Spider-Man 3 to be the last
HOLLYWOOD -- For Peter Parker and his alter-ego Spider-Man, three is the magic number.
"If it were up to me, Spider-Man 3 would not be the last of this series of films," says Sam Raimi, who directed the first two Spider-Man movies and is working on the third.
The decision rests with Amy Pascal, chairman of Sony's Columbia Pictures which releases the Spider-Man films.
"Amy is adamant she wants to make the third film the end. She wants Spider-Man 3 to have a sense of completion. "She told me to give this one a satisfying, fulfilling ending. She says it is only fair to the fans who have been so enthusiastic and faithful. She says we owe it to them."
Raimi admits he is nervous and is approaching this final installment, which begins shooting in January 2006 for a May 2007 release, with much trepidation. "I keep wondering how I can make a third one that will be just as positively received and reviewed."
'A-Team' headed to the big screen
A big-screen movie version of the popular '80s action series "The A-Team" is in the works.
Bruce Feirstein -- best known for writing the James Bond films "Golden Eye," "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "The World is Not Enough" -- has signed on to write the project, Variety reports.
Creator Stephen J. Cannell will produce the film alongside Spike Seldin.
Casting for the movie has not yet begun.
"The A-Team" ran from 1983-1987 on NBC. It starred George Peppard and Mr. T as Veitnam vets wanted by the military for a crime they didn't commit.
Wal-Mart Wants $10 CDs
Biggest U.S. record retailer battles record labels over prices
Wal-mart wants every CD you buy to cost less than ten bucks. And the nation's largest retailer -- which moved a quarter of a trillion dollars' worth of goods last year -- usually gets its way. Suppliers who don't accede to Wal-Mart's "everyday low price" mantra often find their products bounced from the chain's stores, excluded from being sold to the 138 million people who shop at a Wal-Mart store every week.
In the past decade, Wal-Mart has quietly emerged as the nation's biggest record store. Wal-Mart now sells an estimated one out of every five major-label albums. It has so much power, industry insiders say, that what it chooses to stock can basically determine what becomes a hit. "If you don't have a Wal-Mart account, you probably won't have a major pop artist," says one label executive.
Along with other giant retailers such as Best Buy and Target, Wal-Mart willingly loses money selling CDs for less than $10 (they buy most hit CDs from distributors for around $12). These companies use bargain CDs to lure consumers to the store, hoping they might also grab a boombox or a DVD player while checking out the music deals.
Less-expensive CDs are something consumers have been demanding for years. But here's the hitch: Wal-Mart is tired of losing money on cheap CDs. It wants to keep selling them for less than $10 -- $9.72, to be exact -- but it wants the record industry to lower the prices at which it purchases them. Last winter, Wal-Mart asked the industry to supply it with choice albums -- from new releases from alternative rockers the Killers to perennial classics such as Beatles 1 -- at favorable prices. According to music-industry sources, Wal-Mart executives hinted that they could reduce Wal-Mart's CD stock and replace it with more lucrative DVDs and video games.
"This wasn't framed as a gentle negotiation," says one label rep. "It's a line in the sand -- you don't do this, then the threat is this." (Wal-Mart denies these claims.) As a result, all of the major labels agreed to supply some popular albums to Wal-Mart's $9.72 program. "We're in such a competitive world, and you can't reach consumers if you're not in Wal-Mart," admits another label executive.
Tensions are not as high now as they were last winter, but making sure Wal-Mart is happy remains one of the music industry's major priorities. That's because if Wal-Mart cut back on music, industry sales would suffer severely -- though Wal-Mart's shareholders would barely bat an eye. While Wal-Mart represents nearly twenty percent of major-label music sales, music represents only about two percent of Wal-Mart's total sales. "If they got out of selling music, it would mean nothing to them," says another label executive. "This keeps me awake at night."
Wal-Mart would not directly comment on tensions with the labels, but Gary Severson, Wal-Mart's senior vice president and general merchandise manager in charge of the chain's entertainment section, did allude to the dispute about music prices. "The labels price things based on what they believe they can get -- a pricing philosophy a lot of industries have," he says. "But we like to price things as cheaply as we possibly can, rather than charge as much as we can get. It's a big difference in philosophy, and we try to help other people see that." Virtually no industry executives would publicly comment about their company's relationship with Wal-Mart. But off the record, many record-industry executives shared their concerns. "I don't think there is a music supplier in America who really enjoys doing business with Wal-Mart," says one major-label rep.
No one in the music business ever expected Wal-Mart to become the most powerful force in record retailing. In the past, the business was shared among smaller local and regional chains such as Musicland, which once had an estimated ten percent of the market. But as Wal-Mart and other national discount operations such as Target and Best Buy have grown -- approximately half of all major-label music is sold through these three -- an estimated 1,200 record stores have closed in the past two years, according to market-research firm Almighty Institute of Music Retail. Last February, Tower Records, with ninety-three stores, declared bankruptcy and is now up for sale; Musicland has already changed owners, with many local outposts shuttered.
Wal-Mart is like no traditional record seller. Unlike a typical Tower store, which stocks 60,000 titles, an average Wal-Mart carries about 5,000 CDs. That leaves little room on the shelf for developing artists or independent labels. There's also scant space for catalog albums, which now represent about forty percent of all sales. At a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Thorton, Colorado, for example, there were no copies of the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street or Nirvana's Nevermind. While most of the latest hits were priced at $13.88, some records -- from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack to the latest by Yellowcard -- were displayed for $9.72. Says Severson, "Paying fifteen dollars for a piece of music is a difficult value equation for customers."
For the music industry, having such a dominant retailer is like being stuck in a bad marriage. Whereas traditional music retailers took advertising money from the labels to push new releases in Sunday newspaper circulars, Wal-Mart barely advertises locally. It relies on national campaigns, where it promotes its own low-price policy. "Wal-Mart has no long-term care for an individual artist or marketing plan, unlike the specialty stores, which were a real business partner," says one former distribution executive. "At Wal-Mart, we're a commodity and have to fight for shelf space like Colgate fights for shelf space."
In the same way that Wal-Mart made it difficult for local mom-and-pop retailers to compete with its low prices, it has hurt smaller music stores. "When you're buying CDs for twelve dollars and selling them for ten like Wal-Mart, it makes the rest of us look like we're gouging the customer, when we're not," says Don Van Cleave, head of the Coalition for Independent Music Stores, a retail consortium. "It's supertough to compete with that price point." Even online, Wal-Mart sells songs for eighty-eight cents, compared with ninety-nine cents at the market leader, Apple iTunes Music Store.
Getting Wal-Mart excited about carrying a record is at the top of every label's to-do list, but it's harder than it sounds. There is an immense cultural chasm between slick industry executives and Severson's team of three music buyers at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. Only one of the three had ever worked in music retailing -- until that person moved to a new division in August and was replaced by someone who previously bought Wal-Mart's salty snacks. (Wal-Mart also relies on buyers at its two distribution companies, Handleman and Anderson Merchandisers, who purchase records as well as stock the Wal-Mart stores.)
"Content-wise, Wal-Mart is limited about what they sell," says one label chieftain. "Wal-Mart is Middle America's shopping headquarters, with different buying habits and consumer tastes than those who live in Manhattan and L.A." When founder Sam Walton christened the first Wal-Mart in 1962, music was never a priority -- it wasn't an everyday, easy-to-stock product like light bulbs, since the Top Ten changed so much. The chain also had specific objections to music. Walton wanted all stores to remain family-friendly, and in the rural South, rock & roll had the potential to turn away many customers. In 1986, the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart led one such campaign to ban music from Wal-Mart, saying rock fostered "adultery, alcoholism, drug abuse, necrophilia, bestiality and you name it." Albums and magazines about rock (including Rolling Stone) were temporarily pulled from the Wal-Mart shelves.
Wal-Mart's wariness about music ended once the music industry adopted a voluntary advisory sticker on albums deemed to contain adult language or sexual content. Today, before any new album is released, someone at each label is charged with asking, "Do we have any Wal-Mart issues?" If an advisory sticker is placed on an album, the label will put out a clean version about ninety percent of the time. Since the edited version of a hit record usually averages only about ten percent of a record's total sales, they do it mostly to keep Wal-Mart happy.
Wal-Mart has loosened up a bit, too. Eminem's albums, stickered or not, are not carried by the chain, but it does sell the 8 Mile soundtrack. And it carries an edited version of 50 Cent's debut. Since the labels are so adept at self-policing, though, censorship controversies are now rare. "There have been examples in the past, but it's not a current issue," says Severson.
Wal-Mart has also urged the labels to create exclusive new products that would lower music prices. In a short-lived test, Universal excerpted seven songs from existing albums by acts such as Sum 41 and Ashanti and sold them at Wal-Mart for $7. Few other labels wanted to participate. "They proposed it to a bunch of artists and managers, but everyone was worried that we are sending a message that instead of the sixteen-track album we sold, those nine extra songs were filler," says a label executive.
Some record executives think they can survive Wal-Mart's push. They argue that the hottest acts will always command a premium price. "50 Cent sold 7 million copies," says one rep, "and I guarantee that many of those sold for fifteen, sixteen dollars." And they believe that Wal-Mart will want to carry those hits because they draw customers. "If they can't find a record at Wal-Mart, people will go elsewhere," says one executive. "We should play hardball." But each label is watching the others to see if any make major concessions to Wal-Mart's demands for lower prices. A label that gives in could gain shelf space at the expense of another. "If you lose an account, one of your rivals could get more product in the store and get one up on everyone else," says a major-label rep. "You have to tread cautiously."
The tug of war between the labels and Wal-Mart isn't going away soon. The chain is aggressively opening new stores -- fifty-seven in October -- including some in urban areas. So unless it makes good on its threat to cut back on its music section, it will continue to grow as the top record store and become even more powerful. Laments one industry rep, "There is some impending doom associated with us not helping them."
Price War: Does a CD have to cost $15.99?
Major labels insist that the low prices mass retailers such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy demand are impossible for them to achieve. But Best Buy senior vice president Gary Arnold counters, "The record industry needs to refine their business models, because the consumer is the ultimate arbitrator. And the consumer feels music isn't properly priced." Labels point to roster cuts and layoffs as evidence that they can't sell CDs cheaper.
This breakdown of the cost of a typical major-label release by the independent market-research firm Almighty Institute of Music Retail shows where the money goes for a new album with a list price of $15.99.
$0.17 Musicians' unions
$0.80 Packaging/manufacturing
$0.82 Publishing royalties
$0.80 Retail profit
$0.90 Distribution
$1.60 Artists' royalties
$1.70 Label profit
$2.40 Marketing/promotion
$2.91 Label overhead
$3.89 Retail overhead
Capitol Boxes Up Early Beatles Albums
The Beatles' first four U.S. albums -- "Meet the Beatles," "The Beatles Second Album," "Something New" and "Beatles '65" -- will be bundled together in the boxed set "The Capitol Albums Volume 1," due Nov. 16. All were originally released in 1964 as Beatlemania swept the United States.
"In the '60s, American record labels often chose to reformat British records to suit the needs of the U.S. market," says Capitol president Andy Slater. "In America, singles were generally included on current albums, where in the U.K. albums and singles were most often separate releases. Higher music publishing costs in the U.S. also made it impractical to include as many songs on American albums. In addition, in the case of the Beatles, some of the recordings on the American albums were given more echo than the British versions, to 'Americanize' their sound."
The albums, which have been remastered from the original tapes, include stereo and mono versions of each song. Each album is housed in a miniature replica of its original album cover, while the box will feature a 48-page booklet chronicling the Beatles' unprecedented 1964.
"Meet the Beatles" (originally issued Jan. 20, 1964, in the United States) begins with what was at the time the group's latest single, "I Want To Hold Your Hand," and its U.S. and U.K. B-sides, "I Saw Her Standing There" and "This Boy." The bulk of the remaining tracks were taken from the U.K. version of the album "With the Beatles."
"The Beatles Second Album" (April 10, 1964) is a grabbag of such tracks as the "She Loves You" single and its B-side "I'll Get You," additional songs from "With the Beatles," cuts from the "Long Tall Sally" EP and a German version of "I Want To Hold Your Hand."
"Something New" (July 20, 1964) includes eight songs from the soundtrack to the Beatles' first film, "A Hard Day's Night," although not the title track or "Can't Buy Me Love." The album was denied the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Top LPs chart by the movie's proper soundtrack, issued by United Artists.
"Beatles '65" (Dec. 15, 1964) boasts the "I Feel Fine"/"She's a Woman" single, the "A Hard Day's Night" leftover "(I'll Be Back)" and eight songs from the U.K. album "Beatles for Sale," including three particularly dark John Lennon tunes, "No Reply," "I'm a Loser" and "Baby's in Black."
It is unknown if Capitol plans to re-release additional titles such as "Beatles VI" or "Yesterday ... and Today."
Here is the track list for "The Capitol Albums Vol. 1"
"Meet the Beatles":
"I Want To Hold Your Hand"
"I Saw Her Standing There"
"This Boy"
"It Won't Be Long"
"All I've Got To Do"
"All My Loving"
"Don't Bother Me"
"Little Child"
"Till There Was You"
"Hold Me Tight"
"I Wanna Be Your Man"
"Not a Second Time"
"The Beatles Second Album":
"Roll Over Beethoven"
"Thank You Girl"
"You Really Got a Hold on Me"
"Devil in Her Heart"
"Money"
"You Can't Do That"
"Long Tall Sally"
"I Call Your Name"
"Please Mr. Postman"
"I'll Get You"
"She Loves You"
"Something New":
"I'll Cry Instead"
"Things We Said Today"
"Any Time At All"
"When I Get Home"
"Slow Down"
"Matchbox"
"Tell Me Why"
"And I Love Her"
"I'm Happy Just To Dance With You"
"If I Fell"
"Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand"
"Beatles '65":
"No Reply"
"I'm a Loser"
"Baby's in Black
"Rock and Roll Music"
"I'll Follow the Sun"
"Mr. Moonlight"
"Honey Don't"
"I'll Be Back"
"She's a Woman"
"I Feel Fine"
"Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby"
HE'S AN AMERICAN NOW
Jim Carrey officially becoming a United States citizen Tuesday. The Canadian-born funnyman has no intention of giving up his ties north of the border however and will maintain dual citizenship.
Matthew Perry to Guest Star on 'Scrubs'
NEW YORK - Matthew Perry is sweeping back to NBC, but he won't be visiting his friend "Joey." Instead, Perry will be sitting in the director's chair and standing in front of the lens as a guest star for the Nov. 23 episode of "Scrubs," NBC has announced.
In the Perry-directed episode, the former "Friends" star will play a man willing to donate one of his kidneys to his sick father — played by Perry's real-life dad John Bennett Perry — until complications arise.
The appearance will mark the first time — other than Matt LeBlanc on his spinoff, "Joey" — that a "Friends" principal has returned to the peacock network. For 10 seasons, Perry played sarcastic "Friend" Chandler Bing.
Perry's not the only former NBC star suiting up for "Scrubs." Julianna Margulies, who was featured on "ER" for six seasons, will guest star in two sweeps episodes on Nov. 9 and Nov. 16. This time Margulies' NBC performance will be scrub-free. She'll portray a malpractice lawyer.
Former "Ed" star Tom Cavanagh reprised his guest role from last season during the October 12 episode.
"Scrubs" stars Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison, Neil Flynn, Ken Jenkins, Judy Reyes, and John C. McGinley as the wacky resident staff of Sacred Heart Hospital.
Angry Michael Jackson Says Eminem Video Demeaning
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Michael Jackson, angry over a "demeaning and insensitive" new Eminem music video that makes light of the child molestation charges against him, on Tuesday asked that networks pull it off the air.
Eminem's "Just Lose It" video shows the rapper, dressed as Jackson, sitting on the edge of a bed as young boys bounce behind him. At another point his nose falls off, a reference to rumors that Jackson has had extensive plastic surgery.
The video has already been pulled off the BET cable television network at the request of the self-proclaimed "King of Pop," who became one of the best-selling recording artists of all time in part thanks to his elaborate and pioneering music videos.
"I'm very angry at Eminem's depiction of me in this video. I feel that it is outrageous and disrespectful. It is one thing to spoof but it is another to be demeaning and insensitive," Jackson said in a radio interview in Los Angeles, according to a transcript provided by his spokeswoman.
"I've admired Eminem as (an) artist and was shocked by this. The video was inappropriate and disrespectful to me, my children, my family and the community at large," he said. "It is my hope that the other networks will take BET's lead and pull it."
A publicist for Eminem released a brief statement saying "We are sorry" BET chose to take the video off the air. He declined further comment.
Jackson, 46, faces trial in January on a 10-count indictment that charges him with child molestation and conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty.
The Couch Potato Report - October 12th, 2004
In The Couch Potato Report this week, there's a disastrous disaster
film, and the always charming Kate Hudson.
The disaster movie has long been a successful staple of the motion picture industry.
The seventies gave us THE TOWERING INFERNO, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, AIRPORT and EARTHQUAKE.
In the nineties we went to see INDEPENDENCE DAY, TWISTER, ARMAGEDDON and the two most successful disaster movies of all time: JURASSIC PARK and TITANIC.
Now, in 2004, we have THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW.
If you are a fan of the disaster film genre - meaning you prefer spectacle to script - then this is a film for you.
But, be warned, this film doesn't just feature stuff blowing up real good. It has a message!
And that message is that as a result of global warming, the Gulf Stream shuts down. Then the North Atlantic region starts to cool while heat builds up in the tropics. The result is a severe storm, the likes of which have never been seen, and a dramatic change in the global climate.
That all causes the disasters in this disaster film to be set in motion.
Now, up to the point that the disasters stop happening, and that includes the explanations of what is happening around the globe, up until the explosions end THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW is actually pretty good.
However, once the talking and the "how do we get out of this?" part of the movie begins then the entire film goes downhill and is quite unwatchable.
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW was directed by Roland Emmerich and just like his INDEPENDENCE DAY and GODZILLA remake special effects are the big selling point with his films.
Even if the points behind the dialogue in the movie is possible, and could have real world consequence, it's the spectacle that's important here, not the script.
So forget the less-than-original plot about a father and son who endure an end-of-the-world scenario and just sit back, relax, and enjoy the sights of a tornado-ravaged Los Angeles, blizzards in New Delhi, Japan being pummeled by
grapefruit-sized hailstones, and Manhattan flooded by swelling oceans and then frozen by the onset of a modern ice age.
The special effects are great, even if the movie is not.
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW is not a film you will remember forever; but because of the great special effects, and an enjoyable cast that includes Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal it's also a film that you won't feel was a total waste of time to watch.
No THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW is a total waste of your time.
And as much as I would like to say the opposite is true with this week's other major new release, I just can't.
No, RAISING HELEN isn't a total waste of your time either.
It is utterly average, but I didn't hate the film. A film I expected to hate.
The always charming Kate Hudson from ALMOST FAMOUS and HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS is the very superflous Helen.
Her life is but a dream of parties and men until her sister and brother in law die in a car crash and they leave custody of their three children to Helen.
Helen's other sister is already a suburban Mom, but since this is a movie she ends up taking them in.
Since the film is from the director of PRETTY WOMAN and THE PRINCESS DIARIES, some very predictable comedy and cinematic life lessons are contained within RAISING HELEN, but the film isn't a waste of your time.
It looks like it should have been, but it just isn't.
I wouldn't call it a movie you should rush out and rent, but if you have wanted to see it, check it out.
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW and RAISING HELEN are both available right now at your favourite local video store.
COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT
Hugh Jackman from X-MEN and and Kate Beckinsale of SERENDIPITY are the very original actors who star in the less than original film VAN HELSING where they battle monsters in Transylvania. Yes I'm serious.
I'm also serious when I tell you that on June 19, 1978 the comic strip Garfield debuted in 41 newspapers. Today, Garfield is the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world appearing in 2,570 newspapers.
On June 11, 2004 GARFIELD: THE MOVIE debuted in 3,094 theaters. Even though the film isn't horrible, and Bill Murray is okay as the voice of the titular cat, here's hoping we get another 26 years of laughter from the comic strip before they even think about making another film.
Finally next week, the ED WOOD: SPECIAL EDITION DVD that was supposed to come out in February will finally see the light of day. If you are a fan of old Hollywood, classic characters, or a recent convert of Johnny Depp's, then this is a movie for you!
I'm Dan Reynish and I'll have more on those, and some other releases,
in seven days.
For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next week on The Couch!