Trade Round-Up: MSNBC Now More NBC Than MS
· The 50-50 split ownership of failed cable news experiment MSNBC is no longer, as Microsoft sells its controlling stake back to NBC Universal. Bill Gates remains cautiously optimistic until the happy day he sees the letters NBC lopped off his company's name forever. [Variety]
· Studios hold their breaths as seven movies go into wide release this weekend, including Rumor Has It and The Producers. Or if laughs is what you're looking for, there's always Munich. [THR]
· Narnia grosses $5 million on Wednesday, eking out a midweek victory over Kong, and leaving Universal wondering if perhaps they shouldn't have added an Aslan resurrection-like coda to their little monkey's depressing downfall. [Variety]
· In a "nudge to Oscar voters," Fox will screen the director's cut of Ridley's Scott's Kindgom of Heaven, featuring 45 extra minutes of footage, at the Laemmle Fairfax. For those of us who never intended on seeing any version of the film, this amounts to a gift of 45 minutes with which to do whatever we please. Thanks, Fox! [Variety]
· NBC orders more episodes of their new hit game show Deal or No Deal; Howie Mandel and that guy pretending to be the banker's agents go into overtime renegotiating fat paydays. (The models get scale. They're just lucky to be there.) [THR]