Pick Hits...

Caught in the Act...

KDWB Jingle Ball

Radio Station 101.3 KDWB gave 1,500 lucky fans the ultimate Christmas present a few weeks early as they presented their annual Jingle Ball at the Quest Club in Minneapolis. Chart topping headliners Alicia Keys, Craig David, Christina Milian, Toya and The Product G and B entertained the sold out show.  Lenny Kravitz took care of the introductions as a special guest host.  Craig David enchanted everyone, performing his entire set unplugged with a single acoustic guitarist accompanying him. The evening was topped off with an intimate performance by Alicia Keys, which showcased why her amazing talent is making her one of the biggest stars in music today. This show just gets bigger and better every year.

At The Movies...

Not Another Teen Movie 

In this outrageous spoof on popular teen movies like American Pie, typical adolescent scenarios, the most popular cheerleader, the star football player, the cutest prom date get turned inside out and upside down. Part black comedy, part horror movie, part melodrama, Not Another Teen Movie laughs at conventions of high school flicks while also laughing at itself. Although this is primarily aimed at the teen market, this movie has the potential to amuse people of all ages.

On Video...
Jurassic Park 3
The long-awaited second sequel to Jurassic Park, though not up to the snuff of its predecessors despite new and nastier dinosaurs, still managed to take a bite out of the box office during it’s initial release. The film is non-stop thrills and chills, as is to be expected, with excitingly believable action, at least on the part of the dinos. This time out, though, one has to double one's suspension of disbelief to go along with the implausible human antics on display. Sam Neil returns as Dr. Alan Grant, conned by divorced husband and wife William H. Macy and Tea Leoni to rescue their son, who disappeared on the dino island during a parasailing adventure. And off we go.

The Buzz...
Disney's Pearl Harbor scored a direct hit on video this week, tallying up an estimated $130 million in VHS and DVD sales and setting the record for the biggest DVD debut ever.

Universal Pictures is remaking a big-screen version of its 1954 feature Creature From the Black Lagoon, with Gary Ross' studio-based Larger Than Life Prods. producing. The project is especially fitting for Ross, whose father, Arthur A. Ross, co-wrote the original feature.

 
Colin Farrell (Tigerland) will play Bullseye in the upcoming Daredevil film, starring Ben Affleck.

Gas up the Husqvarna! It’s time to remake The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So says Michael Bay, whose Platinum Dunes production company aims to retell Tobe Hooper’s 1974 cult classic.

Jeff Bridges will return for Tron 2.0, 20 years after the original. He’ll reportedly play a Colonel Kurtz-like character (a reference to Apocalypse Now) who has been stuck in a cyberspace slum where unused videogame characters and obsolete software goes.

Burger King will promote the X-Men: Evolution animated series with toys next month. Burger King Kids Meals will contain X-Men action figures and an interactive miniature CD-Rom with an X-Men comic.

Two tickets to the world premiere of The Fellowship of the Ring sold for more than 4,000 pounds in England. New Line Cinema auctioned the tickets on eBay at a starting bid of 70 pence.

I Dream Of Jeannie’s Barbara Eden will return to prime time after 20 years to guest star in a Sabrina, the Teenage Witch episode.

Elton John says that he's not hanging up his recording career after all, adding that he made those statements after having a bad day.

Guns N' Roses is playing two shows December 29 and 31 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, a repeat of last year's Vegas run where they played to rave reviews. No word on when the band's long-awaited album, Chinese Democracy, finally hits stores.
 

NEW ALBUMS FROM BON JOVI COMMING SOON

Bon Jovi is working on a new album, tentatively titled Bounce, that features several tracks written about the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks. In addition, the Jersey superstars are sifting through unreleased material for a 20th anniversary box set.

Gene Simmons has added yet another KISS-related projects to his already full plate: a KISS Broadway musical. On his website, Simmons recently posted that he plans to work with some of the top names in musical theatre to put together a musical about the band and is meeting with Beauty and the Beast director Rob Roth and Hedwig and the Angry Inch co-writer Stephen Trask about creating a story for the rock n’ roll musical.

AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson told the fan site Rising Power that the band is already working on material for its next album.

Fifty years after Frank Sinatra's debut at the Desert Inn resort in Las Vegas, the Chairman of the Board will be honoured with his own day. Dec. 12, which would have been Sinatra's 86th birthday, will be celebrated as Sinatra Day in Nevada.

Universal Studios is considering construction of a theme park in southern China that would compete with a Disneyland scheduled to open in Hong Kong in 2005.
 

French media giant Vivendi Universal is considering buying the entertainment assets of USA Networks Inc., which owns the Sci-Fi Channel and Home Shopping Network.