By Drew Grant 10/31/12 12:17pm

media deals

Disney now owns 'Star Wars'

Disney Acquires LucasFilm, New Star Wars Imminent/Inevitable/Terrible Idea

Just like the canceling of Anderson Cooper’s show on the day of Hurricane Sandy, another big news story managed to bury its lede yesterday under the rubble of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. So in case you were too busy donating blood, helping rescue workers remove debris and clear the roads, or staying in a dark, powerless apartment without wifi, get ready for a doozy: Disney has acquired LucasFilms. And they are getting ready to make a new Star Wars! Read More

By Drew Grant 2/06/12 11:26am

super bowl ads

VW's "The Dog Strikes Back" ad

Volkswagen’s Meta-Star Wars Dog Ads Rip Off Everyone Except George Lucas (Video)

Last year, Volkswagen made waves with its Super Bowl commercial featuring a little kid in a Darth Vader helmet using “the force” to control his dad’s car. It was an instant viral hit, and for awhile the boy from that commercial, 6-year-old Max Page was mildly famous.

This year, the same agency behind “The Force” commercial, Deutsch Inc., took the Star Wars theme to a whole other level, with Super Bowl ads that began as videos featuring dogs and then pulled back to reveal something much, much stranger. Read More

By Dan Duray 12/07/10 10:09pm

Q&A

15 Minutes With Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher’s touring show Wishful Drinking was recently filmed for an HBO special that debuts December 12. The show, which began on Broadway, is taken from her book of the same title and provides a broad overview of her many tabloid scandals — though Ms. Fisher says she’s actually not that much of a drinker. Read More

By Richard Siklos 8/18/10 12:27am

Cats and Dogs

The Porn Identity

Avatar is returning to movie theaters next week in the hopes of reversing a disturbing trend in Hollywood: 3-D is fading at the multiplex. After some big hits like Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story 3, recent 3-D offerings including Cats and Dogs and Step Up 3D have withered.

But perhaps a bigger question Read More

By Cora Lewis 7/07/10 1:35am

Covet

Space Age Décor

Hollywood’s in the midst of a love affair with 3-D movies, from Pixar flicks to Academy Award-nominated blockbusters. But there once was a time when the technology to see a movie “In 3 Dimensions!” (as 1950s movie posters eerily proclaimed) seemed the stuff of science fiction-along with flying saucers and intergalactic wars with Read More

By Christopher Rosen 6/30/09 4:48pm

A Viewers Guide to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

A word of advice: If you’re one of the few who has yet to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (and judging from the $200 million–plus grosses, you probably aren’t), we suggest rushing out immediately to see Michael Bay’s latest in its full IMAX glory. Quality aside—the over-long extravaganza isn’t nearly as bad Read More

By Steve Cohen 4/20/09 2:37pm

Earth Day 2009

This week we will celebrate the 39th Anniversary of Earth Day, a holiday that in many ways coincided with the beginning of the mass environmental movement in the United States.  The first Earth Day, in 1970, was proposed by then Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, and organized by Denis Hayes, Read More

By Gillian Reagan 7/23/08 7:54pm

Star Wars Coming in 3-D?

George Lucas is seeing dollar signs for his next project: turning all six Star Wars episodes into 3-D masterpieces. Cha-ching! Acccording to ComingSoon.net, DreamWorks Animations CEO Jeffery Katzenberg said Mr. Lucas floated the project in the past with no results. The team reportedly now has “the technical resources to pull it off.” Read More

By Gillian Reagan 3/25/08 3:24pm

Star Wars Fans Wield Force Against ‘Darth Weinstein’

It’s the revenge of the nerds! Or the Star Wars geeks anyway. They’ve unleashed their wrath upon the Weinstein Company for keeping a movie about their brethren, Fanboys, in limbo for the past two years. They’ve formed a grass-roots boycott of all Weinstein-produced films, organized bicoastal protests at screenings of its Friday opener Superhero Movie, Read More