Lionsgate announced today that it will join entertainment companies in the U.S. and the Netherlands to squeeze more money from red hot dystopian teen-on-teen murder nightmare franchise The Hunger Games.

The undead are great and all, but haven't we had enough? Also today: some more ratings to help you understand where everything lies, and a what-to-watch suggestion for tonight.

Weep not for Charlie Sheen, who lost one of his goddesses recently: The actor has reportedly signed a deal with Lionsgate Television to develop and star in a new sitcom. According to "an insider" who spoke with RadarOnline:

Recently, Netflix signed a deal with Epix to bring some new Paramount, MGM, and Lionsgate movies to the Instant Watch library. Today, September 1st, that deal goes live. So what's new?

Legendary "activist investor" Carl Icahn's latest bid for the film studio was rejected again, but with his track record of hostile takeovers, and the studio's love of Ashton Kutcher, these execs may want to start job hunting soon.

It's Blonde on Blonde as Katherine Heigl revives an abandoned Reese Witherspoon project. Rachel Weisz is in a spooky murder film. Howard Stern really is in talks to judge American Idol. God help us all, it's the Trade Roundup.

Well, now that NBC has traveled a few months back in time and given Leno the "Tonight Show" back, they've wasted no time in filling his crucial 10 pm spot: Look forward to Jerry Seinfeld, "Law & Order," and "Parenthood."

"Cowboys and Aliens" is one of those projects that will either be really awful or really awesome: Apache Indians and white settlers come together when an alien spaceship crash-lands in their city. Daniel Craig is in talks to star.

After the recent tepid results of the sixth installment in the Saw series we held was some mad hope that this particular wave of yuckiness might be at an end and the era of self-dismemberment filmmaking might be behind us.

It has been noted that all political careers end in failure. So too must all show biz careers end in bombs. A shame AMC can't just quit while they're ahead, but then, that wouldn't be show biz.

• Say it ain't so, Sue: WNBC may be planning to drop the 5 o'clock newscast, Live at Five, in favor of a "lifestyle show" of some sort. [NYO]
• Richard Branson does not want to buy Playboy. Sorry, Hugh. [Reuters]
• NBC ratings hit a new low last week. [AP/HuffPo]
• Naturally, NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker painted a much rosier picture when he appeared on stage at the D7 conference yesterday. [ATD]
• Were you aware that some magazines Photoshop their pics? It's true! [NYT]
• If MGM doesn't come up with some cash quick, it could go bankrupt. [THR]
• Page Six's Paula Froelich took time from promoting her new novel, Mercury in Retrograde, to kick Michael Wolff's ass across the room. [BlackBook]

• NBC is chopping 6 shows, including, yes, the Chopping Block. [THR]
• It's rumored Budget Travel has, yes, cut its budget. [Gawker]
• Another stain on Jim Cramer, not that he needs it: In '07, he called Andrew Cuomo a "communist" for proposing mortgage industry regulation. [NYT]
• The Times's Bill Keller sheds some light on yesterday's cuts and layoffs. [E&P]
• Condé Nast's Chuck Townsend sheds light on his staff changes. [AdAge]
• Lionsgate slashed 8 percent of its staff today. [THR]
• Newspaper ad revenue dropped 17.7% in 2008. [E&P]
• Americans spend 8.5 hours a day consuming video content. [NYT]
• Facebook needs a (generous) friend: It's trying to raise $100 million. [PC]
• Cable company Charter Communications is officially bankrupt. [NYT]

• Bernie Madoff will appear in court this morning to plead guilty to 11 counts. Then it wil be up to the judge to decide if he gets locked up immediately or is allowed him to remain free on bail pending sentencing. [DB]
• Meanwhile, the investigation into Madoff's Ponzi scheme is now focusing on the accounting firms that may have helped him carry out the scheme. [NYT]
• Base salaries on Wall Street may double as bonuses drop. [BN]
• Andrew Cuomo says Merrill Lynch misled Congress over the timing of its plans to award billions of dollars in bonuses last December. [NYT, WSJ]
• BofA is putting a private bank it inherited from Merrill up for sale. [Reuters]
• Texas billionaire Allen Stanford took the Fifth yesterday. [AP]
• Carl Icahn has abandoned his bid to take over Lionsgate. [BN]
• GE has lost its triple-A credit rating from Standard and Poor's. [DB]
• Foreclosure filings in the U.S. jumped 30% in February. [BN]

• Marty Peretz, former owner of the New Republic, is buying back the mag with a group of investors led by former Lazard exec Laurence Grafstein. [Politico]
• The New York Times Co. has successfully raised $225 million by selling off 21 floors of its Eighth Avenue office building. [NYT]
• "Was last week the worst one in CNBC's 20-year history—or the best?" asks the Times today. Thanks in part to Jon Stewart, we're pretty sure it was its worst, but ratings are up so CNBC execs aren't complaining. [NYT]
• Carl Icahn is stepping up his effort to take control of Lionsgate. [Variety]
• McClatchy, which publishes 30 daily newspapers, says it plans to slash 1,600 jobs, or 15% of its work force, as well as cut salaries across the board. [WSJ]
• Mag covers with Barack Obama have performed well, by and large. [NYP]
• Watchmen was No. 1 at the weekend box office, grossing $55.7 million. [EW]
• The Tribeca Film Festival announced its May lineup today. [THR]

More speculation today surrounds the whereabouts of Precious (née Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire), the celebrated, Benjamin Bratt-terrifying drama that won last month's Sundance Film Festival before tumbling into bidding-war lawsuit limbo.

Sundance darling Push is at the center of a bitter tug-of-war, with The Weinstein Company filing multiple suits against Lionsgate and Cinetic, the company that brokered the deal, alleging fraud and breach of contract.

· Anne Heche will play the ex-wife of Ray, the anatomically superendowed protagonist of Hung. She replaces Kristin Bauer, last seen being escorted away in a wheelchair, dead-eyed and repeating, "The diameter...the diameter..." [THR]

Remember Push: Based on a Novel By Sapphire, the wild Mariah Carey/Mo'Nique starrer that lit up Sundance (and took home three awards)? Lionsgate took our advice and bought it, and now things have gone haywire.

• Lionsgate and the Weinstein Co. filed lawsuits against each other yesterday over distribution rights to the Sundance hit film Push. [THR]
• Shake up at Condé Nast: New Yorker publisher Drew Schutte is out and will be replaced by Condé Nast Traveler publisher Lisa Hughes. [NYP]
• The New York Times Co. is cutting staff at its About.com unit. [Reuters]
• Walter Isaacson has a few thoughts on how to save newspapers. [Time]
• The House has voted to extend the deadline to switch to digital TV. [NYT]
• Katie Couric will be hitting the catwalk during Fashion Week. Yay. [WWD]

We don't want to toot our horns or anything, but...hey, what's that loud, sustained honking? Shortly after SPC picked up An Education just as we'd prognosticated, Lionsgate has followed our other Sundance advice.