Judas Priest Reunites With Halford
Judas Priest will reteam with estranged lead singer Rob Halford for a new album and tour in 2004, marking the veteran British heavy metal band's 30th anniversary. It's been more than a dozen years since Halford performed with longtime guitarists Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing and bassist Ian Hill, as well as drummer Scott Travis, who joined the band in 1990.
"We all agreed that we feel the time is right," Tipton tells Billboard.com. "Everything just seems to have locked into place, and we just felt like we wanted to do it now, and maybe if we don't do it now, we never will."
The last Judas Priest album with Halford fronting the band was 1990's "Painkiller" (Columbia). After leaving the fold, he formed the thrash band Fight, which released three albums through Epic. Halford followed with the industrial-leaning act Two, which issued one album through Trent Reznor's nothing label, and then the short-lived metal quintet Halford.
Rumors of a reunion have circulated for the last several years, but Tipton insists that the band made the decision only last week. "We've been bonding our friendship again with Rob over the last two years or so, and we've had a lot of offers to reunite, but we've all been doing our own things," he says. "We've only just come to a point where we felt everything's right.
"Obviously when we split there was a lot of animosity and we didn't speak for a number of years," Tipton continues. "I saw [Halford] for the first time in years about two years ago, and it was very emotional. Anything that was said or done was all forgotten. We've been together for 30 years and we've been through a lot together in this band. It just needed time really. We all did our own thing, and it ran its course. It's all about timing."
In returning, Halford will be in the position of replacing his replacement in the band, Tim "Ripper" Owens. The former singer of the Judas Priest tribute band British Steel has been the singer in Judas Priest since 1996. The rock fan's dream-come-true story was the inspiration for the 2001 film "Rock Star," which starred Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston.
"There is no one who could have stepped into Rob's shoes except Ripper," Tipton enthuses. "He's been fantastic. We told him last week, and basically, he said, 'Look, I've got to agree with you.' He's a big Priest fan. And he's been a real gentleman about it."
The band released two studio albums with Owens, 1997's "Jugulator" (CMC) and 2001's "Demolition" (Atlantic), plus the concert set "98 Live Meltdown" (CMC).
The reunited Judas Priest expects to begin work on new material in September. "Rob is a great lyricist," Tipton says. "And it's the old team back together, it's the three of us [Halford, Tipton and Downing] writing and it's exciting because that is the team that's written Priest classics for the last 30 years. There's just some magic about it and we shall just proceed and start where we left off, really. I'm sure the floodgates will open. It's been a long time and we're quite eager to get going, so that's when you usually write your best material."
A world tour will follow. "And we'll stay out for a long time," Tipton guarantees.
Also in the offing is a Judas Priest box set, described by Tipton as "a retro-album, right from the old record days right through to the Ripper years. There are lots of things in the pipeline and lots of things we'll be working on."
VIRGIN LOVE
As expected, Courtney Love signing a three-album deal with Virgin Records, Billboard reports. Her first disc, America's Sweetheart, is due out October 28.
New John Mayer Album Expected This Fall
John Mayer's eagerly-anticipated follow up to 2001's Room For Squares will be released in the fall. Mayer recently spent five weeks in a New York City studio working on the release before beginning his current co-headlining tour with the Counting Crows. Mayer said he enjoyed working in the Manhattan space, and that "the studio had a great vibe that allowed me to focus all my energies on creating music."
Mayer is one of the many musicians using the latest in computer technology to help him produce his material. He tells LAUNCH Apple's iPod has been instrumental in his writing. "I have the Apple iPod, it's great. Because I can burn my demos and put them into the iPod and then listen to them as I'm driving, or as am going to a radio station, and just really just have time to sit in it and think about it," Mayer said. "And it's really fun. It's really really fun."
'Angels' flops, 'Sinbad' sinks: What the Hulk's goin' on?
The incredible Hulk took an incredible fall. Charlie's Angels took a devil of a dive. And Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas sunk straight to the bottom of the box office sea.
Shed a tear for the summer blockbusters that weren't to be.
By the standard of a low-budget independent movie, or even a typical Hollywood film released at any other time of year, the big bucks snatched by The Hulk and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle would be impressive. But given the big budgets of these high-profile projects and the hefty marketing costs involved, most Hollywood observers were disappointed in these three films, all of which are approaching the end of their shelf life.
And leaving some resentment in their wake.
"You have three good examples here of how the studios spent a lot of money trying to trick us into thinking these were great movies," says Russ Leatherman, founder of AOL Moviefone, who monitors thousands of e-mails and postings each week. "All that marketing muscle can open a movie, but if it isn't any good, the movie won't survive."
Box office analyst John Shaw of Movieline International argues that only a movie's first weekend matters anymore. "I don't think anything went wrong," Shaw says. "You have a large majority of your audience seeing the film in the first seven to 14 days." Shaw projects that The Hulk eventually will bring in more than $130 million and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle will pass $100 million.
Those figures are a great deal less than originally expected. The Hulk's audience dropped a spectacular 70% in just one week. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle also fell fast. And Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas didn't attract an audience at all.
Here's a look at what went wrong?
The movie:The Hulk
The budget: Estimated at $120-$137 million, not including marketing costs
The letdown: One of the most anticipated and hyped movies of the summer had the largest June opening ever. Sounds good, but it was about $20 million short of what some analysts had predicted. Worse, moviegoers polled by CinemaScore.com gave it a B-minus, shockingly low for an opening-night crowd. Then the other shoe dropped, and it was Hulk-sized: The next week, the big green monster shrunk an incredible 70%, one of the worst second-week drops for an expected blockbuster ever.
What went wrong:
A bad Super Bowl advertisement and trailer that showed the Hulk looking fake. "He looked like a CGI Jolly Green Giant on steroids," Leatherman says. "Viewers started saying, 'This is a really cheesy-looking monster, but I'll go see it anyway. Ang Lee's a great director, so maybe the rest of the movie is good.' " When it wasn't, there was backlash.
The film substituted arty pomposity for fun. "The Hulk sagged under its own pretentious weight," says Rose "Bams" Cooper, co-author of the book 3 Black Chicks Review Flicks. The very concept was flawed, says Garth Franklin, who edits darkhorizons.com, a popular source of movie gossip on the Internet. "Ang Lee tried to blend a dark adult drama with a kiddie action movie," he says. "On their own, they would've been fine but together neither gelled and (it) alienated both audiences." Adds Thelma Adams, film critic for Us Weekly: "You just can't fool American audiences on their junk food."
It was really slo-o-ow. "My son kept asking me when the movie was going to start," says Pia Scarborough, 29, a Nashville massage therapist. "I said, 'It started half an hour ago!' " Says Leatherman: "Moviegoers disliked the slow, plodding, humorless story."
Bad worth of mouth: "Word of mouth spread quickly on the Internet," says Brandon Gray, an analyst with BoxOfficeMojo.com. "That's what really hurt it."
The movie:Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
Estimated budget: $120 million, not including marketing costs
The letdown: The much-hyped Charlie's Angels sequel (was there a magazine that didn't feature one or more of the Angels on its cover?) brought in $38 million in its debut, a little less than the first film in the series. These days, sequels are expected to open bigger than the originals. Then it dropped 63% in its second weekend.
What went wrong:
No wide allure. "It seemed to have had its core appeal to women and did not branch out much beyond that demographic," says box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations.
People flocked to the first one, but they didn't love it. "There weren't that many fans of the first movie," says BoxOfficeMojo.com's Brandon Gray. "The first Charlie's Angels was a blockbuster by default, the first movie of the holiday season in 2000, the only game in town."
Overfamiliarity. After all, it was a sequel to a TV spinoff. "Moviegoers seem to be getting fed up with all the summer reruns at the theaters and want something fresh and new," says Gitesh Pandya, editor of boxofficeguru.com.
All surface and no substance. "People were sick of the movie before they even saw it," Gray says. "It was all style, all glitz, all glamour, no substance at all." Leatherman is blunter: "It stunk. There was an arrogance about the entire movie that played out on screen."
The movie:Sinbad
The budget: $60 million, not including marketing costs
The letdown: DreamWorks' ambitious animated adventure never drew an opening-weekend audience, even with a Shrek giveaway CD. It opened to a mere $6.9 million this past weekend, making it the studio's first outright failure in animation.
What went wrong:
Audiences don't like animated adventure films. "Traditionally, animated adventures tend to have a bad time at the movies," Gray says. "Treasure Planet was one of the biggest bombs of last year. The most spectacular animated failures have been of the adventure variety, like Titan A.E. and Quest for Camelot." Adds Leatherman: "This movie smelled so much like last year's Treasure Planet. Same story line, same look. It came out with little fanfare and tanked. It just got buried at sea."
Straight animation is over. Sadly, the old-school animated feature appears to be dying, with more edgy and lifelike CGI comedies taking over. "Without the very rich 3-D Pixar animation, these old-school animated movies are really having a hard time," Leatherman says. "What we're finding is that that's not fun for kids." Adds Pandya: "The types of animated films that attract large paying crowds to the multiplexes are computer-animated films with comedy. Shrek, Monsters, Inc., Ice Age, and most recently Finding Nemo." And that bring us to ...
Finding Nemo rules. Why see Sinbad when you can laugh and cry at Finding Nemo over and over again? "Pixar clearly rules the seas with Nemo," Adams says.
Unnecessary voice casting. Why cast Brad Pitt, Michelle Pfeiffer and Catherine Zeta-Jones none noted for a distinctive speaking voice or sense of humor in Sinbad? The concept backfired disastrously. "What kind of voodoo sorcery did Brad Pitt perform on DreamWorks to convince them to voice-cast him as Ken-doll Sinbad in this flick?" Cooper asks. "I mean, really; can you picture Little Timmy and Little Jane asking Mommy, 'Hey Mom, can we go to see Sinbad? It's got Brad Pitt in it!' "
David Duchovny's "Sex" Files
The sex is out there, and it's up to David Duchovny to find it.
In a conspiracy hatched by the producers of Sex and the City, the former X-Files G-man will be investigating mysteries of the female kind on HBO's hit comedy.
"Yes, he will guest star. You'll see him in the August episode," Sex and the City publicist Angela Tarantino confirmed Thursday.
Duchovny will heat things up as a potential suitor to Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw during SATC's final batch of episodes airing in January 2004.
Though the rep wouldn't elaborate how many episodes Duchovny will appear in, it's likely he'll give Carrie's old boyfriend, the currently San Francisco-based Mr. Big (Chris Noth), a run for his money once her romance with latest hottie Jack Burger (Ron Livingston) flames out.
Executive producer Michael Patrick King says Duchovny's presence will keep Carrie's love life interesting.
"Why would we bring in a major name if [Big] was already [the clear winner]?" King tells TV Guide Online.
Duchovny becomes the second high-profile thespian this week to be wooed by Sex, following former L.A. Law star Blair Underwood, who signed on for a fling with one of the show's four leading ladies beginning at the end of the summer.
SATC will also be joined this season by former child star and Oscar winner Tatum O'Neal, who was tapped to play Carrie's photographer in the August 17 episode. Legally Blonde star Jennifer Coolidge turned up in last week's episode throwing a handbag party.
Having had enough of aliens, ghosts and monsters by swearing off the role of FBI Special Agent Fox "Spooky" Mulder (at least until he's abducted to reprise the part for a planned X-Files feature), Duchovny, 41, has been busy making movies and raising four-year-old daughter Madelaine West and one-year-old son Kid with actress-wife Tιa Leoni.
His most recent credits include Return to Me, Zoolander, Evolution and Steven Soderbergh's little-seen 2002 indie drama, Full Frontal.
Having written and directed several episodes of The X-Files, Duchovny is getting behind the camera again and will make his feature helming debut with House of D, a New York-based drama that he wrote about a man coming to terms with his life by confronting his present relationships with friends. Robin Williams, Tyler Hoechlin (Road to Perdition) and Leoni will star alongside Duchovny.
He next turns up on the big screen in the Universal comedy Connie and Carla opposite Nia Vardalos and Toni Collette, due out later this year.
Another Indy DVD Update
More than a few internet and retail sources have been posting information regarding the Indiana Jones Box Set online, and it's been confirmed with Paramount that this is real deal with Paramount. Here's the official word about the bonus features on the upcoming Indy DVDs...
"Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy - The Lucasfilm archives were raided to give you unprecedented access to the making of the Indiana Jones trilogy. Join the cast and crew of all 3 films on an epic movie-making adventure, including all-new interviews with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Harrison Ford, Frank Marshall, Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw and more. Go on set and experience firsthand the rough-and-tumble world of the films' creation. Illustrated with never-before-seen footage, outtakes, screen tests, production drawings and photographs, Making the Trilogy is your first-class ticket to behind-the-scenes movie-making history.
The Light and Magic of Indiana Jones - In an era before computer-generated effects existed, Industrial Light and Magic managed to bring to life the unique world of Indiana Jones by using groundbreaking techniques in special and mechanical effects. The ILM wizards reveal how they employed miniatures, matte paintings, morphing and more to make Indy's spectacular quests and supernatural adventures believable.
The Sound of Indiana Jones - Academy Award-winning sound designer Ben Burtt takes us on what director Steven Spielberg describes as "an adventure in sound." Discover the crucial role that sound effects and editing play in the Indiana Jones films and learn the aural history behind some of your favorite scenes.
The Stunts of Indiana Jones - Each Indiana Jones film topped its predecessor with heart-stopping, perilous stunts. The stunt crew takes you behind the scenes to witness the intense coordination required by the entire production team to make certain a death-defying scene looks convincing on film. Learn how the Indy films paid homage to the past and were pivotal to the future of movie stunts.
Original trailers - Watch the original theatrical teasers and trailers for the Indiana Jones movies along with a trailer for the Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb video game from LucasArts.
Exclusive DVD-ROM content - Each of your Indiana Jones DVDs has the ability to unlock exclusive Indiana Jones content available only through a special DVD-ROM Web site. In addition, you can link to www.indianajones.com and check out the daily features and updates on Indiana Jones 4."
'Secret' Hepburn biography to be published
NEW YORK (AFP) - A biography of Katherine Hepburn that was two decades in the making, will finally go on sale in accordance with the screen legend's wish that it be published posthumously.
"Kate Remembered" appears to have been one of the best kept publishing secrets in recent memory, with fewer than 10 people at the publishing house, G.P. Putnam's Sons, even aware of its existence.
With Hepburn's death on June 29 still fresh in the public mind, the biography is virtually guaranteed to hit the bestseller lists, although the author, Scott Berg, stressed that the timing had nothing to do with marketing strategies.
"Kate often suggested the importance of publishing a book right away because she presumed there would be many books about her over the years, and she presumed they would be filled with the same misstatements of facts that have appeared over the years," Scott said in a statement.
Scott said the book was based on intimate conversations with Hepburn that began immediately after their first meeting in 1983.
"She made it very clear that she hoped all that she was imparting would somehow be preserved in a book, one that would not be published until after her death," he said.
"With this book, I think, she imagined there would be at least a foundation of truth -- of what she actually said and thought about things, in many cases things she felt could not be printed until she died."
The publisher's were giving little away regarding the book's content, saying only that it would reveal "untold details" of her entire career and her relationships with billionaire Howard Hughes and Spencer Tracy.
Berg is the author of three previous biographies, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning life of aviator Charles Lindbergh published in 1998.
Berg said he actually finished all but the final page of "Kate Remembered" in 2001 and that G.P. Putnam Sons had agreed to Hepburn's dictate that it could not be published, "indeed even discussed," until her death.
"In the last few weeks of her life, I wrote the final paragraphs, the hardest I've ever had to write," he said.
In fading health for several years, Hepburn died at her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. A family spokeswoman gave the cause of death as "old age."
During Hepburn's career she became one of the most acclaimed actresses of all time. She was outspoken and her longstanding affair with actor Spencer Tracy brought drama and controversy to her life.
They made nine films together and remained a couple until Tracy's death in 1967.
No woman has matched the four Academy Awards she won, and the American Film Institute counts her among the greatest film icons, alongside Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant and Bette Davis.
Springer to File Papers for Senate Bid
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Jerry Springer, the talk show host who put wife-swappers, strippers and skinheads on the air and then watched the punches fly, will file papers to run for the U.S. Senate as early as Friday, advisers said.
Springer, 59, the former Cincinnati mayor, will not decide whether to actually run until later this month, said Mike Ford, his political adviser.
The early filing is necessary to avoid getting into legal trouble for raising money without officially declaring a candidacy, Ford said.
Springer is airing 30-minute infomercials across the nation to raise money and build support for his possible run for the Democratic nomination next year.
The infomercial, paid for by Springer, is part biography and part fund-raiser. It explains how Springer's parents fled Nazi Germany for England, then moved to the United States just before Springer's fifth birthday. The ad seeks small donations and offers T-shirts, bumper stickers and CDs of Springer singing "rockabilly" music.
The infomercial will air for about two weeks in several U.S. cities including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Memphis, Tenn., New Orleans, San Antonio and New York. Ford would not say how much it cost.
It was not immediately scheduled to air in Ohio because of concerns over equal access, meaning TV stations would have to offer equivalent time to other candidates.
The infomercial also addresses potential problems by Springer's talk show, known for its profanity, fistfights, cheating spouses and incestuous relationships.
Springer repeats a theme he has voiced several times in recent months that his show is not responsible for problems in Ohio with schools, jobs and the economy.
The infomercial focuses on a comment by National Review commentator Jonah Goldberg on a Sunday morning talk show several months ago. Goldberg warned of new people brought to the polls by Springer, including "slack-jawed yokels, hicks, weirdos, pervs and whatnots."
The infomercial offers that quote on a T-shirt and inserted into a signed photograph of Springer next to a sign for Hicksville, Ohio. Springer refers to the quote and talks about wanting to reach out to "regular folks ... who weren't born with a silver spoon in your mouth."
State Sen. Eric Fingerhut, a Democrat, has already announced his candidacy for the Senate seat. The Democratic winner will probably take on Republican Sen. George Voinovich.
"A half-hour infomercial doesn't wipe out what he's been doing for a decade," Fingerhut said Thursday. "All it does tragically is identify Ohio with his level of entertainment."
'Pirates' Set to Make Movie Rivals Walk the Plank
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Sean Connery's league of famous misfits from the Victorian Age is likely to have a difficult time if they expect to snatch away some of the booty already being reaped by Johnny Depp and his gang of pirates.
Swords will be drawn on both sides as Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" faces off against 20th Century Fox's "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" this weekend, fighting over moviegoers flocking to the theaters for one of the two action-adventurers hitting the big screen.
"Pirates" opened Wednesday to $13.5 million, getting a head start on the coveted PG-13 audience. It was the best Wednesday opening of the year -- surpassing the R-rated "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," which earned $12.4 million last week -- and the eighth-best Wednesday opening ever.
Inspired by the fabled Disneyland ride, the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced "Pirates" pairs Depp with Orlando Bloom as 17th century adventurers Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, respectively. They are out to fight Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), who has kidnapped the governor's beautiful daughter Elizabeth (Keira Knightly) and taken over Sparrow's ship.
The film, directed by Gore Verbinski, is playing in 3,269 theaters and is predicted to reach the $45 million-50 million mark for the Friday-Sunday period. Its Wednesday and Thursday take could boost the picture's five-day total to $65 million-$70 million.
The fate of Fox's "Gentlemen" is more open to question. Connery stars as Allan Quatermain, who heads a disparate band of unlikely 19th century superheroes brought together to fight a dangerous foe who could trigger a world war. Based on the unique comic book series created by Alan Moore, the film is sure to benefit from a last-minute media blitz, but industry tracking suggests that it won't come close to "Pirates."
"Gentlemen" looks more likely to earn $17 million-$20 million for the three-day period. Directed by Stephen Norrington of "Blade" fame, the PG-13 film will bow in 3,002 theaters.
Not only does "Gentlemen" have to fight the younger fan base looking forward to seeing Depp and Bloom in eyeliner and long hair, it also goes up against the second weekend of Arnold Schwarzenegger's "T3." The sophomore session of the franchise's third installment could suffer a 50% drop from its $44 million debut weekend, putting it squarely in the same box office range as "Gentlemen."
On the limited-release front, Paramount Classics opens "Northfolk," the epic film from the Polish brothers ("Twin Falls, Idaho"), in four theaters. The PG-13 drama, a festival favorite, stars James Woods, Nick Nolte, Daryl Hannah and Anthony Edwards in a surreal tale about a town threatened by a new dam project. The film already has received rave reviews, with some critics calling it the brothers' best film yet.
Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the Russian film "The Cuckoo" in New York and Los Angeles. The PG-13 film centers on a Russian idealist, a Finnish college student and a Swedish peasant woman who are confined to a tiny backwoods hut near the end of World War II.
IDP will debut "I Capture the Castle" on eight screens in New York and Los Angeles. The R-rated U.K. import is a Jane Austen-style romance about a young fledgling writer who is being married off, much to her chagrin, by her family in search of a better lifestyle.
Maguire Vows Spidey II to Be Better Than the First
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Tobey Maguire, who shot to A-list stardom in 2002 smash hit movie "Spider-Man," on Thursday vowed to fans that the web of a tale being spun for next year's sequel will be even stickier than the original.
"I'm really happy with it ... It's going to be better than the first one. The story is a lot better," he told reporters at a news conference for upcoming film "Seabiscuit" in which he plays a jockey.
Maguire, who portrays the comic book crime fighter Spider-Man and his alter ego Peter Parker, said the filming for "Spider-Man II" was about two-thirds complete.
He declined to provide details of the plot. What is known, however, is that Parker is now attending college at Empire State University while two new villains, Dr. Octopus and the Lizard, plot his destruction.
The first "Spider-Man" became one of 2002's biggest hits by thrilling audiences with action and digital effects and delighting critics with its story of Parker -- conflicted by the human desire for love and his superhuman abilities.
"Spider-Man" racked up $806 million at global box offices and in its first weekend alone in the United States and Canada, it sold a record $114 million worth of tickets.
Earlier this year, Hollywood was buzzing with talk that Maguire had hurt his back portraying racehorse jockey Johnny "Red" Pollard, who rode the legendary Seabiscuit in the 1930s and 1940s.
Various news reports speculated that because of his back problems, Maguire might be out of a job as Spider-Man/Parker for the sequel, but the 28-year-old actor shot down that talk.
"It's not true that I was fired," he said.
Maguire characterized his back problem as an ailment that had nagged him for years and was not the result of filming "Seabiscuit." He declined to detail his back problems.
He said that because the stunt work in "Spider-Man II" is more strenuous and acrobatic, there had been some "concerns" and some "questioning" by the filmmakers and himself as to how physically fit he was for the job. But he added that he always intended to reprise his role for the sequel.
"I didn't have any doubts," he said.
"Spider-Man II" is scheduled to be released in July 2004.