In this Oct. 3, 2013 file photo, filmmaker Steven Spielberg poses at the Museum of Natural History before the Ambassadors For Humanity Gala in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) --
Steven Spielberg is returning to Universal Pictures.
The Hollywood studio said Wednesday it would distribute movies produced by a new company co-owned by the Oscar-winning director behind films like "Jurassic Park" and "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial."
The company, Amblin Partners, combines Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios, Participant Media, Reliance Entertainment and Entertainment One.
DreamWorks' offices are based on the Universal lot in Universal City, California, but since 2009, its films have been distributed by The Walt Disney Co.
Under the multi-year deal, Universal and its subsidiary Focus Features will distribute four to seven films from Amblin Partners per year in the U.S. and some overseas markets. The first, "The Girl on the Train," will be released in October.
Disney will still release films "The BFG" and "The Light Between Oceans" next year.
Chuck Woolery hosts a special premiere of the "$250,000 Game Show Spectacular" at the Las Vegas Hilton Saturday, Oct. 13, 2007, in Las Vegas. (Ronda Churchill/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)
Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of "Wheel of Fortune," "Love Connection" and "Scrabble" who later became a right-wing podcaster, skewering liberals and accusing the government of lying about COVID-19, has died. He was 83.
Mark Young, Woolery's podcast co-host and friend, said in an email early Sunday that Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife, Kristen, present. "Chuck was a dear friend and brother and a tremendous man of faith, life will not be the same without him," Young wrote.
Woolery, with his matinee idol looks, coiffed hair and ease with witty banter, was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and earned a daytime Emmy nomination in 1978.
In 1983, Woolery began an 11-year run as host of TV's "Love Connection," for which he coined the phrase, "We'll be back in two minutes and two seconds," a two-fingered signature dubbed the "2 and 2." In 1984, he hosted TV's "Scrabble," simultaneously hosting two game shows on TV until 1990.
"Love Connection," which aired long before the dawn of dating apps, had a premise that featured either a single man or single woman who would watch audition tapes of three potential mates and then pick one for a date.
A couple of weeks after the date, the guest would sit with Woolery in front of a studio audience and tell everybody about the date. The audience would vote on the three contestants, and if the audience agreed with the guest's choice, "Love Connection" would offer to pay for a second date.
Woolery told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2003 that his favorite set of lovebirds was a man aged 91 and a woman aged 87. "She had so much eye makeup on, she looked like a stolen Corvette. He was so old he said, 'I remember wagon trains.' The... Read More
