The Muppet Show Season 3 arrives May 20
It's time to play the music. It's time to light the lights. It's time to mark your calendars!
Buena Vista Home Entertainment has just announced the release of the highly anticipated "The Muppet Show: Season Three" DVD box set. The four-disc "special edition" set will include all 24 episodes from the third season of "The Muppet Show" along with an impressive collection of bonus features. The fully-loaded DVD box set of the complete third season is planned to hit store shelves on May 20, 2008. That's less than 117 days away.
Below is a full list of the DVD features which include the classic 1968 documentary "The Muppets on Puppets" (hosted by Jim Henson and Rowlf the Dog), plus a new documentary entitled "The Making of The Muppets". Disney has also released an early glimpse at the cover art for the set, featuring the face of Fozzie Bear. Like the first two seasons, the set will feature collectible fuzzy packaging.
Episode Listing:
Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge
Leo Sayer
Roy Clark
Gilda Radner
Pearl Bailey
Jean Stapleton
Alice Cooper
Loretta Lynn
Liberace
Marisa Berenson
Raquel Welch
James Coco
Helen Reddy
Harry Belafonte
Lesley Ann Warren
Danny Kaye
Spike Milligan
Leslie Uggams
Elke Sommer
Sylvester Stallone
Roger Miller
Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
Lynn Redgrave
Cheryl Ladd
Bonus Features:
"The Making of The Muppets" documentary
"The Muppets on Puppets" vintage documentary
...and much more!
Retail Specifications:
4-disc DVD collection
$39.99 suggested retail price, pre-order here for $27.99
Release date: May 20, 2008
"Nightmare" to haunt big screen again
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Freddy's back. Again.
New Line is in talks with horror production company Platinum Dunes to re-launch the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movie series, the franchise that helped establish the studio.
The first "Nightmare" movie was made by Wes Craven and released in 1984. The runaway success of the film spawned a slew of sequels and created one of the most popular villains in screen history, Freddy Krueger, played by Robert Englund.
The film centered on Krueger, a serial child killer murdered by angry parents, who returns with a burned face and a razor glove to terrorize teens in their dreams.
A screenwriter will be hired once the Writers Guild of America strike ends. The producers -- Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form -- are hoping to focus part of the new movie on Krueger's backstory.
Platinum Dunes is prepping another re-launch, "Friday the 13th," which will be directed by Marcus Nispel for New Line, for whom it remade "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and its sequel.
The company is remaking "Near Dark" for Rogue and "The Birds" for Universal. It is also prepping a non-remake project, an untitled David Goyer thriller.
CBS picking up CTV drama
TORONTO - American broadcaster CBS, apparently looking for options amid a prolonged Hollywood screenwriters strike, has picked up an original CTV show to be broadcast later this year in the United States.
"Flashpoint," a police drama with the working title "Sniper," is currently in pre-production. CTV says it will become the first Canadian series since "Due South" to air on both American and Canadian network TV.
CBS has picked up 13 episodes of the one-hour drama series, which was green-lit by CTV in December. Production begins in Toronto in April.
The show will star Enrico Colantoni of "Veronica Mars" fame, Hugh Dillon, the former punk rocker-turned-actor who starred in the gritty "Durham County" and David Paekau of CTV's "Whistler."
They play cops on a highly skilled tactical team.
"Today's announcement is a significant achievement for CTV's development team and Canada's independent production community," CTV's Susanne Boyce said in a statement.
Canada's oldest bookstore is closing in Halifax
Canada's oldest bookstore will close its doors for good at the end of March.
The Book Room on Barrington Street in Halifax opened for business in 1839 and survived two World Wars and the Great Depression, store president Charles Burchell said in a release.
But the retail store couldn't outlast big box bookstores, Burchell said, nor the ease of ordering books online, competition from book selling pharmacies and grocery stores or the pressure to lower prices to reflect a stronger Canadian dollar.
Burchell said The Book Room will begin "an orderly shutdown of its retail store and dispose of its inventory" over the next few weeks. The company's wholesale operation will continue.
"I am extremely disappointed to make this announcement as The Book Room has been an institution in Nova Scotia," he said. "The bookstore has survived two World Wars, the Great Depression and economic ups and downs over its 169 year history."
Burchell said that during his 42 years with the bookstore, he invited "hundreds and hundreds of local authors, authors from across Canada and around the world to come and meet their reading fans."
Before the advent of the computer, Burchell said the store received letters from "all over the world" requesting special books be sent to them.
"To fulfill their request was such a gratifying feeling for me as well as my staff," he said in the release.
BBC strategies focus on online content, adviser tells Heritage committee
The importance of making content widely available online was the frequent refrain in Ottawa Tuesday morning as the BBC's chief public policy adviser spoke at a hearing of the Canadian Heritage Committee.
"The impact of digital technology cannot be underestimated," the BBC's Wilf White, who was joined by his deputy, Daniel Wilson, told the committee at a session exploring the role of a public broadcaster.
Newer technologies such as the BBC's iPlayer which offers web audiences the opportunity to watch its television or listen to its radio programming from the past seven days "is radically transforming our business," White said.
Despite also struggling with problems like market fragmentation, funding constraints and increased competition from new broadcasters and other platforms facing North American counterparts, White said the BBC considers it a very exciting time and is focused on looking for new opportunities.
He praised 1990s-era BBC director-general John Birt for his foresight about the internet as an emerging technology and vision that there would one day be little distinction between radio, television and online.
Because of decisions the former chief made, "there was always a strong link between our television and radio services and our online services," White said.
"As soon as [audiences] realized there was content there they started wanting to explore."
For instance, he said, the BBC's online service has transformed the broadcaster's ability to seek public opinion on many issues.
In the past, when trying to get the public to comment, "you'd end up with perhaps half a dozen letters," White said.
"Now we have several thousand people regularly e-mailing us, offering opinions on message boards. We are never short of comments from he public now ... Sometimes we can create so much feedback that it can become overwhelming."
Partnering with other sites
White and Wilson also spoke of deals with partners such as video-sharing site Youtube and social networking sites to show BBC content, in a no-ads environment conducive to its role as a public broadcaster.
While the broadcaster, which on average features 80 per cent European or U.K.-produced content across its services, doesn't gain revenue from these sorts of deals, savings can sometimes be found in terms of distribution, Wilson said.
"They want our content and we want their audience," White said, though he admitted that newer technologies aside, he felt there would always be a demand for live programming.
As part of this drive, the BBC chose to "pay a little bit extra" and strike "platform-neutral" rights deals with independent producers and other stakeholders in order to be able to distribute their productions by these newer methods, Wilson said.
"It was a matter of demonstrating how usage has changed, how on demand was very much more important to audiences."
Pursuing further international co-productions for pricier projects, such as its deal with the CBC for the TV show Doctor Who, and boosting coverage of and productions from its various regions such as Wales, Scotland and Ireland are also part of the BBC's plan going forward.
Nevertheless, despite a shifting focus on newer technologies or updating certain practices, "some things don't change" for audiences, White said, citing "quality, originality, trust.
Nintendo reveals its top selling Wii, DS games
On Monday Nintendo announced its platinum-selling first-party games, those with more than 1 million copies sold.
In their latest financial report, the company disclosed the following worldwide best-sellers in total units sold (including bundles):
Wii
Wii Sports - 17,850,000
Wii Play - 9,230,000
Super Mario Galaxy - 5,190,000
Mario Party 8 - 4,350,000
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - 4,300,000
Super Paper Mario - 2,160,000
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree - 2,000,000
Mario Strikers Charged - 1,650,000
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - 1,140,000
Link's Crossbow Training - 1,070,000
Wii Fit - 1,050,000
Nintendo DS
Nintendogs - 17,790,000
Pokemon Diamond & Pearl - 14,170,000
New Super Mario Bros. - 13,140,000
Brain Age - 11,710,000
Brain Age 2 - 9,840,000
Mario Kart DS - 9,670,000
Animal Crossing Wild World - 9,200,000
Super Mario 64 DS - 5,780,000
Big Brain Academy - 4,610,000
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - 3,820,000
Pokemon Ranger - 2,610,000
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - 1,540,000
The report also quietly confirmed a 2008 release for Kirby and Animal Crossing on Wii. As always, Nintendo's first-party sales are impressive. The same cannot be said of third-party sales, however.
No Country For Old Men Misses Pre-Oscar DVD Release
Ive been rather surprised at the amount of Oscar nominated films that will be hitting DVD in the next few weeks, giving the mass public a chance to take in the movies before the Oscar ceremony. This kind of approach may not help movies win Oscars, but it will make the ceremony potentially more interesting to more people. After all, its hard to get excited about a ceremony for movies nobody has seen.
Unfortunately, one of the big contenders this year, nominated for eight awards, wont be taking that approach. While No Country For Old Men will be coming to DVD and Blu-ray soon, its March 11th release date wont give you the chance to see the movie before the Oscar ceremony. If I had to guess, that release date gives them the chance to replace that quote you see at the top of the artwork on the right with Winner of X-Number of Oscars should the movie perform well at the Academy Awards.
Right now the announced extras seem a little thin, particularly for a Blu-ray release (which appears to have the exact same bonus materials as the standard DVD). Heres a look at what you can expect to find on this March 11th release:
- Working with the Coens: Reflections of Cast and Crew - Learn more about Joel and Ethan Coen from the perspective of their collaborators, cast and crew.
- The Making of No Country For Old Men - Take a journey through the Coen Brothers process and back to their roots as storytellers with a unique voice and vision.
- Diary of a Country Sheriff - Explore the relationship between the compassion of Sheriff Bell and the brutality of Anton Chigurh.
Martie Maguire says she's pregnant
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks and her husband, Gareth, are expecting a third daughter.
Maguire, 38, announced her pregnancy on the group's Web site Monday.
She wrote that her 3-year-old twin daughters, Eva and Katie, "are very excited to have a new baby sister."
"Three girls, what a magic number!" Maguire said.
She said the baby is due in late summer.
The report was confirmed by the Chicks' publicist.
Maguire plays fiddle and mandolin in the trio, which also includes Natalie Maines and Emily Robison. Hits by the Chicks include "Wide Open Spaces," "Without You," "Landslide" and "Travelin' Soldier."
Little buzz for top Oscar films
LOS ANGELES - One film has an oblique ending that's left some viewers dissatisfied and others floored by its profundity. The other features a slowly developing plot and a brutal, operatically violent finale.
"No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" are both gorgeous and bold, expertly crafted and intelligently acted. But most moviegoers have seen neither of them and they never will even though they're the two leading contenders for best picture at the Academy Awards.
Oscar-nominated films are often small, dark and unintended for mass audiences; they're about art, after all, not commerce. But that's especially true of this year's crop, which has little mainstream buzz and among the lowest box-office totals in recent years.
(The exception, of course, is the crowd-pleasing comedy "Juno," starring the hugely appealing Ellen Page as a quick-witted, pregnant teen. It had a budget of about $2.5 million and just crossed the $100 million mark at the box office. It is far and away the most financially successful of the five.)
Four of the movies nominated last week for best picture "Juno," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" got the so-called "Oscar bump" that comes from audiences checking them out the following weekend. (The sweeping romance "Atonement" dropped slightly.)
Still, they've only combined to make about $246.3 million domestically. In contrast, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" already had grossed about $364 million all by itself by the time it won best picture in 2004.
In terms of ticket sales, about 7.3 million people have seen "No Country" (from Miramax and Paramount Vantage, a division of Viacom Inc.) and 2 million have seen "There Will Be Blood" (also from Paramount Vantage), compared with the approximately 51 million who saw the third "Rings" picture in theaters by Oscar night.
"I had someone ask me the other day, `Are academy voters out of touch in honoring these films that aren't popular with audiences?'" said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracker Media By Numbers. "But they're not supposed to be popular. They're honoring the cinematic merit of these films. (Or else) `Spider-Man 3' would have the most nominations. ...
"I always say it's either cinematic fast food or cinematic fine dining you pick what you want," Dergarabedian added. "And Oscar tends to honor the films that give a cinematic fine dining experience."
The 2006 nominees did a bit bitter with a cumulative gross of about $297 million, thanks largely to the winner, "The Departed," which ended up with more than $132 million. "The Departed" also had a revered director in Martin Scorsese and an all-star cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson.
The nominees from 2005 combined for about $245 million with the winner, the ensemble drama "Crash," making only about $55 million. But that year had huge buzz thanks to "Brokeback Mountain," the gay cowboy romance, which had America talking regardless of their interest in art-house films. The perceived front-runner until the moment the envelope was opened, it made $83 million.
But it's not just the contenders in the best picture category that are drawing specialized crowds. "Michael Clayton" is the only film with multiple acting nominations: for its star, George Clooney, and supporting actors Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton. The suspenseful corporate thriller from first-time director Tony Gilroy has made a decent $41.5 million.
"Away From Her," which has made a best-actress front-runner of Julie Christie as a wife suffering from Alzheimer's disease, made just under $16 million in limited release last year. "La Vie en Rose," the Edith Piaf biopic, has grossed only about $10 million, despite a wildly heralded performance from best-actress nominee Marion Cotillard.
The languid Western "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," with its creepy, nuanced supporting turn from nominee Casey Affleck, hasn't even made $4 million. And the experimental "I'm Not There," which features six different people playing various incarnations of Bob Dylan including supporting-actress nominee Cate Blanchett made just about $3.5 million in its limited run.
"They're not simple fare," said Boo Allen, a Dallas-based film critic and historian.
"The average moviegoer might hear that Brad Pitt is playing Jesse James, then they hear from someone who's seen it that it's two and a half hours long and very slow, it's more of a character study than a shoot 'em up, and it just doesn't touch a nerve," said Allen, who chose "La Vie en Rose" as his favorite film this season. "Something like `Juno,' that touches a nerve. You hear people say it's funny, it's about a teenager who gets pregnant. Jennifer Garner's in it, Jason Bateman's in it, the little girl's really funny. That lends itself to word of mouth and draws people in."
While they haven't exactly been boffo in terms of box office, this year's awards contenders are undeniably strong in terms of art. Veteran cinematographer Roger Deakins, who's up for two Oscars for "No Country" and "Jesse James," compared the nominees to the kinds of films that pushed boundaries in the 1970s.
"It's one of the best years because there's so many intelligent films that are provocative. They're actually about something as well as being entertaining," said Deakins, the longtime Coen brothers collaborator, who's also been nominated for the more mainstream "The Shawshank Redemption."
"It really makes you feel part of a real cinema," he added. "There's brilliant, brilliant people out there."