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Feb 8 2010 11:00 PM ET

Breaking news: '24' movie inching closer to reality

Categories: Film, Movie Biz, News, Television

Jack Bauer may finally hit the big screen. Though Fox has yet to decide whether to pick up a ninth season of 24, an insider confirmed that the film side is in talks with Billy Ray (State of Play) to write a screenplay for the franchise. Word is the scribe came in and pitched his version of the flick.

Any movement on a film may hinge upon the show’s future with the network; Fox toppers Peter Rice and Kevin Reilly will likely want to see how the show performs over the next few weeks before deciding whether to commit to another season of Bauer racing the clock. Through Jan. 31, 24 is down versus last year by 10% in total viewers (11.9 million versus 13.3 million) and by 15% in adults 18-49 (3.9 versus 4.6). The drama remains Fox’s third-most watched show behind American Idol and House.

A decision is needed soon; a source close to the show said the producers are preparing to write the 23rd and 24th episodes of the current season so they need to know whether to pen a series finale. Production on the drama is scheduled to wrap March 24.

In January, star Kiefer Sutherland told EW that he’d love to do a movie (“It would be a two-hour representation of a day”) and thinks the TV show can actually be done at the same time. ”I actually tried to convince a few people of this. In a media world that is changing unbelievably fast, a television series can either act as a great trailer for a film, or a film can act as a great trailer for a television series. And I think the first person who actually does that is going to change the way television interacts with feature films.

“I think the resistance to it is because, in my father’s generation, if you did films, you didn’t even think about television,” Sutherland continued. “That was a death knell. And if you did television, you wouldn’t be allowed to do films. That was when we had three networks. We have six hundred now, and if I want to see Paul Newman in a movie, I don’t have to go out. And so the game has changed. And I think we’re going to have to adjust with it.” – With additional reporting from Nicole Sperling

More 24 from EW:
24 TV recap: Stick it, Renee…but not to Jack!

Feb 8 2010 02:47 PM ET

'Lost' actors: What will be next for Terry O'Quinn and Josh Holloway?

by Lynette Rice

Categories: Casting, Lost, News, TV Biz, Uncategorized

The true sign of an ending show is when its stars book other gigs — but it’s unlikely fans will see a flurry of casting headlines involving the highly-sought after actors of ABC’s Lost. Though it was reported today that Daniel Dae Kim will play one of the leads in the CBS pilot Hawaii Five-0, it may be months before we hear whether the Emmy-winning Terry O’Quinn (Locke) or Josh Holloway (Sawyer) has been recruited to play the leads in other fall projects. Laments one Hollywood talent agent, “They all shoot through April, so doing a pilot will be difficult for all of them. These producers make it difficult on everyone in working out conflicts.” CBS was able to snag Kim (Jin) because Five-0 will film on the big island, where Lost is shot. He’ll play Detective Chin Ho Kelly in the update of the ’60s cop drama (the role of Detective Steve McGarrett has not yet been cast).

But there are at least two Lost actors who won’t be sending out resume photos this spring – if ever. Matthew Fox (Jack) told reporters at the show’s annual Sunset on the Beach premiere last month that he either wants to do film or “something else entirely.” Evangeline Lilly (Kate) also told E Online that she wants to bug out of TV and do charity work in Rwanda. “I’m not passionate about acting the way you probably should be to call yourself an actor,” she told E Online’s Kristin Dos Santos. “I want to have some quiet space … drop off the radar a little bit and enjoy a little bit of normalcy again.”

Feb 7 2010 10:30 PM ET

'Late Show' producer on Leno-Letterman-Oprah Super Bowl spot: Jay wore disguise to taping

by Lynette Rice

Categories: News, TV Biz, Television

EW talked to The Late Show executive producer Rob Burnett about David Letterman’s surprising decision to include Jay Leno in a promotional spot during the Super Bowl.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Why did you decide to do this?
ROB BURNETT: Well, the 10 seconds we did with Dave and Oprah for the Super Bowl in 2007 went pretty well and CBS came back and said we got 10 seconds again for this one. Nothing is more simultaneously exhilarating and fear-inducing than hearing you have 10 seconds in the Super Bowl. We were banging heads together. How do we come close to topping the last one? Then Dave got this idea. My first call was to Oprah – she got it right away – and then I called [CBS Corp. Chairman] Les Moonves to make sure he was OK with Jay being on CBS. I have to give Les credit … he got it immediately. And then I called [Leno's executive producer] Debbie Vickers … who said, ‘Dave and Jay, in the same room?’ She laughed for a good minute and said Jay would want to call. I hung up, and two minutes later it was Jay. He said ‘This is the way show business should be.’ Debbie then cleared it with NBC Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin and NBC-Universal CEO Jeff Zucker.

How did you manage to pull it off without the press catching wind of it?
We began having logistical meetings that would make the CIA proud. We had to figure out a way to keep it a surprise. NBC arranged to have Jay fly on the NBC jet at 7:30 in morning on Feb. 2 and he was at the Teterboro Airport [in New Jersey] at 3:30 p.m. We snuck him through the front door on Broadway. Jay wore a disguise …a hooded sweatshirt, dark sunglasses and a mustache. Fifteen minutes later, Oprah arrived … but not in a disguise. We shot it in the balcony of the Ed Sullivan Theater.

What was it like when Leno and Letterman first saw each other?
It was great, very professional, very cordial. We shot it in 25 minutes, and it went really, really well. It felt like one of those things where you wake up and say, “I had the strangest dream.” There was no frostiness. We were focused on trying to execute the joke. It would have been a more taxing event had it been us all going out to dinner. If anything was awkward, it was how it wasn’t awkward. It’s interesting… there was a lot of internal conversation about whether this was a good thing to be doing from a PR standpoint. Are we rehabilitating Jay’s image? Dave has a simple edict: If it’s funny, we do it. When CBS says it needs 10 seconds, it’s incumbent upon you to do the funniest bit you can do. Then we learned we had another five seconds. That may not sound like a really big deal but let’s face it … that’s someone’s college education [given how much the typical per-second spot goes for during the Super Bowl], so we were really thrilled about that.

You and Dave must have realized you had the potential to upstage the Super Bowl.
Well, that’s not our problem! [He laughs]. I’ve been asked the question more than once about all these advertisers who spent millions of dollars on their ads. My response is: They had a year, millions of dollars, and 30 seconds! We had one week, no money, and 15 seconds. The bottom line is, if you’re a comedian and you have the chance to do something funny in front of 100 million people, you should do it.

Watch Leno and Letterman declare a grumpy truce during the Super Bowl

Feb 7 2010 07:45 PM ET

Jay Leno-David Letterman-Oprah Winfrey Super Bowl ad was Dave's idea, says CBS

by Lynette Rice

Categories: Celebrity Couples, News, TV Biz

Late night fans got the surprise of a lifetime during the second quarter of the Super Bowl tonight when they saw Jay Leno sitting side-by-side with David Letterman in a promo for CBS’ Late Show. Appearing with Oprah Winfrey, Letterman laments about how bad the party is, and Leno retorts “he’s just saying that because I’m here.” Minutes after the spot (embedded below), CBS sent out word that the two late night stars taped the spot last Tuesday at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City. The spot was a revisit, of sorts, to a 2007 Super Bowl spot that featured Letterman and Winfrey. A Late Show spokesman said the spot was Letterman’s idea, and Leno and Winfrey were willing participants.

The promo was all the more surprising given the beating that Leno took last month by his fellow late night competitors over Conan O’Brien’s departure from NBC. Letterman was particularly critical, though he’d just as quickly turn the negative spotlight on himself by reminding everyone that NBC still didn’t want him for the Tonight Show. NBC, in the meantime, now has an uphill battle on its hands in having to promote the new Tonight Show with its old host Leno, though one insider commented that today’s promo certainly makes it a little easier. “It does a lot for all three in the commercial,” said the source.

And it certainly fits nicely with NBC Chairman Jeff Gaspin’s strategy of marketing Leno’s return with “some humor and a wink, not a sledgehammer.” “We will certainly be more subtle,” he told EW last month. “Fortunately the positive side of this public battle is that everybody knows what is going on, so you don’t have to create awareness. All we have to do is gently remind people when it starts. We’ll have the Olympics as a platform to let people know that Jay will be back on The Tonight Show starting March 1.”

More on the Leno-Letterman-Oprah Super Bowl ad:

EW’s TV critic Ken Tucker reacts to the Letterman-Leno “truce.”
Late Show exec producer Rob Burnett: Inside dish on how the ad came together

Feb 7 2010 04:50 PM ET

Box office: 'Dear John' takes down 'Avatar' on Super Bowl weekend

by Nicole Sperling

Categories: Box Office, Industry News, Movie Biz, News

Romance proved to be a powerful foe for the epic Avatar, which has dominated the box office for the last seven weekends. The Lasse Hallstrom-directed romantic drama Dear John won the weekend in a big way, grossing an estimated $32.4 million and setting a record for the highest-grossing Super Bowl Sunday frame in history. Avatar fell to second place for the first time, dropping a still scant 25% to $23.6 million. The James Cameron film has now out-grossed every movie in the history of cinema (as long as we don’t adjust for inflation) with a domestic take of an astounding $630 million. The other wide release, From Paris With Love didn’t have nearly as an auspicious debut. The R-rated actioner from Taken director Pierre Morel mostly drew audiences interested in John Travolta’s turn as an over-the-top, gun-toting renegade CIA operative, yet earned only an estimated $8.1 million.

Much of Dear John’s success can be attributed to a successful marketing campaign targeted towards women, who comprised 84% of the audience. The movie, which was based on Nicholas Sparks’ novel, was financed entirely by Relativity Media, and distributed by Sony’s Screen Gems division. It bested the previous record held by 2008’s concert film Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds which opened to $31.1 million.

The rest of the top ten was dominated by holdovers. Mel Gibson’s Edge of Darkness had quite a steep fall this weekend, losing 59% of last week’s haul for a fourth place finish with $7 million. Tooth Fairy has benefited from a lack of children’s fare in the marketplace. The film’s third week in theaters fell only 35% for an additional $6.5 million. The film’s cume still needs some help with only $34 million. When in Rome was crushed by women flocking to Dear John. The romantic comedy starring Josh Duhamel and Kristen Bell fell 55% to $5.5 million. Its 10-day total stands at $21 million.

The Book of Eli took spot seven with $4.8 million, while Crazy Heart benefited greatly from its three Oscar nominations. The film, which added some 700 theaters to its release, landed in the top 10 for the first time, grossing $3.6 million for an eighth spot in the derby. Rounding out the top ten were Legion in slot nine with an additional $3.4 million while Sherlock Holmes crossed the $200 million mark its seventh weekend in theaters with an additional $2.6 million. It’s total now stands at $201 million. Even though records were broken for the top film, the weekend still performed beneath last year at this time when Gran Torino, Paul Blart Mall Cop, Slumdog Millionaire, and Taken dominated the frame.

Feb 6 2010 03:36 PM ET

Box office: 'Dear John' bests 'Avatar' on its opening day

by Nicole Sperling

Categories: Box Office, Industry News, Movie Biz, News

Never underestimate the power of the teenage girl. It was their undying love for romance that finally relegated Avatar to the number two spot for the weekend. Lasse Hallstrom’s Dear John, starring hunky Channing Tatum and Mamma Mia’s Amanda Seyfried, took in an estimated $13.6 million on Friday, its first day in theaters. The film, which has been crushed by critics, soared with its core audience of preteen girls. Avatar, meanwhile, fell approximately 18% from last Friday’s take and after seven weekends at the top spot is now in second place with another $6.2 million. Third place went to the other new wide release, the R-rated revenge drama From Paris With Love with John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Grossing an estimated $3 million for its opening day, the film, from Taken director Pierre Morel, is on track to gross around $9 million for the weekend. Mel Gibson’s Edge of Darkness earned $2.3 million on Friday for fourth place while When in Rome—a romantic comedy that has failed to connect with audiences—grossed another $2 million on Friday. Check back tomorrow for a full report.

Feb 6 2010 12:28 AM ET

'FlashForward' loses showrunner/co-creator: Report

by Lynette Rice

Categories: News, TV Biz, Television

More bad news for the ratings-challenged FlashForward: Variety reports that showrunner/co-creator David Goyer is leaving the ABC series to focus on his film career. Goyer, who often boasted of having outlined the high-concept drama for the next several seasons, will remain as an executive producer. It’s unclear who will replace Goyer, who was the second showrunner to serve on the series (after Mark Guggenheim) that stars Joseph Fiennes and John Cho.

The freshman show will likely have a tough time attracting new viewers when it returns with originals on March 18. Despite lots of early fanfare, FlashForward’s audience dropped from 12.5 million to 7.07 million in just three months. Not coincidentally, ABC has had an equally tough time launching its other high-concept show, V – which lost 35% of its audience (14.3 million to 9.3 million) over just four airings last fall. It will return March 30.

The difficulty of programming such sci-fi dramas surely played a role in NBC’s decision to downgrade Day One – an apocalyptic drama from Heroes scribe Jesse Alexander — to a two-hour backdoor pilot that may (or may not) air sometime this season.

Feb 6 2010 12:16 AM ET

Taylor Lautner: the new 'Stretch Armstrong'

by Nicole Sperling

Categories: Industry News, Movie Biz, Movies, News, Twilight

Yes, it’s true. Taylor Lautner is now no longer just a hulking werewolf. He will soon embody Hasbro’s popular ’80s toy in Universal’s adaptation of Stretch Armstrong. The movie, to be produced by Brian Grazer, will be released in 2012 in 3-D. The studio has yet to hire a director for the movie, but Steve Oedekerk (Bruce Almighty) has written the script. Universal made the announcement late Friday night along with the news that they will push back their other big Hasbro property Battleship, from director Peter Berg, from its original July 2011 release to Memorial Day weekend 2012 to give the filmmaker more time to finish the large-scale project.

Feb 5 2010 10:08 PM ET

'Biggest Loser' star Danny Cahill offered free plastic surgery from 'The Doctors'

by Lynette Rice

Categories: News, Reality TV, Television, Uncategorized

Ex-contestants of The Biggest Loser who’ve lost the weight but are stuck with lots of excess skin may want to do the daytime talk show circuit – especially if it involves appearing on programs hosted by physicians. During an episode of the syndicated show The Doctors this week, recent winner Danny Cahill, 40, was offered free surgery to remove the significant fold of extra flesh that’s currently circling his gut. Cahill, who won the cash prize in December for losing 239 pounds, agreed to flash his flabby tummy on TV and was instantly rewarded with the mother of all rewards – a free trip to the O.R. To see the moment, click here.

EW asked Cahill at the finale about his excess skin and he said the following: “I’ve got some skin and you know what? Those issues will be taken care of in time (he laughs). When you weigh 430 pounds, and you had a stomach as big as I did, you’re gonna have some skin. But that’s okay, because you know what? I can run a marathon now, thanks to The Biggest Loser.”

Not everybody agrees with such hasty procedures. A doctor from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons told That’s Fit that it’s better to wait. ”As a general rule, the longer the better,” said Dr. Al Aly. “You don’t want to operate on people where there’s a greater potential they can regain their own weight. We say anywhere from three to six months minimum weight stabilization, and preferably a year.”

UPDATE: A spokeswoman for The Biggest Loser told EW that Cahill has no plans to do the surgery in the near future because he’s training for another marathon.

Feb 5 2010 06:39 PM ET

Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen to star in Sarah Polley's new film

by Nicole Sperling

Categories: Casting, Industry News, Movie Biz, News

Finally, Sarah Polley is making a new movie. The indie queen from Canada who blew everyone away with her thoughtful, poignant drama Away From Her back in 2007, is set to direct a romantic comedy called Take This Waltz, from an original screenplay of hers that landed on 2009’s Black List. The film, about a love triangle in which Michelle Williams’ character struggles with infidelity will have her starring opposite Seth Rogen and another man, yet to be cast. Williams is fresh off a buzz-making turn in Blue Valentine, which debuted at this year’s Sundance. That film, in which she plays a wife in a marriage gone bad opposite Ryan Gosling, is already generating early Oscar buzz for the two leads and Weinstein Co. purchased it for just over $1 million.

Polley, who was at Sundance to promote the movie Splice, which she stars opposite Adrien Brody, is thrilled to get back into the director’s chair. She began writing the screenplay while she was editing her feature directorial debut Away From Her, but abandoned it for a few years. She went back to it recently when she needed to write something to make her happy. “This script was written with so much ease and so much joy and I loved every second of it,” she says. “It’s so rare for writing to not be a tortured process, so you have to go with that.” Waltz will film in Toronto this summer. Financing is not yet complete and the film has no distribution yet.