Fox tops Wednesday with 'Dance'

NBC, ABC reality fare also delivers solid numbers

Fox has captured the primetime ratings race for young adults on the first Wednesday of July thanks to its two-hour installment of "So You Think You Can Dance." NBC was also solid thanks to "America's Got Talent," while ABC was propped up by "Wipeout."

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, "So You Think You Can Dance" (2.9 rating/10 share in adults 18-49, 7.7 million viewers overall) won the two-hour block from 8 to 10 p.m. despite tough competition in the night's opening hour from ABC's "Wipeout" (2.6/9 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall) and during the 9 o'clock hour from NBC's "America's Got Talent" (2.9/9 in 18-49, 11.3 million viewers overall). The NBC entry was the night's most-watched program overall.

Elsewhere, ABC's fortunes faded following "Wipeout," as second-year alternative series "I Survived a Japanese Gameshow" (1.4/4 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall) settled for fourth-place numbers at 9 o'clock, and the season premiere of newsmag "Primetime: Crime" (1.4/4 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall) put up similar ratings at 10 o'clock.

NBC's strong hour of "America's Got Talent" was sandwiched by OK numbers for an encore telecast of the show at 8 p.m. (1.4/5 in 18-49, 6.0 million viewers overall) and nothing-special scores at 10 p.m. for firstrun drama "The Philanthropist" (1.5/5 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall), which slipped some after a solid-enough bow the previous week.

CBS started sluggishly with repeats of comedies "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (1.1/4 in 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall) and "Gary Unmarried" (1.3/4 in 18-49, 4.4 million viewers overall) before becoming more competitive at 9 p.m. with a repeat of "Criminal Minds" (1.8/6 in 18-49, 7.9 million viewers overall). The Eye net then moved to the lead at 10 p.m. with a rebroadcast of "CSI: NY" (1.7/5 in 18-49, 8.1 million viewers overall), which beat out original fare on ABC and NBC.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 2.9/10; NBC, 1.9/6; ABC, 1.8/6; CBS, 1.6/5.

In total viewers: NBC and Fox, 7.7 million; CBS, 6.8 million; ABC, 5.4 million.

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Variety.com

ICE AGE Beats TRANSFORMERS at Box Office

In a early Wednesday release, Fox’s ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS took in a cool $14 million on its opening day. Variety reports:


“Dawn of the Dinosaurs” stomped past Paramount’s monster performer “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” for the day, although “Transformers 2″ still turned in an impressive performance in its 8th day in release.

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Variety.com

Sneak Attack from ROBOT CHICKEN

A viral video billed as ”Breckin Meyer Responds to Perez Hilton” that has been making the rounds, is actually a “stealth” promo for the upcoming special of ROBOT CHICKEN. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the promo written by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, is a parody of Perez Hilton’s statement on his encounter with the band, the Black Eyed Peas; but in reality is a teaser of the ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS EPISODE II DVD. The promo also coincides with a preview of the new ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS EPISODE II at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, and the Adult Swim’s “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II” Roller Skating Tour that kicked off July 25th also in San Diego.



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Variety.com

Gnomon School: Open House July 11th

Join us for an exclusive opportunity to learn about the Gnomon School of Visual Effects and take a guided tour of our campus.





The afternoon will include:

* An in-depth presentation from our Founder/CEO, Alex Alvarez, discussing Gnomon's programs, classes, campus life and the opportunities that await you in the Computer Graphic industry.
* Find out about the admissions process and financial aid.
* Get portfolio feedback and your questions answered by our admissions counselor, school representatives and successful alumni.

Event Details:

* Thursday, May 28th, 2009
* 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm: Guided Tour of Gnomon Campus
* 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm: Presentation and Q & A

View Map

RSVP Here

Join us after the Open House for a special event at Gnomon. The World Premier and Gallery event for White Swan.


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Variety.com

“What’s that LASSIE? Timmy has gone 3D?”

According to The The Hollywood Reporter, DQ Entertainment, an Indian animation group, will partner with Classic Media to reinvent LASSIE, the iconic live action show. This co-production plans to take LASSIE out of black and white and into 3D animation. This new animation series will be a multi-cultural partnership between India, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, and Germany.

“What we are announcing now is a co-development agreement. But it is very well understood that we will go ahead and co-produce this as a multi-million Euro series, with us as the lead producer,” said Tapaas Chakravarti, DQ’s CEO. “The script will primarily be written in Europe with the intention of delivering the series at the end of 2010 or early 2011.”

This is not the first classic that DQ has revamped. CASPER’S SCARE SCHOOL was a new version of Casper and was a recent endeavor by DQ and Classic. Unless they plan to make the new LASSIE into a super-dog via BOLT, or a reluctant hero as MINDY AND BUTTONS, I rather feel that the idea behind LASSIE is missed if you use an animated dog.


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Variety.com

UP Keeps Climbing

According to,Variety Disney-Pixar’s film UP is climbing so rapidly that it will soon be able to beat THE INCREDIBLES as Pixar’s 2nd highest grossing film domestically, under FINDING NEMO. Most Hollywood anylists are chalking it up to the added revenue from 3d showings to UP’s growing tallies.

Chuck Viane, Disney’s prexy of domestic distribution, said 3-D has been a boon to “Up,” but he added that the foundation of any successful pic is a good story.

“3-D enhances the storytelling, and thereby, the run,” Viane said.

Right now Pixar’s only worry is the upcoming ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS which will also be shown in 3D, taking up limited screens and extra profits.

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Variety.com

TRANSFORMERS Opens With a Bang

Despite the bad reviews, TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN is raking in the viewers and the dollars, pulling in about $60.6 million on their debut. According to The Hollywood Reporter, this is the the biggest Wednesday opening in history, beating out HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX which had an opening of $44.2 million.

It came unexpectedly close to challenging “The Dark Knight,” which holds the records for biggest opening-day gross and best single-day gross: It collected $67.2 million when it opened last year on a Friday. And it squeezed ahead of 2007’s “Spider-Man 3,” which debuted to $59.8 million, which had enjoyed runner-up status to “Knight” in the best single opening-day list.

TRANSFORMERS is truly enjoying their view from the top, and is expected to push all the top spot holders of the weekend down a notch. Other openings this weekend include SISTER’S KEEPER, CHERI, THE HURT LOCKER, and THE STONING OF SORAYA M.


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Variety.com