Barack Obama swept to victory as the nation’s first black president Tuesday night in an electoral college landslide that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself. “Change has come,” he told a huge throng of cheering supporters.

The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, the Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his historic triumph by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states - Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Iowa and more.

On a night for Democrats to savor, they padded their majorities in the House and Senate, and come January will control both the White House and Congress for the first time since 1994.

In his first speech as president-elect, Obama catalogued the challenges ahead. “The greatest of a lifetime,” he said, two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.”

Source: Variety

Elizabeth Banks is about to have a movie-star moment. She’s just come from the world premiere of Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno at the Toronto Film Festival, arriving at the Four Seasons in a sleek Prada dress with an SUV-size entourage in tow. The maitre d’ at the hotel’s chic lounge has swiftly grouped a collection of tables in one corner for her crew. Just as Banks settles in, a stranger approaches with that unmistakable look of omigod-I’m-about-to-talk-to-a-celebrity anticipation. He leans over and asks, ”Excuse me, are you Chelsea Handler?” Whoops. Banks smiles, apparently loving that she’s been mistaken for the E! host. ”I am so Chelsea Handler,” she says. The Handler fan is delighted. ”Are you here promoting a film?” he asks earnestly. Banks doesn’t miss a beat: ”No, I’m just here promoting myself.” The fan grins, satisfied, and moves along with a starry story to tell his friends.

(EW)

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Elizabeth Banks flits from first lady to ‘Porno’ comedy

The current financial crisis undergoing in Wall Street and Corporate America has begun to impact the entertainment industry, despite the fact that Hollywood typically takes advantage of such hard times to allure frustrated consumers into movie theaters.

Paramount Pictures is shuffling its fall and holiday season release schedule by delaying two star-driven drama movies, probably due to the economic crisis, studio budget woes and market competition, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

(Chinaview)

Academy Award winners Robert De Niro, a long-time member of the Montauk community, and Al Pacino star as a pair of veteran New York City police detectives on the trail of a vigilante serial killer in the adrenaline-fueled psychological thriller “Righteous Kill.” This is only the second time they have appeared on screen together, but they did star in a film together. Can you remember what it was?

An intricately plotted mystery that will keep audiences guessing until the dramatic ending, “Righteous Kill” also features hip-hop superstar Curtis Jackson (a/k/a 50 Cent), Carla Gugin, John Leguizamo, and Donnie Wahlberg. Veteran stage actor Brian Dennehy joins Trilby Glover and Rob Dyrdek of MTV’s hit show “Rob & Big” for a cameo appearance. The film is directed by Jon Avnet and written by Russell Gewirtz, who collaborated with Spike Lee on the thriller “Inside Man.”

(Hamptons.com)

Tyler Perry fans were already pumped as they arrived at a local theater for a free preview screening of “Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys.” They didn’t expect to also get Tyler Perry himself.

The tall author, playwright and director, relaxed in a Yankees baseball cap, joked and took questions from the audience. 

“The critics have never been kind to me, but I don’t care,” he told the crowd at Regal Richmond Town Square in Richmond Heights recently. “You are the best advertisement there is.”

Word-of-mouth praise has made Perry’s movies box-office champs, proving black filmgoers are hungry to see their own stories told on film. Since his first feature film, 2005’s “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” debuted at No. 1 at the box office, Perry has found more commercial success with his ensuing films — “Madea’s Family Reunion,” “Daddy’s Little Girls” and 2007’s “Why Did I Get Married?”

His latest comedy-drama, “Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys,” opens Sept. 12.

(Cleveland.com)

The stars are here but the Oscar hype is on low volume at the Toronto film festival this year as major studios hold their promotional fire for movies looking to win awards until later in the year.

Brad Pitt turned out on the first weekend to launch the comedy “Burn After Reading” by the Oscar-winning Coen Brothers that opens in theaters on Friday and Grammy winner Alicia Keys walked the red carpet for the drama “The Secret Life of Bees” due out in October.

But the feeling among industry watchers at the 2008 festival, which reached its midpoint on Monday, has been that it lacks the high-profile Oscar movies of recent years.

(Reuters)

An estimated 200 demonstrators, some in wheelchairs, picketed Monday night’s premiere of Tropic Thunder to protest the movie’s use of the word “retard” and what they consider its offensive portrayal of people with intellectual disabilities. By the time the movie started the crowd was down to about 50 people.

(USA Today)

Hollywood is all about bragging rights: who has the biggest box-office returns, the largest market share, the most Oscar nominations. Talent agents love the glory as much as anyone but generally prefer to keep the spotlight on their clients.

So we’ve decided to do the back-slapping for them.

As much as they say they dislike reading about themselves, agents very much have been in the news recently. While it’s unclear if the Screen Actors Guild will go on strike and prompt a complete work stoppage, the agencies are still hurting from the recent 100-day Writers Guild of America labor dispute, which forced many to reduce staff, drop lesser clients and forgo bonuses.

(LA Times)

Like a lot of 12-year-olds, Abigail Breslin might want to be a veterinarian when she grows up.

“I love animals, and I’ve had dogs, cats, a turtle,” she says. “And it’s weird, but I collect elephants. All kinds. Not the living kind. Not yet.”

She just joined Girl Scouts, and she says “Oh my gosh!” a lot. Especially about American Idol or the iPod she just lost.

(Houston Chronicle)

Agent 007 still has all of his digits. Daniel Craig was sent to the hospital after suffering a minor hand injury while filming the latest James Bond movie Quantum of Solace at Pinewood Studios near London.

“There was a minor incident on set,” Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group spokesman Steve Elzer told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “Daniel injured his hand. He sought medical attention. He was back on the set within a matter of hours and production went on.”

An e-mail and phone call to the 40-year-old British actor’s publicist was not immediately returned Wednesday.

It’s not the first accident that’s occurred during filming for Quantum of Solace. Stuntmen were injured while filming an action sequence on famously winding lakeside roads in Northern Italy in April. Neither Craig, director Marc Forster or any other cast members were at the location when those accidents occurred.

Quantum of Solace is the 22nd Bond film and is scheduled for release later this year.