Michael Moore, Jeff Garlin Announce MI Comedy Fest
By John Flesher
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) – Filmmaker Michael Moore started a summer film festival five years ago in his adopted hometown of Traverse City, Mich. Now he’s teaming with Emmy winner Jeff Garlin to organize a mid-winter comedic counterpart.
The inaugural Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival will be held Feb. 19-21. It will feature star performers, along with talented up-and-comers. The lineup will be revealed next month.
Moore is a Flint native who now lives in Traverse City. The Lake Michigan resort community is about 250 miles northwest of Detroit. He and Garlin say they want to boost a state where the economy was sinking long before the nationwide downturn.
In addition to stand-up performances by established artists, there will be acts featuring improvisational groups and premieres of comedy movies – plus a show for children.
FTC Taking Closer Look at Google’s AdMob PurchaseBy Michael Liedtke, Technology Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – U.S. antitrust regulators are taking a closer look at Google Inc.’s proposed $750 million purchase of mobile phone marketer AdMob, the latest sign of greater government vigilance as Google tries to expand its advertising empire.
The Federal Trade Commission sought more information about the deal this week, according to a Wednesday post on Google’s blog.
This so-called “second request” doesn’t mean regulators intend to block Google’s AdMob deal. Most other acquisitions that go through this stage end up getting approved.
But the FTC’s action shows regulators are watching Google more carefully as the company tries to build upon its dominance of the Internet’s lucrative search advertising market. Google is expected to pull in more than $22 billion in revenue this year, mostly from ads shown alongside search results and other Web content.
“We know that closer scrutiny has been one consequence of Google’s success,” Paul Feng, a Google product manager, wrote in Wednesday’s blog posting. Echoing previous management comments, Feng said the company remains confident its AdMob purchase, announced last month, will be approved.
Google’s huge lead in Internet search triggered a 2008 government investigation that scuttled its plans to enter into an advertising partnership with rival Yahoo Inc., which runs the second most-popular search engine. Yahoo plans to work with Microsoft Corp. instead, beginning next year if those two companies can gain regulatory approval.
Since its inception nearly four years ago, AdMob has built a thriving network that sells and delivers ads on applications and Web sites designed for the iPhone and other mobile devices. It’s still relatively small with estimated annual revenue of $45 million to $60 million, but regulators apparently want to understand whether its technology and advertising contacts would give Google an unfair advantage in its quest to sell more mobile phone ads.
Google management has indicated that it believes mobile marketing eventually may become bigger than advertising on Internet-connected computers. That tipping point still appears to be many years away, with U.S. mobile advertising expected to total $416 million this year, about 2 percent of overall Internet ad spending in the country.
The FTC’s decision to take more time digging into the AdMob deal means Google probably won’t be able to take over the company for several more months, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast wrote in a Wednesday research note.
James Cameron: China Should Let More Movies InBy Gillian Wong
BEIJING (AP) – Hollywood director James Cameron urged China to open its doors to more foreign films, arguing it would boost the local cinema industry after the WTO ruled Beijing was illegally restricting movie and other media imports.
In Beijing to promote his latest sci-fi extravaganza, “Avatar,” Cameron said Wednesday that China’s breakneck economic growth meant it no longer needed measures to protect its film industry.
“China’s economy is expanding very, very rapidly. And I think the feeling right now is that perhaps it doesn’t need to be protecting itself quite as much,” Cameron, the director of blockbusters that include “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” and “Titanic,” told reporters. “Chinese filmmakers are very strong … they’re highly respected.”
The Chinese government protects local films by limiting the number of film imports on a revenue-sharing basis to 20 a year, a quota that effectively limits Hollywood blockbusters to 20 slots annu ally.
These and other restrictions have been a key complaint by Western countries, who say that China’s rapid rise as a trade power has been in part aided by unfair policies that boost sales of Chinese goods abroad while limiting imports into its market.
“I think that by opening the doors in China to other filmmakers, it will raise the entire film industry in China,” Cameron said. “It will get people more excited, there will be more seats, more cinemas, more excitement about the cinema-going experience, which will also raise the Chinese filmmakers’ ability to play their films.”
On Monday, a World Trade Organization panel upheld a ruling in a case brought by the U.S. government that China was obstructing trade by forcing foreign suppliers to distribute movies, music and books through state-owned companies.
China expressed disappointment at the decision but gave no immediate sign whether it could keep trying to defend the controls.
The WTO case fo cused on complaints by groups representing music labels such as EMI and Sony Music Entertainment, publishers including McGraw Hill and Simon & Schuster and Hollywood studios Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Universal and 20th Century Fox. The groups say the Chinese rules cost them tens of millions of dollars each year in lost business opportunities.
China’s box office is booming, but still comparatively small compared to the U.S. market. Government statistics show that revenues surged from 920 million yuan in 2003 to 4.3 billion yuan ($630 million) in 2008 – compared to $9.8 billion in the U.S. last year.
‘Mister Ed’ Actress Connie Hines Dies at Age 79
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) – Actress Connie Hines, who played Wilbur’s wife on the popular 1960s television show “Mister Ed” has died. She was 79.
Her “Mister Ed” co-star Alan Young told the Los Angeles Times that Hines died Friday at her Beverly Hills home from complications of heart problems.
Hines was best known for portraying Carol Post on the show that featured a talking horse. She wrote a book in 2007 entitled “Mister Ed and Me and More.”
Born in Massachusetts, Hines also appeared in the 1960 film “Thunder in Carolina” and TV shows that included “The Millionaire,” ”Johnny Ringo” and “Riverboat.”
Hines was married twice, the last time to Lee Savin, an entertainment lawyer and producer who died in 1995.
Warner Music Group To Provide Content to Hulu
NEW YORK (AP) – Warner Music Group Corp. said Tuesday that it will provide music videos, concerts and other programming to Hulu, a free online video site.
The agreement also includes access to artist interviews and behind-the-scenes footage from recording labels including Atlantic Records, Rhino Records and Warner Bros. Records. The first artists from Warner Bros. to go on Hulu are Brit rockers known as Muse.
Last month, EMI Group PLC became the only major recording company to provide similar content to Hulu, which currently mainly offers TV shows and movies.
A rival music Web site called Vevo already has deals with most record companies. Vevo is owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media Co., an arm of the Abu Dhabi government.
Hulu is jointly owned by NBC Universal, in which a controlling stake is being acquired by Comcast Corp., News Corp. and Walt Disney Co.
Faced with declining sales of comp act discs, recording companies are experimenting with new ways of distributing their music online and to get a share of advertising revenue.
Hollywood’s Domestic Box Office Tops $10 BillionLOS ANGELES (AP) – Hollywood is crossing a new milestone as domestic revenues top $10 billion for the first time.
Box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com projected that 2009 receipts would pass that mark Tuesday.
The box office already surpassed the $9.7 billion total in 2007, which had been the previous record year for domestic ticket sales.
Dergarabedian estimates the movie industry could finish this year with revenues in the $10.5 billion range.
A huge Christmas weekend is ahead with Robert Downey Jr.’s “Sherlock Holmes,” Meryl Streep’s “It’s Complicated” and an “Alvin and the Chipmunks” sequel hitting theaters.
Former HBO Chief Chris Albrecht to Head StarzNEW YORK (AP) – Liberty Media Corp. says former HBO boss Chris Albrecht is joining Starz as its president and chief executive.
He will oversee all the Starz LLC entities starting Jan. 1. Those include the Starz Entertainment premium movie service, as well as Overture Films, Anchor Bay Entertainment and Film Roman.
Albrecht spent more than 20 years at HBO, where he was chairman and CEO from 2002 to 2007.
During his tenure, HBO produced such critically acclaimed series as “Sex and the City,” ”The Sopranos,” ”Six Feet Under” and “Entourage.”
His most recent position was as founder of Foresee Entertainment.
He replaces Robert Clasen, who is retiring.
Friend: Polanski Finishing Film Under House ArrestBy Alexander G. Higgins
GENEVA (AP) – Roman Polanski is finishing the edit of his latest movie “Ghost” from his house arrest in Switzerland, surrounded by family and bombarded by telephone calls of support, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy said in an interview Sunday.
Levy, a friend of the 76-year-old director, told the Lausanne-based weekly Le Matin Dimanche that he visited Polanski in his chalet in the luxury Swiss resort of Gstaad about 10 days ago and found him like “a rock,” working and confident, even though his family is worried about the U.S. extradition request hanging over him.
“It’s in fact very impressive. He is in the process of finishing at a distance the editing of his next film, which I understand will be in the official selection at the next Berlin Festival,” Levy said.
He said he was able to have a friendly dinner with Polanski in the chalet. Being able to entertain at home was one of the privileges the director received after his Dec. 4 tran sfer to house arrest from a Swiss jail after more than 60 days of detention.
Polanski has to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet around his ankle to guard against his leaving the grounds of the chalet, but he is able to receive guests inside or outside the house, work on his films, make telephone calls and send e-mails as much as he likes.
“The telephone doesn’t stop ringing, the messages of support are pouring in, especially from his Swiss friends,” Levy said.
Polanski’s two children – Elvis, 9, and Morgane, 16 – and his wife, French actress Emmanuelle Seigner, have been staying in the chalet with him.
Limelight Networks to Pay $110M for EyeWonder
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) – Network services provider Limelight Networks Inc. said Monday it has agreed to pay roughly $110 million in cash and stock to buy EyeWonder Inc., a company that provides technology for delivering audio and video advertising over the Internet.
Limelight said the deal will help it capitalize on advertisers’ shift from traditional media such as newspapers and television to the Web.
It will pay $62 million in cash and 12.7 million of its own shares for the privately held company, which is based in Atlanta. Limelight plans to close the deal in the first half of next year.
Venice Festival Honors Woo With Lifetime AwardBy Min Lee, Entertainment Writer
HONG KONG (AP) – Organizers for the Venice Film Festival have honored John Woo with its lifetime achievement award, saying the veteran director transformed action movies both in his native Hong Kong and his current professional home of Hollywood.
Calling the 61-year-old filmmaker “an innovator of the contemporary language of cinema,” festival organizers said in a statement posted on their official Web site Monday that they decided to award Woo the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.
“The acknowledgment recognizes a filmmaker who in recent decades, with his revolutionary conception of staging and editing, has renewed action movies to the core, introducing an extreme stylization close to visual art, both in Asia and in Hollywood,” organizers said.
“This is a surprise to me. I’m excited. I’m very grateful,” Woo told The Associated Press in a phone interview from the eastern Chinese city Hengdian, where he is producing a new kung fu movie star ring former Bond girl Michelle Yeoh.
“I feel very gratified that I can communicate with many people around the world and make many friends through movies,” he said.
Woo made his name in Hong Kong with stylish action films like “A Better Tomorrow,” ”The Killer” and “Hard Boiled” before moving on to the U.S., where his credits include “Broken Arrow,” ”Face/Off” and “Mission: Impossible II.” Woo recently returned to China to make the two-part historical epic “Red Cliff.” His next project is a movie about the so-called “Flying Tigers” – American fighter pilots who defended China against Japanese invaders during World War II.
“In his war and gangster film masterpieces, Woo has been capable of transfiguring hyperbolic motion and exasperated violence with a highly original poetic and romantic infusion, sustained by an extremely personal and energetic figurative tension, similar to a surreal hallucination,” organizers said.
The award will be presented at th e 67th Venice Film Festival, which will be held from Sept. 1-11, 2010.
Friend: Polanski Finishing Film Under House ArrestBy Alexander G. Higgins
GENEVA (AP) – Roman Polanski is finishing the edit of his latest movie “Ghost” from his house arrest in Switzerland, surrounded by family and bombarded by telephone calls of support, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy said in an interview Sunday.
Levy, a friend of the 76-year-old director, told the Lausanne-based weekly Le Matin Dimanche that he visited Polanski in his chalet in the luxury Swiss resort of Gstaad about 10 days ago and found him like “a rock,” working and confident, even though his family is worried about the U.S. extradition request hanging over him.
“It’s in fact very impressive. He is in the process of finishing at a distance the editing of his next film, which I understand will be in the official selection at the next Berlin Festival,” Levy said.
He said he was able to have a friendly dinner with Polanski in the chalet. Being able to entertain at home was one of the privileges the director received after his Dec. 4 tran sfer to house arrest from a Swiss jail after more than 60 days of detention.
Polanski has to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet around his ankle to guard against his leaving the grounds of the chalet, but he is able to receive guests inside or outside the house, work on his films, make telephone calls and send e-mails as much as he likes.
“The telephone doesn’t stop ringing, the messages of support are pouring in, especially from his Swiss friends,” Levy said.
He said Polanski told him Swiss officials were only doing their job in arresting him Sept. 26 and holding him in detention, but that all of them had treated him with kindness and appeared “extraordinarily embarrassed” by what he was going through.
Swiss authorities have said they will decide early next year whether to extradite Polanski to the U.S. where he is wanted in Los Angeles for sentencing for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.
Polanski’s two children – Elvis, 9, and Morgane, 16 – and his wife, French actress Emmanuelle Seigner, have been staying in the chalet with him.
Screenwriter Dan O’Bannon, Who Wrote ‘Alien,’ DiesLOS ANGELES (AP) – Screenwriter Dan O’Bannon, whose credits include “Alien” and “Total Recall,” has died. He was 63.
The Writers Guild of America says O’Bannon died Thursday. His wife, Diane, told the Los Angeles Times her husband died at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., after a 30-year battle with Crohn’s disease.
He began his career in 1974 with the science-fiction film “Dark Star,” which he co-wrote with director John Carpenter. O’Bannon continued writing sci-fi and horror pictures throughout his career. His credits include “Invaders from Mars,” ”Bleeders” and “The Return of the Living Dead,” which he also directed.
Born Sept. 30, 1946, in St. Louis, O’Bannon earned a film degree from the University of Southern California in 1970.
Besides his wife, he is survived by his son, Adam.
