Thursday April 24, 2008

PROJECTS ANNOUNCED

• Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired worldwide rights to “The Damned United,” a biopic of legendary English soccer coach Brian Clough, with Tom Hooper to direct from a script by Peter Morgan.  Sony will finance the $10 million project alongside BBC Films, which developed it with producer Andy Harries of Left Bank Pictures as well as Screen Yorkshire. Shooting starts May 25.  Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall and Colm Meaney join the previously announced Michael Sheen, who will play Clough.  “The Damned United” was originally being pre-sold by Ealing Studios Intl., with Optimum Releasing set to take U.K. rights.  But with the indie financing structure proving tough to close, Deborah Schindler, prexy of SPE’s Intl. Motion Picture Production Group, made a worldwide offer that the producers couldn’t refuse.  The project is adapted from Dave Peace’s novel, set in 1974 but flashing back to the 1960s, about Clough’s ill-fated 44-day reign as coach of Leeds United, then one of England’s most successful soccer teams.  Hooper most recently helmed the HBO miniseries “John Adams” and before that won acclaim for the Brit telepics “Longford” (also written by Morgan) and “Elizabeth I.”  Since “The Queen,” Morgan has scripted the bigscreen adaptation of his own play “Frost/Nixon” and “The Other Boleyn Girl.” 

• Fox 2000 is set to bring Brian De Palma’s “The Fury” back to the bigscreen.  The label has tapped Brian McGreevy and Lee Shipman to pen a contemporary reimagining of the 1978 supernatural horror film.  New version will center on a young man with heightened kinetic powers who is abducted by the government in order to take advantage of his special gifts.  Original, starring Kirk Douglas and John Cassavetes and released by 20th Century Fox, was based on John Farris’ 1976 novel of the same name.  Ted Field is producing through his Radar Pictures banner. Mike Weber exec produces.  Newcomers McGreevy and Shipman penned the spec “Of Every Wickedness,” about America’s first known serial killer, which landed on the industry’s Black List of the hottest unproduced spec scripts and garnered the duo a lot of attention. They nabbed “The Fury” gig off of that script.  McGreevy and Shipman are repped by Paradigm and manager Michael Connolly.

PROJECT UPDATES

• HandMade Films and director Charles Shyer have cast 9-year-old Australian actress Jordana Beatty for the title role in “Eloise in Paris” opposite Uma Thurman.  Lensing begins Aug. 12 in Paris, New York and the south of France. “Eloise” is co-written by Shyer with his daughter Hallie Meyers-Shyer and Larry Spencer and produced by Patrick Meehan, Thomas D. Adelman and Ron Rotholz. Shyer will also exec produce.  HandMade’s hoping the pic, based on the books written by Kay Thompson, will be the start of an “Eloise” franchise. It’s already developing the follow-up, “Eloise Goes to Hollywood.”  Beatty, who’s been working as a thesp since she was 4, was picked from more than 4,000 girls who auditioned.

ACQUISITIONS/ FESTIVAL NEWS

• New York governor David Paterson brought a package of film and TV production tax incentives with him to Wednesday morning’s news conference to officially kick off the Tribeca Film Festival.  Paterson talked up the state’s sweetened package of lensing incentives during the press sesh, which also featured Gotham Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Tribeca fest co-founder Jane Rosenthal and juror-filmmaker Doug Liman announcing various initiatives and events.  The state’s new incentive plan triples the tax credits offered to filmmakers, to 30% on in-state below-the-line costs, with an additional 5% in New York City.  Gotham is the first city in the country to offer an extra tax incentive bonus.  Ironically, Tribeca fest co-founder Robert De Niro was not on hand as he was shooting a film — in Connecticut.  American Express chief marketing officer John Hayes announced that the company, a fest partner from the beginning, will remain a sponsor for another five years.  Fest organizers touted the range of pics on display this year. Filmmakers shot the 120 features and 80 shorts in the festival in 41 countries, with some 15 lensed in New York. The slate includes 53 world preems and 30 domestic bows.  Liman, a resident of Tribeca, announced that his fellow fest jurors are an eclectic bunch: helmers Callie Khouri and Peter Hedges; thesps Oliver Platt, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Dinklage, Molly Shannon and Lili Taylor; scribes Josh Schwartz and Jay McInerney; producer Christine Vachon; chef Mario Batali; designer Zac Posen; and rocker David Bowie. Bloomberg lauded the fest for helping to revitalize downtown and increase tourism. He noted that while the nation’s economy is not in the greatest shape and tourism is on a downturn, the number of visitors to Gotham is on an upswing, hitting 47 million last year. Bloomberg commended the fest for bringing in more than 2 million visitors and $425 million thus far.

• Robert Beeson and Pam Engel’s new Brit arthouse distrib New Wave Films has acquired two films in this year’s Cannes competition, “The Silence of Lorna” by the Dardennes brothers and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “Three Monkeys.” Beeson and Engel launched New Wave in February after they ankled from Artificial Eye.  They have also acquired Johanna Hogg’s “Unrelated,” which won the Fipresci award at the 2007 London Film Festival, Andrzej Jakimowski’s “Tricks” and Antonello Grimaldi’s “Quiet Chaos.” “Unrelated” will be New Wave’s first release, set to open in September. The company expects to handle four to six theatrical releases a year. Verve Pictures will handle theatrical bookings and DVD releases for the company, with Engel and Beeson  focusing their energies on London dating and the overall press and marketing strategy.  At Artificial Eye, Engel and Beeson released all the previous films by Ceylan and the Dardennes brothers.

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 

• Steven Soderbergh’s two-part Che Guevara biopic, Clint Eastwood’s “Changeling,” Steven Spielberg’s long-awaited “Indiana Jones” sequel and Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” will all world preem at the 61st Cannes Film Festival.   Upcoming edition, which unspools May 14-25, will be lighter on Yank-produced Palme d’Or contenders than was last year’s banner season.  But it will still offer Hollywood glam as multiple U.S. pics, both studio and indie items, fill many Out of Competition slots.  Elsewhere, Thierry Fremaux — in his first year as a fully fledged Cannes delegate general, but with the seeming complicity of Cannes president Gilles Jacob — looks to be shaking up things.  The Competition section still showcases the work of a small pantheon of hallowed auteurs, but it also boasts pics from eight directors new to the section. As Fremaux emphasized, Cannes has fast-tracked a clutch of lesser-known helmers and left-of-field pics into Competition.  Fremaux, who acknowledged that the selection process was “very difficult,” said last year’s 60th anni edition drew a line in the sand. “Cinema is evolving and the Cannes festival with it,” he declared to a packed press conference Wednesday at Paris‘ Grand Hotel. The 61st edition is “recentered and renewed,” Jacob said in an introductory speech.  Whether the Cannes Film Festival will deliver on this promised renewal will no doubt be one of the event’s major talking points.  Fest openers and closers have yet to be announced. Michael Patrick King’s “Sex and the City: The Movie” and Barry Levinson’s “What Just Happened?” are said to be still in the running. Fremaux said opening and closing night films — and perhaps more than one additional Competition title — would be announced later.  

IN COMPETITION
“24 City,” China, Jia Zhangke
“Adoration,” Canada, Atom Egoyan
“Changeling,” U.S., Clint Eastwood 
“Che” (”The Argentine,” “Guerrilla,”) Spain, Steven Soderbergh
“Un Conte de noel,” France, Arnaud Desplechin
“Three Monkeys,” Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan 
“Delta,” Germany-Hungary, Kornel Mundruczo 
“Il Divo,” Paolo Sorrentino, Italy 
“Gomorra,” Italy, Matteo Garrone 
“La Frontiere de l’aube,” France, Philippe Garrel 
“Leonera,” Argentina-South Korea, Pablo Trapero
“Linha de Passe,” Brazil, Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas
“La Mujer sin cabeza,” Argentina, Lucrecia Martel
“My Magic,” Singapore, Eric Khoo 
“The Palermo Shooting,” Germany, Wim Wenders 
“Serbis,” Philippines, Brillante Mendoza
“The Silence of Lorna,” U.K.-France, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne 
“Synecdoche, New York,” U.S., Charlie Kaufman
“Waltz With Bashir,” Israel, Ari Folman

OUT OF COMPETITION 
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” U.S., Steven Spielberg
“Kung Fu Panda,” U.S., Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
“The Good, the Bad, the Weird,” South Korea, Kim Jee-woon
“Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” U.S.-Spain, Woody Allen

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
“Maradona,” Spain-France, Emir Kusturica
“Surveillance,” U.S., Jennifer Lynch
“The Chaser,” South Korea, Na Hong-jin

SPECIAL SCREENNGS
“Ashes of Time Redux,” China, Wong Kar Wai
“Of Time and the City,” U.K., Terence Davies
“Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,” U.S.-U.K., Marina Zenovich
“Sangue Pazzo” (Crazy Blood), Italy-France, Marco Tullio Giordana 

SCREENING OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE JURY
“The Third Wave,” U.S., Alison Thompson

UN CERTAIN REGARD
“A festa da menina morta,” Brazil, Matheus Nachtergaele
“Afterschool,” U.S., Antonio Campos
“De Ofrivilliga,” Sweden, Ruben Ostlund
“Je veux voir,” France, Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige
“Johnny Mad Dog,” France, Jean-Stephane Sauvaire
“La vie moderne (profiles paysans)”, France, Raymond Depardon 
“Los Bastardos,” Mexico, Amat Escalante 
“Milh handha al-bahr,” (Salt of This Sea), Palestine, Annemarie Jacir 
“O’ Horten,” Norway-Germany, Bent Hamer
“Soi Cowboy,” U.K., Thomas Clay
“Tin Che,” (Parking), Taiwan, Chung Mong-Hong
“Tokyo!,” France-Japan, Bong Joon-ho, Michel Gondry, Leos Carax
“Tokyo Sonata,” Japan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
“Tulpan,” Germany, Sergey Dvortsevoy 
“Tyson,” U.S., James Toback
“Versailles,” France, Pierre Schoeller
“Wendy and Lucy,” U.S., Kelly Reichardt
“Wolke 9” (Cloud Nine), Germany, Andreas Dresen
“Yi ban haishui, yi ban huoyan,” China, Fendou Liu

CINEFONDATION
“Ba Yue Shi Wu,” U.S., Jiang Xuan
“Blind Spot,” France, Johanna Bessiere, Cecile Dubois Herry, Simon Rouby, Nicolas Chauvelot, Olivier Clert, Yvon Jardel
“Et dans mon coeur, j’emporterai…,” Belgium, Yoon Sung-A
“Forbach,” France, Claire Burger
“Gata,” Russia, Diana Mkrtchyan
“Gestern in Eden,” Germany, Jan Speckenbach
“Himnon” (Anthem), Israel, Elad Keidan
“Illusion Dwellers,” U.K., Rob Ellender
“Interior. Scara de bloc,” Romania, Ciprian Alexandrescu
“Kestomerkitsijat,” Finland, Juho Kuosmanen
“The Maid,” U.S., Heidi Saman
“Naus,” Czech Republic, Lukas Glaser
“O Som E O Resto,” Brazil, Andre Lavaquial
“El Reloj,” Argentina, Marco Berger
“Shtika” (Silence), Israel, Hadar Morag
“Stop,” South Korea, Park Jae-ok
“This Is a Story About Ted and Alice,” U.S., Teressa Tunney

SHORTS IN COMPETITION
“411-Z,” Hungary, Daniel Erdelyi
“Buen Viaje” (Bon Voyage), Javier Palleiro, Guillermo Rocamora
“De Moins en Moins,” France, Melanie Laurent
“El Deseo” (The Desire), Mexico, Marie Benito
“Jerrycan,” Australia, Julius Avery
“Love You More,” U.K., Sam Taylor Wood
“Megatron,” Romania, Marian Crisan
“My Rabbit Hoppy,” Australia, Anthony Lucas
“Smafuglar,” Iceland, Runar Runarsson

THE JURIES 

IN COMPETITION
Sean Penn (president), actor-director-screenwriter, U.S.
Sergio Castellitto, actor-director-screenwriter, Italy
Natalie Portman, actress, U.S.
Alfonso Cuaron, director, Mexico
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, director, Thailand
Alexandra Maria Lara, actress, Germany
Rachid Bouchareb, director, France

CINEFONDATION AND SHORT FILMS 
Hou Hsiao Hsien (president) director-producer, Taiwan
Suzanne Bier, director, Denmark
Marina Hands, actress, France
Olivier Assayas, director, France
Larry Kardish, MoMA Curator for Film and Cinema, U.S.

UN CERTAIN REGARD 
Fatih Akin (president), director, Germany 

CAMERA D’OR 
Bruno Dumont (president), director, France

 

BUSINESS NEWS

• ContentFilm, the film and TV sales company, has signed a $40 million debt facility, which will enable it to fund the acquisition of new product and explore further corporate expansion.  The five-year secured revolving credit line is led by JPMorgan Chase, and replaces Content’s existing $32 million loan facility.  Content has drawn down $27.5 million of this existing loan, which means that the deal will give it $10-15 million of fresh liquidity to finance its expansion strategy.  This follows Content’s decision in March to pull out of talks to sell itself to Peace Arch Entertainment.  Content’s biggest recent acquisition was the purchase of the international rights to the library of Canadian pubcaster CBC.

• Even without titan franchises “Spider-Man,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Shrek,” the May box office has a shot at matching or outperforming May ‘07.  This time around, there are more movies with more potential — even though they are mostly new and untested properties.  Last year, no studio wanted to be in the path of the three heavyweights — which each grossed north of $300 million domestically — so they saved their summer fare for June and beyond.  This May, there are four event films: Paramount’s “Iron Man” (May 2), Warner Bros.’ “Speed Racer” (May 9), Disney’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” (May 16) and Paramount’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (May 22).  There also are two chick flicks, Sony’s “Made of Honor” (May 2) and “Sex and the City” (May 30) and Fox’s more broad comedy “What Happens in Vegas.” Heading into summer ‘07, the media said there were too many sequels and three-quels. This year, it’s the opposite. Only two of the May films are bona-fide sequels — “Prince Caspian” and “Crystal Skull,” with the Indiana Jones franchise returning to the bigscreen after nearly 20 years.May has become increasingly important for studios.  For studios, the question isn’t whether three of the May films can shoot past the $300 million mark domestically, as “Spider-Man 3,” “Shrek the Third” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” ultimately did. The question is whether the product is strong enough as a whole to make up for the lack of the three mega-franchises.  Conventional wisdom is that “Iron Man,” “Prince Caspian” and “Crystal Skull” are strong contenders. “Speed Racer,” rated PG, may not open as big as the others but could have strong legs.  “What Happens in Vegas” and the two romantic comedies hope to work as counterprogramming. In summer 2006, Fox hit the jackpot with “The Devil Wears Prada,” which opened against “Superman Returns.”  In May 2007, the highest-grossing film after the three blockbuster three-quels was Fox Atomic’s “28 Weeks Later,” which made a mere $25.4 million in May after opening on May 11.  Studios are already trying to manage expectations, particularly Paramount with “Iron Man,” since it is the first summer tentpole.  Par, which is distributing the pic for Marvel Entertainment, has been furiously reminding reporters that “Iron Man” isn’t a sequel, meaning it is all but impossible for the film to open anywhere near the level of a “Spider-Man 3,” which debuted to a record-breaking $151.1 million over the May 4-6 weekend.  Toplining Robert Downey Jr., “Iron Man” is whipping up plenty of interest, particularly among males. Though the film doesn’t officially open until May 2, Paramount has decided to begin showing the movie the evening of May 1 in some markets to meet demand.  On May 16, Disney opens “Prince Caspian.” The first “Narnia” film, released Dec. 9, 2005, opened to $65.5 million on its way to grossing $291.7 million.  “Indiana Jones” bows on Thursday, May 22, on the eve of the Memorial Day holiday. How big the film opens could hinge on whether it can recruit younger generations to the action-adventure franchise after such a lengthy hiatus.  “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” released over Memorial Day weekend in 1989, grossed $197.2 million domestically.  The absence of “Pirates,” “Shrek” and “Spider-Man,” or some combination thereof, is a risky proposition for Hollywood. At the same time, it gives new franchises the chance to take root.

• CP Prods. principals Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters have started a genre division and will partner with Mississippi-based Ghostrider Entertainment to co-finance a slate of 10 fright films in the next three years.  Budgets will be between $8 million and $20 million.  CP’s genre division will be spearheaded by Eric Thompson, who formerly ran the Maverick Films genre label Maverick Red; he came to CP Prods. when he signed his Doomsday Twin Prods. label to a first-look deal with the production company. Thompson hung on to most of the genre projects that he developed at Maverick Red, and he made the approach to Ghostrider Entertainment, which is headed by Wes Benton.  Two of the genre films are “Rites of Spring,” written and directed by Padraig Reynolds, about what happens when a father, intent on avenging his murdered son, crosses paths with a serial killer targeting teens; and “Slaughter,” a Nathan Brookes and Bobby Lee Darby-scripted horror film that will be directed by Victor Garcia. Thompson developed the latter at Maverick.  The intention is to make two to three films each year, the majority of which will be shot in Mississippi and surrounding areas. That will allow the productions to tap into tax credits and financial incentives being promoted by the Mississippi Film Office to fuel post-Hurricane Katrina economic growth.  Cerenzie said Paramount will get first crack at distribution through CP’s first look with the studio.  Cerenzie most recently produced “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” just wrapped “Black Water Transit” and is prepping Harvey Keitel starrer “Chaos,” which Daphna Kastner wrote and will direct. Cerenzie and Peters produce with Keitel, and Martin Scorsese is exec producer.  Benton grew up in Mississippi and most recently has been an equipment supplier and production manager on motion capture films. He returned to the state after Katrina and began putting together the consortium fund to help boost filmmaking. He’s still raising the funds, but said 60% of the money is in place.  Benton said Ghostrider’s parent company, Red Planet Entertainment, is in talks to acquire 84 acres of land in Mississippi, with plans to construct production facilities near the U. of Southern Mississippi Film School campus.

STRIKE NEWS/ LABOR ISSUES

• Though large gaps remain between SAG and the majors, the two sides have made enough headway toward a feature-primetime deal to extend bargaining an extra week until May 2.  Wednesday’s joint SAG-AMPTP announcement — the first sign of any progress from eight days of contract talks — came a few minutes after AFTRA disclosed it had agreed to postpone next week’s start of its own primetime negotiations until May 5. AFTRA’s move came in response to a request from the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers.  The congloms’ decision to seek another week of talks with the Screen Actors Guild should serve to cool the town’s fears of a SAG strike this summer. But it’s obviously not all hearts and flowers at the bargaining table, with the majors stressing they’re nowhere near a deal and need another week to reach that goal.  “We made our request because we owe it to our entire industry to give the current SAG-AMPTP talks every opportunity to result in an agreement,” the AMPTP said in a posting on its website. “At this time there remain significant gaps between the two parties, and we hope to use the extra time to narrow these gaps.”  The announcement came a few hours after SAG and the AMPTP launched an eighth day of negotiations at AMPTP heaquarters in Encino, where talks are expected to resume today. Until Wednesday, both sides had adhered to an unofficial news blackout that stood in stark contrast to the vitriolic exchange of attacks during last year’s Writers Guild of America negotiations.  SAG’s contract expires June 30, and guild leaders have asserted repeatedly that the guild doesn’t want to strike. But those proclamations haven’t stopped studios from ramping up production and stockpiling features as a hedge against a work stoppage.  For SAG to make a deal, it will have to back off its demands for improved DVD residuals and new-media terms that are better than those in the Directors Guild of America and WGA pacts. Both positions are nonstarters for the majors, which have insisted they will only sign a SAG deal that follows the pattern set by the DGA and WGA.  SAG’s been sending mixed signals as to how strongly it will adhere to those stances. The guild sent an email to members earlier this week that omitted any mention of DVD or new media — even though SAG national exec director Doug Allen and president Alan Rosenberg had blasted the DGA deal in late January as deeply flawed.  SAG’s latest missive highlighted the need to improve earnings for middle-income actors and stressed the need for language dealing with “forced endorsement” via product placement.  Wednesday’s move by the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists to step aside for SAG represents a bit of a reversal for the perforners union. It comes three weeks after it angrily broke off the Phase One negotiating partnership with SAG in late March, following a series of jurisdictional disputes that culminated in actors on “The Bold and the Beautiful” attempting to decertify AFTRA as their bargaining rep in favor of SAG.  AFTRA said Wednesday that it has agreed to the postponement in hopes that the SAG negotiations will lead to a deal before AFTRA starts its own talks.  AFTRA had been scheduled to start its talks Monday concerning primetime network shows including “Rules of Engagement,” “Cashmere Mafia,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Flight of the Conchords” and “ ’Til Death.”  If SAG isn’t able to reach a deal before AFTRA, it may face the prospect of a more pragmatic AFTRA signing its own deal first and using that to expand coverage in areas of shared jurisdiction.  Yet the AMPTP’s willingness to give SAG another week shows that the majors would prefer to reach an agreement with the guild first if at all possible.  Going the SAG-first route would more quickly lift the lingering uncertainty pervading Hollywood’s feature development and production. In addition, should SAG have to wait for an AFTRA deal, the subsequent round of talks could become more difficult since SAG leaders and members would likely become more resentful and less interested in compromise.

INDUSTRY MOVES

• Production and distribution company Liberation Entertainment has tapped Rob Williams as its new veep of acquisitions and theatrical distribution.  Williams formerly served as acquisitions and distribution executive at Red Envelope Entertainment. In addition to working with several other independent companies, he has also worked in distribution and marketing at DreamWorks.  The new veep’s first stop is the Tribeca Film Festival, where he will work to increase Liberation’s domestic film and television acquisitions.

TECHNOLOGY/ MULT-PLATFORM CONTENT

• The download movie biz still isn’t ready for its closeup.  Studios desperately want the download biz to take off, and Netcos are eager for movie sales and rentals to migrate online, but it hasn’t really happened yet. Studios admit the digital biz is very small but believe it could grow to a significant level by next year.  At this point, it’s clearly a small part of the overall biz for major players like Apple and Amazon as well. On Wednesday afternoon, the segment was mentioned only in passing on the companies’ earnings calls — despite the fact that both have ramped up their efforts considerably in recent months.  Apple signed all the majors to a new movie rental service in January, and while chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer told Wall Street analysts that it “has been very well received by customers,” homevid execs admit it is still getting up to speed.  And Lionsgate prexy Steve Beeks, while encouraged by the early going, concedes that iTunes coin reps a very small portion of the overall home entertainment biz. During the first quarter, disc sales generated $3.5 billion, and total consumer spending hit $5.6 billion.  Amazon topper Jeff Bezos was even more enigmatic about his digital initiatives on his earnings call, saying only that the Netco was “extremely happy” with them. Amazon’s Unbox service lags behind Apple’s iTunes service considerably.  According to market research firm NPD, iTunes accounts for 73% of MP3 sales.  And iTunes continued to grow last quarter. In fact, execs told analysts that that growth dented the company’s margins.  In its March quarter, Apple’s “other related music products and services” category, which includes iTunes, grew 35% over the year-earlier period to $881 million. That category also includes iPod services and accessories.  Overall, Apple posted a $1.05 billion profit, up from $770 million, and A 43% revenue increase to $7.51 billion. That’s the best March quarter earnings and profit in the company’s history.  Apple sold 10.6 million iPods in the quarter and 1.7 million iPhones amid shortages of the latter.  Amazon also beat expectations with its net earnings, which jumped 30% to $143 million. Sales increased 37% to $4.13 billion. Packaged media continued to dominate Amazon’s sales, accounting for $2.5 billion during the period. The company ran into shortages of its own digital device, the Kindle book reader, at the beginning of the year.  Studios expect the number of digital movie sales to increase over the year. Several studios are experimenting with iTunes sales of new releases, which they have been resisting for fear it would give Apple topper Steve Jobs too much power. However, they have been more open to sales via Unbox, in part due to its smaller size .Homevid toppers say it’s just a matter of time before iTunes, and its rivals, gain traction in the movie download biz.

• Oxygen unveiled a new logo, a new tagline, Oxygen: Live Out Loud, and a new multiplatform branding initiative called Oxygen Everywhere designed to reach young, female trendsetters on whatever platform they choose to inhabit. Oxygen.com will undergo a makeover incorporating more content from its NBCU sister properties – including BravoTV.com and iVillage. The site will also launch a new video player to deliver outtakes, webisodes and extras. One such feature is called Oxygen’s Sixth Act where a single scene will be taken from Oxygen’s original series and made available only for digital and wireless. The network’s first ever WAP site is also in the works.

WEBSITES TO WATCH

To promote its Friday night MovieLand slot, MTV Network’s TVLand.com launched a fun Movie Lover’s Database comprised of nearly 1,000 trailers spanning from the 50’s to the present. The handy interface allows users to browse for trailers by name, genre or decade.

Orange’s Spanish-language starMedia portal launched starMedia EntertaiNEWS, the first in a series of new broadband offerings planned by the ad-supported content service. The new channel, developed together with C3 Entertainment, recaps entertainment news and provides information about concerts, movies, theater and other cultural events of interest to Hispanics.

Betting nostalgia will attract users and ultimately dollars, a new digital storefront called GetBack.com launched in beta yesterday, organizing streaming radio and video content as it relates to iconic moments in history. Click on one of the thumbnails at the top of the page to be taken back to a moment in time such as 1982 when Kareem’s Lakers beat Dr. J’s Sixers and Pat Benatar & Loverboy topped the charts. Songs can be sampled before purchasing single tracks or full albums. Content suppliers include Universal Music and Warner Music, Getty Images, Netflix and Hulu. 

 

SOURCES:

www.variety.com

www.cynopsis.com