Hey All,
First of all the sad news that hit the airwaves over the weekend was the sudden and tragic passing of legendary singer-actress Whitney Houston topped off with the Grammy Awards airing Sunday night to its second highest audience in, well, a VERY long time much in part to the quickly planned tribute to Houston. I want to extend deepest condolences to Whitney’s family, her fans and her fans – Rest in Peace, Ms. Houston.
Sadly, within the same breath, I have to say congratulations to all of the Grammy Award winners, including Adele, The Foo Fighters, Bon Iver, Lady Antebellum, Tony Bennett and Corinne Baily Rae.
And now, here are the news items for today:
TELEVISION
Actor Henry Ian Cusick (Lost) will make a guest appearance this spring on the FOX series Fringe, playing an FBI agent assigned to a Fringe case, but it is unclear if this is the same role as that of an “Alternate Universe Agent” that possesses strength and confidence as well as strong comic timing that was rumored to be coming up in a future episode. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Actor Michael B. Jordan (Friday Night Lights) has joined the cast of the NBC drama pilot County from show runner Jason Katims. The medical drama also stars Jason Ritter (The Event and Parenthood) and chronicles the lives of a group of young doctors, nurses, and administrators in a troubled LA County Hospital. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Actor James Wolk (the short-lived Lone Star) has joined the six-episode USA Network drama series Political Animals from show runner Greg Berlanti. The pilot is based in DC, is slated to premiere this summer and focus on a fictional former first family in the throes of a crisis. Wolk will play one of her sons, who also serves as her chief of staff. (Deadline and Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Actor Ving Rhames will star opposite Alfred Molina in the TNT/David E. Kelley medical drama pilot Chelsea General, which is based on CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta’s upcoming novel Monday Mornings. The pilot follows the lives of five surgeons as they push the limits of their abilities and confront their personal and professional failings. Rhames will play a physically imposing former professional football player who now is the most celebrated trauma chief in the country. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Actress Sarah Bolger, Blythe Danner and Madeline Zima are the first actors attached to the ABC period drama The Gilded Lilys from show runner Shonda Rhimes. The project is set in 1895 and focuses on the family who owns New York’s first true luxury hotel, the staff who work there and the people who pass through. Bolger will play the newly rebellious Violet Langton Lily with Zima as her personal maid, Abigail Perkins. Danner is set as Caroline Naughton Lily, a ruthless but wickedly funny matriarch widow. (The Futon Critic and Deadline)
Actor Ryan Phillippe has joined the cast of the previously known CBS drama pilot called Golden Boy from show runner Greg Berlanti that will track one cop’s meteoric rise from officer to detective to police commissioner. (Lynette Rice at Entertainment Weekly)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Actress Saoirse Ronan is in final talks to star in the next Snow White box office film called Order of Seven that was originally developed as a Kung Fu retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. But now the film has been reworked as a standalone action adventure that’s cut all ties to the classic tale. Ronan would play Olivia Sinclair, a British expat in 19th century Hong Kong, who seeks the protection of a centuries old group of warriors, now a jaded group of outlaws. After the re-emergence of an ancient evil empress, Sinclair helps the warriors reclaim their destiny and noble roots. (Marc Graser at Variety)
Here are the top 10 box office movies for this past weekend courtesy of Exhibitor Relations:
1. The Vow, $41.7 million
2. Safe House, $39.3 million
3. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, $27.6 million
4. Star Wars: Episode 1—The Phantom Menace, $23 million
5. Chronicle, $12.3 million
6. The Woman in Black, $10.3 million
7. The Grey, $5.1 million
8. Big Miracle, $3.9 million
9. The Descendants, $3.5 million
10. Underworld Awakening, $2.5 million
Actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) has signed on to co-star in the box office movie Oblivion alongside Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Andrea Riseborough and Olga Kurylenko. The picture is set in a future where the Earth surface has been rendered uninhabitable, with most humans living above the clouds. Back on earth, those who remain have to deal with brutal alien Scavengers that stalk the ruins. But when a surface drone repairman (Cruise) discovers a mysterious woman in a crash-landed pod, it sets off an unstoppable chain of events that will force him to question everything he knows. Coster-Waldau will play Sykes, a battle-hardened, physically imposing, intelligent and extremely athletic military technology and weapons expert. (Mike Fleming at Deadline)
BOX OFFICE TRAILER
Watch: Teaser Trailer for ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ Arrives
That’s it. Enjoy!
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