CBS getting into music business December 15, 2006 12:38 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Music, News.1 comment so far
According to Variety, in January of next year CBS will launch a digital record label, with the goal of using their television, iTunes and Innertube broadband channel to promote them.
CBS Records will use the exisiting CBS Entertainment and CBS Interactive infastructures and launch with three artists — Senor Happy, Will Dailey and P.J. Olsson, with plans to sign at least another five artists during the first year.Larry Jenkins, head of his own management company, L J Entertainment, and a former publicity and marketing exec at Capitol Records and Columbia Records, will consult for CBS Records during the primary launch phase, identifying talent and assisting with A&R administration. He will be working with Nancy Tellem, president of CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group, under whose aegis CBS Records will fall.
“The cost of entry is so low that it was a great way of setting up a new model for a record label,” Tellem told Daily Variety. “If we can lower music costs while gaining an additional revenue stream, it’s a win-win.”
For more on this story, please follow the link to the Variety article below.
Source: [Variety] — CBS spins digital record label
Gears of War reaches 2M units sold December 15, 2006 12:31 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Video Game Sales, Video Games, Xbox 360.add a comment
Gears of War for the Xbox 360 is now the fastest-selling next-generation game of 2006.
The game has sold 1 million copies in the US alone, and another 1 million in other territories worldwide.
Both Microsoft (Publisher) and Epic Games (Developer) released a comment:
“‘Gears of War’ clearly has won the battle for the title of the must-have game of the year,” said Jeff Bell, corporate vice president of global marketing for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft Corp. “Its phenomenal success is one of many reasons why Xbox 360 is the ultimate place to get together with friends to play this holiday.”
“We’ve always held high hopes for ‘Gears of War,’ but we never expected such an overwhelmingly positive response from critics and gamers all over the world,” said Michael Capps, president, Epic Games. “I can’t describe how stoked our team is right now. Our fans can absolutely count on Epic to keep delivering new gameplay through Xbox Live.”
The game has also done very well online, where it is being played by about 1 million users, about half of its audience.
Nintendo to replace Wii-mote straps December 15, 2006 12:25 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Nintendo, Nintendo Wii, Video Games.add a comment
Nintendo this morning has announced a program that will allow customers to voluntarily exhange their current Wii-mote straps (which are said to be defective, or simply break too easily) with new straps with a larger diameter string.
The original straps measured at 0.024 inches (diameter), while the new straps have a more sturdy 0.04 inch diameter.
The company will be replacing up to 3.2 million original straps (all new consoles and individual Wii-motes ship with the new strap) in a move that is expected to cost the company several million dollars.
Nintendo is stressing, however, that this is not a recall, just a voluntary upgrade if you will of your current Wii-mote strap.
Those interested can contact Nintendo here to get your replacement strap.
HD DVD/Blu-ray war heats up and system hardware sales for November December 15, 2006 12:16 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray Disc, Hardware Sales, HD DVD, News, Nintendo Wii, Sony Playstation 3, Video Games, Xbox 360.add a comment
With November out of the way, sales data is starting to trickle in for the Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox HD DVD add-on, one front of the High-Definition format war.
For the month of November, Sony sold 197,000 Playstation 3’s in the U.S., while Microsoft sold an impressive (for an add-on) 42,000 HD DVD add-on’s for its Microsoft Xbox 360 player.
It should be noted that while Sony had more PS3’s sold, it’s impossibile to gauge how many of those owners of the system are using the console as a Blu-ray device. On the other hand, it can easily be assumed that all 42,000 owners of the HD DVD drive are using that device specifically for HD DVD movie playback, since the device isn’t used in any form for video game playback (the Xbox 360 is equiped with a regular PC DVD drive, hence the need for an add-on).
Elsewhere on the video game front, Nintendo sold 476,000 units of its new Nintendo Wii console, taking an early lead on the Playstation 3 by more than double the units.
Nintendo is said to be having no problems with their production of the unit while Sony is having issues but are still promising 2M PS3’s shipped by the end of the year (Sony originally were hoping to have 400,000 units for the U.S. launch, but were only able to supply half of that).
For the month, console sales were paced by the Playstation 2 at 664,000, the Microsoft Xbox 360, which has been out since last Christmas, at 510,000 and the Nintendo GameCube at 42,000.
On the portable front, Nintendo’s DS was the best seller with 918,000 sold, followed by the Nintendo Game Boy at 641,000 and the Sony Playstation Portable at 412,000 units sold.
Here are the installed base figures as of November, 2006 for all current video game systems in the U.S. (Console and Portable):
PS2: 35.8 million
GBA: 34.3 million
DS: 7.6 million
PSP: 5.7 million
Xbox 360: 3.4 million
Wii: 476 thousand
PS3: 197 thousand
‘Sopranos’ set for April return, “Rome” in January December 15, 2006 2:16 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television, The Sopranos.2 comments
HBO has set an approximate premiere date for the second half of the final season of “The Sopranos”. According to a note on the homepage of the series on HBO.com “The Sopranos final season starts in April”.
The original plan had the final episodes of the series debuting in January, however the filming schedule had to be pushed back when James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) had knee surgery.
“Then we looked at the fact that we would be launching sort of in the middle of the [NFL] playoffs and the Super Bowl and all that stuff, and it seemed that for everybody’s sake we would push back a few weeks,” HBO chief Chris Albrecht Albrecht said.
HBO will re-air the first half of the sixth season of “The Sopranos” (currently available via HBO on Demand) beginning January 15th, 2007 .
In other HBO news, the second, and final, season of “Rome” is set for premiere on Sunday, January 14th, 2007.
TNT about to pick up two new series, “Saved” future in doubt December 15, 2006 2:10 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in New Show Orders, News, Television.63 comments
TNT is about to pick up two new series to go along with its hit “The Closer”.
One of the shows, “Grace”, stars Holly Hunter as a burned-out cop and the other titled “Heartland”, features Treat Williams as a heart-transplant surgeon whose work is affecting his personal life.
With the two new series set to join the TNT lineup sometime in 2007, it appears that “Saved” will not be returning after only one season one the air.
“Saved,” a drama about a Portland paramedic (Tom Everett Scott), drew good ratings, but was never able to hold more than half of the audience of its lead-in “The Closer”. TNT is commited to improve upon that performance with these two new shows. “Heartland” appears to be the series which will get the timeslot of “Saved”.
ABC pulling “Help Me Help You” in favor of bigger dose of “Big Day” December 15, 2006 2:03 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cancellations, News, Television.add a comment
Effective next week, ABC is pulling all remaining episodes of “Help Me Help You” and replacing them with an extra half-hour of the new comedy “Big Day”.
The network will run back-to-back episodes of “Big Day” starting next Tuesday. ‘Help Me’ is on hiatus effective immediately. Nine of the show’s 13 episodes have aired, with no decision yet made on whether or not the remaining four episodes will be shown.
At its current rate of double airings, “Big Day” will reach the end of its 13-episode order by mid-January and ABC has not yet made a decision on the future of the series nor made plans known on what will air in the 9:00 PM timeslot after the show’s 13 episodes have been aired.
CBS is mulling new animated Trek December 15, 2006 1:04 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Science Fiction, Star Trek, Television.add a comment
CBS and Paramount have apparently been considering an animated Trek series ever since the cancellation of the most recent live-action series, “Star Trek: Enterprise” (which begins its off-net cable run this January 8th on Sci Fi).
The animated series would take place in the distant future and have a darker tone.
The Trek Movie Report has the scoop.
In other Star Trek related news “Star Trek XI” appears to be on track for a 2008 release.
“He (Abrams) said work is on track to release the new “Star Trek” pic, which Abrams is overseeing for Par, in 2008.”
J.J. Abrams has staffed up his Bad Robot Productions and seems to be ready and willing to make the next Trek film a reality sometime in 2008.
Sources:
[TrekMovie] — CBS Considering New Animated Trek Series For The Web
[Variety] — Abrams hires ramp up film, TV units
New Stargate series in development December 15, 2006 12:51 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Sci Fi, Science Fiction, Stargate, Television.add a comment
According to GateWorld.Net, a third television series in the Stargate franchise is now in development.
The series is still early along in the concept phase, and is being worked on by the creative forces behind “Stargate SG-1” and “Stargate Atlantis”. The premise behind the show is still not yet known.
Gateworld reports that the series is not likely to be put into production until 2008 at the earliest.
“Stargate SG-1” returns in April of next year to where it will air its remaining 10 episodes of its 10th, and final, season.
It was reported about two months ago that though this will be the final season of ‘SG-1’, the series will continue on in two Direct-to-DVD (most likely) productions which should premiere in the fall of 2007.
“Stargate Atlantis” returns to finish off its third season this April, and a fourth season has already been greenlit for a as yet determined 2007 premiere.
Source: [GateWorld] — Third Stargate series in development
Nominations announced for the 2007 Golden Globe Awards December 14, 2006 11:25 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Awards, Golden Globes, Movies, News, Television.1 comment so far
Nominations have been handed out for the “64th Annual Golden Globes” to be awarded January 15th live on NBC.
The theme for this year’s Golden Globe nominations seems to be double nods, with Clint Eastwood drawing dual director nods for “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters From Iwo Jima” as well as Leonardo DiCaprio pulling off the rare feat of getting nominations for two starring roles in “The Departed” and “Blood Diamond”.
News Corp. was also a big winner in the nominations, as the corporation picked up nods from three of its units for a total of four out of five nominees in the comedy field (2oth Century Fox’s “Borat” and “The Devil Wears Prada” and Fox Searchlight’s “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Thank You for Smoking”). The other movie in the field was Paramount/Dreamworks “Dreamgirls”.
Joining “The Departed” in the Best Drama field were the movies “Babel” (which had the most nominations at seven overall, followed by six for “The Departed” and five for “Dreamgirls”), “Bobby”, “Little Children” and “The Queen”.
Eastwood’s nominations set up a sort of rematch with Scorsese, up for “The Departed,” after Eastwood took the prize two years ago.
Leonardo DiCaprio was joined in the Best Actor field by nominations for Peter O’Toole for his work in “Venus”, Will Smith for “The Pursuit of Happyness” and Forest Whitaker for “The Last King of Scotland”.
This year looks to pit, again, Martin Scorcese against Clint Eastwood as Scorcese’s “The Departed” will go up against Eastwood’s two films. Others nominated for Best Director were Stephen Frears for “The Queen” and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for “Babel”.
Looking towards the TV side, the Best Drama field was filled with two new series: NBC’s “Heroes” and HBO’s “Big Love” (HBO led the pack for another year with 13 nominations). Others nominated were Fox’s “24” and ABC’s “Grey’s Anatom” and “Lost”.
In the Best Musical/Comedy the nominees were led by another newcomer; ABC’s “Ugly Betty”. Others nominated were ABC’s “Desperate Housewives”, HBO’s “Entourage”, NBC’s “The Office” and Showtime’s “Weeds”.
Here are all the categories and nominees:
Peter Doyle Passes at the age of 71 December 13, 2006 8:13 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.add a comment
Peter Doyle, known most recently for his work on the hit sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond” and for his role as the Monster in “Young Frankenstein”, passed away Tuesday night at the age of 71.
According to reports, the actor suffered from multiple myeloma and heart disease.
Mr. Boyle portrayed the character of Frank Barone (father to Ray) on ‘Raymond’ for 10 seasons and was nominated for an emmy 8 times. He won an Emmy for his work as a guest actor on an episode of “The X Files” in 1996.
NBC to give “Top Chef” a network run December 12, 2006 10:19 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.add a comment
NBC will be giving the Bravo reality show “Top Chef” its first network airing December 30th (a Saturday) at 8:00 PM ET.
The episode to be aired will be a re-airing of a holiday episode which will air on Bravo on Decemeber 13th.
Top Chef is currently in its second year on Bravo and is a solid performer for the network. It’s most recent episode attracted 1.76 million viewers.
NBC announces broadcast team for first two NFL playoff games December 12, 2006 10:15 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, NFL, Sports, Television.2 comments
On January 6, 2007, NBC will have a doubleheader of football that night. Tom Hammond (Notre Dame football broadcaster for the network) and Cris Collinsworth (currently a contributer to NBC’s “Football Night In America” as well as part of the NFL Networks Thursday night football games) will announce the first game of the night.
NBC’s regular team of Al Michaels and John Madden will call the second game.
Collinsworth and Hammond last worked together for the 1995 Orange Bowl college football game and also worked together calling NBC’s Notre Dame broadcasts from 1992-1994
Weekend Box Office Results for December 8-10, 2006 December 11, 2006 7:41 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Box Office, Movies, News.1 comment so far
Here are the final (actual) box office movie results for the past weekend.
(Ranking – Film – Weekend Gross – Total Domestic Gross)
1. “Apocalypto” – $15,005,604 — $15,005,604
2. “Happy Feet” – $12,718,000 — $137,738,000
3. “The Holiday” – $12,778,913 — $12,778,913
4. “Casino Royale” – $8,926,207 — $129,020,082
5. “Blood Diamond” – $8,648,324 — $8,648,324
6. “Deja Vu” – $6,019,672 — $52,995,929
7. “Unaccompanied Minors” – $5,815,474 — $5,815,474
8. “The Nativity Story” – $5,713,854 — $15,907,450
9. “Deck the Halls” – $3,993,188 — $30,144,903
10. “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” – $3,254,729 — $77,184,019
Source: Box Office Mojo — ‘Apocalypto’ Impales Top Spot
SEGA acquires rights to “Alien” franchise for Video Games December 11, 2006 7:25 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Video Games.add a comment
SEGA of America, SEGA Europe and Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising today announced an agreement to bring the “Alien” movie franchise to next-generation gaming systems.
Multiple titles will be developed, including a first-person shotter and a role-playing game, with the first game hoped to be released in 2009.
“As a direct result of Fox’s efforts over the past 27 years, Alien has become one of the most recognized franchises in the motion picture industry,” said Simon Jeffery, President and Chief Operating Officer, SEGA of America, Inc. “SEGA will utilize the power of next-gen systems to blend the time-honored story with leading edge design technology to deliver a riveting and suspenseful gameplay experience.”
Alien premiered in 1979 and spawned three sequels. The franchise has grossed more than $557 million worldwide and has one numerous rewards including two Academy Awards.
Golden Globe Nominations to be announced this Thursday [Update] December 11, 2006 7:19 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News, Television.add a comment
The nominations for “The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards” will be announced at the Beverly Hilton on December 14, 2006.
Jessica Biel, Scarlett Johansson and Mathew Perry, will join Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Philip Berk that morning to give the nominations for 25 categories.
The awards ceremony will take place live on NBC at 8:00 PM on Monday, January 15, 2007.
Angelina Jolie may have role in Sin City 2 December 11, 2006 7:07 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News.add a comment
ComingSoon.net is reporting that Angelina Jolie may be a part of the second Sin City movie, scheduled for release sometime in 2007.
The folks over at ComingSoon.net caught up with the actress at a press junket and asked her about her possible role in the second Sin City film.
“We talked about it and I read the comic,” Jolie said. “I don’t think the film is being made at this moment. When it’s actually going to be made I’m sure we’ll talk about it.
“It was a funny thing, because the idea came to me when I was pregnant,” she added. “So it was this idea… I’ve been Clover (in ‘The Good Shepherd’), depressed and quiet, and then I was feeling very maternal, pregnant. It was this idea of this sexy, violent and loud [character]… I thought maybe after I’m pregnant it would be nice to do.”
The character Ava in the graphic novel is the former lover of Dwight McCarthy (Clive Owen) who uses her innocence and beautiful looks to manipulate men.
HBO looking to launch Online Video Service December 11, 2006 6:55 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News, Sports, Television, Video Downloads.add a comment
According to HBO’s Eric Kessler, president of sales and marketing for the channel, the network hopes to launch a broadband-video service sometime during the 2007 calendar year.
“We believe we can do with the broadband platform what we did with the on-demand product for our partners,” Kessler said. “Our goal is to create a broadband product with our affiliates that would continue to increase our usage and the value of HBO to our subscribers.”
No other details about the service have been announced, but it is expected to contain the same original series, specials and sports offerings currently available on HBO On Demand (a subscription based VOD channel).
Prince to perform during Super Bowl halftime show December 11, 2006 6:49 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, NFL, Sports, Television.add a comment
It was announced today that the 11 time nominated and six-time winning Grammy performer Prince will be entertaining the audience of Super Bowl XLI, as well as the nation, on February 4th in Miami.
Prince makes the third straight Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame member to be the lead act during the Super Bowl, following up on Paul McCartney two years ago and the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger last year.
ESPN aquires European Football (Soccer) December 11, 2006 6:45 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in ESPN, News, Sports, Television.1 comment so far
ESPN has picked up the rights to air the 2008 UEFA European Football Championshiops, sheculded for Saturday, June 7 through Sunday June 29, 2008.
The tournament, which will be played in Austria and Switzerland, is one of the most popular sporting events in the world today.
On the television front, all 31 games will be shown (exclusively) on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ABC as well as on ESPN Deportes.
ESPN Radio also has the broadcast rights to air the games on the radio if they so choose.
Soccer rated very highly during the past world cup on all the ESPN nets as well as on ABC, and ESPN has taken steps in recent months to continue expanding their soccer portfolio in an effort to capitialize and maintain the sports increase in ratings.
Matt Damon says he’s open to playing Kirk in Trek XI December 11, 2006 2:45 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News, Sci Fi, Star Trek.add a comment
Matt Damon told Sci Fi Wire that he would be open to playing Captain James T. Kirk in the new Star Trek movie tentively titled “Star Trek XI”, but denied the rumors that he was already cast in the role.
“If the script was good, I’d do it,” Damon said in an interview while promoting his latest film, The Good Shepherd. “But, yeah, I heard that [rumor]. I think J.J. Abrams or somebody said that at press junket or something, and it got picked up [by the media and Star Trek fans].”
Many details are still being fleshed out surrounding the next Trek movie, which has a planned release date sometime around 2008/2009.
J.J. Abrams (of Lost and recently Mission: Impossible III fame) is set to co-write and produce “Trek XI”. Abrams is said to be mulling a directing role in the film as well.
Firefly to become video game December 11, 2006 1:30 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Firefly, News, Science Fiction, Television, Video Games.add a comment
“Firefly”, the short lived (2002), but critically acclaimed and fan-loved Science Fiction series, will be resurrected once again (the show spawned a theatrical movie titled “Serenity” last year), but this time in video game form.
Wired.com is reporting that Multiverse has struck a deal with Fox Licensing to turn the show into a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) in the vein of Star Wars Galaxies and Eve Online.
“We see virtual worlds as an extraordinarily promising new entertainment medium,” said Adam Kline, Fox Licensing’s vice president of media enterprises in an e-mail. “We believe Multiverse can deliver an experience that will remain true to the original series, while enabling a whole new level of personal involvement for fans.”
The online game will feature many different characters, not just the central characters.
“Television series can be really good properties to turn into MMOs, because when you make a TV series, not only do you need great characters, but you need to create a full, rich, compelling place,” Bridges says. “If you’re doing science fiction, you have to really think it out and create an incredibly rich environment that is compelling in its own right, and worth exploring and going back to week after week. That’s what Joss Whedon did with Firefly.”
Multiverse hopes to have a playable version of the game ready by 2008.
Source: [Wired] — Firefly Reborn as Online Universe
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