ARE STUDIOS PAYING FOR PHONY PUBLIC MOVIE REVIEWS?

Many younger moviegoers often proclaim with pride that they never read critics’ reviews and that they decide what to see after watching movie trailers and checking out what “ordinary” people have to say about them. Now, that strategy faces its own predicament after suspect messages praising the upcoming Julia Roberts starrer Mirror Mirror began appearing [...]

FINKE-WAXMAN FEUD HEATS UP

Bad blood between two entertainment industry bloggers, Nikki Finke and Sharon Waxman, continued to curdle over the weekend as, first, Finke, on her Deadline blog, disputed an article by Waxman and Brent Lang on TheWrap claiming that former CAA chief Michael Ovitz had failed in a bid to take over management of IMG, the sports [...]

OWNER OF NIKKI FINKE SITE SUES THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Penske Media Corporation (PMC), owner of Nikki Finke’s Deadline.com and other media-related websites, has made good on its threat to sue the Hollywood Reporter for copyright infringement. The suit accuses the trade publication of resorting on an almost daily basis, to “the outright theft of intellectual property, including but not limited to whole articles, content, [...]

HOLLYWOOD NEWS SERVICE TO LAUNCH ON ION

There’s a new entrant into the crowded field of Hollywood news reporting on TV. The Wall Street Journal reported today (Wednesday) that Jay Penske’s PMC media company, which owns Nikki Finke’s Deadline.com, is teaming with the ION Television network to produce short-form features on topics ranging from celebrity scandals to box-office reporting that will air [...]

CONAN WRITER ASSESSES THE MOVIE’S CRASH

Working on a movie that flops is like working on a political campaign in which the candidate is trounced, according to Sean Hood, who worked as a script doctor on last weekend’s turkey, Conan the Barbarian. In an amusing yet poignant article that was picked up in its entirety by Nikki Finke’s Deadline.com website after [...]

ACTION-FILM DIRECTOR RATNER TO CO-PRODUCE OSCARS

In the latest head-scratching move to revitalize the annual Oscars telecast, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Thursday that action-movie director Brett Ratner will co-produce next year’s show with veteran Don Mischer. In a statement, Academy President Tom Sherak said that Ratner is “unbelievably creative and knows how to take risks [...]

NIKKI FINKE SLAMS DOOR ON DEPARTING SALES EXEC

Deadline.com’s Nikki Finke has greeted word that Lynne Segall is quitting MMC, Deadline’s corporate parent, to become publisher of The Hollywood Reporter with a 1,300-word “good riddance.” While calling Segall “a tireless ad sales machine with great Hollywood connections,” she accused her of ethical offenses that jeopardized the integrity of her website. As soon as [...]

COWELL ENDORSES TWO MORE X FACTOR JUDGES

Although he says he’s still open to other possibilities and deals have not been completed, Simon Cowell has told Deadline.com blogger Nikki Finke that he expects singers Paula Abdul and Cheryl Cole will join producer L.A. Reid and himself on the judging panel of the U.S. version of The X Factor when it debuts in [...]

GIBSON REGRETS ALL — INCLUDING BECOMING A STAR

Mel Gibson has suggested that he regrets ever having pursued fame as a movie star. In an interview with entertainment attorney-turned-showbiz journalist Allison Hope Weiner posted on DeadlineHollywood.com, Gibson says, “When I was younger and it first started to happen, there’s some kind of novelty to it in your twenties. You quickly realize before your [...]

WGA QUICKLY AGREES TO NEW DEAL

Negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers turned out to be a far cry from the acrimony and tumult that marked the talks in 2007, which led to a strike that shut down TV production for 100 days. According to published reports, the negotiators sidestepped the [...]

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