plus 4, Movie replaces Microsoft in sponsoring Fox's 'Family Guy' special - Seattle Times

Movie replaces Microsoft in sponsoring Fox's 'Family Guy' special - Seattle Times
'This Is It' tops charts with $101M worldwide - Gloucester Daily Times
Disney Movies - Mickey News
Qatari firm in talks to make Prophet Mohammad film - AsiaOne
KATE HUDSON'S SOBER STRUGGLE - Contactmusic.com

Movie replaces Microsoft in sponsoring Fox's 'Family Guy' special - Seattle Times

Posted: 02 Nov 2009 09:36 AM PST

NEW YORK —

Fox network says an upcoming movie has stepped in for Microsoft to sponsor next Sunday's "Family Guy" special.

The upcoming Warner Bros. feature "Sherlock Holmes" will be the sole sponsor of "Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show." A sneak preview from the December release, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, will air during the broadcast.

Last week, Microsoft abruptly backed out as sponsor of the half-hour comedy-variety program, which stars "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein, who, like MacFarlane, provides voices for the animated series.

The software giant explained that the often racy "Family Guy" style might clash with the Windows brand the company planned to promote on the show.

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Fox network is owned by News Corp.

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'This Is It' tops charts with $101M worldwide - Gloucester Daily Times

Posted: 02 Nov 2009 08:42 PM PST

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "Michael Jackson's This Is It" pulled in $101 million worldwide in its first five days, and distributor Sony is extending the farewell performance film beyond its planned two-week run.

The film was the No. 1 Halloween thriller domestically with a $21.3 million opening weekend, according to studio estimates yesterday.

The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, Paramount's low-budget horror sensation "Paranormal Activity," slipped to No. 2 with $16.5 million, lifting its total to $84.8 million.

"This Is It" raised its domestic total to $32.5 million. The movie pulled in $68.5 million overseas, including $10.4 million in Japan, $6.3 million in Germany, $5.8 million in France and $3.2 million in China.

"He's just loved everywhere on the planet," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. "It doesn't matter if it's Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, South America. Every continent in the world loved him and his music."

In Great Britain, where Jackson had planned a marathon series of 50 London concerts starting last July, the movie earned $7.6 million.

"This Is It" captures Jackson in behind-the-scenes performances in the weeks before his death last June, as he rehearsed his biggest hits for the London shows.

"This Is It" originally was scheduled for a theatrical run of only two weeks. The studio has extended it a few more weeks domestically, leaving it in theaters through Thanksgiving weekend, one of the year's busiest moviegoing times.

Sony plans to extend the run of "This Is It" overseas on a country-by-country basis, with most territories probably getting one to three weeks of extra playing time, Bruer said.

The studio paid $60 million for film rights to Jackson's rehearsal footage, an investment the movie recouped in days.

"They bet $60 million on this and got $101 million in just five days," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "It was a gamble and a bet that paid off."

The movie fell far short of last year's $31.1 million opening weekend domestically for "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert." But Bruer said "This Is It" has a shot at surpassing the $65.3 million domestic total during the entire run of Cyrus' movie, which tops the all-time charts for music documentaries.

Worldwide, "This Is It" already has shot past Cyrus' concert film. Cyrus mainly appeals to American teens, and her movie got only a limited release overseas, where it took in about $5 million to give the film a global total of just over $70 million.

"This Is It" played in 3,481 theaters domestically, about five times the number for Cyrus' movie. But "Best of Both Worlds" ran in 3-D, for which theaters typically charge a few dollars more.

And Cyrus' young fans are an audience segment that tends to rush out to see movies over opening weekend, the movie doing nearly half its business in the first few days.

Sony hopes for a longer shelf life for "This Is It," which drew older crowds that catch movies on their own schedule, with less regard for the opening-weekend frenzy. Fans older than 25 accounted for 62 percent of the audience, according to Sony.

While "Paranormal Activity" led Halloween's scary movies, an established horror franchise lost its fear factor as Lionsgate's "Saw VI" fell sharply in its second weekend after an anemic debut.

"Saw VI" came in at No. 5 this weekend with $5.6 million, raising its total to just $22.8 million after 10 days. Previous sequels in the serial-killer series all had topped $30 million during opening weekend alone.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through yesterday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com; final figures will be released Monday:

1. "Michael Jackson's This Is It," $21.3 million.

2. "Paranormal Activity," $16.5 million.

3. "Law Abiding Citizen," $7.3 million.

4. "Couples Retreat," $6.1 million.

5. "Saw VI," $5.6 million.

6. "Where the Wild Things Are," $5.1 million.

7. "The Stepfather," $3.4 million.

8. "Astro Boy," $3.04 million.

9. "Amelia," $3 million.

10. "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant," $2.8 million.

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Disney Movies - Mickey News

Posted: 02 Nov 2009 11:41 PM PST

Bottom Line: Exuberant movie technology overwhelms, then buries Dickens' emotional tale.

Didn't Charles Dickens use to be the author of "A Christmas Carol?" Well, now it's "Disney's A Christmas Carol" that opens later this week. Even that's a misnomer. It should be "Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol." This is not nitpicking, for authorship goes to the heart of what's good and what's not good about this latest cinematic installment of the classic Christmas story.

When it comes to name recognition, you cannot ask for more at the holiday season than Disney and "A Christmas Carol," so a potent boxoffice is assured. Putting Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman and Colin Firth on the marquee only adds to the window dressing.

Now, about who's the author here: In one sense, this is a most faithful interpretation of Dickens' 1843 novella. Indeed, nearly all the dialogue is lifted from the original text. But this also is writer-producer-director Zemeckis' third motion-capture film following "Beowulf" and "The Polar Express." It has been shot and, on accommodating screens, will be projected in Disney's trademarked Digital 3D.

So, taking a few cues from Dickens and with the latest in digital technology at the creators' disposal, this movie version revels in effects: Ethereal, menacing spirits burst through locked doors; frightening visions terrify Scrooge; and images of wild horses, twisted human forms and coal-black dwellings rife with crime, filth and misery are linked by flights through London's cityscape and over countrysides that lift from "Harry Potter" movies as much as from Dickens.

Initially, all this serves to invigorate an old war horse. One is reminded that what Ebenezer Scrooge experiences -- when the chained ghost of his long-dead partner and then three spirits assault him in his own bedroom -- is horror in the true sense. So this is a very dark tale, a tour of a miserly, misanthropic man's soul, and Zemeckis' film does reclaim this aspect of a story that has become more of a cheery cartoon in modern retellings.

But as the spirits escort Scrooge through his sorry life, Zemeckis gradually makes this "Christmas Carol" his own. But as he does, with his intense reliance and belief in movie technology, this auteur shuns the beating heart of Dickens' story.

Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" is about emotions. It's about how emotions can get stunted and tramped down, how they can be revived and how empathy and affection can bring joy to the human soul. One will find none of that here.

Zemeckis' "A Christmas Carol" is, in its essence, a product reel, a showy, exuberant demonstration of the glories of motion capture, computer animation and 3D technology. On that level, it's a wow. On any emotional level, it's as cold as Marley's Ghost.

Motion capture allows an impressive cast -- along with Carrey, Oldman and Firth, there's Cary Elwes, Robin Wright Penn, Bob Hoskins and Fionnula Flanagan -- to play multiple roles. For instance, Carrey is not only Scrooge at every age, he is the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, and Oldman plays Scrooge's meek but cheerful clerk, Bob Cratchit, as well as his sickly son, Tiny Tim.

You certainly can justify this. The ghosts are aspects and extensions of Scrooge's personality, and a son should mirror his father. But gimmick casting leads to gimmick acting. With vocal tricks and accents, CGI-distorted faces and figures and exaggerated body language, the movie robs Dickens' vivid, prototypical characters of any sense of being living, breathing flesh. They become caricatures in a Christmas pageant.

The worst offense to the spirit of Dickens comes with Tiny Tim. He, more than any other character in this tale, represents its true spirit. In the Zemeckis version, he's a dress extra who tiresomely exclaims, "God bless us, everyone!"

So deck the halls with praise for the crew -- cinematographer Robert Presley, designer Doug Chiang, animation supervisor Jenn Emberly, visual effects supervisor George Murphy and Alan Silvestri for his robust score. But a rousing humbug to those who confuse the media for the message.

Opens: Friday, Nov. 6

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Qatari firm in talks to make Prophet Mohammad film - AsiaOne

Posted: 01 Nov 2009 07:07 AM PST

DOHA (Reuters) - A film about the Prophet Mohammad backed by the producer of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Matrix" is under discussion, a Qatar media firm said Sunday, with the aim of creating an English-language blockbuster for the world's 1.5 billion Muslims.

Filming of the $150 million movie is set to start in 2011, with Barrie Osborne as its producer, Almoor Holdings said.

Almoor said the film - in which the Prophet would not be depicted, in accordance with Islamic strictures - was in development and talks were being held with studios, talent agencies and distributors in the United States and Britain.

The company launched a $200-million international film fund on October 31 to invest in film projects amid tight financing in the wake of the financial crisis and plans to focus on Hollywood.

Alnoor said it aimed to attract the "best international talent" to star in the motion picture.

The company was set up this year to take advantage of economic opportunities in the entertainment industry, focusing on international film production, Arabic production and animation.

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KATE HUDSON'S SOBER STRUGGLE - Contactmusic.com

Posted: 02 Nov 2009 10:36 PM PST

Kate Hudson picture

KATE HUDSON'S SOBER STRUGGLE

Kate Hudson admits she found it difficult to lose weight for a new movie role because she enjoys drinking alcohol so much.

Kate Hudson found it hard to give up alcohol.

The blonde actress had to lose 20lbs to play a terminally ill woman in new movie 'Earthbound' and says the only way to do it was by cutting out drinking, even though it's something she enjoys.

She said: "I love my glass of wine. I love tequila. To be in New York for two weeks and not have one beverage, I'm not sure I've ever done that!"

Kate - who is dating New York Yankees baseball star Alex 'A-Rod' Rodriguez - also spoke of her joy at being a woman and the power she feels it gives her.

She told Britain's Elle magazine: "I love being a girl. I love clothes and I love the rituals of facials and body treatments, all the stuff girls get, make-up, scarves, hats.

"And we're like a tribe. That's just our nature. You get a group of women together and, somehow, we keep it together. I love that we can be that powerful, as a group. Men, you know, it's survival of the fittest."

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