HOLLYWOOD - Madonna and Warner Music Settle Maverick Dispute
Warner Music Group has agreed to buy Madonna out of Maverick Records, the label she co-founded 12 years ago, The Associated Press reports. The label debuted strongly with Alanis Morissette's 1995 multiplatinum debut album Jagged Little Pill and more recently scored hits with Michelle Branch, the Prodigy, the Deftones and Story of the Year. Madonna, along with partners Guy Oseary and Ronnie Dashev, owned 60 percent of the company while Warner Music held 40 percent. But the partnership turned sour in March when Maverick filed a lawsuit against WMG, claiming the company didn't adequately fund the label. WMG rejected that claim in a counter suit, referring to Maverick's $64.2 million in losses over the last six years. The label had been scheduled to dissolve in December but Maverick's investors would have had to reimburse WMG for $92.5 million in losses, loans and fees in order to buy Warner Music's 40 percent share in the label. Under the new agreement, both sides will drop their lawsuits. WMG will also keep Oseary, who will stay with Maverick as CEO. WMG said Maverick will place greater emphasis on signing and developing artists and will have the ability to draw on the parent company's resources.
Distributors Seek PG-13 Rating for Fahrenheit 9/11
Distributors Lions Gate Films and IFC Films are appealing to the Motion Picture Association of America to lessen its current R rating for Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 to PG-13. Images in the film include a public beheading in Saudi Arabia, Iraqis burned by napalm and a gruesome scene of an Iraqi man dumping a dead baby into a truck bed loaded with bodies. "It is sadly very possible that many 15- and 16-year-olds will be asked and recruited to serve in Iraq in the next couple of years," Moore told the AP. "If they are old enough to be recruited and capable of being in combat and risking their lives, they certainly deserve the right to see what is going on in Iraq." A screening by the MPAA's appeals board has been set for June 22--just three days before the film's US release date.
Judge Refuses To Lower Jackson's Bail
In a ruling released Monday, Santa Barbara County Judge Rodney S. Melville has refused to lower Michael Jackson's $3 million bail in his child molestation case, saying the singer's wealth justified the higher-than-normal bail amount, the AP reports. Melville added that the bail should remain higher than what is typically imposed on defendants facing similar charges to ensure that Jackson appears at future court dates. Jackson's bail was set and uncontested when he was arrested in November, but the singer's new attorney, Thomas Mesereau Jr., requested bail be reduced to no more than $435,000 when he took over the case in April. He said there were no legal grounds for setting Jackson's bail higher than normal simply because of his wealth, but prosecutors argued the pop star was likely to flee the country if his bail was reduced.
T-Boz Files for Divorce
T-Boz of the female R&B group TLC has filed for divorce from her husband, rapper Mack 10, saying he committed adultery and threatened to kill her, the AP reports. The 34-year-old singer has also arranged for a temporary restraining order against the rapper, barring him from coming within 100 yards of her, and is seeking full custody of their 3-year-old daughter, Chase Anela. The couple married in August 2000 and is now separated. T-Boz, whose real name is Tionne Tenese Watkins Rolison, said in an affidavit that Mack 10 threatened to kill her several times, beginning in October 2002 and most recently on June 8. Mack 10, whose real name is Dedrick D-Mon Rolison, denied the allegations, saying his wife has made the claims "for the sole purpose of attempting to gain an advantage in these proceedings" and to prevent him from seeing their daughter.
Author Claims Extreme Makeover Was Her Idea
Author Diana Locke filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court late last week claiming a talent agency and a producer stole her idea for what has become the hit TV series Extreme Makeover, Reuters reports. According to the suit, Locke pitched the idea of a show focusing on the emotional and psychological aspects of plastic surgery to a producer friend in August 2001. He then discussed the idea with his agent Sean Perry. But after failing to sell the idea to a cable network, Locke's friend dropped the concept. The suit alleges Perry then presented the idea to producer, Howard Schultz, who sold it to ABC as Extreme Makeover. The suit, which claims breach of confidence, conspiracy and unjust enrichment, seeks damages of at least $10 million.
P. Diddy Hits the Road
Rap mogul Sean "P. Diddy" Combs will launch the Daddy's House Dance Party world tour this summer, along with a new album on his Bad Boy record label, the AP reports. Combs, who hasn't released an album since 2002's We Invented the Remix, will preview what's in store for fans at a party in Manhattan Thursday for Entertainment Weekly's upcoming "Must List" issue, which hits newsstands Friday. Combs, 34, has been starring as Walter Lee Younger in the Broadway revival of Raisin in the Sun and was recently named menswear designer of the year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America for his Sean John clothing line.
Charo, Flava Flav Join Surreal Life
VH1will air the third season of the former WB reality series The Surreal Life with the likes of Charo, Dave Coulier (Full House), Public Enemy's Flava Flav, New Kids on the Block alum Jordan Knight, Brigitte Nielsen (Red Sonja) and American Idol contenstant Ryan Starr. The series bows Sept. 6.
Role Call: DiCaprio's in Bear Market, Aniston Shoots War, Whitaker Brings a Gun
Leonardo DiCaprio and his production company Appian Way have teamed with Columbia Pictures to produce the biopic The Man Who Loved Grizzlies, about environmentalist Ted Treadwell. Based on Ned Zeman's article published in the May issue of Vanity Fair, the film focuses on Treadwell, a controversial and charismatic figure, the bears' self-appointed goodwill ambassador who looked like a Malibu surfer. Spending months at a time in the wilds of Alaska, he took the anti-poaching cause as his own but had no training beyond his talents as a photographer and naturalist ... Jennifer Aniston is being touted to play famed war photographer Dickey Chapelle in Warner Bros. biopic. Chapelle, a blonde, blue-eyed beauty who covered WWII for Look magazine and Reader's Digest, became a heralded photographer because of her willingness to march to the front lines. She died in Vietnam after tripping a landmine while accompanying Marines on a secret sabotage mission ... Forest Whitaker is set to star in American Gun, an ensemble drama described as "a series of interwoven story lines focusing on how the proliferation of guns in America affects and shapes lives," the filmmakers told the Hollywood Reporter. Donald Sutherland, Linda Cardellini (Scooby-Doo 2) and Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon (Barbershop 2) are in negotiations to join Whitaker, who will also serve as an executive producer.
Kit Bowen contributed to this report.
