Marvel star meets Disney star

The Goliath of kid-entertainment has just gotten bigger. Walt Disney company has announced that it has put forward a deal of $4 billion to Marvel Comics Enterprises. Marvel Comics is a brand everybody can relate to with X-Men, Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk and the recent success, Iron Man and of course many more.

Patrick Goldstein of the The Los Angeles Times calls this takeover a “re-invention”. Disney, that has been catering majorly to the kid audience, will now be charming the PG-13 crowd too who, love action, super-skilled superheroes and bloody super-villains! Marvel will also see a “new dawn” in the entertainment arena as marveled by Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada.

Experts believe that this takeover story is not new. In 2006, Pixar was taken over by Disney in a whooping 7.4 billion USD deal. Their business combination brought the sweet tinkles of successes called Toy Story, Ratatouille, Cars, Wall-E and many more new-age cartoons.

Bob O’ Brien of the Barron’s Online wonders why this partnership did not happen sooner. He calls this combination as the “marriage of a maker of axe-heads with the maker of axe-handles”. At the same time he brings about an interesting point asking how well this merger be advantageous. Various Marvel films are in the pipeline with other production houses like Columbia Pictures (for Spiderman), 20th Century Fox for (X-Men) etc. It will take a while for Disney to get their hands on these more popular Marvels. Distributing rights of several Marvel movies like “Thor”, “The Avengers”, “First Avengers: Captain America” will not be in the hands of Disney. For now, they can try scooping up some of the less known Marvel characters among the 5,000 characters collection! Quite a number huh?! The Chief Executive Officer for Marvel proudly conveys the fact that “Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters … this is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure.”

Seems like Disney has their hands and legs on a Diamond mine! Oops… no pun intended

We have now to see how this will affect the fans. Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger has already made it clear that they would not interfere with the Marvel’s inner workings.

Disney and Marvel have their own sets of fans. Will they like to see something like Spiderman meeting Minnie Mouse (as coined by Canaccord Adams)?

Would you like that? What would you really like?

Disney and Marvel Entertainment

Disney has spent $4 billion to take over the comic-book giant Marvel Entertainment. This surprise announcement have left many speculate about the upcoming releases of Disney. After this deal Disney will now have access to Marvel’s huge volumes of super heroes, which include Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Captain America, Thor and the Fantastic Four and about 4,995 other comic-book characters.

The former executive of Marvel and a co-creator of Spider-Man, Stan Lee has said, “I couldn’t be happier with this agreement. It’s a great move for Disney, for Marvel and for my company Pow! Entertainment since Pow! has a first-look deal with Disney. From every possible point of view, the merger of Disney and Marvel is a match made in heaven. Just imagine, with this deal Marvel gives Disney a library of literally hundreds of unique and colorful characters that have the potential to make great, high-concept movies and long-lasting franchises — and nobody knows how to play in that ball park better than Disney. This is a great day for the two companies and for the entertainment community as a whole. To sum it up as simply as possible, when you combine the best with the best, everyone wins!”

One of the rival studio chief has been quoted as saying, “The real difference maker with Marvel is that it makes movies where the parents are just as excited to see the film as their kids. That’s the difference between a movie barely making $100 million — like a lot of Disney’s homegrown products — and a movie making $300 or $400 million. It’s a whole different playing field”.

The deal will now allow Disney to diversify its brand. It can now embrace all types of production from “High School Musical” to “Pirates of the Caribbean” to “Toy Story” to “Spider-Man”.

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart

All the Twilight stars like Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and all the others are all set to get real close and personal with the millions of fans across the world.

Inspired by the raging success of the “Star Trek”, the Summit Entertainment, which is the movie producer of “Twilight”, is planning to set up a series of new formulas for Twilight fans over the next three years during the course of the film series’ run.

The convention will begin on August 28th just outside New York at the Hilton Parsippany Hotel in Parsippany, N.J. The several other conventions will take place in Chicago, Miami, Seattle, Nashville, San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Charlotte, N.C., Minneapolis, Phoenix, Boston, Toronto and Portland, Ore.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Summit Entertainment has joined hands with Creation Entertainment to create the “Twilight” fan conventions. The conventions will closely replicate the extremely successful Star Trek conventions that have very successfully carried off to keep that franchise popularly alive for over 40 years.

The Twilight conventions will sport onstage appearances by “Twilight” stars including Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, screenings of exclusive footage from the Twilight Sequel, panel discussions, parties, musical performances, costume and trivia competitions, auctions, autographing, merchandising and photo opportunities.

David Beckham

Superhot football champ David Beckham has refused to date his Italian female fans in order to raise funds for the victims of the Abruzzo earthquake. That is because he loves his wife Victoria Beckham very much and cannot indulge in infidelity, no matter what the reason is. Charity, therefore, can’t be a reason for the Beckham man to enjoy with other women.

David Beckham visited the earthquake site in Italy to meet the victims. But he left his female fans heartbroken after he denied to pu himself up as a date. The football idol was quoted saying “I’m ready to do everything I can to help – except betray Victoria.”

These days, Beckham is playing for the AC Milan. He secured a deal last month according to which he will be playing for the Italian team as well as for LA Galaxy. His wife, initially, wasn’t to keen about her husband’s full-time transfer to Milan as that meant shifting base to Italy with the couple’s kids, which wasn’t very agreeable to her. However, after a talk with Beckham, she gave her assent.

Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger’s last film is in the lines. The Oscar mania is still very much fresh in the minds of all. Heath’s family is yet to come out of the initial shock and sheer happiness for Heath’s outstanding achievement. And here comes the news that Heath’s  sister, Kate Ledger told reporters that her family is very much in the loop on his final movie.

Kate was holding the Oscar backstage and soon after the reported issue occurred.

“We’ve seen a little bit of the footage,” she said of Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” Heath Ledger’s last film. “I think it’s going to be amazing.”
Heath’s posthumous Award was collected by his family. Parnassus deals with a story surrounding a traveling magician who gives customers more than they bargained for. The film is a joint production of financial entity Grosvenor Park and sales mogul Samuel Hadida of Davis Films.

Only time would say when the viewers and audiences get to see the first cut of the film. Heath is riding high on his stupendous acting glories in ‘Dark Knight’ even after he has left us. It has been alleged that Ledger died when the film (under Gilliam’s funhouse imagination) was in the middle of production. The project was in the midst of rumours of being thrown apart when talks were on with Jude Law, Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp who stepped in to save the project from being shelved. All the A-line actors will play different parts of Ledger’s role. However there have been other complications like the sales and marketing issues. The film is lined at a $20 million budget.

The film is yet to come out with a US deal. The reason being dissent among producers. An indie film veteran explained : “This movie stars Heath Ledger in his final performance — it will get a deal and come out in the U.S., But it’s no accident that it’s taking this long.”

MJ is in dire need of money these days. Michael Jackson’s debt-stricken life knows no other way out but to sell off his personal belongings as a means to gain good hard cash. MJ was recently rumoured to be living a life like a commoner with no extra luxuries to go by. He has, several times in the past, sold off his belongings at Auctions, online or general to gain money.

This time, Michael Jackson’s memorabilia has been collected which is well expected to fetch at least $1.5 million (£1.1 million) when it goes under the hammer in April (09). The ‘Thriller’ pop star who is said to be as cash strapped as ever is reportedly selling off more than 2,000 personal belongings from his debt-ridden Neverland Ranch estate for the Julien’s Auctions sale in Beverly Hills.

Investors at the Sycamore Valley Ranch Co., a joint venture between Jackson and an affiliate of Colony Capital Llc agreed to take over the singer’s $24.5 million (£17.2 million) debt on the property after Jackson repeatedly failed to keep up with the $3 million (£2.1 million)-a-year running costs and was forced to sell the $25 million (£17.5 million) estate.

MJ’s valued personal items as well as certain showbiz items are being planned, to be sold, which include a glittering white glove covered in Swarovski crystals that Jackson wore for a stage performance of Billie Jean. the glove is estimated to sell for as much as $15,000 (£10,510) and the gates to the120-acre ranch, which are estimated to go for at least $20,000 (£14,015).

MJ has always remained a superstar leading a life of a bohemian never thinking of the consequences. MJ’s fall in popularity and absence in stage shows spell the doom in his starry life. Michael has evaded public appearances and live performances in the recent past. He has reportedly been busy with new music but nothing has come up. His personal disasters never really brought him back to stardom that he enjoyed in his heydays.

Jackson’s 1999 Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph limo, decorated in 24-karat gold, is expected to fetch another $140,000 (£98,110). Julien’s Auctions president Darren Julien tells the New York Post, “Michael Jackson was a collector of everything. We’ve never seen a collection that is as extensive and eccentric as his”.

MJ has other plans as well. He wants to donate a portion of the proceeds from the auction to MusiCares, a charity which aims to help musicians in need. A preview of the auction items will be held from 24 to 29 March (09) at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York’s Times Square.

Britney Spears

There have been several things written by critics and the media about Britney Spears and her career. Now is the time that the popstar will take up the pen in her hand to write her autobiography.

Britney has signed a deal which is regarded as one of the most lucrative book deals in showbiz history. The ‘Womanizer’ star has reportedly signed a 10 million pounds publishing deal for a no-holds-bar account of her roller-coaster career. The deal will be a tell-all affair for Britney. A proper revelation for Britney.

Britney Spears is doing everything possible under the sun for her big comeback this year. For her latest move, 27 year old Spears will reportedly be writing a tell-all autobiography.

While the MTV documentary into Spears’ life didn’t deliver any full-blown secrets, a source tells Britain’s Mirror that the songstress is in talks to sign a $7 million deal with a literary agent for her first-ever autobiography.

Britney will get down to business pretty soon. The 27-year-old star would begin writing as soon as her sell-out world tour gets over. “There have been numerous unofficial biographies printed about Britney, but she’s never agreed to pen her own tome – until now,” The Mirror quoted a source as saying.

The source added: “And some of the stories she’s got are absolute dynamite. She’s kept diaries so there’s nothing she’ll leave out unless she wants to. If the deal goes ahead she will write between three and five books throughout the next decade – it’s one of the most lucrative book deals in showbiz history. Britney will talk frankly about growing up and how she went off the rails. It’ll be a gripping read.”

Britney Spears may be about to put the record straight on her crazy life by signing an autobiography deal. She is expected to write her heart out. Her eventful life has much eluded her fan than revealed her secrets and truths.

The deal could mean Britney writes, or, more likely, has ghost written, up to four books documenting her showbiz childhood and her infamous meltdown.

Related: Britney Spears Forced To Rename Controversial New Single “If You Seek Amy” at Hollywire

MJ

Reportedly Michael Jackson reached a settlement with a sheik suing him for £4.7million last night hours before the star was due to appear at London’s High Court.

Jackson, 50, was accused by Bahrain’s Prince Abdulla AL-KHALIF of failing to repay a huge loan. Mj allegedly took the hefty sum to perform for the Prince and also record albums which he refused. But Mj did not return the amount even after declining to perform for Abdullah.

The troubled pop legend was about to board a plane to Heathrow when his lawyers settled out of court. Jackson is going through huge financial losses and is under several tie-ups to regain his footing.

His spokesman said: “He was advised by his legal team to postpone his travels since the parties had concluded a settlement in principle.”

Michael Jackson’s legal team have made a settlement in principle with an Arab Sheikh who sued the King of Pop for breach of contract.

Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain filed a suit alleging he’s owed a $7 million advance on an album and autobiography deal that Jackson never honoured.

Jackson was expected to attend London’s High Court on Monday to testify in the case, but he has been advised not to fly to the British capital after his lawyers made a last minute agreement with the Sheikh’s legal advisors who have been London to fight out their case and settle Sheikh’s dues.

It was thought Jackson wouldn’t be able to make it to court due to bad health, but doctors in the U.S. gave him the all clear to make the journey to London following the mystery illness.

In the suit, Sheikh Abdulla claimed he paid for a recording studio for the star and sent his own compositions for Jackson to record, as well as alleging he wasted $2.2 million on studio time for Jackson to produce a song in aid of the victims of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina – but the singer never attended.  Out of court settlements are a common pattern for celebrity financial issues.