Bruce Willis Joins Five Against A Bullet

He'll be a bodyguardWhile it sounds like it could be the most daring (and dangerous) dating show ITV ever pulled off, Five Against A Bullet is actually an action thriller that Sony has been developing with producing powerhouse Lorenzo di Bonaventura. And now he's recruited his Red star Bruce Willis to take the lead.Written by Alex Litvak, who didn't exactly do himself many favours with the script for Three Musketeers, Bullet finds a Mexican politician fearing for his life when his father is taken out by a drug cartel. But, undaunted on his campaign to clear up the streets, he hires the five best bodyguards from around the world to protect him in the run up to a fraught election. Willis will be one of the bullet-catchers."We have been excited about this project since acquiring the rights last year from Mimran Schur and believe Bruce Willis is the perfect actor to lead this cast," Sony's Hannah Minghella said in a statement picked up by The Hollywood Reporter. "We look forward to moving Five Against A Bullet into production quickly."Willis, who will next be seen in The Cold Light Of Day and Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, is also gearing up to shoot A Good Day To Die Hard for Fox.

Apple leads and a few exhibitors follow

Disney execs keep an eye on the details at the flagship El Capitan Theater. How will we survive the next week? There are seven whole days until the unveiling of Apple's iPad 3 and then probably another few weeks until it's available. I expect much of the known world will be crazed with techno-lust, careening about the streets, setting wastebaskets on fire and screaming "Festival! Festival." Or at least lining up in front of Apple Stores the way people used to line up for movies. I've ranted before about how the movie biz should take a cue from Apple, which has grown to have the world's biggest market capitalization, now over $500 billion, while movie box office has grown flaccid and homevideo revenue has withered. That's probably not a coincidence. The iPad and iPhone deliver a better, more reliable experience than the average multiplex, and they do so because the late Steve Jobs, Tim Cook, Jonathan Ive and their cohorts start with a storyteller's vision -- a vision of people using Apple products to make their lives more fun and productive -- and tailor Apple's products to that vision.That vision seems to be missing in the movie business, especially in exhibition.There are exhibitors, though, that are learning from Apple's example, building customer loyalty by delivering a premier experience.One is Disney's flagship El Capitan Theater in Hollywood. "We like to think we give (customer experience) as much attention as Apple does," said Lylle Breier, Disney's senior VP of special events and the El Capitan Theater. "Every time you come to the El Capitan, we want it to feel like a special event. And frankly, we feel like it does. People sort of dress nicer, they behave better, they feel more special."Though it's a 1926-built movie palace with antiquated sightlines, projection and sound at the El Cap are first class, even in 3D. There is a qualified projectionist on duty for all six shows a day. Sound and brightness are checked "constantly," Breier said."That is the thing about this digital technology; it's very dependent on light level," she said.The El Cap uses less obvious tech to enhance the customer experience. The theater's marquee is an LED screen, so it can change quickly -- and it needs to, since the theater might change programs several times a day. Even the stage curtains have gone high-tech. "In the old days, curtains defined a movie theater. If you had two grand curtains, you were considered a premium theater. We have four curtains at the El Capitan. Our fourth is an LED fiber optic curtain."By offering a reliably good experience, the El Cap has generated regular group sales, which help fill up the thousand-seat house. The Texas-based Cinemark chain also has a reputation for quality presentation. And, according to James Meredith, Cinemark VP of marketing and communications, Cinemark management refers to Apple from time to time in discussing the audience experience. Meredith says Cinemark tries to "maximize" the experience for patrons and make it as seamless and personalized as possible. Self-serve concession lines (with LED screens to promote specials tailored to that showing) help speed auds through and get them exactly what they want. Kiosks in the lobby show art-pic trailers that might not be showing on bigscreens -- the trailer for "The Artist" played that way before when pic was in limited release. Cinemark theaters use d-cinema to show not only alternative content but artpics and revivals, such as today's one-off screenings of "The Godfather" parts 1 and 2. The real draw, though, is a quality experience in the theater. Damian Wardle, Cinemark's VP of worldwide theater technology and presentation, said the chain decided that all its screens would show 3D at 6 foot Lamberts, significantly brighter than most 3D screens around the country. Every projector in the chain is networked, and he can monitor the light output of their bulbs via a webpage. Dark projection has given 3D a bad name, he says, but "3D shouldn't have a bad name. It's a great presentation." Now the folks at Cinemark are getting their servers ready to present "The Hobbit" at 48 frames per second at year's end.The El Capitan and the Cinemark chain both refuse to cut corners. They look for ways to make the aud's visit to the theater as fun and convenient as possible, and they sweat the small stuff. And they think hard about how it feels for consumers to visit their theaters and watch a movie. Those are things any theater or chain can do. "We've tried to go the extra mile by showing there's a model that can work," Breier said. "If you can make a single-screen theater work, it can work in a lot of places."Bits & BytesCreateasphere's Spring Entertainment Technology Expo is today at L.A. Center Studios. Sony will host production workshops for its F65 CineAlta digital camera starting in March and running for about six weeks. Workshops will be held on the Sony lot. Manhattan Edit Workshop will offer its Filmmakers Intensive two-week filmmaking workshop June 9-24. Hollywood Film Company is once again distributing Fuji's motion picture negative film stock. 3D tech provider Xpand has appointed Yasunori "Yogi" Higashimura business development manager. He will be based in Osaka. Higashimura has had long experience at Panasonic. Dolby is touting the Joe Satriani concert film "Satchurated: Live in Montreal" as the first ever recorded in 3D and Dolby 7.1. Pic will be released on Blu-ray in April with 7.1 sound. Legend3D has colorized episodes of "The Little Rascals" and converted them to 3D. They are available for viewing on select smartphones and laptops, including the autostereo (glasses-free 3D) LG Optimus 3D and HTC EVO 3D Android. Later this year, Spatial View will offer these episodes on selected 3D televisions. Litepanels has shipped Sola 4 Fresnel LED lighting fixtures. The Siggraph 2012 conference has issued a call for Real Time Live! content for the Computer Animation Festival. Pixologic has released ZBrush 4R2b. New features in this release include FiberMesh and MicroMesh... Cinedeck's RX record monitoring and playback system has gone to version 3.1, adding support for several popular cameras, including Sony XDCam 50 and XDCam EX 35, and Panasonic AVC-Intra class 50 and 100. New release also adds support for more Avid and Apple formats and remote control of common functions, including by USB control devices. Assimilate's Scratch Lab has added support for the Sony F65. Codex has introduced its Vault media management product line designed for the F65. Contact David S. Cohen at david.cohen@variety.com

Who're probably the most Fashionable TV Figures Ever?

Jennifer Garner and Film Clip Jennifer Garner and Film Clip have revealed the title of the third child. "We're pleased to announce on Feb 27, Jennifer delivered a proper choosing, Samuel Garner Affleck," Ben authored on his Facebook page. See other stars who gave birth this season Samuel joins siblings Purple, 6, and Serafina, 3. Garner and Affleck, both 39, happen to be married for seven years. Exactly what do you think about the title?

Fringe Spoiler-thon: 5 Things to learn about the Observer-Centric Episode

Taking a break between moments, Blue Bloods' Donnie Wahlberg places two cell phones within easy achieve. The onetime teen heartthrob is actually mounted on social media that instead of watching his hit cop show on Fridays at 10, he reads real-time Tweets to gauge what audiences like or don't. Happily for your actor who plays Det. Danny Reagan, the "likes" win - Blue Bloods and Wahlberg rule the evening... Discover More > Other Links From TVGuide.com Gang of BrothersBoomtownThe Sixth SenseAmy CarlsonDonnie WahlbergJennifer EspositoMark WahlbergTom SelleckLeonard GoldbergNew Kids round the BlockBlue Bloods

Judy Reyes Lands Lead In Devious Maids, Jay Hernandez Set As Male Lead In Trooper

EXCLUSIVE: Former Scrubs co-star Judy Reyes is back at ABC as the fourth lead alongside Ana Ortiz, Dania Ramirez and Roselyn Sanchez in the ABC pilot Devious Maids, from Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry. Based on the Mexican format, the soap follows four maids (Ortiz, Ramirez, Sanchez, Reyes) with ambition and dreams of their own while they work for the rich and famous in Beverly Hills. Reyes, repped by TalentWorks, Cohn/Torgan and attorney Dave Feldman, plays Zoila, the senior maid at the Delacourt household whose intelligence is matched only by her humor. She works alongside her teen daughter Valentina who serves as the junior maid at mansion. Jay Hernandez (Hostel) is set as the male lead opposite Mira Sorvino in CBS Jerry Bruckheimer-produced drama pilot Trooper. Written byAron Eli Coleite, Trooper centers on KJ Flaxton (Sorvino), a common-sense mother-turned-NY state trooper. Paradigm-repped Hernandez will play KJ’s new partner, a former Miami homicide detective looking for a new start for him and his daughter following the death of his wife. Craig Gillespie is directing the pilot, which he is executive producing with Coleite, Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman.

John Carter Producer: Pixar Backlash to Blame for Cars 2 Oscar Snub?

Last summers Cars 2 marked a notable footnote in the history of Pixar Animation, just not a good one; despite opening to the studios sixth-highest worldwide take to date, the sequel to 2006s Cars earned middling reviews, prompted critics to deem it a commercial cash-grab, and eventually maybe most shockingly, given the studio's track record became the first Pixar film not to nab an Oscar nod for Best Animated Feature since the category was inaugurated. Could it be, as Pixar producer Lindsey Collins suggests, that Cars 2 was Oscar-snubbed because of anti-Pixar backlash? Speaking with press today in Phoenix, Arizona for John Carter, which she produced for longtime Pixar collaborator Andrew Stanton, Collins assessed why Cars 2 was overlooked in favor of five other animated films (A Cat in Paris, Chico and Rita, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, and Rango). The fact that [Cars 2] was a sequel -- in a way its funny, because obviously from a franchise standpoint people love sequels, Collins explained. And certainly from a franchise standpoint Cars 2 did insanely well, such that we cant even count it as a good metric to tell us whether or not to do sequels. Sequel status aside, Collins surmised a larger reason was working against the John Lasseter-directed pic, which was the first Pixar film to earn an overall rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes. I think it had the fact that Pixar has dominated going against it, she added. At a certain point there was going to be somebody who was going to take the fall a little bit. It was going to be like, Eh, we dont like that one. Then again, Cars 2s nomination miss could also be chalked up to the relatively deep field of animated films in the running for Oscar this year many of which surprised Collins and defied her own expectations of the competition. I see every single one of these things because my kids drag me to them all, and to me it felt like God, there are some great animated films this year. I actually had one of those, Theres two hours of my life that Im never going to get back [thoughts], and then you walk out like, Actually, that was quite good! Among the great pictures not spawned from Pixar that Collins had praise for? I loved Rango," she admitted. There were actually some great pictures this year. As for the cold critical reception and accusations of crass commercialism Cars 2 received, Collins maintains that Lasseter truly, truly loves the sequel -- and Pixar, she says, supports the films its stable of directors want to make. John loves that world, he loves those characters. We got accused of being very commercial with it and its kind of funny, its so ironic because if youve met John Lasseter theres not a disingenuous bone in that mans body. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.

Pilot Season: Lost's Terry O'Quinn Moves Into ABC's 666 Park Avenue

Harper's Island alum Adam Campbell has grew to become part of the ensemble cast of Nick Stoller's untitled CBS pilot, Deadline reviews. The comedy will star Michael Angarano as Mike, dedication-phobe who breaks tabs on his girlfriend but must still work alongside her. Campbell and newcomer Amanda Lund may have co-employees. Discover More > Other Links From TVGuide.com Michael AngaranoAdam CampbellHarper's Island