Just how confident is Fox in the staying power of Glee as a cultural phenomenon? The network has already renewed the series for a third season, despite the fact that it hasn't even finished its first season. Says Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly: "Everything about Glee -- from the concept to the characters to the marketing -- has been innovative and risky, but with [series creator] Ryan Murphy tapping into the zeitgeist, the risk has paid off with this truly remarkable series. Glee has one of the most active, devoted fan bases I've ever seen, and we couldn't be more thrilled to give Gleeks a third season of their favorite show." Maybe there is another Lost after all. [EW]
When is an animated movie that opens with $71 million -- thus making it one of the four best animated openings in history -- considered a humongous disappointment? When it's Shrek Forever After. The supposed final chapter in the Dreamworks Animation smash series easily topped the box office over the weekend, but wound up opening to $50 million less than Shrek The Third did just three years ago. Guess people really didn't like that one, huh? Dig up your most dated cultural reference and get ready for some weekend receipts.
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And you thought pilot season was over! Despite not placing Edgar Floats on its fall schedule, ABC has ordered six additional scripts of the crime procedural from creator Rand Ravich. Some observers worried that the pilot -- which stars Tom Cavanagh as a police psychologist-turned-bounty hunter -- was too character driven and quirky for network television, but since this is the same network that actually aired Eli Stone, clearly normal rules are out the window. Don't be surprised when you start seeing ads for Edgar Floats around midseason. [Deadline]
If you're a hot actress/supermodel and you haven't been rumored as a replacement for Megan Fox in Transformers 3, then maybe you should reevaluate things. The obviously reputable Geek Week has "learned from an inside source" that Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley will get the coveted role of playing the out-of-his-league love interest to Shia LaBeouf. You don't know Huntington-Whiteley, but in addition to looking great in various stages of undress, she's also the girlfriend of Jason Statham. So you know she's bad ass. Regardless, expect to see this rumor discounted shortly. [Geek Week via Vulture]
Here's something you probably never thought about while watching Cops: Does being followed around by a camera crew affect the way police officers do their jobs? That's the question being posed by the family of Aiyana Stanley-Jones. The 7-year-old Detroit girl was shot and killed in her bedroom by a stray bullet last Sunday while police searched for a murder suspect with a camera crew for the A&E series The First 48 in tow.
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If you still aren't sick of hearing about Lost, live in New York City and feel like rolling the dice on the slight chance that you can get overflow tickets to a sold-out event, head over to The Paley Center for Media today at 2. That's when yours truly will be participating in a panel discussion about Lost with writers like New York's Emily Nussbaum, HitFix's Alan Sepinwall and Time's James Poniewozik. No truth to the rumor that they're planning a game of "which of these things doesn't belong?" with me as a centerpiece. [The Paley Center]
What a difference three years -- and one really bad sequel -- makes. When Shrek the Third opened over this weekend in 2007, it grossed $38 million on Friday; Shrek Forever After, however, could only score $20 million yesterday, this despite the added benefit of higher ticket prices and 3D. Yikes. No reason to start a collection for Dreamworks Animation, but Shrek Forever After will likely wind up around $50 million short of its predecesor come Sunday. Elsewhere, weep for Will Forte. MacGruber grossed an embarrassing $1.5 million on Friday and will be lucky to close out the weekend with more than $5 million. Insert bomb related pun here. The top-five after the jump.
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Whether the center of your pop-culture world was on the Croisette, in New York or in Los Angeles, Movieline this week offered something specific and delightful for everyone. And for those of you simply still in dumbfounded shock over Megan Fox, you're covered, too. Read on for our Week in Review, and let Christopher Rosen (and much-anticipated Cannes awards announcements) guide you through the weekend. Have a great one!
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· Cats are being viral again. This time they're breaking down Lost's six seasons into a 60-second morsel. "Sayeed" here is the most adorable, combining pristine chocolate fur with (what else) evil. [Youtube]
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This week's "Commenters of the Week" prize is designed specifically for our engineering friends. Have you found yourself reading about a provocative "Bret" on Movieline -- whether he's a porn-loving diabetic on the mend or an iconic author/screenwriter who doesn't care for female directors -- and thought, "You know, I could construct an even more incendiary Bret -- if only I had the means." Well, Movieline is giving you access to its garage of tools, blueprints, soundbite instruction guides and Casio voice boxes. Your Bret will be as bandanna-loving or American Psycho-imagining as the real thing. So, who wins?
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Jane Lynch's character on Glee. Sue Sylvester, may seem like gorgon dreamed from the actress's imagination, but Lynch says she based her performance on a professor she had at Illinois State University. "We called her 'The Dragon Lady,' and she was an acting teacher. When she walked down the hall, kids would part like the red sea. She wore layers, and she flowed, and she was big, had a loud voice. It was rumored she was a lesbian -- in the cornfields of Illinois, God bless her." She also spilled that Glee's season finale would feature Jonathan Groff performing "Bohemian Rhapsody" and celebrity reappearances. [EW]
Harvey and Bob Weinstein have been working steadily over the last few months to regain their old haunt Miramax from Disney, but the LAT says the deal has fallen apart. Among the sticking points: the Weinsteins' final bid, $625 million, wasn't quite as high as Disney wanted. Ugh, now the brothers will have to use that money to actually release the films they have on the shelf. They hate having to do that! [LAT]
· When your Cannes Film Market project has gone all out on a cast including Chris Kattan, Pamela Anderson, David Spade, Chazz Palminteri and Nicky Whelan, the last thing you have a budget for is an original poster.
· The festival's Directors' Fortnight sidebar awarded its top prize to Fabienne Berthaud's Pieds nus sur les limaces, which somehow translates to Lily Sometimes.
· Welcome back, Lodge Kerrigan! The LAT has some questions for you.
· Dear actors: Stop licking your fingers onscreen, or else your characters are dead to me. Love, Jeff Wells.
· In other news, Naomi Campbell might be off to the Hague to testify in a war-crimes trial. No, not her own. Stop it.
· Finally, congratulations to former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, who has reportedly been selected to succeed Dan Glickman as MPAA president.
Movieline's week-long series of interviews with Bret Easton Ellis may be over, but there's a nice chaser over at Esquire. The magazine's Web site features the opening of Imperial Bedrooms, Ellis's follow-up to his 1985 breakthrough Less Than Zero. Kyle teased its opening previously ("They had made a movie about us"); check the excerpt out for a little more of the meta tang you can look forward to when the book debuts next month. [Esquire]
The candlelight vigils for CNN's kamikaze anchoress Campbell Brown are over, and so it's time to get down to the business of replacing her at 8 p.m. And if we're continuing in her spirit of candor, then this is as good an idea as any: Erstwhile NY governor, escort connoisseur and "budding pundit" Eliot Spitzer. "He's a smart guy, extremely smart. And he communicates well," an anonymous cable news executive told the NYT. "The question about him is, how much stench is on him, and is he likable enough?" Those are two questions, of course, the answers to which are not much and not really, which of course means he's a perfect fit on CNN, right? [NYT]
