'Iron Man 2' Opens To $7.5M Thursday … 
Vying For Hot Young Female 'Tattoo' Role 
JJ Abrams Unveils 'Super 8' Teaser Trailer … 
PRIMETIME PILOT PANIC: 4TH UPDATE On The Hot … 
The UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster grew ad revenue by 8% between January and March. That compares with a 15% drop over the same three months in 2009. ITV says the market outlook for the second half of 2010 is highly uncertain ... Read More »
ITV Predicts 22% Ad Revenue Rise in Q2
'Iron Man 2' Opens To $7.5M Thursday Midnight Shows; Widest Release In History Friday; $132M Already From 53 Countries
FRIDAY 1 AM UPDATE: Sources tell me that Paramount 
opened the Marvel film Iron Man 2 for $7.5 million in midnight shows. (IM2 did $3.5M for its debut ... Read More »
Cannes Film Festival Party & Events List
UPDATED AS EVENTS ARE SCHEDULED
Thursday, May 13, 2010
12:00pm-7:30pm International Film Finance Forum
Hotel Majestic Barriere
6:00pm-8:00pm BOMBAY DREAMS Cocktail Party and Press Launch
(Azure Films) - Carlton Hotel
8:30pm-12:00am Marche Du Film Opening Night 2010
Majestic Beach La Croisette
TBA Icon Pictures Party
TBA Maybach Foundation Party
Friday, May ... Read More »
Vying For Hot Young Female 'Tattoo' Role
EXCLUSIVE: Every hot young actress in Hollywood wants to play the lead in Sony Pictures' The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. But will director David Fincher cast one of them -- or go with an unknown? This is the studio's next 3-film ... Read More »
Is Universal's Next 'Fast And The Furious' Getting A Dwayne Johnson Infusion?
Is a match-up between action icons Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel in the works for the next installment of The Fast and the Furious? Sources tell me it’s not a done deal but that Johnson is eyeing a starring role in Fast & Furious 5. He's already is driving mode on the CBS Films revenge drama Faster, and here, it appears Johnson's character will be on the right side of the law. Fast & Furious 4 reinvigorated the franchise with a $155M domestic haul.
Fly On The Wall At Universal Commissary
First, Steven Spielberg spent an hour at lunch today with Jeffrey Katzenberg at the Universal commissary. Then Spielberg walked over and sat down at the table where Jeff Zucker and Adam Fogelson were having a meal together. Look, if I have to explain the backstories among these players, then you're ... Read More »
'Burn Notice' vs 'White Collar' Creators
Do you remember that classic 2001 email exchange between Fox TV rivals Judd Apatow and Mark Brazill, the one with the “Get Cancer” remark? Those were the good old days when Hollywood feuds were mostly private and took time to develop via ... Read More »
Kristen Stewart Takes 'On The Road' Trip
Kristen Stewart continues to use her Twilight momentum to make indie projects happen. Stewart, who starred in two of the higher profile films at Sundance-- The Runaways and Welcome to the Rileys--just said yes to the Walter Salles-directed adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road. Garrett Hedlund plays Dean Moriarty, Stewart will play his wife Marylou. Sam Riley will also be in the film, which has an array of international producers. aiming for an August start date. It feels like Salles has been trying to get the movie going forever and while the drawing power of the Twilight cast hasn't yet translated to box office on films outside the franchise, it's hard not to like a young actress who is using her currency to do something cool, whether it seems like a big commercial bet or not.
Fox Firms Up 'Planet Of The Apes' Prequel
LOS ANGELES (May 6, 2010) __ Twentieth Century Fox has set a June 24, 2011 release for RISE OF THE APES, a completely new take on one of the Studio’s most beloved and successful franchises. Oscar®-winning visual effects house WETA Digital – employing certain of the groundbreaking technologies developed for AVATAR – will render, for the first time ever in the film series, photo-realistic apes rather than costumed actors.
Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark will produce for Chernin Entertainment under its new pact with Fox. Acclaimed filmmaker Rupert Wyatt (“The Escapist”) is directing from a screenplay by Amanda Silver & Rick Jaffa, who also are producing.
RISE OF THE APES (tentative title) is an origin story in the truest sense of the term. Set in present day San Francisco, the film is a reality-based cautionary tale, a science fiction/science fact blend, where man’s own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.
CW To Air Ex-CBS Drama 'Moonlight'
The CW will be adding some bite to Thursday nights this summer, acquiring reruns of CBS' cult vampire drama Moonlight to be paired with repeats of the CW’s own Vampire Diaries. The vampire fest stars June 3. Two years ago, when CBS canceled the series starring Alex O'Loughlin, there was ... Read More »
UPDATE: Stock Market Collapses, Dow Down 980 Points, S&P Down 91, Then Claws 2/3 Back; How Is Big Media Faring?
Trading day closed with the Dow at -347.80 and the S&P -37.75. Reasons for the plunge include Greek violence, European contagion, and, most upsetting, erroneous trades (fat finger or system error?). Let's see the fallout for the Big Media companies when ... Read More »
Paramount Sets Tom Cruise's 'MI4' Release
Paramount just scheduled JJ Abrams' Super 8 for Summer 2011 (JJ Abrams Unveiling 'Super 8' Teaser Trailer) and Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible 4 (which is close to hiring Brad Bird as the director) for December 16, ... Read More »
Sidney Kimmel Ent's New Production Prez
Sidney Kimmel Entertainment has named Matt Berenson to be president of production and promoted Mark Mikutowicz to creative executive. Berenson had been president of production at Principato-Young Entertainment for the past 18 months, and before that he was president of production at Carsey-Werner Films. SKE has been in a state of flux since Kimmel downsized his operation in 2008. It most recently produced the Screen Gems-distributed remake Death at a Funeral, and there is a lot left in the pipeline, though it is unclear how aggressive Kimmel will be once those get made. SKE made some edgy indie films -- United 93, The Kite Runner, Lars and the Real Girl -- but a lot tanked.
Reliance Buys Chunk Of IM Global, Putting India-Based Giant Further Into Hollywood
In its biggest film industry investment since becoming a partner in DreamWorks, India-based Reliance Big Entertainment has acquired a majority stake in IM Global, the foreign sales company founded and run by Stuart Ford. No specific details on the size of the stake or what Reliance paid, but the deal comes at a time of expansion for IM Global. CAA film finance agent Brian Kavanaugh-Jones gave notice last month that he would leave to run a new company to produce and finance mainstream films, details on which are likely to be unveiled during Cannes. Ford also hired away Lakeshore International's sales chief Jonathan L. Deckter to be IM Global's new president of Sales and Distribution.
The relationship between Reliance Big and IM Global got going in February, when IM Global began handling Reliance's Hindi film output internationally.
Horowitz Upped To Universal Pictures Prez
UNIVERSAL CITY, CA, May 6, 2010 – Universal Pictures Chairman Adam Fogelson announced today Jimmy Horowitz has been promoted to President, Universal Pictures. In his new role, Horowitz will work with Fogelson, Co-Chairman Donna Langley and Vice-Chairman and COO Rick Finkelstein to shape and implement domestic strategic business initiatives and help manage day-to-day business operations. He will report to Fogelson and Finkelstein.
“Jimmy is a critical gatekeeper for our company, someone who all our filmmakers know and respect,” said Fogelson. “His deep knowledge of our business and the people we work with make him a trusted strategic advisor who will play a major role in helping us shape the future of this studio.”
A key member of Universal’s senior management team who has worked at the studio for 18 years, Horowitz previously served as Co-President of Production and Executive Vice President of Universal Pictures, a position he held since July 2006. In that role he has supervised non-creative aspects of production at Universal and has overseen Universal’s growing live stage business. Under his leadership, Universal Pictures Stage Productions has had box-office and critical success with Wicked, which has grossed over $1 billion worldwide and Billy Elliot, which won 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical in 2009. As President, Horowitz will add the oversight of Chris Meledandri’s Illumination Entertainment and Universal’s relationship with Relativity Media to his portfolio.Horowitz was appointed Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs for Universal Pictures in January 2002. In this position, he oversaw the business and legal
... Read More »
Nancy Dubuc Makes First Lifetime Move
EXCLUSIVE: Lifetime has greenlighted its first project since the 
recent top regime change at the network, with Nancy Dubuc taking over as president and GM (and running History). It’s Bond of Silence, an original movie starring Grey’s Anatomy’s Kim ... Read More »
JJ Abrams Unveils 'Super 8' Teaser Trailer Before 'IM2'; Summer 2011 Release
JJ Abrams is ready to dish some details on his next Paramount Pictures film, Super 8, with a teaser trailer that will play in front of Iron Man 2 this weekend. That trailer will answer some questions about Super 8, which has been the subject of a lot of internet speculation lately. Today, Paramount officially announced it will start production this fall, and hit theaters next summer. Abrams wrote the script and will direct and produce under his and Bryan Burk's Bad Robot label, as well as Steven Spielberg's Amblin banner.
I'm told the trailer begins with a pickup truck that veers onto a train track, heading directly for a locomotive. The legend appears: "In 1979, the US Air Force closed a section of Area 51. All the materials were to be transported to a secure facility in Ohio." The truck hits the train, there is a tremendous explosion destroying the vehicle and the train. The camera focuses on one train car that wasn't destroyed. A heavy pounding is heard from inside.
The film is a personal passion project for Abrams, an homage to the films he loved as a teen. It will be shot for $45 million which puts Super 8 in league with the Bad Robot-produced Cloverfield. But it is not a sequel to that film as has been speculated. Abrams will shoot this in traditional style, not hand-held. He'll then go to work on the Star Trek sequel, which is dated for ... Read More »
'Burn Notice' Producer Mikkel Bondesen Re-Ups With Fox TV Studios
EXCLUSIVE: Burn Notice executive producer Mikkel Bondesen is staying at Fox 
TV Studios with a new two-year overall deal for his production company Fuse Entertainment that will focus primarily on cable development. In addition to USA hit Burn Notice, Bondesen executive ... Read More »
Liz Murdoch's Kudos Now Has Lovely Day
Diederick Santer, executive producer of popular BBC soap EastEnders, has landed at Kudos Film and Television, producer of MI5 and Life On Mars. Santer oversaw EastEnders’ live 25th anniversary episode in February, which achieved 16.4 million viewers. Lovely Day, ... Read More »
Film4 Compiling ‘The Kill List’
EXCLUSIVE: I’ve been told that one of the broadcaster’s upcoming projects is The Kill List, a horror film about a group of demobbed soldiers turned contract killers who run up against a devil-worshipping coven. It sounds like ... Read More »
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