If entrepreneur Mark Siwak has anything to do with it, Detroit’s economy may soon have new life breathed into it by … the undead. How’s that for irony? He is hoping to bring a zombie theme park called “Z World” to the motor city. “Z World” would be a massive, 200-acre theme park , a “survival ride” of sorts where people stay the night and try to fend off zombies. Good times! If players are caught in the night, they would turn into zombies and go chase their friends, he says. So it’s like zombie apocalypse meets laser tag. From Rudy Eugene to Karl Laventure , zombies among us are all the rage these days. But would a park based around something like this be a real draw? Siwak, who is trying to raise $140,000 to create “Z World,” said that Detroit is a perfect fit as parts of it almost resemble a post-apocalyptic town. Siwak said of the plan: “There are formal proposals to essentially abandon some Detroit neighborhoods. That’s not a solution. We must be more creative than that.” “Let’s start something fun and unique to revitalize an area and create jobs.” It’s true, if you were going make a zombie theme park, Detroit seems like the place to do it … plenty of vacant lots, and the real estate prices are a steal! So far, Siwak doesn’t have too many supporters, however. His fundraising page at indigogo has only raised $4,231, more than $135,000 short of his goal.
Hollywood.TV is your source for all the latest celebrity news, gossip and videos of your favorite stars! bit.ly – Click to Subscribe! Facebook.com – Become a Fan! Twitter.com – Follow Us! Rick Hilton, known for being a hotel and real estate mogul, changed his tune… Rick talked sports! The always hush-hush father Hilton rarely speaks but tonight while leaving The Ivy Rick chatted with us about sports! Rick talked about watching part of the NBA Western Conference Finals between Oklahoma City Thunders vs. San Antonio Spurs! Then, Rick talked about the Los Angeles Kings and how he often attends games with his sons! Speechless! Hollywood.TV is one of the top celebrity news providers in the world. Since 2008, Hollywood.TV has been bringing all the latest celebrity news, interviews, gossip, and candid videos to viewers all over the world. HTV is on the job 24/7, and at all the best festivals from Sundance to Coachella, as well as on the streets every day to cover the hottest celebs in Hollywood, New York, and Miami. Hollywood.TV is currently the third most viewed reporter channel on www.youtube.com YouTube with almost 400 million views, and our footage is seen worldwide! Tune in daily for all the latest Hollywood news on www.hollywood.tv and http like us on Facebook!
Or the, uh, “Wocka Wocka” fame: “Several Muppets were on hand to receive the star including Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Animal, Pepe, Sweetums, and Walter, the newest Muppet, who made his debut in Disney’s 2011 film,” reports a press release just over the transom at ML HQ. “The Muppets’ star is the 2,466th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is located in front of the historic El Capitan Theatre.” Nice real estate! And nice timing — The Muppets is out on DVD and Blu-ray today. The honor comes 57 years after Kermit’s first TV appearance. No rush! And congrats to all. [Photo: Getty Images] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Yasiin Bey, aka Mos Def , has been tapped to star in the upcoming Jackie Brown prequel Switch alongside actor John Hawkes. According to Variety , the outspoken “rapter” will star as the younger version of Ordell Robbie, originally played by Samuel L. Jackson . Set 15 years before the events in “Jackie Brown,” the story follows career criminals Ordell and Louis as they team up to kidnap Mickey Dawson, the wife of a corrupt Detroit real estate developer. Mos has proven to be one of hip-hops better actors, this season appearing on the series “Dexter” and having roles in The Italian Job , 16 Blocks and more under his belt. [ SOURCE ] RELATED POSTS: Mos Def Remixes “N*ggas In Paris” For The 99 Percent Mos Def Rehearses With Brooklyn Philharmonic [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO]
It may be a relatively quiet Sundance year – even Pixar’s Lee Unkrich, in town for the festival, Tweeted his dismay at the “mixed bag” of movies – but films are selling. Granted, they’re mostly the ones with name actors and mostly okay-to-decent reviews (with a few exceptions), but buyers continue to be getting busy in the snow. The latest batch of pick-ups (Olsens and robots and scares, oh my!) after the jump. Liberal Arts (IFC Films) – Josh Radnor’s follow up to happythankyoumoreplease , another Sundance pick, features Radnor as a thirty-something man who returns to his college campus and is intrigued by both his former professor (Alison Janney) and a young coed (Elizabeth Olsen). IFC picked up Liberal Arts and plans on releasing it later in 2011. Robot and Frank (Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions/Samuel Goldwyn Films) – It’s Frank Langella and a robot. What more do you need to know? Oh, fine: Directed by Jake Schreier and co-starring Susan Sarandon, Peter Sarsgaard, and Liv Tyler, this charmer won over critics during Sundance. V/H/S (Magnolia) – The horror anthology opened to such a raucous, receptive Midnight debut that it’s no wonder a specialist like Magnolia snapped up the surefire genre pleaser. Did reports of a seizure at this week’s screening help? The Pact (IFC) – This deal’s a bit of a surprise, given the negative-to-lukewarm reviews Nicholas McCarthy’s feature debut (adapted from his own Sundance short of the same name) received this week. Yet another spooky tale, about a young lady investigating bumps and scares in her dead mother’s house, it went to IFC for a reported ” high-six-figure deal ” as the distrib hopes it catches fire in limited release/VOD. Previously: Arbitrage (Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions) – Nicholas Jarecki’s dramatic feature-filmmaking debut stars Richard Gere as a billionaire hedge-fund fraud seeking to cash in before he’s exposed. Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling and Tim Roth co-star. Look for the studio duo to duplicate the multi-platform success they enjoyed in 2011 with Margin Call , another financial-world potboiler picked up in Park City. The Surrogate (Fox Searchlight) – Sundance favorite John Hawkes turns in an brave performance as real life poet Mark O’Brien, who yearns to lose his virginity with a sex therapist (Helen Hunt) despite being paralyzed from the head down. Fox Searchlight paid a reported $6 million for the pic, which may face tricky ratings deliberations due to Hunt’s full frontal nudity. Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight) – The smallest narrative to get a deal thus far at Sundance comes off of strong buzz and acclaim for the tale of a young girl and her ailing father who live in a fantastical alternate version of the American South. Red Lights (Millenium Films) Negative reviews hurt the profile of this Rodrigo Cortes ( Buried ) thriller, despite featuring Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro, and last year’s Sundance darling Elizabeth Olsen. For a Good Time, Call… (Focus Features) – The feature debut of shorts director Jamie Travis pairs Lauren Anne Miller and Ari Graynor as frenemies who start a phone sex line together, one of a gaggle of raunchy female-driven comedies in this year’s line-up. Celeste and Jesse Forever (Sony Pictures Classics) – With Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg leading a cast of familiar players, this was bound to attract buyer attention galore. Sony Pictures Classics snatched it up for a reported $2 million, adding C&J to their previous Sundance acquisitions Searching for Sugar Man and The Raid . 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. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter . Get more of Movieline’s Sundance 2012 coverage here .
Anyone who tells you that receiving a tattoo like the dragon design occupying a quarter of Rooney Mara’s back in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo will not hurt is a liar. Nevertheless, he’s a competitively priced liar, according to a new survey of tattoo artists asked the simple question: “How much would it cost to buy a dragon tattoo?” Mike Ryan shopped around this week on the streets of New York, finding estimates ranging from $500 to $1,200 and three different replies to the other critical question in the process: “Will it hurt?” Ha! Of course it will hurt : I spoke to artist Daniel Cotte, whose estimate came in quite a bit higher than those of his competitors. “You see,” Cotte said as he pointed at the picture of Rooney Mara’s back, “there’s a tail on the dragon that snakes around and out of view.” That detail, he explained, makes the dragon tattoo much more expensive — and much more painful. He put the price of the dragon tattoo somewhere between $800 and $1,200, and he definitely recommended coming in for two separate sessions — adding up to four hours in all. Now you know. Find slightly more optimistic estimates at the link below. NOTE: “I AM A RAPIST PIG” tattoos remain free of charge.
Depending on your conspiracy theory of choice, the world may end 11 months and change from now, give or take a few days. And just in case all of those qualified real scientists are wrong about the 2012 doomsday being complete hooey, we’ve got filmmaker Roland Emmerich ’s 2009 opus 2012 on hand to guide us for the potential cataclysm ahead. So grab a notepad and jot down the 18 or so essentials you’ll need to start stockpiling if you’re going to be ready to face down ultimate destruction, John Cusack -style. The fictional 2012 opens as the Earth’s core is being heated by a freak solar flare, which accelerates a shifting of the Earth’s crust. The resulting shift triggers earthquakes and tsunamis across the globe, leaving humanity’s only hope in a series of massive arks constructed to hold survivors… just not everyone. But them’s the breaks. Look, none of us know if we’ll make it onto greedy Oliver Platt’s ginormous boat, so it’s best to come prepared. 1. Emergency kit with the essentials – water, non-perishables, batteries, a radio, perhaps a few magazines for light reading 2. Early investments in steel and titanium interests 3. Decent relationships with your baby mama/daddy 4. A Mayan calendar 5. Disaster insurance 6. Beer 7. A limo with tires with good traction for outrunning earthquakes, family in tow 8. Advanced degree(s) in geology, astrophysics, or international relations 9. Mace for keeping the weirdo pirate radio jock you meet in the woods at arm’s length 10. A private airplane to fly your family to China as America crumbles into the sea 11. Flying lessons 12. Small fortune for buying your way onto life-saving arks at one billion euros a ticket, or 13. High level government clearance assuring privilege of being saved (also works in case of Contagion ) 14. Mountaintop real estate in Africa 15. A houseboat 16. Camping gear 17. A submarine or two 18. Swimming lessons, if all else fails Your mileage may vary with the above, but remember what’s really important in times of crisis as we wait to see if Emmerich was the mystical sage I’d like to think of him as: Family. And not wetting the bed. And also looking cool while evading lava and earthquakes and tsunamis. Let’s circle back on 12/21/12 and see where we’re at. Like the Boy Scouts say, be prepared…
Albert Pujols shocked the Major League Baseball universe today, spurning a nine-year, $200 million offer from the only team for which he’s ever played – the St. Louis Cardinals – and signing a 10-year, $250 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. A three-time MVP, who batted .299 and blasted 37 homers last season, Pujols will join an Angels squad that also inked start C.J. Wilson to a contract today. He was expected to remain in St. Louis, or possibly sign with Miami, until Anaheim swooped in at the last moment. Pujols won the Rookie of the Year award in 2001 and has a lifetime .328 batting average. The 31-year old has also hit 445 home runs.
Survivor host Jeff Probst and actress Lisa Ann Russell have tied the knot. The pair got married Monday in front of family and friends in an intimate ceremony at a private Los Angeles residence, says a spokesperson for the couple. Here is a happy photo of the newlyweds … This is the second marriage for both Russell, 40, and Probst, 50. She shares custody of two children with Franklin & Bash actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who also got engaged to advertising executive Catriona McGinn this summer. Probst will preside over the finale of Survivor: South Pacific on CBS December 18, and at least two more seasons of the long-running reality competition next year. His self-titled talk show will also debut in the fall of 2012.
Erin Andrews is now suing the hotel where she was videotaped secretly in the nude for $10 million, according to reports. The incident occurred in Nashville in 2008. In the suit, originally filed last year, and just refiled to ensure the statute of limitations did not run out, Andrews asks for $6 million from the West End Marriott. She also seeks $4 million from Michael David Barrett , who pleaded guilty to stalking her. In 2010, he was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison. The suit says the hotel was guilty of negligence for allowing Barrett to learn where she was staying and record the infamous Erin Andrews nude peephole video . Barrett had previously videotaped Andrews in other cities, according to prosecutors, and was able to not only find the hotel but book a neighboring room. The Marriott has not commented on the lawsuit. Erin Andrews, 33, is a popular reporter for ESPN. She has said that the peeping tom incident and secret naked surveillance tape taken by the perv still causes her “great emotional distress and embarrassment.” [Photo: WENN.com]
