Thursday, August 25, 2011

Exclusive: Modern Family's Never-Before-Seen Family Confessionals

Modern Family It is the Modern Family clan like you haven't seen them before - well, like you have not. Within the Season 2 DVD extra supplies, being released Sept. 20, audiences will receive a opportunity to see family confessionals that never managed to get to air - the Pritchetts and also the Dunphys don't restrain. Benjamin Bratt revisit Modern Family, baby Lily recast For example, you might remember Claire's incessant worrying in regards to a speeding neighbor, but simply what prompts Phil (Ty Burrell) to consider it's OK to check her to some dog? To discover, browse the exclusive clip below, that also highlights much more of Hayley's baby-sitting weak points and Phil's former career like a ... cheerleader? Modern Family returns Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 9/8c on ABC.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Experiment Risky

In 1903, Dr. Bailey meets an extremely strange lady on the train, then listens to that they has died under mysterious conditions. Via a friend, he becomes familiar with the Bederaux family, all whom appear to become neurotic and secretive but the good thing about Alida Bederaux draws him to their circle...much deeper than he'd planned. Who's at risk from whom? Who's crazy? Who are able to fathom the obscure motivations?

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Composer John O'Brien dies

John O'Brien, a composer and music supervisor for film and TV who provided material for "Iron Guy" and it is follow up, "Pineapple Express," "Four Christmases" and "Couples Retreat," was discovered accurate Saturday inside a Chicago accommodation by film producer and former child actor Peter Billingsley. He was 45.Billingsley discovered O'Brien in the room in the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel in downtown Chicago. An autopsy was not yet proven, but toxicological research is pending, and suspected drugs and sleeping pills were based in the room, based on the Chicago Tribune.O'Brien labored with Billingsley and actor-director Jon Favreau on numerous films starting with "Made" in 2001, 2006's "The Break-Up," 2008's "Four Christmases" both "Iron Guy" photos and "Couples Retreat."O'Brien gained his first screen credits on 1997 film "Nightwatch" and 1999's "Anywhere but Here."He also labored in TV, serving as music supervisor on ABC's brief David Arquette series "Just In Case of Emergency" in 2007 and creating the theme music for last season's "Detroit 1-8-7."O'Brien most lately labored as music supervisor about the Will Arnett-Christina Applegate sitcom "Up Through The Night," which NBC will premiere Sept. 14. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

Saturday, August 20, 2011

China plays fast and loose at the B.O.

'Yang Shanzhou'Some Chinese theatergoers paid $12.50 to see hit 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' but also received tickets for local propaganda pic 'Yang Shanzhou,' which boosted the local film's B.O. numbers. BEIJING -- China's box office looks like it will top $2 billion this year, fueled mostly by the success of "Transformers 3" and the last "Harry Potter" film.While "Transformers 3" has taken a staggering $154 million in its first 25 days of release, and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" has grossed more than $30 million since its Aug. 4 release, suspiciously healthy numbers from some poorly received propaganda movies are bemusing B.O. watchers.Indeed, according to sources within the exhibition business, cinema operators in some cities are under pressure from local authorities to boost the performance of domestic movies relative to overseas blockbusters.Just as the state uses quotas on foreign movies and blackout periods to encourage local films, so too are local cinema chains "bundling" tickets to make the domestic movies look better. Some theatergoers in China who went to see "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" paid 80 yuan ($12.50) and received two tickets: one valued at 60 yuan ($9.40) for a small propaganda pic about a Communist Party figure called "Yang Shanzhou," which was playing at the same time; the Hollywood blockbuster ticket cost just 20 yuan ($3.10). U.S. studios get roughly 15% of their films' B.O. receipts in China.The B.O. target for 2011, set out by the government's offcial "blue book" cultural report on the entertainment industry, is set at $2 billion, and this is looking eminently doable; however, it just a handful of foreign films will account for most of this figure, and the pressure is on to make sure that domestic product is also strongly represented.The only domestic pic that made major waves in the first half of 2011 was "Beginning of the Great Revival," a propaganda epic that took $58 million by the end of June."Kung Fu Panda 2" took in $92 million in the first half of the year. "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" grossed $73 million.B.O. stats from Entgroup, which compiles B.O. data in China, make for startling reading.In the week to end of Aug. 14, the patriotic film "Yang Shanzhou" generated $2.65 million in a week. Its cume so far has been $6.64 million and it's been showing for nearly four weeks -- longer than "Transformers 3."It has screened 7,864 times with admissions of 523,890 -- an average of 66 viewers per show, and 30 more viewers per show than "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2."Another domestic movie, "Wentian," suddenly making similar advances."The domestic movies 'Yang Shanzhou' and 'Weitian' appear to be bouncing back, which must be due to ticket bundling, Entgroup stated on its website.Entgroup declined to comment when contacted about the data. But a source says the government has an open policy to encourage exhibs to promote party-related films, especially in this anniversary year.Despite a delay in the release dates to give the propaganda pics a better run, "Transformers 3" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" still won at the wickets.Data from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) showed that in the first half of the year, domestic films took in 450 million, an increase of 38% over the same period last year, while foreign films grossed $430 million, up 1.6%, in the first six months.B.O. growth is expected to be slower this year, with last year's figures skewed by the outsized success of "Avatar." Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Guy Friday

Englishman Robinson Crusoe, stranded alone with an island for a long time, is overjoyed to locate a fellow guy, a black islander whom he names Friday. But Crusoe cannot overcome the shackles of their own heritage and upbringing and it is not capable of seeing Friday as anything apart from a savage who needs Crusoe's make of cultural and religious enlightenment. Friday tries to share their own more generous and unashamed culture, but ultimately realizes that Crusoe can't ever see him as not a substandard being. With this awareness, Friday sets to turn the tables on Crusoe.