Come Home To Beverly Hills, 90210 This November! ! !
Although the pilot episodes came to DVD two years ago, fans have been clamoring for season sets of this landmark primetime soap opera! Shannen Doherty (Charmed), Jason Priestley (Tru Calling), Luke Perry (Windfall), Gabrielle Carteris (Palmetto Pointe), Tori Spelling (So NoTORIous), Ian Ziering (upcoming Biker Mice From Mars), Brian Austin Green (Freddie), Jennie Garth (What I Like About You), James Eckhouse (upcoming 2006 film Half-Life), Carol Potter, Douglas Emerson and Joe E. Tata star in the initial season of the series, where the action mainly takes place at West Beverly Hills High School with new kids Brandon and Brenda Walsh moving into the upscale neighborhood, and making lots of new friends.
You would think with that zip code, there would be a ton of guest stars in the first season of this show. But really there weren't. But you will be able to spot upcoming Friends star Matthew Perry, singer Debbie Gibson, and even '80s Playboy playmate Julie McCullough among these 22 episodes.
Beverly Hills, 90210 - The Complete 1st Season will be a 6-DVD set that runs 17 hours and 48 minutes. Please stand by for extras (if any) and box art! Melrose Place - The Complete 1st Season has been announced for the same release date of November 7th, and we've heard that the long-awaited Twin Peaks - Season 2 will hit US shores a couple of weeks after that. Stay tuned!
Early Don Messer fiddle sold for $11,750 at Nova Scotia auction
HALIFAX (CP) - A 77-year-old fiddle that was played by Don Messer years before he became a Canadian television icon was sold for $11,750 on Sunday at an auction in Nova Scotia.
The winning bid at the auction in Coldbrook came over the phone from a man in St. Stephen, N.B., who didn't want to be identified.
The bidder was one of a half-dozen people vying for the fiddle, which Messer bought for $105 in 1930, a year after the instrument was built.
"It felt great, it was wonderful," auctioneer Blain Henshaw, who also sold another of Messer's fiddles two years ago, said by phone from Coldbrook.
"When I was a kid, I grew up on Don Messer's music, I respected his music. And twice now, I've had the privilege - and it is a privilege - to sell fiddles that were owned by Don Messer."
Messer played the auctioned-off fiddle in the 1930s on a radio show in Saint John, N.B. Two decades later, he started hosting the hugely popular CBC-TV program Don Messer's Jubilee, which ran from 1958 to 1969 and introduced Canadians to his trademark style that he called "way-down East."
The fiddle that was auctioned Sunday was handed over to the Nova Scotia Archives after Messer died of a heart attack in 1973.
It attracted bids from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Edmonton, and brought in far more than the $7,000 organizers initially predicted.
The starting bid for the fiddle was $2,000, and about five minutes later - a long time as far as auctions go - all but two bidders had bowed out.
A young Nova Scotia man, who was in Coldbrook for the auction but also didn't want to be identified, put in his final bid of $11,500. The fiddle's new owner won after offering $250 more.
Sunday's auction also featured other Messer memorabilia, such as his pocket watch and a native headdress given to him by Alberta's Stoney Nation.
"Don Messer is revered as a fiddler, and the bidders are people that are big fans of his and they appreciate the history of what this man did for Canadian music," said Henshaw.
Messer's daughter, Dawn Messer Attis, decided to sell the fiddle after another of his fiddles sold for $8,000 two years ago. Some of Messer's 14 fiddles have been given to friends, while Attis has kept one of her father's favourites.
"His daughter agreed that this was a good time for some of his items to come back to his fans to enjoy some things of his," said Henshaw.
Before the fiddle was sold, Nova Scotia fiddler Keith Ross gave the 400 people who packed the auction house a demonstration, playing some of Messer's songs on one of his first instruments.
"I've been playing fiddle along time, and he's one of my fiddling heroes," said Ross, who also played the fiddle that was sold two years ago. "He was a very, very talented musician, and he invented a new style of playing."
Ross said he actually preferred playing the first fiddle that was sold, but added that the instrument auctioned over the weekend still has promise - if its new owner decides to try it out.
"It's been 30 years or more since it's been played, so it's going to take some playing to bring it back to where it was."
It's not clear when the winning bidder will pick up the fiddle. Until that happens, it will stay at Henshaw's home in Cole Harbour, N.S.
Fans get first look at 'Spider-Man 3'
SAN DIEGO - "Spider-Man 3" isn't due until next summer, but about 5,000 fans got an early look at the film Saturday at Comic-Con, the country's largest comic book convention.
Director Sam Raimi, producer Laura Ziskin and key members of the cast — Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard and Thomas Haden Church — came to the San Diego Convention Center to answer fan questions and unveil never-before-seen, unfinished footage of the much-anticipated movie.
So is this the final installment of the franchise?
"There will be some conclusions, though I wouldn't say it's necessarily the end," said Maguire, whose words were nearly drowned out by thunderous applause. "We're going to leave it open-ended. If there are stories worth telling, then we'll tell them."
The brief teaser footage blended live-action scenes with animation and computer graphics. It showed Sandman, a new villain played by Church, and offered a quick glimpse of Venom (Grace), Peter Parker's spider-like nemesis.
"He's more of a doppelganger to Peter," Grace told the crowd. "It's kind of a case study in if someone very similar to Peter got the same powers but didn't have a good upbringing."
Raimi also revealed that Harry Osborn ( James Franco) would become a third villain, taking on some of the powers of his father, the Green Goblin ( Willem Dafoe), who was killed in the first "Spider-Man" film.
Actor Bruce Campbell, a Raimi-film regular, also makes an appearance in "Spider-Man 3," the director said. He'll play a new character, who fans believe will be the villain Mysterio.
As the director of all three "Spider-Man" films, Raimi has been immersed in Spidey's world for more than six years. A longtime fan of the comic books, Raimi said it's been a "super-dream" to make the movies, but also a "great responsibility to tell the story of this character that kids look up to as this great hero."
"Certainly you don't want to make anything that isn't worthy of their admiration," he said.
Based on early reaction at Comic-Con, Raimi has nothing to worry about. He delivered what fans wanted: Venom.
"It was way better than I expected because you got to see Venom. He looked awesome," said John McCracken, 22.
"He made the entire world happy by putting Venom in it," said Nora McGuirk, 26, manager of Beach Ball Comics in Anaheim, Calif. "Sam Raimi hasn't disappointed us yet."
Chastity Vicencio, 20, said it was even more exciting to see Spider-Man face his own demons.
"Superheroes are cool and all, but when they hit a dark side, that's really great," she said.
Spider-Man creator Stan Lee has his own ideas of what makes the movie a winner.
"I have a cameo in it, and I think it's my best cameo," said the 83-year-old Marvel Comics master. "That's probably the high point of the movie. After that, you know, it's all a letdown."
Fey, Dratch leaving 'SNL' for '30 Rock'
PASADENA, Calif. - Tina Fey is leaving the anchor chair at "Saturday Night Live."
Fey says she's quitting the show after six seasons as head writer and co-anchor of the "Weekend Update" fake news segment to focus on her new NBC prime-time series, "30 Rock," which debuts Oct. 11.
"I'm out of the fake news business now," Fey told the Television Critics Association's summer meeting Saturday.
She announced her "SNL" departure on Friday night's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
"If you're asking if I'm happy about it, no," said Lorne Michaels, executive producer of "30 Rock" and "SNL." "Tina disappearing is a huge hole in the writing staff."
Michaels said various individuals and duos would be tested in September to decide who will replace Fey on the "Weekend Update" segment.
Also leaving "SNL" is regular Rachel Dratch, who plays a sketch actress on Fey's new sitcom about a fictional late-night show.
Fey, 36, first joined "SNL" as a writer in 1997 and became head writer in 1999.
She is writing, starring and executive producer of her new show.
"I'm going to go nuts," she said Saturday. "I do not understand the train that is about to hit me. We're trying to get as much done in the writers' room now before we start and I tried to gather a staff of writers who are experienced so they can proceed when I'm on the set."
"30 Rock" also stars Alec Baldwin and former "SNL" regular Tracy Morgan.
"Superman" director sees sequel for 2009
SAN DIEGO (Hollywood Reporter) - If director Bryan Singer has his way, Superman will take to the air a second time.
Singer, who directed the current "Superman Returns," told fans Friday at Comic-Con International, that he has had discussions with Warner Bros. Pictures about directing a sequel for release in the summer of 2009.
"Superman Returns," starring Brandon Routh as the Man of Steel, has grossed $169 million domestically to date, a figure that has been regarded by some observers as a disappointment given the movie's production costs of more than $200 million.
But while Singer stressed that plans for the sequel are still tentative, he expressed his interests in keeping the franchise aloft.
"I plan to get all 'Wrath of Khan' on it," Singer said -- a reference to 1982's "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan," which is generally considered as having breathed life into the "Star Trek" franchise after 1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" suffered critical barbs.
"We haven't concluded a deal. That's always iffy," Singer added. "The intention is to do it for 2009."
'Pirates' salts away $321.7M over 17 days
LOS ANGELES - Johnny Depp and his pirate friends are keeping all the box-office treasure for themselves. Depp's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" remained the top movie for the third straight weekend, hauling in $35 million and lifting its total to $321.7 million after just 17 days, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Disney sequel passed the $305 million domestic total that its predecessor, 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," rang up during its entire six-month run.
"Dead Man's Chest" easily beat back a rush of new movies, which were led by Sony's family film "Monster House," a spooky animated tale that debuted at No. 2 with $23 million. The movie follows the adventures of a group of children at a mysterious neighbor's scary home.
Opening in third was M. Night Shyamalan's "Lady in the Water," an adult fairy tale from Warner Bros. that took in $18.2 million. Starring Paul Giamatti as an apartment manager who discovers a water nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) living beneath his complex's swimming pool, the movie was the weakest debut for writer-director Shyamalan in a string of wide releases since 1999 that included the blockbusters "The Sixth Sense" and "Signs."
Kevin Smith's "Clerks II," a Weinstein Co. and MGM follow-up to his 1994 independent-film hit about two slackers on the job, premiered at No. 6 with $9.6 million.
Uma Thurman and Luke Wilson's "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," a 20th Century Fox comedy about a superhero taking revenge against the boyfriend who jilted her, debuted at No. 7 with $8.7 million.
Overall movie business rose, with the top 12 movies taking in $143.2 million, up 11 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was the No. 1 movie with $28.3 million.
Hollywood continued its modest rebound after a 2005 slump in which movie attendance fell 8 percent from the previous year's. So far this year, attendance is up 3.8 percent compared to 2005, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Summer attendance had been running slightly behind 2005's but now is 4 percent ahead because of a surge the past three weekends.
"That's really attributable to the strength of `Pirates of the Caribbean,' because that's when the tide turned," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations.
On its 16th day of release Saturday, "Dead Man's Chest" became the fastest movie to cross the $300 million mark, beating the previous best pace of 17 days set last year by "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith."
Within a week, "Dead Man's Chest" is expected to top the $339.7 million domestic take of "Finding Nemo" to become Disney's top-grossing movie.
"There are lots of plateaus for us to continue to strive for," said Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," $35 million.
2. "Monster House," $23 million.
3. "Lady in the Water," $18.2 million.
4. "You, Me and Dupree," $12.8 million.
5. "Little Man," $11 million.
6. "Clerks II," $9.6 million.
7. "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," $8.7 million.
8. "Superman Returns," $7.46 million.
9. "The Devil Wears Prada," $7.43 million.
10. "Cars," $4.9 million.