English Entertainment
FremantleMedia, Capital Entertainment to bring out ‘American Idol’ DVDs
MUMBAI: Fremantle Home Entertainment (FHE), the home entertainment division of FremantleMedia, and Capital Entertainment Enterprises (CEE) have got together to bring out one of the most anticipated DVD series of the year – American Idol.
The announcement was made at the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) convention by FremantleMedia Licensing Worldwide senior vice president (Home Entertainment and Archive Sales) Pete Kalhan, Capital Entertainment president and CEO Henry Winterstern and Capital Entertainment president Richard Williams.
American Idol judge Paula Abdul, held a press conference at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas yesterday to elaborate on the DVD collection and her involvement in the television programme.
The titles announced for release include The Best of American Idol, Seasons 1-4, which will showcase the greatest performances during the show’s illustrious run and The Worst of American Idol, Seasons, 1-4, covering some of the most memorable and hilarious auditions ever witnessed by the Idol judges. A third limited edition disc set, The Best and Worst of American Idol, Seasons 1-4, is also slated for store shelves. All titles are expected for release in the US in November.
Commented Winterstern, “We are very excited to be releasing the Best and Worst of American Idol at a time when the show has never been more successful. Having Paula Abdul’s involvement with us is extremely exciting.”
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
