1. Beyoncé and Jay-Z welcomed a baby girl into the world on Saturday at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City; apparently Blue Ivy Carter’s parents paid a reported $1.3 million to make sure that their newborn had the entire floor to herself. [via NYDN]
2. Here’s your obligatory Party Down movie update: Over the weekend Megan Mullally confirmed at a TCA that the film adaptation is totally a go! Co-creator John Eborn is currently working on a script, and the show’s entire cast (with the possible exception of Jane Lynch) is expected to be a part of the project. [via Deadline]
3. “I did not fight for the 3D. It was something that the studio wanted to do, and I didn’t want to do it. And then, when I saw the first movie converted in sections, I thought that it actually looked really cool.” — JJ Abrams explains why Star Trek 2 will be shot in 3D; filming on the sequel begins this week.
4. In spite of an extremely low budget and lackluster reviews from critics, Paramount’s new horror flick The Devil Inside knocked Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol out of the top spot at the weekend box office, drawing in an estimated $34.5 million. [via ArtsBeat]
5. Word is that Nick Offerman will pen an upcoming episode of Parks and Rec. His self-proclaimed qualifications? “I wrote papers in high school… I have added a lot of dialogue to the show. And my emails retain a certain notoriety for having a certain turn of phrase.” [via Vulture]
Bonus Buzz: The Peanuts Gang Spoofs Abbey Road
1. Ladies and gentlemen, this just might be the funniest My Little Pony-related correction that The New York Times has ever issued. [via The Daily What]
2. Hot British actor of the moment Benedict Cumberbatch (who you might recognize from recent roles in War Horse or the BBC’s Sherlock) has come aboard JJ Abrams’ highly-anticipated Star Trek sequel as the film’s villain. [via Variety]
3. Due to issues with the script, Vulture is exclusively reporting that Matt Damon will no longer be making his directorial debut with a film about a smalltown salesman written by Dave Eggers; he is still up for starring in the movie though.
4. Following their recent separation, Zooey Deschanel has officially filed for divorce from Ben Gibbard citing “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their break up. [via NME]
5. Now that issues regarding rights have finally been hammered out, there’s a Jerry Garcia doc in the works from filmmaker Malcolm Leo that will prominently feature material from a conversation that the director had with The Grateful Dead frontman back in 1987, as well as never-before-seen performances and rare home movies. [via Deadline]
Bonus Buzz: Kanye West’s Bizarre Twitter Rant Is About His Insane New “Design Company”
It’s no secret that J.J. Abrams’ new film Super 8 is a lover letter to its producer Steven Spielberg that also pays homage to the art of filmmaking in general — especially the kind that dominated the landscape as its director was coming of age. As such, many of the reviews for the film, which is currently at a 83% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, read like the rental queue of a dude in his 30s who’s going through a nostalgic phase. Only one that we’ve read so far (Andrew O’Hehir at Salon) has managed to avoid mentioning E.T. directly, and even he alludes to “some darker-hued borrowing from Spielberg’s biggest hit.” Curious as to what other films you’ll be seeing references to when you check out Super 8 this weekend? Click through for our critical roundup.
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We’ve already seen plenty of teasers, but now the first official full-length trailer for J.J. Abrams’ Steven Spielberg-homage Super 8 has hit the web, and without revealing any plot spoilers (like what’s inside of that container!), we’re finally getting a little context for a project that has been cloaked with mystery since it was announced. There are plenty of things to be excited about here: namely, the fact that our favorite Fanning (Elle!) and Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) are in the cast; the fact that this looks more like an adventure tale than a horror flick; the fact that there are lens flare-enhanced action sequences; the fact that we feel like we’re watching one of the classic ’80s films we grew up on. What remains to be seen is whether Abrams has taken the Spielberg love a little too far — which for certain people, will be a non-issue. Either way, from where we’re sitting, this looks to be the biggest film of the summer. Yep, we went there. Click through and let us know what you think in the comments.
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1. AOL has announced that it plans to buy the Huffington Post for $315 million. Arianna Huffington will become editor in chief of all of AOL’s content sites, including TechCrunch and Engadget. According to Arianna’s memo to site contributors, nothing will be different except “more people reading what you wrote.” [via The Atlantic]
2. The iconic terminal that was once the home to TWA at JFK airport might be getting a second life in the form of a small, high-end hotel, according to the Wall Street Journal.
3. According to USA Today’s Ad Meter, two ads tied for the top Super Bowl commercial among viewers — the spots for Doritos and Bud Light — and they both happened to star dogs.
4. The second trailer for JJ Abrams’ latest top secret movie Super 8 debuted last night during the game, and while it doesn’t reveal much more than the original teaser did plot-wise, you definitely see more of executive producer Steven Spielberg’s influence on the project. [via TotalFilm]
5. Fox has announced that the X Factor’s winner will walk off with a $5 million record deal — aka the largest guaranteed prize in television history — in a joint venture between Sony Music and Simon Cowell. The show is set to debut this September. [via TVline]
Bonus link: Stream PJ Harvey’s new album Let England Shake, which is due out February 15
1. Interesting fact: only 13 percent of Wikipedia’s contributors are women, reports the New York Times. The Wikimedia Foundation vows to increase the number of women contributors to 24 percent by 2015.
2. After taking home top honors at last night’s SAG Awards, The King’s Speech is now considered the front-runner for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. [via Vulture]
3. Meet your next Superman: British actor Henry Cavill — who was previously cast as the Man of Steel in a JJ Abrams-scripted version of the film — will star in Zack Snyder’s franchise reboot. We were hoping for Jon Hamm. How about you? [via Slashfilm]
4. Bright Eyes’ forthcoming album The People’s Key — which comes out on February 15th — is now streaming in full over on NPR where they’re calling it “a career-defining work of art.”
5. We’re curious what Mayor Bloomberg thinks of this week’s Valentine’s Day-themed cover of the New Yorker, a drawing called Bloom in Love by Barry Blitt. Also worth checking out from a few issues back:Excerpts from Bloomberg’s snow diaries, a humor piece by John Kenney.
Bonus link: PS22 Chorus Covers Ariel Pink
1. Amy Winehouse has recorded a new song! It’s a cover of Lesley Gore’s 1963 hit “It’s My Party” for the upcoming Quincy Jones tribute album Q: Soul Bossa Nostra, which is due out on November 9. [via Rolling Stone]
2. We’d watch that: JJ Abrams is working on a crime-thriller series created by Jonah Nolan, Christopher Nolan’s brother and frequent collaborator. [via EW]
3. Y tu mama tambien costars Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna will join Will Ferrell in Casa de mi padre, a Spanish-language comedy that “will be told in an overly dramatic telenovela style and feature English subtitles.” [via THR]
4. The first photos of the Captain America costume are online. What do you think? [via ComingSoon]
5. House’s Jennifer Morrison is joining the cast of How I Met Your Mother and producers are calling her “the biggest female character we’ve maybe ever added to the show in Ted’s life.” [via Vulture]
Bonus link: Trekking Midtown
1. Disney has finally unloaded Miramax. The price? $660 million. The buyers? An investment group headed by “a California construction mogul.” [via Gawker]
2. Joe Queenan explores why 2010 has been the worst year for movies ever. A sample: “What does it say about the current season that the third installation of Toy Story is better than the first installation of anything else?” [via WSJ]
3. JJ Abrams is working on a film adaption of Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel, a graphic novel about the world’s first robot that’s set in the Victorian age. [via THR]
4. You can hear the entire leaked Daft Punk Tron: Legacy soundtrack now — but act quickly, before they take it down. [via Vulture] It turns out they were fakes.
5. Morrissey doesn’t think that Katy Perry and Russell Brand should get married. But Katy would still like him to sing at their wedding. [via Contact Music]
Bonus link: Ten Orange Things That Are Not as Orange as the ‘Jersey Shore’ Season Premiere
The cryptic new trailer for JJ Abrams’s Super 8 is so well-executed that it actually makes us want to pay $15 to watch the entire film. (What’s inside that armored boxcar?!) It is refreshing. There’s no godlike voiceover, violin crescendo, too-revealing dialogue selected from the best scenes, or increasingly rapid stream of images climaxing with a sober shot of the movie’s title. To celebrate this departure from fixed formula, we’ve rounded up ten trailers from the past decade that were brave enough to defy the standard Hollywood fanfare. Viva creativity.
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We already feel like we’ve been talking about Super 8 forever, which is funny because Paramount Pictures just released the official movie trailer online. Besides being much easier on the eyes than previous bootleg versions, this teaser for the Steven Spielberg-produced JJ Abrams-directed project has revealed several easter eggs tied to the film’s viral marketing campaign. A guide to what we know so far, along with the HD trailer, after the jump.
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