COWELL XES OUT X FACTOR JUDGES, HOST (Update)

With writers referring to Monday night’s X Factor shakeup variously as a bloodbath, an X-orcism, an implosion, and a massacre, Simon Cowell has fired the host, Steve Jones, and two of his The X Factor judges, Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger. Abdul released a statement through her press agent confirming that she had been axed […]

IT’S STILL NOT EASY BEING GREEN

Kermit the Frog is green — as he has said repeatedly in song and verse — not red, despite what some conservatives have long maintained. A video of Kermit and Miss Piggy appearing at a news conference in London last week to promote their latest Muppets movie has gone viral on the Internet. One reporter […]

SUPER BOWL ADS ATTRACT SUPER BUYERS

After Super Bowl XLV attracted the biggest audience in television history last year, it was probably inevitable that the prices for commercial time on this year’s telecast would rise, and according to MediaPost, they have — by 13-29 percent. Actual prices paid for 30-second spots on Sunday’s game, the trade publication said, range from $3.5-4.0 […]

MURDOCH KEPT OUT OF THE LOOP OVER ARRESTS AT SUN (Updated)

Rupert Murdoch has still made no mention in his almost daily tweets about the surprise early-morning arrests on Saturday of four journalists, including two senior editors, working for his London daily, The Sun — and today’s (Tuesday) Guardian newspaper suspects it knows why he has remained silent: Neither Murdoch and his son James, nor News […]

BOX OFFICE CONTINUES TO IMPROVE

Last year’s box office got off to such a sluggish start that even a weekend during which all of the top-12 films combined grossed less than $100 million can look pretty good by comparison. Such was the case last weekend when the 12 films at the top of the box office earned just $98.3 million. […]

HOBBIT CASTING CALL CANCELED OVER SAFETY FEARS

An open casting call for women under five feet tall and men under five feet four inches to appear as extras in the Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit, had to be abruptly canceled in New Zealand today (Tuesday) when more than 3,000 people turned up. According to NZ Newswire, the producers had expected […]

NETFLIX: MOST PROFITS STILL COME FROM DVD-BY-MAIL

Netflix may be focusing most of its energy on promoting its streaming service, but its DVD-by-mail service is nearly five times more profitable, Home Media magazine reported on Monday. The trade publication on Monday observed that DVD and Blu-ray Disc rentals via the mail accounted for $194 million in profit in 2011, representing 52 percent […]

BSKYB MAY DEAL COUP DE GRACE TO NETFLIX

In an apparent bid to land a preemptive strike against Netflix just as the online movie renter ramps up its service in the U.K., News Corp-controlled BSkyB said today (Tuesday) that it plans to launch an Internet version of its Sky Movies package. Customers will be be able to pay for a monthly subscription that […]

STUDIO DANCES WITH WOLVES AS THE GREY DEBUTS WITH $20M (Updated)

It’s not yet quite in the black, but The Grey got off to a terrific start over the weekend, wolfing down an estimated $20 million and coming in at the high end of early forecasts. Even after the film debuted on Friday with a better-than-decent $6.5 million, most pundits were still predicting that it would […]

BROKAW ASKS ROMNEY TO REMOVE AD

Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw has voiced his strong objection to a new campaign ad by Mitt Romney whose sole content is Brokaw’s January 21, 1997 report on NBC Nightly News about the House vote censuring Newt Gingrich for ethics violations. “I am extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in […]

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