This Is It Already 1/1,667th of the Way Toward Breaking Even

· A limited supply of advance tickets for This Is It, aka the Michael Jackson pseudo-concert documentary, sold out in two hours Sunday at L.A. Live. A hearty crowd of fans had waited upwards of three days in some cases to get their hands on 3,000 ducats for the film's Oct. 27 sneak previews; the city's new Regal Stadium Cinemas will open that night with the film on all 14 screens. Let the black market commence! [AP]

More Weinstein Co. headaches, Vin Diesel once again plots world conquest, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.

· Last week it was Dick Cook leaving Disney under cover of the Holiday-Friday News Dump, and this week it was Tom Ortenberg fleeing The Weinstein Company after nine months as head of theatrical releasing. He'd successfully shepherded Inglourious Basterds to $100 million-plus, but the latest round of firings and the company's constant release-date shifts didn't do very much for Ortenberg's morale. Meanwhile, his old cohorts at Lionsgate appear to have locked up whatever Precious distribution rights were in doubt after Sundance; a judge on Friday dismissed the Weinsteins' breach-of-contract suit against the film's producers. [DHD, LAT]

· But while the Weinsteins reel, their potential, perhaps unlikely replacement in the mogul food chain has emerged: Vin Diesel, whose One Race Productions has brought aboard former Universal production exec David Ortiz to help build a slate of films for a "global audience." [Variety]

· And just in case things don't work out between Diesel and Ortiz, Peter Bart asks and attempts to answer Hollywood's million-dollar question: "Is there a respectful way to terminate an employee?" [Variety]

· William Hurt and Ethan Hawke have company on their voyage to a new adaptation of Moby Dick; Donald Sutherland, Gillian Anderson and Charlie Cox have all joined the cast, with the latter actor playing the narrator Ishmael to Hurt's raving Ahab. Production is currently underway in Canada. [Variety]