Cannes: Another Jewelry Heist? $2.6M Necklace Missing After … 
‘Hangover III’ With Weak $11M Wed/Thurs Kicks … 
Specialty B.O. Preview: ‘Before Midnight’, … 
2012-2013 Season Network Rankings: CBS Sweeps In Final … 
Full 2012-2013 TV Season Series Rankings 
TOLDJA! Paramount Pocketing $190M From Disney For Marvel … 
‘Good Morning America’ Hits 19-Year Viewership … 
MGM Buys ‘Modern Family’ Producer Ben … 
‘Fashion Police’ Writers Chant On Picket Lines: … 
Universal Makes Seven-Figure Deal For ‘The School For … 
Steven Soderbergh Will Interrupt Retirement To Direct And … 
Cannes: EOne Announces Itself As Player In U.S. … 
Will LIN TV Stations Go Dark On Time Warner Cable? 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Modern Family’, ‘Law … 
Hammond On Cannes: Paramount’s ‘Nebraska’ … 
Hot Trailer: Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s ‘Don … 
Hammond On Cannes: A New Day Comes To The Fest As HBO and … 
Cannes: Fleming Reflects And Finds Talented Trio A Breath … 
Hot Trailer: ‘Man Of Steel’ 
CBS Wins Season & Ties Sweep In Demo; ABC Tops Adults … 
Cannes: Weinstein Co Acquires Keanu-Reese Sci-Fi Pic … 
In what would be the second high-profile jewerly heist of the Cannes Film Festival, a diamond necklace valued at $2.6M is said to be missing after a star-studded party at the Hotel Du Cap earlier this week. Fawaz Gruosi, founder of Swiss jeweler De Grisogono, told Reuters that the necklace disappeared after being worn as part of an annual event, 
which this year celebrated the company’s 20th anniversary and was attended by Sharon Stone and Paris Hilton among others. Local police, hotel security and 80 bodyguards had been on duty Gruosi told Reuters, but an inventory at the end of the night found the necklace missing. A Cannes police source said they were investigating whether it was a theft, an inventory issue, or a loss, according to Reuters. Last week’s theft of $1.4M in Chopard jewels is still under investigation. Swiss newspaper Le Matin says police are actively pursuing at least three suspects.
Cannes: Another Jewelry Heist? $2.6M Necklace Missing After Hotel Du Cap Soirée (Reports)
‘Hangover III’ With Weak $11M Wed/Thurs Kicks Off Too Crowded Memorial Weekend
THURSDAY 11:30 PM, 2ND UPDATE: Warner Bros’ The Hangover Part III co-financed with Legendary Pictures went wide in 3,555 North American theaters today and my sources say it opened to $11 million which includes Wednesday late shows and Thursday midnights. That’s miniscule compared to The Hangover Part II‘s Thursday opening of $31.6M - 3,615 locations on May 26, 2011 - which was the highest-grossing opening day ever for a live-action comedy. (H3‘s also is less than Thursday’s $13.5M debut a week ago for Star Trek Into Darkness.) 
Plus audiences only gave The Hangover Part III a ‘B’ CinemaScore compared to the ‘A-’ which the sequel scored. This threequel also scored even worse reviews (only 26% positive on Rotten Tomatoes) than H2 (34%) which was considered embarrassingly awful. But it’s still going to make a lot of moolah: worldwide moviegoers really like this mindless crap especially during the summer months. Internationally, the comedy is taking off in 3 markets this weekend – the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The studio tells me early numbers in Australia indicate a strong opening day of A$1.75M from 494 screens, dominating 80% of the Top 5. NZ also opened big, controlling over 70% of the Top 5. Next weekend H3 opens in 32 markets, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil. Here in the U.S., the Hollywood studios now think weekends should start on Wednesday just to wring every last dollar from … Read More »
ABC, NBC & Fox Go To DC Court Against Alki David’s FilmOn And Aereokiller
ABC, NBC and Fox today filed a lawsuit against digital entrepreneur Alki David‘s FilmOn and his Aereokiller service, claiming copyright infringement. Allbritton, which owns ABC’s TV station Washington DC also is a plaintiff in the suit. Filed in Federal District Court in D.C. on David’s 45th birthday, the complaint (read it here) is similar to one filed in Los Angeles in August by ABC, NBC and CBS against his streaming site that then was known as BarryDriller.com. It, in turn, hewed closely to a suit filed against the site by Fox days earlier. (David this week finally settled his name-game tussle with Barry Diller and the latter’s Aereo service.)
Related: TV Networks Get Tentative Victory In Aereokiller Streaming Case
David is a media industry provocateur whose FilmOn streams programming taken from over-the-air signals, and it — like Diller’s Aereo — has incurred the wrath of broadcasters. In today’s suit, the networks and Allbritton claim that “Aereokiller provides users and subscribers the ability to receive whichever broadcast station the user or subscriber chooses, ultimately having the ability to watch live broadcast television programming over the Internet using any device. In other words, through the Aereokiller service, Defendants built a business founded on offering its users and subscribers a ‘live’ Internet and mobile streaming service based on Plaintiffs’ television programming, but without authorization or license from Plaintiffs.” Read More »
Global Showbiz Briefs: Chello Zone Goes ‘Hardcore Pawn’; Karlovy Vary Celebrates Schatzberg; R&H Malaysia Goes It Alone
Chello Zone Bringing ‘Hardcore Pawn’ To Several Territories
International TV provider Chello Zone has acquired all nine series of the US reality TV show Hardcore Pawn for its CBS Reality network in Poland and one of its EMEA feeds. CBS Reality will air the shows in primetime across Poland, Cyprus, Hungary, Romania, the Middle East and Africa. The first will premiere in Poland in June. The reality documentary series, which centers on a Detroit pawn shop, is produced by Zodiak USA for Tru TV and distributed internationally by Zodiak Rights.
Karlovy Vary To Celebrate Jerry Schatzberg
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival said today that Palme d’Or-winning director Jerry Schatzberg will attend the 48th edition of the festival to screen three of his earliest films. The influential American director will introduce his recently restored debut Puzzle Of A Downfall Child (1970), The Panic In Needle Park (1970) and Palme winner Scarecrow (1973). The Czech Republic fest runs June 28-July 6. Read More »
Hammond On Cannes: Leo DiCaprio’s Moon Trip Tops ‘Cinema Against AIDS’ Auction
Would you pay €1.5 million ($1.94 million) to spend a weekend at Oscar parties? Or €1.8 million to fly to the moon on Virgin
Galactic with Leonardo DiCaprio? Someone did — and more. That happened at amFAR’s annual Cinema Against AIDS Cannes Film Festival gala’s very special 20th anniversary Thursday night. Co-hosts Weinstein and Kenneth Cole announced to a roomful of very high rollers that the event, held of the Hotel Du Cap, raised €25 million ($32.3 million), smashing last year’s record total of over €10 million. The ultra-high style party is a two decades long staple of the Cannes festival, and Weinstein told me if it just made a dollar more than the previous year they’d be happy. But these multimillionaires and billionaires obviously came to play this year and really stepped up at the auction that featured numerous stars including jury members Nicole Kidman and Christoph Waltz, along with Jessica Chastain, Jeremy Renner, Rosario Dawson, Heidi Klum, Goldie Hawn, Janet Jackson, Adrien Brody and major fundraiser/auctioneer Sharon Stone.
The Elvis Presley Family Supports Potential Sale Of CORE Media’s Majority Estate Stake
As we reported earlier this week citing the Financial Times, CORE Media Group is exploring a sale of Elvis Presley Enterprises as well as Muhammad Ali Enterprises. There had been no official comment on the potential sale until now. Deadline has obtained exclusively a statement from the Presley family about the development. “Our family enjoys a strong working relationship with CORE and is supportive of their process,” the statement says. “Lisa [Marie Presley] will maintain her interest in EPE and ownership of Graceland Mansion and looks forward to whatever opportunities enable the best long-term interests of the family.” Lisa Marie Presley owns 15% of EPE, which manages the assets of the Elvis Presley estate, including the 100-acre property in Memphis, Tennessee. CORE’s predecessor, CKX, bought the other 85% in 2005. (The Muhammad Ali family retains 20% ownership in MAE.) The Presley and Ali assets are estimated to fetch more than $200 million but CORE is not dead set to sale and may retain the properties if it is not satisfied with offers.
IATSE Seals 3-Year Pact With Commercials Producers
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) concluded negotiations in New York on Tuesday for a new 3 year collective bargaining agreement covering below the line technicians and artists who create commercials.
The parties agreed to early negotiations in order to promote stability and give both sides an opportunity to plan and budget past the current expiration date of September 30, 2013.
IATSE President Matthew Loeb commented, “We recognized the value of early negotiations when both sides are willing to address the important issues and provide stability to the members of the IA and the commercial producers.”
The details of the pact have not been released. Issues that the parties dealt with include wages and benefits, training, safety, overtime, long work days as well as non-traditional commercials and low budget commercials.
“The industry is changing and it is important that as we see new opportunities that come with new challenges, we can work with the skilled crew base we have always relied on in new and progressive ways,” said Matt Miller, President and CEO of AICP. “Our open and frank discussions centered around this theme.”
What’s Hot At This Week’s LA Screenings?
After ad buyers at last week’s upfronts, it is international buyers’ turn to get a glimpse of the broadcast networks’ crop of new shows. The annual LA Screenings are wrapping after marathon sessions of the studios unveiling their new series, with talent and producers on hand to promote them. After lackluster LA Screenings last year, with international buyers lamenting the lack of breakouts, there is some excitement this week. That is a promising sign for the broadcast networks as the screenings usually serve as a good barom
eter — last year’s broadcast freshman class indeed failed to produce major hits. The interest seems spread almost evenly between drama, which normally travels better overseas, and comedy this year. Not surprisingly, hot NBC drama pilot The Blacklist is garnering a ton of attention for producer Sony TV. Also hot at the studio is 1980s comedy The Goldbergs. Interesti
ngly, Australian networks are very high on Rake, a remake of an Australian series. Additionally, Michael J. Fox, star of Sony TV’s new NBC series The Michael J. Fox Show, has been receiving enthusiastic reaction from buyers who waited up to an hour for a photo with the actor at the studio’s party Monday. Star power also is boosting 20th TV’s new comedy The Crazy … Read More »
Specialty B.O. Preview: ‘Before Midnight’, ‘We Steal Secrets: The Story Of WikiLeaks’, ‘Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton As Himself’, ‘A Green Story’, ‘The Lesser Blessed’
Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.
Cannes is winding down with the year’s first glimpse of titles that will hit the fall release slates for companies Stateside, with a number likely to factor into the fall awards season. But first off, of course, is summer and Memorial Day weekend. Sony Classics’ Before Midnight and FocusWorld’s We Steal Secrets: The Story Of WikiLeaks will anchor the Specialty alternative to the official onslaught of blockbusters season. Richard Linklater’s Midnight is the third installment which debuted in the ’90s with Before Sunrise, while Oscar-winner Alex Gibney’s expose on WikiLeaks will take the non-fiction spotlight along with Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton As Himself from Laemmle/Zeller Films. Indican Pictures is bowing immigrant feature A Green Story with Shannon Elizabeth, Ed O’Ross and Billy Zane, while Monterey Media will open coming-of-age story, The Lesser Blessed.
Before Midnight
Director-writer: Richard Linklater
Co-writers: Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Kim Krizan
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Jennifer Prior, Charlotte Prior
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
SPC’s Michael Barker and Tom Bernard have played pivotal parts in Richard Linklater’s career, having released his first film Slacker at Orion and later Suburbia at SPC. They were also at Sony when Columbia Pictures released the first film that now forms a trio, Before Sunrise. “We’re big fans of these films and of Rick,” said Michael Barker in Cannes. “And when we saw the first screening of [Before Midnight] in Sundance, we knew we had to have it. The producers wanted us as well, so it felt like a match that had to happen. A deal was made very quickly and it’s been such a pleasure to work on this film. It has Rick at the peak of his form in a very relaxed sort of way. It has artistry but it’s also done in an entertaining way and being in Greece is just awesome.” Read More »
Isabelle Fuhrman Joins Kevin Connolly-Helmed ‘Dear Eleanor’
EXCLUSIVE: Isabelle Fuhrman is set to star in Dear Eleanor, a coming-of-age story about two teenage girls who travel across the U.S. in 1962 during the chaos of the Cuban missile crisis in search of Eleanor Roosevelt. Kevin Connolly is directing the pic, which is being produced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way. Amy Garcia and Cecillia Contreras wrote the script, and Chuck Pacheco, Hillary Sherman and Caleb Applegate are producing. Shooting began last week in Colorado. Fuhrman recently wrapped Michael James Johnson’s The Wilderness Of James opposite Kodi Smit-McPhee and played Clove in The Hunger Games. She is repped by CAA and Management 360.
‘Glee’s Jacob Artist Signs With UTA
United Talent Agency has picked up another one of the Glee club. Jacob Artist will be joining Cory Monteith, Naya Rivera, Jayma Mays and Melissa Benoist at UTA. The actor, who was previously with APA, will be represented by UTA in all areas. He continues to be represented by David Dean Management. Artist joined Fox’s Glee this season as Jake Puckerman the half-brother of Noah “Puck” Puckerman who is played by Mark Saling. The actor was seen last year in Lifetime’s Blue Lagoon: The Awakening TV movie. Artist appears next in the feature The Philosophers as well as in White Bird in a Blizzard with Shailene Woodley, Angela Bassett and Gabourey Sidibe.
Nat Geo Orders ‘Divine Intervention’ Reality Series That Fixes Struggling Churches
EXCLUSIVE: National Geographic Channel has ordered Divine Intervention, a six-episode unscripted series from T Group Prods. (Storage Hunters, Mystery Diners). Described as “Kitchen Nightmares for churches”, it features a trio of “Church Hoppers” who use a tough love approach in helping struggling faith-based 
organizations around the country. T Group’s Jenny Daly is executive producing with Eric Lange and Mike Duffy. The series is eyed for a summer launch.
Deadline Awards Watch With Pete Hammond, Episode 27
Listen to (and share) episode 27, a special Cannes Film Festival edition of our audio podcast Deadline Awards Watch With Pete Hammond. Deadline’s awards columnist talks with host David Bloom about the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis and other notable films screened in competition so far at Cannes; the legacy of Liz Taylor and a restored Cleopatra; and whether Oscar season should just officially start with the festival, given its recent success in spotlighting awards-worthy films.
Deadline Awards Watch, Episode 27 (MP3 format)
Deadline Awards Watch, Episode 27 (MP4a format) Read More »
2012-2013 Season Network Rankings: CBS Sweeps In Final Numbers; ABC, CBS & Fox Tie In May Sweep
The 2012-2013 season is officially over and the final network rankings are in. As was long expected, CBS took the top spot in viewers and the adults 18-49 demo, the first time the network has claimed a No. 1 ranking in both categories since the 1991-1992 season. There wasn’t any significant change from the preliminary numbers I reported earlier this week. Fox fell to second place in adults 18-49 for the season, hurt by a variety of factors including a more-than-25% key demo decline for American Idol, lackluster Season 2 numbers for The X Factor, a lack of traction among its comedies, a disappointing baseball postseason and a plethora of pre-emptions in the fall. That breaks Fox’s hold on the key demo title for the past eight seasons.
Related: Full 2012-2013 TV Season Series Rankings
As with last year, NBC was third in adults 18-49 and ABC was fourth. ABC did move over Fox to second place among total viewers this year. This season’s results also see CBS as the first network to simultaneously top viewership and the key demo since Fox took the double gold in 2007-2008, the year of the writers’ strike. Here are final numbers: Read More »
Full 2012-2013 TV Season Series Rankings
The 2012-2013 TV season is officially over and there were some top spot shifts among the series rankings from last year. While NBC’s Sunday Night Football remained No.1 among adults 18-49 spot, it was tackled by CBS’ NCIS in total viewership, with the latter squeaking out a win for the period from September 24, 2012-May 22, 2013. Still, NBC is hyping a viewership victory by counting all 19 telecasts of Sunday Night Football starting September 5 and the 21.5 million they pulled in on average compared to NCIS‘ 21.3 million. The network is citing Nielsen’s allowance to broadcasters to track ratings results from a show’s debut even if it occurs before the season starts. Sticking to the boundaries of the season, the 26 scheduled airings of NCIS beat the 14 regularly scheduled broadcasts of SNF in the 2012-2013 season by just under 350,000 viewers. (See comprehensive series ranking lists for the 2012-2013 season according to both total viewership and Adults 18-49 after the jump)
Related: 2012-2013 Season Network Rankings
Within the confines of the 2012-2013 season start and end dates, SNF was essentially the same in terms of viewership and ratings as last year. Coming off a strong 10th season, NCIS was up 10% in viewers and even in the ratings. Replaced by Big Bang Theory in the second spot among the 18-49s, the Wednesday airing of American Idol fell 25% from last season. Elementary, the now cancelled Vegas and The Following were the only new shows to make it into the Top 20 most watched series this season. NBC’s Revolution joined Fox’s Following as the only new shows to make it into the Top 20 shows among Adults 18-49. CBS’ Rules of Engagement was the highest rated show to be cancelled this year while Vegas was the most watched show to get the axe. Among the Big 4 networks, NBC’s Community was the lowest rated scripted show of the season to be renewed with CBS’ Undercover Boss as the lowest rated unscripted show of the season to be returning. The CW’s Nikita was the lowest-rated show overall to be coming back. Here are the full final rankings: Read More »
Lifetime’s Jodi Arias Movie Gets June 22 Airdate
Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret will have its world premiere on Saturday, June 22, at 8 PM, Lifetime said today. The two-hour movie will be followed by an hourlong documentary, Jodi Arias: Beyond the Headlines, featuring key players in the juicy murder trial. 
The telepic stars Tania Raymonde as Arias, who was just found guilty of murdering her former boyfriend Travis Alexander, who was found dead in his shower in June 2008 with a slit throat, 27 additional stab wounds and a bullet to the head. Jesse Lee Soffer plays Alexander in the movie, and Tony Plana and David Zayas co-star. The salacious case has been plastered across the tabloids and cable news shows for months; HLN even created a show devoted to the day-to-day happenings of the Phoenix-set trial. The movie was announced last month, with the ending needing to be written after the verdict was known. She was found guilty May 8 and the jury is now deliberating whether to hand down a death sentence. Read More »
Cablevision Calls Cops As Union Protesters Disrupt Shareholders Meeting
The Communications Workers of America has been beefing with the cableco for more than a year, since it claimed Cablevision illegally sacked 22 staffers who elected to join the union. The two sides have been embroiled in a fight that has landed at the National Labor Relations Board, and the union fired a salvo Thursday by disrupting Cablevision’s annual shareholders confab. The Wall Street Journal reports that after repeated attempts to quiet the protesters, CEO James Dolan summoned the cops to eject them from the meeting at the cabler’s Long Island HQ. The union countered that shareholders had “asked the company tough questions about the potential impact” of the labor flap. Cablevision said later, “This is a shareholder meeting with a clear set of rules. The CWA attempted to disrupt the meeting; they were asked to refrain, and when they did not, they were asked to leave. The matter is now in the hands of the authorities.”
Related: ‘Fashion Police’ Writers : “Give Us Back Our Paycheck B****”
Related: Cablevision Shares Slammed As Q1 Results Fall Short
TOLDJA! Paramount Pocketing $190M From Disney For Marvel ‘Iron Man 3′ + ‘Avengers’
Previous: Paramount Makes Money Off ‘Avengers’ Too
A year ago I was first to toldja about Paramount‘s big payday from The Avengers and Iron Man 3 - the two movies left on its 6-pic distribution deal with Marvel. Now I can tell you how much Disney moolah it pocketed. According to calculations I’ve received from insiders, Paramount receives 9% of Disney’s take on what is expected to be $1.2 billion worldwide gross theatrical receipts plus projected ancillary (like homevideo, VOD, television) for Iron Man 3. So that works out to be about $90 million to the Melrose Avenue studio. Paramount also pockets 8% of Disney’s take on the $1.5 billion worldwide gross theatrical receipts plus ancillary for The Avengers. So that works out to be about $100 million. In other words, the total dollars equal $190M. “It’s very nice,” a Paramount exec deadpanned. Oh, and did I mention that, when I first wrote about this deal, Disney was spitting mad at me?
To remind you, The Avengers was the first Marvel Studios film marketed and distributed by The Walt Disney Studios which took over those duties from Paramount in 2012 after Bob Iger bought the comics entertainment company for $4 billion in 2009. Then in 2010 Disney bought Paramount out of the final two films and paid a premium to put everything … Read More »
DirecTV Sets Cast For Neil LaBute Drama Series ‘Full Circle’
Tom Felton (Harry Potter), Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights), Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck), David Boreanaz (Bones), Keke Palmer (Akeelah And The Bee), Devon Gearhart (The Wait), Billy Campbell (The Killing, Killing Lincoln), Kate Walsh (Private Practice), Noah Silver (The Borgias), Ally Sheedy (Welcome To The Rileys), Cheyenne Jackson (Behind The Candelabra) and Robin Weigert (Sons Of Anarchy) have been cast in Full Circle, DirecTV announced today. The 10-episode series marks the TV debut of screenwriter/playwright Neil LaBute. It examines the human condition and relationships through a series of conversations between 11 people whose lives, unbeknownst to them, are intertwined. Nick Hamm will executive produce for Momentum TV, the scripted division of Momentum Entertainment Group. Series creator LaBute will serve as writer and co-executive producer. FremantleMedia International will handle global distribution.
-
Marketplace
News/Opinion Poll
Loading ...Box Office Poll
Loading ...