"Gap Year" and Fifth Series Plans Announced
Following media speculation, the BBC have confirmed future plans for Doctor Who in a press release today.
After the fourth series airs in 2008, David Tennant will continue in the role of the Doctor for a Christmas special at the end of 2008. After that, instead of a full series beginning filming, the production team, with Tennant still in the role, will be working on three Doctor Who specials, led by Russell T Davies, to be shown on BBC1 throughout the year of 2009. A fifth full series is scheduled for 2010, though as BBC News point out, casting is unconfirmed for that far ahead.
Media speculation was sparked by reports that Tennant had been cast in the title role of Hamlet, in a production for the Royal Shakespeare Company from July to November 2008. This would have conflicted with filming a fifth series for airing in the spring of 2009. The RSC 2008 Flyer and BBC News are confirming Tennant's role in the play.
Rumors over the past several months have suggested that the show would be going on a sort of 'temporary hiatus' after the fourth series, though the BBC has emphasized the series' return for a full fifth year. It is not known whether Davies will continue in the helm of the series when it does return on a weekly basis, however.
The press release included the following quotes:
Jane Tranter, Controller, BBC Fiction, says: "Doctor Who is one of the BBC's best loved and most successful dramas. Its journey over the past three series has been one of the most ambitious and exciting that we have had, and I'm delighted to be able to confirm not only three exciting specials for 2009, but a fifth series in 2010."
Menna Richards, Controller, BBC Wales, says: "The success of Doctor Who is a fantastic tribute to the dedication and expertise of the production team at BBC Wales who have worked on the project from the outset. This announcement is marvellous news for all involved, and more importantly for the programme's amazing fan base and audience. BBC Wales is looking forward to producing the fifth series."
Jerry Lewis' telethon hits new record
LAS VEGAS - Showman Jerry Lewis raised nearly $64 million on Monday during his annual Labor Day Telethon to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, topping last year's event by $3 million.
"We did it. We did it. I got my buck more. And more. We can go shopping," a jubilant Lewis said as the tote board topped $63.7 million for his 42nd telethon. Last year's record was $61 million.
As in the past, the International Association of Fire Fighters anchored the donations from local fill-the-boot drives with $25.2 million, eclipsing last year's $23.5 million.
"Whoa, whoa firefighters. They're all my heroes — every firefighter you see," Lewis said.
Harold Schaitberger, the union's general president, replied, "Jerry, you care about them and we care about you. We'll be with you every year."
Lewis, who has conquered both age and illness to anchor every telethon for more than half of his 81 years, showed no signs of slowing as he asked for pledges on Monday. While he spent many of the final hours of the 21 1/2-hour show behind a desk, his forays on stage to greet guests were spry and witty.
"We'll be here every year as long as I'm breathing in and out," Lewis said.
The telecast has raised $1.46 billion to fight the disease since it began in 1966 on a single television station in New York City. This year's telecast was carried by 190 stations in the United States and Canada and carried worldwide on the Internet.
The broadcast returned to Lewis' home town of Las Vegas last year after 11 years in Los Angeles.
"We're back in Vegas!'" he said. "It's the best location we could ask for to send out MDA's message of hope."
`Halloween' scares up $31 million debut
LOS ANGELES - "Halloween" came early and closed Hollywood's strong summer season with a record-breaking Labor Day weekend debut.
Rob Zombie's new take on John Carpenter's 1978 horror sensation "Halloween" slashed its way to a $31 million haul over the four-day weekend, surpassing the $20.1 million gross for 2005's "Transporter 2," which had held the record for best Labor Day opening.
Released by the Weinstein Co. and MGM, "Halloween" also topped the $29 million Labor Day gross for 1999's "The Sixth Sense," which had been the biggest-grossing movie over the holiday. That blockbuster ghost story was in its fifth weekend when Labor Day came around.
Sony's comedy "Superbad," the No. 1 movie the previous two weekends, slipped to second place with $15.6 million, raising its total to $92.4 million.
Focus Features' "Balls of Fury," a comedy about a washed-up pingpong player recruited by the feds to help bring down a criminal mastermind (Christopher Walken), opened at No. 3 with $13.8 million.
"Death Sentence," 20th Century Fox's revenge thriller starring Kevin Bacon, debuted at No. 8 with $5.2 million.
Led by "Halloween," Hollywood set a new overall record for Labor Day, with the top 12 movies taking in $119.6 million, surpassing the previous high of $106.1 million in 2003.
"`Halloween' was far beyond anything we've seen on Labor Day," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "It was just a perfect ending to a perfect summer. Hopefully, we can do this every year."
The industry finished the summer season with record receipts of $4.18 billion since the first weekend in May.
Factoring in higher ticket prices, though, movie attendance did not set a record. Media By Numbers estimates 610 million tickets were sold, the fifth-best admissions figure for modern Hollywood.
Unlike Carpenter's original, Zombie's "Halloween" delved into the childhood of unstoppable slasher Michael Myers to explain why the masked madman wages his own personal war of terror.
"Carpenter's genius was in not giving the back story, so you had this force of evil unto itself," said Bob Weinstein, co-founder of the Weinstein Co. "Rob was more like, what's behind the evil? I think the fan base loved the idea that there'd be a new version that would also add something to it."
"Halloween" will turn a tidy profit even if it follows the pattern of most horror films and drops off quickly in subsequent weekends. The movie was shot on a modest $15 million budget, meaning it took in twice its production costs in just four days.
The movie was a renewed success for the horror genre, which had hit hard times with a few underperforming releases earlier this year, among them "Hostel II."
"It's funny how Hollywood keeps writing things off," said Weinstein, whose company also scored a summer success with the supernatural tale "1408." "After `Hostel II,' they said horror's done. Horror's not done. If there's something unique in the story, nothing's done."
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Halloween," $31 million.
2. "Superbad," $15.6 million.
3. "Balls of Fury," $13.8 million.
4. "The Bourne Ultimatum," $13.2 million.
5. "Rush Hour 3," $10.4 million.
6. "Mr. Bean's Holiday," $8.1 million.
7. "The Nanny Diaries," $6.4 million.
8. "Death Sentence," $5.2 million.
9. "War," $5.1 million.
10. "Stardust," $3.9 million.
FOSTER PLAYS DARK ROLE IN NEW MOVIE
NEW YORK (AP) -- Parallels to Martin Scorsese's dark classic "Taxi Driver" led Jodie Foster to take a role in her new movie, "The Brave One."
The 1976 film portrays a cabby driven to madness amid a crime-ridden and debt-filled New York City climate. The newer film is a story about living with fear in New York after Sept. 11.
"When I first read the script, honestly, it didn't remind me enough of 'Taxi Driver,'" Foster said in an interview published in this week's Newsweek. "That was one of my issues with it. There was all this room for something more beautiful."
Foster, who was in "Taxi Driver" as a 13-year-old, stars as Erica Bain, a radio host who survives an attack that kills her fiance. Afterward, she learns to use a gun and finds situations in which to use it.
The two-time Oscar winner spoke to Newsweek last summer, on the film's set in Brooklyn. The Warner Bros. release opens Sept. 14.
Director says Owen Wilson doing better
VENICE, Italy - Actor Owen Wilson, who was hospitalized Aug. 26 after an apparent suicide attempt, is doing well and even making colleagues laugh, the director of his latest film said Monday.
"Obviously he has been through a lot this week," said Wes Anderson, who directed Wilson in "The Darjeeling Limited," one of the films in competition for the Venice Film Festival's top award.
"I can tell you he has been doing very well, he has been making us laugh," Anderson told a news conference to promote the film.
"When he is ready he's going to speak for himself much better than any of us could," the director said, asking that the actor's privacy be respected.
Wilson and Anderson have worked together for over a decade, in pictures including "The Royal Tenenbaums." Wilson is also known for appearing in recent hits such as "Wedding Crashers."
The 38-year-old Wilson was taken by ambulance to a hospital after police responded to a call about a suicide attempt at his Santa Monica home. The day after he was hospitalized, he issued a statement asking for privacy so he could "receive care and heal."
In "Darjeeling," Wilson plays a distraught man — bandaged throughout the film — who other characters imply has attempted suicide.
Wilson plays one of three brothers who haven't said a word to each other in a year and who take a train journey across India in an attempt to find themselves and their relationship again.
Adrien Brody, who plays one of the brothers, described how it was to work with Wilson on the set.
"Owen has a tremendous sense of humor and he's very mischievous," Brody told the news conference. "I would say it was a brotherly thing."
The movie also stars Jason Schwartzman, Anjelica Huston and Bill Murray.
After being hospitalized, Wilson dropped out of the upcoming DreamWorks movie, "Tropic Thunder," which was already in production in Hawaii.