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No aliens, no superheroes, just "Life in a Day" - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It isn't among the most-hyped movies in theaters and won't win the battle of the weekend box office, but "Life in a Day" may just be the most unusual film playing in theaters this weekend.

One year ago, July 24, 2010, at the behest of Hollywood producer/director Ridley Scott and YouTube, thousands of people around the world videotaped their day, then sent the footage into a group of filmmakers who were tasked with editing that film into a feature-length movie.

The result, "Life in a Day," debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January and opens in U.S. theaters on Friday.

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Hollywood expansion taps new global markets for more profits - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Hollywood is on global expansion overdrive, with the international box office racking up a larger percentage of overall film revenues than ever before.

The reason for all this continent-spanning success is a recipe that combines three critical ingredients:

For one, modern-day exhibition is paving new road in far-flung markets like Guangzhou, China and Kaliningrad, Russia.

Second, filmmakers are crafting their product for the international market like never before, spinning out superhero films and 3D spectacles that often play better in foreign climes than they do in this country.

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BSkyB dishes out $1.6 billion to appease investors - Yahoo! News

LONDON (Reuters) - BSkyB will hand out 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) to placate investors who lost out when a phone-hacking and police corruption scandal forced News Corp to drop its bid for the satellite broadcaster.

BSkyB, whose board on Thursday voted unanimously to keep the embattled James Murdoch as its chairman, will return 750 million pounds to investors with a share buy-back and a further 253 million via a 20 percent boost to the final dividend.

News Corp agreed to take part in the buyback to prevent its stake from creeping above its current 39 percent, BSkyB said on Friday. Any increase would have been politically contentious while the phone-hacking scandal hangs over the company.

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"Mystic River" author says his characters lure actors - Yahoo! News

GIJON, Spain (Reuters) - "Mystic River" author Dennis Lehane attributes the success of his books on the silver screen to his characters, which he says attract the attention of good actors.

Clint Eastwood's film version of "Mystic River" was nominated for the 2004 Oscar for Best Picture, Ben Affleck filmed "Gone, Baby, Gone" and Lehane admits a deal with Martin Scorsese for "Shutter Island" drew the envy and admiration of other writers.

But he does not write his novels with a movie in mind because, he says, it's a very different type of writing.

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Paramount sets October 12 release date for "Fun Size" - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Paramount Pictures has set "Fun Size" for an October 12, 2012 release, the studio announced Tuesday.

The comedy is about a troubled but whip-smart teenage girl who loses her oddball little brother on Halloween, then has only one desperate night to track him down.

Josh Schwartz, best known for his television work -- he executive produced "Gossip Girl" and "Chuck" -- directed and produced.

It stars Josh Pence, Johnny Knoxville, Victoria Justice and Chelsea Handler.

Max Werner wrote the screenplay. In addition to Schwartz, the movie is produced by Brad Dorros, David Kanter and Stephanie Savage.

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Stock index futures signal higher open - Yahoo! News

(Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a higher opening for equities on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 up 0.2 to 0.3 percent.

The United States edged closer on Tuesday to a devastating default as Republicans and Democrats were deadlocked over competing plans to raise the debt ceiling, one week before a deadline to act.

President Barack Obama, in a televised address aimed at rallying public support for a package proposed by Democrats, warned that failure to increase the U.S. borrowing limit would severely hurt the nation.

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Analysis: Investors face U.S. default risk with no Plan B - Yahoo! News

LONDON, Jul (Reuters) - Not for the first time, asset managers may be playing a high-risk game as they face the threat of a U.S. debt default without concrete contingency plans.

It highlights the investment community's reluctance actively to seek insurance for a low probability or "tail risk" event, even after suffering huge losses following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. This was the tail risk that materialized.

At the same time, those investors who have hedged may end up suffering bigger losses in the event that U.S. lawmakers do reach a deal because the risk of default is political, not a case of real solvency.

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"Futurama" gets two more seasons on TV - Yahoo! News

SAN DIEGO (TheWrap) - "Futurama" has, well, a future.

Whew.

Executive producer David X. Cohen told a packed Comic-Con ballroom that the Emmy-nominated animated series was just renewed for another two full seasons by Comedy Central.

"The mood is better now," Cohen told the crowd. "Pressure's off now that we're in our second life -- we didn't expect to be back."

The show faced erratic airings on Fox until Comedy Central picked it up in 2005. On its June 2010 sixth-season debut, the show earned Comedy Central its highest-rated night for that year, becoming its most-watched Thursday primetime airing ever.

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Fans, stars tweet the blues over Winehouse death - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Soul singer Amy Winehouse, who died unexpectedly at age 27, received numerous tributes on Saturday from ordinary fans around the world and music luminaries ranging from Tony Bennett to producer Mark Ronson.

The "Rehab" singer whose problems with substance abuse were well-documented, died at her home in London, and while it appears she has lost her battle with drink and drugs, an official cause of death has yet to be determined.

Nevertheless, fans speculated that she became another in a long list of singers, actors and other celebrities whose problems in the public limelight led to their demise -- Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Heath Ledger.

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Greek deal won't mean austerity for France: finance minister - Yahoo! News

PARIS (Reuters) - France will not need to introduce austerity measures in response to increased debt exposure from the euro zone's new rescue plan for Greece, its finance minister said on Saturday.

Francois Baroin said in an interview with French daily Le Monde that the government would be able to maintain its deficit reduction targets and would not be "impoverished" as a result of the bailout.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Friday that the package for Athens agreed by euro zone leaders late on Thursday would increase France's debt by some 15 billion euros by 2014, though it would not otherwise directly impact its public finances.

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