McMahon to write memoir about Johnny Carson
NEW YORK (AP) - Ed McMahon, the longtime sidekick of Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, is writing a memoir, titled, of course, "Here's Johnny!"
"The stories he shares, with Johnny's blessing given before his death, paint a picture of the enigmatic Carson, so cool before the camera, yet genuinely shy and self-effacing," according to a statement issued Wednesday by McMahon's publisher, Rutledge Hill Press.
"McMahon recognized Carson's gift early in their partnership and felt blessed to 'hitch his wagon' to this rising star. These never-before-told stories reveal Carson's talent and comedic timing as well as his nervousness, admitting 'making it look easy is a hell of a strain."'
McMahon's book is scheduled to come out in October.
Carson died in January at age 79.
THINK PINK
“The Pink Panther" is back on the summer sked, set for an Aug. 5 bow.
First dated for July 22, late last year MGM pushed the remake's release back to Sept. 23. Move to return it to summer comes just as MGM's acquisition by Sony closes today.
"We looked at the picture again, and it screened very well," MGM distrib prexy Erik Lomis said. "We saw an opportunity to get it back into the summer where all age groups are available seven days a week, so we took it."
After "The Amityville Horror" bows on April 15, all remaining MGM titles waiting for release, including "Pink Panther," will be distribbed by Sony.
Also on the sked for Aug. 5 are Warner Bros.' "The Dukes of Hazzard," Universal's Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's vidgame adaptation "Doom," and an as-yet-untitled Mike Judge laffer starring Luke Wilson as the smartest man in a stupid future.
Moving out of the way this past week was DreamWorks', which pushed its thriller "Red Eye" back two weeks to Aug. 19. New Line also moved Tony Scott's Keira Knightley thriller "Domino" onto the date and Fox Searchlight announced it would unspool "Supercross" there, making for perhaps the most crowded berth of the summer.
In addition to those three new arrivals to the slot, three other wide releases were already skedded there, including Universal's "The 40 Year-old Virgin," Disney's toon "Valiant" and Sony's horror pic "The Cave." If Miramax's martial arts pic "Zu Warriors" goes out wide, that would mean seven wide releases on the same weekend.
It's a sure bet that some, if not most, of these pics will eventually find other launch pads.
While MGM's "Panther" moved back into the summer, the studio's "Into the Blue" dropped out. Paul Walker treasure-hunting pic was set for July 15 but is now set for release on Sept. 30.
Universal's Hilary Duff starrer "The Perfect Man" moved up from July 22 to June 17. That would set it up as counter programming against Warners' "Batman Begins," which is the only other wide release for that week.
Guest Dumps Mockumentaries
This Is Spinal Tap icon Christopher Guest has disappointed fans by refusing to make any more "mockumentary" movies - because he no longer finds them funny. The actor/director realized he'd made too many comic documentaries when he helped compile Best In Show, the Museum of Modern Art's retrospective of his movies in New York. Guest explains, "I had always intended to do just three movies in that format, and then do something else. I don't think I'll go back to the documentary-style genre. Eugene Levy (his friend and collaborator) and I talked about different possibilities. One was a Western. I'm not trying to make blockbuster movies. I don't know how to. I'm just trying to make movies that are funny for me."
'Sahara' Tops 'Fever Pitch' at Box Office
LOS ANGELES - Matthew McConaughey's "Sahara" heated up the weekend box office, with the action flick set in the African desert debuting at the top with $18.5 million. Audiences gave a cooler reception to "Fever Pitch," the weekend's other new wide release. The Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon baseball romance opened in third place with a so-so $13 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, "Sin City," slipped to second place with $14.1 million, lifting its 10-day total to $50.7 million.
In limited release, Stephen Chow's raucous action comedy "Kung Fu Hustle" had a big opening with $293,025 in seven theaters, averaging a whopping $41,861 per cinema. "Sahara" averaged $5,866 in 3,154 theaters, and "Fever Pitch" reaped $3,979 in 3,267 locations.
Already a hit in Asia, "Kung Fu Hustle" features writer-director Chow as a two-bit crook in pre-revolution China whose antics land him in the middle of a showdown between mobsters and martial-arts heroes. "Kung Fu Hustle" expands to nationwide release April 22.
Hollywood's box-office slump continued as overall revenues remained down for the seventh-straight weekend. The top 12 movies took in $80.3 million, off 18 percent from the same weekend last year.
Revenues for the year have fallen slightly behind those of 2004, when Hollywood rang up record domestic grosses of $9.4 billion.
"Sahara," adapted from Clive Cussler's adventure novel, stars McConaughey, Penelope Cruz and Steve Zahn as adventurers who turn up a long-lost Civil War vessel in the desert and try to stop a plague spreading through Africa.
Distributor Paramount had expected the movie to debut in the $15 million range, said Wayne Lewellen, head of distribution.
"This is a good, solid opening I think for this film," Lewellen said. "It played well particularly in the middle of the country, which always bodes well for it holding up."
"Fever Pitch," directed by the Farrelly brothers from Nick Hornby's memoir about his sports obsession, stars Barrymore as a career woman who stumbles into a relationship with a man whose world revolves around the Boston Red Sox.
"It may have alienated guys with too much romance, and it may have alienated women with too much baseball," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
But women made up 58 percent of the audience for "Fever Pitch." That may bode well for the movie's long-term prospects, since films appealing to women often have a longer shelf life than movies aimed at men.
"These romantic comedies tend to leg out. They play on and on," said Bruce Snyder, head of distribution for 20th Century Fox, which released "Fever Pitch." Barrymore's "Never Been Kissed" had an $11.4 million opening weekend and held on to do a solid $52.4 million when its domestic run ended, he said.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Sahara," $18.5 million.
2. "Sin City," $14.1 million.
3. "Fever Pitch," $13 million.
4 (tie). "Beauty Shop," $7.1 million.
4 (tie). "Guess Who," $7.1 million.
6. "Robots," $4.65 million.
7. "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous," $4.1 million.
8. "The Pacifier," $3 million.
9. "The Ring 2," $2.9 million.
10. "The Upside of Anger," $2.6 million.
Fats Waller, Nirvana Added to Preservation Registry
WASHINGTON (Billboard) - The Library of Congress is going to give a new set of 50 U.S. sound recordings long-term preservation to make them available to future generations.
The National Recording Registry houses sound recordings considered to be culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. The third annual selection of 50 recordings was announced April 5.
The recordings are chosen because they have become evergreens or helped forge a seminal style, but nonmusical selections like astronaut Neil Armstrong's broadcast from the moon also made the list.
The earliest pick is "Gypsy Love Song" by Eugene Cowles, from 1898. Among the other selections are Fats Waller singing and playing his own "Ain't Misbehavin' "(1929); Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" (1939); Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" (1949); the Penguins' doo-wop classic "Earth Angel" (1955); John Coltrane's groundbreaking "Giant Steps" (1959); "The Girl From Ipanema," with Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim) and Astrud Gilberto (1963); and James Brown's "Live at the Apollo" (1965).
More recent recordings include the Allman Brothers Band's "At Fillmore East," from 1971; the "Star Wars" soundtrack by John Williams, from 1977; and Public Enemy's "Fear of a Black Planet," from 1989.
The registry tagged only one recording from the '90s: Nirvana's "Nevermind" (1991).
Recordings must be 10 years old to qualify. The public and registry panelists make the initial nominations.
During the press conference announcing the recordings, an audio preservationist at the Library of Congress revealed that he has uncovered a major document in jazz history: an album's worth of Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane playing together at a Carnegie Hall concert in 1957.
The two are considered one of the great pairings in modern jazz, but their work together was captured on only a few studio cuts. The long-lost concert was recorded by the Voice of America for its legendary Cold War-era overseas jazz programs hosted by Willis Conover.
Senior engineer and jazz specialist Larry Appelbaum says: "I was just rifling through the box of tapes, and on the spine of one were the words 'Jazz Concert 11/29/57.' I opened it up and saw the name T. Monk on the back. Then I saw the date. Then my heart started pounding."
The tapes will be preserved in transfers to high-resolution digital files stored and backed up on the Library of Congress' IT servers.
The Library of Congress will be custodian of the master. Ownership questions need to be resolved before the recordings can be released.