Following in the footsteps of hit musical adaptations Billy Elliot , Wicked , and Bring It On: The Musical , Universal’s stage adaptation of John Landis’ s Animal House will hit Broadway with a book by playwright Michael Mitnick, to be directed by Book of Mormon ‘s Casey Nicholaw, with music by the guys who sang the indelible lyrics “Chickity China the Chinese chicken/You have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin’.” Because nothing says “Broadway” like frat boys and crunchy Canadian alt-rock, right? [ THR ]
Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton have all re-signed with the singing competition. By Kara Warner “The Voice” judges Cee Lo, Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton Photo: Getty Images With its second season already a certified hit, it’s no surprise that “The Voice” is coming back for a third season. Rumor had it last week that Christina Aguilera had already signed her contract to continue working as a judge for a third season, and now there’s word that the rest of the gang — Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton — have all re-upped their deals as well. According to The Wrap , all four judges re-signed with the show and will receive substantial salary increases for doing so. Aguilera will reportedly bank around $10 million, while Green, Levine and Shelton are expected to bring in $6 million. The next step in moving forward with the third season will be to lock down a time slot and premiere date; NBC is expected to make a formal announcement very soon. Insider sources claim the show will be back in the fall to compete directly with Fox’s “X Factor.” “The Voice” has proven to be a major hit for NBC. The season-two premiere following the Super Bowl on Sunday earned NBC’s best ratings for an entertainment show in six years and after airing only three episodes, the singing competition has the highest averaging ratings on television. No mentions or announcements have been made about the show’s other on-air talent, host Carson Daly and new social-media correspondent Christina Milian , but given the current popularity of the show, we wouldn’t expect NBC to shake things up the way Fox has with “X Factor,” which lost judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones after its debut season. Are you happy all four “Voice” judges will be back? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists Christina Aguilera Cee Lo Green Adam Levine Blake Shelton
Wow. Sophia Stockton, a junior at Mid-America Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas, ordered a textbook called Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives and Issues for her Spring semester. After flipping through the pages on Monday she “discovered a bag of white powder had fallen to the ground,” the station reports. Fearing the mysterious substance was anthrax, the college brought the bag to the local police department the next day. “I told them white powder was in my terrorism textbook and so I put it on the table and they’re like ‘oh, okay,’ and so he went back and tested,” Stockton told WPTV. “He comes back and says ‘you didn’t happen to order some cocaine with your textbook, did you?’ And I was like, ‘no!’” The police estimated there may have been up to $400 worth of cocaine in the baggie, and officials are investigating where the drugs may have come from, according to WTPTV. Stockton had purchased the pre-owned textbook through Warehouse Deals, an Amazon storefront that offers “deep discounts on open-box, like-new, refurbished or used products that are in good condition but do not meet Amazon.com’s rigorous standards of ‘new.’” Warehouse Deals guarantees all its items are inspected prior to sale, and Stockton could potentially file a claim that the book was “not the item depicted in the seller’s description,” but the student is choosing to take a diplomatic position. Source More On Bossip! For Discussion: Is Drake Crossing The Line By Constantly Dating His Peers’ Ex-Girlfriends? Galleries: Draya And Her Amazing Rack Have A Happy Birthday [Photos] Reality Love Friend Triangle: Evelyn Lozada GOES IN On Ex- BFF Jennifer “Purple Contacts” Williams, Her Relationship With Nene Leakes And Says “BEYOTCH You Will Never WIN!!!” This May Take A While: A Gallery Of Alllll The Men Rumored To Be Romantically Linked To Rih-Rih’s Red Hot Cakes
As sort of presumed, the John Hawkes/Helen Hunt-starring, man-in-an-iron-lung-virginity-losing, awards-ready indie drama The Surrogate made an impressive market showing Monday following its Sundance premiere, selling for $6 million — more than twice the figure noted in last week’s festival bidding-war preview — to Fox Searchlight. Not bad! The studio also has all but closed a deal on director Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild ; drop back by for more coverage of each from Sundance and, for The Surrogate in particular, from next year’s awards season. Ahem. [ Deadline ]
A quick update on the flurry of Sundance deal-making of recent days, with well-received documentaries and less acclaimed but star-driven (read: marketable) narratives sitting pretty with distribution agreements. Will this be, as pundits predicted, a high-volume buying year in Park City? This list will be updated as more films reach distribution deals this week at Sundance, where smaller hits (i.e. Beasts of the Southern Wild ) and high profile pieces (Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer , which screens tonight) have piqued buyer interest. The documentary field is especially strong so far, with Searching for Sugar Man , The Queen of Versailles , Kirby Dick’s The Invisible War , and West of Memphis having already screened to warm responses, while a host of narratives featuring name actors have also shown promise. Searching for Sugar Man (Sony Classics) – The documentary about 1960s musician Rodriguez played well to critics and was snatched up by SPC for a reported six figures . The Queen of Versailles (Magnolia Pictures) – Another well-received doc, Lauren Greenfield’s examination of Florida real estate mogul David Siegel was picked up by Magnolia on Friday. Black Rock (LD Distribution) – Katie Aselton’s thriller about three female friends (Aselton, Lake Bell, Kate Bosworth) surviving a weekend getaway gone wrong was the first Midnight selection to seal a deal, partnering with newbie venture LD Distribution. The Words (CBS Films) – Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, and Jeremy Irons lead a cast of recognizable stars in this literary drama about a writer (Cooper) who claims credit on someone else’s manuscript and is confronted by its real author, so it’s easy to see why buyers were interested. CBS Films reportedly made the most expensive buy of the fest so far, laying down $2 million for the film. Whether or not that move was smart remains to be seen, as this first review over at The Playlist is less than encouraging. Previously: The five films likeliest to ignite a Sundance 2012 bidding war Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter . Get more of Movieline’s Sundance coverage here .
A quick update on the flurry of Sundance deal-making of recent days, with well-received documentaries and less acclaimed but star-driven (read: marketable) narratives sitting pretty with distribution agreements. Will this be, as pundits predicted, a high-volume buying year in Park City? This list will be updated as more films reach distribution deals this week at Sundance, where smaller hits (i.e. Beasts of the Southern Wild ) and high profile pieces (Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer , which screens tonight) have piqued buyer interest. The documentary field is especially strong so far, with Searching for Sugar Man , The Queen of Versailles , Kirby Dick’s The Invisible War , and West of Memphis having already screened to warm responses, while a host of narratives featuring name actors have also shown promise. Searching for Sugar Man (Sony Classics) – The documentary about 1960s musician Rodriguez played well to critics and was snatched up by SPC for a reported six figures . The Queen of Versailles (Magnolia Pictures) – Another well-received doc, Lauren Greenfield’s examination of Florida real estate mogul David Siegel was picked up by Magnolia on Friday. Black Rock (LD Distribution) – Katie Aselton’s thriller about three female friends (Aselton, Lake Bell, Kate Bosworth) surviving a weekend getaway gone wrong was the first Midnight selection to seal a deal, partnering with newbie venture LD Distribution. The Words (CBS Films) – Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, and Jeremy Irons lead a cast of recognizable stars in this literary drama about a writer (Cooper) who claims credit on someone else’s manuscript and is confronted by its real author, so it’s easy to see why buyers were interested. CBS Films reportedly made the most expensive buy of the fest so far, laying down $2 million for the film. Whether or not that move was smart remains to be seen, as this first review over at The Playlist is less than encouraging. Previously: The five films likeliest to ignite a Sundance 2012 bidding war Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter . Get more of Movieline’s Sundance coverage here .
SMH at Brandon James and his “Time To Shut Up, Fat Boy!” comments: After a week of backpage dialogue between the Jets and Giants leading up to Saturday’s game — much of it musings from Jets Coach Rex Ryan about his team’s supposed superiority — one Giant decided it wasn’t enough to let his club’s play do the talking in the wake of its 29-14 win. “Time to shut up, fat boy!” Giants RB Brandon Jacobs yelled at Ryan, per The (Newark) Star-Ledger. Per the (New York) Daily News, Jacobs also sent a “shut the (expletive) up” to Rex, who reportedly countered with “go (expletive) himself.” Ryan’s take from his postgame press conference when asked about Jacobs? “We had a private conversation. That’s all I’ll leave it as,” he said. “He doesn’t like me. I respect him, but I couldn’t care less about him.” Watch video below to hear James call Rex Ryan a disrespectful bastard. Source
Hmmmmm…. Via TMZ: Evelyn Lozada — one of the stars of “Basketball Wives” who was once engaged to former NBA All-Star Antoine Walker — is being sued for allegedly receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars illegally. The story is shocking. Walker raked in a whopping $110 million during his NBA career, in addition to untold millions in endorsements and other deals … and he blew ALL OF IT and a lot more. Walker filed for bankruptcy last year, and now the bankruptcy trustee smells a rat. It seems Walker gave Lozada $560,000 when he already knew he was going belly up. The trustee has sued Lozada, claiming the transfer was fraudulent — an attempt to hide money from legitimate creditors. The trustee says Lozada used the money to start a Miami shoe store called Dulce, and now the trustee wants the $560k back. We’re told Lozada and Walker insist there was no funny business. He gave her the money to help pay her bills. Sources say Lozada funded Dulce NOT with the $560k, but by selling her engagement ring. And, our sources say, Lozada had no idea Walker was so deep in debt. We’re pretty sure Evelyn let Antoine spend major guap on her, but they can’t blame her for him running through $110 MILLION!!!! $110 MILLION???? SMH.
Congrats are in order to Patty Jenkins, who was confirmed today as Marvel’s pick to helm their 2013 sequel, Thor 2 . Jenkins, who directed Charlize Theron to an Oscar in 2003’s Monster , her feature directorial debut, inherits the helm of the Thor comic book movie franchise from Kenneth Branagh. Full press release after the jump.
They can’t all be Oscar-devouring high-gloss epics: Lionsgate announced today that it has closed a deal to bring Dead Island to the screen, pacting with developer Deep Silver to adapt the celebrated zombie video game as your next major brains-chomping horror franchise. Or next to next, depending on if/when the ‘Gate ever gets Pride and Prejudice and Zombies off the ground. All I’m saying is these guys are serious about their undead, and they’re hoping you are, too. The press release was just dropped off via a curiously grey, slow-moving bike messenger; read on to rewatch the original game trailer and for the full details of today’s agreement.
