Daily Variety back issues from May 2009:
Hulu hoop: Disney invests in hot site.
May 01, 2009; ... The Mouse House is climbing aboard the Hulu express. Disney has signed on as an equity partner with NBC Universal, News Corp. and Providence Equity Partners in the fast-growing Internet vid distrib that ranks No. 2 to YouTube as a purveyor of Web video. Move leaves CBS as the ...
'X' marks spot at weekend B.O.
May 01, 2009; ... Just how much will 20th Century Fox's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" wolf down in its worldwide debut this weekend, which marks the start of the summer box office? "Wolverine" comes on the heels of the best winter and spring ever at the box office. Domestic revenues are up 15% ...
Viacom profit tumbles 34%.
May 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Viacom's profit fell 34% last quarter, but chief executive Philippe Dauman sees some light on the horizon for one of the nation's worst-ever economic downturns. "We have seen signs in the last several weeks that the economy might be ...
'Godot's' got the goods.(Waiting for Godot)(Theater review)
May 01, 2009; ... Waiting for Godot (Studio 54; 1,004 seats; $116.50 top) A Roundabout Theater Company presentation, by special arrangement with Elizabeth Ireland McCann, of a play in two acts by Samuel Beckett. Directed by Anthony Page. Set, Santo Loquasto; costumes, Jane Greenwood; ...
New kid on cable block.
May 01, 2009; ... Hasbro is partnering with Discovery Communications, taking a 50% stake in the Discovery Kids cable channel. The partners plan to enter the kids field, dominated by Nickelodeon, Disney and Turner's Cartoon Network. in late 2010. As part of the deal, the moribund Discovery Kids ...
Press corps clicks: White House reporters log a website.
May 01, 2009; ... As the annual ritual known as the White House Correspondents Dinner approaches, a "micro niche" site devoted entirely to the West Wing's press corps has been launched. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The site, WHCInsider, is the brainchild of Tammy Haddad, former executive ...
VW backing out of Berlin.
May 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Berlin Film Festival will celebrate its 60th anniversary next year without main sponsor Volkswagen. The car giant decided not to renew its seven-year partnership with the German fest on Wednesday after suffering a dramatic decline in ...
Slade slides into 'Skin'.(David Slade to direct Cold Skin)(Brief article)
May 01, 2009; ... David Slade, who's just been tapped to direct "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," is attached to helm "Cold Skin" for Madrid and Paris-based Kanzaman. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] An Antarctic island-set horror/psychological thriller, "Skin" adapts Albert Sanchez Pinol's ...
Stana Katic.(Tenpercenteries)
May 01, 2009; ... Stana Katic ("The Spirit") has signed with UTA. Credits include "Quantum of Solace" and "Feast of Love" with Greg ...
Oscar Nunez.(Tenpercenteries)
May 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] APA has signed thesp Oscar Nunez ("The Office"). He will next be seen in ...
Grace Park.(Tenpercenteries)
May 01, 2009; ... Grace Park ("Battlestar Galactica") has inked with Levine, Okwu & Erickson Management. Park stars in A&E drama "The ...
Michael Pio.(Tenpercenteries)
May 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Innovative Artists has ...
Int'l pix take home Tribeca laurels.
May 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The jury prizes for the Tribeca Film Festival's eighth edition had an international flavor, with Iran's "About Elly" winning for narrative feature and Norway's "North" winning for new narrative filmmaker, Rune Denstad Langlo. In the docu categories, ...
Disney doubles disc choices.
May 01, 2009; ... Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment next month will become the second studio to deploy two classes of DVD and Blu-ray discs. June releases "Morning Light," "Confessions of a Shopaholic" and "Jonas Brothers: The Concert Experience" will be released in premium versions with ...
9 to 5: The Musical.(Theater review)
May 01, 2009; ... (Marquis Theater; 1,611 seats; $126.50 top) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A Green State Prods., Richard Levi, John McColgan/Moya Doherty/Edgar Dobie, James L. Nederlander/Terry Allen Kramer, Independent Presenters Network, Jam Theatricals, Bud Martin, Michael Watt, the ...
'Twelfth' adds to cast.(Legit Bits)
May 01, 2009; ... Julie White and Stark Sands are among the thesps joining Anne Hathaway in the cast of the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of "Twelfth Night." White ("The Little Dog Laughed") plays the prankster chambermaid Maria in the Bard's comedy, with Sands ("Journey's ...
Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry.
May 01, 2009; ... (Docu) A Lantern Lane Entertainment release and production, in association with KHG Documentary Prod. Produced by Charles Holland. Executive producer, Michael Grecco. Directed by Michael Greeeo. Written by Charles Holland. Camera (color), Peter Blaha, Kevin Gonzales, ...
Jonas.
May 01, 2009; ... (Series; Disney Channel, Sat. May 2, 8 p.m.) Filmed in Los Angeles by It's a Laugh Prods. Executive producers, Roger S.H. Schulman, Michael Curtis; co-executive producers, Heath Seifert, Kevin Kopelow; producer, Greg A. Hampson; co-producer, Amy Gibbons; director, Jerry Levine; ...
Peter Dennis.(Obituaries)(Obituary)(Brief article)
May 01, 2009 ... British actor Peter Dennis, whose one-man show of readings from A.A. Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh" books took him from the Hollywood Bowl to Westminster Palace in London, died of cancer April 18 in Los Angeles. He was 75. He performed his show--titled "Bother!," after a term often ...
Tharon Musser.(Obituaries)(Obituary)(Brief article)
May 01, 2009 ... Tharon Musser, a Tony-winning lighting designer of more than 100 Broadway shows, including such musicals as "A Chorus Line" "Dreamgirls" "Mame" and "42nd Street" died April 19 in Newtown, Conn., after a long illness. She was 84. Her Broadway career began in 1956 with the ...
Lawrence Miller.(Obituaries)(Obituary)(Brief article)
May 01, 2009 ... Production designer and art director Lawrence Miller, who was Tony-nommed for "Nine," died after a long illness April 11 in Los Angeles. He was 64. Miller started out designing for New York stage productions and moved on to feature films and television, serving as art director ...
Phillip R. Dennis.(Obituaries)(Obituary)(Brief article)
May 01, 2009 ... Costume designer Phillip R. Dennis, who worked on wardrobe for Barry Manilow and Elton John, died April 8 in Granada Hills, Calif., after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 51. For nearly 30 years he served as costume designer or wardrobe director for ...
Chuck Teitel.(Obituaries)
May 01, 2009 ... Chuck Teitel, Chicago theater owner who challenged obscenity laws in the 1960s, died of heart failure April 4 in Lagana Woods, Calif. He was 93. With his father Abe, he owned and operated the World Playhouse Theater (housed in the landmark Fine Arts Building) for 45 years. The ...
Jody McCrea.(Obituaries)(Obituary)(Brief article)
May 01, 2009 ... Jody McCrea, son of actor Joel McCrea who appeared in Westerns and beach party movies, died of cardiac arrest April 4 in Roswell, N.M. He was 74. McCrea appeared with his father in TV Western "Wichita Town" and went on to appear in Western films "The Broken Land," "Young Guns ...
K.C. Ligon.(Obituaries)(Obituary)(Brief article)
May 01, 2009 ... Dialect coach K.C. Ligon died March 23 in New York after a long illness. She was 60. Among the actors she coached were James Earl Jones, Mary-Louise Parker, James Gandolfini, Laura Linney, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sally Struthers and Claire Bloom. ...
Jack Wrangler.(Obituaries)(Obituary)
May 01, 2009 ... Jack Wrangler, a ruggedly handsome 1970s-era porn star whose openness about his homosexuality made him a symbol of self-confidence for many gay men, died April 7 in Manhattan from complications of lung disease. He was 62. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] His life of sometimes ...
Tom Braden.(Obituaries)
May 01, 2009 ... Tom Braden, who once worked for the CIA and helped launch CNN's political debate show "Crossfire," died April 3 from natural causes in Denver. He was 92. Braden's 1975 book about life with his eight children inspired the namesake TV show "Eight Is Enough" that ran on ABC from ...
Spiritual side provides a counterpoint.(HAVING FAITH IN FAITH)(Ken Sanzel's Numbers)
May 01, 2009; ... Over the years, the Eppes family on "Numbers" has debated everything from world polities to minor household issues. This season they've added a new topic: religion. "It's always been a running joke that it's painfully obvious that they're a Jewish family," says showrunner and ...
Success squared: Skein's impressive run sends naysayers to the back of the class.(V PLUS: 'NUMBERS' 100TH EPISODE)(Nick Falacci and Cheryl Heuton )(Interview)
May 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Focus groups can be the death of any aspiring series. For "Numbers," a show that wore advanced mathematics on its sleeve, you might as well have given husband-and-wife co-creators Nick Falacci and Cheryl Heuton a blindfold and cigarette. ...
Filming at Caltech is no calculated risk.(LOGICAL LOCATIONS)(California Institute of Technology )
May 01, 2009; ... The California Institute of Technology campus is malleable enough to have served as a location for a Moroccan wedding ("The Wedding Planner") and a faux Italian embassy ("The West Wing"). It's also filled in for other schools, posing as Stanford for Jake Kasdan's "Orange County" ...
Divide and conquer: Danica McKellar, known for her role as Winnie Cooper on "The Wonder Years," graduated summa cum laude in mathematics from UCLA and has published two books, "Kiss My Math" and "Math Doesn't Suck." Here, she talks about "Numbers" and the challenge of making math accessible and appealing.(IN HER OWN WORDS: THE 'WONDER' OF MATHEMATICS)
May 01, 2009 ... We're all familiar with the stigma of mathematics: It's a nerdy, antisocial activity, particularly appealing to the clinically insane. Well, it's refreshing to see math highlighted in a primetime television show like "Numbers." Talking mostly over the audience's head, "CSI"-style, the show ...
Complex plots pose musical test.(MOOD SWING)(Ken Sanzel )
May 01, 2009; ... In a recent "Numbers" episode, "12:01," showrunner Ken Sanzel needed to find a song to unite two utterly disparate storylines in a closing montage: the tragic A plot of a man on death row for a crime he didn't commit, and the very light B story about math nerds trying to play basketball. ...
Fund-raiser puts folkies in green groove.(CLEARWATER FEST)
May 01, 2009; ... Just like folk music, political activism runs deep in Pete Seeger's life, dating back to the New Deal era of Roosevelt. The pioneering troubadour has championed everything from the rights of migrant workers to racial equality to disarmament to the environment. In 1966, he ...
Pete's big night in N.Y.: Springsteen, Vedder, Mellencamp, et al honor folk legend.(PETE SEEGER AT 90)
May 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Many of the top names in American music, including Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson and literally dozens more will be performing at the Madison Square Garden 90th birthday ...
A Wink and a Smile.(Movie review)(Brief article)
May 01, 2009; ... (Docu) A First Run Features release of a Golden Echo Films production. Produced by Jack Timmons, Deirdre Allen Timmons. Directed by Deirdre Allen Timmons. Camera (color, HD), Peter Waweru, Marie Joelle Rizk; editors, Deirdre Allen Timmons, Peter Waweru. Reviewed on ...
From the Army Archerd archive.
May 01, 2009 ... April 23, 1969 GOOD MORNING: Five endings for "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" are under discussion by Richard Zanuck, Arthur Jacobs and director Ted Post. The problem: to have the same impact as the initial "Apes" Statue of Liberty finale--and yet not be too downbeat. "We must ...
Charles Aznavour.(Concert review)
May 01, 2009; ... (New York City Center; 2,754 seats; $190 top) A Levon Sayan Olivier and Dierckx Prods. presentation. Conductor, Eric Wilms; backing vocals, Claude Lombard, Katia Aznavour. Opened, reviewed April 29, 2009. Runs through May 3. The master of romanticism and rugged ...
'Ruined' extends run again.(Legit Bits)(Brief article)
May 01, 2009; ... The Manhattan Theater Club's Off Broadway production of "Ruined," tiding the momentum of the play's recent Pulitzer win, has extended its run by six weeks. It's the sixth announced extension for the show, which now plays through June 28 at MTC's Stage I at City ...
Flu infects studio skeds.
May 01, 2009; ... Studios continue to rearrange their summer release schedules in Mexico, where the flu outbreak has shut down cinemas. Sony will now open "Angels and Demons" on June 12. Film is opening day-and-date almost everywhere else on May 15. Sony also is relocating "Terminator ...
Fox's steely resolve: 'Wolverine' slices $87 mil.
May 04, 2009; ... Scoring an important win for the franchise, 20th Century Fox's prequel "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" grossed an estimated $87 million from 4,099 runs to mark the studio's best-ever non-holiday bow at the domestic box office. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Kicking off the summer ...
Peacock pushes product's potential.
May 04, 2009; ... NBC execs will tout the potential of a handful of new and nearly new skeins at its "Infront" presentation to advertisers today in Gotham. After days of pilot screenings, the Peacock's hottest pilot prospects include Sony Pictures TV laffer "Community," Universal Media Studios' ...
Stiller falls for scam.(Ben Stiller to direct 'Help Me Spread Goodness')(Brief article)
May 04, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ben Stiller has been set by Participant Media to direct "Help Me Spread Goodness" a drama with comic overtones. Script, about a Chicago banker who gets swindled in a Nigerian Internet scam, was written by Mark Friedman and developed by ...
Fanfare for 'Fela!'.(24th annual Lucille Lortel Awards )(Brief article)
May 04, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Fela!" scored big at Off Broadway's 24th annual Lucille Lortel Awards Sunday night, with the tuner walking away with three trophies including the new musical prize. "Ruined" took the new play honor, while "Our Town" notched a win in the ...
Agency post-fusion confusion.
May 04, 2009; ... SOME YEARS AGO I dropped by the William Morris Agency to visit an old friend named Stan Kamen. A modest, soft-spoken man whose office was a bit frowzy, Kamen interrupted our meeting to take a call from a client, Jack Lemmon. It was a quiet, reassuring sort of client-agent conversation and, ...
My Life in Ruins.(Movie review)
May 04, 2009; ... A Fox Searchlight release of a 26 Films production, in association with Kanzaman Prods. Produced by Michelle Chydzik Sowa, Nathalie Marciano. Executive producers, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, Rita Wilson Peter Safran, Jeff Abberly, Julia Blackman. Co-producers, Denise O'Dell, Mark Albela. ...
Gans was Vegas fixture.(Danny Gans)(Obituary)(Brief article)
May 04, 2009; ... LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Danny Gans, a singer, actor and impressionist who for nearly two decades was one of the most popular entertainers on the Las Vegas Strip, died in his sleep Friday. He was 52. Gans was found dead by his wife, Julie, at their home in Henderson, Nev. A cause of ...
Samsung dials docu: phone-pic tie-in hits fest circuit.
May 04, 2009; ... It can be tough for independent films to break out and get exposure, but "Rock Prophecies," a docu about rock 'n' roll photographer Robert M. Knight, is getting a lot of help from Samsung Mobile. Phonemaker is backing the pic, helmed by John Chester and produced by Tim Kaiser, ...
NBA playoff scores cable records.
May 04, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] TNT set cable records for a first-round NBA Playoff contest Thursday, as its triple-overtime contest between Boston and Chicago siphoned away some of the aud for male-skewing broadcast programs. Nielsen estimates that the Chicago Bulls' 128-127 ...
Sutherland and 'Child' co-star.(Donald Sutherland, Rossif Sutherland, Rebecca Romijn and Sarah Roemer to star in 'Love Child')(Brief article)
May 04, 2009; ... Donald Sutherland, Rossif Sutherland, Rebecca Romijn and Sarah Roemer are toplining romantic comedy "Love Child" for Myriad Pictures and Alcina Pictures. Principal photography is under way in Toronto, with Risa Bramon Garcia ("200 Cigarettes") directing from a script by Michael ...
Hero captain inks with CAA.
May 04, 2009; ... CAA has signed Richard Phillips, the captain of the 508-foot cargo ship Maersk Alabama who volunteered to be a hostage to save his crew. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The agency will help him navigate book and film offers, repping him in all areas. Once four ...
Nehst herding 'Pale Horsemen'.('The Pale Horsemen')(Brief article)
May 04, 2009; ... "Underworld"-franchise co-creator Kevin Grevioux will make his directing debut on the adaptation of his graphic novel, "The Pale Horsemen," that Larry Meistrich's Nehst Studios has picked up to produce. Grevioux will also pen the script. "The Pale Horsemen" is ...
Marketers Lounge online.(marketers website)(Brief article)
May 04, 2009; ... Hollywood's brokers of promotional partnerships for movies and TV shows now have their own social network. The L.A. Office, a branded entertainment consultancy that operates the annual RoadShow confab, has launched the Lounge on its website, which enables marketers to network ...
Vid pub expands coverage.(Video Business)(Brief article)
May 04, 2009; ... Video Business, a Variety Group publication, has launched expanded editorial coverage as well as a redesign of its print edition. Included in the redesign is a new logo along with a tagline: Covering Video Entertainment: Physical, Digital and Mobile. The ...
Eye touts strength: CBS positions promos prior to upfronts.
May 04, 2009; ... CBS is going on offense, launching a media blitz this week to tout its primetime strength heading into the upfronts. Eye will use a variety of CBS Corp. platforms--including on-air, radio and online in order to push its "Only CBS" campaign. Net also has print ads today in the ...
Peacock's Graboff gets grilled.(NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chair Marc Graboff)(Interview)
May 04, 2009; ... It's game time for NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chair Marc Graboff. As Graboff, co-chair Ben Silverman and their team sit down with buyers today as part of the Peacock's "infront" presentation, they face a bigger job than most. It figures to be a ...
Henry Miller's in Roundabout fold.
May 04, 2009; ... After months of talk, it's official: The Roundabout Theater Company has sealed the deal with Gotham real estate company the Durst Organization and Bank of America to program the new incarnation of Henry Miller's Theater, which will open in the fall with the Roundabout's upcoming revival of ...
Tonys make some tweaks.(Tony Awards )(Brief article)
May 04, 2009; ... The season's fifth and final meeting of the Tony Awards Administration Committee resulted in few surprise decisions regarding Tony eligibility, but the committee did overturn a couple of precedents set in prior years. For all previous Broadway productions of "West Side Story," ...
MTC adds Redgrave show.(Legit Bits)(Lynn Redgrave's solo show 'Nightingale')(Manhattan Theater Club)(Brief article)
May 04, 2009; ... Lynn Redgrave's solo show "Nightingale" and London hit "That Face" have been added to the 2009-10 Off Broadway season at Manhattan Theater Club. "Nightingale" is the third play from writer-thesp Redgrave that is inspired by the performer's family, following "Shakespeare for My ...
Edgy content lures auds: ad execs say quality, not distribution model, is what pays off in the end.(BE DIFFERENT: ARTSIER SERIES BRING EYEBALLS)
May 04, 2009; ... The 2009 upfront is a couple of weeks away, but already "the hunt is on" for the next network hit, says Jackie Kulesza, senior VP and activation director for Starcom USA, the media agency that handles Walt Disney and General Motors, among others. In development meetings so far, ...
Edgy content lures auds: upfront strategies remain the same even when normal TV rules no longer apply.(BE DIFFERENT: ARTSIER SERIES BRING EYEBALLS)
May 04, 2009; ... Broadcast ratings continue to decline and cable program viewing continues to rise, but don't look for massive advertising revenue shifts during TV's upfront advertising-selling period. Even in this value-conscious, weakened economy, media buyers say steady media planning rules ...
Tweet and meet: Twitter blasts and iPhone apps are filmdom's latest promotional tools.(NEW WORLD ORDER: SELLING ENTERTAINMENT WILL NEVER BE THE SAME)
May 04, 2009; ... Twitter and iPhone, both complete unknowns two years ago, are the new stars of the entertainment marketing world. Twitter passed 10 million users last month--thanks in part to Oprah and to the Ashton Kutcher-CNN battle to hit the million-followers mark. Apple has sold more than ...
Measuring success in new media: how to quantify the value of cutting-edge marketing tools.(NEW EYEBALLS)
May 04, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Wall-E scoots onto the computer screen, stares out and raps on it until it shatters (it's quickly repaired by another robot). Your computer has just been taken over by a boutique website developed by Deadline Advertising, working in concert with Amazon.com ...
Doug Neil: senior vp, digital marketing, Universal Pictures.(STUDIO DIGITAL GURUS: Individuals at the cutting edge of movie marketing)
May 04, 2009; ... For Neil, who headed AOL's entertainment strategy prior to joining Universal, digital marketing touches all facets of traditional marketing. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "It's all integrated, and the campaigns all tie together," he says. "If we put a program together for ...
Amy Powell: senior vp, interactive marketing, Paramount.(STUDIO DIGITAL GURUS: Individuals at the cutting edge of movie marketing)
May 04, 2009; ... "Digital marketing entails a much richer, more immersive experience, in that we involve consumers in blogging and talking about a film, so that they become marketers themselves," says Powell. "While traditional marketing is much more 'push messaging,' ours is much more push-and-pull and ...
Dwight Caines: president, worldwide digital marketing, Sony.(STUDIO DIGITAL GURUS: Individuals at the cutting edge of movie marketing)
May 04, 2009; ... Coming from the ranks of market research, Caines was a natural fit to head up the company's digital marketing arm. "I saw it as a great combination of both the creative side and the information and technology side," he says. "In the past, digital marketing used to be just website-focused ...