Conan O’Brien gets four Emmy nominations
Late night talk show host, Conan O’Brien, has plenty to joke about after receiving four Emmy nominations today, for his short-lived version of “The Tonight Show,” including nods for outstanding variety music or comedy series, for writing, directing, and art direction. How many nominations did his rivals Jay Leno and David Letterman get? Nada! Zilch!
That recent odd-ball Emmy ad campaign by the TBS Network for the comedian just might have paid off. Or maybe O’Brien got a lot of sympathy votes because of the shabby way NBC treated him in “The Tonight Show” debacle last winter, which led to Leno returning to the legendary late night talker as host. O’Brien is now prepping his new late night show for this fall on TBS.
The 62nd Primetime Emmy nominations were announced this morning. HBO got the most nominations, followed by ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and PBS. Several posts about the Emmy nominations on deadline.com/Hollywood
Disney plans to appeal $200 million-plus court decision
Photo: FLLewis/Media City G -- Disney Studios in Burbank
Investors are watching the Mouse Kingdom’s stock for signs of erosion after a federal jury in Riverside yesterday awarded the creator of the “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” television game show nearly $269.2 million in damages.
U.K.-based Celador International sued Disney in 2004 claiming it did not receive a fair share of profits from the show. More on the legal battle here.
“Eclipse” still making serious money
“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” continued its winning ways this week. Over the Fourth of July weekend, the vampire/fantasy/love story easily won the Box Office race with a haul of $83.6 million.
In its first six days of release, the third installment of the “Twilight” film series made a huge $176.3 million at the domestic Box Office. As of yesterday, the film had earned nearly $20 million more — meaning it will probably leap the $200 million mark before the weekend. At the center of the plot is a love triangle involving main characters Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black played by Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner.
In second place, another new fantasy flick, “The Last Airbender” with $52 million. Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, the movie is about a young adventurer, portrayed by Noah Ringer, who has the power to manipulate the four main elements of nature : water, fire, Earth, and air.
“Toy Story 3” came in third with $43 million, and rounding out the top five, the comedies “Grown Ups” $26 million and “Knight and Day” $14 million.
