"Transformers" sequel on track to beat first film

By Gregg Kilday
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Autobots and Decepticons begin slugging it out at the box office Wednesday as "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," Michael Bay's sequel to his 2007 hit, opens for business.
The Paramount/DreamWorks production is invading 4,626 theaters in North America, including 169 Imax locations. In many locations, screenings were expected to start just after midnight.
Since its box office domination is assured -- most competitors stayed away from confronting "Transformers" head-on -- the only question now is how muscular the alien robot tale, based on the Hasbro toy line, will be.
The first "Transformers" grabbed $155.4 million in its first seven days. By the end of this weekend, its sequel could hit a number in that same neighborhood -- but in just five days.
"This looks like it could be one of the biggest Wednesday openers -- with a shot of being the biggest," Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore said, predicting a five-day haul in the $130 million-$150 million range.
Paramount's competitors are betting the five-day number could climb higher than that, but Moore said, "'Transformers' should open bigger than the first one, but to forecast beyond that is a little insane."
Comparisons are tricky since the two "Transformers'" movies are adopting slightly different rollout patterns.
"T1," debuting in 4,011 theaters, opened on a Monday evening on July 2, 2007, and played through the Fourth of July holiday, which that year fell on a Wednesday. Fanboys flocked to the movie's Monday showings, which took in $8.8 million, and momentum built for its Tuesday and Wednesday screenings, dipped a bit on Thursday, and then rallied for a Friday-Sunday weekend of $70.5 million.
"T2" is forgoing early evening screenings -- movie theater owners have to wait until a minute after midnight to throw the switch -- so grosses from those midnight shows will roll over into the movie's opening Wednesday figure, which could rise to $35 million-$40 million. The Friday-to-Sunday number should outdo that of the first movie, checking in at $80 million-$90 million.
The suspense will be whether the newest "Transformers" can set a record along the way.
The five-day record for a Wednesday opener belongs to 2004's "Spider-Man 2," which notched $152.4 million. "Transformers" is likely to find itself in similar territory.
The mark for the biggest first five days, which belongs to "The Dark Knight" -- a Friday opener that raked in $203.8 million in its first five days -- is expected to stand.
Similarly, "Knight" also holds the record for biggest single-day and opening-day gross: $67.2 million, and that's another record that almost any film would be hard-pressed to topple.
Set "Knight" aside, though, and "Transformers" looks pretty formidable on its own terms. While Bay has been worrying that the studio hasn't gotten the word out, that doesn't appear to be the case. Tracking is coming on strong, and there is evidence that the movie's potential audience has expanded.
Movietickets.com reported Tuesday that the film, which now accounts for 93% of the online ticket seller's sales, had sold out more than 600 performances nationwide, including 274 midnight showings. Continued...
Source: Reuters

"Friends" stars reunite online

By Andrew Wallenstein
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A "Friends" reunion of sorts is coming to the Internet courtesy of Lexus.
The carmaker is launching a second season of "Web Therapy," an online comedy series starring Lisa Kudrow for its branded-entertainment network, L Studio. Returning June 23, "Therapy" will feature Kudrow's fellow "Friends" alum Courteney Cox as a guest star. Don Roos directs.
With the release of 15 new short-form episodes of "Therapy," Lexus has also retooled its strategy to syndicate the series to iTunes, YouTube and Hulu. When L Studio launched last September, all of its content was confined to the website, which has also since been redesigned to incorporate high-definition video that loads faster and can be shared on social networks.
Kudrow, who won a Webby Award in June for outstanding comedic performance for "Therapy," stars as Fiona Wallice, a shrink who employs pretty shaky methods on a clientele she counsels over Webcam. In addition to Cox, Kudrow will play opposite Alan Cumming, Steven Weber and Victor Garber in the second season.
Beginning with the July 6th episode, Cox plays a psychic who seeks Wallice's help because the dreams she relied on to deliver her psychic vision no longer occur. It's a comic wink to the role played on CBS' "Medium" by her sister-in-law Patricia Arquette -- Cox even alludes in character to the famous family into which she married. "Good god, how many of them are there really?" she jokes about the Arquette clan.
While episodes will continue to be available at LStudio.com, bundles of three episodes will be available on iTunes for $1.99; a season pass for "Therapy" will cost $7.99. On YouTube and Hulu, Lexus will be in the unusual position of being an advertiser who will sell spots within "Therapy" to other advertisers.
(Editing by Dean Goodman at Reuters)

Source: Reuters

Adam Lambert's new album challenges 'Idol' producer

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Adam Lambert's debut album is coming out much earlier than planned, some time this summer.
That's great news for fans of the "American Idol" runner-up, but it could be a big headache for some of the major corporations behind the talent show, who have been beaten to the punch by a pair of small, indie labels.
Before he became a household name, the flamboyant singer spent three years recording songs for Los Angeles-based Wilshire Records. The label has joined forces with Hi Fi Recordings to release the 11-track album "On With the Show" this summer. An exact release date will be announced shortly.
The first single, "Want," went on sale at digital music retailer iTunes on Tuesday. Lambert co-wrote nine of the songs, working mostly with Madonna's guitarist, Monte Pittman.
"American Idol" producer 19 Entertainment issued a brief, businesslike statement attributed to Lambert in which he is quoted as saying, "The work I did back then in no way reflects the music I am currently in the studio working on."
"It doesn't surprise us, but it doesn't make us feel good," Hi Fi Chairman and CEO John Hecker told Reuters on Tuesday. "For some reason it's scaring Goliath, and I don't know why."
He said Lambert attended a post-production session last month, as "American Idol" reached its climax, and that the singer was "blown away" by what he heard.
It wasn't supposed to be like this in the highly controlled "American Idol" organization. The winner and the runner-up from each season, along with some other finalists, score deals with a Sony Corp label through 19 Entertainment, which is owned by media firm CKX Inc.
Their albums are released with great fanfare in the fall. If they're lucky -- and the odds are against them -- the stars will go on to enjoy Grammy-winning success like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.
In Lambert's case, the stakes are high for both sides. The openly gay singer is one of the more colorful performers to emerge from the teeming "American Idol" pool of wannabes. His shock defeat at the hands of Kris Allen this past season that ended in May only added to his mystique, while a Rolling Stone magazine cover story gave him a hint of credibility.
Hecker denied some fans' assertions that Lambert was being ripped off, saying the singer stands to make "a ton of money" through a royalties arrangement commensurate with deals for major artists. Lambert will not only receive songwriting royalties, but he also co-owns the copyrights with Wilshire, Hecker said.
But wait, there's more. Hecker said the recording sessions yielded enough material for a second album, which will also see the light of day eventually,
A spokesman for 19 Entertainment did not respond to an email seeking further comment.
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: Reuters

Adam Lambert's new album challenges "Idol" producer

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Adam Lambert's debut album is coming out much earlier than planned, some time this summer.
That's great news for fans of the "American Idol" runner-up, but it could be a big headache for some of the major corporations behind the talent show, who have been beaten to the punch by a pair of small, indie labels.
Before he became a household name, the flamboyant singer spent three years recording songs for Los Angeles-based Wilshire Records. The label has joined forces with Hi Fi Recordings to release the 11-track album "On With the Show" this summer. An exact release date will be announced shortly.
The first single, "Want," went on sale at digital music retailer iTunes on Tuesday. Lambert co-wrote nine of the songs, working mostly with Madonna's guitarist, Monte Pittman.
"American Idol" producer 19 Entertainment issued a brief, businesslike statement attributed to Lambert in which he is quoted as saying, "The work I did back then in no way reflects the music I am currently in the studio working on."
"It doesn't surprise us, but it doesn't make us feel good," Hi Fi Chairman and CEO John Hecker told Reuters on Tuesday. "For some reason it's scaring Goliath, and I don't know why."
He said Lambert attended a post-production session last month, as "American Idol" reached its climax, and that the singer was "blown away" by what he heard.
It wasn't supposed to be like this in the highly controlled "American Idol" organization. The winner and the runner-up from each season, along with some other finalists, score deals with a Sony Corp label through 19 Entertainment, which is owned by media firm CKX Inc.
Their albums are released with great fanfare in the fall. If they're lucky -- and the odds are against them -- the stars will go on to enjoy Grammy-winning success like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.
In Lambert's case, the stakes are high for both sides. The openly gay singer is one of the more colorful performers to emerge from the teeming "American Idol" pool of wannabes. His shock defeat at the hands of Kris Allen this past season that ended in May only added to his mystique, while a Rolling Stone magazine cover story gave him a hint of credibility.
Hecker denied some fans' assertions that Lambert was being ripped off, saying the singer stands to make "a ton of money" through a royalties arrangement commensurate with deals for major artists. Lambert will not only receive songwriting royalties, but he also co-owns the copyrights with Wilshire, Hecker said.
But wait, there's more. Hecker said the recording sessions yielded enough material for a second album, which will also see the light of day eventually,
A spokesman for 19 Entertainment did not respond to an email seeking further comment.
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: Reuters

Pop culture items fetch high prices at NY auction

By Chris Michaud
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Sgt. Pepper's souvenir poster signed by the four Beatles sold for $52,500 at a Christie's auction of pop culture memorabilia on Tuesday, along with an array of rock, punk and grunge-era items that fetched strong prices.
The sale of some 300 items, from handwritten Bob Dylan lyrics to actor Bob Crane's leather jacket from the 1960s television comedy "Hogan's Heroes" took in a total of $650,863, including the auction house's commission.
Some 70 percent of the offerings found buyers, Christie's said.
Items from grunge and early punk rock days did especially well, said Simeon Lipman, Christie's head of pop culture.
Kurt Cobain's Sears bass guitar sold for $43,750, while a classic black leather motorcycle jacket signed by members of Nirvana and Soundgarden fetched $12,500, more than half again its high pre-sale estimate.
A pair of AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott's handwritten lyric notebooks from the late 1970s was bid up to $35,000.
"With memorabilia, nostalgia really drives the prices. Even in an unstable economy you'll see peaks for certain pieces," said Lipman, who cited Crane's jacket, which sold for $40,000 or twice its high estimate, as an example.
Offbeat items also fetched high prices, like a five-pair set of handcuffs and keys owned by escape artist Harry Houdini which sold for $25,000.
The prop scissorhands used by actor Johnny Depp in the film "Edward Scissorhands" went for $16,250, while Marlon Brando's signed "Godfather" script fetched $10,625.
Handwritten lyrics by Bob Dylan from "With God on Our Side" sold for $25,000.
Despite the five-figure prices, there were bargains as well. A full outfit consisting of leather blazer, shirt, trousers, belt, shoes and glasses worn by actor Peter Dinklage in the 2007 film "Death at a Funeral" sold for just $25.

Source: Reuters