Lady Gaga "more powerful" than Nancy Pelosi: Forbes

Thu Oct 7, 2010 12:35am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Forbes list of the world's most powerful women includes Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga, Beyonce Knowles and Ellen DeGeneres, all of whom apparently wield more power than the woman who is second in line for U.S. president.

The annual list, released late Wednesday, places Winfrey third. The talk-show queen is worth $2.7 billion and earned $315 million in the past year, but beyond wealth Forbes takes into account executive position, creative influence and entrepreneurship.

No. 1 on the list is First Lady Michelle Obama. Forbes didn't calculate her and her husband's personal wealth or money earned in the last year, choosing instead to list in that category the country's national budget, which is $3.5 trillion.

After Winfrey, Lady Gaga, at No. 7, is the next media person on the list. She earned $62 million in the past year and, according to Forbes, "single-handedly reinvigorated pop music and pop culture."

Next in media, at No. 9, is Knowles, who earned $87 million and whose music is a favorite of Michelle Obama's, according to Forbes.

Former "American Idol" judge DeGeneres is 10th on the list and earned $55 million. Forbes noted that she recently gave a $30,000 college scholarship to a gay teenager who challenged a high school policy against same-sex prom dates.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who would be in line for the presidency after Vice President Joe Biden, is 11th on the list. Like Michelle Obama, her "money" category consists of the national budget.

Sarah Palin, who Forbes puts in the media category, is No. 16. Her title is "political maverick and commentator," but unlike most others on the list, her entry doesn't include a "money" category. Instead, she gets a "media buzz" category, which says she has 2.3 million Facebook friends and that if you search for her name online you'll get 44 million results.

Other media personalities on the list include Angelina Jolie (No. 21), Katie Couric (No. 22), Arianna Huffington (No. 28), Madonna (No. 29) and Sarah Jessica Parker (No. 45).

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"Iron Man 2" sells more than 1 million DVDs in one day

By Thomas K. Arnold

Wed Oct 6, 2010 10:37pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - There was never any question that "Iron Man 2" would be the biggest home video seller and renter of the week.

The only question was how big the blockbuster sequel would be, given the home entertainment business's lackluster performance these last three years.

But as it turned out, the Paramount Home Entertainment release, which many in the industry considered a harbinger of overall fourth-quarter performance, was a hands-down smash for the week ended October 3, selling an estimated 1.1 million discs its first day in stores and ending the week just past the 5 million-unit mark, according to Home Media Magazine's Market Research Department.

Accordingly, "Iron Man 2," which grossed $312 million in U.S. theaters, debuted at No. 1 on all three home-video charts, by a wide margin.

On the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart, "Iron Man" outsold its nearest competitor, the Universal Studios comedy "Get Him to the Greek," by a margin of more than 8-to-1. On the Blu-ray Disc sales chart, the discrepancy was even greater: "Get Him to the Greek," with a $60.1 million box-office pedigree, sold less than 7 percent as many Blu-ray Disc units as "Iron Man 2."

And on Home Media Magazine's rental chart for the week, "Iron Man 2" also was a resounding winner, although "Get Him to the Greek" managed to generate around 71 percent as many rental transactions as the fast-paced actioner.

"Iron Man 2" also was the first big fourth-quarter release ever to sell more copies on Blu-ray Disc than on DVD. According to Nielsen research, 52 percent of the title's first-week sales were on Blu-ray Disc, although it should be noted that Nielsen data does not include Walmart or Sam's Club, where the ratio of Blu-ray Disc sales is typically smaller than at most Nielsen-reporting retailers.

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Sandra Bullock in negotiations to star in "Gravity"

By Borys Kit

Wed Oct 6, 2010 11:05pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Sandra Bullock is in negotiations to star in "Gravity," the outer-space thriller that has become a game of musical chairs for the in-demand actress set.

Alfonso Cuaron ("Children of Men," "Y tu mama tambien"), who is directing and co-wrote the script with his son Jonas, is readying the feature for Warner Bros. It will co-star Robert Downey Jr.

The studio went to Bullock after Natalie Portman's on-and-off-again negotiations went into off mode for good.

"Gravity" has a dizzying history when it comes to attracting female stars.

The project originally was set up at Universal as a vehicle for Angelina Jolie, but it moved to Warner Bros., where it hit several bumps: Jolie left the project, partially because of the studio's balking at paying her $20 million fee. Although Downey brings star power to the project, his role is overshadowed by the female lead, an astronaut whose struggle to survive an avalanche of space junk becomes the movie's focus.

In the summer, the studio talked to Marion Cotillard, then tested Scarlett Johansson and Blake Lively for the part before re-engaging Jolie. After that skidded out, the studio began talks with Portman, who had just started generating heat from her performance in "Black Swan."

Bullock is also in talks to star in "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," an adaptation of the Jonathan Safran Foer novel that would star Tom Hanks.

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David Fincher updates status on "Social Network"

By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK | Wed Oct 6, 2010 5:43pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The audience for director David Fincher's "The Social Network" is expected to grow in coming months, spurred by fan buzz and rave reviews after a $22.4 million opening weekend at U.S. and Canadian box offices.

As the movie world heads into awards season, Fincher returned from Sweden where he has been filming the Hollywood version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and talked to Reuters about how the film got made, what he thinks about Oscar buzz and how Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is depicted.

Q: Why not have early test screenings of "Social Network"? That must have made Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal nervous.

A: "When we finished it and we showed it to her, I said 'If you throw it out to a bunch of mall rats and bring 'em in to watch this movie to tell you if it is working or not, this movie is going to be dissected on Facebook before you have a chance to generate your notes about what it is.'

"So I said 'I urge you not to preview screen this movie' ... and let's put it out without ever having shown it to anyone' and Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal said, 'OK'."

Q: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has not cooperated with the film. How does the movie portray him?

A: "I hope he seems human. I hope he seems like a real person with insecurities and aspirations and he is fiercely protective of his creation as he should be, as I think that it ultimately gives his stay on this planet a reason.

"Some of the things that are suggested by some of the other people that were in his life, about how he started, or how he mistreated them, you are talking about someone who was 24, 22, 21 years-old when this was going on. We have all done things we probably weren't that proud of in our late teens."

Q: Unlike other 'true life' movies, this one comes very quickly after the actual events?

A. "When I read it, it felt to me 'We better be doing this now.' We better not wait nine months to start. It felt like it was talking about 'now' -- being a twitterer, being a twit, or twat, or whatever. It felt like it needed to be as close to the crater of this explosive technology as it could be. It seems to me like a year from now is too late."

Q: Does it have a perceived guaranteed audience from the some 500 million Facebook users worldwide?

A: "I don't think so. If you were to look at the myriad of people who devoted many many column inches to, 'Why would they make a movie about Facebook? I hate Facebook. I am going to hate this movie!' That's like saying, 'People like Cool Whip." but I don't think they should make a movie out of it."

Q: In your own words: true story or a work of fiction?

"It depends on who you talk to, we have shown the movie to people who know Sean Parker who say, 'It's amazing it's so much like him,' and we have shown it to others who say, 'It didn't lay a glove on him.' People look at Zuckerberg and go, 'It's uncanny' about Jesse Eisenberg and others who say, 'How could you? He (Eisenberg) is 26."

Q: In general, is making true life stories problematic?

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Beatles, Lady Gaga memorabilia in online auction

By Lynn Adler

NEW YORK | Wed Oct 6, 2010 5:54pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unreleased Lady Gaga songs, handwritten Paul McCartney lyrics and clothing from Princess Diana and Elvis Presley are among unique celebrity items that will be sold in an online auction this month.

McCartney's handwritten working lyrics to "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" from the 1969 Abbey Road album are expected to be the top seller with a price tag of at least $200,000.

But bids could start as low as $100 for items like a signed handwritten letter from Phil Spector, the music producer convicted of murder.

About 850 items such as CDs from Lady Gaga's first manager, Michael Jackson's crystal studded helmet worn during his 1981 "Triumph tour and James Brown's original 1987 signed U.S. passport are for sale at www.gottahaverockandroll.com from October 6-15.

"Whether it was from ex-managers, ex-lovers, ex-wives, sons, daughters, they all come from family members or friends, some collectors," said Peter J. Siegel, co-founder of GOTTA HAVE IT! Collectibles, Inc.

This is the largest of the company's Internet auctions of rock and roll and pop art. In 2008 Elvis's Peacock Jumpsuit sold for $300,000.

More than 90 Beatles items should be popular in the year of John Lennon's 70th birthday, Siegel said.

"He'll be forever revered in our society," he added.

Almost 50 signed guitars, Bob Dylan's signed handwritten working lyrics to his first recorded song -- 1961's "Song for Woody," and Kurt Cobain's black and white Santa hat worn backstage at a Nirvana concern in Seattle on Halloween night 1991 are all available.

Lady Gaga's first manager, Bob Leone, is selling six CDs, some autographed by the wildly popular singer when she was the shy teenager Stefani Germanotta. An unreleased 2002 original demo recording starts with a minimum bid of $1,000.

"All of them were gifts to me just because I supported her from the time she was 13 or 14," Leone said.

When the CDs were to be sold as one unit, Leone said he expected up to $15,000 for the collection. Now each is being sold individually.

Teenagers have sought any Lady Gaga material he might have from her early career, Leone said.

"This is everything I own. If I had anything else I would have brought it," he said.

(Reporting by Lynn Adler; Editing by Patricia Reaney)

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Kenny Chesney claims sixth No. 1 on U.S. album chart

By Keith Caulfield

Wed Oct 6, 2010 8:50pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Kenny Chesney grabbed his sixth No. 1 entry on the U.S. album chart Wednesday, replacing the Zac Brown Band, which dropped to No. 3 on the list.

Chesney's "Hemingway's Whiskey" bowed atop the Billboard 200 with 183,000 copies sold during the week ended October 3, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The singer's last studio effort, 2008's "Lucky Old Sun," also entered at No. 1, but with a slightly lower number: 176,000.

Among country acts, Chesney is now in second place for the most No. 1s on the big chart: only Garth Brooks, with eight, has more.

Dating back to 2002's "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems," Chesney has notched nine top 10 albums on the Billboard 200.

The previous week's No. 1 album, Zac Brown Band's "You Get What You Give," fell to third place with sales of 70,000.

Lil Wayne's "I Am Not a Human Being" took a digital-only bow at No. 2 with 110,000, marking the jailed rapper's eighth top 10 album. It follows the No. 2 debut and peak earlier this year of his "Rebirth," which landed with 176,000 in February. "I Am Not a Human Being" initially was intended as a digital-exclusive release, but the CD version (with three additional tracks) will be released Tuesday (October 12).

"Human Being" is just the second set to reach the top two rungs on the chart solely off the strength of digital downloads. In January, the charity compilation "Hope for Haiti" spent two weeks in the top two -- including one week at No. 1. ("Haiti" was never issued in a physical configuration.)

Gucci Mane earned his second top 10 album with "The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted," which bowed at No. 4 with 60,000.

Rock icon Eric Clapton claimed his lucky 13th top 10 set, with the simply titled "Clapton" bowing at No. 6 with 47,000. Clapton has now racked up top 10s in five consecutive decades, stretching back to 1972's No. 6 hit "History of Eric Clapton."

Eminem's "Recovery" slipped one spot to No. 5 (59,000), Trey Songz's "Passion, Pain and Pleasure" held at No. 7 (42,000), Linkin Park's "A Thousand Suns" fell three to No. 8 (42,000), Maroon 5's "Hands All Over" descended seven spots to No. 9 (41,000) and Selena Gomez and the Scene's "A Year Without Rain" dropped six to No. 10 (38,000).

Overall album sales totaled 5.3 million units, up 6 percent from the previous week and down 23 percent from the comparable sales week of 2009. Year-to-date album sales stand at 221.07 million, a 13 percent drop compared with the same total at this point last year.

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"Project Runway"s Tim Gunn reveals early suicide bid

LOS ANGELES | Wed Oct 6, 2010 3:16pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Project Runway" star Tim Gunn released a video on Wednesday describing how he tried to kill himself as a teenager after being bullied because he was gay.

Gunn, 57, the urbane mentor of the popular fashion design TV contest, said he had taken more than 100 pills when he was 17 in a botched suicide bid.

"As a 17 year old youth who was in quite a bit of despair, I attempted to kill myself. And I'm very happy today that that attempt was unsuccessful, but at the time it's all I could contemplate. I thought I need to end things right now...

"I woke up next morning after taking over 100 pills," he said in the two minute video spot for the "It Gets Better" project aimed at isolated young gays and lesbians.

Gunn, who told CNN's Larry King on Tuesday that he was bullied as a kid over his sexuality, fought back tears in the video as he told gay youth "I understand the despair. I understand how isolated you can feel...It will get better. I promise."

Gunn is the latest prominent celebrity to speak out in support of behalf of gay young teens following the suicide last week of 19 year-old student Tyler Clementi, whose encounter with a gay man was secretly filmed by a roommate and distributed on the Internet.

Popular "Glee" actor Chris Colfer, 20, who plays a version of himself as a gay high school student, has also joined the campaign by the Trevor Project -- a nationwide suicide prevention hotline for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth and those questioning their sexual orientation.

"How I Met Your Mother" star Neil Patrick Harris, and "Harry Potter" actor Daniel Radcliffe have filmed videos for the campaign in the past few days, along with U.S. talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.

In an emotional message on her talk show last week, DeGeneres said she was devastated at the news that Clementi had jumped off a bridge in New Jersey, and called for an end to teenage bullying.

"Things will get easier, people's minds will change, and you should be alive to see it," said DeGeneres, one of Hollywood's most prominent lesbians.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant, editing by Christine Kearney)

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Memorials, merchandise for Lennon 70th anniversary

By Mike Collett-White

LONDON | Wed Oct 6, 2010 11:51am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - What would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday on Saturday will be marked around the world with memorials, music and plenty of merchandise.

Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow and the guardian of his commercial and musical legacy, will lead the tributes from Iceland, where she will light the Imagine Peace Tower in memory of Lennon and perform with their son Sean.

In the singer's birthplace Liverpool, Lennon's first wife Cynthia and their child Julian are expected to unveil a monument dedicated to the artist and funded by the Global Peace Initiative involving young artists.

"Nowhere Boy," a film about Lennon's early years before he found fame and fortune with the Beatles, hits U.S. theatres on Friday and on Saturday, the documentary "LennonNYC" will be screened in New York, where he was killed on December 8, 1980.

The 30th anniversary of his murder aged 40 is expected to launch a new wave of Lennon-mania in December.

"It's a strange phenomenon in a way, but probably the Beatles are more popular now than they ever were," said Jerry Goldman, managing director of the Beatles Story museum in Liverpool which will be custodian of the new $350,000 monument.

"Lennon is the most iconic of them. His activities for peace with Yoko, his 'bed-ins', perhaps don't count quite so much as the music," he added.

"'Imagine' is a world anthem, as is 'Give Peace a Chance'. Whenever people gather to protest ... you are probably going to hear them singing a Lennon song. More than anything else it's the music, and nobody has come close in recent years."

Few would debate Lennon's musical influence.

As one half of the key songwriting axis in the Beatles alongside Paul McCartney, Lennon was responsible for much of the band's catalog, including seminal hits like "She Loves You," "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "A Hard Day's Night."

As a solo artist after the group split in 1970, he went on to produce songs including Imagine, and became a symbol of opposition to the Vietnam War.

"LENNONPHILIA" CRITICISED

Lennon's legacy is also big business. Critics have accused Ono and others of cashing in on his memory and betraying the ideals of a man who once sang "imagine no possessions."

Ono has overseen the release of a digitally remastered Lennon catalog, including eight studio albums and several newly compiled titles, on the EMI Music label.

"Remastering was emotionally hard for me," she wrote recently on Twitter.

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