Oscars Choose MTV Awards Veteran to Direct ShowLOS ANGELES (AP) – Academy Awards overseers have chosen an entertainment veteran to direct the next Oscar show.
Hamish Hamilton is directing the 82nd Oscar broadcast on March 7.
Hamilton’s credits include directing the MTV Video Music Awards and the MTV Europe Music Awards, along with live concerts by such performers as U2, Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond and Christina Aguilera.
He also is directing the halftime show at the Super Bowl the month before the Oscars.
Adam Shankman, one of the producers of the Oscars, says Hamilton will bring a fresh eye and expertise in TV technology to stage a cutting-edge show.
Oscar nominations come out Feb. 2. The March 7 awards ceremony airs live on ABC.
15 documentary Features Make Oscar’s Short List
By Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Of the 89 documentary films eligible for Oscar consideration this year, 15 were selected for a short list of potential nominees, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday.
Some of the year’s most popular documentary features were overlooked, including Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story.” The R-rated film was praised by critics and earned more than $14 million at the box office.
Also omitted from Oscar consideration was the well-reviewed Mike Tyson documentary “Tyson,” the rock-doc “It Might Get Loud,” and the story of Vogue magazine and its editor-in-chief, “The September Issue.”
The short list of films is determined by a committee of members of the academy’s documentary branch. They watch all eligible contenders and vote for their favorites by secret ballot. The top vote-getters make the short list of potential nominees.
The selections this year are “The Beaches of Agnes;” ”Burma VJ ;” ”The Cove;” ”Every Little Step;” ”Facing Ali;” Food, Inc.;” ”Garbage Dreams;” ”Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders;” ”The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers;” ”Mugabe and the White African;” ”Sergio;” ”Soundtrack for a Revolution;” ”Under Our Skin;” ”Valentino The Last Emperor;” and “Which Way Home.”
Five documentary features from that list will be chosen as nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards. Nominations will be announced Feb. 2, 2010 and the awards will be presented March 7.
2010 Primetime Emmy Awards Set for August
LOS ANGELES (AP) – NBC has scheduled next year’s Emmy Awards for August, instead of September when they’re usually aired.
The network says the decision to slot the TV awards show for Sunday, Aug. 29, was made early to get a head start on planning.
The event is typically held in September, right before the start of the fall TV season. NBC airs NFL games on Sunday nights in September, so scheduling the Emmys in August avoids a conflict.
The network said its August 2006 airing of the awards show was the highest-rated Emmy broadcast of the past four years.
Nominations for the 62nd Prime-time Emmy Awards will be announced in July.
‘Call of Duty’ Setting Entertainment Records
NEW YORK (AP) – The video game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” is blasting its way into entertainment history.
After hauling in the biggest-ever first-day sales total last week, the game continues break records.
Activision Blizzard Inc., which released the game Nov. 10, said the latest game in its “Call of Duty” franchise made $550 million in worldwide sales during its first five days. That would put it over the $500 million record set last year by “Grand Theft Auto IV,” from Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.
Activision didn’t say how many units it has shipped. But Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian estimates the company sold between 8.5 million and 9 million copies.
The game is also blowing past records set by other media. After “Grand Theft Auto IV” comes $394 million in worldwide box office sales brought in by the movie “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” over its first five days, according to Activision.
In its first 24 hours on sale, “Call of Duty” made $310 million in North America and the United Kingdom alone, while “Grand Theft Auto” made that same amount worldwide.
It was also far above the record $155 million opening weekend for the Batman movie “The Dark Knight” last year.
The game, which sells for $60, runs on Windows-based computers, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3.
‘Uncharted 2’ Leads Video Game Award Nominations
By Frazier Moore, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” has seized a leading eight nominations for this year’s Video Game Awards, Spike TV announced Wednesday.
The action-adventure “Uncharted 2” is bucking for Game of the Year, as is “Batman: Arkham Asylum,” which logged a total of seven nominations, according to Spike TV, which presents the awards.
Military shooter game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” and zombie thriller “Left 4 Dead 2” each has landed six nominations, including Game of the Year. “Assassin’s Creed 2” rounds out the contenders for Game of the Year.
Nominated for Studio of the Year are Infinity Ward, Naughty Dog, Rocksteady Studios and Valve.
Vying for Best Music Game are “DJ Hero,” ”Guitar Hero 5,” ”LEGO Rock Band” and “The Beatles: Rock Band.”
Bill Murray, Hugh Jackman, Samuel L. Jackson, Shia LaBeouf and Vin Diesel are up for Best Performance by a Human Male, while Eliza Dushku, Kristen Bell, Megan Fox and Tricia Helfe r are nominated in the Human Female category.
Nominees for the 2009 VGAs were selected by an advisory council made up of experts in the video game industry. Winners are chosen by that group and by fans, who can cast their votes in 28 categories at VGA.Spike.Com.
The seventh annual Video Game Awards will air on Spike TV at 8 p.m. EST on Dec. 12. Originating from Los Angeles, the two-hour live broadcast will give viewers a sneak peek at “Halo: Reach” with a world-premiere video from the game. A prequel to the “Halo” trilogy, it is scheduled for release in Fall 2010.
Univision To Make Shows Available on YouTubeLOS ANGELES (AP) – Univision, the biggest Hispanic broadcaster in the U.S., says its shows will be coming to YouTube in the new year.
Videos to be made available include the talk show “El Show de Cristina,” based in Miami, and the murder thriller series, “Mujeres Asesinas.”
But they won’t include popular telenovelas from its Mexican production partner Grupo Televisa SA because of a legal dispute preventing either from putting Televisa content on the Internet in the U.S.
YouTube, the online video site of Google Inc., will share advertising revenue with Univision Communications Inc. after content begins appearing early in the first quarter of next year.
YouTube says its U.S. Hispanic audience is one of its fastest growing demographics, with 6.5 million adult viewers per month, up 80 percent from a year ago.
Film Academy Throws a Private Oscar Party
By Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Without the burden of a live worldwide broadcast, members of the film academy threw themselves a lively yet relaxed dinner party to honor the first Oscar winners of the season.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences broke with tradition and presented its honorary Oscars off-camera Saturday night, months ahead of the televised ceremony in March.
Actress Lauren Bacall, B-movie king Roger Corman and “Godfather” cinematographer Gordon Willis each received Oscar statuettes during the black-tie banquet at the Grand Ballroom above the Kodak Theatre, the same room where the annual post-Academy Awards Governors Ball is held.
In addition, producer John Calley was honored with the Irving J. Thalberg Memorial Award, recognizing career accomplishments that include “Catch-22,” ”The Remains of the Day” and “The Da Vinci Code.”
Each of the recipients was chosen by the academy’s Board of Governors.
Tom Hanks, Jack Nic holson, Annette Bening, Morgan Freeman and Steven Spielberg were among the 600 invited guests at the inaugural Governors Awards event.
Guests drank Champagne and dined on filet mignon as each honoree was celebrated with tributes, toasts and a generous montage of film clips – leisurely elements not possible in previous years when special-Oscar presentations were built into the already-crowded Oscar broadcast.
Corman, 83, was the first to be honored Saturday night. The longtime producer-director was lauded for being a champion of independent and efficient filmmaking and for promoting women to positions of leadership long before it was popular.
Kirk Douglas honored Bacall, his friend for more than 60 years, and confessed that he once tried to seduce her – “without success.”
Anjelica Huston presented the award to the legendary actress, saying she “defines what it means to be a great actress and also a huge movie star” and praising her “steadfastness, honesty and extraordinary beauty.”
She spoke of he r late husband, “my great love” Humphrey Bogart, and her dashing leading men: Douglas, Gregory Peck and Henry Fonda.
Bacall said she did not expect to receive an Oscar but gratefully welcomed the honor.
Willis, whose cinematography credits include “The Godfather,” ”Annie Hall” and “All the President’s Men,” was honored for his decades of work. He was nominated for an Oscar twice: For “Zelig” in 1983 and “The Godfather: Part III” in 1990.
Presenter Jeff Bridges noted Willis’ “unsurpassed mastery of light, shadow, color and motion.”
Willis, 78, told his industry peers, “Do your best. Take care of your kids.”
Health concerns kept Calley from accepting his award in person, so seven previous Thalberg Award winners did it for him, including Spielberg, Jewison, Beatty and George Lucas. They lauded Calley for his willingness to support cr eativity throughout his career.
Though not televised, the Governors Awards were taped and portions will be shown during the 82nd annual Academy Awards on March 7, 2010.
Struggling Studio MGM Says It’s Looking for BuyerBy Ryan Nakashima, Business Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Struggling movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is looking for a buyer.
The home of the James Bond and Pink Panther franchises said Friday it has begun to explore strategic options including “a potential sale of the company.”
In a statement, MGM also said its lenders have agreed to grant the company another respite until Jan. 31 from interest payments on nearly $4 billion in debt.
The decision, reversing its refusal to sell a year ago, came during a conference call Friday between restructuring expert Stephen Cooper, now MGM’s vice chairman, and the 140 lenders owed some $3.7 billion in bonds maturing in mid-2012, according to a person close to the situation.
The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The lenders agreed to seek outside investors for a new partnership, investment or sale of part or all of the company. Its most valuable asset is its library of 4,000 movie and TV-show titles including such as “Rocky” and “Dances With Wolves.” It also owns subsidiary United Artists, headed by Tom Cruise, whose film “Valkyrie” grossed a respectable $200 million worldwide after its release last year.
But the company has fallen on hard times and the home video market has shrunk.
Financial adviser Moelis & Co. is expected to send out non-disclosure agreements and detailed financial information to interested parties by early next week, the person said.
Potential buyers include Time Warner Inc., the parent of the Warner Bros. studio, and News Corp., home of 20th Century Fox.
On Thursday, with rumors swirling of its potential sale, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. Vice Chairman Michael Burns also said his company was interested in taking a look.
In 2007, MGM made $558 million alone from its library of titles, but since then DVD sales have declined industrywide, and a large chunk of those sales has likely vanished.
