An IMAX Encore For Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third film in the blockbuster Transformers franchise, is returning to 246 IMAX domestic locations for an extended two-week run from Friday, Aug. 26 through Thursday, Sept. 8. During those two weeks, the 3-D film will play simultaneously with other films in the IMAX network. Since its launch on June 29, Transformers: Dark of the Moon has grossed $1,095 billion globally, with $59.6 million generated from IMAX theatres globally. Transformers: Dark of the Moon: An IMAX 3D Experience” has been digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience with proprietary IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) technology for presentation in IMAX 3D. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAXs customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique immersive environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.

Joel McHale: The Kardashians Dont Like Me

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Well, theres one celebrity whose name you wont find on Kim Kardashians lengthy wedding guest list. Joel McHale, who mocks Hollywood shenanigans on his weekly E! show, The Soup, says celebrities usually take his jokes in stride and some even thank him for the laughs garnered at their expense. However, the 39-year-old actor/comedian said hes on the naughty list with a couple of entertainment heavyweights, including the Kardashian clan and Tyra Banks. I know the Kardashians dont like me, Joel told Just Jared in an interview on Thursday, when asked if hes experienced any backlash from his jokes on The Soup. No one has said How dare you! Reality stars, without exception, have come up to me and have said, Thank you for making fun of me. We made so much fun of [former Bachelor] Jake Pavelka, and he responded by coming on the show, he added. Joel also added that he has been banned from mentioning Kims infamous home video made with then-boyfriend Ray J, because the network flips out. Beyond the Kardashians, Joel, who also stars in NBCs hit comedy, Community, said a certain supermodel-turned-talk show host does not find The Soups antics to be amusing. Tyra Banks was the only one that tried to make us not feature her show on ours, he told Just Jared. But then she changed her tune, and then she went off the air, much to our great disappointment. As for his upcoming The Soup jokes, Joel said he has a few shows in mind that he expects will deliver mountains of mockable material. Dancing with the Stars is the show that keeps on giving, he said. I also love Hoarders and My Strange Addictions. I like all the weird shows. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Michael Gracey to direct The Finest Showman On The Planet

Director Michael Gracey has signed onto direct The Finest Showman On The Planet.This is actually the second large project announcement for that red-colored-hot Gracey - most widely known for his visual effects work and also the advertisements he directed - following news he will helm Disney's Snow Whitened reboot An Order From The Seven.Hugh Jackman continues to be cast to star as famous circus showman P.T. Barnum in Finest Showman and also the script is anticipated to pay attention to Barnum's relationship using the opera singer Jenny Lind.The role of Lind, who had been referred to as Swedish Nightingale, has not yet been cast.Jenny Bicks (Sex And Also The City) is writing the script and Jackman is obtaining another salary by co-creating.

Steve McQueen to make 12 Years A Slave

Having dealt with the 1981 Irish hunger strike in the aptly named Hunger, director Steve McQueen will turn his attentions to yet more gruelling subject matter in the form of slavery.Brad Pitt is producing an adaptation of Solomon Northrup's autobiography Twelve Years A Slave, and The Hollywood Reporter claims that McQueen has been signed up to helm the project.Northrup's autobiography, written in 1853, tells the horrific story of how the author (a free man at the time, and married to boot) was kidnapped after being approached with a phony job offer, and thrown into a life of enforced slavery.Approached by two men, Northrup was invited to Washington D.C. to investigate a violinist's vacancy at the circus the pair professed to own. Waking in his hotel to find himself drugged and bound, Northrup was moved to a city slave pen before spending 12 years working on various farms around America's south.Chiwetel Ejiofor, last seen in Angelina Jolie vehicle Salt, has signed on to play Northrup, whilst McQueen has co-written the screenplay with Three Kings scribe John Ridley.The film will be released through Pitt's Plan B production company, and will be that label's next big release after the upcoming World War Z.

Jeff Buckley Pic Rivalry Heats As Broadway Spidey Reeve Carney Commits To Star

EXCLUSIVE: Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark star Reeve Carney has signed on to play Jeff Buckley in the untitled film about the late musician that Welcome to the Rileys helmer Jake Scott is putting together for a November shoot. Carney, who performed the Bono/The Edge-penned Spider-Man single Rise Above 1 at the American Idol finale, will do all the singing to bring to life the music of Buckley, who was just getting started as a solo artist when he drowned at age 30. Considering that Buckley had only released a single album when he died in 1997 after getting caught in the wake of a passing boat in Tennessees Wolf River, it seems amazing that there are not one but three feature films about him. The first one to start production will be Greetings From Tim Buckley, the Dan Algrant-directed indie film that starts a four-week shoot Monday in Brooklyn. Conventional wisdom that the first film out of the gate wins doesn't necessarily apply here; these two projects tell very different stories about Buckley. Scott is making a biopic, while Greetings From Tim Buckley stars Gossip Girls Penn Badgley as a pre-fame Jeff Buckley who reconnects with his estranged father Tim by singing at a tribute concert for his folk-singer dad. In Algrants film, that short adventure forged Jeff Buckleys own solo aspirations. The other Buckley film is called A Pure Drop and it is being mounted by Mad Bastards director Brendan Fletcher out of Australia. The title comes from the book A Pure Drop: The Life of Jeff Buckley. Carney will star in what Scott hopes will be a definitive film about Jeff Buckley's life, and WME is raising funding. They have exclusive rights to Buckleys music and personal archives, including the nod from Sony to use Leonard Cohens Hallelujah, which is perhaps Buckley's best-known tune from his first album Grace. A second album, Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk, was released after Buckley died. Buckleys mother, Mary Guibert, has also thrown in with Scotts project and is executive producer. The script by Ryan Jaffe (The Rocker) was informed by the David Browne book Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley. Insiders behind Greetings From Tim Buckley said that since their film takes place at a tribute concert performed before Jeff Buckley generated his own solo songs, they didnt need his song rights to tell a father-son story with a rights package deal made with the estate of Tim Buckley. Badgley will do his own singing as Jeff Buckley, and Imogen Poots, Ben Rosenfield, and Norbert Leo Butz also star. In casting Carney, director Scott called him the perfect combination of musical prodigy, impish charm, innate intelligence and sensitivity to play Jeff. Scott, the son of director Ridley Scott, has directed videos for the likes of R.E.M., Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins and The Cranberries. He has a common thread with Carney: He has directed vids for U2; aside from singing nightly the Spider-Man songs by Bono and The Edge, Carney and his band of the same name opened for U2 on the last stop of its mammoth 360 tour. Michelle Sy and Orian Williams are producing the Scott-directed film, and Jeff Buckley Music's Alison Raykovich is associate producer. Carney is repped by Paradigm and DAS Communications. Here is Buckley singing Hallelujah:

Collective adds digital duo

BenatorManagement company the Collective is adding two execs to its recently launched digital studio.Max Benator was named head of production and development for Collective Digital Studio while Nancy Tamayo was tapped as its head of brand partnerships and media sales. Launched earlier this year, CDS handles distribution for a wide range of programming, including "In the Dressing Room," a series featuring "So You Think You Can Dance" host Cat Deeley that runs on Yahoo's gossip site OMG.Benator comes to CDS from Hudsun Media, where as vice president of digital media he oversaw such productions as "Genuine Ken," which aired on Hulu. Prior to Hudsun, he was senior vice president of multiplatform entertainment at RDF Media (now Zodiak USA).Tamayo was vice president of global ad sales at Machinima Entertainment Network. Before that, she was instrumental in the evolution of companies,including Buzz Media, Joost and Tidal TV. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

Taylor Lautner's 'Abduction' to Hit Video-On-Demand Only Three Months After Theaters

If you're willing to wait three months for Taylor Lautner's new film, you could see it even cheaper than at many theaters. Lionsgate just announced it will release 'Abduction' on video-on-demand just three months after its theatrical release, and for a mere $6.99. That's a whole lot cheaper than the whopping $30 that some studios have been charging for VOD titles on DirecTV. Theater owners have protested the recent trend of having movies appear on VOD so soon after they debut on the big screen, saying it eats into their box office receipts. Lionsgate will release the film to all VOD providers and via Wal-Mart and Best Buy online. If you want the movie in high definition, the price is a still fairly reasonable $7.99, still cheaper than the current average movie ticket price of $7.97. (As determined by Box Office Mojo.) 'Abduction,' in which Lautner stars as a teen whose realization that he was abducted as a child makes him the center of a deadly manhunt, opens in theaters on September 23. Would you rather see Taylor on the big screen or can you wait three months for VOD? [via TheWrap]

Fox Sets 'Walking With Dinosaurs' for Christmas 2013 Release

Fox has dated BBC's CGI/live-action Walking With Dinosaurs for release on 12 ,. 20, 2013. Marking among the greatest American Film Market deals in recent occasions, Fox acquired domestic and key territory privileges towards the $sixty five million family adventure from Stuart Ford's IM Global last November. Walking With Dionsaurs, directed by Neil Nightingale and Pierre P Lespinios, is dependant on the most popular BBC series produced by Tim Haines. The pic will transport families to prehistoric occasions, where an underdog dinosaur triumphs to become hero for that age range. Jinko Gotoh, BBC Earth, Evergreen Films, and IM Global parent company Reliance Large Entertainment backed the development. Additionally towards the U.S., Fox nabbed privileges for that U.K., France, Australia, Japan, Columbia and Latin America, among other areas. Related Subjects Worldwide