Simon Cowell Getting $42 Million for The X Factor and Other Ventures

Simon Cowell It turns out that the $5 million recording contract that Melanie Amaro received is a relative pittance compared to the $42 million Simon Cowell is getting for The X Factor and other enterprises. The Guardian in London, citing corporate papers filed last week, reports that Cowell, the show's creator and alpha judge, made that amount in a deal with Sony that set up a joint venture for his entertainment businesses, which include the Fox network amateur-singing competition. Check out the best and worst of 2011 For its 50 percent share in the new Syco Entertainment, Sony anted up some $49 million and turned over its ownership stakes in two of Mr. Cowell's other entertainment properties. Cowell received $42 million of that money by handing over the shares of another company under his control. Winter Preview: Add upcoming shows to your Watchlist The first season of The X Factor culminated last week with the 19-year-old Amaro becoming the champ. Some 12.45 million viewers watched the finale, well shy of the 20 million that Cowell and Fox executives -- who called the show "the biggest show on television, the biggest show in the world ..." - predicted with great bravado last summer. The numbers were barely half of American Idol's. Nicole Scherzinger: The X Factor "took a lot out of me" The show already is slated to come back for Season 2; despite falling short of lofty ratings goals, it did better than most other prime-time programs. But some changes may be coming. There's speculation that judge Nicole Scherzinger won't return, and host Steve Jones could be going the way of Brian Dunkelman.

CBS sets 'This Morning' prod'n team

CBS News has set the senior production team due to its new ayemcast, "CBS Today," which will replace "The Very First Show" on Jan. 9. Former "Early Show" senior producer Tom Mazzarelli assists as senior broadcast producer under professional producer Chris Licht. Coping with Mazzarelli will probably be seven senior producers: Sharon Hoffman, late of "Hello America" "Early Show" vets" Ryan Kadro, Bob Meyer and Kevin Rochford former Bloomberg TV staffers Mosheh Oinounou and Avoi Nordstrom and Rachel Weintraub Riegel. Riegel done OWN's "The Gayle King Show" with King, who'll co-host "Today" with Charlie Rose and Erica Hill. Ron Jefferson, an MSNBC alum who's done NBC News programs different from "Hardball with Chris Matthews" to special events, remains attracted on as director of production. CBS has mentioned "Today" could have a much more hard-news bent that it's network rivals. The procedure change uses numerous reinventions of "Early Show" not successful to tug the interest from last place among the Large Three morning shows. Contact Mike Thielman at mike.thielman@variety.com

Lionsgate sets Perry release dates

Lionsgate has dated a pair of Tyler Perry projects: A feature version of his play "The Marriage Counselor" is set for July 27 and his comedy "We the Peeples" for March 29, 2013."The Marriage Counselor," based on the 10th play by Perry, centers on an accountant and his wife, an Ivy League-educated marriage counselor who finds it difficult to address issues with her own marriage. Pic, written and directed by Perry, stars Jurnee Smollett, Vanessa Williams and Brandy Norwood."Counselor" will open against Summit's "Step Up 4" and Fox's "Neighborhood Watch." "Peeples," written and directed by Tina Gordon Chism and produced by Perry, centers on a young man enduring the weekend from hell when he surprises his girlfriend by showing up to meet her parents. Pic stars Craig Robinson, David Alan Grier, Kerry Washington, S. Epatha Merkerson and Kali Hawk."Peeples" will open against Open Road's "The Host" and Fox's "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters."In March, Lionsgate extended by at least two years its first-look pact with Perry for film and homevid, continuing a partnership that dates to 2005. Perry's 11 films for Lionsgate over the past six years have grossed nearly $600 million at the North American box office, and his DVDs have sold more than 40 million units. Their 12th project, romantic drama "Good Deeds," opens Feb. 24. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

How to Knock Out Daniel Craig, and 8 Other Revelations From the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Team

The formidable creative team behind the new adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo reconvened today in NY, where director David Fincher, screenwriter Steven Zaillian, and stars Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer and Stellan Skarsgrd talked things over with a few dozen members of the press. Movieline was there to capture a range of revealing back stories, true confessions and amusing — if slightly harrowing — anecdotes from the shoot. Read on for the full report. [Spoilers ahead] 1. Sure, this was a hit film less than three years ago. So what? “It doesn’t worry me, no,” said Craig, asked about any apprehensions that the English-language adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s best-seller follows so soon after the hit Swedish adaptation from early 2009. “I think that the source material is good enough, and I think that everybody wins in this situation. I think we have 65 million readers of the book; we have, obviously, the Swedish/Danish version of the movie. But may get, as well, everybody who sees this movie to go back and read the book or watch the Swedish version. It’s a win-win.” 2. Zaillian still hasn’t seen the earlier adaptation… “I had read the book,” he said. “I hadn’t seen the film when I decided to take it on. I avoided seeing the film. I was interested in adapting the book— not doing a remake of the film. So to this day, I don’t really know what the similarities and the differences are between the two movies. I just thought it was a great book.” 3. …and Mara still hasn’t seen the new one. Although, for the record, Plummer acknowledged having watched Fincher’s film twice, and Craig was so happy with it that he phoned the director with his compliments. “I saw it,” Craig said, “and I got in touch with David, and I said it was one of the rare occasions of my career where that was the movie that we set out to make. That’s all I can say really — that’s it. I was very, very pleased.” A beat ensued before Mara — who by far has the film’s most difficult scenes — raised her microphone and confessed: “I haven’t seen it yet.” 4. The brilliant title sequence, explained. I alluded to Dragon Tattoo’s opening credits a few days ago — an inky, fluid, black-on-black fusion of sex, knowledge, anguish and technology set to Trent Reznor and Karen O’s cover of the Led Zeppelin classic “Immigrant Song” — and probably could have listened to Fincher talk about it all day. “I think title sequences are an opportunity to set the stage,” he said, “or to get people thinking in different terms, maybe, than whatever it is the movie to be going in. Often times, when movies are marketed, it’s more with an idea toward, ‘What’s the consensus that everybody has that will get them into the 7 o’clock show. So often times a title sequence can help reorient their thinking. And I liked the idea of this sort of primordial tar or ooze of the subconscious, and I liked the idea that it was her nightmare.” 5. Incidentally, licensing Led Zeppelin isn’t as hard as you’ve heard. The legendary band — songwriters Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, really — rarely allow their music to be used in films and TV. Yet there is “Immigrant Song” wailing and thrashing over the intro. What gave? “I think they wanted to make sure that we respected it,” Fincher explained. “And it was our intention all along to communicate that we didn’t want to run it into the ground. We didn’t want to use it in a television spot. We wanted to pick specific spots — the teaser and the title sequence — to do it. It was actually pretty easy. We wanted to make sure they understood it was going to be a cover. We weren’t going to license the actual performance. We wanted to do it with a woman’s voice. So it kind of went down [easily].” 6. About all that smoking… Asking about the roughly 4,000 cigarettes smoked in Dragon Tattoo, I drew a vague reproach from Mara: “Did you read the book?” she replied. Hoping privately that something as subversive as unapologetic, compulsive chain-smoking in a contemporary Hollywood movie — in the days when studios are endlessly under siege by the anti-tobacco lobby — didn’t come down to something as obvious as “Stieg said so,” I responded I had not read the book. “We took a lot of the cigarettes and coffee out,” Fincher said.” Actually, there was a time in preproduction where — in jest — we were literally going to begin every scene with a cup of coffee and a cigarette burning in homage to Stieg.” “There’s a lot of smoking in the book,” Mara added. “Much more than in the movie.” “But that’s the most subversive thing about it?” Fincher asked me, seemingly baffled. Basically I said that for Hollywood, yes — Dragon Tattoo plays like a conscious act of resistance to the cigarette culture cops lobbying Hollywood to cut back smoking in movies. “Understandably,” Fincher said, shrugging. “Maybe that’s part of our hard-R.” 7. Unsexing the Blomqvist Asked why he decided to downplay the journalist hero’s sluttier side (as detailed in Larsson’s novel), Zaillian emphasized practicality. “I’m always looking to take stuff out when a book is 600 pages long, and that was something that didn’t seem necessary to me,” he said. “I started to feel like he was Warren Beatty in Shampoo or something, and that wasn’t the story we were trying to tell.” 8. No one is officially attached to the trilogy’s next two adaptations — yet. Zaillian acknowledged that he’d read both The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest to divine any key future details that need call outs in Dragon Tattoo. Nevertheless, he hasn’t written nor been commissioned to write the sequels — if they even occur. Which, in all likelihood, they will, but hey. “It remains to be seen if two and three are going to be made,” Zaillian said. “I did not commit to writing the other ones when I agreed to do this one. It was just one film.” One journalist followed up on this with Fincher, Craig and Mara, inquiring further as to their possible participation and whether or not they would shoot the latter pair of adaptations in tandem. “I’d love to,” Craig replied. “Same,” Mara added. “Classically,” Fincher said, “movie studios don’t make deals with directors for [more films] even if there’s a hope that there’s going to be three, because they want to make sure that you behave. But yes: The second two books are very much one story, and it doesn’t seem prudent to me to go to Sweden for a year, come back for a year, put out the second one, go to Sweden for a year, come back for a year…” Here Mara shook her head, coaxing a laugh from both Fincher and the audience. “Yeah,” Fincher continued. “I don’t think Rooney wants to be doing this four years from now. So no; I think that would be crazy, especially given the sense that it’s really one story that’s kind of bifurcated in the middle.” 9. They knocked out the leading man. Discussing the film’s climactic showdown between Blomkvist and the killer — which required Craig to be bound, strung from the ceiling and suffocated — the star and the director confirmed that the situation was both as unpleasant and dangerous as it looked. “The first night that we got that hoisting,” Fincher said, “the stunt coordinator came in and said [Craig] should hold this little metal thing in his hand so that if he does lose consciousness… Because he’s going to be acting like he’s suffocating, which is not very different from actually suffocating. So it was going to be hard to kind of see. So he would have this little metal thing in his hand, and he was hoisted up, and we were rolling and—” “How come you didn’t do that for me?” Mara asked. “There was a code word!” Craig said. “Yeah, the code word was, ‘Unnhhh!,’” Fincher said, referring to the Lisbeth’s gag in the film’s rape scene. “That much is true. So he had it, and we were watching the monitor, and as I’m watching the monitor, I hear, ‘Ting, ting, ting. And we rush in and he had passed out. So we, uh, wrapped then. And on the production report was, ‘Let Daniel go 15 minutes early due to unconsciousness.’” Craig smiled: “Just another day working with David Fincher.” The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo opens nationwide Dec. 20. [Top photo of Daniel Craig, Roney Mara, David Fincher, Stellan Skarsgard, and Steven Zailiian at the Stockholm premiere of Dragon Tattoo: AFP/Getty Images] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.

Martin Scorsese to Receive Santa Barbara Film Festival's American Riviera Award

Paramount just released the first trailer for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the sequel to the G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, a movie that nobody liked but made $302 million worldwide.our editor recommends'G.I. Joe 2' Moving Release Date Up to June 29, 2012Paramount's 'G.I. Joe 2' Casts 'Friday Night Lights' Star Adrianne Palicki Jon Chu is behind the camera for this one and here are four things in the trailer that are noteworthy: 1) The ninja battle on the mountainside. Chu comes from the world of dance movies and the sequence looks like he busts a move. PHOTOS: '80s Action Stars: Where Are They Now? 2) Adrianne Palicki, sadly the once and never Wonder Woman, makes her first big foray into film since wrapping Friday Night Lights. 3) Dwayne Johnson is all over this trailer. You know who isn't? Channing Tatum, who starred in the first movie. Intentional or something more nefarious...like perhaps, Tatum doesn't have a big role in the movie, if you know what I mean? STORY: 'G.I. Joe 2' Moving Release Date Up to June 29, 2012 4) Bruce Willis in action mode but not above making fun of his age. He comedically played the over-the-hill action man in Red. Now with this, the aging star seems to be relishing his near-AARP status. Watch the trailer below: PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery '80s Action Stars: Where Are They Now? Channing Tatum Dwayne Johnson G.I. Joe 2

Netflix Will get near 13-Episode Order For Horror Drama Hemlock Grove From Eli Roth And Gaumont Worldwide Television

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is finalizing a deal with Gaumont Worldwide Television for just about any 13-episode series order to Hemlock Grove, an hourlong thriller/horror series executive produced and directed by Eli Roth. This marks the initial foray into television to get the best horror feature author-director-producer Roth, creator in the Hostel franchise. Hemlock Grove is founded on John McGreevy’s approaching medieval horror novel of the title, that is released by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on March 27. Set in the backdrop within our pitch-dark myths, adolescent deceptions, ravenous associations and gossips from the werewolf, the series re-imagines everything what this means is to become monster as reflected inside the find it hard to be human. McGreevy might help adapt his book, co-writing the script along with his writing partner Lee Shipman. The feature writing duo, that has made multiple looks on Hollywood’s Black Report on hot scripts, is presently concentrating on a reimagening of Bram Stokers Dracula for Warner Bros., Leonardo DiCaprios Appian Way and Mad Hatter Entertainment. Mad Hatter’s Michael Connolly will be the co-executive producer on Hemlock Grove. Eric Newman of Strike Entertainment, who labored with Roth round the Last Exorcism as well as the approaching The Man While Using Iron Fists, which Roth co-written which is creating with Newman, will executive produce Hemlock Grove along with with Roth, McGreevy and Shipman. This marks Netflix’s third original series pickup following deals for your David Fincher/Kevin Spacey drama House Of Cards, Jenji Kohan comedy Orange Might Be The Brand New Black together with annually of Arrested Development. For Gaumont Worldwide TV, which was launched only 3 several days ago with former NBC mind of drama Katie O’Connell within the helm, this really is really the 2nd large purchase, undertaking a 13-episode commitment from NBC captured for Hannibal, a drama based towards the legendary character Hannibal Lecter, that's written and executive produced by Bryan Bigger and executive produced by Martha P Laurentiis. In addition, the LA-based indie company, U.S. arm of French film studio Gaumont, has inside the works Madame Tussaud, a six-hour miniseries put together through the Tudors creator Michael Hirst using the book by Michelle Moran. Shipman and McGreevy’s other feature projects inside the hopper include King Arthur epic Pendragon for completely new Regency and Zorro Reborn for Fox, which are now casting. Hemlock Grove was packeged by CAA.

No Engagement For Selena & Bieber

First Published: December 8, 2011 12:20 PM EST Credit: Getty Images LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Caption Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber step out at the 2011 American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angele on November 20, 2011 There are no wedding bells in the near future for Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber! Despite photographs of the 19-year-old star sporting what appeared to be a diamond ring on her ring finger, a source close to Selena told AccessHollywood.com that she is not engaged. In addition to engagement rumors swirling, the couple was photographed in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico this week lounging and enjoying in the sun together. In September, Justin told Womens Wear Daily, I definitely want to be married by 25. For more with Access exclusive interview with Selena about her new fragrance including what Justin thinks about the scent, CLICK HERE! Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Scripps Systems Sees Business Backing As Economy Improves: UBS Confab

It’s not just a leading economic indicator. But Scripps Systems Boss Kenneth Lowe states that programming on his cable funnel HGTV “had being started up its mind” when the housing bubble burst a few years back. Audiences out of the blue preferred to learn how to switch their home, not just making it beautiful. But the situation is changing, he hopes: “As we progressively build the housing marketplace back, it has an positive effect on HGTV.” Do i think the improvements within the network’s popular show House Potential predators, where ratings have softened. “Stabilization is vital word” for the show, Lowe states. That concept is important its Scripps’ lifestyle-focused services.If the involves advertising, “we’re not seeing a number of things to worry about, but we’re watching with the relaxation of the marketplace,” states Lori Hickok, EVP Finance. Lowe’s upbeat, though, as they states Scripps’ channels are “the female just like ESPN.They’re must-have. … The passion and connection that female audiences have of those systems is high quality.” Even among people audiences,Scripps saw a big change a year ago to sports programming, which Lowe states “was somewhat unusual.” He qualities that for the growing advantage of concert occasions. “The very good news for people is we’re not seeing any (more) loss to sports programming. It's how it is.” Meanwhile, the business states ithopes to buy Tribune’s 31% stake in Food Network once the media customers are forget about under personal personal bankruptcy protection. Lowe also expects to construct the Travel Funnel. “I don’t think I’ve are you currently as searching toward a completely new funnel inside a very long time,” according to him adding it “could be tabs on Food and HGTV inside a few years.” But he has many attempt to do at Great American Country while he moves it from new bands videos and toward programs including Dale earnhardt junior . and rodeos. “The network is applicable,” according to him. “We’re going to look into the living country brand, nevertheless it features its own limitations.” The funnel is distributed to 62.8M pay TV houses, and operators only pay about 3 cents monthly for each home it reaches, SNL Kagan estimations.

TV Ratings: Grammy Nominations Concert Grows from 2010, Fox's 'Teenage Daughter' Off to Fair Start

Monty Brinton/CBS The X Factor topped Wednesday night among adults 18-49 and total viewers. The 90-minute episode, which saw the remaining contestants take on Michael Jackson tunes, brought in a 3.7 rating in the demo. The show was up from last week's Thanksgiving Eve telecast, but down from its last two hour outing. PHOTOS: Fall TV Death Pool: Which New Show Will Be Axed? Fox added a 2.8 in adults with the 9:30 premiere of its new comedy, I Hate My Teenage Daughter. The series held 76 percent of its X Factor lead-in with the demo, pushing the network to a winning 3.4 for the night. On CBS, Survivor was down to a little to a 3.1 in adults 18-49. It was followed by a repeat of Criminal Minds (2.1) and the 2011 Grammy Nominations Concert. The one-hour performance showcase was up 12 percent from its 2010 outing, grabbing a 1.9 in adults 18-49. An average 9.8 million viewers were clocked during the broadcast, which saw performances by the likes of Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Sugarland. ABC's Wednesday was visibly affected by the block of reruns. The network's typically strong comedy line-up (The Middle, Suburgatory, Modern Family and Happy Endings) followed by Revenge averaged just 1.8 among adults 18-49 during the night, tying it with NBC. NBC saw a 5% drop among the key demo for this year's Christmas in Rockefeller Center tree-lighting special, but repeats on CBS and ABC at 9:00 p.m. helped boost Harry's Law to a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49. It marked nearly a 30 percent gain for the modestly performing sophomore drama. At 10:00 p.m., Law & Order: SVU topped the competition with a 2.2 rating. PHOTOS: All of the Grammy Award Nominees The CW aired a timely Muppets Christmas special to the tune of 0.8 among adults 18-49, matching an original episode of America's Next Top Model. It marked the most-watched Wednesday night the network has seen in a year, with the best showing in the demo since May. Wednesday, Nov, 31, Overnight Ratings: 8 p.m. Fox: The X Factor (10.3 million viewers, 3.5 rating among adults 18-49) CBS: Survivor: South Pacific (10.9 million, 3.1) NBC: Christmas at Rockefeller Center (9.4 million, 1.8) ABC: The Middle (R) (6 million, 1.8) The CW: The Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (R) (2.4 million, 0.8) 8:30 p.m. ABC: Suburgatory (R) (5.3 million, 1.7) 9 p.m. FOX: The X Factor (12.1 million, 4.1) ABC: Modern Family (R) (7.2 million, 2.6) CBS: Criminal Minds (R) (7.5 million, 2.1) NBC: Harry's Law (9.9 million, 1.4) The CW: America's Next Top Model (1.9 million, 0.8) 9:30 p.m. Fox: I Hate My Teenage Daughter (6.8 million, 2.8) ABC: Happy Endings (R) (4.96 million, 2.1) 10 p.m. NBC: Law & Order: SVU (9.8 million, 2.2) CBS: Grammy Nominations Concert (5.6 million, 1.9) ABC: Revenge (R) (4 million, 1.2) TV Ratings