Melinda Dillon , a two-time Oscar nominee for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Absence of Malice who also played Ralphie’s mom in A Christmas Story , has died. She was 83. Her family said she died January 9 in Los Angeles but did not give other details. Dillon probably is best known for playing a mother whose young son is abducted by the aliens in Steven Spielberg’s 1977 epic Close Encounters of the Third Kind. She and Roy (Richard Dreyfuss) inexplicably are drawn to Devils Tower in Wyoming as they struggle to make sense of what has happened to them. She earned a Supporting Actress Oscar nom for the role. She also played the mother of the young lead Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) in the 1983 holiday classic A Christmas Story , memorably warning the boy who wants a BB rifle that, “You’ll shoot your eye out!” Dillon would earn a second Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for 1981’s Absence of Malice, playing a close friend of Paul Newman’s … [Read more...] about Melinda Dillon Dies: ‘Close Encounters’, ‘A Christmas Story’ & ‘Absence Of Malice’ Actress Was 83
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Amazon Praises Video As Key Driver Of Prime; 2022 Content Spend, Including Music, Hit $16.6 Billion
UPDATED with content spend stats from annual report: Giant Amazon said its total expenses for video and music came to $16.6 billion last year, up from $13 billion in 2021. Video and music expense includes licensing and production costs associated with content offered within Amazon Prime memberships, and costs associated with digital subscriptions and sold or rented content, according to the company’s latest annual report that followed fourth quarter financials yesterday. On an earnings call Thursday, CFO Brian Olsavsky noted that Amazon spent $7 billion on originals, live sports and licensed content in 2022, up from $5 billion the year before. It’s unclear if those figures include all worldwide video content, which is increasingly central to Amazon’s strategy in driving membership for Prime, the biggest loyalty program in the world and the beating heart of the company. Amazon (which acquired MGM last year for $8.5 billion in cash) carefully evaluates its return on … [Read more...] about Amazon Praises Video As Key Driver Of Prime; 2022 Content Spend, Including Music, Hit $16.6 Billion
‘Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches’ Renewed For Season 2 At AMC
Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches is set to fly again after being renewed for a second season at AMC . The cable network is bringing back the series, which along with Interview with a Vampire is part of its extended Anne Rice universe, after becoming its number one new series premiere on its streaming service AMC+. This comes despite a plethora of recent cancelations at AMC Networks. The company pulled Demascus and Invitation to a Bonfire as well as second seasons of Pantheon , Moonhaven and 61st Street, which were in various stages of completion and production, as part of a major cost-cutting drive. Mayfair Witches , which is based on Rice’s trilogy of books, focuses on an intuitive young neurosurgeon, Rowan Fielding, played by Alexandra Daddario, who discovers that she is the unlikely heir to a family of witches. As she grapples with her newfound powers, she must contend with a sinister presence that has haunted her family for generations. It also … [Read more...] about ‘Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches’ Renewed For Season 2 At AMC
Daniel Hoff Agency Expands With Addition Of Atlanta Office
EXCLUSIVE : Leading boutique firm, the Daniel Hoff Agency, is celebrating an impressive 30-year track record in entertainment via an expansion into Atlanta with a new office to be led by senior agents Renee Banks and Marta Parrillo . Banks and Parrillo are both longtime veterans of the Daniel Hoff Agency who had previously been based in Los Angeles. The agency, with an established presence in both L.A. and New York, now looks to capitalize on the burgeoning hotbed of production in the South, with local agents to bring the personal touch that has been key to the firm’s growth over the decades. Daniel Hoff Agency founder, Daniel Hoff, told Deadline: “Ten years ago, we seized the opportunity to open a Manhattan office with Dave Secor leading the charge, and in 2020, we expanded that New York presence as we brought on power Broadway and musical theater agents Dustin Flores and Marc Anthony Ferre. Now, with the explosive industry investment and growth in the South, … [Read more...] about Daniel Hoff Agency Expands With Addition Of Atlanta Office
Hulk Hogan Says Kurt Angle’s Wrong About Health, Walks On Video To Prove It
Hulk Hogan has a message for his fans ... "Don't believe everything you hear!" Days after WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle provided a bleak health assessment of Hulk's current condition, saying he was in such rough shape he had no feeling in his legs and couldn't walk without a cane, TMZ Sports obtained a video which appears to show differently. The clip, shot by Hulk's longtime friend and sports agent, Darren Prince , was shot Thursday night and shows 69-year-old Hogan very much walking without a cane, doing his best Ric Flair strut. "Hulk Hogan here, the greatest of all time, a little stiff, a little sore, but woooooo!" before executing a walk that'd make Ric proud! Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. Of course, Angle, on the latest episode of his podcast, said he spoke with Hogan last month during the taping of WWE Raw's 30th Anniversary show and the WWE legend told him he “had the nerves cut from his lower body" during back … [Read more...] about Hulk Hogan Says Kurt Angle’s Wrong About Health, Walks On Video To Prove It
Guild Official: Merging SAG And AFTRA TV Deals Key Goal Of Ongoing Contract Talks
Negotiators for a new SAG-AFTRA film and TV contract have wrapped their second week of bargaining with six weeks to go before the current pact expires and no sign of an early deal. This is the first film and TV contract the union has negotiated since SAG and AFTRA merged in 2012, and one of its key goals is to bring their old contracts into alignment. “That’s what everyone has been talking about,” said a SAG-AFTRA official. “We’ve got to combine the contracts.” Related: SAG-AFTRA Talks: What To Expect The union actually is negotiating two separate TV contracts with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers – one SAG’s and the other AFTRA’s, whose basic rates are 3.5% higher than SAG’s. “We want to bring the SAG contract up to AFTRA’s,” said the SAG-AFTRA official. “We certainly don’t want to lower AFTRA’s to SAG’s.” And that may just prove to be the toughest sticking point in these negotiations. Beyond that, most of the heavy lifting for a new actors … [Read more...] about Guild Official: Merging SAG And AFTRA TV Deals Key Goal Of Ongoing Contract Talks
Jim Mahoney, PR To Sinatra, McQueen, Gable, Explores 60 Years Of Hollywood In Memoir: “It Was About Taming The Lion”
Jim Mahoney was one of Hollywood’s go-to guys. He spent 60+ years in public relations, guiding the public images of Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Christie Brinkley, Peggy Lee, and hundreds more. He was on the front lines when Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped, and was at the party at Peter Lawford’s house the night Marilyn Monroe died. He was also there with the Rat Pack in Las Vegas. Now age 95, Mahoney has captured all of that in a memoir, Get Mahoney!: A Hollywood Insider’s Memoir. “Get Mahoney!” was the phrase often used when stars and their handlers knew trouble was brewing and needed to keep their names out of the press. Mahoney was good at his job, and frequently referred to himself as a better “suppress” agent than press agent. “It was about ‘taming the lion’ – both the press and the clients themselves,” Mahoney said. That sometimes involved making arrangements with the authorities and media to keep … [Read more...] about Jim Mahoney, PR To Sinatra, McQueen, Gable, Explores 60 Years Of Hollywood In Memoir: “It Was About Taming The Lion”