Today's Entertainment - Reuters Celebrity/Gossip News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
|
|
Mitt Romney shares his views on PBS, federal funding
Wed,28 Dec 2011 03:43 PM PST
Reuters - NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - He doesn't want to drown him in a bath tub, but Mitt Romney said Wednesday that if he's elected president, Big Bird will have to sing for his seed. "We're not going to kill Big Bird, but Big Bird is going to have advertisements," Romney said, while speaking at Homer's Deli in Clinton, Iowa. Like virtually every other conservative candidate, Romney has had it -- had it! -- with government expenditures like public broadcasting, and he wants to save taxpayers money by cutting federal funding to programs like PBS and the National Endowment for the Arts. ... Full Story | Top |
Kardashians' appeal explained by E! president
Wed,28 Dec 2011 03:23 PM PST
Reuters - NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - E! President Suzanne Kolb owes much of her network's success this year to an extremely divisive family. Hours of Kardashian-centered programming -- especially Kim Kardashian's start of a notoriously short marriage -- fueled ratings for the network that Kolb took over the network in July after serving as president of marketing, news and online for both E! and Style. ... Full Story | Top |
Jessica Chastain takes Palm Springs fest honors
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:27 PM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Palm Springs International Film Festival has now stocked its annual Awards Gala with 14 honorees, adding actress Jessica Chastain and composer Howard Shore to its previously announced lineup. Chastain will receive the festival's Spotlight Award at the January 7 gala, while Shore will get the Frederick Loewe Music Award. ... Full Story | Top |
Tour offers visitors a special screening of New Orleans
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:11 PM PST
Reuters - NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - It's been more than 50 years since Blanche DuBois of the New Orleans-set play "A Streetcar Named Desire" wistfully declared that she had "always depended on the kindness of strangers." Now, a local tour service brings strangers close to settings where the lives of DuBois and later fictional characters, such as Benjamin Button (portrayed by Brad Pitt) and "GI Joe" Colton (Bruce Willis), played out in dramatic style. New Orleans Movie Tours owner Jonathan Ray personally escorts visitors to film locations and other movie-related spots. ... Full Story | Top |
New York Times sends email to millions by mistake
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:06 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Some 8 million New York Times customers received an email on Thursday offering a special discount if they would reconsider their decision to cancel their subscriptions. The trouble is, almost none of the email recipients had canceled their subscriptions in the first place. The New York Times blamed human error, saying that an email meant for 300 or 400 customers who had decided to stop taking home delivery of the paper was actually sent to around 8 million people. Initially, subscribers took to Twitter and Facebook to express concern about a security breach. ... Full Story | Top |
Incredibly close with "Extremely Loud's" Max von Sydow
Wed,28 Dec 2011 01:49 PM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - He speaks softly and sometimes strains to hear a question - but at the age of 82, Max von Sydow is still an imposing, even majestic figure. He's tall and upright, full of gravitas but with a twinkle in his eye; after all these years, he is still the face of the knight in "The Seventh Seal," and Jesus in "The Greatest Story Every Told" and Lassefar in "Pelle the Conqueror. ...
Full Story | Top |
CNN edges up in its battle with MSNBC
Wed,28 Dec 2011 01:45 PM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Next year could be a critical one for CNN in the battle for second place, if the final 2011 cable news ratings are any indication. Now fully in for 2010, the Nielsen numbers show Fox News safely ensconced in the top spot -- a place it has now occupied for nearly 10 years -- but the gap between its two counterparts narrowing. MSNBC maintained its dominance in primetime, besting CNN during the three-hour block in the adults 25-54 demo for the third straight year (242,000 to 222,000) and in total viewers for the second straight year (775,000 to 689,000). ... Full Story | Top |
"Hunger Games" trumps "Twilight" in 2012 buzz: poll
Wed,28 Dec 2011 12:01 PM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Is "The Twilight Saga" beginning to lose its grip on movie fans? The latest installment of the vampire romance finished second to "Harry Potter" in a best of the year poll for MTV's Nextmovie.com, and trailed "The Hunger Games" as the most anticipated movie of 2012. ...
Full Story | Top |
Michael Buble defeats Young Jeezy's "Hustlerz Ambition"
Wed,28 Dec 2011 11:49 AM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Buble continued his "Christmas" reign at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday for the fifth consecutive week, keeping Adele and rapper Young Jeezy from the No. 1 position. Buble's "Christmas" sold 467,000 copies in the run-up to the holiday weekend according to Nielsen SoundScan figures, edging out Adele's "21," which stayed put at No. 2. The Canadian jazz singer's holiday album crossed 2.43 million sales, beaten only by Adele, who crossed 5.68 million sales of her album in the U.S. last week. ...
Full Story | Top |
"Bambi", "Silence of the Lambs" among U.S. film treasures
Wed,28 Dec 2011 10:56 AM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - The U.S. National Film Registry on Wednesday named 25 films to be preserved as cultural treasures ranging from the 1942 Walt Disney classic, "Bambi," to the 1991 psychological thriller "The Silence of the Lambs." The film list also includes the Academy Award-winning "Forrest Gump" starring Tom Hanks and the post-war noir film "The Big Heat," set in a fictional US town that examined domestic life in the 1950s. It includes Hollywood features, documentaries and animation, spanning the period 1912 to 1994. ...
Full Story | Top |
Weissmuller's "Tarzan" chimp sidekick dies in Florida
Wed,28 Dec 2011 08:38 PM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Cheetah the Chimp, co-star of the 1930s "Tarzan" films with Johnny Weissmuller and one of the world's oldest chimpanzees, has died in Florida. He was thought to be about 80 years old. The Suncoast Primate Sanctuary Foundation in Florida, where Cheetah spent his retirement days, said the chimp died on December 24 from kidney failure. "It is with great sadness that the community has lost a dear friend and family member on December 24, 2011. Cheetah, star of the Tarzan films, passed away after kidney failure," the Sanctuary said on its website. ...
Full Story | Top |
CBS, Univision take top spot
Wed,28 Dec 2011 10:08 AM PST
Reuters - NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - CBS and Univision tied for first place in the ratings Tuesday, a very slow night in which the "Kennedy Center Honors" was the only new show on the Big 4 networks. Both Univision and CBS scored a 1.4 overall rating in the 18-49 demographic. The top-rated show was an "NCIS" rerun on CBS at 8p.m. It scored a 2.1 rating in the demographic and 6 share, and 12.5 million total viewers, which also made it the most-watched show of the night. CBS aired the sole new show on the Big 4 networks, "The Kennedy Center Honors," which earned a soft 1.1 rating/3 share, as well as 8. ... Full Story | Top |
Bahrain to host Saudi prince's Rotana, news channel
Wed,28 Dec 2011 09:50 AM PST
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi billionaire prince Alwaleed bin Talal will move his Rotana entertainment company and a new Arabic television channel to Bahrain. "They are expected to serve as an anchor in the new Manama-based Media City and should be instrumental in attracting other reputable media organisations to Bahrain," a statement from Bahrain's Information Affairs Authority said on Wednesday. It said Alarab TV, a new project between Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding and Bloomberg news agency, would launch in December 2012. ... Full Story | Top |
Academy reveals new Oscar poster
Wed,28 Dec 2011 08:47 AM PST
Reuters - NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - And the Oscar poster is.... The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled the poster Wednesday for the 84th Academy Awards, featuring an Oscar statuette and images from eight films across eight decades: "Gone with the Wind" (1939), "Casablanca" (1943), "Giant" (1956), "The Sound of Music" (1965), "The Godfather" (1972), "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989), "Forrest Gump" (1994) and "Gladiator" (2000). All but one won the best picture Oscar, and we'll give trivia fans a few moments to guess which. Okay. ... Full Story | Top |
UK's Times newspaper names Bouazizi person of 2011
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:56 AM PST
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's The Times newspaper on Wednesday named as person of the year Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian whose self immolation inspired uprisings that toppled dictators across the Arab world and shook the region's remaining autocracies. Bouazizi set himself alight last year after officials confiscated the unemployed 26-year-old's unlicensed grocery cart, reportedly slapping and insulting him. His desperate act struck a chord with millions of Arabs living with few job prospects or avenues for change under entrenched autocracies. ...
Full Story | Top |
A Minute With: Jeremy Renner on his "Mission: Impossible"
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:13 AM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Jeremy Renner scuffed around Hollywood for a decade before his career took off in 2009 when he was nominated for an Oscar in his starring role in the bomb-disposal war drama "The Hurt Locker." Renner didn't win the award, although the film earned the best movie Oscar. He followed "Hurt Locker" with another Oscar-nominated role in "The Town" and did a cameo in this year's blockbuster "Thor." Now he's starring opposite Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," the "MI" franchise's fourth film that is No. 1 at box offices over the holidays. ...
Full Story | Top |
Review: Gay coming-of-age "Pariah" has come of age
Tue,27 Dec 2011 05:40 PM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - If you've ever been to a gay and lesbian film festival, you've seen the story a million times -- teen hides sexuality from closed-minded parents, sneaks into a gay bar, finds true love, moves to the big city, dances to house music under the closing credits. First-time writer-director Dee Rees avoids all the usual clichés with the powerful "Pariah," a moving story that's told with intelligence, heart and a working knowledge of the real world we live in. ... Full Story | Top |
Review: "Darkest Hour" full of dimwitted alien prey
Tue,27 Dec 2011 05:39 PM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Despite the fact that "The Darkest Hour" was smuggled into U.S. theaters on Christmas Day with no advance press screenings, I went in full of residual holiday good cheer, prepared to give this sci-fi movie the benefit of the doubt that all B-movies deserve. By the time the closing credits came up, however, I felt drained of my Yule joy, dispirited by this aggressively idiotic movie. It's the sort of film where our plucky band of survivors learns ways to resist their invisible alien foes, but then never use that information. ... Full Story | Top |
Condoms for porn actors to be on Los Angeles ballot
Tue,27 Dec 2011 04:51 PM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A ballot initiative requiring Los Angeles porn actors to wear condoms has qualified to go before city voters in a presidential primary election in June, organizers said on Tuesday. America's second-largest city is home to the multibillion dollar U.S. porn industry, which health advocates say is riddled with sexually transmitted diseases. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation said the city clerk certified the over 71,000 signatures it helped collect, far more than the 41,000 needed for the ballot initiative. ...
Full Story | Top |
New "Hobbit" production video shows captures cast and crew
Tue,27 Dec 2011 04:33 PM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Welcome back to Hobbiton. The fifth, 12-minute production video capturing the making of Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit," was posted Saturday on The Hobbit Blog, the official site for the two upcoming movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's classic novel. The first film, "An Unexpected Journey," arrives in theaters December 14. The new video captures Jackson and his crew on location throughout New Zealand. It sheds light on the logistics of location shooting and offers peeks at some of the scenic spots where filming is taking place. ...
Full Story | Top |
"Fast Five," "Hangover II" among most pirated in 2011
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:44 PM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Fast Five," "Hangover II" and "Thor" were among the most-pirated movies of 2011, according to a new list from the blog TorrentFreak. But some of the year's other biggest grossers at the global box office -- including the latest "Pirates" movie -- are notably absent from the top 10. "Fast Five," which grossed $626.1 million worldwide, was downloaded nearly 9.3 million times on BitTorrent, according to TorrentFreak. That's a far cry from last year's chart-topper, "Avatar," which was downloaded more than 16 million times. ...
Full Story | Top |
"Hunger Games" producers under fire for skirting music union
Tue,27 Dec 2011 02:56 PM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Taylor Swift, Arcade Fire and the Decemberists are contributing songs to "The Hunger Games" -- but the film's soundtrack isn't music to everyone's ears. In a video posted on YouTube, American Federation of Musicians union President Ray Hair slams the producers and Lionsgate for recording the score in London instead of with musicians contracted to the American Federation of Musicians' union in the U.S. and Canada. ... Full Story | Top |
Oscar ballots are in the mail
Tue,27 Dec 2011 02:55 PM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The ballots are in the mail. Ballots for the 84th Academy Awards were mailed to the nearly 6,000 Academy members on Tuesday, the Academy has announced. Those voters now have until January 13 to decide upon their favorite films, performances and/or accomplishments of the year, and to get their choices back to PricewaterhouseCoopers in time for a week and a half of detailed and complex counting. The basics about the Oscar ballots that were mailed on Tuesday: They're color-coded by category, and cover 15 of the 24 Academy Awards categories. ... Full Story | Top |
Abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler dies at 83
Tue,27 Dec 2011 02:52 PM PST
Reuters - _Dec (Reuters) - U.S. painter Helen Frankenthaler, who poured thinned pigments directly onto untreated canvas to create ethereal fields of color seen as seminal works in the development of abstract expressionism, died at her home in Darien, Connecticut, on Monday evening at the age of 83. She died following a long illness, her nephew Clifford Moss said on Tuesday. He declined to give further details. ... Full Story | Top |
Viacom challenges final payment to Harmonix
Tue,27 Dec 2011 02:51 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Viacom Inc said it has challenged the final payout due to former shareholders of music-based games developer Harmonix Music Systems, which it had acquired in 2006. A private dispute resolution process on December 19 determined that Viacom, the company behind MTV and Paramount Pictures, owed an additional $383 million as compared to the $700 million sought by the former shareholders. ... Full Story | Top |
Robinson exit to cost New York Times over $15 million
Tue,27 Dec 2011 02:43 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Janet Robinson, who will step down as chief executive of the New York Times Co on December 31, will receive an exit package in excess of $15 million, according to people familiar with the situation. In addition to a $4.5 million consulting fee, the Times Co will pay Robinson $10.9 million in pension benefits that she accrued over 28 years of service, they said. According to a regulatory filing, Times Co's policy previously stipulated that Robinson, 61, would not be eligible for full pension benefits until she was 63 and had been with the company for 30 years. ...
Full Story | Top |
Report: Maria Shriver may be re-thinking Arnold divorce
Tue,27 Dec 2011 01:50 PM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Is Maria Shriver ready to continue the long tradition of Kennedy women who've forgiven their husbands' extracurricular activities? TMZ reports it just may be so, as the estranged wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger is re-thinking the idea of pulling the plug on her marriage to the actor and former California governor. Shriver, TMZ says, is struggling with the decision to divorce because of her Catholic background. ...
Full Story | Top |
"SNL" writer Joe Bodolai dead of apparent suicide
Tue,27 Dec 2011 12:55 PM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Joe Bodolai -- who wrote for "Saturday Night Live" for the 1981-1982 season and co-wrote the first draft of the "Wayne's World" movie with Mike Myers -- has died in an apparent suicide, according to various reports. He was 63. The body of Bodolai was found Monday in a hotel room in Hollywood. Near his corpse was a mixture of anti-freeze and Gatorade that he is believed to have consumed. While a suicide note was not found near his body, an apparent suicide note was published Friday on Bodolai's blog, "Say It Ain't So, Joe. ... Full Story | Top |
Heavy D death caused by pulmonary embolism
Tue,27 Dec 2011 12:28 PM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The sudden death in November of rapper Heavy D was due to a pulmonary embolism caused by deep leg vein thrombosis, the Los Angeles Coroner's office said on Tuesday. Heavy D, 44, who rose to fame in the 1990s with hit singles such as "Now That We Found Love," was found struggling to breath outside his Beverly Hills apartment on November 8 and died later at a nearby hospital. The coroner's office said in report that no drugs or alcohol were involved, but said that heart disease was a contributing factor in his death. ... Full Story | Top |
Adele sells most albums in a year since 2004
Tue,27 Dec 2011 12:22 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - That Adele's "21" will rank as the year's top-selling album is no surprise - the English singer-songwriter's hits "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone Like You" dominated playlists in 2011. What is surprising is that "21," released by independent British label XL Recordings, sold more than 5 million copies. The last time an album topped the year-end chart with more than 5 million copies sold was in 2004, when Usher's "Confessions" moved 7.9 million, according to Nielsen Soundscan, which supplied all sales data for this story. ...
Full Story | Top |
Dan Aykroyd joins 'Dog Fight' with Will Ferrell
Tue,27 Dec 2011 12:14 PM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Dan Aykroyd has joined Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis in the political comedy "Dog Fight," TheWrap has confirmed. "Dog Fight," due August 10, stars Ferrell and Galifianakis as bumbling, rival politicians battling for a congressional seat in North Carolina. All three are producing the movie, along with frequent Ferrell collaborator Adam McKay. It is not yet clear what role Aykroyd will play in the Jay Roach-directed film, however. Ferrell and Galifianakis have some history with politics. Ferrell famously spoofed President George W. ... Full Story | Top |
Univision edges out networks on repeat-heavy night
Tue,27 Dec 2011 11:54 AM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - If Univision has its way, the future will look a lot like last night: Aided by repeat-heavy slates on the Big 4 networks, the Spanish-language network edged out CBS for the highest overall ratings of the night. The finale of popular novela "La Fuerza del Destino" scored a 2.3 rating/6 share and 5.4 million total viewers from 8-10 p.m. An interview with the cast at 10 on "Don Francisco Presenta" scored a 1.5/4 and 3.6 million total viewers. The ratings averaged out to a 2.0 overall for the night, just ahead of CBS's 1.9 average for a night of all reruns. ... Full Story | Top |
AMC renews "Hell on Wheels" for second season
Tue,27 Dec 2011 10:53 AM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - AMC has renewed its second highest-rated show for a second season. "Hell on Wheels," which premiered in November, is averaging 3.2 million viewers as it tells the post-Civil War story of Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) as he seeks revenge against his wife's killers. Bohannon's journey puts him in the middle of construction of the first transcontinental railroad, overseen by greedy Doc Durant (Colm Meaney). ... Full Story | Top |
People says gay Taylor Lautner cover "100 percent fake"
Tue,27 Dec 2011 10:47 AM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - People magazine said on Tuesday that a cover apparently featuring "Twilight" actor Taylor Lautner coming out as a gay man was "100 percent fake." "The cover in question is 100 percent fake. This began as a ridiculous Twitter joke that went viral," said People Magazine spokeswoman Julie Farin. The fake People cover, dated Jan 7 2012, was circulated on the Internet over the holidays. It featured a picture of Lautner, 19, with text saying "Tired of rumors, the Twilight star opens up about his decision to finally come out. ...
Full Story | Top |
Sinead O'Connor ends fourth marriage after 16 days
Tue,27 Dec 2011 10:44 AM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Irish singer Sinead O'Connor has ended her fourth marriage after just 16 days, blaming pressure and disapproval from the family and friends of her new husband Barry Herridge. O'Connor, 46, said on her blog that the marriage went wrong three hours after the Dec 8. ceremony in Las Vegas and that the pair had lived together for only seven days before splitting on Christmas Eve. "Within 3 hours of the ceremony being over the marriage was kyboshed (ruined) by the behavior of certain people in my husband's life. ...
Full Story | Top |
Tracey Gold stars in spider drama "Arachnoquake"
Tue,27 Dec 2011 09:32 AM PST
Reuters - NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Former "Growing Pains" star Tracey Gold is the latest '80s icon to sign on for an impossibly silly Syfy drama: "Arachnoquake," which somehow doesn't have an exclamation point in the title, will find her battling giant albino spiders unleashed by earthquakes. Also appearing in the TV movie are be Bug Hall ("The Little Rascals"), Ethan Phillips (" Star Trek: Voyager" ) and Edward Furlong, who is somehow listed only fourth in Syfy's news release despite starring in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day. ... Full Story | Top |
Animal Planet's "Whale Wars" renewed for fifth season
Tue,27 Dec 2011 08:40 AM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Whale Wars" star Capt. Paul Watson and his Sea Shepherds are returning to Animal Planet for another whale defense campaign in June. A fifth season of "Whale Wars" will revolve around Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's "Operation Divine Wind" campaign. The engagement, which is already under way, includes Watson, his crew, nearly 100 volunteers and three ships -- the Steve Irwin, Bob Barker and Brigitte Bardot -- taking on the Institute of Cetacean Research, the Japanese whaling group. ... Full Story | Top |
Thanks to Gaga, Adele, music business finally improves in 2011
Tue,27 Dec 2011 07:51 AM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Among musicians, "flat" is a word you don't want to hear. But to the industry, flat is truly music to everyone's ears. Soundscan's sales year doesn't end until January 1, but current year-to-year comparisons have album sales for 2011 ahead of comparable 2010 business. OK, it's only by a whisker of 1 percent. But it is welcome news in an industry where album sales for 2010 were down 13 percent from 2009. And prior to that they'd been down an average of 8 percent every year through the 2000s, suggesting an incredible shrinking music business. ...
Full Story | Top |
Woody Allen's first stab at 'Midnight' was 1971 short story
Tue,27 Dec 2011 07:27 AM PST
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - With his hit "Midnight in Paris," Woody Allen wrote a humorous piece of fiction in which the protagonist hung out with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and Salvador Dali. It wasn't the first time he'd done that. "They were easy for me to capture in the writing," Allen said in a recent interview with TheWrap. "I could write them off the top of my head. Because after all, who was I dealing with? Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein, Picasso, the Fitzgeralds -- these are people we know from high school. ... Full Story | Top |
Thatcher's "Iron Lady" image softened by new movie
Tue,27 Dec 2011 05:06 AM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Making a film about an iconic politician like Britain's Margaret Thatcher is akin to walking into a movie minefield, and casting an American -- even one as revered as Meryl Streep -- is asking for more trouble. Yet the makers of new movie "The Iron Lady," which opens in U.S. theaters on Friday, went one step further. They chose to depict Thatcher, now 86, as a confused, lonely woman looking back on past glories, and doing so takes the kind of guts once exhibited by the former British prime minister herself. ...
Full Story | Top |
| |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment