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| Walt Disney, Shanghai Media Group to develop Disney-branded movies Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 07:09 PM PST  Walt Disney Studios has signed an agreement with Shanghai Media Group Pictures to develop Disney-branded movies, the latest move by a U.S. studio to grow its presence in China's entertainment business. U.S.-based writers will team up with local writers and filmmakers to develop stories and scripts that incorporate Chinese themes in Disney movies, the studio said in a statement. Tony To, the studio's executive vice president of production, will oversee the co-development program, which could allow for easier releases of English-language films in China. Western films in addition must meet the committee's "amendment opinions" to be one of the 34 Hollywood films permitted in China each year. Full Story | Top |
| Anderson's whimsical 'Grand Budapest Hotel' evokes a bygone Europe Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 04:13 PM PST  By Piya Sinha-Roy BEVERLY HILLS, Calif (Reuters) - Old rich dames, angry henchmen and one very punctilious hotel concierge make up the fantasy world at the center of Wes Anderson's whimsical caper that evokes a bygone era of aristocratic hierarchy and opulence. "The Grand Budapest Hotel," out in limited U.S. release on Friday, is in part inspired by Anderson's own experiences of living in Europe, the works of Austrian author Stefan Zweig, and paying homage to an era where tradition reigned supreme. "Each year I spend a pretty good part of the year in Europe for the last 10 years or maybe more, so this is for me a chance to do a story that relates to my own," Anderson said in his soft hybrid accent that masks any hint of a Texas drawl. Texas-native Anderson, 44, has become synonymous with his quirky, dark comedies such as 1998's "Rushmore," 2001's "The Royal Tenenbaums," 2004's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou," and his 2009 adaptation of Roald Dahl's "Fantastic Mr. Fox" that have drawn a cult audience. Full Story | Top |
| Soprano Te Kanawa trills for 70th on Covent Garden stage Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 03:18 PM PST  By Michael Roddy LONDON (Reuters) - The stage was strewn with daffodils and a cake was wheeled out as Dame Kiri te Kanawa celebrated her 70th birthday on Thursday singing on stage at Covent Garden where the New Zealand-born soprano first made an international splash more than 40 years ago. Te Kanawa, who retired from the opera stage in 2004 but still sings recitals, was misty eyed after video tributes from famous singers she has worked with, including Frederica von Stade, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo, were shown on a screen at the end of a production of Donizetti's comic opera "La Fille du Regiment." "After this day... I'm going to do a runner, and there's no more birthdays," Te Kanawa said to laughter from the sold-out opera audience. "I thank this whole cast for the most wonderful performance and I'm so pleased that I was able to do five minutes of this," Te Kanawa, who played what is usually the non-singing role of the Duchess of Crackentorp in the production. Full Story | Top |
| Tribune names media executive to head publishing co spinoff Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 01:27 PM PST Media executive Jack Griffin was appointed on Thursday as chief executive of Tribune Co's forthcoming spinoff newspaper company, Tribune Publishing. Griffin has served as an adviser to Tribune through Empirical Media Advisors, the media consulting firm he co-founded. Tribune also announced that Eddy Hartenstein, the publisher of the Los Angeles Times and former DirecTV executive, will become non-executive chairman of Tribune Publishing's board. Griffin will take the helm of Tribune Publishing, which includes the company's eight newspapers, such as the Orlando Sentinel and the Chicago Tribune, during a perilous time. Full Story | Top |
| Disney overhauls troubled interactive unit, lays off 700 Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 01:21 PM PST  By Ronald Grover and Malathi Nayak LOS ANGELES/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Walt Disney overhauled its struggling interactive division in a sweeping reorganization that will reduce the number of video games it develops and alter its advertising strategy to focus more on the fast-changing mobile market. As part of the revamp, Disney will lay off 700 employees, roughly one-quarter of the interactive division, according to a person with knowledge of the layoffs. A Disney spokeswoman would not confirm the number. Disney's games and online division has for years been a persistent money loser and a small but significant drag on a corporate empire that spans movie-making and television to cable network ESPN, theme parks and cruise lines. Full Story | Top |
| FCC may limit TV stations banding on ad sales, retransmission Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 12:12 PM PST Federal Communications Commission on March 31 will vote on new rules that would prohibit broadcast companies from controlling more than two TV stations in a market by sharing advertising sales staff, FCC officials said on Thursday. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is now proposing new rules that would count a broadcaster as having an ownership interest in any station where that owner sells 15 percent or more of advertising time. Another proposed rule would also ban two or more broadcasters that technically compete against each other in the same market from banding together and jointly negotiating retransmission agreements with cable and satellite companies. Current FCC rules typically prohibit one broadcaster from owning two TV stations in one local market. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. antitrust chief recused on Comcast, Time Warner Cable review Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 10:34 AM PST  The top U.S. antitrust enforcer, Bill Baer, will be recused from reviewing Comcast Corp's proposed deal to buy Time Warner Cable Inc, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. The investigation of the $45.2 billion deal will be overseen by two other Justice Department officials: Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Renata Hesse and Deputy Assistant Attorney General David Gelfand, a litigator. In a statement announcing the decision, the Justice Department did not say why Baer, who heads the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, had recused himself. Full Story | Top |
| Comcast buys advertising startup Freewheel for $360 million Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 09:59 AM PST  (Reuters) - Comcast Corp, the entertainment and cable group, said on Thursday it bought Freewheel, a startup that personalizes and inserts online video ads for media clients, as it tries to boost its digital advertising business. The companies did not reveal financial details but a source familiar with the transaction valued it at $360 million. Freewheel's website said its clients range from media companies such as 21st Century Fox Inc and Viacom Inc to Comcast competitors like Dish Network Corp and DirecTV. ... Full Story | Top |
| Relationships, real-life personalities lead Tribeca festival Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 09:08 AM PST (Reuters) - A scandalous affair, dysfunctional family dramas, missing babies, a blind piano player, Legos and James Franco make up an eclectic slate of spotlight films and documentaries at this year's Tribeca Film Festival. The lineup of out-of-competition films announced on Thursday in the "Spotlight" section of the New York-based Tribeca festival, a section reserved for more prominent actors and directors, comprises 31 feature films, nine of which are documentaries. Highlights include Dito Montiel's "Boulevard," an existential family drama starring Robin Williams and Kathy Baker, crime thriller "Every Secret Thing" and "5 to 7," an intense love story between an aspiring novelist and the wife of a French diplomat, starring Anton Yelchin and Berenice Marlohe. Full Story | Top |
| China's Huayi to invest in Hollywood production firm Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 07:04 AM PST (Reuters) - Huayi Brothers Media Corp has become the latest Chinese company to seek a slice of the U.S. entertainment industry, announcing plans to buy a film-making business founded by a former head of Warner Brothers. Huayi, which mainly produces and distributes movies, television programs and music, signed a term sheet to invest $120-150 million in Studio 8, a firm set up by Warner Brothers ex-president Jeff Robinov. "After becoming Studio 8's shareholder, the company will be in charge of the issuing and distribution of films produced by Studio 8 in the Greater China region," Huayi Brothers said in a filing to the Shenzhen stock exchange on Thursday. The announcement came after China's markets closed. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: DirecTV in talks with Disney on deal for Internet rights Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 06:10 AM PST  DirecTV is in talks with Walt Disney Co to license the rights to offer Disney's broadcast and cable channels as part of an Internet-based product, DirecTV said on Wednesday. The deal would mirror a first-of-its kind agreement that Disney and satellite rival Dish Network Corp announced earlier this week. The Internet rights being discussed are part of a large-scale programming agreement that would replace a deal between the companies that expires in late December. Disney and DirectTV are in negotiations but the timing of the new deal could be not be learned. Full Story | Top |
| 'American Hustle,' 'Wolf of Wall Street' lead MTV Movie Awards nods Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 04:01 AM PST  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Crime caper "American Hustle" and financial greed tale "The Wolf of Wall Street" each landed eight nominations for the MTV Movie Awards on Thursday, edging out dystopian saga "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" and comedy "We're the Millers." "Hustle" and "Wolf," which each went home from Sunday's Oscars empty handed, will have a shot at redemption at the unbuttoned MTV event that hands out golden, popcorn-shaped trophies in categories like best kiss and best fight scene. ... Full Story | Top |
| Broadcaster RTL Group sees flat revenue in 2014 Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 02:22 AM PST European broadcaster RTL Group expects revenues and core earnings to stagnate in 2014 as advertising markets across the continent are expected to remain challenging, it said on Thursday. "Assuming that European economies will continue to recover from the debt crisis, RTL Group expects its total revenue, at constant ... exchange rates, to be broadly stable," the group said in a statement. Earnings before interest, tax and amortization (EBITA), excluding special items, are also expected to remain flat this year, Europe's biggest broadcaster, majority-owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, said. In 2013, sales fell 1.8 percent to 5.889 billion euros ($8.09 billion), the group said, citing negative exchange rate effects and lower revenues at its production arm FreemantleMedia. Full Story | Top |
| Vikings land at British Museum, but without the horns Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 01:20 AM PST  By Michael Roddy LONDON (Reuters) - The Viking exhibition opening on Thursday at the British Museum has axes, swords, helmets, dragon figureheads and, as its centerpiece, a 37-metre-long (121-feet) Viking warship that is the longest ever excavated. "They didn't wear horns on their helmets," said project curator Thomas Williams, 33, explaining one of the messages the museum hopes visitors, especially schoolchildren, will take home from its first Viking exhibition in 30 years. This is partly what has irked the British press, some of whose reviewers have found the exhibition, given the Vikings' well-earned reputation for rape and pillage, to be a little colorless and bloodless. Full Story | Top |
| Book Talk: Novelist, comedian Koch decries loss of risk-taking Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 12:07 AM PST By Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch writer and comedian Herman Koch's novel "Summerhouse with Swimming Pool" follows hot on the heels of "The Dinner", a study of racism, madness and death in an outwardly respectable middle-class family which proved a surprise international hit. Due to be published in English in June, "Summerhouse with Swimming Pool" tells the story of a wealthy, successful and embittered doctor who treats everybody who is anybody in Amsterdam's cultural elite. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. game show host Geoff Edwards dies at 83 Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 09:15 PM PST (Reuters) - Geoff Edwards, known for hosting the game shows "Treasure Hunt" and "Jackpot" in the 1970s and 1980s, died on Wednesday at the age of 83, according to his agent. Edwards died from complications of pneumonia at a hospital in Santa Monica, California, according to agent Fred Westbrook, who said the illness was "sudden." "He was a fun guy," said Westbrook, noting that Edwards in recent years had been doing radio appearances and writing a travel blog. Westbrook said that like other successful game show hosts, Edwards was "comfortable being himself." Known for his relaxed style, including wearing his hair longer than other hosts of the day, the native of Westfield, New Jersey, was nominated for an Emmy for "Jackpot," according to Westbrook. He hosted both "Treasure Hunt" and "The New Treasure Hunt," as it was known in the 1970s. Full Story | Top |
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