars in the Country,” and that the “Friars” name is “a legacy” and “historic”, the court also concluded that the Defendants “intended to capitalize on the ‘Friars’ name by emulating it in every aspect.” 

“In short,” the Court ruled, “Defendants are using a mark (used by The Friars Club for over a hundred years) to identify a social club that is for all intents and purposes modeled after Plaintiff’s historic club.”  Such “free riding on the investment of The Friars Club must now come to an end.”

“It’s good that we are now able to put this all behind us and get back to business as usual at the Friars,” said Freddie Roman, the Dean of the Friars Club. “We had a good run on the West Coast for many years but now we move on. The Friars name is legally secure and we can continue to carry out the traditions our entertainment founders set forth over a hundred years ago.”

... When Brad Grey and Jeff Bewkes lunched together at Michael's in NYC on Friday. Discussing David Chase and a Sopranos movie? Or The Departed sequel? Or the Viacom-DreamWorks debacle? Or just two "very old and close friends"? But if both moguls really had something secret going on, it would be at a dive in Chinatown. 

The Band's Visit has just swept Israel's Ophir Awards (the equivalent to that country's Oscars) so this means it should be Israel's submission for the Academy Award's Best Foreign Language Film. But even with the Kodak Theater ceremony still 5 months away, there's already controversy in this category. Rivals are claiming that the political movie, about an Egyptian police band that mistakenly ends up stranded overnight in a small Israeli town, has more than 50% English dialogue and therefore must be ruled ineligible for the nomination. Israeli film critic Yair Raveh has been following the scandal on his blog (alas, in Hebrew) and reports that The Band's Visit producers, backed by Sony Pictures Classics (who bought the Cannes award winning film's foreign rights) insist the English dialogue is less than 50%. The Israeli motion picture academy says it's the producers' call, not theirs. That has infuriated rivals who are calling on the local academy to check into the matter before the film is officially submitted. Sony Classics may also enter the pic's Israeli writer and director Eran Kolirin in the Best Original Screenplay category. The Band's Visit, of course, just had its North American premiere at Telluride and Toronto. "As someone who's been following Israeli cinema for the past 15 years," Raveh emails me, "I've yet to see a local film getting such glowing international reviews." If it does become one of Oscar's Foreign Language nominees this year, it will be the first Israeli film to do so since 1984's Beyond the Walls. To date, six Israeli films have been Oscar nominees, but an Israeli movie has yet to win. Interestingly, The Band's Visit will participate in the Middle East International Film Festival held in October in Abu Dhabi.

Warner Bros was already there. So was Paramount, uh, DreamWorks, uh, Paramount / DreamWorks, uh, whatever. Now Sony has joined the $1 billion plus club for 2007 domestic gross for the 6th year in a row, and only one other studio can make that claim (Warner's). Disney, Universal and Fox should be there before the end of the year. New Line? No way. MGM? No how. Here's where everybody stands as far as U.S. box office so far.

I'm told there are two tough Hollywood business pieces in the works: the Los Angeles Times is looking at The Weinstein Co, and The New York Times is working on an MGM article. Interesting how every weekend MGM gripes not-so-privately about having to distribute Harvey & Bob's box office crap -- except for hits 1408 and Halloween, of course. And also fascinating how Harvey recently chose one of his lap dog media outlets, the New York Post, to keep reassuring Wall Street and Hollywood that his company isn't in the serious trouble many people think it is. Meanwhile, TWC isn't helping Harv's "counter the negativity" campaign by seeming to dump rather than distribute those losers which the indie movie company is contractually on the hook to release on its own. (Examples of this keep coming to me by email... Oy vey.) But eerie how the problems of the two companies are so similar: both releasing way too much bad product, both caught in the credit crunch, both unable to recapture the magic that made them legendary.