Royal Shakespeare Company Moving Dahl's 'Matilda' Musical to Broadway

The Royal Shakespeare Company introduced today that it is manufacture of "Matilda the Musical," in line with the book by Roald Dahl, will open on Broadway in 2013. The development is presently running in London's West Finish.Dahl's novel in regards to a girl with remarkable forces was released in 1988. Danny DeVito directed a 1996 film adaptation, starring Mara Wilson as Matilda.It for "Matilda the Musical" was compiled by British playwright Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by Australian comedian and music performer Tim Minchin. The musical is directed by Tony Award champion Matthew Warchus ("Ghost the Musical," "God of Carnage," "The Norman Conquests") and choreographed by Peter Darling. A Broadway theater, performance dates, along with other production information is going to be introduced later on.Kid's roles, such as the title character, is going to be shared by multiple youthful stars carrying out in rotation. Auditions for adult roles will start in March in NY City. Return Stage for that particulars, once auditions happen to be introduced.

The Lorax To Open At 269 IMAX Venues March 2

Los Angeles, CA Feb. 28 2012 IMAX Corporation (NYSE:IMAX; TSX:IMX) and Universal Pictures today announced that the 3D-CG feature Dr. Seuss The Lorax will be released in the immersive IMAX 3D format on Friday, Mar. 2. The film is directed by Chris Renaud (Despicable Me) and features the voices of Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Rob Riggle, Jenny Slate and Betty White. Dr. Seuss The Lorax will open in 269 IMAX digital theatres domestically, simultaneous with the films North American wide release. The animated adventure will also open in seven IMAX digital theatres internationally, with additional runs debuting over the following weeks. Additional playdates will be added as pending bookings are confirmed.

Ridley Scott And Fuji TV Team For Japan In A Day

The one-year anniversary of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami is March 11. In memory of the disaster, Fuji Television and Ridley and Tony Scott’s Scott Free London are embarking on Japan In A Day, a 24-hour self-portrait of the country filmed by the public based on the Life In A Day series. Beginning at midnight March 11, participants will capture the day and upload footage to YouTube at www.youtube.com/JapanInADay. Fuji will donate 200 cameras to people in the most affected areas of the country, and the gathered footage as well as Fuji TVs coverage from the day will also be submitted.Fuji TV plans to select the best material to complete a feature, which will debut at cinemas worldwide. All profits from the film will be given to victims. Scott will executive produce the project, as he did for the first installment in the series, which was directed by Kevin Macdonald and premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Here’s that trailer:

CG Monsters, Villains Star in Slightly More Coherent Wrath of the Titans Trailer

Forget John Carter's controversial budget woes and terrible tracking for a minute; Wrath of the Titans has been threatening to be the first big biff of 2012 since it was announced, thanks largely to its poorly received predecessor, Clash of the Titans. The sequel's initial Marilyn Manson-themed trailer didn't help, either, but Warner Bros. have thankfully tightened things (and stopped lingering on Sam Worthington's Kenny Powers 'do) for a new trailer that actually promises some fantastic CG creature work. Bring on the lava monster thingy! Wrath of the Titans picks up ten years after the events of Clash, with Perseus (Worthington) tapped once again by Zeus to save the world, this time from the nefarious Titans and Olympian plotters we glimpsed in Immortals. (Thanks for that primer, Tarsem!) This time around Rosamund Pike is along for the ride as the warrior queen Andromeda, as well as folks like Toby Kebbell and Bill Nighy. This trailer tightens things up a bit, explaining the set up (Liam Neeson's Zeus is under attack!) and packing a ton of CG creature looks into the span of a minute and a half. Honestly, that's shaping up to be the draw of this Jonathan Liebesman-helmed sequel. All I want to see is some believable lava smoke monster giant action. The movies never get those guys quite right. Wrath of the Titans will debut March 30. [via ComingSoon]

Humor and science mix in 3D pic

A film that mixes fact and fable to humorously tell the story of two 19th century scientists may not sound like the stuff of 3D film these days. But Teuton filmmakers (think Werner Herzog's "The Cave of Forgotten Dreams" and Wim Wenders' Oscar-nommed "Pina") have been at the vanguard of re-imagining the use of the format, exploring a new sense of space that might be seen as first steps in the use of the technology as part of a more intimate style of storytelling. German director Detlev Buck, who has enjoyed B.O. success with his latest comedy "Rubbeldiekatz" (Woman in Love), has just wrapped the biggest project of his career: a film based on the international bestselling novel "Measuring the World" -- shot in 3D. The novel, by Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann, focuses on scientists Alexander von Humboldt, the explorer and world traveler, and Carl Friedrich Gauss, the mathematician who experienced the world through formulas and figures. According to Kehlmann, "It's about two people driven by curiosity who understand the world in very different ways." At the same time, the author says his book was never meant as a serious novel, and calls it "a comedy about German-ness and German history." For producer Claus Boje, the 3D in "Measuring the World" draws the viewer deeper into the story. "You want to see more," he says. Buck describes his film as "a double biography, playing one life against the other," with elements of science fiction, in which 3D is used to create a physical space contrasting the cramped internal world of Gauss in pre-industrial Europe with the breadth of Humbolt's journey to the jungles of Ecuador. The pic's 11 million ($14.5 million) budget may seem modest for a historical costume picture shot in 3D on two continents, but the sum reps major coin for a German-language pic. Boje believes the book's success (2 million copies sold in Germany alone; translations into 55 languages) will deliver the audience. Momentum from "Rubbeldiekatz should also help. The film's production company, Boje Buck, had to hit up a long list of sources for coin, including six TV stations, four regional subsidy funds and five federal funds from both Germany and Austria. Austrian co-production partner Lotus Films brought in 20% of the financing. Helmer Buck says that while the 3D component did not make it significantly easier to raise the money, in the end, it increased the budget by only 15%. The tight budget was made workable by an even tighter shooting schedule of 31 days, using multiple cameras shooting several angles simultaneously to cut down on setup time. This meant having two to three big 3D rigs, with up to four small 3D cameras mounted in different parts of the set -- a technique cameraman Slawomir Idziak ("Black Hawk Down," "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix") used on his first 3D film, the Polish WWI epic "Battle of Warsaw 1920." "But genre-wise, a movie like this is much closer to my heart," says Idziak, who also worked on two of Buck's earlier movies as well as with Krzysztof Kieslowski on "A Short Film About Killing" and "Three Colors: Blue." While Buck appreciates 3D asa crowd pleaser, he adds, "you shouldn't be too much in awe of 3D. We still need to give the audience an emotional entry." "Measuring the World" will open in October. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Ratings: Grammys Soar to Second-Biggest Audience Ever; The Walking Dead Sets Records

Jennifer Hudson The 54th Annual Grammy Awards scored its second-highest ratings ever Sunday as the music industry paid tribute to Whitney Houston, while the midseason premiere of The Walking Dead scared up big numbers as well.Check out the Grammys fashion hits and missesThe three-and-a-half-hour broadcast nearly doubled last year's viewership with a staggering 39 million viewers - second only to the 51 million who tuned in to the 1984 telecast, during which Michael Jackson won a record eight awards.Compared to last year's ceremony, the show was up 40 percent in the adults 18-to-49 demo, nabbing a 14.1. The rating is the highest since 1990, when Milli Vanilli won Best New Artist (which was later revoked).Grammys: The best and worst performancesThe surge is likely due to Houston's unexpected death on Saturday. During the show, Jennifer Hudson performed "I Will Always Love You" in the six-time Grammy winner's honor.On cable, The Walking Dead's winter premiere drew 8.1 million viewers - up from the 7.3 million who watched the fall opener. It also scored 5.4 million viewers in the demo and 4.4 million viewers in the adults 25-to-54 demo, making it the strongest telecast for any drama in basic cable history. The series premiere of Kevin Smith's Comic Book Men followed the zombie hit with 2 million viewers and a 1.3 rating.8 p.m.CBS: 54th Annual Grammy Awards 39 million viewers (14.1 demo rating) [8-11:30 p.m.]ABC: Once Upon a Time 8.64 million viewers (3.0)Fox: The Simpsons 4.3 million viewers (2.0); Napoleon Dynamite 3.8 million viewers (1.7)NBC: Dateline 2.05 million (1.6) [7-9 p.m.] 9 p.m.ABC: Desperate Housewives 6.3 million viewers (1.7)Fox: Family Guy 5 million viewers (2.5); American Dad! 3.5 million viewers (1.7)NBC: Fear Factor 3.7 million viewers (1.5) [9-11 p.m.]10 p.m.ABC: Pan Am 2.7 million (0.7)

Disney adapts 'Whisperer' for Telecinco

MADRID -- Disney Spain is entering into Spain's competitive primetime TV market teaming with Mediaset Espana to produce a local adaptation of CBS series "Ghost Whisperer." Titled "El Don de Alba," "Whisperer's" first international redo rolls from January in Spain and will air on Mediaset Espana's core channel Telecinco. Spanish actress Patricia Montero ("Yo soy Bea") plays Alba, in the leading role played by Jennifer Love Hewitt in the original show. With "El Don de Alba" Disney ups the ante on local TV production, marking the first fiction project directly developed by the studio in Spain for a general entertainment channel. On "Alba," Disney Spain also teams with Disney Media Networks Latin America, whose execs Fernando Barbosa and Leonardo Aranguibel share exec production credits alongside Spain's Marta Ezpeleta. Disney Media Networks Latin America brings to the table its six-year old know-how reversioning for the region U.S. skeins such as "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy" or "The Golden Girls." In 2010, Disney authorized Spanish TV production company Crystal Forest to develop the "Golden Girls" format for pubcaster TVE. Now, "El Don de Alba" has been commissioned directly by Mediaset Espana. "Whisperer," an ABC Studios original format, has been adapted to local auds tastes in both length -- Spanish TV primetime episodes extend up to 70 minutes -- and content, a sources said. Spanish film and TV helmer Belen Macias ("My Prison Yard," "The Lady") directs the series. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

NCIS Takes note of 200 Episodes by getting a psychological "Let us Say?Inch Story

Mark Harmon and Muse Watson, NCIS Let us say? This is actually the fundamental question within the center of NCIS' 200th episode. The landmark hour (airing Tuesday at 8/7c on CBS) takes Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) to his favorite diner for his usual morning cup of joe. But he'll get a lot more: Unexpectedly, a hooded gunman approaches , pulls his weapon and fires.Convey more scoop inside your favorite shows inside our Winter TV previewCue a string of mind-bending flashbacks that request the question: Let us say acquired another path? "There's almost an It's a Wonderful Existence quality in it,In . executive producer Gary Glasberg states. " is provided an chance in the nanosecond to find out just what the world might have been like if key moments in NCIS background lore had unfolded in different ways. We've taken numerous people moments which we let people them unfold in different ways.InchCertainly, Michael Weatherly, who plays Agent Tony DiNozzo, states the "brain-teaser, easter time time-egg-y... fabricated details" returns figures who've extended been dead. Incorporated within this: Gibbs' wife (Darby Stanchfield) and daughter, Gibbs' mentor Mike Hotdogs (Muse Watson), and Ari (Rudolf Martin), among Gibbs' competitors as well as the brother of fellow NCIS Agent Ziva David (Cote p Pablo).Nevertheless the finest surprise of is related to Gibbs' formerly unseen mother. "I've got two words to suit your needs: Gibbs' mother," Weatherly states. "200 episodes therefore we get Gibbs' mother? I am unable to attempt to show you the emotional weight that positioned on me. I used to be somewhat misty. Greater than misty - I used to be full-blown crying. You'd have to be a robot not to cry."NCIS Exclusive: Entourage's Perrey Reeves to see Tony's [SPOILER!] Nevertheless the episode isn't a complete tearjerker. Weatherly states playing another version of themselves was quite fun. "I'd like the fans to wind down and understand I didn't do just about anything strange to my hair," Weatherly jokes. "There's no fake sideburns like [inside the episode] "Baltimore" a year ago. I didn't dye it black. Much to my chagrin, there's no Magnum P.I. mustache."But you'll find a few major versions [for Tony]," Weatherly continues. "There's a marriage band too as with some version of times strand - it's as being a The Exorcist episode for God's sakes - you'll find babies."Does meaning the fans who've extended wanted Tony and Ziva would connect may ultimately see their fantasy carried out out? Less than. Rather, in this particular alternate reality, Sasha Alexander's Kate Todd never died, and for your reason Ziva and Tony's first meeting comes under completely different conditions. "There's just a little glimpse into Ziva and Tony meeting now rather than then," Weatherly states. "I really loved Tony because scene. I desired to produce him the most effective version of him for the. This can be a wonderful world that we see there."Have a look at our report on TV's hottest crime mma fighters!Viewers will get excited, however, concerning the variety of one more fan-favorite couple, Abby (Pauley Perette) and McGee (Sean Murray). "In my opinion people can be very satisfied," Glasberg states. "It touches on everyone in manners you have always aspired to determine.Inch But despite all the fun, Weatherly confesses the NCIS without can be a "daunting thought." "A sum that finish up like if he were disabled to some degree where he didn't behave the means by which we've showed up at expect him some factor?Inch Weatherly states. "It is really an unthinkable world that individuals explore in this particular 200th episode, and I have to admit, part of me was relieved if the was over. I used to be like, 'I want to possess a good cracking mystery inside a couple of days!AInchConcern not, isn't going anywhere. "Things go back to normal again," Glasberg states. "But Allow me to believe that as gets into the episodes like the following, he's a completely new perspective on why he's here, who he's and also the importance to NCIS."Think back at 200 episodes cost of photo from NCISImportant enough for the next 200 episodes? "We'll see what continues,Inch Glasberg states. "As extended as everybody gets a lot of fun to ensure that as extended as you possibly can develop fresh tales, we'll take action as extended as you possibly can.InchNCIS airs its 200th episode Tuesday at 8/7c on CBS.