'Megamind' tops box offices for second week - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Animated comedy 'Megamind' proved to be the best of the movie class for a second week, claiming the No. 1 spot at North American box offices with $30 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
The family-oriented comedy saw its ticket sales drop 35 percent in its second weekend in theaters, pushing its two-week total to $89.8 million and showing solid staying power for its maker DreamWorks Animation and distributor Paramount Pictures.
In second place was 20th Century Fox's runaway train movie "Unstoppable," starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. It pulled in $23.5 million and was the top-grossing new release over the weekend.
Among other major new movies, thriller "Skyline" was No. 4 with $11.7 million, while comedy "Morning Glory" was just behind in the fifth spot with $9.6 million.
Buddy comedy "Due Date" from Warner Bros. was No. 3 at $15.5 million, pushing its two-week total to $59 million.
"Skyline" was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric's NBC Universal media division, and "Morning Glory" was distributed by Paramount Pictures, part of Viacom Inc 20th Century Fox is a division of News Corp.
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Orlando Bloom, Beth Ditto win German Bambi awards - Celebrities

BERLIN (Reuters) - National and international celebrities including actor Orlando Bloom, soccer player Mesut Ozil and singer Beth Ditto took home Germany's most coveted media prizes, known as the "Bambi Awards."
A UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2009, "Lord of the Rings" star Bloom won the Bambi Charity Award on Thursday night for his humanitarian work with children in some of the world's poorest regions.
"He always makes time to travel to distant countries so he can draw attention to the destitution faced by children and the work done by charities," the jury said, explaining its decision.
The Bambi Awards are Germany's most important media prizes and have been awarded every year since 1948 to "people with vision and creativity, whose outstanding successes and achievements have been reported in the media."
But it was Germany's soccer heroes who stole the show hosted by "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker near Berlin on Thursday evening.
Turkish-born Real Madrid footballer Ozil was hailed as a prime example of successful integration into German society and won the prize in the "Integration" category.
"This is a great honor for me and I'm very happy," he said. "Integration creates something new and makes for a more colorful Germany."
Singer Shakira presented the German national soccer team coach Joachim Loew and his team with the jury's "Special Prize" for their performance at the World Cup in South Africa earlier this year, where Germany claimed third place.
Explaining its decision the jury said: "German football has never been so young -- and it has seldom been as passionate and innovative as it was during the World Cup in South Africa."
National trainer Andreas Koepke said the award was a "lucky charm" for the German national side's next big challenge -- winning the European soccer Championship.
Other members of the star-studded audience to be awarded a prize included U.S. singer Beth Ditto, who bagged the prize for "Pop International," and British environmental activist Jane Goodall, who picked up the "Our Earth" award for her ongoing campaigns to protect the environment and endangered species.
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UPDATE 1-Eros H1 profit up 34 pct; positive on outlook - Sci Fi

* Pretax profit $27.9 mln vs 20.8 mln stg
* Turnover up 20.3 pct to $68 million
(Adds details)
Nov 12 (Reuters) - Indian movie distributor Eros
International Plc (EROS.L) posted a 33.8 percent rise in
first-half profit as revenue from its theatrical division grew,
helped by the box office success of Bollywood film "Housefull".
With the success of "Golmaal 3" (Chaos - Part 3), which had
grossed $15.5 million globally in the first week, the company
saw a promising start to its second half.
Eros, whose Indian unit recently listed on the Bombay Stock
Exchange , said it was positive about its
outlook, thanks to a vibrant pipeline of projects.
The company's slate includes sci-fi movie "RA.One",
starring Indian A-listers Shahrukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor, and
"No Problem," featuring "Slumdog Millionaire" actor Anil
Kapoor.
Pretax profit for the six months ended Sept. 30 was $27.9
million, compared with $20.8 million in the year-ago period.
Turnover rose 20.3 percent to $68 million.
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Rijkaard leaves Galatasaray after poor start - Board Games

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Frank Rijkaard's contract as coach of Galatasaray has been terminated by mutual agreement, the club said on Wednesday, ending his spell in charge after a terrible start to the season.
The former UEFA Cup winners are ninth in the Turkish championship after eight games, eight points adrift of leaders Bursaspor. Galatasaray also failed to reach the group stage of this season's Champions League or Europa League.
It was not immediately clear who would take over from Dutchman Rijkaard but local media said the 17-times Turkish champions had made an official proposal to former Galatasaray and Turkey coach Fatih Terim.
Galatasaray held a management board meeting this week after Saturday's 4-2 home defeat by Ankaragucu to discuss the situation and said at the time it would announce decisions during the week.
"As a result of mutual talks with technical director Frank Rijkaard... we have decided to part ways as of October 20," the club said in a statement on its website (www.galatasaray.org).
Trainer Johan Neeskens and their assistants had also left the club, the statement said.
"We have a debt of gratitude to the esteemed Frank Rijkaard for his work and efforts for Galatasaray," it added, without disclosing a reason for the decision.
The Dutchman took the helm at the Istanbul club in 2009 after five seasons in charge of Barcelona.

� Continued...
The relations between First Quantum and the Democratic Republic of Congo have gone from bad to worse in recent months, after the country expropriated the miner’s $765 million Kolwezi copper tailings project in September. � Blog�
When some of the most influential figures in emerging markets finance spoke to a group of Reuters editors, they were asked about top picks for growth beyond the so-called BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China.� Blog�
The giggles started when the seventh journalist in a row said that his question was for Egypt’s water and irrigation minister, Mohamed Nasreddin Allam.� Blog�
It has debt levels to die for and huge amounts of oil, but economically it’s lagging and political concerns remain. Speakers at a Libyan trade and investment forum this week saw the North African country as a mixed bag.� Blog�
If Guinea can pull off free and fair elections this weekend, it will lay the foundations for what could be one of Africa’s most unexpected and significant good news stories.� Blog�
Africa is providing a lot of fine material for the London theatre these days.� Blog�
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UK defense boss calls for Harry drama to be dropped - Documentary

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - The head of Britain's armed forces has written to broadcaster Channel 4 to urge it not to show a "dramatized documentary" examining what might happen if Prince Harry were kidnapped on military duty in Afghanistan.
The 90-minute program called "The Taking of Prince Harry" is due to be aired Thursday, and recreates a helicopter crash in the south of Afghanistan and the subsequent capture of Queen Elizabeth's grandson, who is third in line to the throne.
Harry served with British forces in Afghanistan in 2008, becoming the first member of the royal family to see action since his uncle Prince Andrew flew helicopters in the Falklands War in 1982.
"We can confirm that (Air Chief Marshal) Jock (Stirrup) sent a letter to the chairman of Channel 4," a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said. "It was a private letter and it would be inappropriate to comment on its contents."
The letter was partly motivated by what Stirrup viewed as a lack of respect by program makers for troops serving in Afghanistan and their families back home, a defense source said.
Reports have said that the film includes a scene in which the actor playing Harry is made to appear in Taliban and al Qaeda propaganda. It also features contributions from intelligence analysts and people who have been taken hostage.
Channel 4 came under fire when it announced the film earlier this month, with The Sun newspaper's in-house security expert Andy McNab saying it was "in bad taste."
Harry, 26, has spoken of his desire to return to Afghanistan, which he was forced to leave prematurely after news of his presence there was leaked.
Channel 4 said earlier this month that it contacted the royal family about the film, but had received no response.
When asked about Stirrup's letter, a spokeswoman for the broadcaster replied:
"We have written to ... Stirrup replying to his concerns. The film is rooted in expert testimony and is a serious journalistic examination of a current issue. It treats the subject matter sensitively.
"It is a legitimate subject for documentary to explore the risks that Prince Harry faces as a high value target, and to seek to understand the full nature of the dangers to a royal in the modern theater of war as well as the political implications of a high profile kidnap."
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Kabam acquires social game developer WonderHill - Game Shows

Kabamis hoping to build the next dynamite company in social games. Today, Kabam is announcing it has acquired social game developer WonderHill as part of a quest to build a powerhouse in next-generation social gaming.
The price wasn’t disclosed. Redwood City, Calif.-based Kabam is trying to build a high-end social game firm that could join the ranks of top companies such as Zynga, Disney-Playdom, EA-Playfish and CrowdStar. It has a ways to go in that respect, but the acquisition shows that Kabam has become a player in the space. The deal also shows that smaller developers are under pressure to get big fast as rivals such as Zynga grow bigger and bigger.
WonderHill was founded in 2008by James Currier and Stan Chudnovsky. The company raised $7.75 million from Charles River Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Ooga Labs. The company created hit titles on MySpace such as Green Spot and it more recently moved to Facebook with titles such as Dragons of Atlantis.
WonderHill has 2 million monthly active users for its free-to-play games, where players can play for free and pay real money for virtual goods.
With the addition of 25 employees from San Francisco-based WonderHill, Kabam will now have about 200 employees, said Kaban chief executive Kevin Chou. Kabam was founded in 2007 as Watercooler. The company raised$9.5 million in two rounds of funding. Investors include Betfair and Canaan Partners.
At the beginning of the year, Kabam had just 20 employees, but it has grown quickly on the strength of games such as Kingdoms of Camelot,which has 8.2 million monthly active usersacross dozens of games on Facebook. The company got its start with online sports fan sites on Facebook.
WonderHill drew some attention earlier this yearwhen CrowdStar sued it for allegedly copying the “fish mating dance” and other features of CrowdStar’s Happy Aquarium game in WonderHill’s own Aquarium Life game.
But WonderHill caught Chou’s eye because it was focused on high-quality Flash strategy games. Under the deal, WonderHill will become Kabam’s San Francisco office.
WonderHill founders Currier and Chudnovsky will stay on as advisors, and WonderHill’s the development team of approximately 25 will now work as Kabam employees. The new Kabam San Francisco will continue to build titles like Dragons of Atlantis while also creating new, yet to be announced projects that will aid in further building out Kabam’s portfolio of real social games. Kabam recently added executives with experience at Blizzard, PlayFirst and PayPal.
Companies:Kabam,Wonderhill
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Comedy Central cooks up Waiting TV series - Comedy

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Cable network Comedy Central has given a pilot order to "Waiting," a show based on the 2005 indie film about the food service industry.
"Waiting" follows the employees at Shenaniganz chain restaurant as they gossip, make fun of customers, and avert boredom and adulthood with their antics.
The original film featured an all-star cast including Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris, Justin Long, Luis Guzman, Chi McBride and Dane Cook among others.
The $3 million film grossed $16 million for Lionsgate.
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Harry Potter fans brave wind and rain for premiere - Movies

LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of fans descended on Leicester Square in central London on Thursday, braving wind and rain to catch a glimpse of the stars on the red carpet for the new Harry Potter film's world premiere.
Young British actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who have played the central roles for the last decade, appeared with J.K. Rowling, the author behind the hugely successful boy wizard books on which the movies are based.
Watson, 20, grabbed the limelight, sporting her new short haircut and wearing a short black dress.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1," the seventh and penultimate Potter picture, hits U.S. theatres on November 19 and looks set to provide another big pay day for Warner Bros.
The Hollywood studio decided to split the final book about Harry and his wand-wielding pals into two films after the first six movies amassed $5.4 billion at the global box office.
In Deathly Hallows Part 1, Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on a mission to track down and destroy the secret to evil Lord Voldemort's immortality and destruction -- the Horcruxes.
The three are forced to fend for themselves outside the comfort of Hogwarts school, and the pressure to fight the forces of evil sees best friends Harry and Ron come to blows.
The actors have spoken of mixed feelings about a franchise that has turned them into A-list stars and multi-millionaires.
Grint, 22, felt a sense of relief that a decade of filming had finally ended.
"It's just really great, it's a sense of real freedom because filming on Harry Potter...it does take over your life and it is really long shoots and it's just nice to be out and do your own thing for a change," he told Reuters.
BILLION DOLLAR TARGET
Robert Conner, a dead ringer for actor Grint who plays Ron in the series, was near the front of the queue of fans, having pitched his tent on Tuesday evening.
"I'm a big fan," he said. "I've actually got a Harry Potter tattoo, which I've shown to quite a few members of the cast. I just love Harry Potter. I love the books, I love the films, love the cast."
Paul Taylor, 46, travelled from Sheffield, England, in the early hours of the morning to book his spot.
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TV networks seek to stop FilmOn - Tv Series

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four top television networks have asked a federal court to stop the Internet video service FilmOn.com from offering TV channels over the web and on Apple Inc's iPad for free.
FilmOn.com Plc, which claims to be the first high definition Internet television network, launched in September 2010 and was founded by British billionaire entrepreneur Alki David, who recently offered to pay $1 million for someone to strip naked in front of U.S. President Barack Obama.
"I'm not a thief," David said in a phone interview on Tuesday. "We're a bona fide business. We're not pirates."
The network's suit comes as start-ups have sought to bypass traditional media companies by offering programing to Internet users without paying fees to free-to-air channels.
The networks, eager to control the way their programs are distributed, in September sued ivi Inc, a service that offers TV channels over the Web. Some TV networks have also blocked videos on their websites from Google Inc's Google TV.
FilmOn, a Berlin-listed company, initially charged users $9.95 per month, to access "over 30 premium free-to-air television channels." But it began offering the service for free after the networks sued FilmOn days after its September 27 launch, according to a copy of the restraining order seen by Reuters.
"It's against the law to steal a broadcast signal and stream it to wireless devices and over the Internet, without the copyright owner's permission," the networks said in a joint statement. "FilmOn.com is the latest in a short line of companies that has robbed our broadcast signals and distributed them illegally for their own commercial gain."
David, whose biography on the website said he "stars in major Hollywood films and mini series as well as writing, directing and starring in his own independent movies" and who is "experienced in commerce and banking", said FilmOn was well within its rights to rebroadcast networks offered for free over the air.
"The (US copyright) rules does not require the consent of the broadcast owner," David said, according to his reading of U.S. copyright law.
David added he was in negotiations with two of the four plaintiffs in the lawsuit, but declined to name the companies.
"We'll see if we can avoid lawyers getting paid more money," David said. But, "I'm not shy of a fight ... If we're making money, we're prepared to pay. If we're not making money , we're not prepared to pay."
The plaintiffs in the case are CBS Corp, Walt Disney Co's ABC, General Electric Co-controlled NBC and News Corp's Fox, and CBS Corp.
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Steven Spielberg to direct Robopocalypse - Sci Fi

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Steven Spielberg has lazered in on the project he will direct after he completes his World War I drama "War Horse": an adaptation of post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel "Robopocalypse."
DreamWorks and Disney, which releases DreamWorks' movies, said Friday that production will begin in January 2012 for a release the following year through Disney's Touchstone label. "War Horse" will open December 28, 2011.
It was almost a year ago that DreamWorks picked up the book by Wilson, who has a Ph.D. in robotics, and who has made a name for himself writing robot-centered doomsday scenarios (his "How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion" is set up at Paramount). The book will be published next year.
"Robopocalypse" was on the list of projects Spielberg was considering earlier this year before he ultimately buckled down and chose "War Horse" in the summer. What got the notoriously choosy Spielberg excited about "Robopocalypse" was the script by "Cloverfield" writer Drew Goddard; Goddard's latest draft began making waves when it was submitted to the studio in September.
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Electronic Arts to buy mobile game publisher - Arts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Electronic Arts said it plans to buy the publisher of "Angry Birds," one of the most popular games on Apple's iPhone, pushing the second largest U.S. video game publisher deeper into the hot mobile games market.
A source close to the deal told Reuters EA will pay under $20 million in cash plus other undisclosed considerations.
An EA spokeswoman confirmed the deal, but did not disclose the financial terms. Under the deal, EA will not receive the intellectual property rights to "Angry Birds," which will remain under Rovio, the Finnish company that developed the game, the company said.
Some analysts were surprised that EA would not acquire "Angry Birds". Neither company commented on what games or intellectual property would be included in the terms.
"I'm kind of wondering what they bought," said Todd Mitchell, a Kaufman Bros analyst. "But in light of EA not getting the IP, they're buying the development platform to put their own IP on it in hopes of driving social networking and customers back to their own properties."
Electronic Arts, which owns Medal of Honor and Madden NFL franchises, can push its established brands through new social games in the same way that Disney, which bought social gaming company Playdom for $563.2 million in July, has used with its ESPN brand in the ESPNU College Town game for Facebook.
Chillingo publishes other mobile games but none have been quite as successful as "Angry Birds," which allows players to help angry birds destroy pigs with a huge slingshot in various game stages.
The company also publishes "iDracula", a shooter game where players are vampire hunters and Predators, a sci-fi game.

� Continued...
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How the unions lost the Hobbit war - Movies

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - As more and more Hollywood productions are made in other countries, the studios are determined to limit union influence as much as possible.
Will entertainment workers of the world unite? Probably not any time soon. They just tried, and it blew up in their faces.
The two-month Hobbit affair in New Zealand began with local actors attempting to organize the film and ended with a smackdown from U.S.-based Warner Bros., which extracted an additional $25 million in incentives from the island nation and secured passage of antiunion legislation, apparently negotiated directly between the government and key Warners executives including New Line president Toby Emmerich and Warners Home Entertainment president Kevin Tsujihara.
As labor leaders (including the Screen Actors Guild, which boycotted in solidarity) withdrew under a barrage of negative publicity and even death threats, they were left to wonder: what went wrong?
Just about everything:
- The local union, New Zealand Actors Equity (NZAE), never made clear to the public why it was trying to organize the production. Were working conditions the issue? Pay rates? Residuals? There was never a detailed or consistent answer.
- Early on, a key legal issue arose: Could actors be engaged as employees rather than independent contractors? The union never developed a clear response to this question, instead focusing on odd stopgaps for protecting actors engaged as independent contractors.
- NZAE failed to develop significant support from local actors. A planned meeting -- canceled due to a counter-demonstration -- was expected to draw only about 90 attendees. Meanwhile, meetings and rallies of industry workers, including actors, who opposed the union's actions attracted thousands.
- In what seems an unusual arrangement, NZAE is a unit of an Australian union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). The initial spokesperson for labor in the dispute was an Australian, Simon Whipp. Those facts alone incited charges in New Zealand that union activists from its larger neighbor were endangering a $500 million two-film production vital to the New Zealand economy.
- The unions took little account of the public reverence for director-producer Peter Jackson, who was knighted less than a year ago for services to the arts. Jackson's role in the affair was complex: at times he reiterated the studio message that the project might move to another country, while at other times he vowed to "fight like hell" to retain the project in-country.
- In any case, MEAA/NZAE seemed unprepared for the media firestorm that its organizing attempt generated. And the unions had little political support within New Zealand. When the center-right government weighed in against the unions, the Labour party was silent.
In the end, the entire fracas redounded to the benefit of the government and Warner Bros. Under an "urgency" procedure, the legislature passed in a single day laws that put all Kiwi film (and videogame) workers effectively beyond the reach of the unions. That conforms to the ruling National party's political agenda. Government ministers at various times acknowledged that the legislation was being introduced and fast-tracked at the behest of the studio, and at other times denied this, but without explaining in that case why urgency was required.
Meanwhile, Warners secured an extra $25 million in production incentives on top of tens of millions of dollars the project already qualified for. That seemed like a power grab by the studio. However, New Zealand did receive a valuable benefit: an agreement by the studio to include on Hobbit DVDs and electronic copies a video promoting the country as a tourist destination.
That's no small move, considering how much New Zealand tourism benefited from the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Kiwi actors on the films will now receive residuals. That seems like a win for the union, but a studio-side source claims that a residuals proposal was made before the NZAE organizing campaign kicked in. The facts are unclear.
Ultimately, the country retained the production it could ill-afford to lose. New Zealand has become a popular filming location because of its scenery, and skilled (and obviously English-speaking) crews -- but also because of its lower wage rates and lack of unions. Keeping the project in-country was do or die for the local industry: as Prime Minister John Key put it, "If you can't make The Hobbit here, frankly, what movies are you going to make here?"
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German police arrest 22 in neo-Nazi internet raid - Radio Stations

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police said on Wednesday they had arrested 22 people suspected of spreading neo-Nazi ideology in a major swoop against far-right internet radio station Widerstand-Radio (Resistance Radio).
In an operation involving some 270 officers, police raided 22 premises across 10 of Germany's 16 states, confiscating numerous computers and telephones, the Federal Crime Office (BKA) said in a statement.
The station could be heard worldwide around the clock, and operated from a server based in the United States, the BKA said. Listeners to the site would register via a false name and address in the western German city of Dortmund, it added.
"(The) investigations are a strong hint to people running other extreme-right internet radio stations that dissemination of songs with extreme-right wing and xenophobic lyrics, even on the internet, will be pursued," said BKA head Joerg Ziercke.
A further person, who was not arrested on Wednesday, brought the number of suspects to 23, a BKA spokeswoman said. Aged between 20 and 37, the suspects were all German, she added.
State prosecutors in the western city of Koblenz are investigating the 23 on suspicion of forming a criminal organization, inciting racial hatred and other crimes, the BKA said.
The website of the radio station had apparently had around 135,000 hits since last year, Ziercke said.
In October, the BKA said the number of people in Germany with the potential to carry out far-right violence had almost doubled since the 1990s to around 9,000 in 2009.
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Cameron, Fox team up for Avatar sequels - Sci Fi

LOS ANGELES Oct 27 (Reuters) - Twentieth Century Fox film
studio and director James Cameron on Wednesday unveiled plans
for two new "Avatar" movies, erasing any lingering doubt over
whether they would again team up for sequels to the biggest
blockbuster movie of all time.
Cameron promised fans of the $2.8 billion global box office
bonanza that he would "not back off the throttle" of the
original movie's visual and emotional sci-fi story about the
tall, blue Na'vi people who dwell on the lush moon, Pandora.
"Avatar 2" is projected to land in theaters in December
2014 with a third film coming one year later.
"'Avatar' was conceived as an epic work of fantasy -- a
world that audiences could visit, across all media platforms,
and this moment marks the launch of the next phase of that
world," Cameron said in a statement.
The "Titanic" director unleashed "Avatar" on audiences last
year with new 3D technology and an emotional tale that mixed
Hollywood-style action with a tale of humans trying to exploit
the natural resources on Pandora.
The combination of adventure and environmentalism thrilled
audiences. Along with the massive box office -- "Avatar" dwarfs
the No. 2 film ever, "Titanic," with $1.8 billion in ticket
sales -- "Avatar" also became the best-selling Blu-ray DVD of
all time.
The movie earned nine Oscar nominations and won three, and
it was named the year's best movie at the Golden Globe Awards.
"We had no higher priority, and can feel no greater joy,
than enabling Jim to continue and expand his vision of the
world of 'Avatar.' Fox Filmed Entertainment Chairmen Jim
Gianopulos and Tom Rothman said in a joint statement.
Cameron promised that the second and third movies would
have "self contained" stories that are part of the greater
story arc of the Na'vi struggling against humans.
Back in August, he told Reuters he wanted to direct a
sequel and a third film, and that when writing the screenplay,
he would write two different movies at the same time.
Production is scheduled to begin in 2011. [nN25158555]
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Web startup Bln.kr helps artists, fans interact - Radio Stations

DENVER (Billboard) - Artists these days no longer wonder whether they should be using the social Web to interact with their fans. It's now a matter of how.
Using Facebook or Twitter or MySpace as a one-way megaphone is no longer enough. The power of online social networks is in establishing a two-way conversation. But when there are thousands of voices on the other end of that discussion, staying engaged can be a daunting task.
Thankfully, a host of new companies are emerging to help make sense of it all, offering services like digital content distribution, feedback aggregation and traffic reports. One of the more recent startups catching the industry's eye is Chicago-based Bln.kr.
The company launched in May 2009 as a link-shortening service for Twitter similar to Bit.ly, but for music files. Since then, the service has reoriented its focus toward helping artists, particularly amateur and emerging acts, to harness the value of fan feedback.
Participating artists who establish a Bln.kr account can connect it to such online profiles as Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and YouTube, and manage them all from one place. That enables them to upload a track through Bln.kr to embed the song into all of their other social network profiles.
Bln.kr then aggregates the feedback and comments about that track into a real-time stream it calls "the loop," which displays the total streams, downloads, retweets and other data the track generates. Today, the loop feature is limited to Twitter, but by the end of October, Bln.kr will expand it to include Facebook, YouTube, RSS feeds and other sources, aggregating user ratings, "likes," sharing activity and comments.
Bln.kr also offers artists the ability to deliver dynamic prompts to fans to solicit specific feedback, such as "How do the lyrics make you feel?" or "What one thing should be changed?"
All of these services are free, but a Pro account for $5 per month adds other capabilities, such as automatically creating a YouTube video using artists' album art and other visual assets, holding remix contests and generating unique QR bar codes that artists can place on flyers for fans to scan with their mobile phones to launch a website or stream a track. Additional Pro features will be rolled out in late October, such as Foursquare badge-like "buttons" that reward artists for achievements like reaching 100 plays or having the most popular track on Twitter for a given day.
Bln.kr was one of four startups pitching attendees of Billboard's Mobile Entertainment Live: The Music App Summit during the "Innovators Showcase" panel, emerging as the clear favorite. Panelist Tim Chang, a principal at Norwest Venture Partners in Palo Alto, Calif., said he was impressed with the service.
"I would potentially fund this," Chang told Bln.kr CEO Justin DeLay at the event. "I think you've tapped into the key notion of what I've been gunning for all along, which is that the Internet has fragmented the audience all to hell. What we're all fighting for is attention."
So far, some 12,000 artists have opened Bln.kr accounts. About half are purely amateurs or hobbyists, with the other half split between journeyman professional artists and more established acts like the Streets, Band of Skulls and DJ Teenwolf. More than 32,000 tracks have been uploaded to date, generating an average of 10 shares and six plays per minute across the site.
About 1% of participating artists have Pro accounts. But Bln.kr plans to add other revenue streams in the near future, such as adding coupons from advertisers for users who achieve "buttons" milestones.
It's also working on licensing its music to Internet radio stations and other digital outlets. Looking further ahead, Bln.kr may offer any combination of these services to music labels as a white-label solution for promotional campaigns.
The startup is now seeking additional funding. Currently, Bln.kr consists of only co-founders DeLay, COO Andrew Cronk and chief technology officer Mike Yagley -- all in their mid- to late 20s and amateur musicians themselves.
DeLay quit his job in product marketing at Kraft Foods to launch the company, and has gone back to school to study human-computer interaction. DeLay and Yagley are also songwriters and guitarists for a band called Almost Gone, whose album "Autonomy" is available on iTunes. This mix of technological know-how, business savvy and passion for music is typical of today's digital media entrepreneur, one that blends the perceived roles of "music people" and "tech people" that are too often at odds.
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MySpace launching new version of website - Entertainment News

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - MySpace launched a new version of its website centered around music and entertainment, as the social networking company attempts to regain its former appeal in a market it helped create.
MySpace Chief Executive Mike Jones said that News Corp-owned MySpace is no longer seeking to compete head-on with social networking company Facebook, and is recasting itself as a complimentary service that he hopes the 35-year-old-and-under crowd will flock to stay abreast of the hottest music and videos.
With traffic to MySpace declining and the company rocked by succession of management changes and layoffs during the past two years, the re-launch of the website represents a critical step in efforts to rejuvenate an asset once considered central to News Corp's online business.
"Most investors have written off MySpace now," said Richard Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG said on Tuesday. Whether MySpace can rebuild its buzz in the highly competitive and fast-changing Web market is an open question, he said.
News Corp bought MySpace in 2005 for $580 million, at a time when the social networking service was at the height of its popularity.
But MySpace, which says it has between 125 million and 130 million active monthly users, has been eclipsed by Facebook, which has more than 500 million users. News Corp does not disclose financial information about MySpace.
There have been media reports that News Corp is interested in selling MySpace, though executives at News Corp have repeatedly maintained that that is not the case.
MySpace's new incarnation leans heavily on the company's strong heritage in music -- the company already has partnerships with the four major record labels -- and seeks to supplement it with content about movies, television and video games. Visitors to the site can subscribe to news feeds about favorite bands and actors, as well as follow other MySpace users that the service recommends as authorities about particular types of music or other topics.

� Continued...
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UK defense boss calls for Harry drama to be dropped - Documentary

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - The head of Britain's armed forces has written to broadcaster Channel 4 to urge it not to show a "dramatized documentary" examining what might happen if Prince Harry were kidnapped on military duty in Afghanistan.
The 90-minute program called "The Taking of Prince Harry" is due to be aired Thursday, and recreates a helicopter crash in the south of Afghanistan and the subsequent capture of Queen Elizabeth's grandson, who is third in line to the throne.
Harry served with British forces in Afghanistan in 2008, becoming the first member of the royal family to see action since his uncle Prince Andrew flew helicopters in the Falklands War in 1982.
"We can confirm that (Air Chief Marshal) Jock (Stirrup) sent a letter to the chairman of Channel 4," a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said. "It was a private letter and it would be inappropriate to comment on its contents."
The letter was partly motivated by what Stirrup viewed as a lack of respect by program makers for troops serving in Afghanistan and their families back home, a defense source said.
Reports have said that the film includes a scene in which the actor playing Harry is made to appear in Taliban and al Qaeda propaganda. It also features contributions from intelligence analysts and people who have been taken hostage.
Channel 4 came under fire when it announced the film earlier this month, with The Sun newspaper's in-house security expert Andy McNab saying it was "in bad taste."
Harry, 26, has spoken of his desire to return to Afghanistan, which he was forced to leave prematurely after news of his presence there was leaked.
Channel 4 said earlier this month that it contacted the royal family about the film, but had received no response.
When asked about Stirrup's letter, a spokeswoman for the broadcaster replied:
"We have written to ... Stirrup replying to his concerns. The film is rooted in expert testimony and is a serious journalistic examination of a current issue. It treats the subject matter sensitively.
"It is a legitimate subject for documentary to explore the risks that Prince Harry faces as a high value target, and to seek to understand the full nature of the dangers to a royal in the modern theater of war as well as the political implications of a high profile kidnap."
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SPECIAL REPORT - Tea Party candidates only a Democrat could love - Radio Stations

DELAWARE COUNTY, Pa. (Reuters) - Jim Schneller is not the type of congressional candidate a political progressive or liberal Democrat would ordinarily support.
A self-avowed Tea Party activist, he opposes abortion even in the cases of rape and incest. He wants to abolish the Federal Reserve, labeling it "unconstitutional." He vows to "guarantee constitutional rights for home-schooling." And he is still calling for President Barack Obama to produce his birth certificate or face deportation.
Yet Schneller quite possibly might never have become a candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania's seventh congressional district were it not for a helping hand from his opponents. As it happens, a dozen Delaware County Democratic Party activists obtained nearly all of the necessary signatures for him to qualify for the ballot, records of the Pennsylvania Secretary of State show.
Some of these activists work or have worked in one capacity or another for the campaign of Schneller's opponent, Bryan Lentz, a two-term Democratic state legislator. At least five of the people associated with Lentz's campaign who gathered signatures for him also did so for Schneller, according to records and interviews.
Last spring, the Lentz loyalists signed up potential voters by citing his long experience in government and underscoring his pro-choice record. Then this summer, they went door to door extolling the virtues of Jim Schneller by saying that he was a regular guy who had absolutely no previous involvement with politics or government and would be uncompromising in his opposition to abortion.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER
Even by the standards of the testiest and most tempestuous U.S. midterm elections in memory, such machinations stand out -- and they are by no means limited to Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Elsewhere, Democratic congressional candidates and party activists and operatives have worked behind the scenes to support Tea Party activists to run as third party candidates. The calculation is simple: by siphoning off just enough votes from their Republican opponents, they hope to swing the outcome of a tight election in their favor.
In Nevada, for example, advertisements on conservative radio stations attack the Republican nominee Sharron Angle, the actual Tea Party candidate, for not being conservative enough. Those spots were paid for by casinos and unions backing Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid.
And in the race for New Jersey's third congressional district, the Camden Courier Post has reported, Democrats recruited a third party candidate, Peter DeStefano, who is running as a Tea Party candidate. It was a bid to help re-elect Democratic congressman John Adler, say supporters of Adler's Republican opponent, John Runyan.
Adler has denied that anyone in his campaign played a role in recruiting or encouraging DeStefano's candidacy. In the meantime, the race is considered too close to call, suggesting that DeStefano might indeed prove to be a spoiler.
Then there is Michigan. Two Oakland County Democratic officials recently resigned their positions after it was disclosed that they had helped run candidates for several states offices, including two highly competitive congressional seats on a Tea Party ballot line. The effort failed after election officials threw out the ballot line.
Similar scenes are also playing out in California, Florida, Texas and other parts of the country, according to records, interviews with party activists and press accounts.
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Young designers invade Brussels with fashion trail - Fashion

BRUSSELS Oct 26 (Reuters Life!) - Brussels might not have the couture cachet of London, Paris or Milan, but a small group of avant-garde fashionistas is giving the Belgian capital an underground designer edge.
Using unusual and even surreal spaces such as thrift shops, a bakery, a bicycle repair shop and a former electricity power plant to show their work, the young designers and design students are giving Brussels a fashion buzz.
"In Brussels, what is unique is Brussels itself," said Veronique Heene, the coordinator of Modo Brussels Fashion Designers Trail, a bi-annual fashion and art exhibition.
"It's a small town. It's not a big, big town. It's a mix of culture, really an international city even if it's a small city, and many people are coming from elsewhere."
La Centrale Electrique, the first electricity plant in Brussels, is the starting point of the trail, which leads throughout the city's downtown and the funky Rue Dansaert district, taking in 60 exhibition spaces.
In the vast Centrale Electrique, at the end of a neon-yellow hall, a single mannequin stands decked out in electric-bright yellow neon. In an adjoining room, a crowd of mannequins are dolled up like sea creatures, one like a jellyfish, another a seahorse, still others like cascades of water and fire.
An ensemble near the entrance looks like a sequined dragon. It only uses two colours, green and gold, but the light reflecting off the sequins gives off a rainbow of colours.
Scattered along the route are boutiques and galleries displaying art, photographs, paintings, graphic designs and even studios for DJs to "show" their audio work, making the fashion trail a multimedia design experience.
Some exhibits and art spaces will be open just for a few days, while others will remain open for several weeks.
"The students try to go out of what you expect, and after that, they find a sort of liberty. After that, they can find their own style. They can find what they like, how they will work," Heene said of one design school's exhibit.
Stores along the route stay open late for the duration of the exhibition, receiving visitors who pay 8 euros for a ticket to follow the trail in whatever order they want.
"It's very special that this shop is open on a Sunday," said Kitty Sokal of Brussels, who picked her way through a flurry of venues.
Her first stop was the workshop of Christophe Coppens, which sells hats and other accessories, where Sokal picked up a funky black knitted hat.
"It's like something you put on a teapot," she said. "It's very warm -- it's creative -- and the textures are very nice. You see three layers, and if you feel, it's very soft."
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Injured Gates gives Chargers late jolt in losing cause - Game Shows

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Injured tight end Antonio Gates missed the entire week of practice but gave the San Diego Chargers a late boost on Sunday before falling 23-20 to the New England Patriots.
Struggling with a toe injury, three-time All-Pro Gates was only listed as active shortly before the opening kickoff to help the Chargers snap two-game losing streak.
Trailing 23-6, Gates helped his team mount a spirited rally when he finally broke clear of the New England defense with a four-yard touchdown with 7:25 left.
"It's hard not to be 100 percent and still play well against a team like the Patriots," Gates told reporters after San Diego slipped to 2-5 for the season.
"For a minute, I got lost on coverage and I was able to make some plays. You come out and you fight and scratch as a player and do what you can to win. But today wasn't enough."
Six-time Pro Bowler Gates, heavily defended by New England, did not connect with a single throw from Rivers in the first half but San Diego coach Norv Turner was unperturbed.
"Antonio is one of the great team players ever," Turner said. "I don't think he had any concern about if he had the ball thrown to him or not. (The Patriots) had two or three guys on him.
New England head coach Bill Belichick applauded the gutsy display by Gates, especially in the second half.
"Gates is a tough player, he hasn't missed any games. He always shows up to play and always plays well. He is a tough guy to handle," said Belichick.
Although the Chargers held the Patriots to 179 yards of offense while gaining 363 yards themselves, they committed four turnovers in the first half.
"This is something we've talked about since the season started, since training camp, and that's the turnover ratio," Gates said after moving into sixth place in the all-time standings for tight ends with 6,763 career yards.
"You continue to turn the ball over and you continue do the same things, it decreases your chance of winning football games. Getting it to translate to the game on Sunday is probably our biggest challenge at this point."
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