Archie Comics Welcomes a Gay to Riverdale
Holy Hotdog. Archie Comics — one of culture's most enduring portraits of wholesome Americana — is introducing a gay. A gay male Archie character. His name is Kevin Keller and he is blonde.
Terry Semel Woos Dubai's Billions in Planned Return to Moguldom
While DreamWorks, Lionsgate and even Cash-Machine Manoj all have Indian capital to thank for their varying degrees of independence, Terry Semel is apparently courting a few billion dollars from Dubai as he nears a deal to acquire the management giant (and burgeoning media player) IMG. The ex-Warner Bros./Yahoo!…
So Much For Independence: Robert Redford Pawns Sundance Channel for $496 Million
In a deal forecast by analysts back in March, New York broadcast titans Cablevision yesterday acquired the Sundance Channel for $496 million. The amount was nearly 25% higher than its valuation at the time, and it adds nearly $50 million to the wallet of minority shareholder and Sundance Film Festival founder…
Bad-boy UK publisher Jamie Byng of Canongate has acquired world rights to litblogger Mark Sarvas' debut novel, Harry, Revised, in what Mark characterizes on his blog as a "'good preempt' (in the vernacular of Publishers Lunch, although it felt more like a 'fucking awesome preempt' to me)." Jamie has called Mark's book…
From the mailbag: "'Last Lecture' [remember, the book cowritten by the dying professor which was rumored to be selling for $6.75 million] is finally fucking over. Closed with Hyperion, like everyone knew it would, since they offered more. Gah! I hate beauty contests."
We hear that the auction for 'The Last Lecture,' WSJ reporter Jeffrey Zaslow's poignant life-affirming book about cancerous professor and daytime talk-show regular Randy Pausch, has ended. However, the two final bidders (most likely Hyperion and HarperCollins) are now having what's known as a "beauty contest," where…
