January 10, 2007

Keeps hunting to find new director for its third installment of "The Mummy" franchise despite an offer made to "Jurassic Park III" director Joe Johnston, Universal Pictures is reported to get "XXX" helmer Rob Cohen in talks for the position.

The flick has already had Brendan Fraser onboard to reprise his role of Rick O'Connell, the lead character of the series. Meanwhile his co-star Rachel Weisz has expressed her interest in returning as an original cast member.

Continues to unveil titles vying for Oscar slots, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that its members have compiled a shortlist of movies considered for Best Make-Up nomination for the upcoming 79th Academy Awards.

Seven titles have made their ways to the list and they are "Apocalypto", "Click", "Pan's Labyrinth", "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest", "The Prestige", "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause", and "X-Men The Last Stand."

Creating a breaking move in expanding its status as a leading network for young generation, MTV: Music Television has revealed an all-new Monday night programming line-up which will start exactly on January 15, 2007 from 9 pm ET/PT.

"MTV has always been a destination for young adults to find programming that not only entertains but also connects with our audience on a deep, emotional level," Executive Vice President of MTV Series Entertainment Lois Curren stated. "With this block of programming, we've created a night of shows that capture the rollercoaster ride of young adult life by highlighting moments, individuals, stories, and relationships that not only feel familiar to our audience but also reflect their voices, hopes and dreams, as well as the issues they face on a daily basis."

Model and TV host Brooke Burke has, on Monday January 8th, welcomed the arrival of her child with actor-singer fiance David Charvet.

The newlyborn, a baby daughter, was named Heaven Rain Charvet. It is the third child for Burke, who has daughters Neriah, and Sierra Sky with former husband Garth Fisher.

Elaborating his pact with Imagi Animation Studios, Kevin Munroe is preparing himself to work on "Gatchaman" after his highly anticipated flick "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", "Cat Tale" producer Tom Gray has confirmed.

"Kevin is going on to do 'Gatchaman' as his next project," so he stated while revealing that the move has been taken upon learning that "Cat Tale", which was supposed to be Munro's writing project right after "TMNT", is put on hold despite the time and money spent for the flick.

Finding boyfriend is something that is not hard to do for Britney Spears. Since her divorce from Kevin Federline, she's been romantically linked to numbers of men, naming some are Brandon Davis and music producer J.R. Rotem.

And just now, new rumors surface by the hour that the pop singer has been spotted hanging out with a new mystery man. Spears was photographed over the weekend enjoying herself on a boat with a hunky tattooed companion.

The road to the 2007 Oscar gets merrier as Directors Guild of America, through its president Michael Apted, unveiled its picks of film directors to be the contenders for its DGA Awards as the organization celebrates the event for the 59th time.

Making the cut in Best Director slot were "The Departed" helmer Martin Scorsese, Stephen Frears for "The Queen", Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for "Babel", and the husband-and-wife team behind "Little Miss Sunshine", Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.

Johnny Depp is People's favorite when it comes to movie, and as of music there we have Carrie Underwood. The former American Idol champ won double at the 33rd annual People's Choice Awards, held Tuesday night January 9th, mainly for the categories of Favorite Female Singer and Country Song for her hit "Before He Cheats".

Also won double was Rascal Flatts who took home the Remake and Song From A Movie awards both for "Life is a Highway" from "Cars". In companion with them, Kenny Chesney was chosen as the Favorite Male Singer, and as the Favorite Music Group was Nickelback. Pop singer Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" won the R&B Song, whereas "Shake That" by Eminem was crowned the Hip-Hop Song.

Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley, the leading actors of the box office hit "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest", won big at the 33rd annual People's Choice Awards, held Tuesday night January 9th. Won the award for Favorite Male Movie Star for "Pirates", Depp also brought home two more additional awards, which were for Male Action Star and On-Screen Matchup that he shared with Keira.

As of the flick itself, it secured the Best Movie and Best Movie Drama awards. As of the Movie Comedy category, the award went to "Click", while chosen as the Family Movie was "Cars".

Known as the pioneer in recognizing people of color in film, television, music, and literature, the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People revealed yesterday, January 9, names and titles included in the nominations for this year's NAACP Image Awards.

Scoring most nods were both musical drama "Dreamgirls" and comedy series "Everybody Hates Chris" as each amazingly landed eight nominations, notably that in the category of Outstanding Motion Picture for the former and that of Outstanding Comedy Series for the latter.

Ziggy Marley, the oldest son of late music legend Bob Marley, welcomed the arrival of his second child with wife Orly Agai Friday January 5th.

The infant, a baby boy, was named Gideon Robert Nesta Marley. Details on the newly born are being kept under wrap.

Suzanne Somers is losing her Malibu home to a wind-driven wildfire that swept through an exclusive seaside neighborhood of multimillion-dollar homes Monday January 8th.

That of Somers was just one in addition to the four other houses that were significantly damaged. Luckily, the actress and her husband, former game show host Alan Hamel, were out of town when the fire hit, thus no one was hurt.

An Oscar-nominated actor, Clive Owen has been booked as the new face of cosmetics giant Lancome.

The actor will face the ads for Lancome's new men's grooming products, including a fragrance and anti-aging skin-care line.

Not to be confused with James Cameron's "Avatar", "Sixth Sense" director M. Night Shyamalan turns out to also have intention to develop a big screen project using the same name under Paramount's MTV Films and Nick Movies banner.

Titled "Avatar: The Last Airbender", the flick is based on the Nickelodeon's popular animated TV series created by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. The show revolves around the adventures of the successor to a long line of Avatars, the spirits of the planet manifested in human form, who have to save his world from Fire Nation.

Forming a solid pact, Ed Bass one of the producers behind "Bobby", and Karen Sharpe Kramer, the widow of director Stanley Kramer, are both set to develop "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD World", a sequel to the late filmmaker's comedy classic "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."

Like the 1963 film, the project will be a large ensemble feature mixing comics and dramatic actors. The premise is said to center on the descendants of the characters from the first movie who get thrust into another madcap chase to find a cache of money. Meanwhile, George Barris has been assigned to design cars for the movie.

Mr. Blackwell dubbed Britney Spears and her former best pal Paris Hilton, "style-free and fashion deprived," and thus the fashion expert thinks they deserve the title of "Worst Dressed" celebrities. Having such same quality, both stars tied for the No. 1 spot on Mr. Blackwell's 47th annual "Worst Dressed" list released Tuesday, January 9th.

Elsewhere on the list is Prince Charles' wife Camilla Parker-Bowles who is deemed the second-worst dressed celeb, with a less than flattering reference as "the Duchess of Dowdy." At the 3rd spot is Lindsay Lohan, who is scolded by Blackwell for turning "from adorable to deplorable." Next, there are Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, and Paula Abdul, who are ranked 4, 5, and 6th.

Mandy Moore and DJ AM dating? Could be. The twosome, who reportedly making music together, apparently go more than just friends as they have been spending a lot of time together since the new year.

Mandy, who's been reported to work on reconciliation with ex-boyfriend Wilmer Valderrama, has been spotted hanging out with AM in West Hollywood. It was obvious to everyone that the beauty was very happy at that time.