Woody Allen's "Hollywood Ending" will open the Cannes Film Festival.
Megadeth is no more.
The band still sells...but who's buying?
..."The Late Show with David Letterman" is looking for a rerun home.
"A Beautiful DVD"
With its multiple Oscar wins including Best Picture, Universal has just announced a new June 25 release date for Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind, which took home 4 statuettes.
The full specs include a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, an English 5.1 Dolby Digital surround track, an audio commentary by director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman; the featurettes "A Beautiful Partnership," "Meeting John Nash," a third featurette on the film's makeup and production design, deleted scenes (also accessible via a "follow the white John Nash" function), film-to-storyboard comparisons, and trailers.
Plus, the film co- stars Jennifer Connelly. Isn't that enough?!?!
MOPPING UP
A Chicago janitor is suing Eddie Murphy and the producers of the now-defunct animated series The PJs, claiming they stole a character from his own amateur documentary. He's seeking more than $10 million in damages.
HE'S BACK
Talk-show veteran Phil Donahue has signed on with MSNBC for his own prime-time show. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. His show is expected to debut sometime this summer and challenge Fox News' O'Reilly Factor and CNN's forthcoming Connie Chung show.
Welcome back, Phil!
BABY ON BOARD
Brooke Burke, host of "Wild On", and her husband, Garth Fisher, welcomed their second daughter Tuesday in Los Angeles. Sierra Sky Fisher weighed in at 5 pounds, 15 ounces and measured 19 1/2 inches.
So next time you are watching "Wild On" try not to think of Brooke as a mom! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!
MICHAEL J. FOX TELLS HIS STORY IN A NEW BOOK
Canadian star Michael J. Fox shocked the world a few years ago when he announced that he had Parkinson’s disease. His stories from before that announcement, after it and much more are included in "Lucky Man: A Memoir."
This is a funny, highly personal, gorgeously written account of what it’s like to be a 30-year-old man who is told he has an 80-year-old’s disease.
"Life is great. Sometimes, though, you just have to put up with a little more crap." --Michael J. Fox
In September 1998, Michael J. Fox stunned the world by announcing he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease -- a degenerative neurological condition. In fact, he had been secretly fighting it for seven years. The worldwide response was staggering. Fortunately, he had accepted the diagnosis and by the time the public started grieving for him, he had stopped grieving for himself. Now, with the same passion, humor, and energy that Fox has invested in his dozens of performances over the last 18 years, he tells the story of his life, his career, and his campaign to find a cure for Parkinson’s.
Combining his trademark ironic sensibility and keen sense of the absurd, he recounts his life -- from his childhood in a small town in western Canada to his meteoric rise in film and television which made him a worldwide celebrity. Most importantly however, he writes of the last 10 years, during which -- with the unswerving support of his wife, family, and friends -- he has dealt with his illness. He talks about what Parkinson’s has given him: the chance to appreciate a wonderful life and career, and the opportunity to help search for a cure and spread public awareness of the disease. He is a very lucky man, indeed.
Michael J. Fox is donating the profits from his book to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, which is dedicated to fast-forwarding the cure for Parkinson’s disease. The Foundation will move aggressively to identify the most promising research and raise the funds to assure that a cure is found for the millions of people living with this disorder. The Foundation’s web site, MichaelJFox.org, carries the latest pertinent information about Parkinson’s disease, including:
--A detailed description of Parkinson’s disease
--How you can help find the cure
--Public Services Announcements that are aired on network and cable television stations across the country to increase awareness
--Upcoming related Parkinson’s disease events and meetings
--Updates on recent research and developments
Enjoy the book!
NYC fire chaplain focus of biography
The Rev. Mychal Judge, the New York City Fire Department chaplain killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, will be the subject of a biography coming out next fall from the Paulist Press, a nonprofit religious publisher.
"Father Mychal Judge: An Authentic American Hero" is being written by BBC religion reporter Michael Ford, whose work the 68-year-old chaplain admired.
"I believe this priest's remarkable story will bring hope to many, inspiring them to care compassionately for others, especially those on the margins," Ford said in a statement Tuesday. He is the author of "Wounded Prophet," a biography of the spiritual writer Henri Nouwen that Judge reportedly read and to which he related deeply.
'Starship Troopers' DVD loaded with extras
The "gung-ho bugs vs. us" sci-fi epic "Starship Troopers" will be marching to DVD for a loaded special edition.
Columbia Tristar announced that the 1997 film, which was directed by Paul Verhoeven ("Robocop," "Basic Instinct") and starred Denise Richards and Casper Van Dien, will arrived on a double-disc DVD set on May 28.
The first disc will contain the original film with commentary by Verhoeven, screenwriter Ed Neumeier, and cast members, plus an isolated, optional soundtrack mix.
The second disc includes "Death From Above," an in-depth documentary on the making of the film, seven featurettes explaining the film's special effects, scene deconstructions with commentary by Verhoeven, seven minutes' worth of deleted scenes, and screen tests.
"Andy Richter now has a Canadian Top Ten show.
Sum 41 covers Helix on soundtrack
The soundtrack to the Canadian indie film "FUBAR" will feature Sum 41 and a host of Canadian acts covering early Canadian gold.
Organizers of the "FUBAR" album told JAM! Music that Sum 41 will cover Helix's "Rock You" on the soundtrack, which is due during the third week of May.
Treble Charger is expected to contribute a rendition of April Wine's "Roller," while Vancouver's New Pornographers offer up their take on "Your Daddy Don't Know" by the band Toronto.
Chixdiggit will have a go at Loverboy's "The Kid Is Hot Tonight," No Means No takes on Neil Young's "Hey Hey, My My," Gob has a kick at Kick Axe's "Heavy Metal Shuffle," Grimskunk remakes Trooper's party anthem "Raise A Little Hell", and English Teeth gas up Bachman Turner Overdrive's "Four Wheel Drive."
"FUBAR" was shot in Calgary and has been described as a largely improvised 78-minute tribute to metal music and its devotees. Writer-producers Paul Spence and Dave Lawrence and director Michael Dowse showed the film at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
The film is scheduled for full theatrical release this spring.
"Survivor" producer Mark Burnett is eyeing a Kung Fu reality show.
Paging Mr. Miyagi...
The Grammys are returning to New York!
Yeah, I've got your Grammy right here!
Celine debuts at No. 1
A five-year absence from making albums, a diversion into motherhood, and even scandalous accusations against her husband and manager couldn't keep Celine Dion from her date with the top of the charts.
Dion's return, "A New Day Has Come," powered to the top of SoundScan Canada's retail album chart, selling 151,600 copies in this country -- more than 10 times her nearest competition, Shakira's "Laundry Service" (12,200).
Dion's return to the recording business has been heralded by a round of high-profile interviews, a hyped TV special, and an unexpected diversion into controversy, with husband/manager Rene Angelil accused in a Las Vegas civil court of sexually assaulting a California woman. (He has denied the charge and is fighting the suit).
To give an indication of how big a change Dion's sales represent from recent months, last week "Laundry Service" landed at No. 1 on sales of just over 10,000 copies. The biggest chart entry in recent weeks, prior to Dion, was Alanis Morissette's "Under Rug Swept," which debuted at No. 1 on sales of 35,000. In its first five weeks of release, Morissette's album has managed to sell about half of what Dion moved in a single week. Morissette finished this week at No. 12.
Dion's chart triumph was repeated in the U.S., where "A New Day Has Come" sold 527,000 copies during its debut week. Proportionately, that means U.S. sales were well behind Canada's. Sales are normally measured using a one-tenth comparison between the smaller Canadian market and record sales south of the border. So comparably, the U.S. would have had to sell over 1.5 million albums to keep pace with Dion's popularity in Canada.
Having said that, the opening sales for "A New Day Has Come" represents a watershed for Dion in the U.S. Last week, the U.S. publication Hits reported that Dion's 1997 album "Let's Talk About Love" debuted on sales of 334,000, while the compilation "All The Way: A Decade Of Song" moved 302,000 copies during its first week.
Dion's high-water mark for Canadian sales remains "Let's Talk About Love's" opening week sales of 230,000.
Elsewhere in the Canadian top 10, the wrestling themed collection "WWF Forceable Entry" debuted in third place on sales of 10,800, followed by "YTV Big Fun Party Mix 3" (10,700), Diana Krall's "The Look Of Love" (9,000) and Remy Shand's "The Way I Feel (8,950).
Nickelback's "Silver Side Up" (8,900) fell from third to seventh, the "O Brother, Where Art Thou" soundtrack (8,300) slid from fourth to eighth. Enrique Iglesias's "Escape" (7,800) moved down one place to ninth, while the "Girls Night Out" collection (7,600) moved up one place to 10th.
Aside from Dion and the WWF collection, the only other new entry in the top 20 was "Best Of Both Worlds," the collaboration between Jay-Z and R. Kelly, which entered at No. 19.
JAM! readers correctly called the winner of this week's Chart Battle. A full 91% correctly predicted that Dion's "A New Day Has Come" would chart higher than the Jay-Z/R. Kelly collaboration.
1. CELINE DION -- "A NEW DAY HAS COME" (151,600)
2. SHAKIRA -- "LAUNDRY SERVICE" (12,200)
3. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- "W.W.F. FORCEABLE ENTRY" (10,800)
4. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- "YTV BIG FUN PARTY MIX 3" (10,700)
5. DIANA KRALL -- "THE LOOK OF LOVE" (9,000)
6. REMY SHAND -- "THE WAY I FEEL" (8,950)
7. NICKELBACK -- "SILVER SIDE UP" (8,900)
8. "O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU?" SOUNDTRACK (8,300)
9. ENRIQUE IGLESIAS -- "ESCAPE" (7,800)
10. VARIOUS ARTISTS -- "GIRLS NIGHT OUT" (7,600)