by Michael Sullivan

A female extra received a severe head injury on the set of "Transformers 3" yesterday in northwest Indiana.

24-year-old Gabriella Cedillo was injured around 7 p.m. on a closed stretch of Cline Avenue, East Chicago, according to the local ABC affiliate. A fellow extra said the stunt involved a vehicle towing another by cable. Allegedly, when the cable snapped, it whipped around and crashed through the windshield of Cedillo's car.

Cedillo, who is not a member of the pic’s stunt team, was airlifted to Loyola Medical Center.

Today was scheduled to be the film’s last day in the Chicago area, but filming has been canceled at the last minute. It is unknown yet if the cancellation is due to the accident.

The Telluride Film Festival, now in its 37th year, has unveiled its official lineup.

Mark Romanek's "Never Let Me Go," Tom Hooper's "The King's Speech," Peter Weir's "The Way Back" and Martin Scorsese's doc "A Letter to Elia" are among the fest's notable world premieres.

Cannes standouts "Another Year," "Biutiful," and "Carlos" will also screen at the festival, which runs September 3-6.

See full lineup below:

THE ‘SHOW’

37th Telluride Film Festival is pleased to present the following new feature films to play in the ‘SHOW’:

·      A LETTER TO ELIA (d. Martin Scorsese and Kent Jones, U.S., 2010)

·      ANOTHER YEAR (d. Mike Leigh, U.K., 2010)

·      BIUTIFUL (d. Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mexico, 2010)

·      CARLOS (d. Olivier Assayas, France, 2010)

·      CHICO AND RITA (d. Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal Spain-Cuba, 2010)

·      THE FIRST GRADER (d. Justin Chadwick, U.K., 2010)

·      THE FIRST MOVIE (d. Mark Cousins, U.K., 2009)

·      HAPPY PEOPLE: A YEAR IN THE TAIGA (d. Dmitry Vasyukov with Werner Herzog, Germany, 2010)

·      IF I WANT TO WHISTLE, I WHISTLE (d. Florin Serban, Romania, 2010)

·      THE ILLUSIONIST (d. Sylvain Chomet, U.K., France, 2010)

·      INCENDIES (d. Denis Villeneuve, Canada, 2010)

·      INSIDE JOB (d. Charles Ferguson, U.S., 2010)

·      THE KINGS SPEECH (d. Tom Hooper, U.K., 2010)

·      LE QUATTRO VOLTE (d. Michelangelo Frammartino, Italy, 2010)

·      NEVER LET ME GO (d. Mark Romanek, U.K./U.S., 2010)

·      OF GODS AND MEN (d. Xavier Beauvois, France, 2010)

·      OKA! AMERIKEE (d. Lavinia Currier, U.S.-Central African Republic, 2010)

·      POETRY (d. Lee Chang-dong, Korea, 2010)

·      PRECIOUS LIFE (d. Shlomi Eldar, Israel, 2010)

·      THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER (d. Bertrand Tavernier, France, 2010)

·      TABLOID (d. Errol Morris, U.S., 2010)

·      TAMARA DREWE (d. Stephen Frears, U.K., 2010)

·      THE TENTH INNING (d. Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, U.S., 2010)

·      THE WAY BACK (d. Peter Weir, U.K., 2010)

Mark Canton, producer of "Piranha 3D," has issued a lengthy (and heated) response to James Cameron's comments about the Weinstein horror pic.

In a recent Vanity Fair interview, Cameron bashed "Piranha 3D," saying the film "is exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3D. Because it just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3D horror films from the 70s and 80s."

Today, Canton came out swinging with a few comments of his own, noting that Cameron was originally attached to direct Piranha 2 but was later fired. He also tells the "Avatar" director "you did not invent 3D," claiming the technology in "Avatar" was inconsistent and "overwhelmed the storytelling."

Here's Canton's official response:

As a producer in the entertainment industry, Jim Cameron's comments on

Company 3 founder and president Stefan Sonnenfeld has inked a first-look producing deal at Paramount, the studio announced on Tuesday.

Sonnenfeld's post-production house Company 3 has worked on such films as "Transformers," "Alice in Wonderland," and "Star Trek."

HOLLYWOOD, CA (August 30, 2010) – Stefan Sonnenfeld has signed a first-look producing deal at Paramount Pictures, it was announced today by Adam Goodman, President of the Paramount Film Group. Along with this announcement, Sonnenfeld has simultaneously announced the creation of his newly formed production label.

 

Called one of the "50 Smartest People in Hollywood" by Entertainment Weekly, it was Sonnenfeld’s eye for discovering talent in his role as founder and President of Company 3 that drew Goodman to sign him to his first ever development deal with a studio. Said Goodman, “Stefan is uniquely positioned to help us find and develop emerging voices in other mediums, including those in the advertising and music video world, who can make the leap into features.” Sonnenfeld added, “With post-production playing such a large role in the filmmaking process these days, leveraging my knowledge, skills, resources and relationships opens up many different possibilities in this new partnership.”

 

A trusted collaborator of some of the most prolific filmmakers working today, Sonnenfeld has been a leader in the significant shift towards the highest level of artistry seen in the post-production industry in the last several years. In addition to his work with directors Michael Bay (“Transformers” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”), J.J. Abrams (2009’s “Star Trek” and “Cloverfield”), Tim Burton (“Sweeny Todd” and “Alice In Wonderland”), Gore Verbinski (“Pirates of the Carribean” and its sequels) and Zack Snyder (“300” and “Watchmen”), Sonnefeld has worked on commercial campaigns for Nike. Next up for Sonnenfeld is work on the 3rd installment in the “Transformers” series and the 4th in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DISNEY•PIXAR’S TOY STORY 3 WILL CROSS $1 BILLION TODAY; DISNEY TO BECOME FIRST STUDIO WITH TWO $1 BILLION FILMS IN ONE YEAR

BURBANK, Calif. – August 27, 2010 – Two weeks after becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time, Disney•Pixar’s Toy Story 3 will cross the $1 billion mark at the global box office today,  joining Alice in Wonderland as the second $1 billion film this year from The Walt Disney Studios – the first studio in history to accomplish this feat.  Disney first crossed the $1 billion threshold with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in 2006.  Toy Story 3 becomes the only animated film to reach this milestone and the seventh title in industry history. 

“It’s been an incredible year as we saw the Pixar team bring Buzz and Woody back to the big screen and watched Tim Burton’s vision for Alice in Wonderland take the world by storm,” said Rich Ross, Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios.  “These box office triumphs prove that creative storytelling brought to life by imaginative, inspired and talented professionals is something audiences respond to the world over.” 

As of Thursday (8/26/10), Toy Story 3 tallied more than $592.9 million internationally, Disney’s largest international animated release. Latin American audiences have contributed $138 million making Toy Story 3 the highest grossing Disney film ever released in the region.  Toy Story 3 is the most successful UK release in Disney history and currently stands as the fourth biggest title in territory history with $102.4 million in box office receipts so far.  In Japan, the film has taken in $111.2 million and spent five consecutive weeks as the #1 movie.  Toy Story 3 currently ranks as the #7 film in global box office history and domestically ranks #9 with $404.6 million in receipts to date.

Alice in Wonderland began setting records during its opening weekend (March 5-7), becoming the biggest March opening in industry history, the highest 3D opening ever and The Walt Disney Studios’ biggest opening for a non-sequel film.  Internationally, the film went on to tally more than $690 million, becoming Disney’s biggest overseas release of all time and the fourth biggest title ever released overseas.  Worldwide, the film took in $1.0243 billion, ranking it as the #5 film in global box office history. 

About The Walt Disney Studios
For more than 85 years, The Walt Disney Studios has been the foundation on which The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) was built. Today, the Studio brings quality movies, music and stage plays to consumers throughout the world. Feature films are released under four banners: Walt Disney Pictures, which includes Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios, Disneynature, Marvel, and Touchstone Pictures, which includes the distribution of live action films from DreamWorks Studios. Through the Home Entertainment and Television divisions, innovative distribution methods provide access to creative content across multiple platforms. Original music and motion picture soundtracks are produced under Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records, while Disney Theatrical Group produces and licenses live events, including Broadway theatrical productions, Disney on Ice and Disney LIVE!.  For more information, please visit www.disney.com.

Struggling home video rental giant Blockbuster is planning to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this September, the LA Times is reporting, citing anonymous sources:

Executives from Blockbuster and its senior debt holders last week held meetings with the six major movie studios to discuss their intention to enter a “pre-planned” bankruptcy in mid-September, said several people familiar with the situation who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of ongoing talks.

The Dallas-based company has been closing stores as more consumers switch to online rental services and kiosks. Blockbuster lost $435 million in the fourth quarter.

It's faced heavy competition from upstart kiosk service Redbox, and from Netflix. The latter service, with 15 million subscribers, has been raising eyebrows in Hollywood with major rights deals.

It became a player for pay TV movie rights through its output deal with Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity (another company that is shaking up the status quo). It struck an off-network TV deal with Warner Bros. for series that were a tough sell to mainstream basic cablers and local TV stations but perfect for the Netflix aficionado crowd. And it swooped in to offer desperately needed distribution and licensing fees for the partners in fledgling pay TV venture Epix (Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM) in a way that makes Netflix akin to a cable or satellite operator.

 

Michael Eisner in 2008 / WireImage

Michael Eisner, the former Walt Disney Co. chief, is in talks to lead a newly-restructured Tribune Company when that beleaguered media company emerges from bankruptcy, according to the Los Angeles Times.

It's part of a plan put forward by the company's major creditors. Tribune's bankruptcy has been contentious; on Friday, management's settlement with those creditors broke down.

In an interview with Variety on Aug. 23, the fifth anniversary of Eisner's departure from Disney, Eisner talked a bit about the Tribune Co.:

You are talking to somebody who is buying debt in the Tribune Co. The salvation of the newspaper is some kind of pay arrangement (online), which will evolve into something significant.

by Erin Maxwell

Marvel Studios is moving on a feature film for martial-arts superhero Iron Fist, tapping “xXx” scribe Rich Wilkes for scripting duties.

Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane in the ‘70s, Iron Fist is the story of Danny Rand, a superhero whose origin story began when he plunged his hands into the heart of a dragon during battle, rendering them indestructible. The character had several short runs in comc miniseries in the ‘70s and ‘80s before re-emerging in 2006 in “The Immortal Iron Fist” and later, as a member of the New Avengers.

"Iron Fist" is part of a recent endeavor by Marvel to round up errant properties for possible reboots under the Disney banner.

In addition to the Vin Diesel actioner, Wilkes also penned “Ballad of the Whiskey Robber," starring Johnny Depp.