WB Delays High-Profile New Line Execution (For Now) [Toby Emmerich]

Remember all that early speculation that New Line production boss Toby Emmerich's head wound bounce out the office door after the Great Warner Bros. Leash Yank of 2008, right behind those of co-founders Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne? Signs began pointing elsewhere not too long ago, and Claudia Eller confirms today that Emmerich is in fact staying on as New Line president and COO:Emmerich, 45, will report directly to Horn, who will have final authority on the six or so movies New Line will produce annually. However, Emmerich will have at his discretion a fund of about $25 million to buy scripts, option books and hire writers. He will also work closely with Warner's motion picture group President Jeff Robinov. ... "The assimilation of New Line under Warner's umbrella isn't happening in a cliff-like way," Horn said. "There will be a period of transition." Nonetheless, Horn noted, "it's fair to say the reduction will number in the hundreds." Those hundreds will likely include marketing head Rolf Mittweg and distribution chief David Tuckerman, while Emmerich will oversee a streamlined crew left behind to steer '08 "highlights" including Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay and Sex and the City: The Movie (the latter of which, of course, has its early red-band campaign well underway). What little dust remains to settle -- besides the over/under on the duration of the messy Hobbit lawsuit -- involves New Line's boutique shingle Picturehouse and Warner's own art-house subsidiary, the flailing Warner Independent Pictures. The smart money these days has WIP folding into Picturehouse, with president Bob Berney sticking primarily to acquisitions and WIP boss Polly Cohen designated for assignment. We see the rationale here, but we'd also like to hear any tips if you know otherwise. Warner Bros. moves to shrink New Line [LAT]

Published: 2008-03-19 Provider: Defamer Keywords: new line cinema, Toby Emmerich, Warner Bros.

12-step Items: Britney Spears's AA Counselor Boyfriend Fails To Adhere To The Insane Talking Points

Having severed all ties to her mother in iambic pentameter, then confounded her fans by explaining away her umbrella rampage as an overzealous Method exercise, an increasingly scrambled Britney Spears would appear to be in desperate need of someone she can trust. She may have found that in AA counselor John Sundahl, hotly rumored to be a front-running candidate for Ill-Fated Marriage #3. (Not to be confused with her first rehab boyfriend, a guitarist from a lesser known rock band who rode the alleged affair for all the publicity it was worth.) Those rumors now appear to be true, as Sundahl briefly lapsed on the "anonymous" part of the AA equation to gush about the relationship in Page Six:The recovered alcoholic says Britney chatted him up at their Alcoholics Anonymous meetings before asking him out more than two months ago. [...] "We are dating right now. I mean she is not moving in or anything but we are dating," the 38-year-old real estate developer said last night. "It is serious." [...] He also claimed Spears has not fully beaten her alcohol problems and claimed that, despite her trip to Promises rehab center, she is a "practicing alcoholic." Sundahl refused to comment on how far the couple's physical relationship has gone and waved off the 13-year age gap. We'd hate to so early in the affair have to raise the red flag, but Sundahl's assessment of the singer as having one foot dangling precariously off the wagon directly conflicts with Spears's own claims on the matter--namely, that she was a misdiagnosed alcoholic, admitted against her will to a celebrity detox facility by a cabal of nefarious, baby-craving relatives and handlers. If the new man in her life expects things to truly get "serious," he might want to at least get the story straight--unless he too wants to find himself on the receiving end of one of her hand-delivered, vituperative kiss-off limericks. BRITNEY'S NEW BEAU [NY Post]

Published: 2007-07-06 Provider: Defamer Keywords: 12-step items, Britney Spears