"Jumper" stays top of box office

'Jumper' stays top of box office

LONDON (Reuters) - Science fiction thriller "Jumper" held on to top spot at the box office for a second week, adding another 1.51 million pounds to its take, according to Screen International on Tuesday.

The story of Hayden Christensen as the man who can teleport himself anywhere at any time has now taken 5.89 million pounds in its UK run.

New at two was "Be Kind Rewind" with Jack Black and Mos Def trying to cover up their disastrous wiping of a video store's stock by re-filming the movies with themselves as stars.

Coming in at three was Sylvester Stallone as co-writer, director and star of "Rambo," the fourth sequel of the action hero series, with the ex-Green Beret this time on a rescue mission in Burma.

Down one place at four was "Juno" with Ellen Page as a teenager coping with pregnancy, while "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," with Nicolas Cage trying to clear his ancestor of murdering Abraham Lincoln, was down three at five.

At six, down from four was the story of a boy, a large pet and Loch Ness in "The Water Horse" while this week's big Oscar winner, the ultra-violent tale of a drugs deal gone wrong, "There Will be Blood," was unchanged at seven.

Down two places at eight was "The Bucket List" with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two terminal cancer patients discussing life and fate on a farewell world trip.

Monster movie "Cloverfield" was down four places at nine while "Alvin and the Chipmunks" was back up two places to 10.

(Reporting by Steve Addison)

80th annual Oscars head for record low TV ratings

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80th annual Oscars head for record low TV ratings

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The U.S. telecast of the 80th annual Oscars, dominated by European stars and movies that played poorly at the box office, appears headed for record low viewership, according to early figures from Nielsen Media Research on Monday.

The three-hour-plus live broadcast hosted by Jon Stewart on ABC posted a combined household rating of 21.9 in the 56 largest "metered markets" monitored by Nielsen. Each rating point represents 1 percent of the 78.8 million households in those cities -- accounting for 70 percent of the country.

National figures were expected later in the day.

The "metered market" tally was down sharply from the corresponding figure in 2003, which entered the record books as the least watched Oscars telecast ever. That show, which was presented just after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq had begun, posted a "metered market" household rating of 25.5.

The 2003 program was hosted by Steve Martin and featured the musical "Chicago" as best picture. It ended up with a national household rating of 20.4, the lowest level going back to the very first televised Oscars in 1953.

In terms of actual people watching, the 2003 telecast averaged 33.05 million viewers, the smallest number since 1974, when average audience figures first became available.

The weak ratings for Sunday's broadcast were no surprise given that most movies showcased this year, while drawing critical raves, generated little enthusiasm among moviegoers.

The night's big winner, the grim, violent crime drama "No Country For Old Men," which claimed four awards including best picture and best drama, grossed a modest $64 million (33 million pounds) at the North American box office.

Only one movie among the five nominated for best picture, breakout comedy "Juno," crossed the $100 million box office market domestically. That film managed just one win, for best original screenplay.

The Oscar ratings likely also suffered from the fact that all four acting awards this year went to European performers whose names are relatively obscure for American audiences and who appeared in movies that relatively few moviegoers saw.

The Oscars generally have drawn a bigger U.S. television audience in years when the big crowd pleasers at the multiplex, like "Titanic" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," also figured prominently in the awards race.

Oscar producers already were bracing for low ratings due to an overall viewership slump in network TV this broadcast season, exacerbated by a glut of reruns and reality shows triggered by the recently settled Hollywood writers strike.

Still, the Academy Awards show ranks as the year's highest-rated entertainment special and a cash cow for Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, which raked in an average of $1.8 million for each 30-second spot, up 7 percent from a year ago.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Girls underwear collector

Professor caught stealing panties from dorm

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A Singaporean professor who nicked
bras and panties has pleaded guilty to stealing women's
underwear from a university dormitory, a local newspaper
reported on Saturday.

The 39-year old man -- an associate professor in a Chinese
university -- was charged for taking women's underwear from a
university hostel's clothes-line last December, the Straits
Times reported.

The Singaporean professor, who teaches in China, was in the
city-state for his leave when he committed the crime. He was
caught by a dormitory security guard who found female
undergarments in his haversack.

"I have heard stories before about underwear being stolen,
but I never thought it would happen to me," a victim, who was
not named, was quoted as saying.

A lawyer for the professor was reported as saying his
client suffers from a psychiatric disorder and has been taking
women's underwear since he was 14.

The lawyer also said that his client was an honourable and
kind person who had no intention of causing annoyance to the
underwear owners.

(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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Sexy star Kylie Minogue come back

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Just a minute with pop star Kylie Minogue

Thursday, Jan 31, 2008

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Australian pop star Kylie Minogue has made a full-scale comeback after a serious bout of breast cancer in 2005.

With a new studio album "X", riding the charts in Europe and Australia, a European tour starting in Paris in May, two Brit award music nominations and a new waxwork likeness at London's Madame Tussauds, Minogue, 39, says her career is far from over.

The soap actress turned pop star and sex symbol spoke to Reuters about her hopes for the future, and how she will always be a showgirl at heart.

Q: You have come back with a vengeance after breast cancer. A lot of people who have been through what you have, may have thought it was time to change their life.

A: "Quite simply, you are forced to evaluate your life and what you do with it. You do tend to hear more about stories where people have said 'That's it. I'm going to go in a completely different direction.' And I think I would have had a valid excuse. But no, not me. I'm not finished."

Q: You already have fame, wealth and success. What more do you want to do?

A: "I get joy out of what I do. I am completely unqualified to do anything else and this is part of my life. It's always hard for anyone in public life to have those who are not (in the public eye) comprehend it. Fame and celebrity can be challenging. So having found my methods to try and cope with that, I'm ready to go on."

Q: What are your coping methods?

A: "Simple things. A good meal, a good bottle of wine. I'm really close with all my family. I now have a young nephew and that's brought a whole new dimension to my life."

Q: You will be turning 40 in May. Are you someone who loves big birthday celebrations?

A: "I am notoriously noncommittal about birthdays, much to my girlfriends' chagrin. Then, of course, one or two days before I might decide I want to celebrate for three days. This time I will be on tour. I would like to pop some nice champagne and celebrate with one or two people."

Q: Which artists do you most admire?

A: "I love being a show girl so I have to go with all the good and proper gay divas - Cher, Judy, Marilyn, Ann Margret, Dolly -- all of them. I love Joni Mitchell, I love Bjork, I love all different kinds of performers. But those show girls are gutsy ladies. I am desperate to make it to see Bette Midler in concert. You've got to pay respect to those girls."

Q: You have been very private about your breast cancer and you still seem hesitant to talk about it. Is that a decision you made, that it was something you wanted to keep to yourself?

A: "Yes. I don't have a nice little phrase to summarize what that meant, or what it did, or how I've changed. I don't want to talk about it too much. There are so many people going through it at the moment, it deserves some respect. I don't think it's my place to talk about it.

"I am always at pains to say, this is just my story. I have some understanding of what other people might go through but I don't have the answers. I am sure the day will come when I will be more forward about it. If I was one-on-one with a patient, I would share everything. The general rule I was told is to give yourself a couple of years before you go out and become a spokesperson."

Reuters/Nielsen

Video games give actors second chance

Friday, Feb 01, 2008

By Kemp Powers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - You may know actor Keith David for starring opposite Kurt Russell in the 1982 horror film "The Thing," or for his Tony Award-winning role in the 1992 production of "Jelly's Last Jam."

Video gamers, however, will more likely recognize David for his role as the Arbiter, the deep-voiced alien "co-star" in Microsoft's best-selling "Halo" video games.

"I'm not a big video game player," David said. "But once I was on the set of a film, and one of the grips came up to me and said, 'I know you're the voice of the Arbiter, can I have your autograph?'"

Video games have helped resuscitate the careers of many film and television actors, whose distinctive voices can make them a hot commodity in the game world even as their status in Hollywood fades.

The surge in games using big-screen voice talent could even rewrite industry pay scales as actors angle for a bigger piece of the $18 billion (9.04 billion pound) U.S. video-game market.

Many once-familiar actors have carved out second careers as video-game characters.

Terrence Carson, one of the stars of the 1990s sitcom "Living Single," now voices Kratos, the main character in Sony's hit PlayStation franchise "God of War."

Character actor Michael Ironside has lent his distinctive voice to the UbiSoft franchise "Splinter Cell," playing the ruthless secret agent Sam Fisher.

Marty O'Donnell, audio director at Bungie Studios, which created "Halo," said he stumbled across David's distinctive voice when listening to a documentary the actor was narrating, and knew he was perfect for the Arbiter.

"Keith is an A-list guy in my opinion," O'Donnell said. "Celebs are a boon for the industry, because there are a lot of great actors out there not currently working on the latest triple-A film."

Roughly 1,200 to 1,500 lines of dialogue per character are recorded for story-driven games. "Halo 3" had more than 35,000 total lines of dialogue, according to O'Donnell.

Voice actors are paid according to Screen Actors Guild rules, about $760 for a single four-hour recording session, and top talent can book two or three sessions per day, providing a steadier paycheque than on-screen work.

Celebrity talent can rake in even more, with deals often starting at double the scale rate and going up from there.

And then there's the recognition.

Take Reuben Langdon who did the voice and motion-capture modelling for the character of Dante in the Capcom's "Devil May Cry 3" and the upcoming "Devil May Cry 4".

Prior to his video game work, Langdon, 32, had done several TV shows in Japan, but never would have been recognized on American streets. But now the fan mail floods in and he signs autographs at conventions.

"Before the game came out, nobody knew who I was," Langdon said. "I get way more attention than I ever got as a (screen) actor."

The surging popularity of video games -- U.S. sales jumped 43 percent last year -- is causing some actors to think it's time they earned a larger piece of the pie.

"In some ways, these games are even surpassing the DVD market," said David. "That's why I believe our residuals in games will be a major bargaining issue in upcoming SAG negotiations."

Residuals are payments to actors for subsequent showings of their work, such as when a movie is shown on TV. Actors don't get residuals for games, and it's an issue that echoes the complaints of Hollywood's striking writers that they should be paid more for digital distribution of their works.

Lev Chapelsky, the general manager of production company Blindlight, which contracts screen actors to do videogame work, disagrees with the actors' contentions.

"It has been a problem lately," Chapelsky said. "Agents are under the misconception that there's a ton of money to be had for their clients. In a game, the entertainment is about the game play. The actor's contribution isn't as important as the game play."

Chapelsky recalls a demand by one top talent for $750,000 to do an hour's worth of voice work. He said it is common for star talent to receive in the high five figures for a single session. One star got more than $500,000 for a single session.

"It wasn't us," he said. "That sets a bad precedent."

Reuters/Nielsen

Fly naked on Germany's first nudist holiday flight

Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German nudists will be able to start their holidays early by stripping off on the plane if they take up a new offer from an eastern German travel firm.

Travel agency OssiUrlaub.de said it would start taking bookings from Friday for a trial nudist day trip from the eastern German town of Erfurt to the popular Baltic Sea resort of Usedom, planned for July 5 and costing 499 euros (370 pounds).

"It's expensive, I know," managing director Enrico Hess told Reuters by phone. "It's because the plane's very small. There's no real reason why a flight in which one flies naked should be more expensive than any other."

The 55 passengers will have to remain clothed until they board, and dress before disembarking, said Hess. The crew will remain clothed throughout the flight for safety reasons.

"I wish I could say we thought of it ourselves but the idea came from a customer," Hess told Reuters by phone. "It's an unusual gap in the market."

Naturism, or "free body culture" (FKK) as it is known in Germany, was banned by the Nazis but blossomed again after the Second World War, particularly in eastern Germany.

"There are FKK hotels where you can go into the restaurants and shops naked, for example," Hess said. "For FKK fans -- not that I'm one of them -- it's nothing unusual."

"I don't want people to get the wrong idea. It's not that we're starting a swinger club in mid-air or something like that," he added. "We're a perfectly normal holiday company."

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, editing by Paul Casciato)