Madonna sued over “Material Girl”  clothing line

Entertainer, Madonna, has launched a “Material Girl” clothing line with daughter, Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon. Oops!  L.A. Triumph, claims it’s been selling clothes under that label since around 1997 and at some of the same high-ended retailers involved in the new Madonna deal.

This week, the California company sued Madonna. More details in a story on The Los Angeles Times website.

Dr. Laura’s controversial farewell

In the wake of a controversy over her use of the N-word on the air, Conservative Radio Talk Show Host, Dr. Laura Schlessinger,  announced she would pull the plug on her program at the end of the year. Dr. Laura made the surprise announcement on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”

Dr. Laura says she’s taking the drastic step because she wants  her  ”… First Amendment rights back.” Not everyone is buying that reasoning — here’s a good post about it all on The Wrap. Dr. Laura’s radio program can be heard locally on KFWB News Talk 980. 

Oh, click here for Dr. Laura’s blog where she talks about the controversy, her apology, and the support she’s getting from Sarah Palin.

Betty White’s new two-book deal

UPDATED:  Sunday,  August 22, 2010                                                                                                                                                       

 Actress Betty White has another Emmy to add to her collection. White won number  seven last night for best guest actress in a comedy series for her hosting of a “Saturday Night Live” episode, back in the spring.

That award winner was announced during the creative arts section of the 62 Annual  Primetime Emmy Awards, at the Nokia Theater in Downtown Los Angeles.  The winners in some of the major Emmy categories will be announced on a broadcast next Sunday, August 29, 2010, on NBC. 

Actress Betty White is 88-years-old and has a career that’s on the upswing. The Emmy Award-winning actress has gained new fans with her appearance in a hit Super Bowl TV commercial back in February, then in May as a guest host on NBC-TV’s, “Saturday Night Live,” and now she has a role on cable network TV Land’s popular series, “Hot in Cleveland.”  This week it was disclosed White has sealed a two-book deal with G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

The first book, “Listen Up,” will be about life lessons learned during White’s many years in Hollywood. It’s due out in hardcover next spring. By the way, she has been nominated for 20 Emmy Awards and has won six — including two for her role in the 1970s ”The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and one for starring in the hit 1980s series, “The Golden Girls.”

The second book, “The Zoo and I: Betty and Her Friends” will showcase stories and photographs of White and her friends at the Los Angeles Zoo – scheduled to hit the market in 2012.

In a PR Newswire press release, White said she’s enjoying the new challenge: “Much as I love what I do for a living in show business, I love writing even more – so I am thrilled to be working on not only one new book but two of them.”  White is the author of five other books.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio is blowing up huge on the big screen. DiCaprio is two-for-two — with his second film this year, “Inception,” debuting at the top of the domestic Box Office this weekend.  

Last February, DiCaprio starred in the psychological drama, ”Shutter Island,” which opened in first place with $41 million.  Now, the sci-fi thriller “Inception” cleans-up with an estimated $60.4 million to become the number one movie in the country. “Inception” also stars Ken Watanabe, Ellen Page, and Michael Caine.

Directed and written by the talented Chris Nolan, “Inception” is the highly anticipated original thriller about a thief’s ability to steal from his victim’s mind during the dream state and how he has to bump that skill up to an even higher level  in one last operation. Nolan, who’s successes include “Batman Begins, “The Dark Knight,” “Memento,” and “Insomnia,” reportedly started working on ”Inception” 10 years ago.

The computer-animated film, “Despicable Me,” slipped from first to second with around $32.7 million. The new fantasy adventure, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” landed in third with an estimate $17.3 million. Based on a number of sources, the film is about a sorcerer who finds his apprentice in modern day New York and must give this college student a crash course in magic and sorcery to help save the world from destruction. Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel star.

In fourth, the vampire fantasy ”The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” with about $13.5 million and rounding out the top five, the 3D animated  ”Toy Story 3″ with an estimated  $11.7 million.

Bristol Palin to marry Levi Johnston

That Palin family – never out of the media spotlight for long. The latest news,  Bristol Palin is engaged to former boyfriend and father of her son, Levi Johnston. The couple broke the news to US magazine, which posted the exclusive story and some photos on its website today. The Palins really like US magazine. Remember, Sarah Palin on the above US cover with the couple’s son, Tripp, back in 2008?  

Online vampire book sells to major publisher

Photo from www.martaacosta.com

San Francisco Bay Area Author Marta Acosta has a thing for vampires. Acosta sold her latest fang book by posting it on the website scribd. The YA novel, “The Shadow Girl of Birch Grove,” got tons of reads and was bought recently by Tor Books. GalleyCat has the scoop on how Acosta’s novel scored with online readers and the sci-fi fantasy publisher.

 Tribute to Dennis Hopper

“Dennis Hopper Double Standard” now showing in The Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles. Celebs like Liv Tyler, Diane Keaton, and Reese Witherspoon turned out for the opening party last Saturday, for this exhibit showcasing the art career of the late, Dennis Hopper. The actor/artist died last May,after a battle with prostate cancer.                                                                                                                            
Vogue website has more on the star-studded affair. The MOCA site has details on the exhibit, which runs through September 26.

 Conan O’Brien gets four Emmy nominations

Late night talk show host, Conan O’Brien, has plenty to joke about after receiving four Emmy nominations today, for his short-lived version of “The Tonight Show,” including nods for outstanding variety music or comedy series, for writing, directing, and art direction. How many nominations did his rivals Jay Leno and David Letterman get? Nada! Zilch!  

That recent odd-ball Emmy ad campaign by the TBS Network for the comedian just might have paid off. Or maybe O’Brien got a lot of sympathy votes because of the shabby way NBC treated him in “The Tonight Show” debacle last winter, which led to Leno returning to the legendary late night talker as host. O’Brien is now prepping his new late night show for this fall on TBS.

The 62nd Primetime Emmy nominations were announced this morning.  HBO got the most nominations, followed by ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and PBS. Several posts about the Emmy nominations on deadline.com/Hollywood

Disney plans to appeal $200 million-plus court decision

Photo: FLLewis/Media City G -- Disney Studios in Burbank

Investors are watching the Mouse Kingdom’s stock for signs of erosion after a federal jury in Riverside yesterday awarded the creator of the “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”  television game show nearly $269.2 million in damages.

U.K.-based Celador International sued Disney in 2004 claiming it did not receive a fair share of profits from the show.  More on the legal battle here.

 ”Eclipse” still making serious money

“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” continued its winning ways this week. Over the Fourth of July weekend, the vampire/fantasy/love story easily won the Box Office race with a haul of $83.6 million.

In its first six days of release, the third installment of the “Twilight” film series made a huge $176.3 million at the domestic Box Office. As of yesterday,  the film had earned nearly $20 million more — meaning it will probably leap the $200 million mark before the weekend.  At the center of the plot is a love triangle involving main characters Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black played by Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner.

In second place, another new fantasy flick, “The Last Airbender” with $52 million.  Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, the movie is about a young adventurer,  portrayed by Noah Ringer, who has the power to manipulate the four main elements of nature : water, fire, Earth, and air.

“Toy Story 3″ came in third with $43 million, and rounding out the top five, the comedies “Grown Ups” $26 million and “Knight and Day” $14 million.

 A Southland lottery winner cashed in that missing $7 million SuperLotto Plus jackpot winning ticket last Monday, June 14. This is the unclaimed jackpot I posted about a few days ago. The ticket was bought in the 7-Eleven store at 3450 Overland Avenue in Los Angeles for the June 5 draw. Oh, the 7-Eleven gets a $35,000 bonus for selling that winning ticket.

 The owner of the lucky ticket wants to remain anonymous. According to lottery officials, the winner chose the annuity option and will receive increasing payments over 26 years, beginning with the first for $175,000. What are his plans?  The winner disclosed he intends to pay off some credit cards, some other bills, and take a long-awaited trip to Disney World!

Actress Demi Moore nails a $2 million book deal

Movie roles have been pretty slim for Actress, Demi Moore, lately, but she just scored a huge deal in the publishing biz. Over on Deadline.com, Mike Fleming reports Moore’s reps are working on the fine points of a book contract with HarperCollins. The word is this will not be a trip down memory lane. More here.

Screenwriting duo hook a deal to write “Monster High” musical

Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are very busy screenwriters/producers these days. And they are making a lot of dough at it. Gough and Millar are the showrunners for the TV hit, “Smallville.” Also, they wrote such male-focused films as ”Lethal Weapon 4,” “Shanghai Noon,” and “Spider-Man 2.”  For a some variety, they produced last year’s “Hannah Montana: The Movie,” which rang up $80 million at the domestic Box Office.

Now Gough and Millar are working on a monster musical about the trials and tribulations of high school — as experienced by the off-spring of Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman. “Monster High” is based on a new entertainment/toy line from Mattel. The Hollywood Reporter has a nice write up on the project. 

“Shrek Forever After” number one again

For the third week in a row, “Shrek Forever After” is king of the domestic Box Office, but the achievement is overshadowed by the lackluster performance of a new crop of films. Audiences are not packing the theaters like they did last year at this time.

“Shrek Forever After” drew the biggest crowds making $25.4 million, bringing its three week domestic take to $183.2 million. In second place the new film, “Getting Him to the Greek,” which opened with $17.5 million. The comedy centers on a record company intern who takes the job of escorting an out-of-control British rock star to a concert in Los Angeles. Jonah Hill and Russell Brand star.

Another new movie,”Killers” landed in third with$15.8 million. The action comedy is about a woman who discovers, three years into her marriage, that she’s hooked up with a CIA hitman who has a contract on his head.  Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl star.

“Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” earned $14 million for fourth place. Rounding out the top five, “Sex and the City 2″ with $12.3 million — bringing its two week domestic haul to $73 million. Box Office Mojo has more on the weekend movie derby.  

“Now You See Me” spec script sale

The cold spec script market warmed up somewhat with the sale of, “Now You See Me.” Screenwriters Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt sold their spec to Summit Entertainment. The script is a thriller with a hocus -pocus kind of twist. In the plot, a top FBI team takes on some of the greatest illusionists who create magic on stage while pulling-off a series of daring bank heists. The Hollywood Reporter has more on this deal and other projects involving these two hot screenwriters.  

Sandra Bullock re-teams with Ryan Reynolds for new flick

Oscar-winning actress, Sandra Bullock, is back in the mix. During the past few days, Bullock made her first official appearances since being hit with all that personal drama from her ex-husband’s infidelities. Before that, Bullock was on a high after winning the best actress Academy Award for, “The Blind Side.” Over the weekend, The actress dropped by “Spike TV Guy’s Choice Awards” and “The MTV Awards.”

Today, there’s buzz about Bullock and Ryan Reynolds co-starring in a new action comedy, “Most Wanted.” Bullock and Reynold clicked in the successful romantic comedy, “The Proposal.” That film debuted at number one its first weekend back in June of 2009, then went on to earn $162 million at the domestic Box Office and $317 million worldwide.  Details on the new teaming of Bullock and Reynolds here.

Sequels stumble at the Box Office

The four-day Memorial Day weekend was no thriller at the Box Office, and that has sparked a lot chatter about whether moviegoers are growing weary of the sequels. Ticket sales for the long weekend, $184.2 million compared to $213.8 million for the same holiday weekend last year. Many critics are putting the blame for this year’s disappointment on the weak performance of the sequels.

The animation “Shrek Forever After” held onto the number one ranking, for a second week at the domestic Box Office, with a haul of $57 million.

Second place went to the new action adventure, “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” which racked up $37.8 million. The flick, based on a video game, is about a prince who teams up with a rival princess to stop a sandstorm that could destroy the world. Jake Gyllenhaal stars, along with Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley.

“Sex and the City 2″ sashayed into third with a debut of $36.8 million. This sequel had a ton of buzz, got off to a fast start, but cooled somewhat over the long weekend. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, and Kim Cattrall star in another go-round of comedy, drama, and romance in the Big Apple.

 ”Iron Man 2″ landed in fourth with $21 million and “Robin Hood” scored fifth place with $13.4 million. More on the sluggish Memorial Day weekend Box Office and the struggling sequels on The Wrap.

Director James Cameron takes a meeting on that catastrophic oil spill

Oscar-winning filmmaker James Cameron joined 20 top scientists, engineers, tech experts, and  government officials yesterday to brainstorm on how to contain that huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Besides winning three Oscars  for the movie “Titanic” and producing other blockbusters like “Avatar,” Cameron helped design special underwater equipment to film a series of documentaries exploring shipwrecks in the ocean deep. So he might have some ideas on what to do about that six-week-old, oil disaster.

Southland hearing on the Comcast-NBCU deal

The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing next Monday, June 7, at the California Science Center in Downtown Los Angeles, on the controversial Comcast-NBCU proposed deal.  The hearing is open to the public.

The Justice Department is looking into possible anti-trust implications of the union, while the FCC will determine if the $30 billion deal is in the public interest. Details on The Los Angeles Times website.