With its gravity-defying stunts and logic-resistant plot twists, its kinky couture and kinkier sex, “Switch” dishes out splashy thrills so indiscriminately, it winds up feeling like a theme park with more distractions than attractions. Sending a star-studded cast of actors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China on a globetrotting adventure to snatch an antique scroll,... Read more »

Jay-Z’s got 99 problems but a cell phone partnership apparently ain’t one. During Sunday’s NBA Finals match-up on ABC, the veteran hip-hop mogul, one of the most active marketers in the business today, announced his twelfth studio album in a new Samsung Galaxy advertisement. Dubbed “Magna Carta Holy Grail,” the album “is about, like this... Read more »

After a month of back and forth, newcomer Iain De Caestecker has come on board for the male lead in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut of “How to Catch a Monster.” He will co-star with Christina Hendricks, with Warner Bros. on board to distribute. Marc Platt and Adam Siegel will produce on behalf of Marc Platt Prods.,... Read more »

The long-standing telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association is moving from syndication to primetime on ABC, it was announced today. Alphabet will air the two-hour “MDA Show of Strength Telethon” on all ABC stations across the country on Sept. 1 from 9-11 p.m., an hour shorter than last year’s broadcast. Telethon’s first broadcast was in... Read more »

After eight seasons, Showtime’s dearly demented drama “Dexter” is ending. The cast and crew gathered June 16 at Hollywood’s Milk Studios to say goodbye and view the final season’s first two episodes. Since the studio had been converted into a blood-splattered screening room covered with props and memorabilia from the series, Julie Benz, who once... Read more »

It’s not your typical industry charity gala that takes place at Jesse Lasky’s palatial estate, built in 1919 in the Hollywood Hills. Nor is it typical that your guest speakers are four teens from Cambodia, raised in garbage dumps who now plan to go to college thanks to Scott Neeson’s Cambodian Children’s Fund. The event,... Read more »

It took “New Day” about 13 minutes to move from the same-old CNN to something a little different.

ABC rolled over the competition on Sunday as Game 5 of the NBA Finals dominated the evening and contributed to big year-to-year losses for the Miss USA pageant on NBC.

Looking beyond the West to enlarge its international portfolio, Warner Music Group has acquired Russia’s Gala Music Group. Terms of the deal were not revealed.

The question of Bruce Rosenblum’s plan for his second act after a nearly 25-year run at Warner Bros. has been answered. The former Warner Bros. TV Group topper has joined Legendary Entertainment as prexy of TV and Digital Media. The hire comes as Legendary is the process of setting up a new studio partnership pact... Read more »

MADRID — It’s official. Paris bank Natixis Coficine, Europe’s biggest film lender, and Xavier Parache’s Gate Media, a Barcelona-based film finance consultancy and packager, have pacted for Gate Media to represent Natixis Coficine in Spain and Latin America, excluding Brazil. Natixis has already built a select client-base in Spain, offering credit facilities to cash-flow their... Read more »

MADRID — L.A.-based Outsider Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to Oriol Paulo’s B.O. hit “The Body,” the latest film from “The Orphanage” producer Rodar y Rodar, sold by DeAPlaneta Intl. Set at a morgue and shot in a chic but brooding noir style, “The Body” delivers several twists to trad whodunits formulae. Just one: the... Read more »

Ever been to one of those murder-mystery dinner theaters? That’s roughly the experience of watching “Whodunnit?” an especially brain-numbing ABC summer reality show, which assembles 13 contestants to participate in what amounts to a game of Clue, gradually eliminating them, but not before all are asked to provide particularly goofy reaction shots. British actor Gildart... Read more »

Those attracted to rock royalty showed up in droves June 14 at the Sunset Marquis’ Morrison Hotel gallery for the private launch party of Julian Lennon’s “Everything Changes,” his sixth studio album, released 15 years after his last LP.

What started with “Turbo,” has taken off and become one of Netflix’s largest original content deals. DreamWorks Animation has brokered an exclusive multi-year deal to provide Netflix with over 300 hours of new programming for Netflix’s Just For Kids block of films and TV shows. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. As Netflix... Read more »

Fullscreen, a top YouTube multichannel network operator, plans to expand into financing original content after closing a round of Series A funding led by Peter Chernin’s Chernin Group, a previous investor, along with Comcast Ventures and global ad agency WPP. Fullscreen is profitable today and intends to use the funding to invest in original programming,... Read more »

It’s official: “Girl Meets World” has been ordered to series on Disney Channel. Show, a follow up to ’90s ABC sitcom “Boy Meets World,” will feature Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel reprising their roles as Cory and Topanga — this time as adults with a family. “Girl Meets World” is set in Gotham and follows... Read more »

Netflix will become the exclusive home for 300-plus hours of new programming from DreamWorks Animation, under multiyear pact that represents Netflix’s largest ever for first-run content. Terms of the pact were not disclosed. The deal also will be the first time DreamWorks Animation’s characters will be introduced in a collection of branded TV shows. DWA... Read more »

Susan Johnson of Braveart Films will make her feature directorial debut on an adaptation of Caren Lissner’s young adult novel “Carrie Pilby.” Producers are Suzanne Farwell and Susan Cartsonis of Storefront Pictures. Farwell is a long-time collaborator of Nancy Meyers and co-producer of “Something’s Gotta Give.” Cartsonis produced “What Women Want,” “Aquamarine” and “Beastly.” The... Read more »

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are back, this time in the ferocious world of Wall Street. Based on Jordan Belfort’s memoirs,  “The Wolf of Wall Street” chronicles the ex-stockbroker’s rise and fall in the 1980s financial scene, along with his hard-partying lifestyle and tumultuous personal life. Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill and Kyle Chandler co-star. SEE... Read more »