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"Jurassic Park" writer to tackle "Thin Man" remake - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Super-writer David Koepp has signed on to write "The Thin Man," a remake of the 1934 movie, for Warner Bros., TheWrap has confirmed.

Koepp's credits include "Jurassic Park" and "Carlito's Way," both in 1993, "Mission: Impossible" in 1996, "Panic Room" in 2007" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" in 2008.

He also wrote the troubled "Men in Black III."

"The Thin Man" has some fancy attachments: Johnny Depp is starring as Nick Charles, the part made famous by William Powell.

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Nancy Grace, Chaz Bono among "Dancing" cast - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Legal commentator Nancy Grace, Cher's daughter Chaz Bono and basketball player Ron Artest are among the celebrities taking part in the new season of "Dancing with the Stars," the network behind the show said on Monday.

The show on ABC pairs celebrities with professional dancers and makes the couples compete for support from a panel of judges and viewers at home.

Grace is a tough talking legal commentator on the CNN cable spinoff HLN, who generated controversy this year for saying "the devil is dancing" after the acquittal of Casey Anthony in Florida on charges of murdering her 2 year-old daughter.

But Grace will be doing her own dance on the show, alongside a cast list that includes former talk show host Ricki Lake, Los Angeles Lakers player Ron Artest and Chaz Bono.

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"The Help" holds on at top of storm-hit box office - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The hard-working maids of "The Help" hung on to the top of a storm-battered box office over the weekend and beat a trio of new releases with $14.3 million in domestic ticket sales, studio estimates released on Sunday showed.

Hurricane Irene forced the closure of theaters in big markets such as New York and kept moviegoers home along a broad stretch of the East Coast. Domestic ticket sales came in 23 percent lower than the same weekend a year earlier, according to figures from Hollywood.com.

"The Help," a drama about black housekeepers in Civil Rights-era Mississippi, took the top spot in the North American (U.S. and Canadian) market for the second straight weekend. The DreamWorks-produced film adaptation of a best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett has grossed $96.6 million since it opened three weeks ago, distributor Walt Disney Co said.

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Exchanges expect normal stock trading despite Irene - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq repeated on Saturday that, despite the arrival of Hurricane Irene in New York, both expect to conduct a normal trading session to start the week.

With the powerful storm roaring up the U.S. East Coast, setting off evacuations in parts of New York City and across the Eastern Seaboard, the NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq have said several times that they plan to open trading as usual on Monday.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and exchange officials will discuss the storm's impact and plans for opening trading at the start of the week in a conference call on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., according to a source familiar with the plan.

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Insight: Apple's board set for bigger role under new regime - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The departure of Steve Jobs as Apple's CEO is likely to trigger some major changes for the company's board.

Rather than acting as mere advisers to one of the world's great visionary leaders, the board may have to take more control, be less deferential to the new CEO Tim Cook than it was to Jobs, and meet more often.

"Over time that board is going to have to step up to greater responsibility and a more traditional role," said Jim Post, a professor of management at Boston University School of Management.

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How much higher can Apple shares go without Jobs? - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - As far as investors can see, the outlook for Apple's shares remains as bright as an iPad screen despite the resignation of Steve Jobs, the company's legendary co-founder, as chief executive.

But many investors worry that the outlook for the medium- to long-term has become very cloudy.

Jobs exits as CEO at Apple's high, with revenues having steadily grown each quarter over recent years and analysts expecting a terrific performance in the next holiday season. Shares fell just 0.65 percent on Thursday, withstanding steep falls in the broad market.

But with many equating Jobs' vision with Apple's success, there is a fear that competition will finally gain on the company years down the road.

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Chazz Palminteri joins "Gotti" as mob boss - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Chazz Palminteri has joined the John Gotti biopic that begins shooting in New York in January.

Producer Marc Fiore said Palminteri will star as Mafia don Paul Castellano, the one-time head of the Gambino crime family.

"Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father" also stars John Travolta, Al Pacino, Kelly Preston and Ben Foster and is being directed by Barry Levinson.

The project has encountered a series of bumps. Initially, Nick Cassavetes was to direct, but he pulled out in April due to a scheduling conflict. Barry Levinson stepped in to replace him.

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Edward Zwick to direct Legendary East's first project - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Edward Zwick has signed on to direct Legendary East's first project, "The Great Wall," the company said Tuesday.

Marshall Herskovitz -- Zwick's producing and writing partner -- will write the screenplay with Zwick.

The movie is based on a story by Legendary Entertainment's chairman and CEO, Thomas Tull, and "World War Z" writer Max Brooks.

According to Legendary East, "'The Great Wall' reveals the legend behind a great mystery of our age: why this magnificent structure came to be."

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UBS axes 3,500 jobs in cost-cutting push - Yahoo! News

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's biggest bank UBS AG is to axe 3,500 jobs to shave 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion) off annual costs as it joins rival investment banks in reversing the post-crisis hiring binge and preparing for a tough few years.

UBS said almost half the cuts would be in investment banking. It had already said it would cut jobs when it posted weak second quarter profits last month as its underperforming fixed income business weighed.

Like rival Credit Suisse Group AG , UBS has been grappling with rising regulatory costs and a red-hot Swiss franc, which are eating into profits.

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Lowe's sets aside $5 billion for share buyback - Yahoo! News

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Lowe's Companies Inc put aside $5 billion to buyback its shares over the next two to three years, joining a string of companies digging into their cash reserves to shore up their stocks in a weak economy.

Shares of Lowe's, which is the second largest U.S. home improvement chain behind Home Depot Inc , rose as much as 3 percent on Monday morning in a broader market rally <.SPX>.

However, it is unclear if the repurchase, which represents about a fifth of Lowe's current market value, will prop up its stock that had fallen 23 percent this year through Friday.

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