ABC News taps Faris for pair of shows

ABC News has tapped Paula Faris to co-anchor overnight news shows "World News Now" and "America This Morning" with Rob Nelson, with a start date set for Jan. 2. The anchor will also contribute occasionally to the Alphabet's "Good Morning America." Faris will relocate to NY City from WMAQ in Chicago, where she worked as a sports anchor and reporter for six years. Faris's previous posts include WCPO in Cincinatti and WKEF/WRGT in Dayton, Ohio. Contact Sam Thielman at sam.thielman@variety.com

Legendary Postpones The month of january Oncoming Of Paradise Lost

EXCLUSIVE: Legendary Pictures has stopped intends to begin production early the coming year on Paradise Lost, the epic-sized Alex Proyas-directed film concerning the fight between good and evil that's inspired through the John Milton poem. Bradley Cooper have been set to experience Lucifer, Benjamin Master to experience the archangel Michael, and Diego Boneta playing Adam and Camilla Belle Eve, with a number of other stars occur the experience epic. I’m told the film isn’t scrapped rather, Legendary’s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni continues developing it to create the script better and rework a financial budget which had passed the $120 million mark. The image has crewed up to have an Australia shoot and also the talent and beneath the lines are researching the postponement at this time which is always an enormous disappointment whenever a large film has its own start date scratched, even when it's temporary.

Jessica Simpson's $3 Million Dollar Weight Watchers Gig Not a Done Deal

NY - Activision Blizzard said Monday that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has crossed the $1 billion mark in sales after 16 days, eclipsing a record set in 2009 by the film release Avatar, which reached the $1 billion milestone in 17 days.our editor recommendsActivision: 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3' Sets Five-Day Sales RecordCall of Duty Elite Will Generate $50 Mil in 2012, Says Analyst The latest edition of the Call of Duty franchise launched on Nov. 8 with a one-day sales record of $400 million in North America and the U.K. The gaming giant's Activision Publishing arm cited sales data from Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information. With more than 30 million gamers, the Call of Duty community now exceeds the combined populations of the cities of NY, London, Tokyo, Paris and Madrid, the firm said. PHOTOS: 10 Broadcast and Cable TV Shows Most Watched by Men "Engagement of our Call of Duty audience continues to rise around the world" said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard."Call of Duty as an entertainment franchise has made an indelible mark on popular culture and its broad and continued success is further validation that audiences increasingly value interactive experiences over passive experiences." He said that the gaming series is among that "rarified group of sustained franchises like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the National Football League (NFL) that attract or engage tens of millions of people every year or every new release." Activision also said that the Call of Duty Elite online service has registered more than six million players since the game's launch with over 1 million premium subscriptions sold to date. By comparison, Netflix, Hulu Plus and Xbox Live each reached the 1 million paid subscriber milestone after about a year, it highlighted. Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai Related Topics Activision Blizzard Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Loyal Lithuanian pic breaks records

MOSCOW -- A romantic costume drama of a 19th-century peasant rebellion is nearly the very first Lithuanian film ever to think about greater than Pounds millions of ($1.3 million) from our box office. "Tadas Blinda" -- a glossy, colorful romp that notifies the actual story in the Baltic country's own Robin Hood character, Tadas Blinda, who introduced a peasant revolt against a brutal Russian military inside the 1860s -- remains seen by 9% in the country's 3.5 million people. Starring a in your town famous singer Mantas Jankavicius within the debut acting role, the film might be the very first feature for director Donatas Ulvydas in addition to first for producer Zilvinas Naujokas. Pic stood a budget of $1.35 million. Released late September on 13 screens, the film remains seen by nearly 282,000 people -- 15% greater than accomplished with the previous record holder, "Titanic," although its box office is 10% under "Avatar," which just like a 3d movie offered tickets limited. Naujokas is among Lithuania's leading film entrepreneurs, whose company Acme Film might be the 2nd finest distributor inside the Baltics, coping with The brand new the new sony, Warner and several independents, including Summit and Lionsgate. Formerly 2 days, he has existed Chicago and La marketing worldwide sales in the film, concentrating on Lithuanian emigres within the U . s . States and Latin America. "We're doing premieres for your Lithuanian cities worldwide," Naujokas told Variety. "There's been tests london, La and Chicago already, and you'll find plans for NY, Washington, Dublin, Cork, Edinburgh, Birmingham together with other European urban centers too." Naujokas may also be in talks with Canadian entrepreneurs and Australian Lithuanian cities, and was prone to start to see the Lithuanian ambassador to Argentina in Buenos Aires on Friday. "These tests are strongly specific at Lithuanian immigrants, but hopefully some areas will buy the movie, no less than for TV and DVD," he added. Sales in the worldwide version in the movie, "Fireheart: The Legend of Tadas Blinda," are increasingly being handled by Planeta Inform and will be offering were "up for grabsInch following AFM lately, Naujokas mentioned. A Russian named version continues to be prepared as a few the main stars, mother and daughter Tatyana Lyutaeva and Agniya Ditkovskite, are very known in Russia, and Donatas Banionis, who carried out Kris Kelvin in Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky's cult 1972 sci-fi film "Solaris," also appears inside the film. The film visits DVD in Lithuania within the partner from the month of the month of january. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Hollywood's Finest Property Deals every week: Rachelle Lefervre and Billy Burke, Jennifer Hudson, Robert P Niro

The weekend after Thanksgiving is probably the slowest of year, and 2011 is not different.our editor recommendsBox Office Preview: 'Shame,' Oscar Competitors Jockey for Position as Honours Season Will get Warmer 'Shame': Just what the Experts Are Saying'Shame' Director Steve McQueen on Making His NC-17 Sex Addiction Drama (Video)New Movie Reviews: 'Shame,' 'Sleeping Beauty,' 'Coriolanus' Striking Theaters With no new wide releases, Summit Entertainment's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Beginning Part 1 ongoing to top the domestic box office, grossing $5.5 million on Friday for just about any cume of $235.9 million. The pic is on course for just about any $16.8 million weekend. Disney's kids pic The Muppets held at No. 2, grossing $2.8 million on its second Friday for just about any winning domestic cume of $48 million and forecasted $12 million weekend. PHOTOS: Films that Narrowly Avoided an NC-17 Not remarkably, movies saw steep drops in the earlier Friday, a holiday. Breaking Beginning was lower 67 percent in the earlier Friday, while Muppets fell 77 percent. But overall, box office revenues for your weekend aren't prone to fall behind 2010 levels. The particular action is a type of award competitors. Martin Scorsese's Hugo upped its theater count by greater than 500 on Friday after being named best film of year with the National Board of Review (Scorsese also won best director). Hugo, compiled by Vital, made $2 million on Friday, putting it at No. 3. VIDEOS: THR's Honours Season Roundtable Series 2011: The Organization company directors Hugo, now playing in 1,840 locations, are available in an in depth race Saturday or sunday using the new the new sony and Aardman's 3d family film Arthur Christmas. Arthur Christmas, playing in a lot more theaters, made $1.7 million on Friday from three,376 locations for just about any domestic cume of $19.6 000 0000. Both Arthur Christmas and Hugo are projecting a $7 million weekend. Furthermore to Hugo, award competitors Shame, The Artist, The Descendants and My Week with Marilyn all did good business on Friday. COVER STORY: Martin Scorsese Talks 'Hugo,' How His 12-Year-Old Rules the Roost Shame's performance is particularly impressive since it's rated NC-17. From Fox Searchlight, the film made $110,476 from 10 theaters in five urban centers. Directed by Steve McQueen, Shame stars Michael Fassbender just like a sex addict. Carey Mulligan also stars. Searchlight's The Descendants, directed by Alexander Payne and headlining George Clooney, did adequate on Friday later on in No. 6, grossing $1.4 million from only 574 locations for just about any cume of $14.3 million. Quiet film The Artist designed a amazing $55,574 on Friday since it extended its achieve to the San Francisco Bay Area area. Within the Weinstein Co., the honours darling is becoming playing in six theaters in La, NY as well as the San Fran. The Weinsteins' honours hopeful My Week with Marilyn, starring Michelle Williams since the legendary Marilyn Monroe, showed up No. 12 on Friday, grossing $345,000 from 244 locations in top areas for just about any cume of $1.4 million. PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery The Dirty Dozen: Films that Narrowly Avoided an NC-17 Related Subjects Box Office The Muppets Shame Hugo

New Line nabs Peter Morgan heist pic

MorganKinbergNew Line Cinema has acquired a completely new untitled heist film put together by Peter Morgan ("The EntireInch) which will be produced by Simon Kinberg through his Genre Films banner.Affiliates tell Variety the smoothness-driven story is occur America featuring two strong male leads inside the vein of "Warmth" and "The Departed."Brit scribe Morgan developed the script with Kinberg after meeting him london, where Kinberg produced "X-Males: Top Quality.In . Several art galleries were inside the mix but New Line topper Toby Emmerich strongly assaulted the project. Emmerich and New Line professionals Richard Brener and Walter Hamada are controlling the job for that organization.In little a minimum of annually, Kinberg has become probably the most prolific producers in Hollywood, additionally to last century Fox's producer to make use of it and genre films. He co-written and produced last century Fox's approaching action comedy "This Means War" and produced the studio's adaptation of "Abraham Lincoln subsequently subsequently: Vampire Hunter." Kinberg, who's also writing and creating the "X-Males: Top ClassInch follow-up additionally to making Luke Greenfield's approaching action comedy for Fox, just signed onto produce Fox's action thriller "Narco Sub," which Tony Scott is installed on direct in the script by David Guggenheim. Outdoors of Fox, Kinberg is creating Sony's Neill Blomkamp-directed sci-fi epic "Elysium" and Disney's Aline Brosh McKenna-scripted "Cinderella" project.Morgan might be the award-winning scribe behind "The Entire,Inch "The Ultimate King of Scotland," "Frost/Nixon" and "Hereafter." Scribe, who professional produced "Mess Tailor Soldier Spy," recently written Fernando Meirelles' "360." Morgan also written Ron Howard's approaching racing pic "Hurry" and co-written New Line's killer thriller "Solace," that "360" thesp Anthony Hopkins is installed on star. Morgan is presently scripting GK Films' biopic lately Full frontman Freddie Mercury.New Line is presently trying to find a director on "San Andreas 3d,Inch a sizable-budget disaster movie a great earthquake that devastates California. Company's next release will probably be Garry Marshall's romantic comedy "New Year's Eve" on 12 ,. 9.Morgan is repped by UTA, Independent Talent Group and attorney Alan Hergott, while CAA and attorney Karl Austen repetition Kinberg. Contact Rob Sneider at rob.sneider@variety.com

Mike Leigh Named Berlin Festival Jury Leader

BERLIN - Acclaimed British film director Mike Leigh would be the Jury Leader for that 62nd Berlin Worldwide Film Festival, which runs February. 9-19, 2012. Leigh, that has collected a Palme d'Or in Cannes, a Golden Lion in Venice and seven Oscar nominations in the 40-year film making career, will oversee the worldwide jury that hands out Berlin's Golden and Silver Bears in the 62nd Berlin fest.our editor recommendsQ & A: Mike LeighGrief: Theater ReviewRelated Subjects•Berlin Worldwide Film... PHOTOS: 61st Berlin Film Festival Buzz Films Leigh's debut feature, Meantime opened in Berlin's Forum sidebar back in 1984 but he didn't return until 2008, when Happy-Go-Lucky bowed competing, winning the very best Actress prize for star Sally Hawkinsand starting her worldwide career. Leigh is one among Europe's finest living company directors. His last feature, Another Year, opened in Cannes this year and gained Leigh an Oscar nomination for the best Original Script. The 57-year-old director is constantly on the focus on stage. His newest play, Grief, is presently being carried out across Britain. Related Subjects Worldwide Berlin Mike Leigh

Keck's Exclusives: Chuck Books Linda Hamilton for Final Episode

Linda Hamilton, Zachary Levi As a special gift to Chuck fans, Linda Hamilton will return as Chuck's mama, Mary Bartowski, for the show's two-hour series finale, airing January 27. Asked what brings Mary back into her son's life, executive producer Chris Fedak would only tell me, "If I said anything, I'd be ruining too many good spoilers." November 30 marked the shooting of the finale's final scene. "There were a lot of tears," Chris says. "It was a very dramatic, tear-filled experience. We have been cherishing each day as we've neared the end." Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

The new sony Delivering ups Adrian Cruz

Adrian Cruz continues to be upped to professional Vice president and general sales director at The new sony Pictures Delivering.Cruz will are accountable to Jim Amos, prexy of The new sony Pictures Delivering.In the new role, Cruz -- in collaboration with Amos and worldwide distribution prexy Rory Bruer -- will oversee the domestic sales of The new sony Pictures films. He's presently dealing with participants to book such game titles as Columbia Pictures' "The Lady Using the Dragon Tattoo," "Ghost Driver: Spirit of Vengeance," "21 Jump Street," "Males in Black 3," "I Dispise You Father," "The Astonishing Spider-Guy" and "Total Recall," in addition to Screen Gems' "Underworld Awakening," "The Vow" and "Think Just like a Guy.""Adrian is a respected person in our sales and distribution team in excess of two decades,Inch Amos stated. "He's been essential to our success with an abundance of understanding and experience that couple of can match. Once we look forward to 2012 and beyond, our exhibition partners are as excited once we are about our approaching slate of films and that we anticipate depending on Adrian's abilities once we bring this high-profile slate towards the marketplace.""I possibly could 't be more very happy to have Adrian within this new role," added Bruer. "He's helped me look great for a long time at TriStar and The new sony Pictures Western Division, and that he remains the consummate professional."Cruz is really a veteran of 100s of release campaigns, getting became a member of the studio's TriStar Pictures in 1989 as Western district manager. He later grew to become controlling director -- West for The new sony Pictures Delivering and also, since 2000 has offered as SPR's senior Vice president and Western division manager. Just before joining the studio, Cruz held posts at twentieth century Fox and Cannon Delivering. He started his career at Mann's Westwood theaters, then became a member of U . s . Artists Delivering in 1979, beginning like a booker before becoming the Detroit branch manager. Contact Shaun Sneider at shaun.sneider@variety.com