Grammy-winning music producer, musician, and songwriter James William Guercio (occasionally credited as Jim Guercio) is selling his Quietus, Montana ranch for $25 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The ranch is listed through real estate agency Hall and Hall. It has more than 32,400 acres and includes two equipment-storage sheds, a barn, a cookhouse, and eight solar-powered wells.

The main log home is 2,265 square feet and was originally build in 1892. The ranch was the headquarters of the Kendrick Cattle Company until the 1990s, when Guercio became the sole owner.

It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and is even on the National Register of Historic places.

The ranch, called OW Ranch, is a one-hour drive north of Sheridan, Wyoming and sits on 32,400 acres of deeded property.

Source: Hall & Hall

Guercio originally bought 6,000 acres of the ranch in the early 1990s, and became the sole owner after the previous owner died.

Source: WSJ

The ranch was originally the headquarters of the Kendrick Cattle Company — one of the most famous cattle empires in the late 1800s.

Source: Hall & Hall

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Hollywood invaded New York for this season's Fashion Week showcasing designer lines for fall 2013.

Miley Cyrus and Willow Smith sat front row with their moms, Rachel Zoe's latest accessory is her son and Heidi Klum still knows how to work a runway.

See which celebrities attended which runway shows and of course, what they wore.

Christina Ricci went for a crop top for Marc Jacobs' Fall 2013 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

Not to be outdone, Miley Cyrus showed off her toned tummy next to designer Marc Jacobs while backstage after his show.

A day prior, Cyrus, sitting in between her mother and Cosmopolitan editor Joanna Coles, looked surprised by the Rachel Zoe fashion show.

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Maybe it's because it was Valentine's Day and we were all feeling a bit emotional, but Thursday night's episode of American Idol was certainly one to love.

One thing that made this episode so endearing was its brevity. Essentially, Idol eliminated 35 contestants in one hour — that's more than one elimination every two minutes; more if you factor in commercial time. If they sustained this rate, we could crown the next American Idol by the end of next Wednesday's episode! Sure, we all understand that such high-speed results aren't sustainable but it is important to show appreciation when the producers are efficient with our time by airing a show comprised of content as opposed to filler. So, thank you, American Idol.

There were also a few female contestants who deserve to be thanked for their contribution to such a successful episode. There has been a lot of buzz about the girls being the ones to beat this year but up until Thursday night, no female had really taken to the stage and demanded viewers to take notice of her. No one forced us to all sit back and think, "She could be the one."'

That all changed when 18-year-old Angela Miller sat down at the piano and played the judges an original song called, "You Set Me Free." Angela's performance was so riveting, Keith Urban looked to be on the verge of tears and when she finished all four judges were on their feet. In that one instant Angela became a serious contender in the competition. Of course, she is from the North Shore of Massachusetts after all...we North Shorers have gumption.

Candice Glover, the closest the competition had to a "girl to watch" before Thursday's episode, was also poised to have her moment in the spotlight with her rendition of Alicia Key's, "This Girl is on Fire," which could easily be Candice's American Idol theme song. While Angela's performance of an original song was an extremely tough act to follow, Candice was perhaps the only one who could have pulled it off.

With such strong girls out of the gate, the American Idol judges later made a few decisions that were perplexing, at best. (Johnny Keyser made it through to the top 40? What? If we go down that rabbit hole we'll lose our Valentine's Day glow, for sure.) When Zoanette Johnson spilled onto the stage it was easy to tell that this girl, who was opting to sing a song that "came to her" while she was onstage fooling around with the drum set, was becoming unhinged. And Zoanette did just that when, midway through her bizarro performance, she lost her drumstick and began yelling at the band to slow down the tempo of her song.

But then things really got bizarre.

The judges seemed to be enjoying Zoanette's ridiculous performance – Keith was even on his feet at the end. It was one of those moments where you question everything you thought you knew. Here, you had developed this bond with the new male judge, grown to appreciate not just his shiny locks, crooked grin, and chest tattoo but his obvious passion for music and infectious enthusiasm when - BAM - he pulls the rug right out from under you, leaving you disoriented. "You really liked Zoanette," you inquire at the screen incredulously, realizing that the foundation that you and Keith had begun to develop was already beginning to show signs of strain.

Then, as if he had been in tune to your innermost thoughts all along, Keith Urban demonstrates a visceral response to Kree Harrison's genuine - or authentic (Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj are still arguing over whose descriptor was more accurate) - performance. Keith claims that she is one of his favorite voices in the competition and you begin to think you can dismiss the small quarrel over Zoanette, telling yourself that it is insignificant, since even if she did make it through to the live shows, she'd definitely be one of the first to get the boot.

And you could almost believe it, if only you could get the image of Sanjaya Malakar and his "faux-hawk" out of your mind.

After saying goodbye to the odd – but strangely endearing – Kez Ban and hearing Shuba Vedula (a.k.a. Pia Toscano 2.0) belt out a ballad, the judges had narrowed down their pool of girls to 21. Before they could decide on the final 20, they requested that Stephanie Schimel and Rachel Hale sing for them again. For some reason Stephanie opts to send the judges subliminal messages by singing the Phil Phillips song, "Home," which is exactly where they send her. 

Then they invite the remaining 28 boys to take the stage and request to hear a few of them perform before they can make the final cuts. Josh Holiday is one of the contestants who is asked to sing and he gives it his all, almost literally leaving it all on the stage after splitting his pants in a particularly eager lunge. It pays off for Josh but poor David Leathers, Jr. is sent home at the same point in the competition for a second year in a row.

And there you have it, ladies and gentleman, American Idol's top 40. Naming them all at this point would be senseless. Naming contestants this early in the season is like living on a farm and naming your turkeys before November – it's just not a good use of your time. 

Tune in next week when Idol heads to Las Vegas, where the competition is sure to heat up. Ba dum tsh.

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Ben Affleck's upcoming trip to the Academy Awards is widely expected to end with the "Argo" director cradling a gold statuette.

But as the 40-year-old actor-writer-director nears his presumed moment of glory on the stage of the Dolby Theatre, it's worth remembering that his first trip to the Oscars ended the same way for the then-25-year-old actor-writer.

And the audience that saw Affleck's first Oscar triumph 15 years ago was no doubt bigger than the one that will watch "Argo" either win Best Picture or suffer a shocking upset at the hands of some other film.

I attended rehearsals from the 70th Oscars show in March 1998 and was backstage during the ceremony – where, it's safe to say, the 25-year-old Affleck and his 27-year-old childhood friend Matt Damon were the talk of a show also known for the 11 wins for "Titanic" and the largest U.S. Oscar audience ever, 87 million viewers.

Also read: Ben Affleck & Chris Terrio Dissect 'Argo' - and Defend Some Untruths

Affleck was there for "Good Will Hunting," which he and Damon had written partly as a way to give themselves better roles than they'd been getting.

The Boston-set drama put the pair on the map and received nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (Gus van Sant), Best Actor (Damon), Best Supporting Actor (Robin Williams) and Best Supporting Actress (Minnie Driver). Affleck was passed over in the acting categories (his first Oscar snub!), though the Original Screenplay nomination was consolation enough.

They were also booked as presenters on the show, and the day before the show they arrived at the Shrine Auditorium an hour earlier than their scheduled call time for rehearsal. Affleck took his mom.

In those days, the show would recruit the teenage kids of staffers to man the swag table on rehearsal days, handing out Oscar hats and sweatshirts to the celebs who came to rehearse and assisting with the dispensing of the lavish gift baskets that had grown to tens of thousands of dollars in value.

Normally, the kids would take the presenters as they came, without undue lobbying for position -- but every so often they'd all be jockeying to wait on the same celebs, which is what they did for Affleck and Damon.

The two young nominees came to the Shrine with the wide-eyed wonder that first-time presenters often showed. When Affleck's mother asked if she could take pictures inside the auditorium, the show's publicist went to its security chief, who rescinded the usual ban just for Mrs. Affleck.

"We went in there and they had the little cardboard cutouts of the actors in the seats they were going to sit in, and we just kept taking pictures," Affleck told TheWrap years later. "We couldn't believe they let us in. We took pictures with the cutouts of James Cameron, Kim Basinger, Jack Nicholson … "

After they rehearsed, Affleck and Damon walked out the artists' entrance and into a sea of staffers' kids.

SEE ALSO: Here's How Much Hollywood Studios And Stars Can Earn By Winning An Oscar >

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I'm not a big theater guy.

Despite being a native New Yorker, the last Broadway show I saw might have been "Beatlemania," back in the 1970s. (Great show!)

But my kids are into the performance thing. They're always staging "plays" and shooting "movies," etc.

So for a few years I have been thinking that someday I should take them to a Broadway show.

Then I sat next to a money manager at a dinner the other night who was raving about the new "Annie."

I had seen the movie "Annie," so I figured I could manage to sit through the play. I knew it would be expensive--one good reason to avoid Broadway is the mind-boggling expense--but I figured "Annie" wouldn't be more expensive than any other show. And I also figured there was relatively low risk that my kids would hate it (an important consideration). My kids had seen the movie of "Annie," and they liked that. And they had only seen the movie about seven times, so I figured they would be at least modestly interested in the play.

(Seven times is only moderate exposure for kid-repeat-viewing in the iPad age. Mine have probably seen "The Two Towers" fifteen times.)

So I decided to take the family to see "Annie."

I cracked open my computer.

The first thing I discovered is that buying tickets for Broadway shows is easier than it used to be. Last time I went to one, we had to go wait in line at the theater. Or Ticketron.

Now you just go to TicketMaster online and search for the show. And you get a calendar with dates.

Once you pick a date, you actually get to pick out your seats!

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Okay. It's not really Quentin Tarantino's next film, but it looks pretty believable.

Christoph Waltz hosted "Saturday Night Live" and starred in a mock trailer for the director's "next" movie, "Djesus Uncrossed." Here's the extended version that didn't air on NBC:

SEE ALSO: The most powerful people in Hollywood >

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Country singer Mindy McCready has been found dead of an apparent suicide at age 37.

According to E! Online, the singer's body was found Sunday in Heber Springs, Ark. 

Arkansas' KARK 4 News reports Cleburne County Sheriff deputies have confirmed McCready's body was found at her home and that she died from a single gunshot wound to the head.

Both Nashville, Tenn. Fox 17 reporter, Stacy McCloud, and NBC Dateline correspondent Andrea Canning tweeted the singer has passed from an alleged suicide:

A close family friend of Mindy McCready has informed me that the country singer has committed suicide. Not confirmed with OFFICIALS. #Sad

— Stacy McCloud (@stacymccloud) February 18, 2013

Just got a call from Mindy McCready's best friend that she shot and killed herself this evening.My heart breaks for her two boys.RIP

— Andrea Canning (@CanningAndrea) February 18, 2013

Authorities have yet to confirm. According to McCloud, she has confirmed the suicide from four different sources consisting of police and family members.

About to go on air with all that we have confirmed from both police and family about the suicide of Mindy McCready. Tune into @wztv_fox17.

— Stacy McCloud (@stacymccloud) February 18, 2013

The New York Daily News reported McCready was admitted into a rehab center for alcohol and mental health issues earlier this month after the death of her boyfriend, David Wilson, in January.

The singer's last tweet, January 19, gave a positive outlook for the singer.

McCready is best known for singles "Ten Thousand Angels" and "Guys Do It All The Time."

During her career she had a total of 12 singles on the Billboard country singles charts.

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Tom Green says that during his fight with testicular cancer he had a religious experience in the shower of a house owned by his landlord, William Shatner.

Yes, William Shatner. Green said in the "WTF with Marc Maron" podcast this week that Shatner was once his landlord. And it was in Shatner's house that he decided to try prayer.

It was in the late '90s, a surreal time in Green's life: He had an MTV hit with "The Tom Green Show," he was dating Drew Barrymore, and he was renting a Los Angeles home from the "Star Trek" icon.

"He was a hands-on landlord," Green said. "He'd come pick up the check. Captain Kirk would come pick up the check, occasionally. He was a nice guy. He was a really cool guy."

Maron asked Green how he ended up living in Shatner's home.

"I just got lucky, man. He had a house, one of his properties that he owns," Green said. "It was for rent and I went there and while they were showing the house they said, by the way, your landlord's William Shatner."

Green said he was never particularly religious, but began to pray one day at the house that he would survive the cancer.

"I was sitting in the shower, sitting down in the shower, scared, assuming death was imminent. I figured if I'm so unlucky that I'm gonna get testicular cancer now, while all this great stuff is happening, then I'm going to be one of the ones that dies from it too. Literally, just panic stricken," Green said.

"And I remember praying to God for real, like he was listening to me and he was actually gonna possibly do something about it."

Green said he wasn't religious before, but decided it was time to give prayer a try.

"If there is a chance that this is real, I'm not gonna take any chances here," Green said. "I'm gonna pray to this God right now," he remembered thinking. "And I did that quite a bit. And I'm alive. So who knows?"

Green has recently devoted himself to standup comedy after hosting an online show and competing on "Celebrity Apprentice." Shatner's publicist did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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When these celebrities and iconic characters want to knock one back, these are the drinks they choose.

1. Madeira – Ben Franklin

If there are two things Big Ben Franklin will always be remembered for, it’s drinking and syphilis.

Or is it persuading the French to join in with the colonists to fight the British and the key-on-the-kite electricity experiment?

Either or, the point is, when Franklin wasn’t changing the world he was refilling his glass.

His drink of choice? Madeira, an oxidized and fortified wine.

2. Mojito – Ernest Hemingway

You’d think Hemingway, the man’s man, would go for something like whiskey, straight up.

But no, Bumby liked his rum and mint.

If you’ve never been one for the Cuban cocktail, give Ernie’s recipe a try:

6 fresh mint leaves
Juice of 1 lime
2 tsp light brown sugar
1-1/2 oz. white rum, 3 oz. champagne
Sprig of fresh mint, for garnish

3. Gin Rickey – F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Rickey’s resurgence in the last decade has made it cool again, especially within the D.C. Beltway.

But for F. Scott Fitzgerald, it was always cool. In the roaring '20s, he was known for being more than just a great writer—Fitzgerald’s low tolerance and tendency for tomfoolery gave him a reputation as a prankster.

So, when he disclosed he loved gin because it wasn’t easy to detect on his breath, his friends were probably left biting their tongue.

He made no secret of his love affair with drinking, once saying, "First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you."

The gin rickey took him and was forever immortalized in The Great Gatsby.

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Yippee ki yay!  

The "Die Hard" franchise is still alive. 

In a Valentine's Day weekend where it was thought another Nicholas Sparks film would rule the box office, Bruce Willis' return in a fifth "Die Hard" installment easily pushed ahead of romance "Safe Haven" after Valentine's Day. 

The earnings for "A Good Day to Die Hard" aren't as strong as 2007's "Live Free or Die Hard" ($33.4 million); however, it did earn more than "Die Hard: With a Vengeance" which opened to $22 million in 1995. 

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. hopes to make the next "Twilight" franchise with book adaptation "Beautiful Creatures" falls flat. 

With four new films out this week, three films fall from the top ten. Jessica Chastain's horror flick "Mama," "Argo," and "Django Unchained" finally bow out.  

Here are this week's winners and losers in Hollywood: 

10. "Zero Dark Thirty" remains one of two Oscar contenders in the box-office top ten with $3.1 million. In nine weeks, the Bin Laden film has just crossed the $100 million mark worldwide. 

9. Though it dropped four spots, Jeremy Renner's "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" remains in the top ten after four weeks earning another $3.5 million. The film is earning double its U.S. earnings overseas, bringing it to $150.9 million worldwide. 

8. "Silver Linings Playbook" may have also dropped four spots, but its the only other Oscar contender still in the top ten only dropping 5 percent in sales with $6 million.  

7. "Side Effects" with Rooney Mara and Channing Tatum narrowly edges out "SLP" with $6.3 million in week two.  

6. "Beautiful Creatures" does not deliver "Twilight"-like earnings for Warner Bros. And, that's not a surprise. The film didn't have the star power of the previous teen romance nor the fan gathering of "Hunger Games" or the Stephanie Myers vampire romance. Rather, the book adaptation earned an underwhelming $10 million. It was estimated to earn closer to $15 million while costing $60 million to produce the film.  

5. Summit's twist on the classic zombie film, "Warm Bodies," continues to perform well at the box office with another $9 million at theaters. The movie has now earned $67.9 million in three weeks. 

4. With no other kid films out, "Escape From Planet Earth" earns $16 million for Weinstein Company. The film cost an estimated $40 million to produce. 

3. Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough fail to take the box-office weekend with Nicholas Sparks' "Safe Haven." Though the film beat out "Die Hard" Valentine's Day, the film earned $21.4 million for the entire weekend. Compared to previous Sparks' adaptations, the film has the third highest opening behind "Dear John" and "The Lucky One." (No, "The Notebook" didn't have one of the top openings with $13.5 million. Only after its popularity did it pick up to earn $115.6 million worldwide.) 

2. Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman nearly stole the weekend again in "Identity Thief" with $23.4 million. The comedy has now double its estimated budget earning $71 million worldwide.  

1. Despite a 16 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and negative reviews from critics, "A Good Day to Die Hard" wins the weekend with $25 million. 

SEE ALSO: The most powerful people in Hollywood >

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Saturday Night Live mocked Sen. Marco Rubio's now-infamous drink of water during the "Weekend Update" Saturday, with an appearance by the Florida Senator himself. 

In the segment, Rubio, played by Taran Killam, attempts to explain his water bottle lunge, but ends up running into the same thirst problem that doomed his State of the Union response Tuesday.

Watch the clip below, courtesy of NBC: 

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If you were a fan of the initial "Star Trek Into Darkness" poster, Paramount revealed a motion one that gives fans a look inside the city with an ominous overture from Benedict Cumberbatch.

Via Empire magazine:

If that isn't enough, Paramount's official Twitter page for the film revealed a new photo of Cumberbatch's mysterious "John Harrison" character:

J.J. Abrams' sequel comes out May 17 and stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, and Cumberbatch.

SEE ALSO: The original "Star Trek Into Darkness" poster looks awfully familiar >

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Beyoncé revealed she gained 57 pounds during her pregnancy with daughter Blue Ivy during her interview for "Oprah's Next Chapter." Normal weight gain during a pregnancy is 25 to 35 pounds. The episode airs this coming Sunday at 8 p.m.  

Kathleen Kennedy's husband, Frank Marshall, confirmed via Twitter she will no longer be producing "Jurassic Park 4." Instead, as head of Lucasfilm, Marshall said she'll be focusing on "TIE fighters" in Disney's upcoming "Star Wars" movies. 

Singer Fergie announced she and actor Josh Duhamel are expecting their first child on Twitter. 

Josh & Me & BABY makes three!!! #mylovelybabybumpinstagram.com/p/V4enzQEDJs/twitter.com/Fergie/status/…

— Fergie (@Fergie) February 18, 2013

CBS pulls Mark Burnett's reality series "The Job" after only two episodes. "Undercover Boss" will fill in to replace. 

Guy Pearce looks delightfully diabolical in a new "Iron Man 3" teaser poster.

Check out the teaser for NBC's new drama, "Hannibal," which premieres April 4:

SEE ALSO: The new motion poster from "Star Trek Into Darkness" >

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Pinterest, the pinboard-inspired pic sharing site, has teamed with NBC's "The Biggest Loser" to promote the competish program and healthier lifestyle choices.

Partnership includes Peacock-created instructional content that will appear on Pinterest and complement each week's episode. Viewers will be directed to "Biggest Loser's" Pinterest page during broadcasts, where they can discover recipes, lifestyle tips and exercises from show trainer Dolvett Quince and chef Devin Alexander.

Initiative kicked off today and will continue until "Loser's" season finale on March 18. (The Shine America-produced program is currently in its fourteenth cycle.)

Pinterest has established itself as a social media go-to for web users looking for bite-sized health info. Many Pinterest users repin photos of motivational quotes, recipes and fitness how-tos, so "Biggest Loser" integration organically falls into Pinterest's already favored and inspirational content.

"Being at the forefront of all things health, wellness and lifestyle Pinterest was a natural fit with 'The Biggest Loser' to provide fans with take-away content and a powerful user experience," said Vivi Zigler, topper of Shine 360 and Digital.

Media brands are no stranger to using Pinterest as a promo vehicle, and the platform had previously hosted holiday campaign "30 Days of Pinspiration," which included participation from Dr. Oz and Katie Couric's daytime shows. Pact with "Biggest Loser," however, marks the first significant broadcast entertainment partnership that Pinterest has participated in that includes dedicated, customized content from a TV show that continues through a season run.

"People watch 'The Biggest Loser' to get inspired and that's the same reason they come to Pinterest," said Barry Schnitt, head of communications at Pinterest. "It makes the show a perfect place for us to start."

Click here for more television news on Variety.com.

SEE ALSO: 15 Clever Augmented Reality Campaigns

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Singer Mary J. Blige allegedly owes $900,000 in back taxes in New Jersey, according to documents acquired by TMZ.

This isn't the first time Blige has found herself deep in financial trouble.

In the past year, she's been sued for bank loans accruing up to nearly $3 million.

• Earlier this month, the 42-year-old Grammy winner was sued by Bank of America after allegedly defaulting on a $500,000 loan.
• Last November, the singer and her husband were sued for defaulting on a $2.2 million bank loan taken out in October of 2011 by the singer and her company, Mary Jane Productions Inc. 
• Last May, TD Bank sued the singer's Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now (FFAWN) charity for $250,000 for another loan taken out in June 2011.

According to NY Daily News, Blige also recently received a notice on her NYC apartment building for not paying back rent. 

Last May, Blige told TMZ she took responsibility, but admitted she doesn't have the right people handling her finances.

"The problem is that I didn't have the right people in the right places doing the right things," said Blige. "This should have never been allowed to happen, but it did and now we are fixing it."

SEE ALSO: Tom Green's religious experience in a home owned by William Shatner >

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Every superhero needs a suit, but not the kind that beleaguered Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is attracting. A former stuntman on the production is the latest to take legal action, filing a $6m (£3.9m) lawsuit over injuries incurred on the production.

Richard Kobak, who replaced another stuntman, Christopher Tierney, after the latter's 30-foot fall in the "hero flyer" role, is suing the companies responsible for providing and maintaining equipment used in the production's flying sequences. Though the suit doesn't list the injuries he incurred, Kobak has previously claimed to have suffered concussion, whiplash and two herniated discs, as well as two holes in his knees while working on the Spider-Man musical.

On replacing Tierney, Kobak claims equipment wasn't adjusted to his personal specifications, leaving it "improperly calibrated for the height, weight and size of the plaintiff". On another occasion, Kobak says he was asked to change his technique for a particular stunt and, on taking the direction, hit a wall at speed.

The stuntman is taking action against Live Nation Worldwide, the company that supplied "certain equipment, devices, machinery, computers, computer programs, systems, navigation systems, safety devices and all relevant and necessary items" to the production, according to the suit, as well as Scott Fisher, who Kobak claims was "responsible for the design, creation, manufacture, fabrication, installation, maintenance, repair and upkeep" of some of those items.

Kobak's legal action follows that taken by the production's original director Julie Taymor, who is seeking more than $1m from producers in addition to future royalties.

The production officially opened in June 2011, after eight months of preview performances and problems, and reportedly cost a record-breaking $75m to produce.

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk

SEE ALSO: Mary J. Blige owes nearly $1 million in back taxes to New Jersey >

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In a bombshell 75-page report on Chinese hacking released last night, security firm Mandiant directly linked acts of cyber espionage to China's military.

Chief amongst the many findings of the report was that of "PLA Unit 61398", a military building in Shanghai's Pudong neighborhood that seems to be the epicenter of attacks on Western institutions and businesses.

The report featured some satellite images of the building, but some journalists in Shanghai have tried to get a closer look — with mixed results. The BBC's Beijing correspondent John Sudworth and his crew tried to film the building, but were quickly detained.

Here's what Sudworth says in a BBC video:

“We were stopped pretty promptly from filming. We were briefly detained by the military personnel on the gates, taken inside the base and they refused to let us go until we had agreed to surrender our tape.

“The Reuters news agencies were able to pick up some footage, and you can see form those pictures that this is a pretty nondescript building.

“Certainly it doesn’t look likely to be the nerve centre of one of the most effective and prolific cyber warfare operations ever mounted...”

The image below, taken from the Reuters footage, shows the building:

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Regal Entertainment Group, already the largest theatrical exhibitor in the United States, is about to get even bigger.

The company announced Tuesday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Hollywood Theaters in a deal worth more than $238 million. In return, Regal will add 43 theatres with 513 screens to its portfolio.

Regal currently boasts 6,880 screens in 540 locations.

The company will pay $191 million in cash and approximately $47 million of assumed lease obligations from Hollywood Theaters. The cash portion of the purchase price includes repayment of approximately $157 million in Hollywood Theaters' debt.

“We expect the acquisition of Hollywood Theaters to be accretive to cash flows and earnings and are pleased to announce an agreement to purchase these high quality assets,” Amy Miles, CEO of Regal Entertainment Group, said in a statement.

Shares of Regal rose 2.54 percent to $15.72 after the deal was announced.

During its most recent quarterly earnings, Regal saw revenue rise to $723 million, an 18 percent year-over-year jump that bested analysts' expectations. The company's earnings also doubled to $0.28 per share, as it reported net income of $37.3 million.

SEE ALSO: Tom Green's religious experience in a home owned by William Shatner >

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Clive Davis — the 80-year-old record producer and music exec responsible for the careers of Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Rod Stewart, Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson, among others — has come out of the closet as a bisexual in his new memoir "The Soundtrack of My Life."

Despite being married twice and having four children, the current chief creative officer at Sony Music reveals he has had two serious relationships with men over the past 20 years.

Davis writes that his first same-sex sexual encounter came at Studio 24.

“Was I nervous?” writes Davis in "Soundtrack." “Absolutely. Did the heavens open up? No. But it was satisfying.”

Davis also reveals that he has been in “a strong monogamous relationship” with a man for the last seven years but makes it clear he considers himself as strictly bisexual, not gay.

“Do I feel I could have been similarly attracted to a woman?” Davis writes. “The answer is yes.”

"I’m not lying,” recently Davis told ABC's "Nightline." ”[Bisexuality] does exist. For over 50 years I never had sex with a male. It wasn’t repressed.  I had very good sexual relationships with women.” 

Watch the interesting segment below:

"The Sound Track of My Life" also gives never-before-seen glimpses into Davis' close relationship with Whitney Houston, who he begged to get help before her untimely death, and his rocky working relationship Kelly Clarkson.

The memoir, co-written with Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis, was published Tuesday by Simon & Schuster.

SEE ALSO: Why Mary J. Blige owes Nearly $1M in back taxes >

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This article originally appeared on TechCrunch.

By now many of you know the Harlem Shake but what you may not appreciate is the broader trend behind the video and it has mirrored my general views on how TV will work in the future.

"Harlem Shake" is a YouTube phenomenon that, in just 2 weeks, has gone from nothing to on air on both Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert. Collectively the Harlem Shake has been viewed around 200 million times. Two weeks. 200 million views. Suck it, traditional TV.

Summary Version
Global audiences of prosumer video producers will create content that is viewed by global audiences in numbers far in excess of traditional TV. TV will enter the era of “participation” which is a much more important trend than “social video” even if it seems less sexy or less fundable.

It means the “torso TV” consumption patterns will be more important than the head or the long tail for the next era of media companies.

TV of the future will not always have linear stories. I know that’s hard for many people to accept but when the medium changes from one-way broadcast to the millions to the ability to interact with each other through video it is unlikely that the future will resemble the past. Why would it?

I have started thinking about what the future might look like and I’ve started imagining what I call, “MMOV” or massive multiplayer online video.

Sure, the revenue & margin will be significantly lower than traditional TV.  You should only worry about this if you’re a large, traditional media company with fat margins. The future of TV will follow the rule of Deflationary Economics as I outline influenced by the book The Innovator’s Dilemma.

It will enable the naturally creative but geographically and socially disenfranchised to make money doing what they love – participating. Maybe small amounts of money for what founders reading these pages dream of but life-changing for many.

Gangnam Style Meets Torso TV
Of course you know Gangnam Style, which is now the most viewed video in history at 1.3 billion views. Before this South Korean wonder spread across the globe I had written about a trend in global audiences that exists when the costs of production are nearly zero and the costs of distribution are also nearly free. I called this trend “Torso TV” because the “head” of consumption (largest number of views) was dominated by platforms that had massive distribution (think TV stations, radio or retail outlets that sell CDs and DVDs. think Apple. think Amazon) and therefore hits with high production costs were more suited to the medium.

The problem with the “long tail” content is that only the platform provider (ie YouTube) makes money. So if you want to be a content producer and want to make money you can develop content for global “niches” of watchers who might like: Japanese Anime, South Korean drama, Bollywood productions, reality TV on any topic – fashion, cooking, travel.

I saw this trend with the growth of companies such as Viki, Drama Fever, Crunchyroll and the like. Global niches that turn out to be much larger than you’d imagine.

Gangnam Style is the manifestation of this trend which turned what should have likely been a medium size global audience into an global phenomenon like we’ve never seen.The Macarena on steroids. Every now and again you can strike lightning in a bottle. Who knows why hits turn into memes? But it shows that when content is unleashed we can all appreciate it no matter of the country of origin.

Harlem Shake
For those who still don’t know the origins, the Harlem Shake started as a small skit from a YouTuber named Filthy Frank (10 million views as of this writing) on January 30, 2013. It was then popularized into an Internet meme 3 days later by text an Australian group of guys called Sunny Coast Shake  in what garnered about 300,000 views in a short period of time (now at 11.3 million views).

But then the Harlem Shake went batshit crazy when Vernon Shaw of Maker Studios saw the video on Reddit and suggested that Maker should, well, make a video of the Harlem Shake in an office environment. That video is the most viewed Harlem Shake (with more than 15 million views as of today). It was loaded on the channel of Hi I’m Rawn, a long-time YouTuber.

At 12.30pm in the afternoon the idea to create the video was hatched. They taped it at 3.30pm for 2 minutes. 1 take. Then back to work, people!

It was uploaded at around 4pm.

Maker’s talent started commenting on it and sharing it. ShayCarl (a Maker Studios co-founder) in particular. And then …

Boom.

It made national news. Maker was contacted by every major news outlet. And suddenly every office in the country was doing their own version of the Harlem Shake.

And here’s the thing. This is not Gangnam Style, a catchy tune consumed by billions.

This is Harlem Shake, a catchy tune produced by tens of thousands. As of this writing nearly 50,000 versions have been created and uploaded and watched by some 200,000,000 people. Yes. Two followed by eight zeros.

It is the production angle that is most fascinating to me and the biggest unspotted trend by most venture capitalists and traditional media executives.

I have been talking about the battle for the living room for years and then followed up with Why the TV Market is Ready for Disruption with a more recent discussion about Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley here (the video version with an LA interview that can be viewed here and then a subsequent session in NYC with Jon Miller which can be viewed here).

And I’ve opined on why the traditional media companies aren’t well poised to win at this new TV world. and again here.

So here’s the thing

The Broader Trend
While way too many startup companies (and investors) are focused on “social TV” or on “Instagram for TV” I believe they are missing the more fundamental shift in our industry.

There is a world filled with professional producers of video content who are extraordinarily talented but lack access to Hollywood. In fact, that’s how Maker Studios got started in the first place.

I first wanted to invest in this trend by backing a company called Filmaka. I didn’t end up investing but I always loved the concept. They help find talented film makers globally, enter them into competitions and advance the best of them toward winners that get to produce full-length films. Filmaka is the creation of Deepak Nayar who is the producer of films such as Buena Vista Social Club and Bend it Like Beckham.

But when you think about the movement we once called “Web 2.0″ it was the recognition of the fact that media doesn’t only want to flow one way.

Media in an age of:

• low-cost capture from mobile devices
• cheap post-production process by tools (think Pro Tools for audio, Instagram filters)
• cheap local storage (without which media creation is not possible)
• available bandwidth for uploading (which is assumed away as easy but only in recent years has been solved. most Internet connections have been asymmetric & optimized for downloads)
• cheap or free cloud storage (YouTube, DropBox, Facebook)
• easy sharing (through social networks or platforms like YouTube)
• social amplification (from which memes are spread) by Twitter and the like; and …
• commenting

means specifically one thing. People are going to want to participate. Participation. We are the media. We want to be in it. Create it. Take part in it. Have a say, a vote. Think American Idol voting, where the audience gets to feel like they’re participating. And where they’re willing to pay by dialing a paid number to feel like they’re, well, participating.

And the end of the Maker Studios show, Epic Rap Battles of History, the end the show ways “Who won, you decide?” where the audience gets to weigh in. Participation. At whatever level.

Serialized TV with Audience Participation
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to fund in the video creation world. One idea I’ve been searching for is a platform that enables the creation of serialized programs with audience participation.

And this is a concept that has been at work since at least the 17th century. An example of a great serialist was Charles Dickens in which Oliver Twist & Nicholas Nickleby and others were written and distributed serially.

From Wikipedia on Charles Dickens

“The installment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience’s reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback”

I have talked to several YouTuber’s about my idea but haven’t yet gotten any takers.

Here’s what I imagine. You create a narrative episodic show and do the first four episodes to get the story arc and characters going. On the fifth episode the audience gets to create it’s version of the next show. You look at submissions and pick the best one. You reshoot that episode with a higher budget and your original cast but that producer now gets a financial take in the show or gets to participate in the production or whatever. Then you move on to the sixth show with new submissions.

You need to build a platform that allows submissions, workflow, multiple story flows, awards, producer profiles and the like. It can’t just be videos on YouTube but I’ll be that YouTube is the distribution platform.

Here’s the thing – if well done I think you could see the Harlem Shake effect where many people want to have a go at participating on the production. Most won’t be of the quality that you want but you now have tons of material and inspiration for your show and you own all of the submitted IP. You share financial results and/or fame as the incentive to participate. It’s American Idol for makers.

The first time you do it the participation will be light. The next time you’ll get more. And the fan producers all help market your show because they too want the attention. Whether they are selected or not! I repeat – free marketing. Done by the masses.

And finally you could stitch together multiple narratives or versions of shows for people who WANT to watch all of the derivative shows. Your costs of production of these additional versions – zero.

To all of the traditional TV people who keep telling me this “low cost, low quality YouTube content will eventually go away. The production quality is terrible” I say, “Please study The Innovator’s Dilemma because it predicts the disruption of your industry presciently.” Let me remind you of the math: Gangnam Style = 1.3 billion views. Each episode of Epic Rap Battles of History gets between 30,000,000 – 75,000,000 views.

And to those who keep telling me that the CPMs are too low to make a business please stop thinking about two-way entertainment in only CPM terms.  There are many more ways to monetize an audience of fans that simply pre-roll ads.

Think creatively. Study the video game industry. The music industry. Your world is changing, too. And you have so many examples from which to build your future that you have no excuse to put your head in the sand.

MMOV
The other theme I’ve been playing around with in my head (and in the numerous debates with media execs who aspire to do startups) I’ve started calling MMOV.

It’s a play on MMOG (massive multiplayer online games, think World of Warcraft).

What exactly is World of Warcraft?

It’s entertainment. With rich graphics and characters. It has a story, a world, that unfolds. It has interaction with other players. It is – by definition – participation. It exists precisely because there is a network. I grew up in the era where we got to play video games alone. I was inspired by Zork. It was a computer challenging my imagination and crying out for logic and participation. It was text-based. And anything but MM or O. But it scratched the same need – participation. Engagement.

And when the O is attached and thus other humans are on the other end of your game and when graphics are professional it is the ultimate in computer entertainment with other human beings letting young people all over the world who feel disconnected from other human beings form friendships.

I once heard a father describe how his son played World of Warcraft. He said this to me, which formed an impression, “My son leaves World of Warcraft to play other video games with his friends. But then they always come back to World of Warcraft to talk about it with their friends. WoW is their home base.”

So WoW in a way is his son’s social network.

I imagine MMOV this way.

You start out watching video. And this might be humans but it might also be animation. It might feel like TV or might feel like an animated video game or maybe there is no difference? You start watching with friends, peers or strangers – who might become friends or peers in the future (think that’s weird? check your Twitter stream. It’s filled with people like this. Aren’t all online communities like this?).

You watch the first “episode” together. Then you discuss it with those in the room with you. They are watching it synchronously. It is your job to get them watch the next video based on plot or character development you want to see. Which way do you go next? The audience decides.

And the show develops like this. No linearity. Only the evolution through a video game board with other players trying to agree how the story unfolds. Maybe for a fee you get to choose your own direction without the crowd?

Don’t like how Homeland has become a total farce like 24? Chart a different path. Don’t like that a characters in Downton Abbey gets killed or another might get banished from employment? Chart a different course.

In an online world, why wouldn’t we?

Television today is being charted by those who grew up in a one-way world of: we decide, we write, we broadcast. Doesn’t that sound like the websites of yore that implored us to read their stories?

We have too much evidence from the text-based Internet that this model doesn’t hold in an online world.

Think Zork. It’s how things were. Then think World of Warcraft. It’s how things will be. It’s why we use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. To be part of a conversation. And even if it’s only very occasionally that you want to chime in, it’s why UGC works. 1/9/90.

And read this MG Siegler piece on TechCrunch. He’s one step ahead of the rest of the market. And he’s spot on with this analysis about how Apple will enter the TV market. Spoiler – video games.

Online Events
Finally, I’m fascinated with the future of live events. We’ve only just scratched the surface. As you now know 8 million people tuned in to watch Felix Baumgartner jump from 24 miles above the Earth in a Red Bull capsule.

It will always be a milestone in the Internet, YouTube, Twitter, Mobile world etched in my memory. And that of my two boys.

Like many of you we were laying around watching NFL football games. And also paying attention to the Twitter. Watching only is so one-way. With our second screen we suddenly have … participation.

And that’s where I first saw it. I know many of you knew the Felix was going to jump. I hadn’t been paying attention.

But Twitter cried out that I MUST! Tune in. NOW. As only Twitter can dictate.

So on my iPhone I clicked on a link and saw Felix going up. WTF? What is that guy doing?

I called my boys over. We sat transfixed to my iPhone. Was he really jumping from outer space? Is this real? Is this really live? Did I just click on a button and watch a man prepared to jump from that little capsule watching real-time streaming from my mobile device that I only knew about because random people (some of whom I’ve never met in real life) demanded that I do so on Twitter?

I was sincerely amazed by all of those things. And we watched. And watched. And watched. And the NFL seemed so uninteresting at that moment. I’ll never remember who was playing or who won (probably not the Eagles).

But along with 8 million people globally we shared a moment. And then another 32 million people (at least) watched on YouTube afterward.

That fascinates me. Twitter. YouTube. Mobile. Live. Watch this space. It’s going to form a larger part of our future.

Oh. And it won’t be brought to you by Comcast. That interests me, too.

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