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The Insulting, Anti-Muslim, Low-Budget Film That Provoked The Attacks On American Embassies

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Muhammad Movie Trailer LibyaIsraeli-born California real estate developer-turned-filmmaker Sam Bacile, 56, is currently in hiding after the protest of his low-budget film "Innocence of Muslims" caused the death of the American Ambassador to Libya and three others at the US consulate in Benghazi.

Bacile, who wrote and directed the controversial film, spoke to the AP by phone from an undisclosed location, calling Islam "a cancer" and saying he "intended his film to be a provocative political statement condemning the religion."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bacile is "a California real estate developer who identifies himself as an Israeli Jew, [who] believes the movie will help his native land by exposing Islam's flaws to the world."

A search on IMDB shows Bacile has no other film credits to his name.

The low-budget, arguably poorly-edited and acted two-hour film that was shot in just three months during the summer of 2011 cost $5 million to make, required 59 actors and about 45 production crew members.

Muhammad Movie Trailer LibyaBacile tells AP the film was financed with help from more than 100 Jewish donors.

The 13-minute English trailer on Youtube insults the prophet Muhammad, calling him a fraud and philanderer who approved of child sexual abuse and had "young girl" wives.

According to NBC's Richard Engel, the film was brought to light in Egypt by a religious cleric speaking on TV.

While Bacile expressed remorse to AP after the attacks, he doesn't think the deaths are is his fault, saying "I feel the security system (at the embassies) is no good ... America should do something to change it."

But while the 13-minute trailer has already led to four deaths, Bacile tells AP the film has only been shown once in its entirety to a mostly empty theater in Hollywood earlier this year.

Watch the controversial trailer below at your own risk:

SEE ALSO: US Ambassador To Libya And 3 Others Killed In Attack On Consulate >

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Disney's Going After A UK Company For These Knockoff Films

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brave braver

"Braver." "Tangled Up." "The Frog Princess." 

Sound familiar? 

They're not Disney films if that's what you're thinking.  

Rather, the titles are a few of the low-budget films from Indie production company Brightspark that bear a striking resemblance in name and story to Disney favorites.  

Brightspark's been around since 2006 in the UK, selling numerous Disney knockoffs for an average of $12.85 online and overseas.  

Disney has finally taken notice with the company's recent release of "Braver," similar in name and packaging to it summer blockbuster "Brave," and has threatened the British company with legal action for its animated shorts if not taken off the market, according to The Guardian.   

In a statement from Disney:

"People place great trust in the quality and creativity of Disney, and when it appears that another company is causing confusion among Disney consumers we will act to protect ourselves and the consumer. Disney believes Brightspark has demonstrated a pattern of misleading consumers with numerous releases that confuse and undermine the trust those consumers have in Disney." 

And, its not just this one Disney's taking issue with. Other Brightspark titles include "The Frog Princess," Tangled Up," and a "Little Cars" series. 

You can check out a full list of Brightspark's titles (not just animated) here

Currently, Brightspark tells the Guardian it's working on finding a "mutually acceptable" resolution to Disney. 

We've reached out to the managing editor at Brightspark for comment. 

Take a look at the Disney films and its "inspired" Brightspark duplicate side by side below: 

"Brave" vs. "Braver":

brave braver

We don't think the packaging looks similar other than the obvious similar font used; however, anyone who's seen Disney and Pixar's summer blockbuster knows Brightspark's cover depiction looks like an image taken straight from the film when title character Merida stumbles upon huge standing stones in the middle of the forest. 

Compare the two shots below from "Brave" with the box cover for "Braver":

brave merida disney

brave merida disney

"Cars" vs. "The Little Cars 3" (We love the nod to "Fast and the Furious"):

cars the little cars

"Tangled" vs. "Tangled Up":

tangled tangled up

Here's a look at the tower from the Disney film:

tangled disney

"The Princess and the Frog" vs. "The Frog Princess":

the princess and the frog the frog princess

"Ratatouille" vs. "Ratatoing":

ratatouille ratatoing

Brightsparks isn't taking creative liberties solely with Disney films. They've also produced versions of other popular animated movies:

"Happy Feet" vs. "Tappy Feet":

happy feet tappy feet

"Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" vs."Life's a Jungle: Africa's Most Wanted":

madagascar 3 life's a jungle

SEE ALSO: James Cameron's explanation as to why Jack couldn't fit on the door beside Rose in 'Titanic' >

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Weinstein Co. Adds Extra Security For Scientology-Inspired Film Premiere After Angry Calls From Church Members

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The Master, Philip Seymour Hoffman

The Church of Scientology is not pleased with "The Master." 

The Weinstein Company's upcoming film loosely follows the life of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and the origins of fictional group "The Cause" with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix in leading roles.  

Since news of the film, the church has been calling, emailing, and sending letters to the studio objecting the film's depiction of the cult leader, according to The Hollywood Reporter

Seymour is said to play a loose characterization of the church founder while Phoenix character joins the group as his right-hand man after returning from home from World War II. 

As a result, The Weinstein Company heightened security for its Monday premiere in New York City. 

Why aren't they happy with the film? Here are a few details from the film: 

  • It loosely explores the origins of Scientology. 
  • Scientologists are supposedly upset with Hoffman's portrayal of the group's founder, who's said to be loosely based off of Church founder L. Ron Hubbard. 
  • Phoenix character is described as "falling under" the group leader's "spell." 
  • Phoenix's character begins questioning the group's belief system and head as "The Cause" grows in popularity. 

SEE ALSO: Knockoff versions of Disney films the company wants off the market now >

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First Look: Jane Fonda & Alan Rickman Are Spot-On As The Reagans In New Movie

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reagans

No, you're not seeing things.

Jane Fonda and Alan Rickman do, in fact, bear a striking resemblance to Nancy and Ronald Reagan.

They're all dressed up as the President and former First Lady for the Lee Daniels-directed film "The Butler," coming out next year, according to E! News.

The film tells the story of a White House servant, played by Forest Whitaker, who served eight presidential familes over 30 years. 

Nancy Reagan Ronald ReaganThe star-studded cast includes Oprah Winfrey as the butler's wife, John Cusack as Richard Nixon, Robin Williams as Dwight Eisenhower, James Marsden as JFK, Liev Schrieber as Lyndon Johnson, and Minka Kelly as Jackie Kennedy. Even "Magic Mike" star Alex Pettyfer is making an appearance--this time probably fully clothed.

SEE ALSO: Brad Pitt says big Hollywood paychecks died >

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Here's How The 'Hobbit' App Spoiled The Film's Ending

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The Hobbit

If you're like us, you can't wait for the much-anticipated "Hobbit" film from Peter Jackson this December. 

We've seen plenty of behind-the-scenes photos, and a total of seven production films to date; however, we're still hungry for more.

Last week, distributors Warner Bros. and MGM released a "Hobbit Movies" app filled with exclusive photos, videos of the cast, and a giant plot-revealing scroll

Granted, nothing is truly "spoiled" as the film will closely follow the 1937 classic by J.R.R. Tolkien

We imagined the app would be a cool interactive feature to release ahead of the film; however, when everyone began pointing out that the end of the film "may be" revealed in the app, we took a closer look and realized the entire film – not just the end – is spoiled inside. 

If you've ever read the book like us, it's a slight shock to see the entirety of the film right there. 

We've broken down the scroll to show how the film gets spoiled.

If you want to be somewhat surprised come December, we advise you to stray away.

Gandalf shows up at Bilbo Baggins house at Bag End unexpectedly, tricking him into hosting a feast for 13 dwarves.



There, the dwarves and Gandalf convince Bilbo to set out on a suicide mission ... er adventure to reclaim their treasure guarded by the dragon Smaug in the far off Lonely Mountain.



After promising him a cut of the money, and showing him a map with a secret door into the Mountain, Bilbo signs off on becoming the group's "burglar."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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The $1 Billion Reason NBCUniversal Needs 'Ted 2' ASAP

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Ted movie teddy bear

According to NBCUniversal president Steve Burke, Universal Pictures needs to focus on creating more film franchises and animated content because it lags behind the other film studios and TV networks by up to $1 billion per year.

Burke told investors Thursday at a media conference that NBC doesn’t generate anywhere near the operating cash flow of rival networks CBS, ABC and Fox.

“There are four companies that each have the same infrastructure and yet one company is making on average $1 billion a year less than the other three,” Burke said. “Each of our competitors makes somewhere between $700 million … and maybe $1.5 billion more than we do and there’s no reason for that, other than we need to make better shows and we need to schedule them better.”

Burke hopes that by adding to both the "Fast and Furious" and "Bourne" franchises, NBCU can increase its box office performance. In the past, the studio released an animated film every 16 months. Now it will speed up that timeline to two films per year.

"Paranorman" is the most recent animated film by the company, and "Despicable Me 2" is set to hit theaters next July. But the most successfully recent film from the conglomerate is "Ted," starring Mark Wahlberg and a talking teddy bear.

"Ted" raked in a staggering $217 million at the box office while the top-grossing of the "Bourne" franchise, "Bourne Ultimatum," brought in $227 million.

After the surprising success of "Ted," Burke said his team are looking to make a sequel "as soon as we can."

As far as NBC's television programming, the network is already looking up. "The Voice" is averaging 11.5 million viewers and the new Matthew Perry show "Go On" averaged a strong 9.73 million viewers on Tuesday.

“Our stations got all the way down to making less than $150 million a year and this year they should make well over $400 million,” Burke revealed at the conference. "You need to have patience and put the right people in place, but broadcast is a tremendous opportunity."

SEE ALSO: Here's How "The Hobbit" app spoiled the film's ending >

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REPORT: Robert Pattinson Takes Kristen Stewart Back Just In Time For The New 'Twilight' Film

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pattinson, stewart

Actor Robert Pattinson is back together with Kristen Stewart after she allegedly cheated on him with her married director, the UK newspaper The Sun reported. 

The reconciliation comes just in time for the final "Twilight" movie, Breaking Dawn: Part 2, which is scheduled to be released in November. Pattinson and Stewart star as the film's leads and are supposed to walk the red carpet together. 

Stewart was photographed cavorting with her married "Snow White And The Huntsman" director Rupert Sanders this summer. After UsWeekly published the photos, fans of the "Twilight" series barraged Stewart with hate mail and she and Pattinson reportedly broke up. 

Soon after news broke, the actress issued an apology in which she claimed she was sorry for "the hurt and embarrassment" caused.

According to The Sun's report, the young couple has moved back in together near Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's Los Angeles home.

Stewart, 22, topped the Forbes list of highest-paid actresses this year, beating out both Cameron Diaz and Julia Roberts. She was estimated to have earned $34.5 million between June 2011 and 2012. 

SEE ALSO: The church of Scientology says it never auditioned girlfriends for Tom Cruise >

 

 

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The First Image Of The New 'RoboCop' Costume Looks Just Like Batman

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The first photos of the "RoboCop" reboot suit hit the Web and it looks nothing like the suit of the 1987 action film.

ComingSoon.net posted the first two set images of Joel Kinnaman as lead character Alex Murphy and we're looking at a mix of a Power Ranger wearing the Batsuit.

Granted, the suit may undergo various changes throughout the film—think back to the first "Iron Man" suit—so we hope this isn't the final costume.

Others believe the unofficial images show some sort of CGI bodysuit that will look completely different once translated on screen.

Sony and MGM's "Robocop" reboot will hit theaters August 9, 2013 starring Michael Keaton, Gary Oldman, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Take a look at the suit below and tell us what you think: 

robocop

Here's an image of the Caped Crusader's batsuit to compare: 

the dark knight batsuit

And, here's one of the "Power Rangers" gang from the '90s:

power rangers

You can check out both images of the RoboCop suit at ComingSoon.net.

SEE ALSO: 11 impossible TV and movie clichés >

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Hollywood Is Now Making Films For Foreign Markets, And Their Taste In Movies Is Awful

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movie theatre sign, closed movie theatre

Hollywood’s not what it used to be.

Whether it’s the recession, the changing tastes of American moviegoers, or a general lack of interest, tickets aren’t selling in quantity these days.

Estimates showed that attendance at American theaters in 2011 was the lowest since 1995, at only 1.28 billion. That figure has been in nearly constant decline since it peaked in 2002 at 1.58 billion tickets sold, but the film industry’s gross revenue has increased markedly over the same period.

Something changed in 2002 that can help to explain this phenomenon. In 2001, Hollywood started a few franchises – Shrek, The Lord of the Rings, and the king of all franchises, Harry Potter. They were all incredibly successful, and as a result, seven of the top ten worldwide grosses were franchise films.

Of course, the point of a franchise is making the sequel – the enemy of discerning moviegoers everywhere. Most of the creative leg-work has been done already in making the first film; a sequel is almost always more profitable than an original film. From 2002 onward, Hollywood became well-acquainted with this concept, and we were treated to round after round of action movies, animated family films, and big budget fantasy/adventure movies. By 2011, nine of the top ten grossing films were franchises. The only outlier was The Smurfs, which wasn’t locked in as a franchise at the time, but now has two sequels in production.

Unfortunately, American audiences will only go to see so many sequels. One need look no further than the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, which has had four installments to date. Curse of the Black Pearl performed well at home, bringing in over $300 million domestically. The second movie, 2006’s Dead Man’s Chest, was another hit, making $423 million in the United States alone. The adoration seems to have ended there, though, with 2007’s At World’s End – on a $300 million budget – making only $309 million domestically and 2011’s On Stranger Tides racking up only $241 million against a $250 million budget.

In spite of all this, a fifth film is in development and there’s talk of shooting a sixth back-to-back. Something is seriously wrong here, but on closer examination it makes perfect sense.

Poor domestic performance notwithstanding, all three sequels blew the original out of the water, with Dead Man’s Chest and On Stranger Tides breaking the magic $1 billion barrier worldwide. Here’s the effective pattern that began in 2001 and has continued ever since:

  1. Hollywood makes a movie with a reasonably high budget.
  2. It does well in the US and abroad, splitting sales around 50-50 domestic and elsewhere.
  3. Hollywood pumps out a sequel with a higher budget.
  4. It does pretty well in the US, but foreign sales account for a significantly larger chunk.
  5. Repeat.

The percentage of foreign gross revenue is the key. With Curse of the Black Pearl, overseas gross revenue accounted for 53.3 percent. With the three sequels, the overseas revenue percentages were 60.3, 67.9, and 76.9, respectively. That’s right, On Stranger Tides made more than three-fourths of its money abroad. This is all thanks to global audiences’ willingness to eat up sequels that the US is largely indifferent to. The critical reception suffered, too; Rotten Tomatoes shows a drop in favorable critical responses with each successive film, starting with Curse of the Black Pearl’s respectable 79 percent and ending with On Stranger Tides’ deplorable 34 percent.

Who’s buying all these tickets overseas? This year’s number one film – The Avengers – has made almost $900 million abroad, and the top five foreign markets have been China, the UK, Brazil, Mexico, and Australia. There isn’t a particular region dominating the box office; all that can be said is that films with more plot and needing more translation have done better with English and Romance language speaking audiences. It’s also worth saying that some countries – like the UK – have excellent film industries of their own, which is why they don’t need to turn out for low or mid-level budget American films but might enjoy blockbusters.

All things considered, it’s fair to say that Hollywood is paying the bills with international blockbusters, and that’s having a profound effect on the industry as a whole.

Whether or not they’ve noticed it, American moviegoers are growing jaded about the theater experience because so many of the films available are unoriginal. Even new franchises’ futures can be mapped out according to their demographics and early performance. The Hunger Games is now taking over for Twilight as the draw for young readers, and both franchises started with strong domestic performance because the fan base was already here. From what Twilight did next, we can predict the course of the Hunger Games trilogy – or quadrilogy, because the people at Lionsgate are going to make two movies out of the final Hunger Games book, just like they did with Twilight. And now that Twilight is wrapping up, its perennial late November release date is going to the second Hunger Games film in 2013. This science of theirs is starting to get repetitive.

Even as the American market for action films appears saturated, Hollywood continues to churn them out at a record pace because they’re popular overseas and require very little linguistic or cultural translation. This phenomenon can be seen on a smaller scale in lower-budget films, when studio consideration for the foreign box office might end up axing plot or character development to shoehorn in an extra car chase. Of course, the most obvious trend is the bombardment of action franchise sequels. The Fast and the Furious will have a sixth installment next year, and let’s not forget our friends at Marvel. They currently have eight films announced or in development for release between 2013 and 2015; seven of them are sequels.

Perhaps it’s not so peculiar that domestic theater attendance is down. When all is said and done, Americans may have a threshold for manufactured schlock. To be fair, we still turn out in droves to see film critic punching bags starring Adam Sandler or Kevin James (and in the case of Grown Ups, both) but we can be thankful that comedies don’t translate well overseas. If foreign audiences wanted more goofy comedies, we’d have to deal with lowbrow franchises even more prolific than Police Academy.

The real shame of it is that Hollywood can and does make brilliant films. Solid, American-made Oscar movies – Moneyball and The Social Network come to mind – do as well domestically as some huge, manufactured sequels. The Social Network had a $225 million worldwide gross, compared with a $415 million gross for The Chronicles of Naria: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but their domestic performance was roughly the same. That’s a $40 million movie going punch for punch with a $155 million movie at the US box office. American audiences can discern quality; they’re just not getting enough of it.

Hollywood’s new philosophy is, “If there’s anything people don’t want to pay for, it’s a good movie.” With the global recession, they’re taking enormous risks on big-budget action films (and often losing – see Green Lantern…or better yet, don’t) and throwing scraps to tiny films that aren’t expected to go anywhere. For all the money studios are betting on blockbusters, it seems like they’re doing it without sufficient consideration. This is how we end up with movies like Battleship – a $200 million flop based on a board game.

The only hope for a medium-budget, non-action film is a huge name attached to it to guarantee a minimum level of success. If someone who isn’t a surefire box office draw has a fantastic script for a $60 million movie, they’ll have to shop it around for years. At this point in time, there must be countless amazing scripts floating around Hollywood that would have been made in the 50s or the 70s, but will never see the light of day in this decade. No matter how many movies like The Social Network end up successful, they’ll be dismissed as pleasant flukes by the Hollywood bean counters.

It’s only filmmakers like Spielberg and Scorsese, actors like Pitt and Clooney – these guys can get good stuff made if and when they want. But if they or others like them sell out completely, we’re really screwed. Hollywood will continue producing for the foreign markets, and their taste in American movies is pretty awful. 

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6 Haunting New Photo Stills From 'The Hobbit'

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peter-jackson-hobbit

It's been a long time coming, but we finally know when we'll see a new "Hobbit" trailer. 

This morning, Director Peter Jackson released a message via Facebook announcing the much-anticipated video shall debut sometime Wednesday. 

However, that's not all. 

In honor of Tolkien week – seven days dedicated to honoring both author J.R.R. Tolkien and his son Christopher J.R. Tolkien and their literature – Jackson plans to release a few other "Hobbit" goodies. 

With the first of three "Hobbit" films due out in December, it's about time.

For now, you can check out a half dozen exclusive photos from the film posted by USA Today. The best of the photos is of the wizard Radagast the Brown who's mentioned once in "The Hobbit," but whose role will be expanded upon in the film.

A new shot of Bilbo Baggins in his home with the dwarf clan in the background: 

the hobbit bilbo

Another look at Gandalf the Grey: 

the hobbit gandalf

A better look at Gollum: 

gollum the hobbit

dwarves the hobbit

A first look at the wizard Radagast the Brown: 

radagast the hobbit

Thorin leading the dwarves: 

thorin the hobbit

SEE ALSO: How the 'Hobbit' movie app spoils the first film's ending >

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Here's How Charlie Kaufman Just Raised A Record $406K On Kickstarter For His Next Film

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Charlie Kaufman

Oscar-winning "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Being John Malkovich" screenwriter Charlie Kaufman has had his share of Hollywood success.

But the bankable 53-year-old writer is trying something new for his next film.

Instead of dealing with Hollywood studios to back him, Kaufman and his producing partners (former "Community" showrunner Dan Harmon and Dino Stamatopoulos) put a short video on crowdfunding website Kickstarter asking for pledges for the stop motion adaptation of Kaufman's 2005 play "Anomalisa."

Pledge levels started at $50, which gave people a DVD of the film, and went up to $10,000, which five people gave in return for an executive producer credit, as well as other rewards.

After launching on July 11, the project now has 5,770 backers total and has raised a record $406,237 in 60 days. 

The funds will go to the production of a 50-minute film based on Kaufman’s 2005 play about "a man crippled by the mandanity of his life," according to the Kickstarter page.

Kaufman's public plea for pledges on Kickstarter beat the second most funded film project the site has seen next to zombie sequel "The Gamers: Hands of Fate."

As for why the Hollywood filmmaker chose to take the film internet route instead of going through the studio system, an animated narrator in an explanatory video on the Kickstarter page says:

“We want to make 'Anomalisa' without the interference of the typical big studio process. The entertainment industry is filled with incredible scripts written by incredible talent that have not or will never get made--or worse, they'll be changed into something that is nowhere close to what the original creator envisioned. Starburns Industries dows not want to compromise the original vision of Charlie Kaufman or any other artist. The only thing we want to change is the way artists are treated and that's why we need your help."

Watch the Kickstarter video in its entirety below:

 Now watch how the above animation video was made:

But Kaufman isn't the first Hollywood-ite to take to Kickstarter in hopes of funding a budding project.

Whoopi Goldberg raised $73,765 for her documentary directorial debut while Russell Crowe donated $5,000 to an ebook project out of his home country, New Zealand.

But that doesn't mean that all of Hollywood is sold on the idea of internet fundraising ... yet.

“Right now there’s a little bit of hesitancy from people in the industry of using crowdfunding. Because I know some people don’t like being seen asking for money in public,” "Anomalisa" director Duke Johnson tells Deadline. “But as it gains momentum, and people see what it’s worth, and that they can do it on their own, that hesitancy is going to disappear.”

According to today's New York Times article "Success of Crowdfunding Puts Pressure on Entrepreneurs," "Nearly three million people have helped a total of 30,000 projects meet their fund-raising goals on Kickstarter, the largest such site, to the tune of $300 million in pledges."

SEE ALSO: 6 Beautiful New Photo Stills From 'The Hobbit' >

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Warner Bros. Goes After Even More Amazon Resellers

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voldemort harry potter

Warner Bros. is on a mission to stop the sale of counterfeit films, one Amazon reseller at a time.

In July, the studio filed at least 16 separate lawsuits against people selling discounted Warner Bros. material. 

Last week, the company filed 21 more lawsuits against anonymous seller names claiming sales of unauthorized copies of Warner Bros. media.  

According to the suits, The DVDs in question ranging from "Harry Potter" films to HBO shows "True Blood," "Game of Thrones," and "The Sopranos," to television shows including "Nip/Tuck" and "Pretty Little Liars." 

The point of the litigations appear to be so Warner Bros. can put a name with the various seller identities and investigate further:  

"Defendant Amazon.com Seller Best Deals Corp ("BDC") does business on Amazon.com using the seller identity, "Best Deals Corp." The true legal status, identity and residency of BDC is currently unknown to Warner Bros., but Warner Bros. is informed and believes that Amazon.com will release the true identity of BDC upon service of a subpoena once legal action has been filed concerning BDC. BDC, through his or her Amazon.com user ID and/or Amazon.com store(s) does business in this judicial district through offers and sales of the Counterfeit Product in this judicial district, among other places.  

According to the suit, other anonymous sellers in question include:  

  • Reneet Gerene "RG"
  • Holmes9709 "Holmes"
  • JASADvDs "JASA"
  • ScostaGirl "SG"
  • NTKSolution "NTK" also known to do business under "J&Benterprise"
  • The Alex Keaton Company "TAKC"
  • Kyrie Eleison "KE" also known to do business under "invigorate"
  • Weill Enterprise "WE"
  • adylove08 "Adylove" 

Under Amazon.com's seller guidelines, the selling of unlicensed counterfeit products is prohibited. Amazon is known to suspend accounts for violating its selling policies.  

You can read the suit in its entirety HERE.

SEE ALSO: What it's like to be a "Breaking Bad" location scout >

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Bruce Willis Will Lose Millions On His Vodka Endorsement

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Bruce Willis

Bruce Willis is set to lose millions from an endorsement deal with Sobieski vodka. 

After a stock decline, the struggling French liquor company Belvedere SA – not to be confused with the vodka company – can't afford a previously negotiated payout of $26.1 million to the "Looper" actor, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The actor became the face of Sobieski vodka when back in 2009

In return for a four-year contract, the actor received a 2.6 percent stake in the company. 

The company promised to give Willis the $26.1 million if stocks fell below an undisclosed amount.  

Now, with the company's debt totaling near $977 million, it won't be able to pay the actor in full.

Rather, Willis will most likely receive a third of that number, according to the Journal, as creditors are expected to take control of the company to restructure the company's debt. 

SEE ALSO: What it's like to be a "Breaking Bad" location scout >

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Oscar Nominations Get Moved Up Five Days To January 10: In addition to nominations being announced earlier, online v...

Warner Bros. Just Revealed 'The Dark Knight Rises' DVD Release Date

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Batman the dark knight rises

Mark your calendars, Batfans.

It looks like the Blu-ray and DVD of "The Dark Knight Rises" will hit shelves December 3, 2012.

That's less than five months after the release of the film in theaters. 

Monday, Warner Bros. posted a trailer on YouTube announcing the Blu-ray and DVD release of the final film in Nolan's trilogy.

Soon after, when word of the release date began circulating the Web, the studio took the video down without a word.

However, Warner Bros. didn't take down the trailer before Batman blog, Batman-News took a screengrab of the release date.

SEE ALSO: The first image of the new "RoboCop" costume looks just like Batman >

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21 Celebrities Who Look Nearly Identical

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maggie newsroom alison pills

Since "The Newsroom" aired on HBO, we've been bothered by one thing—other than the questionable writing.

Actress Alison Pill looks awfully similar to a few of Hollywood's big actresses.

However, it's not just her who has us doing a double take.

Plenty of stars—from often mistaken Katy Perry and Zooey Deschanel to 21 other celeb doppelgangers—could easily be confused for one another. And they often are mistaken by fans in real life.

We've rounded up the celebrity look-alikes including actors who get mistaken for each other in public, those from Google suggestions, and a few of our own similarities we've noticed over the years. 

From Amy Adams to Jeremy Renner see all of the celebrity look-alikes, and let us know if we missed any you've noticed.

Amy Adams and Isla Fisher

Despite the eye color difference, "The Muppets" and "Bachelorette" actresses get confused often. 

Fisher joked about the duos striking resemblance in her cover story with Allure in January 2009.

"If "Shopaholic" is a hit, then it was Isla Fisher in the movie," said Fisher. " ... and if it doesn't work out, it was Amy Adams." 



Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson

Neeson has said people often confuse the "Harry Potter" and "Taken" stars. No surprise since the two have starred in multiple films alongside each other ("Schindler's List," "Wrath of the Titans"). The only difference is that Fiennes usually plays the bad guy while Neeson's the hero. 

'I get mistaken for my pal Ralph Fiennes," said Neeson. "I've been congratulated for my Hamlet on Broadway 14 years ago. 'And he gets mistaken for me sometimes. We'd pass as brothers, you know.''



Katy Perry and Zooey Deschanel

We're ready for Perry to guest star on Fox; however, we don't think Deschanel would be a fan. 

The "New Girl" actress is actually kind of frustrated when fans confuse the two.

"It's a little bit annoying, to be totally blunt," Deschanel told MTV. "The only similarity that we have is that we look a little bit alike."



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Gollum Challenges Bilbo In This Brand New 'Hobbit' Trailer

The Anti-Muslim Film That Triggered Arab Riots Probably Doesn't Even Exist

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Innocence of Muslims

Last week, the American Ambassador to Libya and three others were killed after an anti-Muslim movie trailer for "Innocence of Muslims" sparked protests at the US consulate in Benghazi.

But the film at the center of the controversy is now in question as to whether the 14-minute-long trailer is even a full-length film at all.

While the trailer has over 4.5 million hits on YouTube, no one seems to have actually seen the film being teased.

Novice filmmaker-slash-real estate developer Sam Bacile (aka Nakoula Basseley Nakoula), who is currently in hiding following the Libya attacks, previously stated that the film—then called "The Innocence of Bin Laden"—was screened in its entirety at the Vine Theatre in Hollywood.

But a theater employee told the Los Angeles Times no one attended the screening, nor did the employee watch the movie.

A longer version of the film is touted on YouTube as "Innocence of Muslims 74 Min"—but it is simply the same 14 minutes of trailer footage looped over and over.

One of the film's actors, Cindy Lee Garcia, told The Hollywood Reporter that she, too, has seen nothing beyond the 14-minutes, but Bacile boasted during filming that they were shooting an epic two-hour action movie.

"The movie doesn't exist," explains Marium Mohiuddin of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, which advises Hollywood producers on how to portray Muslims accurately. "We've been looking hard for a full movie, and we haven't found anything."

"There's a complete misconception that this is a major Hollywood project and not a poorly thrown-together video," adds Mohiuddin. "They're used to government-sanctioned entertainment, so they think that this has been sanctioned by the U.S. government, which makes sense to them because they believe Americans mistreat Muslims who live in America."

SEE ALSO: Here's the low-budget American film that was being protested during teh Libya attacks >

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The 'Innocence Of Muslims' Trailer Will Remain On YouTube: An LA judge denied an injunction to remove the trailer fr...

Steve Bing Just Pledged A HUGE Amount To The Motion Picture & TV Fund

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steve bing

Add another large donation to Jeffrey Katzenberg's Motion Picture and Television Fund campaign.  

The MPTF announced producer Steve Bing will contribute $30 million to the fundraiser. 

The "Marley" producer joins a long list of donors including Barry Diller, Rupert Murdoch, Tom Cruise, and Kurt and Michael Douglas.  

With Bing's latest donation, the MPTF will reach two thirds of its $350 million goal set by Katzenberg.  

The contributions are expected to provide for the future retiring industry members, according to Ken Scherer, CEO of the MPTF Foundation.  

You can read the entire press release HERE.

SEE ALSO: Early concepts of USA Today's new website design >

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