'Transformers' controls box office for 2nd week - Reuters

LOS ANGELES, July 10 | Sun Jul 10, 2011 12:01pm EDT

LOS ANGELES, July 10 (Reuters) - Big-budget action film "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" won the battle of the North American box office for the second straight week, churning up $47 million and easily beating two new comedies, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

Ticket sales for the third installment of the popular "Transformers" films about shape-shifting aliens eclipsed adult-targeted comedy "Horrible Bosses," which took in $28 million, and family film "Zookeeper," the weekend's No. 3 movie at box offices with $21 million.

"Transformers" was released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. (VIAb.N), "Horrible Bosses" was distributed by Warner Bros., a division of Time Warner Inc. (TWX.N), and "Zookeeper" was released by the studio division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a unit of Sony Corp (6758.T).

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Sandra Maler)

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‘Space Invaders’ to be made into movie. Is this the old-school video game you want to see on the big screen?

Many years ago, it took one quarter to enter the world of Space Invaders. Soon, it may take something like 43. According to the Hollywood Reporter, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers) and Odd Lot Entertainment’s Gigi Pritzker have optioned the rights to the wildly popular and pioneering arcade game that debuted in 1978 and captivated our hearts and fingers into the early 80s; they are currently looking for a writer to spin a story out of the low-fi, high-fun game. For those unfamiliar with Space Invaders, the premise was simple: Rows of aliens would march their way across and down the screen toward you while shooting lasers. Meanwhile, you maneuvered horizontally across the bottom of the screen, avoiding their fire, shooting back at them, and hiding behind barricades that became compromised by the crossfire. The more of them you killed, the faster they would come. If the aliens shot you, you lost one of your precious ships. If they reached the bottom of the screen, you lost everything.

First thought: Cool! I can already envision the first trailer that tells me nothing! (Black screen. Flashes of laser fire. Shouting. Formations of aliens in the sky. Sound of ominous thump-thump-thump marching that slowly speeds up. Then: SPACE INVADERS. WINTER 2013.) Second thought: How the hell is this a movie? They’re just buying the rights to a name, right? Our Space Invaders protagonist had no real vibe; it was a side-to-side-moving monochromatic brick with a tiny nipple from which laser fire shot out. (At least the aliens were somewhat creepy at the time, except for those winged, antennaed crab-like dudes who looked kind of friendly.) The game’s stark, uncomplicated nature arms us with few preconceived notions about what a Space Invaders movie should and could be, thereby opening a world of options; then again, the saga of my panini maker holds almost the same blank promise.

But if we’re going to be exploring/exploiting old-school arcade games — and clearly we are — what about Defender? Or Robotron? Joust? Bezerk? Or one of my favorite underrated ‘80s games, Gladiator?

Is there one classic video game that you are dying to see transformed into a movie, PopWatchers? Or will it be nearly impossible to top The King of Kong? And are you into or over ’80s nostalgia being mined for moviedom?

Read more:
‘Candy Land’…the movie? What’s next, ‘Hungry Hungry Hippos: The Motion Picture’?
Movies about board games? Seriously?
Ouija board game movie will be action-packed

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Prince William and Kate in L.A.

Image Credit: Rex USA

Celebrities like Nicole Kidman, Tom Hanks, Barbra Streisand and Quentin Tarantino gathered at a Los Angeles theater Saturday to celebrate Brits in the biz and – if they were lucky enough — to rub elbows with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Kate wore a lilac Alexander McQueen gown and jewels from the Queen while William donned a black tuxedo for the event dubbed Brits to Watch that was sponsored by the British Academy of Film and TV Arts.

The event, which also attracted celebs like Blake Lively, Jason Bateman, Kristin Chenoweth, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Paul Rudd, Jennifer Garner and Jack Black was held at the Belasco, a classic theater located in an otherwise seedy section of downtown L.A. (Pay no attention to the barbed wire in the background, Wills!) “This seems like a strange place to do it,” Deschanel told EW. “The theater is nice and was recently renovated but there are parking lots filled with trash around the corner. I don’t want them to see that! I want L.A. to be able to put its best foot forward. They don’t come here that often.”And how did Deschanel — who’s headlining a new fall comedy for Fox called New Girl – score an invite to Hollywood’s biggest party on Saturday? “I got an email but I only half-read it so I was just excited to be invited to a BAFTA event,” she said. “It was not until a couple of days later when I was talking to mom and said, `I had been invited to a BAFTA event.’ And she said, `Is that the same one that the Duke and Duchess are going to?’ I immediately reread the email and realized it was an even bigger deal than I thought. And then I immediately looked up the rules of what to do and say on Wikipedia. Apparently, I don’t have to curtsey because I am not one of their subjects. I am just supposed to shake hands. I will still probably mess it up despite studying.”Bateman, meanwhile, couldn’t believe his luck. “There was probably a last-minute cancellation,” he told EW. “Ryan Reynolds was probably busy. Wouldn’t that be great if they actually sought me out tonight to get the skinny on the Arrested Development movie? That might actually get it pushed through. An official royal request might be the one thing that could trigger production.”About 100 shouting lookee-loos stood across the street and wielded signs that said “CA hearts W & K” and “All we want is a wave” as the Royal Couple walked the red carpet. (One killjoy decided to mark the occasion by dressing up in a bear suit and holding a sign that said “Bearskins are for bears, not guards.”) The Duke and Duchess didn’t do interviews – nor did they wave to the media — but they did, however, sign autographs for a few military families before going inside.“I have to be on my best behavior tonight,” Jonah Hill told EW. “Hopefully they don’t put me at the kid’s table based on the type of movies I’ve made.” Hill, like all of those in attendance, had to pass through a metal detector before entering the theater. “I guess they don’t care how many hit singles J. Lo has had or how many Oscars Tom Hanks has or how many people saw Superbad,” Hill said. “We all had to get the shakedown.”Kidman and Streisand, along with her husband James Brolin, were lucky enough to score a seat at the royals’ table, along with a few choice studio execs. “I just got off the phone with my mum,” Kidman told the press beforehand. “She is very excited for me to meet the royal couple. I’m excited too and nervous. I quite like them.”The event was scheduled to celebrate Brits in the business. “We found out they were coming and really wanted to put together a special evening in honor of their visit,” Nigel Lythgoe, the BAFTA Chairman, told EW before the show. “We have Hollywood royalty here tonight to mingle with real royalty. It is the most excited I’ve been since American Idol got renewed for a second season. We get to raise money and show them a good time and honor the next wave of British talent.”As President of BAFTA, the Duke then gave a speech to the guests. “I am immensely proud of the success Brits have had in the fiercely competitive world of film, television and video games,” he said. “Please give them the opportunities you have always extended to some of the brightest and best that Britain has to offer.  When American and British creative talent gets together, magic happens.  Let’s continue the winning formula.”A video program followed that was hosted by Cat Deeley. — With reporting from Carrie Bell

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Prince William, Kate stun at BAFTA event - USA Today

LOS ANGELES — A black-tie event Saturday night was one of the rare occasions in which even A-list celebrities were star-struck.

Pool, Getty Images

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, chat with Jennifer Lopez and her mother Guadalupe Lopez at the BAFTA Brits To Watch event.

Pool, Getty Images

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, chat with Jennifer Lopez and her mother Guadalupe Lopez at the BAFTA Brits To Watch event.

It took the appearance of what Piers Morgan dubbed "the world's most famous couple," the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, to make Hollywood's biggest names gush and worry about protocol.

"They make me smile," said Nicole Kidman, in a blue-grey Elie Saab gown. "I love them."

"I think they're bigger than stars," said Zooey Deschanel, in a gold tea-length Oscar De La Renta dress.

She worried that the area near the BAFTA event at the Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles might look shabby to the regal couple.

"I just don't want them to see the worst of L.A.," said Deschanel.

Others spoke about not being sure how to act around royalty.

"No noogies, I know that's not allowed," said Paul Rudd. "You can only do that with an earl."

Added Rudd: "I tend to hug people if I'm nervous. Or kiss them on the cheek. When it's awkward, I fall into that trap a lot."

"I'm very excited, but slightly terrified as well," said Harry Lloyd, a British actor chosen as 42 honored "Brits to Watch" by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) which sponsored Saturday night's event.

"There are kind of a lot of opportunities to put your foot in your mouth tonight," Lloyd said.

They were reassured en masse in the ballroom by Duncan Kenworthy, vice chairman of BAFTA who urged the celebrity-packed audience to be at ease around the royal couple.

He told the 250 guests in the ballroom: "They want to meet all of you. They will try and chat with all of you this evening. When you meet them, you don't have to bow and curtsy. You can call them whatever you feel. Your Royal highness, Sir, Ma'am, William and Kate, just as the mood takes you. They are here to have fun. They are really relaxed, as I'm sure you are."

The royal newlyweds did indeed look relaxed. William and Catherine, radiant in a lavender-grey gown by Alexander McQueen and earrings lent to her by the Queen, flew in on a helicopter from the Santa Barbara polo grounds — where William scored four goals in a charity match — to this black-tie event. They quickly strode down the red carpet at around about 8 pm. after arriving surrounded by police escorts in a black right-hand drive Range Rover, one of a fleet of nine dark SUVs.

By the time they arrived, greeted and shook hands with a gathered crowd of family and friends of the event's production, the stars had already gone into the ballroom, with the exception of director Quentin Tarantino who showed up late, looking casual in sneakers and shades at the black-tie event. Several hundred people gathered nearby, screaming when the royals arrived.

The biggest stars on hand, Barbra Streisand, Tom Hanks and Jennifer Lopez, scurried along the red carpet, avoiding reporters. Equally press-averse were celebrities such as James Gandolfini, Jennifer Garner and Blake Lively, who did model her stunning Marchesa steel-gray, one-shouldered gown.

Jonah Hill, said he was eager to meet the couple "I'll bombard my way in there," said the actor, almost unrecognizable in a blondish crewcut and considerably slimmed down. "I never met a prince or princess. I met Prince though."

Several celebrities described the couple as friendly, down-to-earth and strikingly attractive.

"They seem like a very nice, young, normal couple," said Jason Bateman.

"They're a breath of fresh air," said celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

William, the Duke of Cambridge, is the president of BAFTA and addressed the Hollywood luminaries as well as the 42 "Brits to Watch" at Los Angeles' Belasco entertainment complex—built in the early 1900s and recently renovated for $12 million.

"Before I start I'd like to thank Colin Firth for my perfect opening line: 'I have a voice'," said William, in a slightly husky one, after an afternoon spent playing polo.

"I am immensely proud of the success Brits have had in the fiercely competitive world of film, television and video games," said William. "Their creative and hi-tech achievements have contributed greatly to our national wealth, not to mention our personal pleasure."

"When American and British creative talent gets together, magic happens," he said. " Let's continue the winning formula. Catherine and I have been hugely looking forward to tonight's event with its exciting cast, British and American?.I believe great things will result."

His concluding phrase drew an appreciative laugh: "Lights, Camera, Action."

William and Catherine spoke first to Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Jennifer Lopez and Nicole Kidman, then greeted each of the 42 recipients, speaking to each individually and later ate dinner, which consisted of a courgette and mint tian with a lemon and pine nut gremolata, shaved manchego and a courgette blossom flower garnish to start; and a filet of beef with creamed leeks, pickled garlic, asparagus, turnip, baby onions, potato fondant, and a red wine sauce. Guests drank from gold goblets and ate from antique-style plates at tables dressed with blooms of English dahlias and roses.

For dessert, guests enjoyed a version of the British dessert Eton Mess featuring English rose meringue, strawberries, cream, sugar-dusted edible rose petals and pulled sugar.

Seated at the royal table were Nicole Kidman, Barbra Streisand, James Brolin and Donna Langley co-chairman of Universal Pictures, Duncan Kenworthy as well as the prince's private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, diplomat Sir David Manning and British consul-general Dame Barbara Hay, who hosted a private party for the royals at her Hancock Park home on Friday evening.

Other guests at the event included Anna Kournikova, Don Cheadle, Elizabeth Banks, Judd Apatow, Leslie Mann, Harvey Weinstein, Elizabeth Moss, Berry Gordy, Kristin Chenoweth, Ed Westwick, and Mary-Louise Parker.

The 42 British up and comers included actors, directors, writers, producers, editors, composers, animators, cinematographers, production designers, video game designers and visual effects artists.

One of those chosen for his promise, TV director Rupert Smith said he received an email inviting him to the event, but initially didn't look closely at it.

"I thought it was an invitation to a cheese and wine thing," he said. "I nearly deleted it."

British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who co-stars in Larry Crowne, said she avidly watched the royal wedding with her mother. "Catherine always looks so effortlessly cool, calm and collected. She's got such a sense of style."

Mbatha-Raw, in a stunning cobalt blue gown by Reem Acra, said she found the wording of her emailed invitation strangely low-key.

"At the bottom, it said 'Let us know if you'd like to attend'," said Mbatha-Raw. "I was like 'Are you kidding me?'"

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Conan 'Can't Stop' (being needy)?

Image Credit: Film Images

A late-night talk-show host occupies many roles at once. He is stand-up comic, he is interviewer, he is party host, he is sketch-comedy utility man, he is national spokesman/judge, he is tie-and-jacketed DIY surrealist. But it wasn’t until Conan O’Brien fought his doomed war against the suits at NBC that a late-night talk-show host came to occupy the following role: the Rebel You Have to Like. For a while (and this was the culmination of Conan’s cult of cooler-than-thou TV-zombie-head cachet), it simply wouldn’t do to think, or say, that Conan O’Brien was anything but the bee’s knees. Or to think, or say, that he’d lost the Tonight Show gig for any other reason than that he’d gone up against The Man — who hadn’t given him enough time! Those ratings were going to shoot up, they really were! — and that The Man had screwed him over. It simply wasn’t welcome on the buzz spectrum to say that maybe you didn’t like Conan O’Brien, or to say that his not working out as the Tonight Show host — a situation that was undeniably poorly handled by the network — had more than a little to do with the nature of his talent, which is to italicize and absurdify every joke to within an inch of its life.

In Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, the lively, revealing, fly-on-the-dressing-room-wall documentary about the traveling roadshow revue that Conan put together to fill up the six months in which he wasn’t allowed, by contract, to appear on television, the 47-year-old O’Brien, gangly and unshaven, arrogant yet abashed, keeps describing how hungry he is to go out on stage, to appear again in front of a live audience. The way he talks about it, it sounds like a generous idea: The frowning NBC brass may have tried to muzzle him, but he’s going to give the people what they want! Except that the more he goes on about how much he craves that connection with an audience, the more you realize that what he’s really talking about is how much they give to him. That’s true, to a degree, of almost any entertainer, and stand-up comics are, of course, a legendarily insecure breed. But O’Brien may be a special case. In Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, he’s the comedian as approval junkie, modest and likable on the surface but compulsively nervous about how he’s coming off. He lets the love from audiences in 32 cities wash over him as a substitute for the love that his evil network daddies didn’t give him. He calls his roadshow the Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour, but it’s really the Repairing Conan’s Ego Tour.

I bring all of this up because the overwhelming need to be liked that’s front and center in Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop is also at the center of why I have never been with Coco, or had much patience for him as a talk-show host. He’s obviously a clever and witty-to-the-core entertainer, and when he started out, in 1993, he seemed fresh. He presented himself as the next-generation David Letterman, building on the cheeky irony — the sense of everything in quote marks — that Dave had first brought to late night. If Letterman, in effect, put quote marks around Johnny Carson (Dave made the very idea that he was hosting a big darn TV program faintly ridiculous), Conan, the first late-night talk-show host who had grown up wanting to be a late-night talk-show host, put quote marks around the quote marks. He turned every winking aside, every look! I’m the host! And I’m making a funny! non sequitur, into a gleeful deconstruction — and tongue-in-cheek assertion — of his gawky, overgrown-boy, put-on ringleader role.

And it was exhausting — God, was it exhausting! Born in 1963, Conan was, and always will be, the quintessential Gen X talk-show host, because he developed his two-ton sense of reflexive irony in the ’80s, when irony was just beginning to rule, and it’s still the diesel fuel that powers his act. Every joke, no matter how trivial or “thrown away,” comes with a little sign attached that says: “Check it out, I’m telling a joke!” What I’ve always found so annoying about Conan is that he uses this generational tic of outsize detachment because it seems like what he’s supposed to be doing, but really because it serves as a moment-to-moment billboard for his tender ego, which needs as many feedings as a vampire. (Is that why his handsome moonface is so pale?) His strenuous postmodern prankishness is really a way of keeping the spotlight, at every millisecond, fixed on him.

By now, though, you might well ask: Don’t most late-night talk-show hosts do some variation on this? Well, yes and no. My aversion to Conan O’Brien sounds like a generational rant, but it’s really not. The two Jimmys, Kimmel and Fallon, are both younger than Conan (Kimmel by 4 years, Fallon by 11), and though it’s undeniable that their shows are powered by plenty of free-floating delirium and rib-nudging post-Letterman detachment, both of these guys know how to relax – which, to me (sorry to be so uncool), is an essential part of the pleasure of watching television after midnight. They know how to lay down a comic groove that they don’t have to keep intruding upon. Both of them, in their ways (Kimmel with his mock-abrasive dead-eyed scowl, Fallon with his darting quickness and joy), give the masterly ease of Johnny Carson a 21st-century flow.

I personally think that Fallon, the rare comedian who can wield a skewer with joviality, is destined to be the future king of late night. When O’Brien, in the midst of his Tonight Show debacle, was doing all his faux-rebel squawking, and the media was righteously cheering him along, as if he were the Beatles to Jay Leno’s Pat Boone, it was Jimmy Fallon, hosting the best late-night party around in Conan’s old time slot, who was the elephant in the room: too hip to be detached, delivering all the wit of Conan without the hidden sheetrock of self-aggrandizement. I’m glad that Conan O’Brien is still on the air — he deserves to be — but the cult of Conan represents an overly energized nightly tussle with “convention” that I can’t join, and never could. Conan O’Brien can’t stop trying too hard.

So I know I’m bound to get some flack for having written this, but does anyone else agree with me — that Conan, for all his talent, is a wearying entertainer? And what did you think of him in Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop?

Follow Owen on Twitter: @OwenGleiberman

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‘Strike Back’ teaser: Cinemax guns for ’24′ magic — EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

For those 24 fans who’ve been hungering for some serious terrorist ass-kicking since Jack Bauer went into seclusion, help might finally be on the way. On Aug. 12, Cinemax premieres Strike Back, an original series about an American Special Forces op who teams up with a British military unit to take down a high-profile Pakistani terrorist. Animal Kingdom‘s Sullivan Stapleton and Fringe‘s Philip Winchester get to play rough, and the story couldn’t seem more timely, after the takedown of Osama bin Laden. Take a look.

Does it have that 24 pulse? At least one of its writer/directors (Frank Spotnitz) is from The X-Files, so Strike Back, which will run for 10 episodes, should at the very least have some great buddy-buddy chemistry.

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How many crotch-shots can Justin Timberlake squeeze into one viral video?

For a mulit-talented entertainer and bourgeoning Internet entrepreneur, Justin Timberlake still has an unusual amount of time to film aspiring viral videos. Recently, he railed against Facebook’s relationship status fascism while promoting his upcoming movie, Friends With Benefits. And now, he’s skewering his own athletic ability to promote the inaugural Capital One Cup, which goes to the best college sports programs at next’s week’s ESPY Awards. Take a look.

Timberlake is truly an Ironman. Clearly, I’m not referring to his endurance on the basketball court, or on the track, or in the pool. But the clip itself lasts more than six minutes! What sport didn’t they force Timberlake to attempt? Fortunately, my spirits were refreshed by the occasional blast of “You’re the Best,” Joe Esposito’s rousing song from The Karate Kid.

Could they have cut this clip in half without losing any oomph? Or are you of the mind that the more Timberlake there is, the better?

Read more:
Seth Meyers to host the ESPYs
Justin Timberlake: ‘I don’t have a single song ready to go’

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Hugh Grant talks role in ‘News of the World’ takedown, awesomely defeats foe with charming aplomb

Image Credit: Felix Kunze/WireImage.com

Despite the fact that Hugh Grant has been relatively absent from the film scene since 2009's Did You Hear About the Morgans?, the British actor has been quite busy. Doing what, you ask? Why, helping take down Britain’s News of the World, which announced Thursday it would shut down following a hacking scandal involving murder victim Milly Dowler. (The publication had broken into Dowler’s voicemail while reporting the story.) As EW reported back in April, the 50-year-old actor wrote a piece for the New Statesman about how he secretly recorded former News of the World journalist Paul McMullan, who admitted that former editor Andy Coulson and owner Rupert Murdoch were aware that hacking occurred at the publication. Now, amidst the news that the publication is closing its doors, the actor is speaking out once again about his piece, and still fighting back against the journalist who exposed him to the publication’s immoral practice.

“I was revolted and astonished,” Grant told the BBC about when he learned his phone had been hacked.He noted that he was even more surprised to learn that the hacking practice occurred at most tabloids, and often times involved police. And McMullan also helped the actor get all the proof he needed that Dowler’s phone had been tapped into when the former News of the World journalist told Grant that the hacking “most certainly happened.”

Interestingly enough, the BBC also welcomed McMullan, who attempted to brush off Grant’s exposé by saying he was more upset that the actor didn’t pay for his beer on the day Grant recorded him. “It was hilarious,” McMullan said. “How can Hugh Grant coming into your pub with a silly little pen trying to record you be anything other than hilarious? I didn’t mind being turned over.” Then, however, the conversation got a bit more caustic, as McMullan tried to insist that readers had no sympathy for the invasion of privacy against Grant. After all, the actor picks up several million dollars for each film project — wasn’t any tabloid fodder about him part of the publicity game? Grant responded, “Do you think the family and friends of Milly Dowler … think that it’s a game? Think it’s funny? You think they’re earning $5 million quid a film? … You guys have no morals, no scruples at all. You didn’t care who got hurt, so long as you were able to sell your newspapers a lot of money. Your only motive was profit. You’re not journalists. You have no interest in journalism. It’s just money money money.”

Well, after Grant’s awesome takedown, I’ll say I’m even more excited for 2012's The Pirates! Band of Misfits. Come back for good, Hugh!

Read more:
Hugh Grant secretly records chat with former tabloid journalist for true exposé

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‘True Blood’ finishes bloody good Comic-Con Friday schedule

Image Credit: John P. Johnson/HBO

Get ready to salivate over Comic-Con’s TV line-up for July 23. Not only will True Blood be hosting a panel that Friday, but the convention is offering plenty more TV events that you’ll be dying to suck up. (Does that vampire pun work? No? Eh, it’s Friday.) Here are some TV-related highlights for July 23 (and be sure to check back tomorrow and Sunday for Comic-Con 2011's remaining schedules!):

-Torchwood: Miracle Day discussion, featuring Mekhi Phifer, Bill Pullman, Lauren Ambrose, and Alexa Havins

-The Walking Dead discussion and season 2 walk-up, featuring Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Jeffrey DeMunn, and Frank Darabont

-The Nine Lives of Chloe King episode sneak peek, featuring Skyler Samuels, Amy Pietz, and Grey Damon

-The Big Bang Theory screening and Q&A, featuring Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady, Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik, and Melissa Rauch

-Childrens Hospital episode screening, featuring Rob Corddry, Malin Akerman, Lake Bell, Rob Huebel, Erinn Hayes, and Megan Mullally

-Bones discussion and season 7 walk-up, featuring Hart Hanson, David Boreanaz, and Emily Deschanel

-Eureka discussion, featuring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Neil Grayston, and Felicia Day

-Falling Skies Q&A, featuring Noah Wyle, Moon Bloodgood, Will Patton, Drew Roy, Colin Cunningham, and Sarah Sanguin Carter

-ThunderCats premiere episode screening

-True Blood panel and Q&A (hosted by EW’s own Tim Stack!), featuring Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Alan Ball, Ryan Kwanten, Sam Trammell, Rutina Wesley, Nelsan Ellis, Deborah Ann Woll, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Joe Manganiello, and Kevin Alejandro

And one more bonus: EW will be hosting Entertainment Weekly presents Totally Lost: One Year Later with our own Doc Jensen!

Read more:
Comic-Con posts Friday schedule
Comic-Con posts Thursday schedule
Sarah Michelle Gellar kicks off TV portion of Comic-Con

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‘Octomom’ on ‘Today’: She’s received ‘hundreds of death threats’

“Octomom” Nadya Suleman and nine of her children made their live television debut this morning on Today. As the children plowed through sets, crawled under host Ann Curry’s chair, and danced for the camera, Suleman admitted it’s not been an easy ride since she was thrust into the public eye. She admitted, “I do feel guilt,” especially in the wake of “hundreds of death threats” that caused severe panic attacks. Watch the clip below:

Suleman said she is almost finished writing a book, but don’t expect her to invade the Twittersphere any time soon. She claims she doesn’t have Internet and hasn’t watched TV in a decade. So what’s her plan for the future? “Own and accept the responsibilities and consequences of your choices.” As for her mixed feelings about the doctor who implanted her with eight embryos, she said, “I can’t waste my time and energy regretting anything.”

How did Suleman come off on TV? Did her children seem as “well behaved” as she insisted?

Read more:
Octomom doctor loses license
Octomom on ‘Oprah’

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Dallas Gets 10-Episode Order at TNT - TheHDRoom

July 10, 2011 TNT is pleased enough with its pilot for a reboot/continuation of Dallas that they've gone ahead and ordered a full 10-episode order.

The new Dallas will feature stars Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray from the original 1980s soap opera that ran 14 seasons. The original's season three opener that answered the question "who shot J.R." was watched by 83 million people and to this day stands as the most-watched television episode ever.

It will be a younger cast and offspring of J.R. Ewing (John Ross played by Josh Henderson) and adopted son of Pam and Bobby Ewing (Christopher played by Jesse Metcalfe), along with Julie Gonzalo and Jordana Brewster, that are expected to carry the bulk of the load as the older generation gives way to the new. The plot revolves around a rivalry between the Ewing kids for, amongst other things, the affection of Brewster's character Elena.

Dallas is not scheduled to premiere until next summer. To coincide with the full season pickup order and help promote a pair of their original shows, TNT will preview portions of the pilot during Rizzoli & Isles and The Closer on Monday night. The network was not specific on how much of the premiere would be unveiled.

TNT has also set up a new website where sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes looks at the new Dallas will be unveiled between now and the series premiere next summer. You can visit it at www.tnt.tv/series/dallas/.

Check out a newly released cast shot from the updated Dallas below.

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See Homer Simpson’s invitation to the Royal Couple — EXCLUSIVE PHOTO

Image Credit: Mario Testino/Clarence House Press Office/Getty Im

When Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge arrive in Los Angeles this afternoon, they will have a world of possibilities at their golden fingertips. (Beaches! Mountains! Traffic!) Turns out, the pair even received a brilliant offer from the folks in Springfield. Having read that Prince William was a fan of The Simpsons as a boy, the show’s writers invited the Royal Couple to attend a read-through of an upcoming episode with the cast. Well, they didn’t officially extend the invitation — Homer did. In his frosting-stained-yet-surprisingly-eloquent letter to William and Kate, the Simpson patriarch displays a rather impressive knowledge of British royalty (“We know your vacation time is precious, and you must be very tired from your busy schedule back home of jousting and fighting dragons”), and draws a few intriguing parallels between the two cultures (“British people revere the royal family, where in America, we worship on our own royal family: The Kardashians”). Alas, William and Kate regretfully declined, as they will be royally busy with various throne-representing commitments. (That, or Homer didn’t throw in enough pints of Duff.) The Simpsons camp isn’t conceding defeat yet, though. “Our next choice is Prince Harry, and then we’ll go to one of Fergie’s kids,” quips Simpsons executive producer Al Jean. “We’ll work our way down.”

(Twitter: @dansnierson)

Click on image for the full-size version of Homer’s invite.

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