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  • Friday, Jun. 24, 2016
George Lucas abandons plan to build museum in Chicago after lawsuit 
In this Jan. 17, 2015 file photo, George Lucas attends a screening in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
By Jason Keyser
CHICAGO (AP) -- 

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas announced Friday that he has abandoned plans to build his art museum in Chicago, blaming delays over a lawsuit from a parks group opposed to development along the city's prized lakefront.

The filmmaker said in a statement he would take his Lucas Museum of Narrative Art to his home state of California, but he did not name a specific location. He blamed Chicago's Friends of the Parks group for suing to stop construction on what is currently a parking lot for the NFL football stadium Soldier Field.

"No one benefits from continuing their seemingly unending litigation to protect a parking lot," Lucas said. Friends of the Parks said it was unfortunate that Lucas wouldn't consider an alternate Chicago site away from the lake.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and members of the city's cultural and business communities had backed the director's plans to bring the museum to a lakefront area that is already home to a natural More

  • Friday, Jun. 24, 2016
Production Music Conference Set For Oct. 17-18; 2nd Annual Mark Awards To Conclude Event
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- 

The Production Music Association (PMA) will bring its Production Music Conference (PMC) back for a third consecutive year, taking place at the Le Méridien Delfina in Santa Monica Oct. 17-18. The newly expanded two-day conference will host business, creative and technology panels featuring leaders in the production music world and will consist of industry panels, educational seminars with music professionals, and networking events. The goal of the conference is to bring the production music community together. The conference will educate on current trends and tools, supply valuable information, share the creation of industry-wide technology standards and provide a state of the industry to the composing, songwriting and publishing communities. 

This year, the PMC will have Joel Goodman (PMA board member) host a discussion with musician and outspoken artists’ rights activist David Lowery (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker) and industry expert Brian More

  • Thursday, Jun. 23, 2016
Bryan Cranston signs on for "Power Rangers" reboot 
In this May 10, 2016, file photo, Bryan Cranston attends the LA Premiere of "All The Way" held at Paramount Pictures Studios in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

Bryan Cranston is teaming up with the Power Rangers for a film reboot of the franchise.

The "Breaking Bad" star says on Twitter that he'll play Power Rangers creator Zordon in the 2017 film. Cranston, as Zordon, will use his team of teenage superheroes to square off against Elizabeth Banks' alien villain Rita Repulsa in "The Power Rangers."

Cranston has been busy on the big screen since the end of "Breaking Bad" in 2013. He starred in 2014's summer blockbuster, "Godzilla," and will portray a U.S. Customs agent who helped bust drug lord Pablo Escobar in "The Infiltrator," which is set to be released next month.

  • Wednesday, Jun. 22, 2016
HBO cancels Jagger-Scorsese music drama series "Vinyl" 
In this image released by HBO, Bobby Cannavale, from left, P.J. Byrne, and J.C. MacKenzie appear in a scene from "Vinyl." (Patrick Harbron/HBO via AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

The TV drama "Vinyl" from Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger isn't getting any more satisfaction from HBO.

The premium cable channel said Wednesday it won't bring "Vinyl" back for season two, reversing its previously announced renewal.

In a statement, HBO said the decision wasn't an easy one and expressed "enormous respect" for those involved in making the series and its cast.

Scorsese and Jagger created and produced "Vinyl," about the music industry in the 1970s. It starred Bobby Cannavale as a troubled record executive and also featured Ray Romano, Olivia Wilde and Jagger's son, James Jagger.

"Vinyl" launched with high expectations but received middling reviews. Its cancellation follows a recent turnover in HBO's top ranks: longtime programming president Michael Lombardo stepped down and was replaced by HBO executive Casey Bloys.

More
  • Wednesday, Jun. 22, 2016
MediaMonks launches in Shanghai
SHANGHAI -- 

MediaMonks is officially open for business in China. Headed up by executive producer Niels Monsieurs, MediaMonks Shanghai caters to the growing demand for high-end production work in the Chinese creative industries. The office follows after extensive working relationships with leading Chinese agencies based out of the company’s Singapore office, which launched in 2013. 

MediaMonks CEO Victor Knaap said, “China is a unique market with its own digital platforms and culture. As a technology-driven company in advertising, we need to be close to the prevailing platforms and agencies we do business with to stay current and produce culturally relevant work. With a Shanghai office, we are doubling down on innovative advertising platforms such as WeChat while extending our footprint as a global production partner to creative agencies and their brands.”

MediaMonks Shanghai is the ninth international office of the creative production company that was More

  • Tuesday, Jun. 21, 2016
Twitter to let users post longer videos--up to 140 seconds 
This Nov. 4, 2013, file photo, shows the Twitter app on an iPhone in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
By Barbara Ortutay, Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- 

Twitter is now letting its users post videos that are up to 140 seconds long, an increase from its previous 30-second limit.

The move is part of the social media company's efforts to attract a broader set of users, some of whom feel confined by its limits on the length of tweets - as well as videos. It's also likely to help users make money from such videos, and comes at a time when online videos are becoming increasingly widespread and popular, especially on the platforms of rivals such as Facebook.

Videos will also be longer on Vine, Twitter's video-sharing social network. Twitter said that it is starting with a "small group" of Vine creators who will "be able to add a video to their Vine, turning the six second Vine into a trailer for a bigger story."

The San Francisco company also launched an app called Twitter Engage for those it calls "influential creators." It's designed to help them interact with fans.

Finally, More

  • Tuesday, Jun. 21, 2016
El Rey Network, SeriesFest launch Diversity in Storytelling Award
El Rey Network logo
DENVER -- 

Robert Rodriguez’s television network, El Rey Network, and the international television and content festival, SeriesFest, announced the launch of “The El Rey Network Diversity in Storytelling Award” at SeriesFest Season Two, June 22-26, in Denver, Colorado. The inaugural award will be handed out to one of the 34 previously announced Independent TV Pilot selections for the series that best represents the changing face of America. The award recipient, who will receive a $5,000 cash prize, will be determined by the 2016 SeriesFest Independent TV Pilot Competition jury board and El Rey Network’s VP, audience strategy and insights, Dawn Holliday-Mack.
 
This is a new category for SeriesFest which also recognizes Best Pilot, Best Actor, Best Actress, and more.

“It has been my personal commitment from the beginning to drive diversity both in front of and behind the camera,” commented Robert Rodriguez, founder and chairman, El Rey Network. “I’m More

  • Monday, Jun. 20, 2016
J.J. Abrams, Tavis Smiley developing TV series on Michael Jackson's final days
This Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015 photo shows director/producer J.J. Abrams during a promotion for the new film, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

Filmmaker J.J. Abrams is adapting a new book about Michael Jackson for TV with its co-author, TV and radio host Tavis Smiley.

Warner Bros. Television is on board the project with Smiley and Abrams, whose credits include "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" movies, Smiley's company said Monday.

The book, "Before You Judge Me: The Triumph and Tragedy of Michael Jackson's Last Days," will be published Tuesday by Little, Brown and Co.

Written by Smiley and David Ritz, it's described as a novelistic take on the pop star's final months. Jackson, on the brink of a career comeback, died in June 2009 from an overdose of sedatives.

Abrams and Smiley will be executive producers on the TV series. The network that will air it wasn't announced, nor was a premiere date.

  • Sunday, Jun. 19, 2016
Acclaimed Australian filmmaker Paul Cox dies at 76 
In this Nov. 10, 2014, file photo, Australian film director Paul Cox speaks during the inauguration of the Kolkata International Film Festival in Kolkata, India. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- 

Award-winning Australian filmmaker Paul Cox has died, the Australian Directors Guild said Sunday. He was 76.

The guild did not disclose the cause of death, but Cox said last year that his transplanted liver had cancer.

He wrote and directed the 2015 movie "Force of Destiny," starring David Wenham, which follows the journey of a man who finds love while waiting for a life-saving liver transplant.

The film was loosely based on Cox's own cancer battle before a transplant in 2009 pulled him back from the brink.

His early features, "Lonely Hearts" in 1981, "Man of Flowers" in 1983 and "My First Wife" in 1984 were acclaimed in Australia and internationally.

His documentaries included "Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent van Gogh" in 1987, and "The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky" in 2001.

Cox was born on April 16, 1940, in Venlo, in the southeast Netherlands, and migrated to Australia in 1965 as a professional More

  • Sunday, Jun. 19, 2016
Director Jia Zhangke plans virtual reality romance 
In this March 17, 2016 file photo, Chinese director Jia Zhangke poses after winning the Best Screenplay award of the Asian Film Awards in Macau. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
By Louise Watt
BEIJING (AP) -- 

Critically acclaimed Chinese director Jia Zhangke says he will make a virtual reality film next year with a romantic story as he and viewers get used to the new medium, and declared: "I think VR is going to be the next big thing."

The director, better known for films that depict China's social changes and acts of violence, told The Associated Press that the short film would be a gentle romance as "it takes time for people to feel comfortable" in virtual reality.

"The speed and direction of movements may make people feel physically uncomfortable, so we're starting with a romantic story," he said in an interview.

Virtual reality entertainment consists largely of video games, but film festivals are starting to showcase VR films as directors venture into the new medium. It offers a much more solitary experience compared to watching a movie in a packed theater.

VR requires a headset that blocks out your surroundings and lets you More

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