Trade Round-Up: Cruise To Take Over Tribeca
· The Tribeca Film Festival sells what's left of its soul to Hollywood, landing the premiere of Mission: Impossible III, complete with a promotional stunt in which Tom Cruise will race across the city by "'motorcycle, speedboat, taxi, helicopter, sports car and subway' over six hours as he makes his way to other Mission screenings around Manhattan before the fest's official fest preem at the Ziegfeld Theater." After the movie ends, he will throw pregnant fiancee Katie Holmes over his shoulder and scale the Empire State Building, where she will spectacularly expel the couple's child from her womb as he harmlessly bats away disapproving biplanes. [Variety]
· Apple proves that you don't have to pay for product placement if Hollywood already thinks your product is cool. [THR]
· China's commies establish rules forbidding its TV networks from featuring "indecent content" and "forbidden subjects," regulations that seem aimed directly at halting the dangerous ideas that Desperate Housewives injects into their culture. [Variety]
· Columbia bumps up All the King's Men (which was previously pushed off its original Dec. 2005 release date) from a December to late September premiere. The studio further reserves its right to bury the movie in a time capsule below the Sony lot should the film's Oscar prospects erode even further. [THR]
· American Idol draws a season-low 21.8 million viewers, prompting Fox to order a weeklong shutoff of the show's production office Cristal fountain. [Variety]