film

The Twilight Economy

cityfile · 11/23/09 04:02PM

It's safe to say the Twilight sequel has been thoroughly exploited at this point: Baggies of Twilight-branded heroin featuring drawings of the movie's characters have now turned up on Long Island. [TMZ]

cityfile · 11/23/09 01:30PM

New Moon smashed expectations this weekend, racking up $140 million at the box office and setting a record for the third-biggest opening ever. [NYT]
• News Corp. and Microsoft are in talks to remove News Corp. content from Google and have it appear on Bing, Microsoft's search engine. [FT, Bloomberg]
O is slumping, so Hearst is now planning to makeover the magazine. [NYP]
• Talks between GE and Vivendi over NBC seem to have hit a roadblock. [WSJ]
Project Runway's finale generated solid ratings for Lifetime, but it still didn't reel in the number of viewers it did when it aired on Bravo. [WWD]
• Scary: Glenn Beck is now looking to be more of a "political organizer." [NYT]
• Also scary: Lou Dobbs wasn't kidding about running for president. [NYDN]
Katie Couric: serious anchor by day, sexy dancer by night. [Gawker]

cityfile · 11/20/09 03:50PM

• Oprah got all teary today when she announced she'll end her talk show two years from now. Meanwhile her upstart cable network announced it'll launch in January 2011, eight months before her talk show goes off the air. [EW, THR]
• Oprah isn't the only one planning her goodbyes. Bill Moyers announced today that he's retiring and will wrap up his weekly PBS show in April 2010. [NYT]
• Former NY1 anchor Dominic Carter was found guilty of misdemeanor attempted assault today for roughing up his wife last year. [NYDN]
• Last night's season finale of Project Runway was the highest-rated episode of the season; meanwhile, winner Irina Shabayeva describes what's next for her.
• The new Twilight sequel, New Moon, isn't just causing excitable teens to pass out in droves. It's also on track to break a few box office records. [AFP, AP]
• More on the bloodshed at BusinessWeek the past few days. [FBNY]
Tina Brown has herself a new right-hand man at The Daily Beast. [NYP]
• Yet another book by reality TV star Lauren Conrad is on the way. [NYDN]
Phil Falcone's Harbinger has cut his stake in the Times once again. [Reuters]
• The scariest news ever: Lou Dobbs has left open the possibility that he'll make a run for the White House in 2012. And he wasn't kidding. [Reuters]

Blame Hollywood

cityfile · 11/19/09 02:40PM

Why is this country so fat and getting fatter by the day? Apparently one reason is that some Americans have yet to figure out that consuming a six-pound bucket of movie popcorn bathed in butter is not healthy. Weren't aware yourself? Make a note of it! [NYDN]

cityfile · 11/09/09 02:38PM

• Another magazine has gone under: Hachette announced today that it's closing Metropolitan Home to "focus its resources" on Elle Décor. [AdAge]
New York's profile of star Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin reveals he's one of the paper's highest-paid staffers and is beloved by the titans of Wall Street, but is not quite as popular with some of his Times colleagues. [NYM]
• Circulation is down—and losses are up—at the New York Post. [NYT]
• GE and Comcast have agreed on a valuation for NBC, which brings the parties one step closer to handing over control of the network to Comcast. [Reuters]
• Condé Nast may be trimming expenses and cutting jobs here at home, but the mag giant is busy expanding its presence in China. [NYP]
Curb Your Enthusiasm is coming to basic cable. TV Land and TV Guide have picked up reruns of the show and will begin airing them next year. [LAT]
• Google has acquired the mobile ad company AdMob for $750 million. [NYT]
• Last night's Mad Men scored AMC its highest-rated finale ever, although considering it's AMC we're talking about, that isn't saying much. [B&C]
A Christmas Carol was No. 1 at the weekend box office, although its $31 million gross was weak given it cost $200 million to produce. Meanwhile, Precious' $1.8 million take on 18 screens set a limited-release record. [LAT]

cityfile · 11/02/09 03:46PM

• Comcast is "close" to a deal to take control of NBC Universal. [NYT]
• Scripps Networks, which controls the Food Network and HGTV, is close to taking over the Travel Channel for the low, low price of $1 billion. [NYT]
• The critically-acclaimed cop drama Southland is coming back. Although NBC canceled the show, TNT now plans to air the remaining episodes. [LAT]
• It's been a rocky road for Jay Leno since moving to 10pm, which may explain why he says he'd go right back to his old time slot if NBC requested it. [B&C]
• Oprah has signed on to narrate a new Discovery Channel nature series. [NYT]
• Universal Music is bringing in a successor to CEO Doug Morris. [BW]
• The Jackson doc This Is It was No. 1 at the box office this weekend. [THR]
• Did you know that in the '80s, Sue Simmons used to knock back a couple of cocktails and hit the clubs before the 11pm newscast? How scandalous! [NYO]

cityfile · 10/28/09 04:08PM

• Tom McGeveran took over as editor of the Observer after Peter Kaplan made his exit this spring, but now he's headed out the door as well. [NYO]
• Layoffs: The cuts at Condé Nast continue though they should end soon; the layoffs at Forbes this week were deep ones: 1 in 4 editorial staffers were let go.
Newsday's website erected a pay wall today. Good luck with that. [E&P]
• The Michael Jackson movie This Is It sold $2.2 million in tickets on its opening night, which is pretty good considering it was a Tuesday. [LAT, NYT]

Condé's Closings; Changes at Universal and Disney

cityfile · 10/05/09 02:15PM

• More on Condé Nast's decision to shut down four magazines, including Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride: An estimated 180 people will likely lose their jobs as part of the move, although CEO Chuck Townsend says the company has no plans to shutter any other titles. [NYO, AdAge]
• If Comcast goes ahead with a deal to take a controlling stake in NBC, Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal's CEO, may need to find a new job. [NYP]
Don Imus' radio show debuted on Fox Business today. [WP]
• Rich Ross, the president of Disney Channels Worldwide, is taking over Walt Disney Studios; he's succeeding Dick Cook, who was ousted on Sept. 16. [NYT]
• Universal Pictures has fired chairmen Marc Shmuger and David Linde. [LAT]
• CBS has been busy ridding YouTube of David Letterman's mea culpa. [NYT]
Zombieland was No. 1 at the box office this weekend with a $25 million take. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs dropped to second place. [Variety]
• It wasn't all bad news at Condé Nast today: The New Yorker landed its biggest ad buy since 2005 with a $1 million deal with HSBC. [Folio]

Time Warner Rumors, Condé Cuts & SNL

cityfile · 09/28/09 02:00PM

• Is Time Warner planning to shed its Time Inc. magazine division? [Crain's]
• Condé Nast is hunkering down for a big round of budget cuts, as you've probably heard. One Condé title that happens to be doing quite well: Vanity Fair's Italian edition, which having its best year ever, apparently.
Saturday Night Live's Jenny Slate won't be punished for cursing on the air. But it's looking like Darrell Hammond may have been dropped from the show.
Tina Brown's Daily Beast is planning to get into book publishing. [NYT]
• Former Times film critic (and Turner Classic Movies host) Elvis Mitchell is in financial trouble again: He reportedly owes $500,000 in back taxes. [P6]
• How much the cast of The Hills makes might make you nauseous. [TDB]
• Can Twitter ever earn enough in advertising revenue to justify its recent valuation of $1 billion? It's highly unlikely, say some observers. [AdAge]
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was No. 1 again this weekend. [LAT]

Lehman Brothers: The Movie

cityfile · 09/10/09 10:42AM

The movie about the fall of Lehman Brothers aired on the BBC last night. The Financial Times' Alphaville blog wasn't the least bit impressed with the "cringeworthingly hilarious" made-for-TV production. The "failed irony, bad acting and moral superiority," along with "overly earnest analogies to the movie Fight Club" and "a very sweaty OCD-obsessive clown-like Dick Fuld," gave it "the quality [of a] straight-to-video release," Izabella Kaminska reports. We'll leave it to you to decide how the filmmakers fared in terms of casting. From left to right: actor Henry Goodman as Morgan Stanley chief John Mack; and Michael Brandon as "brash tough-talking" JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Update: Dealbreaker has a clip of the movie here. [FT]

Tyra Banks Launches a Magazine; Another Paper Launches a Wine Club; Hollywood's Mediocre Summer

cityfile · 09/08/09 01:06PM

Tyra Banks is launching a web-based magazine. Tyra: Beauty Inside & Out will feature an "audio 'manifesto' that asks readers to dream big, ignore the haters, celebrate uniqueness and seek the beauty in everything." [WWD]
• James Patterson has signed a 17-book deal with his publisher, Hachette. And all 17 of them will arrive in bookstores before the end of 2012. [AP]
• All the competition online appears to be taking a toll on the Zagat guide series. Sales are down and the company has been laying off staff. [NYP]
• It was a mixed bag for Hollywood studios hoping for a big summer box office. Revenue was up 2 percent, but attendance fell 2 percent, too. [NYT]
The Final Destination and Inglourious Bastards came in at No. 1 and 2 at the box office this weekend, beating out a handful of newcomers. [LAT]
• Following in the footsteps of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, USA Today is the latest newspaper to launch an online "wine club." [E&P]

Disney Buys Marvel, NBC Gets 'More Colorful'

cityfile · 08/31/09 01:55PM

• Get ready for the Spider-Man ride at Disney World: Walt Disney has agreed to pay $4 billion in cash and stock to acquire Marvel Entertainment. [NYT, WSJ]
• Because she was clearly the very best person for the job, Jenna Bush has signed on with the Today show. The daughter of the former president will be contributing stories "about once a month on issues like education." [THR]
The Final Destination was No. 1 at the box office this weekend with a $28.3 million take; Inglourious Basterds came in No. 2 with $20 million. [THR]
• Newsstand magazine sales continue to fall. Single-copy sales fell 12 percent during the first half of the 2009 compared to the same period in 2008. [AP]
• NBC's new slogan for its fall marketing campaign? "More colorful." [Variety]

Runway Debuts, Anna Gets a Pass, Harvey's Nail-Biter

cityfile · 08/21/09 02:30PM

• Last night's long-delayed premiere of the sixth season of Project Runway—on Lifetime, not Bravo—earned the show its highest ratings ever. [NYT, THR]
• Breathe easy: Anna Wintour's travel itinerary for the fall fashion shows in London, Paris and Milan will not be affected by the recent round of budget cuts at Condé Nast. She'll be staying at the Ritz in Paris, as usual. [NYP]
• The cuts have claimed Condé's supply of coffee stirrers, however. [P6]
• Another member of the Sulzberger clan is joining the New York Times. [NYO]
• News Corp. has been meeting with newspaper publishers to discuss forming some sort of "consortium" to charge people for access to news online. [LAT]
• News Corp. is also in talks to sell its Dow Jones stock market index. [NYT]
Harvey and Bob Weinstein have a lot riding on the success of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. How is the movie expected to perform at the box office this weekend? Not too bad, per early estimates. [THR]

Weinstein Under Pressure?

cityfile · 08/14/09 03:43PM

Is Harvey Weinstein looking to unload his stake in the failed social network ASmallWorld to raise some much-needed cash? Guest of a Guest received a tip to that effect today, and Gawker reports that a conversation did take place, but no deal was reached: "They were approached by an interested party and were willing to hear what they had to say." Needless to say, feel free to reach out to Harvey if you have any interest in taking over the long-since-faded site. [Gawker, GoaG]

Reed Elsevier Sells, Rodale Chief Exits, More Earnings

cityfile · 07/30/09 01:41PM

• Reed Elsevier is planning to sell a bunch of publications, including Broadcasting & Cable, Publishers Weekly and Multichannel News. [THR]
• Rodale's president and CEO, Steve Murphy, has resigned. [Gawker]
• Disney reports third-quarter profit fell 26 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Sony posted a loss for the quarter, as well. [AP, Reuters]
• Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia reported a loss, but beat estimates. [NYP]
• TLC's been having a pretty good year, in case you haven't heard. [LAT]
Amy Poehler is coming back to SNL. Just part-time, though. [Vulture]
Maria Bartiromo has locked in a new five-year contract with CNBC. [VF]
• Dustin "Screech" Diamond's tell-all memoir will be published, after all! [NYO]

Awful Looking Nic Cage Remake May Find an Audience After All!

Natasha VC · 07/29/09 07:50PM

Remember how you emailed a friend that trailer for some failed movie? One that by all appearances looked like a total misfire and couldn't get a distributor? Even though thespian powerhouse Nic Cage was the lead? Remember how you laughed?