December 12, 2007

Setting up a new film project at Universal Pictures, renowned Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is about to make a thriller entitled "Haters" based on a book of the same name by David Moody, JoBlo.com has informed.

"Society is rocked by a sudden increase in the number of violent assaults on individuals," the site described the story. "Christened 'Haters' by the media, the attackers strike without warning. Their attacks are brutal, remorseless and extreme."

Making a change of plan on its big-budgeted project "Avatar", 20th Century Fox has announced that it has pushed back the release date of the movie from May 22, 2009 to December 19, 2009.

Being so, the James Cameron-directed flick will now open on the same weekend as his "Titanic" did in 1997. Moreover, the shifted date consequently also gives the filmmaker more time to work on the effects and much more time for additional theaters to install 3-D screens both in the U.S. and aboard.

Shooting on the sequel to 1998's "The X Files" finally got commenced on Monday, December 10, 2007 as expected, and early photos from the film's set in Vancouver have already made their way to come up online for fans of the sci-fi mystery franchise to look at.

Images captured mostly from the shooting that David Duchovny and Amanda Peet did together though there is also that of rapper Xzibit, clad in dark suit in his role as an FBI agent in the project. Head to Flynetonline.com to see all of the pictures.

Contrary to heavy persistent media speculation that claimed Queen Latifah is coming out of the closet to confirm her sexual orientation and is engaged to be married to longtime partner Jeannete Jenkins, the actress-singer has come to denial, insisted there will be no wedding.

Denying rumors that she planned to announce an engagement to her personal trainer/girlfriend, Latifah told Chicago radio personality Kendra G. of Power 92 while attending a premiere screening of her new film "The Perfect Holiday" at the Ice Theater in Chicago recently, "Oh my goodness you guys actually believe that. You can't believe everything you read, there will be no major announcement made. The only major announcement I have to make is 'Merry Christmas'".

Slated to take the stage and celebrate the change of year with a crowd are Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus, and Jonas Brothers. The musicians have committed themselves to entertain fans with a live performance for a TV special on December 31.

They will join Dick Clark's New Year Rockin' Eve 2008 that will see the three of them perform live from New York's Times Square. The event will be broadcast by ABC starting from 10-11 P.M. ET/PT and stopped for half an hour for local news before resuming at 11:35 P.M. to wait for the countdown.

Animal rights activists People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has created a Website and MySpace site to rubbish the Olsen twins because they refuse to stop wearing fur.

The Website, called "Meet the Trollsen Twins," features among other things a mash-up video entitled "Full House of Horrors" which shows an episode from the twins' former hit TV show "Full House" re-edited with graphic shots of animal cruelty and has a special "Fatal Fashion" interactive dress-up section, complete with pools of blood.

A deeper look on the upcoming "Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem" has delightfully been brought up on the net by the 20th Century Fox. The studio has just released a first five-minute clip from the flick in the anticipation for the movie to hit theaters on Christmas Day this year.

Arguably presenting a nice introduction of the film, the piece shows how a Predator ship gets crashed into the Earth before giving moviegoers shots of the Predator home planet. Catch the clip on Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem Trailer page at AceShowbiz, or simply watch it down below.

Nicole Kidman is taking a break from Hollywood's film industry to concentrate on her marriage.

The movie beauty, whose latest flick "The Golden Compass" found its way to the top place of weekend U.S. box office after opening at $25.8 million on December 7, has told The Times UK she isn't interested in finding new roles.

Hot on the heels of Foxboro Hot Tubs (FHT) mystery, MTV.com has done some research to relate Green Day (GD) to the unknown new band. Clues are indeed quite strong to prove that FHT is another side project by GD.

The big twist is, FHT's MySpace page has put on the photos of the band members, which most definitely are not the pictures of GD's members. Based on the photos there are two members of the band, each wearing shirts with the band's name on it.

Bringing bright spotlight to New York City's Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night (Dec. 11), a number of celebrities gathered together at the Wamu Theater to celebrate the premiere for Francis Lawrence-directed "I Am Legend", which Warner Bros. Pictures is slated to launch in theaters nationwide this Friday, December 14.

Big attention surely was directed toward male lead Will Smith as the hunk arrived alongside his actress wife Jada Pinkett Smith plus children Jaden and Willow, who made her big screen debut in the movie. On the red carpet, the actor surprisingly took time to talk a bit about the film not yet being approved in China, jokingly saying to USA Today "it's too big a part of the world to not have a Will Smith movie."

Amidst speculation that she is dating her 30-years-old "Heroes" co-star, Milo Ventimiglia, Hayden Panettiere is now rumored to be dating Ryan Gosling.

The "Heroes" cheerleader was hanging out with her actress mother Lesley Panettiere at the Chateau Marmont in L.A. over the weekend when Gosling suddenly came over to her table.

It appears that Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo's romance is getting into a more serious phase. New report surfaces by the hour suggests that the Dallas Cowboys quarterback has brought his new girlfriend to meet his parents.

The meeting, according to In Touch Weekly, "went well, and she had a great time with them." Greater than that "His parents seemed to really like her," the magazine quoted an insider as saying, adding that "She's falling completely in love with him."

Backstreet Boys have premiered a video of 'Helpless When She Smiles' on Yahoo! Music today (December 12). Member Nick Carter allegedly was hit by "cow patty" while filming this one.

The black and white clip was filmed on November 15 in Joshua Tree National Park with Bernard Gourley as the director. Gourley previously penned clip of Deftones' 'Mein' and will soon release another work for M.I.A.'s 'Paper Planes'.

Gwen Stefani is using her celebrity status to do good, setting up a college fund for victims of the recent San Diego wildfires which reportedly destroyed more than 1,700 homes and killed 10 people in the California's second-largest city.

"When I heard about the devastation of the fires, at first I felt I should cancel my show out of respect. But then it occurred to me there might be a more useful solution," so the singer and mother of one said in an interview alongside San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders on local radio station 93.3 KHTS on October 29.

Hot on the heels of the denial she issued concerning speculation that she's going to name her 11th studio album "Licorice," new rumors surface by the hour that Madonna could possibly have a facelift. Rumors on that matter are in all probabilities inspired by the fact that the pop star has been spotted leaving a medical center with two black eyes.

Madonna was seen covering her eyes with over-sized black sunglasses as she left a New York medical building, but the dark purple bruising, similar to those commonly caused by an operation on the eyes or nose, was still visible.

Though often disregarded by Film Critics Awards, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" walked away from the 2007 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards with two kudos. On the 6th San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards held on December 10, the Andrew Dominik's action drama was hailed as the Best Picture and also brought Casey Affleck the Best Supporting Actor prize.

Despite having nailed the Best Picture, "Jesse James" didn't managed to bring the Best Director award as the prize went to Joel and Ethan Coen, the directors of "No Country for Old Men". At the same time, the Best Actor and Best Actress awards fell onto the noteworthy hands of George Clooney for "Michael Clayton" and Julie Christie for "Away from Her".

Trying a new approach to keep it fresh, Arctic Monkeys are planning to drop one-off singles that won't be released with an album. The four-piece that had just dropped 'Favourite Worst Nightmare' as their second album in April this year, are heading to the studio to work on it.

"We've got things written, several new ideas and new songs that are ready to record," drummer Matt Helders told BBC 6Music. "We will do recording early on. We might not necessarily record and then release an album. We might just do little bits at once or (release) singles."

Paris Hilton has put to rest to the ongoing rumors and finally confirmed that she actually has split from Alex Vaggo and has rekindled her romance with former lover Stavros Niarchos.

Paris sparked speculation that she has cheated on the pizza boy turned model, whom she began dating back in September, with her being snapped kissing the Greek shipping heir while they were in Miami, Florida.

On the heels of the rumor that he will be dismissed from Def Jam due to making huge demands, Jay-Z responded to it by simply saying "No". The CEO of the label denied the truth to the accusation that made him look very demanding financially.

In a recent interview with EW.com, the rapper made a statement that as much as he wants "to be compensated for what you do", he also stated that "it's really not about money". He said, "It's really about the future of the music business, and not wasting anyone's time. I don't ever want to sit in a seat just to sit in a seat."

Having her latest big screen project, "P.S., I Love You," hits the theaters by date 21 later this month, Hilary Swank in the meantime invades W Magazine and talks about everything from her current love, health, to why she left New York.

Has been dating CAA talent agent John Campisi since the summer of 2006, following her 2006 split from her husband of eight years, Chad Lowe, Swank tells W "Of course I'm in love or I wouldn't be in this relationship for as long as I've been. He's a great guy."

On Tuesday, December 11, the Palm Springs International Film Society announced that "Then She Found Me" will open its 19th annual film festival. The movie which marked the directorial debut of the Academy Award winning actress, Helen Hunt, will be showcased at 6:30 PM on Thursday, January 3, 2008 at the Palm Springs High School auditorium. Following the premiere screening of the comedy drama movie, an Opening Night Reception will be held at the Palm Springs Art Museum.

The movie which also stars Colin Firth, Bette Midler and Matthew Broderick resolved around Hunt's character, April. April is a 39-year-old schoolteacher whose life crumbling around her when her adoptive mother passed away and her husband left her. At that time, she met her famous biological mother who claimed that she wanted to know her long-lost daughter. Making her life even complicated, she then met a new man, the father of one of her students.

Panic! At the Disco will soon follow up their multi-selling debut 'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out' with a second studio album which details have erupted. To Billboard.com the band revealed that their new materials are a departure from their last record meaning they will be more live show-oriented pieces.

On the basis that 'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out' relied a lot on technology, guitarist Ryan Ross explained, "We just wanted the record to sound like four people playing a song. A lot of the songs are definitely more geared toward playing live; we didn't think about that on the last record."

Never to shy away from putting her name on any products possible, Paris Hilton is going against the stream to make a difference in the champagne business. Has signed on to front a line of champagne called "Rich Prosecco," the heiress willingly painted her naked body gold for its latest ad campaign.

One of the exclusive images obtained by PageSix.com from the accompanying photo shoot shows Paris, clad only in gold paint, crawling through the Mojave Desert. The other image, elsewhere, sees her posing in a sparkling dress holding a can of the champagne.

On the roots of her cancelling three dates within the 'Good Girl Gone Bad' tour, Rihanna has announced the rescheduled dates for two of them. The 'Umbrella' hit maker will appear in Birmingham on December 18 and Nottingham on December 20.

The Bournemouth new date is not yet determined, so is the cause of the cancellation. It was reported that Rihanna was told by her doctor to rest for the sake of her health. Fans were advised to hold on to their tickets instead of refunding them as rescheduling would most definitely take place.

Nicole Scherzinger wanted fans to vote for the next single from her debut album 'Her Name is Nicole' and the result is finally in. 'Puakenikeni' was the highest voted song in the poll, and rightfully will become the third single after the slow starting 'Whatever U Like' and 'Baby Love'.

As a bonus, the official site added a new remix of the single that was originally produced by Akon. Like its predecessors, 'Puakenikeni' is also featuring another artist, and Brick and Lace, a Jamaican R'n'B duo consisting of sisters, Nyanda and Nailah Thourborne are assisting Nicole in this one.

Jennifer Lopez has added fuel to the persistent rumors that she's expecting twins after ordering matching boy and girl onesies from Petit Tresor and had "Prince" and "Princess" labeled on them.

According to the New York Daily News, Jennifer has drawn up the list at exclusive baby boutique Petit Tresor and has asked for three double prams; two Peg Perego strollers at $429 each and a third more expensive one at $560.

"Into the Wild" scored big in the nominations of 2007 Critics' Choice Awards. On Tuesday, December 11, the adventure drama movie collected seven nominations as the nominees for the 13th annual Critics' Choice Awards were announced by Broadcast Film Critics Association in New York.

The movie that is based on a true story of Christopher McCandless received nominations for Best Picture, Best Song for Eddie Vedder's "Guaranteed", as well as Best Director and Best Writer for Sean Penn. Additionally, its actors and actress, Emile Hirsch, Hal Holbrook and Catherine Keener, picked up nominations for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively.

Simple Plan's music video that have been highly advertised on MTV days before its release finally hit the net. The video is for 'When I'm Gone', the Canadian band's first single off the new album.

As previously hinted by the band, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton is making a cameo in the clip. The band flew to Los Angeles back in November to shoot the video.

Going against wide media claims, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and longtime girlfriend Reena Hammer are still very much together. The pair were seen having dinner at Benares Indian restaurant in London on Monday, December 10.

Meyers and Reena, who're said to have ended their romance, held hands as they left the restaurant, as if they wanted to tell the whole world their love for each other is still very strong.