Today's Fresh Blogs...

• RIP Merv Griffin, A Showman To the End

  Published: August 12, 2007, 12:01 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Actors, Producers, Moguls, Music, Networks, Cable, Late Night, History

  Here were all his unfinished projects: Merv Griffin Entertainment, The Merv Griffin Ranch racing stable, TeleView Racing Patrol, Worldwide Real Estate, Inc., The Griffin Ranch Development, Griff Yacht, St. Cleran's Manor (Ireland), Coconut Productions. In fact, Merv's latest game show Crosswords premieres September 10th: the half-hour

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Projected $55+M Traffic For 'Rush Hour 3'

  Published: August 10, 2007, 3:52 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Books, Studios, Movies, Box Office, Actors, Directors, Producers, Foreign, Comedy, Finance, Summer Movies, Distribution

  though Stardust's producers prefer to compare their pic to Princess Bride on steroids.) Then again, I'm told that months and months ago Paramount's Gerry Rich warned the filmmakers that this adventure romance fantasy pic was impossible to market. Budgeted without marketing costs at $70 million (which sounds way low to me because of

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• What Do Peter Morton & Paramount Have In Common? A Movie That's Gonna Bomb

  Published: August 8, 2007, 9:12 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Movies, Box Office, Actors, Directors, Producers, Moguls, Tracking, Foreign, Marketing, Finance, Blogs, Trailers, Summer Movies, Vegas

  though Stardust's producers prefer to compare their pic to Princess Bride on steroids.) Anyway, though it'll do nil biz domestically, Paramount is still "very bullish" on the pic's chances overseas because of the international cast. But, seriously, look at all the Paramount-branded bombs this year: last weekend's Hot Rod, plus Next,

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Which Draft Exposed Bart's Private Parts?

  Published: August 8, 2007, 8:07 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Movies, Producers, Moguls, Writers, Toons, Summer Movies

  Jim Brooks is saying that The Simpsons Movie screenplay went through 166 drafts. Is that a new record for Hollywood? Or is that a new apocalypse?

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Apatow's 'Superbad' Doing Swell Today

  Published: August 17, 2007, 4:55 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Movies, Box Office, Producers, Tracking, Comedy, Summer Movies

  It's early still, but I'm told that today's release of mogul-in-the-making producer Judd Apatow's Superbad is already doing better than expected at the domestic box office. After weeks when the pic's awareness level was tracking lower than had been hoped, overwhelmingly great reviews from The New York Times and other media outlets are making the

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• 'Superbad' Trounces Competition & Helps Summer 2007 Stay On Track For Record

  Published: August 19, 2007, 11:49 am

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Movies, Box Office, Producers, Moguls, Comedy, Summer Movies

  SUNDAY AM: It was the 6th "up" weekend in a row in overall summer box office which looks increasingly likely to set a new record for 2007. Summer to date this year already has passed 2006. But the overall record for May 1st through Labor Day is going down to the wire since 2004 is the precedent setter with $3.95 billion. But Sony's

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Apatow's 'Superbad' Does Superbetter: $33M

  Published: August 20, 2007, 2:20 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Movies, Box Office, Producers, Moguls, Comedy, Summer Movies

  Sony's Superbad had a better than expected Sunday so the official weekend total is now $33 mil, not just $31 mil. "We had an exceptional hold Sunday, one of the best I have ever seen, and it looks like we will be only down about 2% off of Saturday's number." See my previous: 'Superbad' Trounces Competition & Helps Summer 2007 For Record

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• David Geffen's Warner Estate NOT For Sale

  Published: August 24, 2007, 3:19 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Producers, Moguls, Finance, Geffen

  I can tell you that David Geffen is denying a throwaway line inside a Wall Street Journal article about big ticket homes for sale claiming that he "has quietly shopped his historic 9.4-acre Los Angeles estate for $100 million, according to a broker who has shown the property". Indeed, sources tell me that Geffen turns down offers, including

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Labor Day Wkd Prediction: 'Halloween' #1

  Published: August 31, 2007, 3:12 am

  Tags: Hollywood, Studios, Box Office, Producers, Marketing, Summer Movies, Distribution

  Halloween is arriving awfully early this year, but moviegoers have flocked to this franchise ever since 1978 when Michael Myers first began causing havoc. (I doubt they'll care that this weekend is the wrong holiday.) My box office gurus expect the R-rated Halloween 9, directed by the aptly named Rob Zombie, to treat more than trick the box

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• DJ King Britt: Marketing Notes & Advice for DJs

  Published: September 4, 2007, 1:13 pm

  Tags: Djs Producers

  A nice interview from '96 with DJ King Britt is well worth your time. For one thing, you can get a sense of how dramatically the dj's role has changed in the last decade in the eyes of marketers and labels: BD: Have DJs been overlooked in music culture?KB: Yeah, DJs have...

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Summer TV Left Us Maddened And Burned

  Published: September 9, 2007, 5:58 pm

  Tags: Hollywood, Actors, Producers, Writers, Networks, Cable

  Summer TV is usually a seemingly endless wasteland of network repeats and reality shows. But Summer 2007 gave us some of the best scripted series ever on cable with the return of TNT's The Closer, TBS' The Boys, even USA Network's Monk and Psych. I know newcomers TNT's State Of Grace, Lifetime's Army Wives, Side Order Of Life and State Of Mind

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Weekend Prediction: Jodie Foster On Top

  Published: September 14, 2007, 10:40 am

  Tags: Hollywood, Movies, Box Office, Actors, Directors, Producers, Music, Marketing, Distribution

  It's always an event when she comes out with a film, since she's one of the few Hollywood actresses still consistently able to open a pic these days. But can Jodie Foster do it again with The Brave One which received only mixed reviews? Problem is, this is a dark R-rated morality tale / revenge pic and not the wider appeal PG-13 thriller

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• No! More! Round! Stages!

  Published: September 17, 2007, 8:21 am

  Tags: Ass Viewing Audience, Ass Viewingaudience, Front Audience, Frontaudience, Producers, Round Stage, Roundstage, The Sneetches, Thesneetches

  Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Watercooler Talk, EmmysFor the first time in a long time I watched the entire Emmy broadcast on Sunday. I'm usually not into these types of awards show, but I thought I'd tune in since I do write about television from time to time. For the most part I didn't think it was that bad. Ryan Seacrest didn't embarrass

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• 5 Steps To Selling More Copies Of Your Book Or E-book Teleseminar

  Published: September 18, 2007, 6:19 am

  Tags: News Reviews Observations, Business, How To, Teleseminars, Income Producers, E Books

  Sponsored Post Congratulations! You FINALLY finished writing your book or E-Book and you’re ready to share it with the world! You’re absolutely CERTAIN it’s going to be a BIG hit and EVERYBODY will be scramblin’ to download and read it. But wait minute…HOW do you go about making sure that happens? Well, keep

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Just When They Thought It Safe To Do PR

  Published: September 23, 2007, 2:45 pm

  Tags: La Times, Ny Times, Hollywood, Media, Studios, Movies, Producers, Moguls, Journalism

  I'm told there are two tough Hollywood business pieces in the works: the Los Angeles Times is looking at The Weinstein Co, and The New York Times is working on an MGM article. Interesting how every weekend MGM gripes not-so-privately about having to distribute Harvey & Bob's box office crap -- except for hits 1408 and Halloween, of course.

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0