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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Rome film festival to honor Richard Gere

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Disney, Cameron to create theme-park "Avatar"

By Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES | Wed Sep 21, 2011 10:54am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Moviegoers pining for a return to the lush moon of Pandora in James Cameron's film "Avatar" will finally get their chance -- first-hand.

Walt Disney Co is teaming with the Oscar-winning director and News Corp unit Fox Filmed Entertainment, to mimic the thriving green landscape depicted in the highest-grossing movie of all time in a section of its Orlando, Florida, theme park.

Under their agreement, Disney won exclusive global theme park rights to the "Avatar" franchise. It will begin building from 2013 and will eventually take Avatar "lands" beyond Orlando's Disney World.

"Our goal is to go beyond current boundaries of technical innovation and experiential storytelling, and give park-goers the chance to see, hear and touch the world of 'Avatar' with an unprecedented sense of reality," Cameron said in a statement.

At a news conference, Cameron said that when he began talks with Disney designers, he "quickly realized their vision for this thing was far beyond what I imagined, and I've got a pretty good imagination."

The estimated cost for the Orlando project is about $400 million, a source familiar with the matter said. Construction should take about five years.

Planning is in the early stages, and executives gave few details on how Disney would recreate the fantasy world of "Avatar" and the creatures that inhabit it. The section will be located within Disney's Animal Kingdom park.

"Avatar," the 2009 film that chronicled the struggle of the alien Na'vi against marauding resource-ravenous humans, grossed almost $3 billion worldwide and triggered the current renaissance in 3D-film making. Cameron is planning sequels to the blockbuster hit, which surpassed his own "Titanic" as the highest-grossing movie in history.

The first of the "Avatar" sequels is set for release around Christmas 2014, Cameron said.

Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said the company planned to bring "Avatar" to other locations beyond the Florida park. "We think we can clearly leverage the global interest in this property," Iger said.

The company is deep into several big theme park projects, including building a new park in Shanghai and adding a 12-acre section, set to open next year based on the animated "Cars" films, to its California resort.

Disney typically works with its own movies when developing themed sections and rides. It does have some attractions based on films from other studios, including the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" franchises.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Edwin Chan; Editing by Gunna Dickson and Tim Dobbyn)

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Disney, Cameron to build "Avatar" theme park

LOS ANGELES | Tue Sep 20, 2011 3:44pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Moviegoers pining for a return to the lush moon of Pandora in James Cameron's "Avatar" will finally get their chance -- first-hand.

Walt Disney, teaming with the Oscar-winning director and Fox Filmed Entertainment, will begin building from 2013 a section at its Orlando theme park that will mimic the thriving green landscape depicted in the highest-grossing movie of all time.

Under their agreement, Disney -- which typically sticks to its own franchises and properties in designing rides -- won exclusive global theme park rights to the Avatar franchise. It will eventually take Avatar "lands" beyond Orlando's Disney World.

"Our goal is to go beyond current boundaries of technical innovation and experiential storytelling, and give park-goers the chance to see, hear, and touch the world of 'Avatar' with an unprecedented sense of reality," Cameron said in a statement.

"Avatar," which chronicled the struggle of the alien Na'vi against marauding resource-ravenous humans, grossed almost $3 billion worldwide and triggered the current renaissance in 3D-film making.

Cameron is planning sequels to the blockbuster hit, which surpassed his own "Titanic" as the highest-grossing movie in history.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Edwin Chan; editing by Gunna Dickson)

Record 27.7 million watch "Men" bury Charlie Sheen

LOS ANGELES | Tue Sep 20, 2011 1:28pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A record audience of 27.7 million watched "Two and A Half Men" bury Charlie Sheen and introduce new star Ashton Kutcher in an all-time series high audience for the lucrative CBS comedy.

After months of headlines following Sheen's bitter exit from the most-watched comedy on U.S. television, Americans tuned in on Monday in bumper numbers to see the funeral of Sheen's womanizing bachelor character Charlie Harper, according to viewership figures from audience tracker Nielsen.

The figure was more than double the audience for the 2010 season opener and more than any episode in the show's first eight seasons with Sheen in the starring role.

Monday's season premiere of "Two and A Half Men" crushed the opening of "Dancing With the Stars" on rival ABC despite a celebrity cast that gave viewers their first glimpse of the ballroom contest's first transgender contestant, Chaz Bono, and TV legal analyst Nancy Grace both doing the cha cha.

Early Nielsen figures showed that 18.4 million people watched the season premiere of "Dancing with the Stars" -- a 24 percent drop from last year's opening show.

Reviews for Kutcher's debut on "Two and a Half Men," playing a heartbroken Internet billionaire with a penchant for walking around nude, were kind and suggested that the series -- a cash cow for both CBS and program makers Warner Bros television -- was far from dead.

"Kutcher's performance was good, nearly as poker-faced fine as Sheen's was ... Kutcher will probably prove just as skilled," wrote Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker.

TV Guide's Matt Roush said that judging by first impressions the revamped "Men" will "will survive both Charlies just fine for at least a little while longer."

The Los Angeles Times called the premiere "a promising beginning" adding that "Kutcher brings a softness to a series that could be brittle and sour, misanthropic and misogynistic, and temperamentally middle-aged."

Sheen had been the highest-paid actor on U.S. television before being fired in March after an insulting tirade against the show's creators and producers that followed months of partying and attempts at rehab.

Sheen and Warner Bros are said to be close to a settlement of the actor's $100 million lawsuit over his firing. Sheen has also made a number of contrite appearances in the past week, including delivering an awkward mea culpa at the Primetime Emmy Awards show on Sunday.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

"Royal wedding," "winning" deemed top TV words

LOS ANGELES | Tue Sep 20, 2011 8:17am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Royal wedding" and "winning" (as in Charlie Sheen's catch-phrase) were the two most used phrases on television in 2011, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The rantings of the former "Two and A Half Men" actor beat "Arab Spring" and Simon Cowell's "The X Factor" singing show when it came to dominating TV screens in the official 2010-11 U.S. TV season, the Global Language Monitor said.

"This is apparently shaping up to be the Year of Kate (Middleton). She has come to dominate the small screen through her engagement, her fashion choices and most of all her royal wedding," said Paul JJ Payack, president of Global Language Monitor.

Middleton's April wedding to Britain's Prince William was watched by millions of people around the world and generated massive media attention.

But Sheen wasn't far behind. The comedy star embarked on a series of bizarre interviews, videos and even a nationwide tour after being fired in March from what was the highest-paid acting job on U.S. television.

"Winning" was one of his favorite phrases, followed closely by "tiger blood" and bragging about his various "goddesses," or live-in girlfriends.

A more subdued Sheen admitted last week he was out of control and making jokes that he never believed in. In an appearance at the Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, an apparently sincere Sheen wished his revamped TV show well.

Rounding out the 2011 top TV words were "Oprah", whose talk show ended after 25 years; "Fukushima", the epicenter of the Japanese quake, tsunami and nuclear power catastrophe; "9/11", "Obama-vision", "Chicago-style politics" and "Zombies".

The Texas-based Global Language Monitor uses a math formula to track the frequency of words and phrases in print, electronic and social media.

Last year's top Teleword was "Spillcam" after the live feed of the ruptured deep sea oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)