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Signs of the Apocalypse Roundup – January 2010 – Week 4

Spike TV orders ‘Scrappers,’ ‘Half Pint Brawlers’
Spike TV has greenlit docu-series that examine the world of little person wrestling and Brooklyn scrap-metal workers. In “Scrappers,” a crew of competitors and friends hunt for the best crap in Brooklyn, recycling everything from old cars to building materials. The second show, “Half Pint Brawlers,” is a six-episode series following a chaotic traveling troupe of little person wrestlers that journey around the United States and is led by their gregarious owner, Puppet “The Psycho Dwarf.”

MTV orders ‘Teen Mom,’ real ‘Breakfast Club’
‘Mom’ will air another eight episodes in the summer
MTV is ordering a new series that plays like a reality version of 1980s classic “The Breakfast Club” and is renewing breakout hit “Teen Mom.” “If You Really Knew Me” takes five high school students through “Challenge Day,” a one-day program designed to break down barriers between different social cliques. MTV has ordered 12 episodes.

‘Caligula’ director to make 3D porn film
Tinto Brass announces project involving Roman emperor
Longtime Italian erotic film director Tinto Brass on Thursday announced that he would produce what he called the world’s first-ever 3D pornographic production. Brass, 76, best known for his 1979 film “Caligula,” which he directed in collaboration with noted author Gore Vidal and magazine publisher Bob Guccione, said the time is right for 3D technologies to be used to create an erotic film. He noted that the project, which he said will be the world’s first 3D erotic film, will also be the first 3D film of any type made in Italy.

MTV renews ‘Jersey Shore’ for second season
MTV plans to bring back the show for mid-to-late summer for 12 new episodes, which means commencing production soon. The network will take the cast to another location, as yet unannounced, for season two rather than shoot in New Jersey during the winter.

ABC to air ‘Bachelor’ Mesnick’s wedding
ABC is planning another trip down the aisle, as “The Bachelor” couple Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney will tie the knot next month on the network. The two-hour “The Bachelor: Jason and Molly’s Wedding” is set to air March 8. The event will include the bride’s dress fitting, planning for the big day, bachelor and bachelorette parties and the ceremony. Past “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” couples and participants will be on the guest list.

More Horsemen

Business of the Business

Rich Ross reshapes Disney film studios
Bolstering the brand is new chief’s mantra
What the studio’s new chairman is building with his boss, Robert Iger, is a company clearly focused on both the bottom line and the big picture. Through Ross, the studio now aims to devote most of its development and production dollars to making only a few movies per year, which will capitalize on the appeal of the Disney brand with moviegoers. The studio’s slate will likely take the form of five tentpole releases per year: one during the spring, like this year’s “Alice in Wonderland,” and then two animated pics and two live-action films during the summer and fall. It’ll look similar to the Disney-branded roster unspooling this year. The Mouse House, as Hollywood currently knows it, will become less of a moviemaker and more of a film distributor, turning to Marvel Entertainment (which it now fully owns) and DreamWorks to supply the rest of its slate of releases through the Touchstone banner.

Retailers take aim at Redbox
Walmart, Target adopt purchase limit on DVD sales
The magic number for DVDs these days is 28. Earlier this month, Netflix agreed to not offer up movies from Warner Bros. until 28 days after a pic hits DVD or Blu-ray (Daily Variety, Jan. 6). The deal, which could prompt other studios to ink similar pacts with the video-by-mail service, aims to encourage consumers to keep buying DVDs rather than renting them. That specific window popped up again this week when Walmart, the biggest seller of DVDs in the country, said it would limit customers to purchasing just five copies of a DVD within 28 days of a film’s bow on the homevid format. The move is expected to significantly affect Netflix-rival Redbox, which offers up movies for $1 a day through 19,000 kiosks set up in supermarkets, drugstores, restaurants and outside convenience stores and libraries, for example.

Film Threat sold at Sundance
Site sold to former editor-in-chief Mark Bell
Cinephile site Film Threat has been sold by founder Chris Gore in what is described as a six-figure deal with Mark Bell, the site’s former editor in chief. Gore launched Film Threat in 1985 as a print magazine. The publication went online in 1996, after Gore regained the rights from Larry Flynt Publications, which briefly owned the title. “I’m just really happy that I’ve left it in good hands,” said Gore. “Mark Bell is amazing and the best I’ve worked with in my history doing Film Threat.”

The Crying Game: How Disney Killed Miramax, Now with Weinstein Co. Layoffs!
“At the end, it ended up just being a ‘who had a bigger penis’ kind of thing,” says the source. “And finally Harvey and Bob said ‘Enough. You know what? At the end of the day, we just want to make movies, and we aren’t going to be compromised artistically.’” They left their name, a catalog they had worked over a lifetime to acquire, produce and release, and started their own company, the Weinstein Company, in 2005.

Elisabeth Murdoch touts social networking
CEO says youths willing to pay for premium experiences
Murdoch argued that the younger generation — in Europe, America, wherever — is both watching TV and using their computers at the same time. They’re also eating, Web surfing, doing their homework and chatting simultaneously, and are highly engaged and quite willing to interact with high quality, involving content. Moreover, and this was one of the keys of her keynote, they are also increasingly willing to pay for premium experiences. Given just how much audiences have evolved and how much they now expect high-quality, multi-platform experiences that they can share with their friends, Murdoch suggested that creative models have to be rethought. “Non-linear storytelling is out,” she said. “Our audience is smart and we must meet their expectations. We need to join the party.”

Minutae

Planet of the Odd

‘South Park’ duo hit the stage
Parker, Stone team for Off Broadway musical
A new tuner from “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and “Avenue Q” composer-lyricist Robert Lopez is on tap for the 2010-11 season at Off Broadway’s New York Theater Workshop. Subject matter is being kept under wraps, but it seems a sure bet the project will turn out to be the tuner about Mormons on which the three creatives have been collaborating for some time.

J.D. Salinger dies at 91
‘The Catcher in the Rye’ echoed in music, film
J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose “The Catcher in the Rye” shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91. Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author’s son said in a statement from Salinger’s literary representative. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H.

Actress Zelda Rubinstein dies at 76
Played psychic in ‘Poltergeist’
Zelda Rubinstein, who played the psychic hired to rid a home of demonic forces in “Poltergeist,” died Wednesday in Los Angeles. She was 76. Known for her childlike voice, the 4-foot-3 character actress died at Barlow Respiratory Hospital after a series of health problems. The Pittsburgh-born thesp worked as a medical technician before beginning to act in her 40s. Her first film role was as one of the little people in the 1981 comedy “Under the Rainbow.”

Rip Torn Will Go for Alcohol Treatment: Lawyer
The actor is being held on $100,000 bond
Torn was arrested on Friday evening after drunkenly breaking into a Connecticut bank while carrying a loaded revolver, according to a statement from police. He was in custody through the weekend, the Register reports. On Monday, his lawyer argued that he did not brandish the weapon.

79-year-old jewelry thief, subject of Halle Berry movie, arrested at South Coast Plaza
Doris Payne’s life as an international jewel thief is the subject of an upcoming movie, “Who Is Doris Payne?” starring Halle Berry. Payne said she had no idea how many jewels she had stolen but that her career as a thief had spanned the globe from New York and Las Vegas to London, Paris, Monte Carlo and Tokyo.

Bits and Pieces

The Fine Print

This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive roundup of the entire weeks’ news. All stories are chosen by me for no other reason than that they got my attention and might capture yours. If something you think is more important chime in on the feedback; we’d love to hear comments and have a conversation about it.

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About The Author

Scott From LA

Scott is an art director, writer and comics creator living in Los Angeles. He has been a pop culture maven from a very young age. His very first job was as a manager of a comic book store. He spent several years working in a video store, and yes, we are talking VHS tapes. A student of literature and Writing, he brings his obsessive love of comic book trivia, movie history and science fiction/fantasy writing to bear on the work he does for CoolShite.

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