Innholdsfortegnelse for #049 i eNews Magazine

Everyone warned Elizabeth Banks against filming the outdoor concert finale for “Pitch Perfect 2.” It was June in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was scorching hot, it was hurricane season, and they would have to build a full, functioning stage and recruit a small town of extras to make it believable. But Banks knew what she wanted. “I kept saying, `I don’t care, it’s going to look cool, we’ve got to do it’,” said the actress, producer, and now, feature director. It took nearly a month to build the Glastonbury Festival-inspired stage. As for the extras, the production sent out an open invitation casting call to fans of “Pitch Perfect.” Over 3,000 people showed up. The massive undertaking required four all-night shoots, multiple cameras, elaborate performances and a tolerance for mysterious…

The “Age of Ultron” is not over. The Avengers sequel topped the domestic box office for the second weekend in a row with an estimated $77.2 million according to Rentrak estimates Sunday. The film has earned a staggering $312.9 million in just 10 days in theaters, tying with “The Dark Knight” to become the second-fastest film to do so. While a wild success by any measure, the film is still lagging behind the record-setting precedent of 2012’s “The Avengers,” which made $103.1 million in its second weekend in theatres and had a domestic total of $373 million at the same point in the cycle. “Avengers: Age of Ultron” also added $68.3 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $875.3 million. The Disney and Marvel sequel opens in China on May…

COMING MONTHS MAY SEE THE NEXT BIG MARKET MODEL How do you consume music? Do you buy the latest CD albums of your favorite artists, or even collect dusty old vinyl records... or do you, like so many people, listen to most of it for free online? If you're in the latter category, you're far from alone. But you're also firmly in the crosshairs of an industry that is getting ever so slightly tired of not being paid for its efforts, as recent scuffles between Apple and Spotify are demonstrating. We imagine that you won't be surprised to learn that the two Internet music giants are far from the best of friends. It was Apple, after all, that turned the music world on its head with the launch of the…

Justin Bieber has completed most of the terms of his probation in a vandalism case filed after the pop singer threw eggs at his former neighbors’ house, a probation report filed Monday says. The performer has completed 12 anger management sessions and has signed up to work with a South Los Angeles group to improve its facilities, according to the report. Bieber, 21, has to complete five days of community service with the group to finish his sentence in the misdemeanor case. “His overall performance on probation has been good and he continues to display a cooperative attitude,” Bieber’s probation officer wrote. Bieber caused $80,000 worth of damage to his neighbors’ home in a gated community in Calabasas, a Los Angeles suburb, when he egged the couple’s home in January…

“The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” isn’t shying away from its name. With quests involving topless sorceresses, supernatural fetuses and missing frying pans, the third installment of the role-playing saga is expected to be the wildest yet for Polish video game developer CD Projekt RED The latest edition of the video game franchise based on Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy book series unflinchingly begins with a horse decapitation. “It’s a medieval world,” said Marcin Iwinski, co-founder and CEO of Warsaw, Poland-based CD Projekt RED. “It’s nothing strange. There are people dying on battlefields, and there are animals dying on battlefields. It’s just a way to show the world of `The Witcher’ as it was described in the books. I actually see a lot of similarities between `The Witcher’ and ` Game…

Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra is heading to American television with a lead role in the ABC drama “Quantico.” “Wow. I’m still reeling,” she said Monday night at a party to celebrate the presentations in New York this week where networks unveil new programming to advertisers. “Quantico” was “my first pick out of everything ABC sent me ... and I got it, so I was like, `and it got picked up,’ so it all happened so fast. I just hope it’s amazing and people love it.” Chopra plays an FBI trainee at Quantico Base in Virginia. “All of (the FBI agents) have secret pasts and something happens where one of us is blamed and then I have to find out who did it,” she laughed, adding that there’s “a lot of…

An 8.72-carat pink diamond ring believed part of a collection once owned by Princess Mathilde Bonaparte sold at auction Tuesday for $15.9 million, according to Sotheby’s Geneva. The auction house said “The Historic Pink Diamond” only recently resurfaced after sitting in a bank vault since the 1940s. A buyer was not disclosed by Sotheby’s. The vibrant cushion-cut diamond is considered extremely rare. It was sold as part of the auction house’s Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale. The princess was the niece of Napoleon I and a relative of King George II and the tsar of Russia. She amassed a collection of pearls, diamonds and other jewelry considered second only to the collection of Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, Sotheby’s said. Mathilde died in 1904. The pink diamond…

RETIREMENT BECKONS FOR LEGENDARY LATE NIGHT HOST Whatever your tastes in late night entertainment, it's extremely difficult not to have immense respect for one David Michael Letterman. The 68-year old Indianapolis native has well and truly shaken up the late night chat show game since the debut in February 1982 of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC, and now, Late Show with David Letterman - which he first presented in 1993 on CBS - is itself drawing to a close to coincide with the host's retirement. Letterman's career is one that has been festooned with praise, awards and popular adulation. In 1996, he figured in TV Guide's list of the 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time, and in 2013, he became the longest-serving late night talk show host…

The American Music Program of Portland, Oregon, has won Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington high school jazz band competition after an emotional performance honoring its ailing director. Wynton Marsalis, JALC’s Managing and Artistic Director, presented the band with the first-place trophy and a $5,000 award at Saturday night’s finals concert at Frederick P. Rose Hall. Last year’s winner, the Tucson Jazz Institute, took second place, while Lexington High School from Massachusetts finished third. Marsalis, who helped judge the competition, said he was impressed that the Portland band played one of Duke Ellington’s most difficult pieces, “The Tattooed Bride,” from memory. The student musicians dedicated their performance to their director Thara Memory, Marsalis said. Memory, who founded the American Music Program in 2005 as a regional jazz youth orchestra, has…

Welcome to Me A woman with borderline personality disorder, Alice Klieg (Kristen Wiig) wins the Mega-Millions, and soon sends her parents, therapist, gay ex-husband and local TV station into despair by spending the winnings on her own cable access talk show. Obsessed with becoming famous, Klieg sets her sights on becoming the next Oprah. FIVE FACTS: 1. Welcome to Me was directed by Shira Piven and written by Eliot Laurence. 2. Other cast members included James Marsden, Linda Cardellini and Wes Bentley. 3. Filming took place largely in the Greater Los Angeles area. 4. The movie premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 5, 2014. 5. Laurence has said that the film was based on a personal experience: “I had a rather dark period in my life. A close friend…

A new type of blood test is starting to transform cancer treatment, sparing some patients the surgical and needle biopsies long needed to guide their care. The tests, called liquid biopsies, capture cancer cells or DNA that tumors shed into the blood, instead of taking tissue from the tumor itself. A lot is still unknown about the value of these tests, but many doctors think they are a big advance that could make personalized medicine possible for far more people. They give the first noninvasive way to repeatedly sample a cancer so doctors can profile its genes, target drugs to mutations, tell quickly whether treatment is working, and adjust it as the cancer evolves. Two years ago, these tests were rarely used except in research. Now, several are sold, more…

NBC is turning to some proven players for next year’s schedule, resurrecting its “Heroes” franchise, bringing back Craig T. Nelson as “Coach” and turning to veteran producer Dick Wolf for a medical drama based in Chicago. The network is also trying the interesting experiment of airing the sitcom “Undateable” live each week. It’s NBC’s only returning comedy. Favorites “The Voice” and “The Blacklist” will be back in the same time slots. NBC on Sunday became the first of the major broadcast networks to release their schedule for next season. NBC and Fox present their schedule to advertisers on Monday. WHAT’S NEW Fourteen new series, including six comedies, seven dramas and one variety show. Given the year-round nature of TV schedules now, only six will begin with the traditional September start…

Bassem Youssef, the man dubbed the “Jon Stewart of Egypt,” is eyeing new projects after teaching students at Harvard University’s prestigious Kennedy School of Government how satire can disrupt the social and political order. It’s a topic the 41-year-old heart surgeon-turned-satirist knows well. Youssef rocketed to fame after the 2011 Arab Spring revolution as host of a wildly popular Egyptian political satire show. “El Bernameg” - Arabic for “The Program” - was canceled in June 2014 amid mounting pressure by the military-led government to crack down on dissenting voices. Youssef and his family, concerned for their safety, left the country months later. At a recent appearance at a downtown Boston law firm, Youssef said he hasn’t ruled out an eventual return to television. He’s had plenty of offers, he says,…

The swan song of “American Idol” and heavy doses of comedy and sci-fi will mark Fox’s 2015-16 season. The once-blockbuster singing contest, which launched the careers of Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson, has seen its audience dwindle and age. “Idol” will come back next year for its 15th and final season with returning judges Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban, Fox said Monday. Ten new series will debut next season on Fox, including the comedy-horror series “Scream Queens” from “Glee” producer Ryan Murphy, with veteran scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis in the cast. New dramas will include “Minority Report,” based on Steven Spielberg’s futuristic film, and “The Frankenstein Code,” about a resurrected former lawman. Fox and the other broadcast networks are unveiling their plans to advertisers…

Traveller Chris Stapleton This Dave Cobb-produced effort may be the Lexington, Kentucky native’s debut album, but you may recognize his name from songwriting credits for such stars as Kenny Chesney, George Strait and Darius Rucker. Now, he finally gets to stand out in his own right, with a lead single - “Traveller” - written solely by him. FIVE FACTS: 1. Christopher Alvin Stapleton was born on April 15, 1978. 2. He has four number one songs to his credit as a songwriter, including “Never Wanted Nothing More”, “Love’s Gonna Make It Alright” and “Come Back Song”. 3. His songs have also been recorded by such artists as Adele, Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley. 4. Stapleton is the former lead singer and guitarist of the bluegrass band…

The silences in “Mad Max: Fury Road” are unsettling. The moments are few and infrequent, but it’s not until the fiery roar of the engines and the thrashing of the guitars are suddenly stripped away that you can fully feel how deeply the film has flooded your being. The theater - and your heart - pulsates with the lack as you recover and wait for more. It’s in the silences that director George Miller’s singular genius becomes evident, and for good reason: It’s the only time the film allows you to breathe. Thirty years after Miller gave the world “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome,” he’s returned to his own post-apocalyptic world and created an exceptional, fearless and poetic masterpiece that’s primed to become a modern classic. In this anarchic world, Max…