January 29, 2008

Said to be in jeopardy following the sudden death of its lead actor, Heath Ledger, reports claimed that "The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus" will still be finished. According to People, the film director Terry Gilliam is working very hard to save the movie, especially in keeping Ledger inside the film.

Ledger's co-star in the film, Christopher Plummer told the magazine the good news. He stated, "Terry's throwing himself into the job of trying to salvage the picture. Terry was a very good friend [of Ledger's]. He very [much] wants to go on with the movie, and I can very much understand why. Because he wants to dedicate it to Heath, of course."

Country singer Blake Shelton has decided to add the list of people covering Michael Buble's 2005 hit 'Home'. Shelton who had it with a taste of country will release his rendition on February 5, according to CMT.com.

In Shelton's version, there won't be a solo voice for his alleged singer girlfriend, Miranda Lambert, also contributed in the background voice. The song will be attached to the re-release of his fourth studio album 'Pure BS' which date is still determined.

After the title of James Bond's latest film has been announced as "Quantum of Solace", it seems that the Bond's fans do not have to wonder how the movie is going to be like much longer. Cinematical.com reported that the poster of the much awaited film has been outed.

The poster first was unveiled at The Daily Mail, then the larger version was available via Toxicshock. The poster shows Daniel Craig as Bond wearing a black and white suit and aiming his gun straight forward with the background of European-type castle. The one sheet introduces the movie as Marc Foster's "Quantum of Solace".

The official second single from Jimmy Eat World's 'Chase This Light' album has received its music video premiere. The video for 'Always Be' was filmed back on January 5 and a preview of it was uploaded on the band's official site and official YouTube account weeks later.

'Always Be' has received radio airplay although no digital and single release have been scheduled. It has entered Modern Rock chart at #22 despite its status as airplay only.

British singer and X Factor winner Leona Lewis is on the verge of breaking the U.S. music industry with her 'Spirit' album. For that, she tapped the assistance of Akon and Madd Scientist and Rock City to revamp the album so that it would be 'Americanized'.

Lewis will add two new songs in the U.S. version, one is a duet with Akon called 'Forgive Me' and the other a collaboration with Madd Scientist and Rock City on 'Misses Glass'. The collaborators were contacted by producer Clive Davies who had helmed the successful U.K. version.

Has been keeping herself away from publication since she decided to take an indefinite hiatus from the band No Doubt which she fronted, Gwen Stefani has been hit with pregnancy rumors. UK newspaper The Sun reported that the songbird has confirmed "she is 13 weeks pregnant with bambino number two."

The newspaper quoted a source as saying that Gwen and her musician husband Gavin Rossdale found out the good news "at California's Cedars-Sinai hospital and couldn't wait to share the news with everyone."

The horror comedy fans are given a treat by Screen Gems as the studio released the international trailer of Paul Andrew Williams' latest project "The Cottage". Though considerably short, the trailer gives out promised that the movie would be hilarious as well as bloody.

Starting off with a narrator stating that strangers aren't welcome, the less-than-two-minutes video footage let out a chilling warning about the horror faced by two kidnappers who take a hide in a wrong place. As the trailer showcases clips of the film's scenes, the children song 'Old McDonald Had a Farm' becomes a creepy background song followed by warning stating, "Trespassers will be mutilated".

Michael Jackson's return to the music scene can be as early as this weekend as it is reported that the pop king will appear at the Super Bowl. The surprise movement is part of the promotion of his upcoming release, 'Michael Jackson 25th Anniversary of Thriller'.

However, sources said that Jackson won't physically appear during the half time, but a TV advertisement for a vitamin-enhanced drink by Pepsi will be broadcast with a Thriller theme instead. The video will be played during the showdown game between New England Patriots and New Giants on Sunday, February 3. After that, the album will also be promoted through "major TV, radio, online and outdoor advertising campaign", New York Post reported.

No stranger to exposing her body for publication, Paris Hilton goes topless, again, for another magazine cover that is 944.

Set to be featured on the magazine's February 2008 cover, the hotel heiress and socialite bares her top, poses provocatively in just Calvin Klein panties and a floppy black hat. With her left hand supporting her head, Paris is featured covering her breasts with her right arm.

French singer Vanessa Paradis has been accused of lip-synching when she performed at this year's NRJ Music Awards that was held on Saturday, January 26 in Cannes, France. The long-time partner of Johnny Depp was caught mouthing her lyrics with no presence of microphone.

Paradis was due to perform her song 'O'J'Te Vois' when she went on-stage without her microphone, leading to speculations that she mimed her words. She was also slammed for a disappointing stage act sending an audience to say "I'm very disappointed. Her album is very good, but she acted as if she didn't want to be here."

Britney Spears' drama, once again, continued to escalate when she and her BFF Sam Lutfi got into a huge blowout Monday night, January 28 that the LAPD had to be called into the scene.

Britney had Sam drove her to the gate of her Beverly Hills home when she suddenly jumped out of the car crying for reasons unknown. She, as revealed by her paparazzo boyfriend Adnan Ghalib, then called him, pleaded "Baby, can you come pick me up??" Responded to the singer's "frantic call", Adnan then told her to go into her house and he would pick her up soon.

The "Laws of Attraction" star Julianne Moore is going to star in Nala Films' thriller. According to Variety, the 47-year-old actress will be playing the leading lady in the supernatural horror "Shelter".

Based on the script written by Michael Cooney, the film will be directed by Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein with the budget of about $22 million to $25 million. The film is expected to start shooting in late March in Pittsburgh.

Four years after the Grammy-nominated album 'Tambourine', rock singer Tift Merritt is back with a brand new album titled 'Another Country' that had her "lost" in Paris. Slated to be released on February 26, 'Another Country' found Merritt working straight from her heart to communicate her feelings to her listeners.

The Texas native told AceShowbiz how her new album is different from the last one, how she looks at competition in the industry and her other projects beside writing music.

Having its leading actress, Michelle Williams, grieving for the sudden death of her former lover, the THINKFilm's upcoming romantic comedy "Blue Valentine" has been postponed indefinitely. According to People, the Derek Cianfrance directed-film is put on hold to give the former "Dawson's Creek" cast member time to cope from the death of Heath Ledger.

To People, an insider said, "We will hold off until she is ready. The production is in the process of sorting it out in respect to her." Elaborating on the postponement news, the source then added, "We're hoping she will still come back and do the film and are happy to wait. The film is tailor made for those two so of course we would want to wait. You can't get much better than them."

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher have turned their backs on Kabbalah, it has been reported.

The Hollywood power couple, who once were devout followers of the mystical off-shoot of Judaism, have sparked rumors they are no longer followers of the faith after failing to visit the Los Angeles Kabbalah center for months.

Dying fans of Led Zeppelin should not put down their hopes for another reunion gig. The band's guitarist, Jimmy Page, announced that there won't be any Led Zeppelin appearance, at least not before September.

Page attended a press conference in Tokyo, Japan on Monday, January 28 to promote the band's latest release 'The Mothership'. When asked whether there is further plan to get on stage, Page replied that vocalist Robert Plant has another project that he has to complete with Alison Krauss. "He's really busy with that project, certainly until September," Page explained. "So I can't give you any news on anything at the moment."

The Russian mobsters' film "Eastern Promises" shared the lead position of 28th Annual Genie Awards' nominations with the Rwandan genocide's "Shake Hands With the Devil". On Monday, January 28, the two movies have been announced to be the nomination leaders as they nabbed 12 nods each from the Canada's film awards.

The two films will battle each other for the honor of Best Motion Picture contending also with "L'age Des Tenebres" (Days of Darkness), "Away From Her" and "Continental, Un Film Sans Fusil" (Continental, A Film Without Guns). The David Cronenberg's crime family drama "Promises" also has to face the Roger Spottiswoode's biopic "Devil" in the best director prize. Aside from facing "Devil", it will contest against Sarah Polley's "Away From Her", Bruce Mcdonald's "The Tracey Fragments" and Denys Arcand's "Tenebres".

R'n'B singer Bobby Brown who is known for his troubled marriage to singer Whitney Houston and his spontaneous act, has announced that he will release a country album. For one thing, Brown is one of seven contestants featured on CMT's reality show 'Gone Country'.

The show sees seven non-country people competing with each other to become a country music singer. The winner will have a country single produced by John Rich of the Big & Rich duo. However, Brown revealed in an interview with MTV that he is doing the whole album, and that he had pocketed one song called 'The Man'. "It's a pretty nice ballad," Brown said. "(It talks about) everything I've been through in my life."

In another Britney Spears' routine of antics, the mother of two experienced another wardrobe malfunction Sunday, January 27 when she accidentally flashed her boob while she was in the middle of a practice dance routine at a dance studio in LA.

Britney visited the privately-rented dance studio, Millennium Dance Studio, with BFF Sam Lutfi to do her solo dance routine that day and wasn't aware that she was being tapped by a hidden camera belonged to Hollywood TV, placed between a crack in the studio's window.

R.E.M. will bring their new album 'Accelerate' down the street in a tour that begins May 23 in Vancouver. They have also announced which supporting acts they will bring along.

In an official announcement on Monday, January 28, it was revealed that the rock band have recruited Modest Mouse and The National. Reports said that R.E.M.'s frontman Michael Stipe has been a long admirer of The National and attended one of their shows in London last year.

The struggle of Recording Academy and several artists like Beyonce Knowles and Foo Fighters to keep the 50th Grammy Awards gala going on have come to a fruitful result. The Writers Guild of America have granted an interim agreement to the organizers of the event to proceed with the ceremony to be held February 10 at Los Angeles' Staples Center.

Due to the writers strike, several shows have been canceled including the Golden Globes Awards that was held earlier this month. WGA who represents the striking writers, however, have said last week that they would not picket against Grammys and announced further in a statement on Monday, January 28 that "The Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America, West has agreed to grant an interim agreement for this year's Grammy Awards in Los Angeles."

The star of "The Mummy" Brendan Fraser will be honored with the Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film Award at 2008 ShoWest convention to be held from March 10 to 13 at the Bally's and Paris hotels in Las Vegas. The 39-year-old actor will be presented with the kudo at the closing-awards gala of the film-related event.

On giving the award to Fraser, ShoWest co-managing director Mitch Neuhauser explained that the recently split actor has made many memorable performances. Neuhauser stated, "From his roles in action-packed blockbusters like 'The Mummy,' 'The Mummy Returns' and 'George of the Jungle' to his critically acclaimed roles in such independent films as 'Crash' and 'Gods and Monsters,' Fraser has delivered many inspirational performances over the past decade."

The third effort from Jonas Brothers may sound relatively not far from their second self-titled album, but member Nick Jonas has hinted that there definitely are influences from Elvis Costello and The Beatles.

They will also showcase four of their new materials during the headlining tour that starts January 31 in Tucson, Ariz. The tracks are 'Don't Take My Heart and Put it on the Shelf', 'Burning Up', 'Pushing Me Away' and the one that Nick wrote about his struggle with diabetes, 'A Little Bit Longer'.

The villain High Priest Imhotep in "The Mummy" series has reportedly joined the cast of action movie "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra". According to IESB.net, Arnold Vosloo has been cast by director Stephen Sommers to depict the main bad guy Zartan in the film based on Hasbro's action figures.

Zartan is a mercenary who works with Destro and Cobra. This character, which is fluent in twenty languages and dialects, is described to be similar to a chameleon since he can imitate anyone to an exact physical and vocal likeness. He is an expert martial artist, master archer and the leader of the biker gang known as the Dreadnoks who also suffers from Paranoid Schizophrenia and Multiple Personality Disorder.

Arctic Monkeys may look forward to win big at this year's Shockwaves NME Awards for they are nominated for seven categories. Meanwhile Amy Winehouse stays powerful despite her personal ordeal, pocketing 4 nominations, two in the music field and others in the non-music category.

The Monkeys are vying for the categories Best British Band, Best Live Band, Best Album, Best Track, Best Video and Best Video Album Artwork, while lead singer Alex Turner is running solo for Best Dressed award. On the other side, Winehouse has been nominated for Villain of the Year alongside U.S. president George W. Bush, British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and Razorlight's frontman Johnny Borrell.

The 2005 Academy Award-winning drama "Crash" is going to be brought to the small screen. On Monday, January 28, the pay cable channel, Starz network, announced that the racially charged film will be coming to television this year as a 13-episode, one-hour original drama series.

On the production team for the television series, it was said that the film's key members, Paul Haggis, Bobby Moresco, Bob Yari, Don Cheadle, Mark R. Harris and Tom Nunan, will team up once again for the series. On the returning of the original behind-the-scene team, the network's executive vice president Stephan Shelanksi commented, "The fact that key members of the film's production team are involved will ensure that our series maintains the high level of talent and creativity captured in the film."

While the first single 'Apologize' is still hot on the chart, new pop rock sensation OneRepublic move on with the second one, 'Stop and Stare'. A music video for it has been premiered on MTV's TRL on Monday, January 28.

The Greg Wells-produced song has been performing rather well on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, climbing up to #43 in its sixth week. In U.K. the single will be outed on March 3 with its album 'Dreaming Out Loud' coming out a week after.

Words are spreading that Guillermo del Toro is going to helm the back-to-back installments of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit". According to Hollywood Reporter, the director of "Pan's Labyrinth" is in talks with MGM to take the key part in the films' production.

Still, on the contrary to the news, HPANA.com reported that the Academy Award-nominated director is too busy for being involved in the project. The site based the reason on producer David Heyman's comment stating, "Del Toro was sadly not really in the running because he's rather busy."

Is having her visitation rights to her young sons with former husband Kevin Federline, Sean Preston and Jayden James, being suspended for nearly three weeks by now, Britney Spears was on Monday, January 28 allowed to speak with the boys on the telephone but still may not see them.

Despite two attempts by her lawyers to win back her visitation rights after she lost it following her January 3 meltdown, Britney however could not see her kids indefinitely, the judge initially ruled. Lucky for the troubled pop star that Court Commissioner Scott Gordon ruled at last week's hearing that "(Spears) is to have telephonic contact with the minor children" with "All prior orders remain in full force and effect." Court documents of the ruling were released Monday.

Mariah Carey's highly-anticipated new single has been delayed in its release to a radio station. The not yet known single, was scheduled to be played on U.S. radio KHOP 95.1 today (January 29) but it was later announced that the single won't take impact until next week.

The new schedule is set for the same time next week (Tuesday, February 5). There is still no reason on why it was delayed.

Jay-Z has pulled 'Pray' as the third single from his latest album, 'American Gangster' and the rapper has just premiered the music video for the single.

The video is directed by Jason Goldwatch and shows Jay-Z performing live in front of audience.