'Arrested Development' Scripts Are Being Written, Team Has Offices

There are official "Arrested Development" offices set up. The cast and crew have parking spaces. According to writer Dean Lorey, "we're really doing this thing." "This thing" of course refers to the planned 10-episode-into-a-movie "Arrested Development" project that Netflix agreed to finance last year. Lorey took to his blog to say that he and fellow writers Mitch Hurwitz and Jim Vallely are currently writing the new season of "Arrested Development" which is set to premiere on Netflix in 2013. And that's the best news we've heard in a long time. Rumors of a post-series movie were sparked almost immediately after the TV show ended its run in 2006. It's taken six years, but now the full cast is on board and planning on filming the additional content over the summer. According to Hurwitz, who is the show's creator, the 10-episode series will catch audiences up-to-date on what the Bluth family has been up to over the past half a decade and will act as a lead-up to the feature film. MTV News caught up with two of "Arrested Development's" younger cast member while they were promoting movies at the Sundance Film Festival. Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat both shot to fame through their roles in "Arrested Development," and both expressed a certain amount of disbelief about the prospect of returning to set. "It's hard to be excited, because I don't feel any progress day to day," Cera said, adding he believes shooting will start in the summer. "But I'm sure it's happening. I think it's just out of my realm of awareness. I'll be happy when we're on set doing it." Shawkat was a bit more optimistic about the project, though she's just as out of the loop. "They're writing it now, though we haven't seen any scripts yet, but we're all game," she said. "It's been kind of following me around like a very attractive albatross. But now it's hopefully going to happen. It would be very exciting." Are you looking forward to more "Arrested Development"? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!

Emma W reups with Fox through 2015

Last Century Fox production prexy Emma W has reupped her contract using the studio through 2015. Watt was upped towards the prexy publish in '09. She's overseen numerous high-profile photos including "Rise from the Planet from the Apes," "We Purchased a Zoo" and "Date Evening" from helmer Shawn Levy. W is credited with assisting to bring the prolific Levy in to the Fox fold, getting overseen the very first installment of his "Evening in the Museum" series. Since that time, Levy makes a lot more than $1 billion dollars for that studio. Levy's 21 Laps banner has become based at Fox. W first became a member of Fox in 1998 like a creative professional. She started her career at Def Pictures before being a director of development for Oliver Stone. Contact Rachel Abrams at Rachel.Abrams@variety.com

Nicolas Cage Is Searching To Obtain Justice

Inside the trailer for your thrillerWhat are you able to do if an individual you considered were attacked? Are you able to seek vengeance? Justice? This is actually the question of Nicolas Cage's latest thriller, which same with really titled Seeking Justice. You'll be able to consider the trailer over on Apple's site.Seeking Justice finds Cage as Will Gerard, happily married to Laura (The month of the month of january Manley). However she's attacked, and finally eventually ends up inside the hospital. Troubled, Will is approached by Simon (Guy Pearce), who offers the help of his organisation. Seems they could proceed and take criminal lower and acquire Will somewhat payback. This can not cost him anything, but he'll owe them a favour. Clearly not thinking straight, Will goes along with it. Which is when the trouble really starts.See, the favour involves killing someone else. Then when our hero decides he wants no a lot of it, Simon and also the group decides to pressure his hands. And simply what does Can do then? Fights back, clearly!That certain remains relaxing in limbo for a while, getting finished shooting last season. Which does make us concern yourself with its prospects doing his thing masterdom. Furthermore, you will find no set Uk release date yet. Just one factor is apparent: When Cage sports a beard, crooks show fear...The first title for your movie was Hungry Rabbit Jumps, which does make us question what that has associated with the finished product. Here is a concept! Why not request Mr Cage themselves! For people people who did not know, the man themselves are available in the Empire office for just about any web chat on Thursday (today, The month of the month of january 26 if you're reading through through this inside the Uk it is also not already formerly). We're just wanting he doesn't go all Ghost Driver and continue to wee fire here.

Adele's '21' hits 17th week at No. 1

Adele's "21" took a 17th nonconsecutive week at No. 1, homing in on the 18-week run set by Garth Brooks' "Ropin' the Wind" in 1991. The British vocalist's Columbia release sold 95,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan data for the week ended Jan. 22. Only the Brooks title and Whitney Houston's soundtrack for "The Bodyguard," which tallied 20 weeks at the top in 1992-93, have logged more nonconsecutive time at No. 1 since SoundScan began tracking sales in May 1991. It remains to be seen if Adele's smash set can maintain its pace at the summit, since perennial chart-topper Tim McGraw's "Emotional Traffic" reached stores this week. However, an anticipated bonanza at the Grammy Awards next month could return "21" to the apex. Adele takes her honors amid a threadbare January release schedule that produced just two top-10 debuts. The 21st installment in Kidz Bop Kids' series of tot-friendly covers bowed at No. 2 with a 59,000-unit first week. Current entry in the Razor & Tie Records franchise includes buffed-up versions of adult hits by LMFAO, Lady Gaga and, of course, Adele. "Identity" (Light), by gospel unit James Fortune & FIYA, signed on at No. 7 with a slim 18,000-unit score. It's the first top-10 album by the Houston-based group. Holdovers in the top five include the Black Keys' "El Camino" (No. 3, 29,000 sold, down 19%), Drake's "Take Care" (No. 4, 29,000, down 8%) and Rihanna's "Talk That Talk" (No. 5, 20,000, off 8%). Rest of the top 10 comprises Young Jeezy's "TM 103: Hustlerz Ambition" (No. 6, 19,000, down 19%), Toby Keith's "Clancy's Tavern" (No. 8, 17,000, up 27%), Coldplay's "Mylo Xyloto" (No. 9, 17,000, off 13%) and Nickelback's "Here and Now" (No. 10, 17,000, down 13%). New titles by Celtic Woman and Kelli Pickler, the all-star Amnesty Intl. benefit tribute to Bob Dylan and the 2012 "Grammy Nominees" package will also contend for major chart entries next week. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Etta James dies at 73

Tempestuous R&B diva Etta James, whose hits of the '50s and '60s included the evergreen "At Last," has died. She was 73. CNN reported Friday that the singer succumbed to leukemia at a hospital in Riverside, Calif.James, who logged a professional career of more than half a century, was a gale-force singer and the top female hitmaker at Chicago indie Chess Records. While her career was repeatedly knocked off track by drug and health problems, the 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee recorded and toured profitably into the new millennium.Born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles to an unwed 14-year-old mother (and, James claimed repeatedly, pool hustler Minnesota Fats), she grew up singing in L.A. churches.As a teenager in San Francisco, she formed a female doo-wop group, the Peaches (whose moniker begat James' nickname). The trio was discovered by R&B bandleader Johnny Otis, who took them into an L.A. studio to record "The Wallflower," aka "Dance With Me Henry," an answer song to Hank Ballard & the Midnighters' lubricious 1954 hit "Work With Me Annie." The tune rose to No. 1 nationally.After a few years of unsuccessful solo work at Modern Records, James' contract was purchased by Chess, where she began a close professional and personal relationship with Harvey Fuqua, leader of the Moonglows and a top cleffer and A&R man at the label.She stepped out in 1960 with the No. 2 ballad "All I Could Do Was Cry," and her powerful quicksilver voice was heard to good advantage on such duets with Fuqua as "If I Can't Have You" (No. 6, 1960).Fuqua also encouraged her to cut standards, leading to the lush, string-laden No. 2 1961 version of the 1941 Harry Warren-Mack Gordon composition "At Last," which has maintained enduring popularity thanks to commercial and movie soundtrack use.James' other hits of the early '60s included the growling "Something's Got a Hold On Me" (No. 4, 1962), "Stop the Wedding" (No. 6, 1962), "Pushover" (No. 7, 1963) and "Loving You More Every Day" (No. 7, 1964). While it fared no better than No. 37 nationally, "In the Basement," her raucous 1966 duet with friend and label mate Sugarpie DeSanto, later became a cult R&B item.Chess lit a renewed fire under James' career in 1967, when the label dispatched her to Rick Hall's hot studio in Muscle Shoals, Ala.,, for sessions. The date spawned the up-tempo soul scorcher "Tell Mama" (No. 10 on the R&B chart that year), a version of Otis Redding's "Security" (No. 11, 1968) and the unforgettable ballad "I'd Rather Go Blind."After the 1969 sale of Chess to GRT and Leonard Chess' subsequent death, James' career began to falter, though such memorable tracks as her covers of David Houston's country hit "Almost Persuaded," the Falcons' "I Found a Love" and Randy Newman's perverse "You Can Leave Your Hat On" scraped the bottom of the R&B charts. She loyally stayed on at the label until the late '70s.In 1975, Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler, an outspoken admirer, produced a Chess session for James. Wexler later helmed two much admired albums for the singer, "Deep in the Night" (1978) and "The Right Time" (1992).Her final R&B hit came in 1978: a Wexler-produced cover of "Piece of My Heart," popularized in 1967 by Big Brother & the Holding Co.'s singer Janis Joplin, whose vocal attack owed an abiding debt to James.James maintained her career during the '70s as her personal life fell into disarray. Busted in 1973 for heroin possession with her husband, Artis Mills (who was convicted and served time in prison), she spent 17 months in court-ordered rehab at Tarzana Psychiatric Hospital. (Though she successfully kicked heroin, she was hospitalized again at the Betty Ford Center in the '80s for addiction to prescription painkillers.)After brief associations with Warner Bros., Island, and Asylum, James experienced a career renewal in the '90s at indie Private Music. Her 1993 Billie Holiday recital "Mystery Lady" earned her the first of three Grammy Awards in the best jazz vocal category. She won a second Grammy, for contemporary blues album, with the Private release "Let's Roll" in 2004; after segueing to RCA, she won the traditional blues album Grammy in 2005 for "Blues to the Bone." She received a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2003.James published her candid and unsparing autobiography "A Rage to Survive," co-authored by David Ritz, in 1998. In 2008, she was portrayed by Beyonce Knowles in the grotesquely fictionalized feature "Cadillac Records"; James took a much-reported swipe at Knowles after the young singer performed "At Last" at Barack Obama's 2009 presidential inauguration.She issued her last album, "The Dreamer," on Verve Forecast in 2011. Universal's Hip-O Select catalog unit released a comprehensive anthology, "Heart and Soul," late that year.Health problems would plague James in later years. She appeared on stage in a wheelchair until gastric bypass surgery in 2003 reduced her excessive weight. She was hospitalized in early 2010 for a serious infection; at that time, her son Donto James told the press she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.She is survived by her husband, Artis, and two sons. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Stars add flair to tech

Rhianna developed a splash finally years CES with Polaroid. Dr. Dre, center, could expand his initial Monster partnership, introduced within the 2008 CES, because he grew to become part of Peter Chou, left, and Jimmy Iovine for just about any collabration between HTC and Beats by Dr. Dre this season.Lady Gaga and Polaroid developed a paparazzi-worthy splash by announcing a cutting-edge partnership throughout last year's Electronic Products Show. Despite the fact that their first product, a co-high quality printer, later showed up on numerous best-of lists, with CNet stating it "made mobile inkjet ink jet printers sexy again," two more products also introduced within the confab have not yet materialize.Meanwhile, within the same Las vegas confab, fans mobbed a booth where artist 50 Cent suggested his entry to the crowded headset category getting an item referred to as Sleek by 50.Within several days, though, that deal soured and Sleek by 50 never turned up inside a Biggest Score in your town.CES has extended tried to create its tech awesome and, consequently, has progressively found itself inside the celebrity game.Just have a look at press conferences for that new the new sony and Yahoo, formerly, that presented Tom Cruise and Seth Rogen, even though this year, The brand new the new sony and Yahoo featured Will Cruz and Tom Hanks.But CES is learning what Hollywood knows perfectly: where stars go, drama follows.That is not always an undesirable factor. A hollywood contingent, ultimately, brings from it elevated visibility and media attention, which might be a boon to technology businesses that use stars, artists and filmmakers.Nevertheless the jury's still on exactly how effective a couple of of those alliances are, even though it's not surprise they keep happening thinking about that they're a sure-fire approach to generate warmth, no less than initially. (Nikon and Ashton Kutcher continue being going strong, and Rim has elevated its brand together with your famous pitchmen as Adrian Grenier and customary)."CES is nearly the Super Bowl of tech marketing," mentioned David Schwab, controlling director of Octagon First Call, which supports brands assess celebrity value for ad campaigns. "Like brands use sports sports athletes to create products within the Super Bowl, tech companies perform the identical factor with stars at CES."If there's a defacto standard in the past couple of years, it may be Beats by Dr. Dre, a partnership that opened up in 2008 pairing within the stylish-hop mogul, with record executive Jimmy Iovine and audio gear company Monster Cable Products.Though exact figures aren't available, estimations known as the product's retail sales at $50 million for fourth quarter 2009, after Biggest Score put into-store Club Beats locations.Not only gets the Beats line grown substantially over time, the item has showed up at into other industries with innovative crossover deals. The earphones are built-into a $2,300 Hewlett-Packard laptop and into Chrysler's renovated 300 sedan, for example."Beats has become synonymous with a specific level of quality,In . mentioned Jonathan Geller, editor in the influential tech blog, Boy Genius Report. "And they're a means statement for your youthful audience they're marketed to."Dr. Dre, who used the earphones in the popular Dr. Pepper commercial, through which he starred, may be within achieve of Iovine's conjecture that he'd be to earphones what Jordan would be to sports footwear.The fashionable-hop artist surely tips when you're first inside the category, which has since become crowded together with other famous faces.Jay-Z, along with his RocNation Aircraft pilots from Skullcandy, and Soul by Ludacris from Signeo now fight it with Beats' own JustBeats (associated with teen heartthrob Attacking Youthful Boys) and DiddyBeats (rapper P. Diddy). The 2nd, according to launched reviews, may be producing about $millions of yearly for your artist-businessman.Bieber will probably be at CES to market TOSY Robotics' new robot.For that carefully seen Rhianna-Polaroid deal from last year's CES? There's still an instantaneous camera coming, that's been postponed but looks like it's being launched sometime this year. The long run is less certain for some advanced camera-glasses that have been very well-liked by people collected last The month of the month of january. To produce a champion, the tech product must be excellent, industry audiences mentioned, much spoken about representative or else. As well as the association between star and gadget must appear sensible to clients. Because way, technology is equivalent to sports drinks or clothing brands.Also secret weapon to success may be the celebrity's hands-on participation inside the product, once the tech customers are shilling it "created byInch or "produced byInch the star.This is why 50 Cent (born Curtis Jackson) scrapped his prior earphones deal and made a decision to produce their very own product via SMS Audio, a company through which lucrative has a large part stake and may serve as Boss."Clients know when somebody's stuck a title around the product or when they're really devoted to it," mentioned John Nohe, leader of SMS Audio, which recently released the wireless earphones, Sync by 50, and wired version, Street by 50. "50 is invested personally and financially."Because the earphones category remains growing around 20% percent yearly throughout the final a long time, Nohe mentioned he isn't worried about oversaturation. More youthful crowd mentioned he thinks 50 Cent's global appeal -- in addition to his 3.8 million Twitter fans -- will separate the completely new product within the relaxation in the pack.In line with Jackson's charitable efforts, there's a tie between SMS and Feeding America, using the organization giving portions of comes from headset sales for the domestic food bank.The rapper will probably be signing autographs Thursday within the SMS Audio booth (LVCC, South Hall, #20818) and discuss his wireless earphones with editors of TechCrunch within the America online Studio and CNET today.Stars attending CES this weekBOOMDIZZLE: LL Awesome JHAIER AMERICA: Robert Horry, John Salley, Allison FishmaniCONNECTIVITY: Jordan RudessONSTAR: Greg Grunberg, Wayne BradyPALTALK: Dennis RodmanPANASONIC/last century FOX: John Glen, Martin Campbell, Michael Apted, Olga Kurylenko, Caterina MurinoQUALCOMM: Alistair OvereemROBOTICS TECHZONE: Justin BieberSMS AUDIO: 50 CentSONY: Will Cruz, Craig Sonnenfeld, Ron BakerSPIKE TV: Eliza Dushku (CES celebrity ambassador)SPORTS AND FITNESS TECHZONE: Jillian MichaelsYAHOO: Tom HanksZEIKOS/iHIP: Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Jose "Hyde" Cotto, Carl Banks Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Samsung 'Pushing Boundaries' with TV sets

Under the theme "Pushing Boundaries," Samsung wants to make its new line of TVs the center of an entertainment hub in which viewers share content across devices.Among the PC features are multitasking apps (so you don't to quit your Netflix app to check game scores), slots in the back of the TVs to update software, and a large and rapidly expanding selection of apps.They will also include a built-in video camera and microphone to enable video conferencing, and receive voice and gesture commands (a demo used a swiping motion to navigate channels and poking movement to press a button to make purchases).The camera-equipped TVs will also have face recognition, so they can sense which family member is watching.One app migrating from Samsung's smartphones and tablets is the Samsung Media Hub, Samsung's content store for buying movies and TV shows. Another app, with its origins in Hollywood gets its first TV-maker partner: Technicolor's M-GO app, which puts bonus content on a handheld or tablet screen during a movie or TV show.Tim Baxter, prexy of Samsung Electronics America, unveiled the company's high-end ES 8000 TV line. Largest screen in the line is 75" diagonal. All boast dual-core processors to permit app multitasking, and the slim bezels that are such a trend across the TV industry. Its Smart TV line will grow by 60% this year.On 3D TV, Baxter said Samsung has sold 12 million 3D TVs worldwide and half of those sold this year would be 3D enabled. He acknowledged, "We know there isn't enough content to make 3D a must-have feature, so this year we're putting the focus on building a library of 3D content that can be streamed." Among those promised include SyFy's "Battlestar Galactica" in 3D.Also coming to Samsung TV is "Angry Birds" as a streaming app. The on-demand streaming HD channel, free on Samsung TVs, will show "Angry Birds" animated shorts.The greatest excitement at the presentation came from the unveiling of Samsung's 55-inch OLED TV, which offers a picture bright and clear enough to be startling even at a distance. It has all the features of the other high-end Samsung TVs: dual-core processors, built-in camera and microphone, and 3D. No price point was mentioned.The Korean electronics giant also used CES to show off ways to future-proof its TV sets so that buyers don't have to purchase replacement sets as frequently -- something consumers already are slow to do.In a crowded ballroom at the Venetian Hotel and Casino, Samsung unveiled new "smart" hardware that integrates what was once considered the hallmark of personal computers, as well as voice and gesture controls.Samsung is the No. 1 TV brand for the sixth consecutive year, and took the lead in global market share in smartphones for the first time last year. Contact David S. Cohen at david.cohen@variety.com

'Hunger' score boosts composer ire

The American Federation of Artists, angry that Lionsgate is scoring "The Hunger Games" abroad, will picket a Lionsgate shooting location in downtown L.A. on Thursday.AFM leader Ray Hair mentioned Wednesday that "Lionsgate is unfair to professional artistsInch and desires to consider its situation for the public utilizing a picket line within the Structure Theater where "Mad Males," a Lionsgate Tv program, is scheduled to shoot.According to Hair, "The Hunger Games" is "a u . s . states movie, with American stars and American deckie's, getting a soundtrack that's exclusively American." He mentioned efforts to acquire Lionsgate to achieve the film inside the U.S. went nowhere.Composer James Newton Howard looks like it's scoring the film london. Its soundtrack may even include tunes produced by T Bone Burnett with entertainers including Taylor Quick.Lionsgate is not a signatory for the AFM, unlike most major art galleries whose AFM contracts require that films shot inside the U.S. be acquired here. Hair's point is always that Lionsgate has labor deals "with stars, company company directors, authors and film deckie's, while not with professional artists.InchLionsgate music professionals could not be showed up at for comment Wednesday mid-day. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com