The Altruism

Stallone sued, accused of stealing screenplay - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Action movie star Sylvester Stallone is accused in a lawsuit of copying another writer's screenplay to make "The Expendables," a movie about mercenaries hired to defeat a military dictator.

The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday by writer Marcus Webb, who said the screenplay for "The Expendables" is "strikingly similar and in some places identical" to his work entitled "The Cordoba Caper."

Webb seeks unspecified damages for copyright infringement and an order from the court stopping further infringement in any sequel by Stallone, his credited co-author David Callaham, Millennium Films, its Nu Image Films unit and Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation.

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Schwarzenegger to star in film - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Arnold Schwarzenegger is back at work -- with a real Jackass.

The former California governor and action star is now shooting "The Last Stand," Lionsgate's chase story, with "Jackass" star Johnny Knoxville and Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, Lionsgate announced Monday.

Harry Dean Stanton, Eduardo Noriega, Rodrigo Santoro, Luis Guzman and Jaimie Alexander also star.

Shooting began Monday and will take place in New Mexico and Nevada.

The Korean director Kim Jee-Woon ("A Tale of Two Sisters," "The Good, The Bad, The Weird") is directing.

"The Last Stand" is about a former Los Angeles Police officer who becomes the sheriff of a sleepy border town and finds himself standing between a ruthless drug cartel leader and the border.

Lionsgate says the movie includes "one of the most daring face offs in cinema history."

The movie is based on Andrew Knauer's spec script which Jeffrey Nachmanoff ("The Day After Tomorrow") rewrote.

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Oscar buzz: raves for "Tintin"; lights out for "J. Edgar" - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Two of the season's previously-unseen awards contenders were unveiled over the last few days, but it's a lot easier to find reactions to Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin" than Clint Eastwood's "J. Edgar."

The Spielberg film, which is subtitled "The Secret of the Unicorn," opens in Europe this month, two months ahead of its U.S. release. The embargo on reviews was lifted over the weekend, and the result was a flood of praise.

Eastwood's "J. Edgar," meanwhile, debuted in the filmmaker's hometown of Carmel, Calif., where its initial screening was cut short by a power outage. It re-screened the next night...but even the twitterverse was curiously silent about the film, in which Leonardo DiCaprio plays FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

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Larry Hagman of 'Dallas' diagnosed with cancer - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (AP) — Larry Hagman has been diagnosed with cancer.

The 80-year-old actor is famous for playing J.R. Ewing on "Dallas." In a statement Friday, he said: "As J.R. I could get away with anything — bribery, blackmail and adultery. But I got caught by cancer."

Hagman declined to specify what kind of cancer he's contracted, but said it's "a very common and treatable form." He plans to continue working on a new reboot of "Dallas" for TNT, which begins production Monday.

The new "Dallas" focuses on the Ewing offspring as they clash over the future of the family dynasty. The original prime-time soap opera aired on CBS from 1978 to 1991. Hagman underwent a liver transplant in the mid-1990s.

Said Hagman: "As we all know, you can't keep J.R. down!"

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Reality star Kardashian on prenup: You do the math - Yahoo! News

DUBAI (Reuters) - Reality star Kim Kardashian, who married basketball player Kris Humphries in a lavish made-for-TV wedding in August, refused to be drawn on questions about whether she arranged a pre-nuptial agreement before marrying the New Jersey Nets player.

Some 3.2 million viewers watched Kardashian, 30, one of the highest earning reality TV stars, wed 26 year-old Humphries in a two-part episode of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" which aired in the United States this week.

Asked on Thursday whether she had signed a pre-nuptial agreement, Kardashian said: "I don't really talk finances. My father was an attorney and I'm a smart girl -- I'd like to think so -- you can do the math.

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Muslim comic series aims to break through in US - Yahoo! News

DETROIT (AP) — Comic book fans might call it a great origin story: In the aftermath of 9/11, a Muslim man creates a comic book series, "The 99," inspired by the principles of his faith. It builds a global audience and investors contribute millions for it to continue and expand.

In two vastly different cultures, Naif Al-Mutawa's tale hits a few roadblocks — "villains" if you will: Censorship from Saudi Arabia, home to the main Muslim holy sites; in the United States, a struggle to build an audience where free expression has been hampered by a post-9/11 rise in suspicion and scrutiny of all things Islamic.

For Al-Mutawa, it's evidence that tales like his are needed to counter hardline, intolerant ideologies of all stripes.

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Apple says iPhone 4S broke pre-order record - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc received orders for more than one million iPhone 4S phones in the first 24 hours, topping the previous record of 600,000, the company said on Monday.

In the United States the iPhone 4S is being carried by three U.S. operators for the first time with Sprint Nextel joining AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless as an iPhone seller.

Orders started just over a day after the company announced the death of its co-founder Steve Jobs.

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John Wayne's green beret fetches high auction price - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A green beret worn by revered American actor John Wayne in the 1968 war-drama film "The Green Berets," raised a record price for a costume hat of $179,250 in an auction that finished on Friday, auctioneers said.

Other top-selling items at the two-day auction held in Los Angeles included the actor's eye-patch from the 1969 Oscar-winning film "True Grit," which sold for $47,800 and a Golden Globe award for the film was purchased for $143,000. A cowboy hat worn by Wayne in his western films "Big Jake" and "The Cowboys" sold for $119,500.

"The beret that Wayne wore in 'The Green Berets' shocked the room when it brought the astounding record price for a costume hat of more than $179,000," said Greg Rohan, President of Heritage Auctions.

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Summit pushes "Man on a Ledge" release to January 27 - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Man on a Ledge" is getting some room to jump.

Summit Entertainment has moved the release date of its thriller, starring Sam Worthington and Elizabeth Banks, from January 13 to January 27.

With the earlier release date, the film would have been up against Universal's "Contraband," a thriller starring Mark Wahlberg and Kate Beckinsale. It would have also had to compete with Sony's "Premium Rush," a thriller starring the always-strong Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Shannon.

Also set for release that weekend: Disney's "Beauty and the Beast 3D," Warner Bros.' musical drama "Joyful Noise" and The Weinstein Company's period drama "Coriolanus."

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Hank Williams Jr. out on Monday Night Football - Yahoo! News

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Are you ready for some football? Hank Williams Jr. isn't anymore.

The country singer and ESPN each took credit for the decision Thursday morning to no longer use his classic intro to "Monday Night Football."

The network had pulled the song from the game earlier this week after Williams made an analogy to Adolf Hitler in discussing President Barack Obama on Fox News on Monday morning.

"After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision," Williams said in a statement to the Associated Press. "By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It's been a great run."

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