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Muhammad Ali called Oct. 26, 1970, his “day of judgment.” His refusal to be inducted to the Army during the Vietnam War, on moral and religious grounds, had pushed him out of the ring for 43 months. But that night in Atlanta, his boxing license restored, he faced “The Great White Hope” Jerry Quarry in his long-awaited return to the ring. Black royalty from Harlem to Birmingham showed up and showed out: Diana Ross, Sidney Poitier, Hank Aaron, and Corretta Scott King filled ringside seats. Filling the stands right alongside them were a bevy of gangsters,...

Avatar actress Cch Pounder and Academy Award-nominated producer Paul Garnes will attend the inaugural Cross Continental International Co-production Forum (Ccf) in Barbados.

They’ll join media executives and high level producers from Canada, the UK, South Africa and several Caribbean countries at the event, which aims to encourage collaboration, business development, and co-productions.

Pounder and Garnes will add some heavyweight fire power to proceedings. Known for roles in the likes of ER, NCIS: New Orleans, The X Files and The Shield, she has picked up four Primetime Emmy nominations.

Garnes is best known for his work on 2014 feature Selma, which was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. He was a producer on Ava DuVernay’s 2023 feature Origin, a drama on the life of Isabel Wilkerson that will be screened at the Ccf.

The CeventCF is being billed as a first-of-its-kind venture established by CaribbeanTales Media Group, Imagine Media International,...

You know, a wise man once said that sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name.

"Cheers" is one of the best and most popular sitcoms of all time. That's not hyperbole, either — critics and fans alike will sing the praises of the show until you can't stand it anymore. "Okay, I get it!" you'll say. "You love 'Cheers'! Leave me alone!" Running for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993, and starring Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Rhea Perlman, George Wendt, John Ratzenberger, Woody Harrelson, and more, "Cheers" was actually a flop during its first season, finishing last in the ratings during its premiere. Things were so bad, in fact, that the network almost pulled the plug. Eventually, though, "Cheers" found its audience, and that audience couldn't get enough of the barflies and bartenders who called the show home.

The show sprang forth from creators Glen and Les Charles and James Burrows, and as it turns out,...

Tony Danza reunited with his Taxi co-stars 40 years after the show ended its five-season run.

In a photo Danza shared on Twitter, the actor is seen having drinks with his former co-stars that included Carol Kane, Christopher Lloyd and Judd Hirsch.

“Love these people so much!” Danza captioned the photo.

Love these people so much! #oldfriends #taxi pic.twitter.com/1NIBt3djid

— Tony Danza (@TonyDanza) May 8, 2023

Over on Instagram, Lloyd shared more photos from their reunion and captioned the post, “What the hell is going on here?”

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A post shared by Christopher Lloyd (@mrchristopherlloyd)

The reunion of the Taxi cast happened almost exactly 40 years after the show ended its five-season run and with over 100 episodes produced.

Taxi, created by James L. Brooks, Stan Daniels, David Davis and Ed. Weinberger, centers on a group of employees working the night shift at the fictional Sunshine Cab Company.

Nowadays, movie studios are all about franchises, tentpoles, superheroes, and spin-offs. But there’s one groundbreaking trilogy of films that cemented their place in pop culture and won’t be receiving a big-screen remake anytime soon if the original creators have anything to say about it. Released in 1985, Back to the Future put a new spin on the concept of time travel and became an instant classic. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and co-written with Bob Gale (and executive produced by Steven Spielberg), the filmmakers easily created the best movie about time travel along with a trilogy hailed as cultural touchstones.

The sequel, Back to the Future Part 2, picks up right where we left off with Marty McFly and Doc Brown. That film didn’t hit theaters until 1989, with it being shot back-to-back with Part 2I. The follow-up was met with mixed reviews upon release, but fans and critics now regard...

Back in 2000, Vin Diesel was mostly unknown. Sure, he had an excellent role in Saving Private Ryan as the kindhearted but doomed soldier pinned down by sniper fire, but otherwise, he was pretty obscure. That changed when Pitch Black, a medium-budget sci-fi action film, hit theatres and, against all odds, turned into a decent-sized hit. The movie, which David Twohy directed, gave Diesel a tailor-made role as the antihero convict Riddick and offered early parts to Cole Hauser and Radha Mitchell.

Interestingly, Universal Pictures was ready to send this movie directly to video were it not for the fact that early fansites, such as Ain’t It Cool News, championed the movie following early screenings. The online buzz assured the film a solid opening via the now-defunct USA Pictures, and once Diesel became a star, the studio gave him a tentpole-sized follow-up, The Chronicles of Riddick. While that movie was a bomb,...

They’re creepy and they’re kooky. Mysterious and spooky. Okay, we’re not gonna recite the whole thing, but you know their theme and love ‘em. They’re the Addams Family: an utterly bizarre, aristocratic family who, underneath their macabre appearance, is ultimately charming and completely devoted to each other. Created by cartoonist Charles Addams, they originally appeared in the New Yorker before being adapted to other media such as TV shows and films.

Shockingly, it wouldn’t be until the ‘80s that interest in an Addams Family feature film ignited with producer Scott Rudin spearheading the idea. While the gothic production design would lead you to think Tim Burton was somehow involved, it was actually directed by another skilled filmmaker. After breaking out as a cinematographer working with the Coen Brothers on Blood Simple, Barry Sonnenfeld made his directorial debut with 1991’s The Addams Family, resulting in a...

Directed by Christian Schultz from a screenplay co-written with Peter Ambrosio, Presence relocates the haunted house setting to a luxury yacht. The extreme isolation of being at sea provides fertile ground to explore what makes a haunting; is it a product of a fractured mind or something supernatural? Presence attempts to straddle the line between psychological and supernatural, but its vague approach to storytelling casts its horror adrift.

Jennifer (The Kominsky Method’s Jenna Lyng Adams) struggles to piece her life back together once leaving New York after a mental break. She’s plagued by horrific dreams in which she kills Keaton (Octavio Pisano), prone to panic attacks, and suffers further anxiety from being unable to reach her friend and business partner Sam (Alexandria DeBerry) for months. Then Sam reappears out of the blue with a lucrative business proposition from billionaire David (Dave Davis) that has the pair set off...

David Davis, a veteran comedy writer who co-created the indelible ensemble comedies “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Taxi,” died Nov. 4 in Los Angeles.

Davis’ death was confirmed Saturday by his daughter, Samantha Davis-Friedman. Survivors also include his wife of many decades, “Rhoda” star Julie Kavner, now best known as the voice of Marge Simpson from Fox’s “The Simpsons.”

Davis was known for his work in the Mtm Television stable. He wrote for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Rhoda” and in addition to helping to craft two Hall of Fame sitcoms. After retiring from writing in 1979, Davis worked as a consultant on TV and film projects including the ABC TV series “Phenom” and noted pics including 1987’s “Broadcast News” and the 1983 Oscar winner “Terms of Endearment.”

Born in Brooklyn in 1936, Davis got his start in TV as a script supervisor on such early 1960s comedies as “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis...

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Diversity and how to best ensure it in the British TV industry was a topic of debate on Wednesday, the opening day of the Edinburgh TV Festival.

During a panel entitled “Insert (Diversity) Here,” for which The Hollywood Reporter served as media partner, writer-director and actor Adjani Salmon (Dreaming Whilst Black) signaled there aren’t enough diverse people in positions of power yet. He recalled pitching the BBC without success before starting to work with production firm Big Deal Films, which focuses on inclusive storytelling.

Then fellow panelist Sarah Asante, back then a commissioner at the BBC but now UKTV commissioning editor, saw it and gave it a chance on BBC Three. “I would ask myself ‘why is it that it just so happened that the only Black woman who read it is the person who saw the potential in it,” Salmon said.

New Brexit Set Pics Feature A Nearly Bald Benedict Cumberbatch 1 of 16

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There’s been an unexpected hiccup in the development of Brexit – and we’re not talking about the resignation of former Brexit secretary, David Davis.

Instead, we draw your attention to the one-off standalone series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s already deep into production, but as award-winning screenwriter James Graham revealed late last week, a very early draft of the show’s script has been stolen and is currently doing the rounds online.

Social media sites like Reddit and Twitter (h/t Metro) have already gained access to the documents in question, which shed light on Cumberbatch’s role as Dominic Cummings, the leading strategist and Campaign Director of Vote Leave.

However, as Graham so rightly points out, the script circulating on the Internet isn’t indicative of the final product,...

Luc Annest's urban comedy Nola Circus will be in U.S. cinemas on April 21, 2017 and on iTunes and VOD on April 25, 2017. ScreenAnarchy has been given an excslusive clip to share with you, which you will find below with the trailer.    In the clip salon owner Marvin and his brothers bicker about who should sweep up the salon.    In this over the top comedy, a rivalry between two competing barbershops on opposite sides of a street in New Orleans escalates dramatically, sending the lives of the owners, their families, and their friends spiraling out of control.   Nola Circus start Martin Bradford, Kamille McCuin, Vas Blackwood, Jessica Morali, Dave Davis, Reginal Varice and Ricky Wayne.   ...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Woof! I'll tell you, I've had a bit of a morning, folks, and this trailer for Nola Circus really lifted my spirits. What we've got here is a quirky comedy from director Luc Annest about what happens when a rivalry between two competing barbershops in New Orleans escalates dramatically, sending the lives of the owners, their families, and their friends spiraling out of control. The film stars actors Dave Davis,... Read More...

Turns out, Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa did have a Live! reunion after all.

During an interview with Larry King on Tuesday, Philbin claimed that he was "never once" asked to return to the show after his departure in 2011, but he actually did appear on the show in October 2015, just not as a guest host.

Watch: Regis Philbin Talks Losing Touch With Kelly Ripa: ‘She Got Very Offended When I Left’

In the talk show’s 2015 Halloween special, the 85-year-old TV personality was greeted by Ripa, who exclaimed, "I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away!"

Check it out below.

Dave Davis, president and general manager of Wabc, which produces Live!, reiterated in a statement to Et that Philbin has never been shunned from the show. "It was wonderful to have Regis on the show for our 2015 Halloween special," Davis said. "He’s also been invited back several times as a guest and, in fact, was...

Regis Philbin recently said he was never asked to return to Live! following his departure, but he did in fact make a cameo on the series' 2015 Halloween special.  He reunited with his first co-host, Kathie Lee Gifford, for a sketch in which they played younger versions of themselves. Regis also reunited backstage with his second former co-host Kelly Ripa, the main host of the show, now called Live! With Kelly. "I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away," she said, after they exchanged a hug and kiss. "I knew it! You missed us!"  "It was wonderful to have Regis on the show for our 2015 Halloween special," Dave Davis, president and general...

ABC is denying Regis Philbin’s claim that he has never been invited back to “Live” since he left the show in 2011 with video evidence. “It was wonderful to have Regis on the show for our 2015 Halloween special,” Dave Davis, president and general manager of Wabc, told TheWrap in a statement. “He’s also been invited back several times as a guest, and in fact was confirmed for a date, but was not able to make it at the time.” Philbin did in fact appear in a taped segment for the 2015 Halloween special, which you can watch here. You can also watch behind.

Michael Strahan wasn’t the first co-host to leave Kelly Ripa upset. The 46-year-old host of Live With Kelly! used to sit alongside TV staple Regis Philbin on Live With Regis and Kelly!

In a new interview with Larry King, Philbin, 85, talks his relationship with Ripa and how she wasn’t too pleased with him exiting the show in 2011.

Watch: Kelly Ripa Says Mark Consuelos Is 'Mean' to Her After Sex: 'I Think It's Bizarre'

When King asked Philbin if he keeps in touch with Ripa, the on-camera veteran replied, “Not really, no.”

He also noted that the show “never once” asked him to return to guest host for the day.

“She got very offended when I left. She thought I was leaving because of her,” Philbin claimed of Ripa. “I was leaving because I was getting older and that wasn’t right for me anymore.”

Philbin thinks that Ripa took his exit very personally, noting, “That...

Last month, news broke that Michael Strahan would be leaving Live With Kelly and Michael and starting a full-time position at Good Morning America. What should have been pretty run-of-the-mill news quickly turned into a wildfire, though, when cohost Kelly Ripa was mysteriously absent from Live's shows for two consecutive days. Saturday Night Live alum and comedy actress Ana Gasteyer took her place and sat idly by as Michael announced his big move. Reports of behind-the-scenes drama quickly began surfacing, and if you're like us, you're probably eager to find out exactly what went down. Keep reading for the most important facts about the situation, including quotes from Kelly's new interview. It's unclear whether or not Kelly and Michael actually like each other. In January 2015, Michael appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers and had nothing but wonderful things to say about Kelly. The clip may be unavailable, but the...

March 30, 1970. Racing champion Secretariat was born.

After Citation in 1948, Secretariat became the first U.S. Triple Crown winner in 25 years and became the stuff of legend.

New York Post columnist Larry Merchant said:

“Secretariat is the kind of Big Horse that makes grown men weep, even when they are flint-hearted bettors, even when he goes off at 1-10. He is the apparently unflawed hunk of beauty and beast they search for doggedly in the racing charts every day, and never seemed to find. His supporters rhapsodize over him as though he is a four-legged Nureyev, extolling virtues of his musculature, his grace, his urine specimens.” If he were to lose the Belmont, Merchant warned, “the country may turn sullen and mutinous.”

As of 2015, only 12 horses have won the Triple Crown: Sir Barton (1919), Gallant Fox (1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), Count Fleet (1943), Assault (1946), Citation (1948), Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977), Affirmed (1978), and American Pharoah (2015).

Just as with Secretariat,...

I'm sure you all know by now that Star Wars: The Force Awakens has brought in a few handfuls of change at the box-office as well as breaking all sorts of records. Our own Dave Davis has already broken it down in his Weekend Box Office Report, but one of the records Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke was the highest domestic opening record previously held by Jurassic... Read More...

Taxi, “Like Father, Like Daughter”

Written by James L. Brooks, Stan Daniels, David Davis, Ed Weinberger

Directed by James Burrows

Aired September 12th, 1978 on ABC

Comedy pilots are hard. Even the best sitcoms often take a while to find their voice, hitting their strides halfway through season one or even in season two. The cast needs to gel, the writers and actors need to find the right levels for each character, and the series as a whole needs to establish its tone. Given a talented and motivated showrunner, writing staff, director, and cast, each of these will come, with time, but it is extremely rare for all three to come together immediately, in the pilot. As a rule, frankly, comedy pilots are bad. One exception to this rule is Taxi and its pilot, “Like Father, Like Daughter”.

The premise of Taxi is a straightforward one- it’s a workplace comedy...

The Sopranos was named the best-written show in television history by the Writers Guild of America, edging out an eclectic collection of some of the most beloved and admired series. Members of the Writers Guild of America, West (Wgaw) and the Writers Guild of America, East (Wgae) voted online for the 101 Best Written TV Series, with David Chase’s iconic “family” drama topping Seinfeld, The Twilight Zone, All in the Family, and M*A*S*H*.

“At their core, all of these wonderful series began with the words of the writers who created them and were sustained by the writers...

Records of people's internet history in the UK, including email, social networking and online gaming, could soon be stored for a year under controversial new government cyber security plans. Home secretary Theresa May said that allowing police and intelligence services to access the information was essential in combating criminals using new technology. However, Tory MP David Davis branded the move as "incredibly intrusive" and a strategy that would only hit the "innocent and incompetent". Currently in draft form, the Communications Bill has been branded a "snooper's charter" by privacy campaign groups for its new measures for storing user data. Under present laws, communications service providers are required to store records of phone and text chatter, along with email on their own servers for 12 months. But the new plans would extend that to (more)...

Wigan go into today’s game at the Dw Stadium against already relegated Wolves knowing that they are already safe for another season. Kick-off time is at 3pm and the match is not televised live anywhere in the UK.

Here’s the team news ahead of the game…

David Jones is Wigan’s only fitness concern ahead of the clash against the midfielder’s former employers. Boss Roberto Martinez said in the pre-match press conference that the player had “a couple of niggles” that needed nursing through and with Wigan not needing to win the game, he will not be risked.

Otherwise Martinez has a full squad to choose from.

For Wolves interim boss Terry Connor’s last game in charge before Stale Solbakken takes over next season, there are injury doubts over defender Christophe Berra and winger Michael Kightly. Both will be assessed late after they had to be...

David Cameron has 'a hilarious sense of humour', according to Helena Bonham Carter. Perhaps so, but who were the really funny rightwingers?

Are Tories funny? Of course, with the exception of Jim Davidson. Expressing amazement that they might be funny is like saying that because someone has different political views from us they can't have a sense of humour. Yet this appears to be exactly what Helena Bonham Carter did in an interview at the weekend, when she insisted her friend David Cameron was "not a rightwing person", citing his "hilarious sense of humour, which nobody really knows about".

Bernard Manning was funny. And racist and misogynistic too, but the jokes were good even if the laughter died on your lips. Peter Cook spent much of his life savaging Labour politicians, but there's no doubt that he was funny. You might recall the Tory rally in 1983 when Kenny Everett spoke for Margaret Thatcher.

Civil liberties groups and MPs have criticised the government's "unprecedented step" to monitor calls, emails, texts and website visits of every person in the UK. Under legislation soon to be put forward by ministers, intelligence agency Cghq would be able to access communications in real time, The Sunday Times said. The Home Office said that the move is a key part of tackling cyber-crime and terrorism, but Tory MP David Davis branded it "an unnecessary extension of the ability of the state to snoop on ordinary people". The new law, expected to be included in the Queen's Speech in May, would not permit Gchq to access the actual content of emails, calls or messages without a specific warrant. However, it would enable intelligence officers to monitor the communications of individuals or groups to see who they are in contact with, how frequently and (more)...

Wolves and Bolton go into this crucial six-pointer with differing recent fortunes in their fight for Premier League survival.

Terry Connor’s side haven’t won in six and are on a run of four straight league defeats, whereas the Lancashire outfit come into the game on the back of two vital victories against Qpr and Blackburn.

On that basis this must surely be considered a must win game for Wolves who are four points adrift of their opponents and the safety of 17th place and remain rooted to the foot of the table.

Bolton on the other hand will be looking to put more distance between themselves and the sides below them in the battle to remain in the top flight. Both Qpr and Wigan face tough fixtures against Arsenal and Stoke respectively, although the two struggling sides both play at home this weekend.

When these two sides met...

Team news ahead of the relegation six pointer between Wolves and Blackburn Rovers at the Molineux this afternoon. Kick-off time is at 3pm and the match is not being screened live anywhere in the UK.

Wolves captain Roger Johnson has been included in the squad after being disciplined for turning up for training on Monday in an unfit state. Johnson had been dropped for the past two games before the problems on Monday. On loan Spurs defender Sebastien Bassong should play having overcome his hamstring injury.

Both players missed the heavy 5-0 defeat at Fulham last weekend.

David Davis has been recalled from his loan spell at Chesterfield to boost midfield numbers with Karl Henry sidelined with a hamstring injury. Dave Edwards did resume training this past Thursday after being sidelined for a fortnight and could also be in contention.

Finally top scorer Steven Fletcher has recovered from his illness to play.

Ten of the brightest and best tell their stories – from the first novel optioned at 26 to being head-hunted by Donatella Versace at 24

Lucy Prebble, playwright, 30

Prebble is the creator of Secret Diary Of A Call Girl. Her latest play, Enron, transferred to the West End and Broadway in 2010.

When we were auditioning actors for Enron, they'd talk to the director, not to me, and it occurred to me they thought I was a secretary taking notes. Then one said, "Who's the writer?" and the director said, "She is." This guy just looked at me and went, "You wrote this? Ok..." and nodded. It was beautiful because I felt like he was giving me a lot of respect.

I've always written – diaries, terrible poetry when I was younger, that sort of thing – but I didn't think about showing anyone until I was at university. I fell in with a group of...

In "how crazy is this?" news, a man was getting his hair braided at a Stamford, Ct apartment when, during a confrontation, he grabbed scissors and slashed a man in the back. Apparently, 21-year-old David Davis fled the scene mid-hairdo, because when police arrested him soon after, he had a goofy "half-fro." One side of his hair was sticking up, while the other side with braided (very Ol' Dirty Bastard retro, no?).Davis is currently being held on $5,000 bail, while the victim was treated for the back wound. We're collectively shaking our heads at the Essence.com offices. Let us know what you think of this story in the comments section! ...

Many years ago, when I was maybe 13 or 14, I decided to give myself a bob not unlike the one sported by Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago. I grabbed the scissors, stood in front of my mirror, and began my precision cut. Being right-handed, I tackled the left side of my head first, snipping with the elegance and grace of a Vidal Sassoon nearly 3 times my age. An hour later, half of my haircut was complete. It was… Perfect. Chin-length, not a hair out of place, razor-sharp and quite flattering. I smirked the teenaged smirk of a million disasters about to happen, and began snipping the hairs on the other side of my head. The first gigantic lock floated into the sink like so many Forrest Gump feathers. And then I looked in the mirror. To discover that I had cut it about an inch shorter than the side of my head...

An agreement in principle has been reached for Disney to sell the Miramax Films name and its 611-picture library for about $650 million to a group led by construction executive Ronald Tutor and Colony Capital, a privately held institutional investment firm run by founder and CEO Thomas Barrack Jr. But it is not a done deal.

Tutor and Colony together have committed to investing more than $300 million in equity, with additional capital to be raised from minority partners including James Robinson, chairman of Morgan Creek Prods., and Gulf Capital, an investment firm based in Abu Dhabi.

That still would leave a significant amount, probably $200 million, to be raised in the form of debt.

Tutor brought in Colony only about a week ago, after which the negotiations were led by Colony principal Richard Nanula, a former CFO of Disney. The buyers have entered a period of due diligence, in which they will...

Like the presidential candidate Bill McKay in Michael Ritchie's 1972 satire, Nick Clegg has been transformed by media consensus into a contender. As the film suggests, that's not necessarily a good thing

As our general election campaign has, by common consent, been electrified by Nick Clegg's performance in an American-style leaders' debate, it's an American film I find myself thinking about. This is Michael Ritchie's terrific 1972 satire The Candidate, starring Robert Redford as Bill McKay, the handsome, clean-cut young progressive, running for a seat in the Senate.

McKay, who has long despised the political circus, has nonetheless allowed himself to be put forward as the sacrificial challenger to an overwhelmingly powerful conservative incumbent on the understanding that, because he hasn't got a hope in hell, he might as well say what he really thinks. There will be no whiff of success to encourage shabby compromises. The certainty of...

With auctions for MGM and Miramax proving more slog than jog, two unexpected outcomes suddenly seem possible: MGM could be sold in parts, and Disney might decide to hold on to its specialty unit.

A fourth extension of a big interest payment gives Lion keepers on both sides of a $3.7 billion mountain of debt until mid-May to figure out how to rise above the problem. A daylong meeting of a lenders steering committee Friday addressed the two main options -- selling the studio or fashioning a bankruptcy reorganization -- but a third path could prove most lucrative: holding an a la carte auction for the studio.

Housed in leased space in a Century City officer tower, MGM no longer has a studio lot to sell. Primarily, the Lion comprises a 4,000-title film library and an executive corps in charge of exploiting the catalog over various distribution platforms; movie development...

2 December 2009

Afghanistan

Gordon Brown welcomed Barack Obama's pledge to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. The prime minister told the Commons that a "very substantial" number of the extra Us troops would be going to Helmand to assist British forces in dealing with Taliban insurgents.

Brown said there was "no question" of British troops being withdrawn until the Afghans could take over security control themselves. He also disclosed that the Nato conference in London in January would discuss troop commitments made by coalition partners and Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, would give details of political reforms.

David Cameron warned the prime minister against giving "false expectations" or "mixed messages" over the date for the eventual withdrawal of British troops.

Recession

Brown was mocked for his claim that he was leading the world out of recession. Cameron said figures showed the UK was the only economy in the entire G20 yet to move out of recession.

Paramount's summer joyride just hit a pothole.

The studio has called off its pursuit of a $450 million film-financing arrangement with Deutsche Bank, while the bank has closed its film-finance unit altogether in the face of declining interest from outside investors.

The major obstacle to the deal appears to have been the senior debt component, an unattractive prospect to investors in such a tight credit climate.

"Eventually, this was bound to happen," said David Davis, an entertainment valuations expert and managing partner at Arpeggio Partners. "Just like with housing mortgages, there were deals done during the exuberant days of private equity that should not have been done. And those kinds of deals won't ever get done again."

Paramount's outside financing effort was designed to provide production funds for two dozen or more feature films from its upcoming slate, including "Tropic Thunder," produced by DreamWorks, and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." The Deutsche Bank investor group would have put up 25% of the costs of each financed movie, capped to $30 million per movie.

At the same time, Paramount had assembled multiple financing sources on a film-by-film basis for the movies involved.

"As a result of the current credit market conditions, Paramount decided a few weeks ago not to proceed with the film slate financing transaction," a Paramount spokesperson said. "The deal terms had evolved to a point where they were unattractive when compared to alternative sources of financing."

Even without the money from the Deutsche Bank deal, studio sources said next year's production slate is fully funded.

Paramount's 2008 has been strong thus far. It reached the $1 billion benchmark in domestic and foreign boxoffice before any other studio, beating its own record. Such releases as "Iron Man," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" have reaped $200 million-plus rewards in theaters, but many of its biggest hits were movies that Paramount merely distributed.

Paramount has no plans to pursue a similar deal in the short term, betting that the credit markets will stabilize. But given the past year of Hollywood labor strife, a faltering economy and a housing market still reeling while it waits for government assistance, that could take longer to develop than another Indiana Jones sequel.

"There's a lot of trouble in the film-finance industry," Davis said. "That's why studios are looking for third-party money outside the U.S."...

It's a tale of two movies, with an oddly similar ending.

Five years ago, "Hulk," the first movie based on Marvel's hulking green comic book character, rang up $245 million in worldwide boxoffice but was widely dismissed as a commercial failure.

The second attempt, "The Incredible Hulk," amped up the fun factor and dialed down the brooding of the Ang Lee-helmed original but is unlikely to gross significantly higher than its predecessor and might not spawn a sequel. And it's been dubbed a success.

What gives?

"We're happy with the financial results, even if they (only) reach the first film's levels," a Marvel insider insisted. "Having a sequel is not the definition of success."

That's fortunate, as even outpacing the first film's worldwide haul by 10% looks optimistic at this point, and that's not likely to stoke enthusiasm for a franchise follow-up anytime soon.

Last weekend, "Incredible Hulk" fell 49% from its previous weekend gross. That was a big drop for a film's fourth frame and left the Louis Leterrier-helmed actioner looking unlikely to fetch more than $135 million domestically.

Its foreign rollout is still in progress, with comics-friendly Japan among the territories the remake has yet to bow, but it appears likely that the Edward Norton starrer will struggle to reach $130 million internationally. So "Incredible Hulk" might outgross "Hulk" by $10 million or so overall but like the first film could underperform overseas.

"Hulk" grossed $132.2 domestically after opening in June 2003 with an impressive $62.1 million and then dropping like a rock over subsequent sessions. Its foreign grosses totaled $113.2 million.

Action films tend to outperform internationally, though comic book adaptations can be a different matter if the fan base skews American. Marvel touts the Hulk comic franchise as its second most popular worldwide, after Spider-Man.

"All we can say as a studio is that we are very pleased with the result," Universal domestic distribution president Nikki Rocco said.

Despite the similarity of the Hulk films' theatrical runs, industryites suggest the lighter tone of the second film makes it more the vehicle to generate sequels, and some suggest the remake will prove a more lucrative DVD title than the Eric Bana-starring original. On the other hand, production costs and marketing expenses were steeper the second time around, totaling more than $200 million.

Still, the dark original so turned off the Hulk character's fanboy base as to require a complete reworking of its big-screen rendering before a film franchise could be christened.

But Marvel has yet to greenlight a Hulk sequel. So other observers suggest the films' most important distinction lies simply in how well market expectations were managed in advance of their respective bows.

"Hollywood is always about perception," said David Davis, managing partner and entertainment analyst at Arpeggio Partners in Los Angeles. "The first Hulk (movie) had such high expectations after the NBC Universal merger and was supposed to be critical-favorite Ang Lee's breakout commercial blockbuster.

"Then with the new Hulk film, Marvel was able to underplay the importance of the success after the great success of 'Iron Man' this summer," Davis said. "So the new one overdelivered, relative to its underpromise."

The Marvel-produced, Paramount-distributed "Iron Man" has fetched more than $563 million in worldwide boxoffice.