FROM THE NEWS DESK: ‘Idol’ Fires Back At Rosie

by McKay Heim and George Larrimore

UN-SLUMPED: Hollywood trade papers this week trumpeting a final end to the dreaded Box Office slump (“B.O. BACK IN BUSINESS”-Daily Variety 3-7-7) of ‘05. Annual figures released on Tuesday by the Motion Picture Association show the Industry bounced back in ‘06, with revenues up 5.5%. Admissions were also up from ‘06, with 1.45 billion tickets sold.

SEQUEL SUMMER: And this trend will most likely continue, starting with the unexpected size of the grosses for ?Ghost Rider? and then ?Wild Hogs?. And look at the Tent Pole pictures coming this summer; ?Spider-Man? (3rd), ?Shrek? (3rd), ?Die Hard? (4th), ?Pirates of the Caribbean? (3rd), ?The Bourne Ultimatum? (3rd), ?Oceans Thirteen? (3rd), ?Fantastic Four? (2nd) and ?Harry Potter? (5th.) But all this should come with a couple of notes of caution. Moviegoers most likely will get tired of sequels and really may demand something original. And then there’s an even bigger problem looming on the horizon illustrated by what a 16 year old told me the other day; it costs too much to go to the movies. With rare exceptions he’s quit spending his money on them.

A NEW ISM: Rosie O’Donnell has been using her electronic pulpit to rail against what she sees as prejudice toward overweight people and/or people of color coming from the powers behind “American Idol.” Today Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe fired back, with what we think is a brand new ism, weightism. This came to us today from Fox: “Without wishing to add to the obvious self-promotion of Ms. O’Donnell, I feel as though I must refute her absurd and ridiculous claims that AMERICAN IDOL is racist and/or weightist.

“Ms. O’Donnell has, once again, spoken without thought or knowledge. Viewers need only look at the show tonight to realize that AMERICAN IDOL constantly confirms to America that talent has nothing to do with weight or color.”

And we can only add two words to that: Ruben Studdard.

KATIE RATINGS: The Pundits (and we don’t consider ourselves Pundits) are starting to examine the Impact of Katie, now that Couric is officially six months into her run on the CBS Evening News. And so far the news is mixed. The show that was in third place with Dan Rather is still in third with Katie. But they oughta be patient. Old News Habits, like other habits, are hard to break and new trends take years, even decades to play out. CBS hoped Katie would bring her younger demo along with her but the facts have to be faced; The Evening News skews older and probably always will. Just look at the products they advertise on The Big Three. The younger audience, epsecially females, is up in the morning, getting the kids ready for school.

A NEW SEARCH: Looking for a new K-Fed T-shirt, CD or a once in lifetime opportunity to attend his birthday parties in Los Angeles or Las Vegas? Well now, you have a chance! A new site offers the opportunity to win ?cool? prizes from Kevin Federline each time you use his search engine: www.SearchWithKevin.com. A fan can win every hour, every day and the first person to do a search after a random winning time is selected wins instantly. The site claims: ?Try it, you’ll be hooked – we guarantee it!?

CASHIN? IN ON THE DEAD: There are always stories of how people take advantage of a celebrities name but when this came across this morning, definitely attention grabbing. A new brand of vodka is promoting a ?Hendrix Electric? brand, Craig Dieffenbach told the Los Angeles Times, “It’s like drinking with Jimi. The drunker you get, the more you think you’re with him.” Family members were outraged and disgusted by the campaign that they have filed a lawsuit claiming false advertising and trademark infringement.

CATCH AND RELEASE: Today?s Release of the Day reminds us that Star Billing is still the only true barometer of how big you are. Take Chris Klein for example. Co-starred in the ?American Pie? movies, good-looking guy. Now he’s scheduled to race alongside George Lucas and Hugh Hefner?s Girl Next Door Kendra Wilkinson at the 2007 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race at the Toyota Grand Prix in Long Beach April 14. But in the press release we noticed that Chris is billed first as ?Katie Holmes? ex-boyfriend? before he is recognized for his acting.

We don’t care who you dated, give us your Hollywood News at [email protected].

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