Murray to star in Jarmusch film

After a lot of chasing, director Jim Jarmusch finally has the lead man for his new film.

Bill Murray will take on the lead role in his as-yet-untitled comedy, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Murray, whose popularity has shot up since his Oscar-nominated role in last year's "Lost In Translation," had agreed to star if the picture could be sped into production to fit his schedule.

The film is expected to begin shooting in New York this summer.

Murray appears in Jarmusch's "Coffee & Cigarettes," which hits theatres on Friday.

John Fogerty Sets Summer Tour And A New Album Is In The Works

Former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty, who rarely plays concerts and issues new recorded material even less often, will tour extensively this summer before releasing a new album.

Fogerty opens his trek in late June and will touch down in more than 30 cities over the next two months. It's been about four years since Fogerty's last major tour.

The outing will be followed this fall with the release of Fogerty's first new studio album since 1997's "Blue Moon Swamp."

"I have been in the studio putting the finishing touches on my new record, scheduled to be out in mid to late September," Fogerty wrote in a message on his website. "We will put the release date up as soon as we know it."

Fogerty's most recent album was 1998's "Premonition," which included 18 live tracks that he recorded during a performance the previous year. It was around that time that Fogerty began to play CCR hits in concert; for well over a decade, he refused to play the songs because of a long-running business dispute with CCR's label, Fantasy Records.

Tour Itinerary

June 2004

25 - Saratoga, CA - Montalvo Garden Theatre
26 - Lake Tahoe, NV - Harvey's Amphitheatre
28 - Medford, OR - Jackson County Fairgrounds
29 - Eugene, OR - Cuthbert Amphitheatre
30 - Redmond, WA - Marymoor Amphitheatre

July 2004

2 - Spokane, WA - Lilac Bowl
3 - McCall, ID - Brundage Mountain Amphitheatre
4 - Big Sky, MT - Big Sky Outdoor Pavilion (w/ Allman Brothers)
6 - Missoula, MT - Caras Park Pavilion
7 - Nampa, ID - Idaho Center Amphitheatre
9 - Park City, UT - Deer Valley
10 - Denver, CO - Universal Lending Pavilion
11 - Kearney, NE - Tri City Arena
13 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre
14 - Omaha, NE - Omaha Civic Music Hall
16 - Walker, MN - Moondance Jam Festival
17 - Mankato, MN - Midwest Wireless Civic Center
18 - Cadott, WI - Chippewa Valley Rock Fest
20 - South Bend, IN - Morris Auditorium
21 - Peoria, IL - Civic Center Theatre
23 - Arnold's Park, IA - Arnold's Park
24 - St. Paul, MN - Minnesota State Fairgrounds
27 - San Diego, CA - Summer Pops Bowl
28 - Costa Mesa, CA - Orange County Fair
29 - Paso Robles, CA - California Mid-State Fair
31 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint

August 2004

1 - Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theatre
4 - Albuquerque, NM - Sandia Casino
6 - Grand Prairie, TX - Nokia Live (NextStage)
7 - Austin, TX - The Backyard
8 - Houston TX - Verizon Wireless Theatre

Uninterrupted '24' Run Begins in January

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Regular viewers of FOX's "24" know that even if you catch every episode, figuring out where the plot is going is often a challenge. One week Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer is in Mexico and the next week, Mexico doesn't matter anymore. One week Dennis Haysbert's President Palmer has a girlfriend whose husband is committing suicide and the next week she's gone, never to be mentioned again. Some weeks Jack's hooked on smack and a virus is about to take over the West Coast and then the next week, Jack's clean and sober and the virus is a secondary concern.

Throw in the programming interruptions that often preempt "24" for multiple weeks at a stretch and it's no wonder that the ratings for the award winning drama have been erratic this season.

FOX aims to bring stability back to "24" next year. The series won't return until January, when it moves into a new time period on Monday nights at 9 p.m. ET. The show will get a two-hour premiere and a two-hour finale. FOX Entertainment President Gail Berman also promises a two-hour special event episode in the middle of the season. The three instances of doubling down will allow "24" to reach its conclusion by the end of the May sweeps period.

The network's hope is that while the new time slot strips "24" of its protected post-"American Idol" hour, airing on Mondays will prevent the kind of schedule juggling that left the show on the shelf whenever "Idol" stretched to two hours. The plan is to air the entire season without a single repeat (long the "24" standard) and without a single week off (a miracle if it happens).

"'24' is appointment television and we believe that moving it to Monday, creating an event out of it with no breaks in the schedule, will enable the viewer to really get on the ride and have an event that takes you through to May with it," Berman says.

In its third season, "24" averaged 9.35 million viewers before the January premiere of "Idol." The boost from the popular talent show has only been moderate, lifting "24" to its season average of 10.18 million viewers, down by roughly a million from last season's numbers.

Except for random periods where the show has vanished from FOX's schedule for weeks at time, the network has been consistent in its support of the atypical series. In planning the new multi-tiered year-round schedule, though, executives determined that it was time to share the cushy "Idol" warmth.

"We need to make room on the schedule for new hits," Berman admits "We'd like 'American Idol' to be used as a launch pad for new opportunities for the network."

After it premieres in January 2005, "Idol" will provide a Tuesday lead-in for "House," a medical drama from "Quiz Show" screenwriter and "Homicide: Life on the Street" creator Paul Attanasio. The Wednesday results show, moved to 9 p.m., will reward veteran comedy "The Bernie Mac Show."

The move to Mondays isn't akin to being thrown to the Nielsen wolves for "24." FOX has placed the series behind one of its most anticipated new dramas of the season, "Athens." The new offering from Josh Schwartz ("The O.C.") takes a soapy look at a fictional New England college town and the unlikely friendship between a young English professor and an 18-year-old freshman (a relationship FOX is already likening to the bond between Seth and Ryan on "The O.C.").

'Family Guy' Returns Next Summer to FOX

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - In its three seasons on FOX, the animated comedy "Family Guy" danced around the network's schedules like a ballerina on methamphetamines. The show occupied three different Tuesday time slots, three periods on Thursday, two half-hours on Wednesday and one niche on Sundays. Either the show was incapable of finding an audience because it kept switching times, or it kept switching times because it couldn't find an audience. Either way, except for a dedicated, but miniscule following, nobody was watching "Family Guy."

After a popular DVD release and a successful late night run on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" block, FOX thinks "Family Guy" is ready for primetime again. Seth MacFarlane's dysfunctional animated family will return to FOX's schedules in the summer of 2005 with all new episodes.

"When I first joined the network my first order of business was ordering more episodes of 'Family Guy,'" says FOX Entertainment President Gail Berman. "I believe this show was way ahead of its time. It's now a huge DVD hit and we believe that 'Family Guy' has a ready-made fan base eager for its return."

"Family Guy" will return next summer with all of its vocal talent intact. MacFarlane will return as the voices of lumpy everyman Peter Griffin, homicidal baby Stewie and family dog Brian. Alex Bornstein returns as long-suffering wife Lois Griffin and Mila Kunis and Seth Green will be back as children Meg and Chris Griffin.

FOX's return to Quahog, Rhode Island is only part of the network's MacFarlane renaissance. His new animated series, "American Dad," launches as part of FOX's January 2005 schedule, following "Arrested Development" on Sunday nights at 9:30.

"American Dad" will get a high profile preview following a special episode of "The Simpsons," which will take the coveted post-Super Bowl slot on Sunday, Feb. 6.

MacFarlane lends his vocal talents to the new series as well, voicing Stan Smith, a CIA agent constantly on the lookout for terrorist activities. The Smith family also includes Roger (also MacFarlane) a space alien from Area 51 and Klaus (Dee Bradley Baker), a German speaking goldfish.

Giving Birth:

According to Dark Horizons, the new title of STAR WARS EPISODE III will be BIRTH OF THE EMPIRE and the film will climax with the battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin. "There's going to be a big announcement soon," said the scooper. "They've tried lots of titles but the most popular is BIRTH OF THE EMPIRE."

Meanwhile, if you haven't seen it, AICN has a picture from a supposedly recut version of RETURN OF THE JEDI that puts Hayden Christensen in the final scene. Just scroll down through the miles of purple text. Keep scrolling. It's called burying the lead, folks.

KUDOS!

Rebecca Romijn-Stamos will be honored as the Rising Female Star of the Year at the Video Software Dealers Association's Home Entertainment 2004 conference July 14 in Las Vegas.

"Shrek 2" Off to Fairy-Tale Start

A happy-ever-after beginning for Shrek 2.

The continued adventures of Mike Myers' Scottish-braying ogre picked up where the fractured fairy tale left off, cleaning up at the box office with an estimated $11.8 million from Wednesday's opening day.

DreamWorks hit the books, crunched the numbers and declared the bow a record--a "record for a mid-week opening by an animated film," topping the illustrious Pokémon: The First Movie, which coerced kiddies out of $10.1 million in 1999.

Brandon Gray of the ticket-tracking site BoxOfficeMojo.com, predicted a $60 million Friday-Sunday opening weekend for Shrek 2 and a five-day (Wednesday-Sunday) gross of about $84 million.

The original Shrek took in $42.3 million in its first three days of release in May 2001. It went on to score $267.7 million--its year's third-biggest moneymaker.

Gray said Shrek 2 should live up to its birthright, and avoid a Van Helsing (i.e., a precipitous fall at the box office following a big opening weekend) as the summer wears on.

"It has a shot at outgrossing the first movie," Gray said. "It will have longer legs than most sequels."

Still, it'll have a ways to go to become the top-grossing animated film of all-time, with Finding Nemo's $339.7 million being no easy catch.

The CGI-animated Shrek 2 reunites Myers with his costars from the first film: Cameron Diaz as the now-blushing bride, Princess Fiona, and, Eddie Murphy as plucky Donkey.

Julie Andrews and John Cleese, as Fiona's parents, are among the fresh voices in the sequel.

The first film was that rarest of beasts: The popular film that's popular with critics. Shrek 2 has shaped up the same way, with a rosy 88 percent positive-review average on RottenTomatoes.com. Exploiting a good thing while it's still well-liked, DreamWorks has already ordered up a third film.

About the only glitch in this fairy tale: A miffed screenwriter.

Ted Elliott, who with partner Terry Rossio cowrote the Oscar-nominated script for Shrek (two other writers also received credit and nominations), took to his and Rossio's Website, Wordplay (www.wordplayer.com), on Wednesday to vent about Andrew Adamson, the director of the original film and sequel.

In a post titled, "The only post I will make on the topic of Shrek 2," Elliott took issue with Adamson's story credit on the new film.

"More than half of the story elements in the movie were created by Terry and me," wrote Elliott, who is not credited on Shrek 2. "This the second time director Adamson has attempted to claim writing credit for the work of the other people. The first time, on Shrek, he failed; this time, he succeeded."

Elliott closed the brief post with even briefer advice to writers considering working with Adamson: "Do not," he wrote.

A message left with a DreamWorks seeking comment was not immediately returned Thursday.

Two New Classic Films Are Coming (Back) To DVD

Just announced from Universal is a much-requested new reissue of Richard Linklater's Dazed & Confused: Flashback Edition, which will hit the streets on September 14th. Remastered in anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1, extras include a new audio commentary with Linklater, deleted scenes and trailers.

Universal will also release the seminal 80's teen classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High on the 14th, now available in separate anamorphic widescreen and full screen editions. Each boasts the same extras as before.

Massive Stones concert transformed into two-disc DVD available June 29

TORONTO (CP) - Mick Jagger sent a videotaped message to Toronto on Thursday to launch a DVD of last summer's enormous outdoor concert to help the SARS-battered city.

The show, attended by 490,000 people, featured the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, the Guess Who and Justin Timberlake, among others. "It was definitely the biggest show we've ever done. It was one of the highlights of our career. It really remains in my memory," Jagger said. Producers of the two-disc DVD, in stores June 29, edited the 16-hour day into two-hours and 40 minutes of performances and behind-the-scenes footage, and included all the Canadian talent.

It will sell for between $32 and $39, depending on the retailer. To keep the DVD's length manageable, between one and three songs from each performer were chosen, except the Stones who got six.

Acts were sent a copy of their performance and were allowed to select their favourites.

Two highlights were also saved from the cutting room floor: AC/DC guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young on stage with the Stones for Rock Me Baby and popstar Justin Timberlake's Miss You duet with Jagger.

Bonus footage shows Jagger and Timberlake rehearsing for their duet, Burton Cummings introducing himself to Jagger and Rush's Neil Peart and the Stones' Charlie Watts discussing drums.

It's "one of the more historic gatherings of rock history," said concert promoter Michael Cohl of TGA Entertainment, who has organized the Stones' last few world tours.

Outside of Canada, the DVD will be cut down into a single disc. Most of the home grown acts will be cut.

It took producers 10 months to create the DVD because it involved negotiating rights and securing clearances with 45 songwriters, 15 artists, 10 record companies and 14 publishers, said Cohl, the executive producer.

The artists have all agreed to fork over any revenue from sales of the DVD to several charities, including ones for hospitality and health workers.

"We are giving our money that we get from royalties to the various charities and good works in Toronto," said Jagger. "Hopefully this concert and the awareness that it brought did something towards helping (Toronto tourism)."

Organizers have said the economic impact on a national level was $1-billion for the one-day event. Over $1 million was raised for charity, added Cohl, who got the ball rolling on the show by re-routing the Stones tour to make a stop in Toronto last July 30.

Cohl said the DVD is special because the show is the only one of its kind, being the largest ticketed single day event in history.

"It's the only show to draw 400,000-to-500,000 people ever where there was no one killed, where there was only double-digit arrests and barely over 100 people sent to hospital and most of them for minor things," he said. "It was a miraculous day."

Organizers are also offering a 60-minute highlight show free to any TV station around the world willing to air it.

So far, said Cohl, stations in over 50 countries have accepted the freebie. The special also includes a three-minute Toronto tourism pitch.

It will air close to the release of the DVD. In Canada, CBC and Citytv have grabbed the reel.

New trade terms see cost of EMI CDs rise $2 to $10 at HMV stores in Canada

TORONTO (CP) - A dispute between music label EMI and retailer HMV is hitting music fans and indie artists like Sum 41 and Oh Susanna in the pocketbook.

Experts say the price increases - between $2 and $10 - for CDs by artists such as Nickelback, Janet Jackson, Norah Jones, Radiohead and Sarah McLachlan, are just the latest manifestation of the industry's woes.

The increases, which took effect in early April, are due to a squabble over the wholesale price of EMI's CDs, and all the indie labels it distributes.

Both sides have been guarded about discussing the issue saying "trading terms" between the companies are confidential. However, each concedes that money is at the heart of the problem.

HMV wants EMI to maintain its volume discount on CDs so the chain can sell new releases at a cheaper price and get music lovers into its stores - rather than big-box competitors like WalMart and Costco.

"EMI chose to reduce the level of support that they had previously offered HMV," Humphrey Kadaner, president of HMV Canada, said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

As a result, Kadaner said HMV can't give EMI distributed products the same level of "value-added" support it gives other labels.

That means EMI artists don't get priority placement near the front of stores, their songs don't get played inside the stores and they're not listed on HMV's chart wall - often the first place a consumer will look when entering a music shop.

Kadaner said under the new trade terms, EMI passed on a higher price to HMV. Subsequently, the chain had to pass the hike on to the consumer, he said.

"We passed it on proportionally. We've maintained the same margin as before. We have not tried to use this as a vehicle to drive any incremental profitability," said Kadaner.

For its part, EMI Canada says it can't afford to capitulate to the chain's demands because sales at the chain dropped about 25 per cent last year.

Further, label head Deane Cameron says the label did not raise its CD prices.

"It's not fair for us to have trading terms that reward HMV for their volume if their volume is not there," he said. "HMV is selling a lot more DVDs these days. That's why we're getting elbowed out."

He added: "We asked them to consider different trading terms. That wasn't received too well and we appear to be in the penalty box. It's disappointing for artists to be punished to this extent."

It's far from the first time HMV, which holds the leading market share of pre-recorded music in Canada, has fought to increase its bottom line. Two years ago a messy dispute with Warner over wholesale prices pushed HMV to pull all Warner CDs from its stores.

It's no secret the CD market has been troubled in recent years. The Canadian Recording Industry Association says that on a per-capita basis, the Canadian music industry has been one of the hardest hit of any country in the world by illegal file swapping. Retail sales have decreased by more than $425 million since 1999, says the organization.

To stay afloat, HMV started selling DVDs a few years back, which some say saved the chain from bankruptcy.
 
"When this whole downloading thing happened their music business tanked," said Maureen Atkinson, senior partner at J.C. Williams Group, a retail and marketing consulting firm. "They really struggled, as did the recording industry."

But this latest ripple has more victims than just EMI. The label consists of 70 music labels representing over 1,500 artists around the world. In Canada, EMI distributes CDs for smaller independent labels, including Nettwerk, Popular, Marquis and Aquarius.

It's these smaller Canadian indie labels - which support home grown talent like Sum 41 and Broken Social Scene - that find themselves the biggest victims of EMI and HMV's trade fallout.

They have the most to lose because their artists aren't sold in big box stores like Future Shop and WalMart - which mostly only carry Top 40 CDs with very little back catalogue - and rely on specialty stores to sell their stuff.

"It's just not fair. Do they care that by raising the Oh Susanna disc to $28 they make it impossible for people to buy her CD in their store," said Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk. "That hurts the artist. That artist is a person. They're not a corporate entity."

Customers have already said the price of CDs is too high, added McBride.

"It's extremely short-sighted because people are already buying less and less CDs. The reason why HMV and EMI are having this little tussle is because EMI margins have been shrunk, the marketplace is shrinking and every player in this business needs to come to terms with that and be part of the solution - not get into these stupid little trade wars. Nobody wins."

Kravitz Says Album Is New Chapter in Life

LOS ANGELES - Two years after dropping out of the music scene, Lenny Kravitz says he has begun a new chapter in his life — a new album titled, "Baptism."

"I feel like the last record closed a chapter, a big chapter in my life, and this is the beginning of another one," he told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "I feel reborn, I feel great. I feel like it's my first record again."

Kravitz said he took a break from recording and touring for a more important job — taking care of his family.

"Being a dad comes first and that's the most important thing," he said. "It'd be a shame to be a great musician and whatever, but not to take care of your kid, that ain't happening."

Kravitz said he has been trying to keep a low profile, but it's been difficult with his relationship with Nicole Kidman making tabloid headlines.

"Sometimes it's in your face, but you know, people make up what they want, they write what they want, they lie," he said. "I just try to keep stepping."

Poll: 'Psycho' Is Best Movie Death Ever

LONDON - Janet Leigh's shower scene in "Psycho" is the "best movie death" of all time, according to a critics' poll published Thursday.

The 1960 Alfred Hitchcock thriller beat other iconic movies such as "The Godfather" and Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" (23rd) in the non-scientific poll by Total Film magazine.

Stanley Kubrick's "Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb" (1964) came in second, with its surreal ending in which Slim Pickens rides an atomic bomb.

Other highly rated movie deaths were the fatal plunge of the ape in 1933's "King Kong," which came in third place, and the demise of Bambi's mother in the 1942 Disney movie "Bambi," which came in sixth.

"Some of the deaths in the poll, like The Wicked Witch melting in 'The Wizard Of Oz' (13th), are iconic but laughable, but nearly 45 years on, 'Psycho's' shower scene is still distressing," said Total Film deputy editor Simon Crook.

"It's the sheer violence of the edit rather than any explicit gore — 70 different angles, over 90 cuts and those shrieking violins. It's a master class in montage and audience manipulation."

Crook added: "Knowing that the blood is Bosco's chocolate syrup and that a pulped casaba melon stood in for the stabbing noises does nothing to reduce the impact."

Van Halen's Latest Hits CD Boasts Three New Cuts

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Van Halen has recorded three new songs for inclusion on "The Very Best of Van Halen," expected to come out later this summer to coincide with the rock band's reunion tour.

The cuts "It's About Time," "Up for Breakfast" and "Learning To See" feature vocalist Sammy Hagar, who has rejoined the group eight years after an acrimonious departure.

The double-disc "Very Best" (Warner Music Group) picks up the Van Halen story with the iconic "Eruption" from the group's self-titled 1978 debut. Every major hit is present, from the David Lee Roth (news)-era smashes "Jump," "Panama," "I'll Wait" and "(Oh) Pretty Woman" to such Hagar-associated material as "When It's Love," "Why Can't This Be Love" and "Finish What Ya Started."

Also featured are live versions of "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love," "Jump" and "Panama" from the 1993 concert set "Right Here, Right Now." Notably excluded are any songs from Van Halen's last studio album, 1998's commercial dud "Van Halen III," the lone release to feature former Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone.

Van Halen's first tour since 1998 will kick off June 11 in Greensboro, N.C. The band's manager, Irving Azoff, recently told Billboard the trek will ultimately consist of four legs of 22 shows each.

According to a spokesperson, the album's running order has not yet been finalized, contrary to the track list posted on Van Halen's official Web site.

Van Halen previously released a single-disc hits package, "Best Of, Volume I," in 1996. It featured two new tracks recorded during a brief and ill-fated reunion with Roth.

'Shrek 2' Set to Reach Record Number of Theaters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Computer-animated "Shrek 2" will play in a record 4,163 theaters domestically this weekend, marking the first time a film has surpassed the 4,000-theater mark in its debut, studio DreamWorks said on Thursday.

The feature, in which the green ogre Shrek and his sidekick Donkey send up Hollywood and its obsession with body image, debuted on Wednesday this week to a one-day box office haul of $11.8 million, a record for an animated movie.

Given a theater count surpassing the previous domestic record held by last year's "X2: X-Men United," the sequel to 2001 smash hit "Shrek" looks to rake in cash at U.S. and Canadian box offices. "This is unprecedented ... I've never seen a movie open in that many theaters," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Los Angeles-based audience tracking service Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

DreamWorks' head of distribution Jim Tharp said the number of theaters showing the film had been raised from just over 3,700 on Wednesday as more theaters were able to open screens for the release.

Dergarabedian declined to predict just how big a success "Shrek 2" might be, but said $50 million in ticket sales for the three-day weekend "would not be out of the question."

If so, that would top last week's final $46.8 million for Trojan War epic "Troy," and be competitive with the $54 million first weekend haul for the previous week's vampire killer movie "Van Helsing." Those two films have been Hollywood's first major releases of the summer box office season.

The summer is the main movie-going period for the major film studios in the United States and the season, which begins in early May and lasts through the Labor Day holiday in early September, accounts for as much as 40 percent of the year's total ticket sales.

The first "Shrek" in 2001 took in $267 million at North American box offices and a total of around $455 million worldwide. Privately held DreamWorks has high hopes the sequel, which has earned solid reviews, can perform at least as well. The first day's ticket sales were a good indication it would.

"This was a spectacular opening and one that exceeded all of our expectations," DreamWorks' Tharp said in a statement.

The previous best one-day debut at midweek by an animated movie was "Pokemon The First Movie," a Warner Bros. title that opened in 1999 on a Wednesday to $10.1 million at domestic box offices, according to Exhibitor Relations.