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Just one day after winning a Tony Award for his portrayal of President Lyndon B. Johnson in All the Way, Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston is teaming up with Steven Spielberg for a mini-series based on the hit play. Steven Spielberg is reportedly in the process of optioning Robert Schenkkan’s play, which spans the first year of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Presidential administration, following the assassinatino of John F. Kennedy. During that time, the President helped pass the Civil Rights legislation through Congress before his landslide re-election victory in 1964....

ONLINE MOVIE TICKETER BOUGHT BY COMCAST Comcast, the nation’s largest cable system, announced Wednesday that it had acquired Fandango, which has become one of the leading online sellers of movie tickets. At the same time, Comcast said that it plans to launch a new website, Fancast.com, that, according to the announcement, will “enable consumers to search, discover, manage and enjoy their entertainment experience across many devices and channels, including television, computers, DVDs and wireless services....

PAY-OFF FROM HD DVD CAMP TO PARAMOUNT? Paramount and DreamWorks garnered “incentives” valued at $150 million to agree to release their films in high-definition home video exclusively in the HD DVD format, the New York Timesand Daily Varietyreported today (Wednesday), citing no sources. Both publications said that the HD DVD camp had agreed to “promotional considerations” amounting to $50 million for Paramount and $100 million for DreamWorks" over the next 18 months....

MARVEL SHOWS SUPERHERO STRENGTH In a rare quarterly report showing solid profits, Marvel Entertainment said that it earned $63.0 million on $224.3 million of gross revenue in its fourth quarter, compared with $27.6 million on $109.3 million during the comparable quarter a year earlier – a 128-percent increase in profits. More than $136 million came from sales of Iron ManDVDs. “In addition to providing a substantial contribution to our operating results, our 2008 theatrical releases have raised the level of global awareness for Marvel and two of our key brands,” Marvel’s chairman, Morton Handel, said in a statement....

WHEELING AND DEALING AT SUNDANCE In an unprecedented wave of buying led by Paramount Vantage and Fox Searchlight, the specialty divisions of major studios and other distributors picked up nearly a dozen movies at the Sundance Film Festival on Monday and Tuesday, the Los Angeles Timesreported today (Wednesday). Nearly all the films have sold for $3 million or more. Rich Klubeck of United Talent Agency told the newspaper that the buying spree occurred after virtually no deals were made over the weekend....

OSCAR WINNER MINGHELLA DEAD AT 54 Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella, a towering figure in contemporary British cinema, has died at the age of 54, the BBC reported today, citing his publicist, Judy Daish. The cause of death was not immediately disclosed. Minghella won an Oscar as best director for the 1996 film The English Patient. He received two screenwriter nominations, the first for The English Patient, and then, three years later, for The Talented Mr....

SIX FILMS ROLL OUT FOR HOLIDAY A feast of six new movies will be offered up at the box office over the Thanksgiving holiday, ranging from a live/animated Disney fairy-tale fantasy (Enchanted) to a fantasy about the life of Bob Dylan (I’m Not There). Others include a horror film (The Mist), an adaptation of a video game (Hitman), a family film (August Rush) and a holiday title (This Christmas). All of the critics are betting on Enchantedto win but are divided on how the remainder will line up....

MEATBALLS AND POPCORN FOR MOVIEGOERS Meatballswill reign (rain?) at the box office this weekend, box-office forecasters are predicting. The animated Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, based on a popular children’s book, is likely to rein in around $25-30 million, according to tracking surveys, which are taking into account the fact that it will benefit from premium pricing at 1,828 3D theaters, a new record for a 3D release. The figure amounts to nearly 60 percent of the 3,118 theaters showing the film....

SAG FREE TO TALK WITH STUDIOS A Los Angeles judge on Thursday rejected a legal bid by Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg and three other board members to overturn the union board’s dismissal by “written assent” of Doug Allen as national executive director and its appointment of a task force to restart negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. L.A. Superior Court Judge James Chalfont said that SAG’s “bylaws permit the board to do exactly what it did....

NBC HELPS GE BRING GOOD THINGS TO LIFE Although some analysts and investors groups have been urging General Electric to sell NBC Universal, noting that it makes a poor fit with the company’s primary businesses, John Rice, president and CEO of GE’s infrastructure division, has told Forbesmagazine that the entertainment unit can open doors that would otherwise be shut to company executives. A particular case in point, Rice told the magazine, is China where the network’s Olympics coverage has given GE an opportunity to expand its relationship with Chinese officials and build power plants, water-treatment facilities, rail projects, airplane engines, and other infrastructure projects....

ANCHORS FUME OVER PARIS Many local and cable news anchors abandoned any pretense of impartiality Thursday as they openly scorned a decision by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to release Paris Hilton from jail after only three days. On CNN, anchor Heidi Collins remarked to entertainment correspondent Brooke Anderson: “Has this ever happened for any other individual in the entire history of the world?” On MSNBC, legal correspondent Susan Filan commented, “They have made a joke of the criminal justice system....

BASEBALL FAILS TO DRAW A CROWD Post-season baseball pretty much popped out Tuesday night as Fox’s telecast of the New York Yankees-Detroit Tigers American League playoff game averaged a 5.1 rating and an 8 share, according to Nielsen overnights. NBC also failed to score with its new football-themed drama Friday Night Lights, which drew a 4.7 in the 8:00 pm. hour. ABC’s Dancing with the Starswas the only physical activity most viewers were interested in, it seems, as the contest drew an 11....

CBS SAYS LEGAL FUSS WON’T STOP KID NATION CBS is determined to go ahead with plans to broadcast the controversial Kid Nationbeginning September 19; however, in an effort to counter an avalanche of negative publicity, the network has been scheduling screenings of the first episode for advertisers, according to the New York Times. One ad exec, Shari Anne Brill of Carat USA, told the newspaper: “I’m chomping at the bit to see it....

Superman is no longer owned solely by Time Warner and their subsidiaries, Warner Bros. Studios and DC Comics. The New York Times reports that a federal judge ruled that the heirs of Jerome Siegel, who co-created Superman with Joseph Shuster, were entitled to claim a share of the U.S. copyrights for the character, although Time Warner would retain international rights. Siegel and Shuster originally sold the world-famous superhero to D.C. Comics for a paltry $130....

Bloody-Disgusting has nabbed a major score by obtaining the casting breakdown for Rob Zombie’s Halloween, which is set to begin shooting on January 29, 2007! Below, you’ll not only find a basic synopsis but a full list of the characters and their roles in the film. Bloody-Disgusting had kindly edited the casting list so as to not reveal who Michael Myers kills in the film. Other than that, if you want insight into the characters and plot of the film, read on!...

He Was a Quiet Man was released today on DVD, and to celebrate this interesting release, we’re giving away copies of the DVD to our readers. Click below to win this new festival favorite on DVD. Winners Receive: He Was a Quiet Man DVD CLICK HERE to enter this giveaway! A man at the end of his emotional rope finally explodes, but not in a way anyone would have expected in this offbeat independent drama....

Raven’s Home, a sitcom for kids and families that brings powerhouse star Raven-Symone back to Disney Channel to reprise the role of Raven Baxter from the iconic comedy series That’s So Raven, premieres Friday, July 21 (10:00-10:30 p.m. EDT), on Disney Channel, and will be available on the Disney Channel App, VOD and Disney Channel YouTube (12:01 a.m. EDT). The linear debut of Raven’s Home will immediately follow the television premiere of the highly anticipated Descendants 2 (8:00-10:00 p....

Stand-up comedians who have been able to successfully transfer their humor to the silver screen are not so common. Many have tried. Many will keep trying, but in the halls of comedic legacy there are a few giants who did it in a way that no one is going to forget anytime soon. Comedy has always pushed the boundaries and these movies helped us explore, talk about, and ultimately laugh at our stereotypes....

The first trailer has arrived for the upcoming true-story drama The Bang Bang Club, which will hit theaters on April 22. Click below to watch the first footage from this combat drama, which stars Ryan Phillippe, Malin Akerman, and Taylor Kitsch. You can also take a look at the first poster below the trailer. The Bang Bang Club is the real life story of a group of four young combat photographers - Greg Marinovich, Joao Silva, Kevin Carter and Ken Oosterbroek - bonded by friendship and their sense of purpose to tell the truth....

It was a wonderful time to be a horror fan in the 1980s. A time of great experimentation for the genre, horror films of the decade took a more raw and gory approach, stapling themselves as some of the most memorable and creative movies of the period. The rise of independent filmmaking and VHS home video allowed many filmmakers to find an audience in different ways, paving the way for what was to come in the ’90s....