November 26, 2010
Deluxe To Acquire Creative Business Units From Ascent MediaHOLLYWOOD – Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc. announced today that it has signed an agreement with Ascent Media Corporation (NASDAQ: ASCMA) to acquire Ascent’s Creative Services and Media Services businesses, including the well-known brands of Company 3, Beast, Method, Rushes, Encore Hollywood and Level 3 Post.
The acquisition will also enhance Deluxe’s services for clients that include life-cycle library management and digital asset management. Digital services include file based mastering, archiving, digital distribution, DVD and Blu-ray authoring.
Brody: No Alternative But to Sue Film ProducersAnthony McCartney, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Adrien Brody says he was reluctantly forced to sue the makers of a thriller film because they failed to pay his full salary.
U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer on Monday blocked the sale or use of Brody’s likeness in “Giallo” until the Oscar winner’s remaining salary is paid. The judge noted in her ruling that the actor was likely to prevail in his $2 million lawsuit against the filmmakers.
“At no point did I ever wish to be involved in a legal dispute, but after over a year of attempting to resolve this matter I was left with no other alternative,” Brody said in a statement released to The Associated Press by his attorney Wednesday.
The actor sued Hannibal Pictures and U.K.-based Giallo Productions Ltd. in October, shortly before “Giallo” went on sale in the United States. In a sworn declaration, Brody claimed the filmmakers lied to him about the movie’s financing and how much its Italian distribution rights were worth.
An after-hours phone message left for Martin Barab, an attorney representing the filmmakers, was not immediately returned.
The picture was shot in 2008 in Turin, Italy, and Brody is featured prominently on the DVD’s cover.
Brody said he was grateful for the ruling.
“I am greatly appreciative of the court’s ruling which protects me, and shows support for all artists who have been manipulated and taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers,” his statement said.
Brody, 37, won an Oscar in 2003 for his role in “The Pianist.”
According to the lawsuit, he agreed to defer some of his salary payments for “Giallo” after its producers informed him the film was having financial problems. As a concession, Brody was given the ability to withhold his likeness from the movie unless he was fully paid, and he is still owed $640,000, according to the suit.
His attorney, Evan Spiegel, said in a statement that the filmmakers “attempted to prey on Mr. B rody’s professionalism and generosity.” Spiegel said Brody agreed to defer his salary so that fellow actors and the film’s crew could be paid.
“Mr. Brody has never been in a legal dispute in his 39-film career, but here the producers attempted to use economic power to overpower and take advantage of a performer,” Spiegel wrote.
‘Buffy’ Remake in the Works at Warner Bros.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Vampires, beware: Buffy is coming back.
A remake of the horror comedy “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is in the works at Warner Bros., the studio said Tuesday.
A studio spokeswoman says the project is in the earliest stages of development. It hasn’t even been green-lit yet, and there’s no director or star attached.
One thing we do know: Joss Whedon, who wrote the first “Buffy” script and created the TV series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar that became a pop-culture phenomenon, is not involved. The new script comes from Whit Anderson, a 29-year-old actress-turned-writer.
The original 1992 movie starred Kristy Swanson as a teenager who learns it’s her destiny to battle vampires.
Australia Won’t Charge Actor Paul Hogan Over TaxSYDNEY (AP) – Australian detectives said Tuesday they have dropped a five-year-old criminal investigation into “Crocodile Dundee” star Paul Hogan’s tax dealings.
Australian Crime Commission Chief Executive John Lawler said in a statement that they were not pursuing the probe for a range of reasons including “insufficient prospects of securing convictions.”
Australian tax and crime investigators had fought Hogan in a five-year legal battle in Australian and U.S. courts to investigate suspicions that he used offshore bank accounts to conceal earnings after his low-budget “Crocodile Dundee” movie trilogy became an international hit in 1986.
However, the 70-year-old is still being pursued separately by the Australian Taxation Office over a disputed multimillion-dollar tax bill.
Tax officials barred the Australian actor from returning to his Los Angeles home for two weeks earlier this year over the matter. Hogan’s lawyers eventually secured a deal with the tax office that allowed him to leave the country.
How much Hogan owes has not been made public. But he said in August that he is unable to afford even 10 percent of his tax bill.
Hogan’s lawyer, Andrew Robinson, said the end of the criminal investigation will give “immense relief” to his client, who had yet to be advised.
Filmmaker Hickenlooper’s Death Caused by OverdoseDENVER (AP) – The death last month of Emmy-winning filmmaker George Hickenlooper was an accidental overdose.
The Colorado medical examiner reported Monday that the 47-year-old cousin of Colorado Gov.-elect John Hickenlooper died after taking ethanol and oxymorphone.
Los Angeles-based George Hickenlooper died Oct. 30 while in Denver for the premiere of his latest film, “Casino Jack,” starring Kevin Spacey.
George Hickenlooper won an Emmy Award in 1992 for directing the documentary “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.”
Other films he directed include “Factory Girl,” ”Mayor of the Sunset Strip” and last year’s documentary, “Hick Town,” based on footage shot while he followed his cousin around during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
The Denver Post reports that John Hickenlooper’s office did not comment on the finding.
NYC Jeweler Sues Courtney Love To Get Bling Back
Jennifer Peltz
NEW YORK (AP) – A celebrity jeweler says Courtney Love hasn’t returned nearly $114,000 worth of borrowed baubles, and the gem dealer is suing to get them back.
The rocker borrowed two white gold and diamond chains, a white gold, floral-design mesh bracelet and a pair of white gold and diamond pave hoop earrings on Sept. 21, Jacob & Co. said in a lawsuit filed Monday. The suit says she has returned only the bracelet, despite demands for the other pieces.
She indicated to the jeweler that she’d lost the items, but their agreement specified that she was responsible for them “regardless of loss or damage,” said the company’s lawyer, Jeffrey Klarsfeld. Love’s spokesman and lawyer didn’t immediately respond to messages.
The lawsuit seeks the gems or their $113,700 value.
Love fronted the platinum-selling, grunge-punk band Hole in the 1990s and was half of one of grunge’s most famous couples: She is the widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Coba in, who killed himself in 1994. Also an actress, she has appeared in films including “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and “200 Cigarettes.”
Love, 46, has had a series of legal and drug problems. She was sentenced in 2005 to 180 days at a drug treatment facility for violating probation in misdemeanor drug and assault cases. More recently, she’s drawn attention for ranting online at a former bandmate and others, including a fashion designer who sued her over some remarks last year.
New York-based Jacob & Co. was founded by “Jacob the Jeweler” Arabov, also called Jacob Arabo. He gained cachet in hip-hop circles and became known as the “King of Bling” before going to federal prison in 2008 for lying to investigators looking into a multistate drug ring.
Notorious B.I.G., Madonna, Kanye West and Elton John have all worn his work; West name-checked him in songs including “Diamonds From Sierra Leone.”
Prison records show Arabov was released in September.
Netflix Raises Prices for Some Subscription PlansLOS GATOS, Calif. (AP) – Netflix Inc. is raising the prices of some of its subscription plans and is shifting its focus to streaming video as more members move to the Internet to watch movies and television shows. Its shares surged more than 7 percent in trading Monday.
With high-speed online access now becoming a household staple and various gadgets making it easier to connect high-definition TVs to the Web, Netflix is realizing it needs to evolve as Internet streaming goes mainstream.
The company based in Los Gatos, Calif. previously announced that more of its members are watching more content streamed over the Internet than on DVDs. To deal with this shift, Netflix says it will spend more this quarter to license streaming content than to buy DVDs.
Netflix said Monday that its subscription plan for unlimited movies and TV shows streamed over the Internet and unlimited DVD deliveries – with one DVD out at a time – will increase by $1 a mont h to $9.99. Prices for other plans allowing for more DVDs out at a time are also going up.
Existing members will incur the price increases in January, while people who are new sign-ups will face the higher prices immediately. Netflix has more than 16 million members in the U.S. and Canada and predicted in October that it would gain another 2.1 million to 2.9 million customers by year’s end. That means Netflix could enter 2011 with more than 19 million subscribers, doubling the service’s size in two years.
Netflix is also launching a $7.99 a month streaming-only plan in the U.S. to accommodate the online shift. It already has a streaming service in Canada for a monthly fee of 7.99 Canadian dollars ($7.86).
“We are now primarily a streaming video company,” co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings said in a statement.
Netflix is spending heavily to obtain the streaming rights to more movies and TV shows to help lure more customers and shift more of its existing subscribers away from DVDs.
In the third quarter, Netflix spent $115 million on video streaming rights, up from just $10 million at the same time last year. Spending on DVDs dropped 35 percent from a year ago to just under $30 million in the third quarter.
Chinese Films Contend at Taiwanese Awards EventTAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – Chinese films are vying for top awards against Hong Kong and Taiwanese dramas at the Chinese-language Golden Horse Film Festival on Saturday.
The Chinese film “Judge,” which tackles sensitive topics such as organ transplants and the death penalty in China, picked up four nominations, including best feature film, best director, best leading actor and best original screenplay.
Director Liu Jie said he believed “Judge” is a strong contender for an award at the festival being held in Taoyuan, a city near Taipei.
Ni Dahong has been nominated for best leading actor for portraying the cool-headed judge in the film.
Chinese actress Hsu Fan is a favored contender for the best leading actress award for portraying a mother scarred by the loss of her daughter in an earthquake in “Aftershock.”
The Taiwanese family drama “When Love Comes” picked up 14 nominations, making Chang Tso-chi a top contender for the best director award.
Also vying for the award is Hong Kong director Teddy Chen for “Bodyguards and Assassins,” a martial arts epic set in the waning days of China’s last imperial dynasty.
Veteran Hong Kong actress Sylvia Chang is going for best leading actress for her performance as a woman struggling with aging and loneliness in “Buddha Mountain.”
