Silver recruits scribe for 'Ben 10'

Silver Pictures has brought on scribe Albert Torres to pen the pic "Ben 10." Pic will be based on the Cartoon Network skein with Joel Silver, Andrew Rona and Steve Richards producing through Silver Pictures. There is currently no distributor but sources say Silver is likely to bring the pic to Warner Bros., given his relationship with the studio. The show revolves around Ben Tennyson, a boy who can transform into 10 different alien creatures with the help of a glovelike device called the Omnitrix. Alex Heineman and Sarah Meyer will oversee for Silver Pictures.. Torres most recently did a rewrite on the Warner Bros. pic "Akira." Silver's "Project X" bows on March 2 and "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" has grossed nearly $500 million worldwide. Torres is repped by CAA and 3 Arts Entertainment. Contact Justin Kroll at justin.kroll@variety.com

Shirley MacLaine Joins Downton Abbey

Shirley MacLaine Shirley MacLaine has grew to become part of the cast of Downton Abbey, Variety reviews.The Oscar champion may have Martha Levinson, Lady Grantham's mother, inside the third season, which begins filming later.Shirley MacLaine to obtain AFI Existence Achievement Award"My late grandfather [Ronald Neame] directed Shirley MacLaine in Gambit in 1966 therefore it is a delight personally they will probably be joining us on Downton Abbey," producer Gareth Neame mentioned. "Julian [Fellowes] has written another brilliant character in Martha Levinson, who certainly are a great combatant for Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess which we're excited in the options of Shirley MacLaine playing her."The gig marks MacLaine's first regular TV series role since her dramedy series Shirley's World, which made it one season (1971-72).Season 2 of Downton Abbey is presently airing on PBS stateside. Season 3 will premiere on ITV inside the U.K. in September.

Gutierrez to direct Relativity's 'The Crow'

Gutierrez Relativity Media, producer Edward R. Pressman and also the Weinstein Company's Dimension Films banner have drawn on "Prior to the Fall" helmer F. Javier Gutierrez to direct a reinvention of "The Crow," that'll be compiled by Jesse Wigutow.Brandon Lee starred within the original 1994 film, which is dependant on the comic series and cartoon by James O'Barr."The Crow" adaptation is a gritty reboot from the legendary character Eric Draven, who returns in the grave because the Crow on the pursuit to avenge his wife's murder, to ensure that his soul can finally relaxation. The project is presently in development, and Relativty intends to announce the pic's casting, oncoming of production and specific release date within the coming days.Relativity Boss Ryan Kavanaugh is creating the pic with Pressman and Shaun Most. Relativity co-prexy Tucker Tooley ("Immortals") will professional produce with TWC principals Bob and Harvey Weinstein, in addition to Serta Farah ("Armored") of Farah Films. Gutierrez made his directorial debut using the The spanish language-language apocalyptic thriller "Prior to the Fall" ("Tres Dias"), which opened in the Berlinale Film Festival in 2008 and continued to win top honors in the 2008 Malaga Film Festival, in addition to four honours at Scream Fest in '09.Gutierrez is presently developing the sci-fi thriller "The Greys" for Dimension Films.Pressman is presently in development on the reinvention from the legendary action film "Bloodsport," which Phillip Noyce ("Salt") will direct from the script by Robert Kamen ("Taken"). Pressman's next film, the Mary Harron-directed "The Moth Journals," is going to be launched by IFC Films later this season.Relativity presently has Steven Soderbergh's action-thriller "Haywire" in theaters and can next release the Navy SEAL action-thriller "Act of Valor" on February. 24, along with the Snow Whitened adventure comedy "Mirror Mirror" on March 16. Gutierrez is repped by Paradigm, Farah and attorney Stephen Clark of Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler & Feldman. Contact Shaun Sneider at shaun.sneider@variety.com

Brandi Glanville Claims She Associated With Gerard Butler

First Launched: The month of the month of january 24, 2012 5:43 PM EST Credit: Getty Images Caption Brandi Glanville (Gerard Butler inset)NY, N.Y. -- A woman never notifies, but apparently its Appropriate for any genuine Housewife. The Particular Regular folks of Beverly Slopes star Brandi Glanville mentioned on Monday evening they associated with Gerard Butler last summer season. Brandi was turning up on Andy Cohens Bravo show, Watch What Continues Live, on Monday evening, when the late evening host asked for the reality star who was simply the favored person, besides ex-husband Eddie Cibrian, who she associated with. Gerard Butler, Brandi mentioned. Brandi ongoing to say they as well as the 300 star spent a while together. It wasn't single-nighter. It absolutely was similar to, somewhat week of fun, she mentioned, proclaiming the two were involved, briefly, inside the summer season. Andy then asked for how fun the alleged entanglement was around the scale of a single-10. 11, Brandi mentioned. Follow The Link to uncover the shocking truth. Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All rights reserved. These elements may not be launched, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Lionsgate deal lifts pair to studio status

Lionsgate buys Summit for $412.5 million | Wall Street mulls merger benefits | Analysis: Lionsgate's done deal surprises observers | Summit, Lionsgate to sort out foreign Does Hollywood now have a seventh major in Lionsgate-Summit?In the wake of Lionsgate's $412.5 million acquisition of its rival, that's the initial hope on the part of those involved -- that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. "It's really a situation where one plus one equals more than two," vice chairman Michael Burns asserted a few minutes after the deal was announced Friday afternoon.The idea of another major -- operating on the same level as Fox or Universal -- is appealing for creatives in Hollywood since there will one less buyer out there with the absorption of Summit into Lionsgate.For now, Summit will operate as a separate subsidiary within Lionsgate while the management structure's sorted out -- though Lionsgate co-chairman and CEO Jon Feltheimer has promised to disclose specifics within a week or two such as what roles Summit toppers Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger will fill.Lionsgate has a blockbuster coming in November in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2" -- as close to a sure thing as there is in Hollywood -- to go along with the first of four "Hunger Games" films opening on March 23."We are uniting two powerful entertainment brands, bringing together two world-class feature film franchises to establish a commanding position in the young adult market, strengthening our global distribution infrastructure and creating a scalable platform that will result in significant and accretive financial benefits to Lionsgate shareholders," Burns and Feltheimer said in a statement Friday.Beyond the franchises, however, exactly what will happen with the 17 other films -- mostly low-to-mid budget efforts -- on the combined slate for 2012 is a bit murky. The first two are set to open against each other on Jan. 27 when action comedy "One for the Money," starring Katherine Heigl, goes up against Summit's action thriller "Man on a Ledge," starring Sam Worthington.Lionsgate also has a similar situation on Feb. 24, when it opens comedy-romancer "Tyler Perry's Good Deeds" and Summit's suspenser "Gone," starring Amanda Seyfried.It would not be a complete surprise if one or more of those four titles is shifted to another release date. The next Summit film, action-suspenser "The Cold Light of Day," starring Bruce Willis, opens April 6 -- a week before Lionsgate's horror-comedy "The Cabin in the Woods."Further along the way, the Lionsgate slate offers promise from "What to Expect When You're Expecting," "The Expendables 2" and "The Last Stand," marking Arnold Schwarzenegger's return to the bigscreen early next year; Summit could see hits in vampire romancer "Warm Bodies," sci-fier "Ender's Game," magician suspenser "Now You See Me" or "Red 2," which has been slotted for August 2013 but still has no director.The nagging suspicion among the town's cynics is that Summit's stunning success with "Twilight," with the final worldwide gross probably near $4 billion, will not be replicated -- despite the not inconsiderable strengths of the merged entity. Optimists can point to 2010, when Summit and Lionsgate combined for more than $1 billion in domestic gross, outpacing Universal; but pessimists can note that with Lionsgate stumbling last year, the two mini-majors combined for only about $600 million.Still, consolidation of the two may have been inevitable. The companies, most of whose operations are located within a few blocks of each other, had been talking merger at various points since around the time in 2008 when the first "Twilight" film opened. Those talks gained momentum last year for three key reasons:Summit became more attractive thanks to the success of the "Twilight" franchise. Competition from the six majors became tougher as they accelerated their focus on mega-budget franchises aimed at succeeding on a worldwide basis. Lionsgate removed a major distraction by settling its long dispute with Carl Icahn.The deal, announced Friday, arrived with a notable lack of fireworks."There was never really much drama in this negotiation," noted James Berk, CEO of Summit investor Participant Media. "It really unfolded in a pretty orderly fashion. I think that's kind of unique."When the deal announcement came a few minutes after the close of markets Friday afternoon, the one real surprise to many was that the transaction wasn't a tentative agreement but a complex completed transaction -- financed as a leveraged buyout that cashes out Summit's investors with about $342.5 million and a stake of 4%-5% in the amplified Lionsgate.Early last year, Summit's ownership -- which includes top Summit execs, Nala Investments and Suhail Rizvi's Rizvi Traverse Management -- had been considering a move into TV production as a way to diversify operations from the core businesses of film production and foreign sales in order to take advantage of the success of the "Twilight" franchise. Friedman and Wachsberger told Variety last February that the first moves would take place in the following months."We were looking into the funds it would have taken to expand," Berk noted. "At the same time, Summit became very attractive as a potential acquisition, so these conversations started with multiple parties."Besides monetizing the investment of the Summit owners, Berk said, the deal offers the benefits of allowing the combined entity to take better advantage of the "Twilight" and "Hunger Games" franchises, long-term stability, monetization of the Summit library and the firepower to compete effectively with the big six studios."This really is the right deal at the right time," he added.Berk also expects the deal to benefit Participant, which is halfway through a five-year output deal with Summit and looking to ramp up feature production and move into TV production. The 8-year-old company -- focused on the environment, health care, human rights, institutional responsibility, peace and tolerance -- has backed "Syriana," "An Inconvenient Truth," "Charlie Wilson's War," "Contagion" and "The Help."Berk admitted he's cognizant that there's now one less buyer in Hollywood."On the one hand, it is frustrating to lose a player in the feature film market," Berk told Variety. "But if the company executes, there's plenty of capacity for its product."The Lionsgate-Summit merger discussions picked up in the wake of Lionsgate's Aug. 29 settlement with Icahn under which the billionaire agreed to sell off his stake -- thus ending his three-year quest for control of the company, highlighted by bitter blasts at Feltheimer and Burns.Summit also received a serious offer in the late fall from Miramax owner Colony Capital. But with Miramax making only small moves to get back into production, the Lionsgate bid may have been more attractive partly due to its well-established TV operation.Lionsgate's smallscreen operation is best known for AMC's "Mad Men," Showtime's "Weeds" and "Nurse Jackie," Starz's "Boss" and the upcoming Charlie Sheen sitcom on FX, "Anger Management." The Debmar-Mercury syndication operation includes "Tyler Perry's House of Payne" and "The Wendy Williams Show." It's also moved aggressively into digital distribution. And Feltheimer's already indicated he'd be open to leveraging the "Twilight" franchise into some kind of TV programming.Friedman and Wachsberger met with Summit staff after the announcement on Friday afternoon to brief them on the deal and emphasize that the employees should focus on ongoing business. "We told them that we're going to continue to go about their business because we have a lot of films coming," Friedman told Variety. "We are going to continue to operate Summit day to day and work with Lionsgate on a seamless transition. We are not taking our foot off the pedal."Summit has about 150 employees, Lionsgate about 500. The announcement didn't address the issue of whether there will be layoffs, but Feltheimer said, "There's no question that there will be some consolidation, but for many employees, this will be a tremendous opportunity."Feltheimer and Burns have a notable track record in absorbing companies -- Trimark in 2000, Artisan in 2003, Redbus in 2005, Debmar-Mercury in 2006, Mandate in 2007 and TV Guide Network in 2009 as well as a stake in Roadside Attractions in 2007.Mandate isn't Summit, clearly, but under Lionsgate, it's maintained operations as an independent brand for the past four years and served as a production company on "50/50," "A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas" and "Young Adult," released by Summit, Warner Bros. and Paramount, respectively. Upcoming Mandate titles include "A Forest of Mirrors," "Great Hope Springs" and "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World," with distribution handled by Disney, Sony and Focus, respectively.The merger will significantly beef up Lionsgate's foreign sales operations. Wachsberger said he expects Summit's foreign sales division to be operating as usual at the upcoming Berlin and Cannes film markets; international distribs with output deals began receiving calls Friday that they would continue to receive pics via those agreements through 2012.Since 2007, Summit co-chairs Friedman and Wachsberger have transformed Summit from a foreign sales company into a full-service production and distribution studio on the back of its successful gamble on film adaptations of Stephenie Meyer's bestselling series of vampire-werewolf novels.In April 2007, Summit arranged a $1 billion financing deal -- a transaction that would not have been possible a few months later as the financial markets began melting down. Last March, Summit closed a $750 million financing deal -- a $550 million term loan and a $200 million revolving line of credit -- and paid a cash distribution to its largest investors, including Friedman, Wachsberger, Participant Media, Nala Investments and private equity fund Rizvi Traverse Management.Lionsgate's been busy in recent months laying the groundwork for "Hunger Games" and the rest of the upcoming slate, including bringing on Alcon as a co-financier on "What to Expect When You're Expecting." It hasn't done a wide release since September; it announced in November that it had lost $24.6 million in its second quarter ended Sept. 30 due partly to disappointing perfs from "Conan the Barbarian," "Warrior" and "Abduction."Lionsgate's balance sheet had $590 million in debt as of Sept. 30. It has about 13,000 titles in its film and TV library. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

Universal plans 100th anniversary restorations

Good news for fans of classic filmmaking, as Universal has announced it will be restoring and re-releasing a glut of seminal movies to celebrate the studio's 100th anniversary.The studio will be polishing thirteen of its most beloved titles, with the full list including All Quiet On The Western Front, The Birds, Buck Privates, Dracula (1931), Dracula (Spanish language), Frankenstein, Jaws, Schindler's List, Out Of Africa, Pillow Talk, Bride Of Frankenstein, The Sting and To Kill A Mockingbird.The celebration will begin with the release of To Kill A Mockingbird on Blu-ray later this month, whilst the rest of the titles will be extensively restored and released throughout the year.Universal has also redesigned its company logo to reflect the centenary celebrations, and the new image will appear in front of all Universal releases from March onwards."Our centennial is designed to bring special memories back to longtime movie lovers and fans, and to engage new audiences with our extraordinary library of films for the first time," said Universal COO Ron Meyer. "Our goal, 100 years later, is to preserve, restore and continue the iconic legacy of this studio for generations to come."

Grant Gustin Poised to Be 'Glee' Series Regular

What's good news for Glee flirt Grant Gustin may not be great news for fans of the show's Blaine and Kurt.Gustin, who plays Dalton Academy Warbler Sebastian, tells The Hollywood Reporter that he'll continue to be "in and out" on the current third season of the Fox musical with an offer "on the table" to be a series regular for Season 4.While Sebastian has appeared in two episodes thus far, he's already set his sights on Darren Criss' Blaine, challenging Kurt (Chris Colfer) for his boyfriend's affections.Could there be more trouble ahead for the on-screen couple? Not so fast, Gustin says. As of the Michael Jackson tribute episode -- now set for Tuesday, Jan. 31 -- Sebastian will cool his romantic pursuit of former Warbler Blaine."As of the Michael Jackson episode, he's slightly separating himself [from Blaine] and is less flirtatious and more of a dick," he says. "He's not necessarily pursuing Blaine anymore. He's not as into it as he has been in the past. Blaine's not giving him anything to work with and he's probably a little bored with it and moves on."As for what the future holds for his character, Gustin noted that he's "open to the idea" of a Sebastian-Dave Karofsky (Max Adler) pairing. "It'd be fun," he says, adding that he'd also like to follow in Blaine's footsteps and transfer to McKinley High as Criss' character did this season."Being a Warbler is totally bad-ass but I wouldn't be surprised if at some point he made the switch [to McKinley] like Blaine did," Gustin says. "As of the Michael Jackson episode, he's still a Warbler."Glee returns Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. on Fox. The Hollywood Reporter

Nick Cannon Put in the hospital For Mild Kidney Failure

First Released: The month of january 4, 2012 9:54 AM EST Credit: Twitter Caption Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon are observed in a hospital mattress in Aspen, Colorado on The month of january 4, 2011ASPEN, Colo. -- Nick Cannon has arrived within the hospital after having suffered from mild kidney failure. The 31-year-olds wife Mariah Carey introduced this news on Twitter on Wednesday morning, writing, Please pray for Nick as hes fighting to recuperate from the mild kidney failure. The 41-year-old singer, who welcomed twins Moroccan and Monroe in April 2011 with Nick, also blogged about her husbands health scare. This really is us within the hospital - role reversal This past year it had been me connected to the machines (after getting dembabies) and Nick was there beside me through it, and today here i am, she authored on her behalf website and published a photograph of herself with Nick in the hospital mattress in Aspen. Were attempting to be as festive as you possibly can underneath the conditions but please keep Nick inside your ideas since this is very painful. They attempted to kick me from the hospital but here' am pon p mattress with Mr. C., she ongoing. Adding, Used to do OK but were straaaaaanded in Aspen. #DramaticDivaPlace (I understand, we're able to be in a great deal worse places) however as lengthy as were together, were OK. I am not attempting to make light from the situation because its a significant moment thats very tough on many of us so please stop us and us inside your hopes. Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All privileges reserved. These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.