Moore's credit crunch film tops bill in Venice

ROME (Reuters) – Michael Moore's documentary on the global financial crisis, "Capitalism: A Love Story", will vie for the top prize at this year's Venice film festival.

The Oscar winner's is one of six U.S. movies in the main competition at the world's oldest film festival, a sign U.S. film-making is back in business after last year's problems, according to organizers.

"It seemed that the writers' strike, the financial difficulties had slammed the brakes on the most creative part of American cinema, but the selection has never been so great," said festival director Marco Mueller as he unveiled the program of the Sept 2-12 event.

Also up for the Golden Lion are Werner Herzog's remake of "Bad Lieutenant", former Gucci designer Tom Ford's directorial debut "A Single Man" and John Hillcoat's "The Road", an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's bestseller starring Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron.

One title among the 24 films in the official contest has yet to be unveiled.

Highlights out of competition include Steven Soderbergh's "The Informant!", with Matt Damon as the whistle-blower in an agri-business powerhouse, and Joe Dante's 3-D horror "The Hole".

George Clooney, star of last year's opening film by the Coen brothers, will be back on the Lido in Grant Heslov's satirical drama "The Men Who Stare at Goats".

Italy and France will also loom large over Venice with four films each in the main lineup, including Jaco van Dormael's "Mr Nobody" and Giuseppe Tornatore's epic drama "Baaria", the first Italian movie to open the festival in two decades.

The heavy U.S. presence promises a steady flow of Hollywood stars on the Lido red carpet, unlike last year, and there will be a career award for John Lasseter and his fellow Pixar directors for their animation blockbusters.

To mark the award, new 3D versions of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will screen at the festival.

Demi Lovato rules album chart; Jordin Sparks bombs

NEW YORK (Billboard) – A Disney starlet crushed an "American Idol" champion on the U.S. pop album chart Wednesday, but Michael Jackson managed to outsell both.

Demi Lovato's second album "Here We Go Again" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with after selling 108,000 copies during the week ended July 26, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The star of Disney Channel's "Sonny With a Chance" bowed at No. 2 last September when "Don't Forget" sold 89,000 copies.

But while Lovato ruled the Billboard 200, Jackson's 2003 hits set "Number Ones" sold 154,000 copies. However, it was ineligible for the Billboard 200, which generally ranks those albums less than 18 months old. Instead, it topped Billboard's Comprehensive Albums chart, which combines both current and catalog releases.

Elsewhere on the Billboard 200, 2007 "Idol" winner Jordin Sparks' second album "Battlefield" debuted at No. 7 with 48,000 copies. Her 2007 self-titled debut entered and peaked at No. 10 with 119,000.

Last week's No. 1 album, Daughtry's "Leave This Town," slipped to No. 2 with just under 101,000 copies, and Maxwell's "BLACKsummers'night" was also down one, to No. 3, with 72,000. The multi-artist "Now 31" album held at No. 4 with 58,000, and the "Hannah Montana 3" TV soundtrack fell two to No. 5 with 54,000.

The Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D." fell one to No. 6 with 52,000. Kings of Leon's "Only By The Night" jumped two to No. 8 with 39,000, Taylor Swift's "Fearless" held at No. 9 with 37,000, and Lady GaGa's "The Fame" rose one to No. 10 with 28,000.

Overall album sales totaled 6.25 million units, down 7.8% compared to the previous week, and down 20.3% compared to the same sales week of 2008. Year-to-date album sales stand at 201.7 million, down 14.1% compared to the same total at this point last year.

Coetzee, Byatt nominated for Man Booker Prize

Past Man Booker Prize winners J.M. Coetzee and A.S. Byatt will have another crack at one of the world's most prestigious literary prizes this fall.

Both have been named to a list of 13 writers nominated for this year's £50,000 ($89,340 Cdn) award.

South Africa's Coetzee, who has won twice before, forLife & Times of Michael K in 1983 and Disgrace in 1999, has been nominated this year for Summertime.

Byatt's The Children's Book, which she launched in North America at Montreal's Blue Metropolis Festival, is also vying for the prize. British-born Byatt won in 1990 for Possession.

The other nominees are:

* Adam Foulds, The Quickening Maze
* Sarah Hall, How to Paint a Dead Man
* Samantha Harvey, The Wilderness
* James Lever, Me Cheeta
* Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
* Simon Mawer, The Glass Room
* Ed O'Loughlin, Not Untrue & Not Unkind
* James Scudamore, Heliopolis
* Colm Toibin, Brooklyn
* William Trevor, Love and Summer
* Sarah Waters, The Little Stranger

British writer Lever is making his debut with Me Cheeta, an insider's account of 1930s Hollywood told from the point of view of the chimpanzee Cheeta, who starred in the Tarzan movies.

He is one of three debut novelists on the list along with Britain's Harvey and Ireland's O'Loughlin.

There are two other Irish writers on the list — veteran novelist Trevor and previously shortlisted Toibin, who was nominated in 2004 for The Master and in 1999 for The Blackwater Lightship.

The jury considered more than 130 novels, including nine by former winners.

"This is an eclectic list, taking us from the court of Henry VIII to the Hollywood jungle, with stops along the way in a 19th-century Essex asylum, an African war zone and a futuristic Brazilian city among other places," said jury chair James Naughtie.

A shortlist of six books will be revealed on Sept. 8, and the winner will be named in October.

Aravind Adiga won the Man Booker Prize in 2008 for his debut novel The White Tiger.

Apple working on digital albums, tablet PC: sources

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The major music labels are planning a new digital album format that will debut with a tablet-like personal computer from Apple Inc in September, people familiar with the plans said on Monday.

The labels are attempting to revive the multi-track album format with new software that packages songs, traditional album liner notes, music videos, and other interactive extras as part of a premium-priced package.

The music industry first proposed the idea of an enhanced album format to Apple in 2007, according to two people who said the labels have been separately working on a project code-named "CMX".

The labels, including EMI Group, Sony Corp's Sony Music Entertainment, Vivendi's Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group had planned to roll out the new album format to all digital retailers this November.

But Apple decided to design its own version of an interactive album, which is expected to be launched with its new unnamed tablet-like device this fall, the sources said.

The Apple album project has been code-named 'Cocktail' and the format is expected to work with other Apple devices like the iPhone and iPod.

Industry sources said Chief Executive Steve Jobs would likely unveil the new device at an Apple event in September.

Apple declined to comment, saying the company does not respond to rumors and speculation. News of Apple and the label's plan was first reported by the Financial Times.

The partnership between Apple and the music labels is tinged with irony as it was the technology company that effectively marked the end of the multitrack album format in 2003, when it opened up its iTunes Music Store.

In early negotiations, Jobs made the labels agree to allow customers to buy any individual track they wanted from an album, in a bid to simplify the purchase process.

But record companies are desperate to breathe new life into the album format, which was responsible for the vast majority of profits when sales were primarily in compact discs.

All music companies have seen their revenues plummet as fans who buy music online choose the 99 cent-priced track they want rather than invest in an album which is typically priced around $8 to $10.

The new interactive format, which could feature extras like interviews with the artist while making the album, would be sold at a higher price than digital albums now. Insiders said there is early evidence from current bundling experiments than fans are prepared to spend more for high quality content.

"Almost every time we've sold product with extras at a premium price it outsells the normal priced product," said one label executive who asked not to be named while the companies are still in talks.

Taylor Hackford elected Directors Guild president

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Taylor Hackford, director of movies including "Ray," "Dolores Claiborne" and "An Officer and a Gentleman," will succeed Michael Apted as president of the Directors Guild of America.

Hackford was chosen Saturday during the guild's biennial national convention at Directors Guild headquarters in Hollywood. Steven Soderbergh was re-elected national vice president, and Gilbert Cates was re-elected secretary-treasurer.

The 135 delegates on hand also elected members of a new national board of directors. The union represents more than 14,000 members.

After a year and a half of labor unrest, which included a four-month writers' strike and a protracted stand-off by the leading Hollywood actors' union, Hackford faces the challenge of navigating the next round of contract negotiations looming in 2011.

With new-media considerations dominating the previous round's contentious debates, that next round most likely will unfold as a battle over the digital future and how Hollywood's creative community should be compensated as content migrates to the Web.

Hackford took aim at Internet piracy in a statement after his victory. "We have to be aware of the challenges we're facing in protecting our work on the Internet," he said. "What's euphemistically called 'Internet piracy,' I choose to call by its true name, 'Internet theft.' It threatens the future of our economic lives: our employment, residuals and pension and health plans. Solutions won't come easy, but they must be found, if we are going to survive as professional filmmakers."

Apted served three consecutive two-year terms after he was elected to succeed Martha Coolidge in 2003.

New faces at Bayreuth as annual opera festival opens

BAYREUTH, Germany - The annual Bayreuth opera festival opened under new management Saturday, with composer Richard Wagner's great-granddaughters in charge for the first time after their father ran the show for more than 50 years.

Half-sisters Katharina Wagner, 31, and Eva Wagner-Pasquier, 64, welcomed luminaries such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel - a regular pilgrim to Bayreuth - and Bavarian Gov. Horst Seehofer to the Festspielhaus.

The new directors are offering innovations such as a trimmed-down version of "The Flying Dutchman" for children but, with performers booked years ahead, the main program at this year's 98th edition of the festival focuses on familiar fare.

This year's opening performance was "Tristan and Isolde," staged by Christoph Marthaler, with Robert Dean Smith as Tristan and Irene Theorin as Isolde.

On Aug. 9, a "Tristan" performance will be broadcast live on the Internet and also screened live in a central Bayreuth square - moves championed by Katharina Wagner.

The new team's innovations "constitute promising beginnings of reform, even if the new directors' artistic signature will only be visible in the long term," Culture Minister Bernd Neumann said this week.

"I wish both of them luck and success for the further development of this incomparable cultural event," he said.

The new directors made a fleeting appearance Saturday at a press reception ahead of the first performance, but took no questions.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Katharina Wagner said that "it is a matter of the heart for me to bring opera to the people."

She said she hoped to promote a "better understanding" of the works by offering opera-goers pre-performance talks by experts.

The half-sisters' appointment last September ended a years-long battle in which their 89-year-old father, Wolfgang Wagner, long resisted efforts to dislodge him. He had led the festival since 1951, when he and his brother Wieland revived it following a Second World War hiatus.

After Wieland died of cancer in 1966, Wolfgang remained as the festival's sole director. In recent years, feelings grew that the annual event would benefit from an injection of fresh ideas.

Wolfgang finally agreed to step aside after last year's festival; and Katharina and Eva teamed up to beat out a rival bid from their cousin, Nike Wagner.

Alongside "Tristan and Isolde," festival-goers this year also can look forward to Katharina Wagner's own staging of "Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg," now in its third year; Tankred Dorst's "Der Ring des Nibelungen;" and Stefan Herheim's "Parsifal." The festival runs through Aug. 28.

Cameron's Avatar premieres at convention

Director James Cameron premiered footage of his highly anticipated film Avatar Thursday at Comic-Con in San Diego.

More than 6,000 fans at the convention got to see a 25-minute sneak peek of the 3-D adventure, Cameron's first film since the 1997 blockbuster Titanic.

Cameron, who once served as chief executive of the special effects firm Digital Domain, wrote the film's story 14 years ago.

"I decided to write a story that was full of creatures and characters that would push the art of CG for that company," Cameron said.

Digital Domain, unfortunately, did not have the technology to create Cameron's vision, so the Canadian director had no choice but to put his project on hold. Ten years later, with technology advanced, Cameron decided to take a stab at the film.

"[It was about] wanting to do something that has a conscience, that maybe in the enjoying of it makes you think a little bit about the way you interact with nature and your fellow man," said Cameron before premiering the footage.

Avatar is set in a fictional planet called Pandora. Green forests, pink flowers, strange dinosaur creatures and the Navi people inhabit the planet. In the movie, the people of Earth find themselves at odds with the Navi people.

Sam Worthington stars as Jake Sully, a solider on duty in Pandora, and Zoe Saldana stars as Neytin, the Navi princess.

The film also stars Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine.

Fans can see a free 15-minute preview of Avatar in digital theatres worldwide on Avatar Day, Aug. 21.

Avatar is set to hit theatres Dec. 18.

Judge approves deals to reprint Michael Jackson's autobiography 'Moonwalk'

LOS ANGELES - A judge on Thursday cleared the way for Michael Jackson's autobiography, "Moonwalk," to return to store shelves in the United States, Canada and Europe.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff approved a request by the temporary administrators of the pop icon's estate to enter into new publishing deals.

Details of the agreements were filed under seal. But the deals will allow the 1988 book to be reprinted in the United States, Canada, England, Germany and France.

Publishing rights in the United States and Canada will be given to Shaye Areheart, who was the original editor of "Moonwalk." Her company is a part of Random House Inc.

"Moonwalk" has been out of print for more than a decade. It was originally published by Doubleday and was acquired by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Other publishers will handle the overseas releases.

The "Moonwalk" rights are the first deal that the temporary administrators of Jackson's estate have brought to Beckloff for approval. The estate is being handled by attorney John Branca and music executive and Jackson family friend John McClain.

Court records state "Moonwalk" could hit store shelves in France by August. The records don't indicate when sales in other countries would begin.

Montreal gay pride festival funding denied

The fate of this year’s Divers/Cité festival in Montreal was up in the air on Wednesday after the federal government said it would not approve funding for the event.

Divers/Cité, Montreal’s gay pride arts festival, was counting on $155,000 in new funding from Ottawa.

In an email from Industry Canada, spokeswoman Christiane Fox said there are just too many worthwhile events to allow government funding for all of them.

The directors of Divers/Cité in Montreal said bureaucrats told them their funding request met all the criteria, and that final approval was with Industry Minister Tony Clement’s office. But on Monday, organizers were told the Conservative government had rejected their request.

Suzanne Girard, director of Divers/Cité, said Wednesday the event's organizers are reeling from the news.

"To be told that there is no money, when there is. They have $100 million put aside; they chose not to give to Divers/Cité. The reasons … we don’t know. Is it we're gay? Is it we're Montrealers? We’re Québécois? It's incredible they would decide at this late date, five days before our event starts,” said Girard.

Girard said the Divers/Cité festival, in its 17th year, provides vital economic stimulus.

"Per capita, we bring in more tourism than any other festival in Canada. And you can ask any Montreal taxi driver, the hotels … about our impact on Montreal … we are a niche market, we are an extremely important tourism event," said Girard.

Girard said that without the funding, whole days of the eight-day festival might get cancelled.

Divers/Cité features gay and lesbian performers from around the world, and brings in 55,000 visitors to Montreal every year. It’s currently scheduled to run July 26 to August 2.

Uma Thurman to star in film inspired by Canadian writer

Actress Uma Thurman will star in a film inspired by Canadian journalist Kathy Cook's non-fiction book, Stolen Angels.

Caspian Pictures in Burbank, Calif., says Thurman has been cast as Sister Caroline, the protagonist of the film Girl Soldier. Her character helps rescue dozens of kidnapped Ugandan schoolgirls.

"This is a film that had to get made," Thurman told Variety. "It's beyond me that in this day and age the exploitation of child soldiers goes virtually unnoticed and unchecked by Western media."

Filming is set to begin early next year in South Africa. Co-stars include Souleymane Sy Savane.

Cook's book documents the abduction of 30 Ugandan schoolgirls by a rebel leader in October 1996. The kidnapped girls were forced to become sex slaves and soldiers.

Caspian Pictures says Cook, who hails from Ottawa, is a consultant on the film.

Huge Hollywood prop house closing after 40 years

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hollywood's second-largest prop house is going out of business with its owner saying he has fallen victim to film and TV production leaving California for other U.S. states that lure producers with tax incentives and fewer restrictions.

20th Century Props is closing its doors for good at the end of July and auctioning off a collection of 93,000 props from such films as "Cleopatra" and "Titanic", as well as TV's "The X Files" and "Golden Girls" and music videos from Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and Madonna.

"I ran out of money about three months ago. The Hollywood business is leaving town and going to various other states," 20th Century's owner, Harvey Schwartz, told Reuters.

"I'm broken hearted," he said. "I've built this huge company that is a one-of-a-kind company that can fulfill Hollywood's needs like no other."

Schwartz has run 20th Century Props for 40 years, claiming to be the second-biggest prop house in the world and the largest under one roof, a 120,000 square foot (11,150 sq meter) warehouse in suburban North Hollywood near Universal Studios.

He said business been slowing down for years as productions left California for Canada and other states that offered tax credits and eased rules about filming.

"They are also offering really low prices on filming on the streets and filming permits, where California raised the prices last year," he said.

Schwartz said he diversified a few years ago, going into parties and events, but "then last November the economy took a nosedive and everybody canceled their parties and events for the holidays."

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in February signed a law creating the first-ever tax credits for film and TV productions in California. But they don't take effect until 2011 and Schwartz said that's too late to save his business.

"Hollywood is Hollywood and we'll never lose that cachet, but Hollywood represents the past," he said.

The auction runs July 28 through Aug 1 at Schwartz's warehouse in North Hollywood, followed by an online sale.

"Harry Potter" works wonders at Chicago exhibit

CHICAGO (Hollywood Reporter) – Leave it to the Warner Bros. marketing team to get the last nickel out of Harry Potter, beyond the nearly $5 billion the films have grossed at the box office worldwide.

The studio has been collecting millions more from the Harry Potter Exhibition, which opened April 30 and runs until September 27 in a pre-fab 10,000-square-foot tent directly in front of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.

The exhibit offers a firsthand look at more than 200 costumes and props. The artifacts and costumes are displayed in settings that are "inspired" by the film sets from the numerous movies, including the Great Hall during the Yule Ball, Hagrid's Hut (which includes a Hippogriff, an oversized chair, a bubbling cauldron and a dragon's egg) and the Gryffindor common room. Among the props and costumes are Harry's original wand and glasses, props from the Quidditch matches, a study of Dobby -- the knee-high house elf -- and more.

The exhibit for Professor Lockhart (the egomaniacal buffoon played by Kenneth Branagh), who taught Defense Against the Dark Arts in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," included Lockhart's wand, a few of his books and a painting of Lockhart painting himself. Warners, which takes 100% of the admission revenue ($26 for adults, $25 for seniors and $19 for kids aged 3 to 11), built the tent and used more than 400 show lights, 32 display cases, 28 themed vignettes, 25 robes, 16 wands and 5,720 pounds of rigging, lighting, speakers, cables and special effects.

"The incredible stories written by J.K. Rowling and the films from Warner Bros. Pictures have helped us create a truly one-of-a-kind experience for fans of all ages," said Brad Globe, president of Warner Bros. Consumer Products.

The museum benefits from the extra traffic and charges an additional fee for entrance. Warners has placed the gift shop at the exit and allows kids and their parents to buy copies of every trinket, prop, book, robe or costume from the Potter movies. Higher-end props include a replica of the flying broom Nimbus 2001 for $299.95, a Firebolt replica broom for $399.99, a set of wands in the Tri-Wizard Championship for $200, Dumbledore's magic wand for $44.99 and the Death Eater mask collection for $129.99.

Warners declined to say how much it would likely take in from the merchandise on offer at the Museum show, but an outside source pegged the figure around $7 million.

Has lead story on CBS Evening News

Mansbridge, who never met the CBS anchor, said he was thrilled in 1978 when one of his stories — about a Soviet satellite falling and landing in Canada's North — aired as the lead story on the CBS Evening News.

"Obviously for me it was an enormous moment because this was Cronkite, the greatest figure in television news in the '60s and '70s, and nobody got close to him in that title, and to have him mention my name — wow!"

Mansbridge said he still has the tape of the CBS newscast.

CTV National News anchor Lloyd Robertson said that, because of Cronkite, anchors "participate, talk to reporters [and] they do interviews with guests."

"He set the standard … all of us were gauged on: Could we be trusted? Did we have his respect for the facts?" Robertson said.

Robertson said he met Cronkite three times. On one occasion, Robertson was hosting an event in Toronto where Cronkite was the main speaker.

"I kept calling him Mr. Cronkite because I was so awestruck by him," Robertson said.

"He finally turned me and said, 'It's all right, Lloyd, you can call me Walter.'"

Canadian anchors praise Cronkite's high standards

Two of Canada's top television anchors added their words of admiration and respect in the wake of the death of legendary newsman Walter Cronkite.

Cronkite, 92, died of cerebral vascular disease on Friday.

"I think he inspired all of us who got into journalism in the '60s," said Peter Mansbridge, anchor for the CBC's The National, said in an interview on Newsworld on Saturday.

"He was one of those who said a reporter could do more than just tell a story, in terms of a cut piece. The reporter could be there on the story — on the set or linked up with the anchor — he kind of pioneered that."

Mansbridge said he remembers what would become one of Cronkite's most iconic newscasts — the announcement of the death of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Mansbridge was a high school student in Ottawa at the time and watched the CBC's link-up with CBS.

"There was Cronkite shepherding us through what was an unbelievable three to four day period right through the funeral … and then 2 days later, the murder of the man who was accused of assassinating him, Lee Harvey Oswald," recalled Mansbridge.

"What a job to be a witness to history and to teach people what was going on through asking questions and finding out what was happening."

Singer 'devastated' by accident

Madonna was reportedly "devastated" when she learned of the incident while warming up for her concert in Udine, Italy, on Thursday.

The singer later paid tribute to the deceased and injured workers while on stage, breaking out in tears as she shared news of the incident with the audience and asking fans to take "a moment to stop and to stop and think of the people who have lost their lives. We need to appreciate life, the people we love and our families."

She also issued a statement, sending her "prayers... out to those who were injured and their families, along with my deepest sympathy to all those affected by this heartbreaking news."

Since last summer, Madonna has been travelling the world performing her Sticky and Sweet tour in support of her 2008 album Hard Candy.

Music trade magazine Pollstar named the Sticky and Sweet world tour the top concert attraction of 2008, earning Madonna $281.6 million US last year.

It also helped vault the entertainer to the top of Billboard magazine's 2008 annual list of the top music world money-makers.

France to investigate Madonna stage collapse that killed 2

French prosecutors announced Friday they have opened a manslaughter investigation into the stage collapse in Marseille that killed two workers ahead of a weekend concert by Madonna.

Initial hearings will take place Sunday or Monday, conducted by the prosecutor's office for manslaughter and involuntary injuries in work-related accidents, assistant prosecutor Marc Simamonti said.

A French worker died instantly and a British worker later died a local hospital from injuries suffered in the incident, which occurred Thursday at the Stade Velodrome in the southern French port city. A partially completed roof section of the complex and an intricate set collapsed on top of several people.

Eight others were injured in the accident, with one in critical and four in serious condition, officials said.

Though it was initially noted that an American was among those in serious condition, authorities have confirmed that the remaining casualties are all French citizens.

Sunday's Marseille concert has been cancelled.

Toony 'Family Guy' vies with live-action sitcoms

NEW YORK – More than most other Emmy categories, the nominations for best comedy series emerge as a clash of disparate contenders.

With the announcement of the 61st annual Primetime Emmy Awards Thursday, a familiar, knotty question rears its head again: Just what kind of comedy is fit to be honored above the rest when Emmy time rolls around?

Maybe it should be a multi-camera sitcom such as CBS' "How I Met Your Mother," whose format takes its cue from "I Love Lucy" more than half-a-century ago. Or what about more cinematic, edgier half-hours such as HBO's "Entourage" and Showtime's "Weeds," where a sexy, middle-class widow tries to maintain her family's lifestyle by dealing drugs?

The quirky, not-for-everyone-by-design "Flight of the Conchords" has its clutch of admirers on HBO — which dares to twist the half-hour comedy form into something truly different, almost studiously amateurish and refreshingly so.

Michael Jackson rules pop charts for 3rd week

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Michael Jackson's memorial proved to be good for business, sparking another nostalgic frenzy for his music that continues to put the King of Pop atop music charts since his sudden death three weeks ago.

Jackson's catalog of solo albums sold 1.1 million U.S. copies in the week ended July 12, and his greatest-hits set "Number Ones" ranked as the top-selling album for a third straight week, Nielsen SoundScan reported on Wednesday.

Physical CDs, rather than Internet downloads, accounted for 90 percent of the business as music stores rushed to restock their Jackson inventory. Downloads had dominated sales immediately after his death.

The bulk of last week's sales came in the days following a two-hour-plus memorial salute to Jackson, which was televised live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles last Tuesday and featured numerous recording stars performing musical tributes.

Coroner's official serves subpoena to Jackson doc

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – A Los Angeles coroner's official has visited the office of Michael Jackson's dermatologist to serve a subpoena seeking additional medical records.

Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter went to Arnold Klein's Beverly Hills office around midday Tuesday.

Speaking to a throng of reporters outside the office, he said Klein had been cooperating in the investigation. Craig Harvey, the coroner's chief of operations, says it's the second time coroner's investigators have served Klein a subpoena.

They are focusing on the role drugs played in causing Jackson's death.

Klein has recently given TV interviews saying he sedated Jackson for medical procedures. He denied ever giving the pop star an unnecessary dose of drugs.

Actor Neil Patrick Harris to host Emmy Awards show

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actor Neil Patrick Harris, best known as the star of TV comedy "How I Met Your Mother," will host the prime-time Emmy Awards in September, organizers said on Monday.

The selection of Harris, 36, marks a return to a more traditional hosting format for the annual ceremony, which hands out television's top honors and is broadcast live in the United States.

Last year, in a nod to the impact of reality TV, the job of hosting the prime-time Emmys was given to five reality show emcees whose ad-libbed presentation and lack of rehearsal was widely panned by critics.

Harris hosted Broadway's Tony Awards in New York in June and with his teenage start has a long career on TV, in movies and on the stage.

A&E's Jackson family reality show a thriller

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – A&E is working on a reality project with the Jackson family which could gain newfound viewer interest in the wake of the King of Pop's death.

The network commissioned a one-hour special following Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Randy that was originally intended to serve as a "backdoor pilot" for a potential series. The project was commissioned months ago and producers have finished shooting footage that followed Jackson family members as they readied a new album and reunion tour.

A&E planned to air the result as a special, tentatively titled "The Jackson Family," next year, taking a "wait and see" approach and gauging viewer reaction before deciding whether to order the project as a series.

After Michael's unexpected death last month and subsequent intensive media coverage, the question for A&E becomes: What now?

Producers have not shot any additional footage with the family since Jackson's death, leaving the network with a project that's still attractive -- one that uses footage and interviews capturing the current incarnation of The Jacksons as entertainers, entrepreneurs and family members -- yet also has a glaring narrative omission hanging over its current form.

China to build own Neverland as Michael Jackson tribute

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese developers are commemorating the late Michael Jackson by building a scaled-down replica of his Neverland Ranch on an island off Shanghai, a state-run newspaper said on Friday.

Investors in the project, which will cost about 100 million yuan ($15 million) to build, hope it will open on Chongming island ahead of next year's Expo in Shanghai, the China Daily newspaper reported.

While they are not as popular as the Taiwanese and Hong Kong stars who dominate the music scene in China, Western artists are making inroads in the local market, thanks to young fans.

"By building a Neverland here in China, we want to pay tribute to him and at the same time offer the Chinese people an outlet for expressing their love toward him," the report quoted Qiu Xuefan, one of the investors, as saying.

Jackson, who died on June 25 in Los Angeles, abandoned Neverland -- once filled with theme-park rides and even a zoo -- after his child molestation trial in 2005.

"Harry Potter" stars felt pressure to "ace" kiss

NEW YORK (Reuters) – "Harry Potter" stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint felt the pressure of millions of fans of the boy wizard series when they recently filmed a highly anticipated kiss between their characters Hermione and Ron.

The kiss happens in the seventh and final book in author J.K. Rowling's series and Watson told a news conference on Thursday -- promoting the sixth film "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" -- that the scene was filmed two weeks ago.

"Rupert and I were quite nervous that it might look ingenuous as we were so desperate to get it over with," Watson, 19, said. "Rupert and I felt the pressure of this kiss, there's so much interest."

"This is 10 years worth of tension and hormones and chemistry and everything in one moment. We had to ace it," said Watson. "Kissing is awkward, kissing is always awkward."

The final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," is being split into two films and it remains unknown which of the final two movies contains the kiss.

Michael Jackson's family silent on burial plans

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – More than 31 million Americans watched Michael Jackson's public memorial on television, but mystery surrounded the whereabouts of his body on Wednesday and plans for his burial.

A day after Jackson's casket was taken to a Los Angeles basketball arena for an emotional memorial for fans, friends and his family, attention returned to how Jackson got his hands on powerful prescription drugs reportedly found in his rented mansion after his sudden death on June 25.

Sales of Jackson's albums soared for a second week, with his solo albums jumping another 90 percent to 800,000 copies in the United States, tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan said.

Nielsen Media Research said 31.1 million Americans watched Tuesday's Los Angeles memorial live on television. The figure is lower than the TV audience of some other recent events.

Some 49.5 million Americans tuned in for President Barack Obama's first White House news conference in February, and 35 million watched former President Ronald Reagan's 2004 burial live on TV.

Poignant service says goodbye to M.J., the man

LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson was an entertainment phenomenon both triumphant and troubled, a dazzling performer who transcended barriers, transformed the music world and transfixed fans and non-fans alike in every corner of the Earth.

But Tuesday's memorial was not for that Michael Jackson.

Instead, those closest to the legend gave us a glimpse of Michael Jackson the man.

In a poignant and serene service, the portrait they painted was of a human just as remarkable, making his loss doubly painful to bear for those who truly loved him.

"I just wanted to say ... ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just wanted to say I love him — so much," said Jackson's 11-year-old daughter, Paris-Michael, before dissolving into tears and falling into the embrace of her aunt Janet.

Music stars lined up for Jackson memorial

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Some of the biggest names in pop music, from singers Mariah Carey and Stevie Wonder to Motown records founder Berry Gordy, will take part in Michael Jackson's memorial on Tuesday, the family said.

In the first official details of the public memorial in the Staples Center arena in downtown Los Angeles, Jackson's family said singers Usher and Lionel Richie, civil rights leader Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, and basketball stars Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant would also be among the participants.

The statement from the family said the list was preliminary, subject to change and that there would be no further information on the program. It was not clear whether singers like Carey and Wonder would perform at the event, which is expected to last two hours.

Lawyers for Jackson's ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, said she had decided against attending because "her attendance would be an unnecessary distraction." Rowe has not decided whether to challenge the family for custody of Jackson's three children.

OMG!! Jackson fans beat odds for memorial tickets

LOS ANGELES – Like a modern-day Willy Wonka tale, fans celebrated Sunday after beating the odds to win coveted tickets to Michael Jackson's memorial service at Staples Center.

More than 1.6 million fans registered online for free in the random drawing of only 8,750 names. Each person selected will receive two tickets to Tuesday's memorial. The odds of getting a ticket were about 1 in 183.

"I'm in shock that it has happened," said Deka Motanya, 27, of San Francisco. "It's surreal." She received an e-mail message at 4:35 p.m. notifying her, "Congratulations, your application was successful."

She immediately Twittered: "OMG OMG OMG OMG i got tickets to the michael jackson memorial service!!!"

David Gobaud, 25, who studies computer science at Stanford University, said he didn't believe his e-mail was real at first. "It's Michael Jackson, one of the greatest musical stars of all time," he said.

Michael Jackson book a headache for Jackie O

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Michael Jackson crossed swords with a lot of people when he was alive, but perhaps none more important than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

The former first lady, in her capacity as an editor at Doubleday Books, secured a coveted book deal with the pop star in 1984, when he was still riding high on the success of his "Thriller" album released two years earlier.

"She was only person in America who could get him on the phone," Stephen Davis, the ghostwriter of "Moon Walk," said in a recent interview with Reuters.

According to a People magazine article at the time, Onassis paid Jackson a $300,000 advance for the book. Davis received what he termed "a generous flat fee."

The book came out in 1988, topped the New York Times Best Sellers list, and quickly sold out of its initial print run of almost 500,000 copies, he recalled.

"That was an extremely successful book. They made money on it," Davis said.

LA police plan for huge crowd at Jackson memorial

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles city officials are preparing for massive crowds downtown during Tuesday's public memorial for Michael Jackson at Staples Center, even though only 17,500 tickets are being offered to the public.

Assistant Police Chief Earl Paysinger says anywhere from a quarter-million to 700,000 people may try to reach the arena, even though a wide area around Staples Center will be sealed off to those without tickets.

City Councilwoman Jan Perry strongly urged people to stay home and watch the memorial on TV. The ceremony will not be shown on Staples' giant outdoor TV screen and there will be no funeral procession through the city.

But public safety officials appeared to assume their requests to stay home would have little effect. Since Jackson's death, fans have flocked to Jackson sites from Los Angeles to his Neverland Ranch in rural Santa Barbara County.

Jay Leno wins cybersquatting case

GENEVA (Reuters) – Comedian and talk show host Jay Leno has won a cybersquatting case against a Texas man found by a U.N. agency to have misused the domain name thejaylenoshow.com to direct Internet users to a real estate website.

In a ruling issued on Thursday, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said Leno had common law trademark rights to his name after a 30-year career in entertainment, even though Guadalupe Zambrano registered the site in 2004.

Furthermore, real estate agent Zambrano did not have any legitimate rights to the disputed web address and had registered it in "bad faith," according to the ruling by William Towns, an independent arbitrator appointed by the Geneva-based agency.

Towns ordered the domain name transferred within 10 days to Leno, who will be hosting a new comedy show on NBC in September after a 17-year run at "The Tonight Show" which ended last May.

The new prime-time talk show will be called "The Jay Leno Show" from September 14, according to an NBC announcement last week.

David Carradine died of asphyxiation - pathologist

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The medical examiner who oversaw a private autopsy on David Carradine said on Wednesday that the "Kung Fu" star died from asphyxiation and the way the actor's body was bound allowed him to rule out suicide.

Carradine was found hanging in the closet of his Bangkok hotel suite on June 4 and his family hired New York-based forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden to conduct a follow-up death investigation to the one handled by Thai authorities.

Baden had earlier said the actor's death was not a suicide, but details of autopsies have been scant and on Wednesday Baden stressed that his full determination of how Carradine died will not be ready until at least a week.

"The cause of death was asphyxiation, an inability to breathe, now why that happened is still what we're working on," Baden told Reuters.

Authorities in Thailand conducted the first autopsy on Carradine shortly after his death, and said on June 8 it would take a month to know how he died. A Thai police colonel told Reuters early in the probe the likely cause of death was asphyxiation.

Michael Jackson gets more bizarre after death

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Bizarre in life, Michael Jackson's complex personal affairs are taking even stranger twists in death, with sketchy reports on Tuesday of plans for an elaborate public memorial and questions over the parentage of his children.

After five days of television replays of Jackson's hit songs and glowing tributes to his musical genius, attention has turned to the murkier side of the "Thriller" singer.

Celebrity website TMZ.com, which broke the news of Jackson's death, reported the entertainer was not the biological father of his three children and that his ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, was not the genetic mother of the eldest two.

A copy of Jackson's will from 2002 was turned over to a family attorney, a source familiar with the documents said.