BuzzSugar

Project Runway Gets Another Spinoff; Santino Gets a Job

BuzzSugar — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:30:40 -0700

Apparently, the two Project Runway spinoffs that the Weinstein Company announced it had up its sleeve for Lifetime just aren't enough. The Weinsteins are pitching another Project-titled project, this one called Project Triple Threat.

The show will be a quest for the nation's best actor/singer/dancer, according to Variety. Just like the rest of the Project shows, the 16 contestants will share a house together while competing for a grand prize, this time a shot at a record contract and a role in a musical. That's in addition to the newly named Models of the Runway, the show about Project Runway's models, and Project Pygmalion, a society-themed competition that will turn its winner into a high-class socialite.

I think at some point, all these Project _______ shows are just going to lead to diminishing returns, just like how Bravo's Top ______ series fizzled a bit with Top Design last year. A lot depends on the contestants' personalities and the challenges they're given, of course, but at some point, the formula's just not interesting anymore. Do you think you'd watch Project Triple Threat?

In other Runway related news, second-season runner-up Santino Rice will be competing on a Fox Reality Channel show called Gimme My Reality Show, in which "D-list celebs who have appeared on reality shows but never starred in their own" will "battle for star recognition in a variety of challenges." I kind of want to cry now. Meanwhile, the lawsuit over Runway's move to Lifetime will be heard in court on July 17 - one day after the fifth season premieres on Bravo. Good timing, universe!

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Project Runway Gets Two Spinoffs on Lifetime

BuzzSugar — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:30:26 -0700

Though the whole Project Runway vs. NBC lawsuit is yet to be settled, Lifetime is moving forward as though it will be airing the show in the Fall for sure. And that's not all: At a presentation on Monday, Harvey Weinstein - whose company produces Project Runway - told reporters that Lifetime will be airing not one but two spinoffs of the show around the same time as the show's November premiere.

The first of them doesn't have a title yet, but Weinstein said it will look at the Project Runway world through the eyes of the show's models. The second, dubbed Project Pygmalion, is a makeover series that will turn its winner into a high-society socialite.

Now, I do love a good reality show, but doesn't that seem like a bit . . . much? Especially if both shows and Runway are airing around the same time? I would think that Lifetime would want to be very careful about Runway-related overkill, especially because there will be another season of the show airing on Bravo sometime between now and November.

Also of note: Michael Kors is for sure on board for the move to Lifetime, but Nina Garcia isn't yet - though he noted that everyone would like for her to continue on the show. It sounds like her recent departure from Elle, which was a Runway sponsor, is an issue. Meanwhile, Bravo has its own programming presentation scheduled for Tuesday, which should be interesting to say the least!

Source and Bravo

Weekend Box Office: 21 Wins the Pot

BuzzSugar — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:15:05 -0700

Well, it looks like 21, the film about MIT students who take Vegas by storm, was a safe bet as it easily won the top spot at the box office. However, the overall weekend box office total was down 17 percent compared to last year, Variety reports. 21 earned an estimated $23 million, beating Horton Hears a Who and firmly establishing Jim Sturgess as a viable leading man.

Compare these results to another new release this weekend: Stop-Loss, starring Ryan Phillippe, who is a household name. Another box office casualty in a long line of Iraq War-related film flops, Stop-Loss only earned $4.5 million, coming in at No. 8.

Which brings me to the other box office disappointment this weekend, Superhero Movie. Could it be that Round One of Harvey Weinstein vs. Fanboys' fanboys goes to the geeks (more on the feud here)? Protesters gathered on both coasts where Superhero was playing, though in LA it appears Weinstein was prepared with guards. One protester told the Hollywood Reporter:

Guards were everywhere. At one point, I counted nine, no joke. They hired a whole force and whenever someone showed up looking around for the protest, they were surrounded by guards and told to leave instantly or be arrested. I guess you can't really hold a protest on private property.

Ultimately the film came in the third spot with a measly $9.5 million. Is this a little bit hilarious to anyone else?

Finally, Run Fat Boy Run starring Simon Pegg came in 13th and only earned an estimated $2.3 million here in the US. The movie grossed $22.6 million in the UK last Fall.

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures

Fanboys Battle "Darth Weinstein" Over Fanboys

BuzzSugar — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:30:29 -0700

Fanboys angrily defending Fanboys . . . This stuff writes itself.
So, there's this movie Fanboys, starring a brunette Kristen Bell and a dorky Seth Rogen, in which "a group of young, passionate Star Wars fans . . . drive cross-country to raid George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch, and watch Star Wars: Episode 1- The Phantom Menace." In the original version of the movie, which was finished long ago, the trip is motivated by the fact that one of the characters has cancer.

To cancer, or not to cancer . . .
Apparently, real-life "passionate Star Wars fans" have been eagerly awaiting this film's release, have seen parts of the film at Comic-Con and the such, and loved it the way it was. Yet producer Harvey Weinstein was not pleased with the sad plotline and reshoots were ordered to, well, remove the cancerous parts for the theatrical release (though there's still no actual release date, and I bet they're regretting their initial tag line for the movie: "Coming to our galaxy in 2007"). Outraged, the fanboys of Fanboys have dubbed Harvey "Darth Weinstein" and declared a boycott of all things Weinstein until they are certain that the original version will go to theaters.

Honestly, the movie probably won't even make it that far.
In a press release issued this week, the Weinstein Co. tried to find some compromise with the fans, promising to issue both cuts of the film when it comes out on DVD, but still don't have a date for when this movie will make it to the big screen.

Having recently watched the trailer, I'm not sure it should be released theatrically at all. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter, though, so to watch the trailer, read more.

Fanboys Trailer
by Adamavich

Could George Clooney Solve the Writers' Strike?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:30:56 -0800

George Clooney has already given money to those affected by the writers' strike. But could he also be donating his diplomatic skills to the cause?

Clooney has reportedly offered to set up a strike mediation panel, and he has plans to ask Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and ER producer/writer John Wells to join. News of the offer came during a call with Harvey Weinstein, whose own production company just reached an independent agreement with the striking Writers Guild of America. According to reports, Clooney envisions that the panel's participants would be locked in a room together and not leave until a deal was done.

Hanks, too, has recently called for negotiations to resume, saying: "I just hope that the big guys who make big decisions up high in their corporate boardrooms and whatnot get down to honest bargaining and everyone can get back to work."

This should be Hollywood's finest season, and with the Golden Globes all but canceled and the Oscars in question, maybe some A-list muscle like Clooney and Hanks can do what professional negotiators and government mediators could not. Maybe it's a long shot, but do you think there's a chance Clooney and his panel could get the writers and producers to agree on a fair contract?

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