AP Interview: James Cameron foresees 3 'Avatar' sequels as family epic akin to 'Godfather'

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — James Cameron says his vision for his three "Avatar" sequels is to create a family epic in the mold of "The Godfather" that will introduce viewers to new cultures and go underwater on his fictional moon Pandora.

The director announced Monday he will be filming the sequels in New Zealand, where he shot the triple Academy Award-winning original. In an interview with The Associated Press, Cameron also talked about life on a New Zealand farm, where he's growing walnuts and allowing his children to roam.

Cameron, 59, said he plans to release the first sequel in 2016, seven years after the release of "Avatar," which has become the highest-grossing film in history with a box office take of nearly $2.8 billion.

He said a core team has been developing new software for the sequels even while he's been gone on other projects, including 18 months planning a 7-mile descent to the deepest part of the ocean, which he successfully completed last year.

"It's going to be a lot of new imagery and a lot of new environments and creatures across Pandora," he said. "We're blowing it out all over the place. At first I thought I was going to take it onto other worlds as well, in the same solar system, but it turned out not to be necessary. I mean the Pandora that we have imagined will be a fantasy land that is going to occupy people for decades to come, the way I see it."

Cameron said the films will explore different Na'vi cultures as well the cultures of other Pandora creatures.

"There's a fair bit of underwater stuff. It's been inaccurately said that the second film takes place underwater. That's not true," he said. "There are underwater scenes and surface-water scenes having to do with indigenous ocean cultures that are distributed across the three films."

He said water is enormously difficult to recreate on a computer, something he's been talking about with Joe Letteri, the visual effects supervisor at Weta Digital.

"I said Joe, you know, there's a lot of water," Cameron said. "And he basically said 'Bring it on. We're ready.'"

He said the first movie focused on the main character, Jake Sully.

"It was very Jake-centric. His story seen through his eyes," Cameron said. "We spread it around quite a bit more as we go forward. It's really the story of his family, the family that he creates on Pandora. His extended family. So think of it as a family saga like 'The Godfather.'"

Cameron said the theme of sustainability that runs through the "Avatar" series also extends to his personal life. He and fifth wife Suzy Amis bought a farm about 90 minutes' drive from Wellington where they spend some of the year with their three children. Cameron said he's putting in 650 walnut trees.

"There'll also be tree crops, grains, produce, it will be quite a mixed bag," he said. "But really, I think of it as an experimental station to look at various sustainable agriculture approaches."

A native of Canada, Cameron said the New Zealand farm feels like "closing a loop" after he spent summers on his grandfather's farm in southern Ontario.

"The kids love it here. They love that combination of freedom and responsibility that you get here because you can run freely," he said. "There are no predators and snakes and that sort of thing. We just let them go out with a walkie-talkie, and as long as they are back by dinner, we don't care where they are."

He said he plans to bring his own helicopter from California to help make the commute from the farm to Wellington when he's working on the movies.

Before then, he said, he'll be throwing a Christmas party for the community around his farm. He said about 95 people turned up last year but he worries that numbers could be down this year because it's going to be an all-vegan menu, a lifestyle his family recently adopted.

___

Follow Nick Perry on Twitter at http://twitter.com/nickgbperry

Join the conversation about this story »

Over the last year, a pop-culture comedy podcast called 'The Read' has garnered the kind of cult following that D-list celebrities and reality show contestants would chew off their left arms off for.

It's hosted by two friends — Crissle and Kid Fury. The show premiered in January, and from then on it was a race to the top.

In what seemed like no time at all, 'The Read' made it to #3 overall in iTunes' "New and Noteworthy" section, and peaked at #1 in the comedy section. When iTunes celebrated 100 million podcast subscribers, "The Read" was featured on a page of podcasts that helped get iTunes there.

In short: This show is hilarious, and its listeners are completely addicted.

Now, this is the kind of stuff that goes down on The Read:

In a recent episode, a guest on the podcast told a story about Drake (yes, that Drake). He'd been at a strip club in Atlanta and invited the dancers back to his hotel room. Instead of getting a private show, though, Drake gave one. He started playing music for his guests and telling them what he thought about it. The strippers, thinking they were going to get paid, got totally frustrated and left.

As you can imagine, Kid Fury and Crissle immediately lost it.

"I bet Drake got a pair of Uggs," Crissle between guffaws.

The episode was uploaded to audio streaming site SoundCloud two weeks ago. Since then, it's been played over 76,000 times. And then there's iTunes, where they have about 80,000 subscribers.

'The Read' breaks down in three segments. First, Kid Fury picks pop culture stories for the duo to discuss. Then Crissle brings out listener letters with questions for them to answer. Lastly, Kid Fury and Crissle "read" someone or something.

Let me explain: "A read" is the ultimate: "let-me-tell-you-what." It's what you do when you're so fed up with someone or something you just have to express everything you think about that person or thing — it can be mean, it can be hilarious, but above all it has to be honest.

"Reading," as they say, "is fundamental." It's a form of venting that has roots deep in the black gay community. But like a lot of liberating forms of expression, it has spread to the wider gay community, and the heterosexual black community as well. The release is like religion.

Crissle and Kid Fury moved to NYC, where they are based, only last year. Kid Fury approached Crissle with the project already having a big following on social media for doing no-holds-barred commentary videos on anything from pop culture gossip to "Five Ways Not To Get Catfished."

Remember "S**t White Girls Say..." Kid Fury is the star of "S**t Black Gays Say" (highly recommended).

Crissle was social media-savvy too, but in moving NYC, her intention was not to break out as a cult internet star.

"I moved here to get out of Oklahoma," she told Business Insider in a phone interview. "I had an online presence but not nearly enough to sustain something like this."

Kid Fury hails from Miami.

Neither of them expected their podcast to catch on so fast, but it's become so huge, they're are about to do their 4th live show in Houston, Tex. next month. The 500-person event is completely sold out.

"The first live show that we did was almost like a prototype," said Kid Fury. "I just feel like there's so much more we could have done with it."

Crissle said: "hearing the reaction from the crowd" was the strangest part of the live experience. In the studio there's no laughing, no yelling, no reacting. The tempo is different.

They'll get their chance to get used to it. Requests are piling up for "The Read" live in Los Angeles, Miami and more.

And it's because of the fans. Crissle and Kid Fury have an ad agency that handles their sponsors, but they don't really advertise their show. From the beginning the fans gave the show legs by sharing the podcast. They talked about it, and they engaged with it by writing in and asking questions about dating, sexuality, race, and family drama.

In response, Crissle and Kid Fury, both gay, have shared a lot about being outsiders at some points of their lives. On top of being entertaining, they've become two relatable friends to listeners, who are able to get together and do a hilarious one-hour podcast in one take. No rehearsals.

"I lived a regular life until January when Kid Fury asked me to host a podcast with him," said Crissle. Now she's so busy juggling media appearances, listener e-mails and business meetings, she *may have to quit her day job.

Kid Fury's job is the internet. It's where he lives and how he lives. In a city of noise, he works on his blog, YouTube channel and Kid Fury merchandise, while most people are in bed.

"Sometimes I think: 'Oh my God I want to strangle everyone in Harlem right now' because no one will shut up," he said. "When you're in lullaby land getting ready for work in the morning, I'm on the internet doing something stupid."

Whatever it is, Fury, it's working.

Check out The Read on iTunes here.

*Crissle told Business Insider that she will not be quitting her day job any time soon though — "My Mama ain't raise no fool."

Join the conversation about this story »

It's no surprise "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" dominated the box office this weekend. 

After all, it was the only BIG new release in theaters this weekend.  

However, "Smaug" didn't do anywhere near as well as the first "Hobbit" film that debuted last year.  

One reason for that may very be attributed to moviegoers catching up on Thanksgiving holiday releases — "The Hunger Games" sequel with Jennifer Lawrence or Disney's latest animated film, "Frozen." 

The box office numbers certainly suggest that as four movies brought in more than $10 million this weekend. 

Meanwhile, in its limited New York / Los Angeles release, "American Hustle" brought in a big $690,000 from 6 theaters.  

Matthew McConaughey's "Dallas Buyer's Club" gets knocked out of the top 10 this week along with "The Best Man Holiday." The latter has made nearly $70 million worldwide. 

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

10. Jason Statham's latest action flick, "Homefront," rounds out the top ten with $1.6 million. The film, which cost an estimated $22 million, should break even. It's made $18 million at theaters since its Nov. 27 release. 

9. Fox's adaptation of "The Book Thief" moves down two spots making $1.7 million in its third week. The limited release starring Geoffrey Rush has made $22 million.  

8. Weinstein's "Philomena" starring Judi Dench is a crowd pleaser, climbing one spot this week with $1.8 million. While raking in $11 million at home, the film is resonating even more overseas ($17 million). 

7. Thought this film would have been out of the top ten by now, but "Delivery Man" — the movie featuring Vince Vaughn as a sperm donor to more than 500 children — took in another $1.9 million in its fourth week. With $29.2 million in box-office ticket sales, the film has now made more than its $26 million budget.  

6. Instead, it looks like one of Christian Bale's latest flicks, "Out of the Furnace," will tank. The  thriller starring Woody Harrelson and Willem Dafoe took in $2.3 million this weekend — $9.5 million overall — while costing an estimated $22 million.  

5. "Thor: The Dark World" continues to saturate the box office with another $2.7 million in week six. The film is well over the $600 million mark worldwide.  

4. "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" continues to kill it at the box office with $13.2 million. All together, the games have brought in $729.9 million worldwide. 

3. Tyler Perry's latest film, "A Madea Christmas," had the lowest opening of any film in the franchise with $16 million. One reason for this is that it may not have been on people's radars. The marketing seemed very light for this film compared to the plethora of films coming out this month — "The Hobbit" sequel, "American Hustle," "Anchorman," etc. 

2. Disney's animated film "Frozen" continues to be a winner for the Mouse House with $22.2 million added to its $266 million haul worldwide. 

1. With little competition, "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" easily commanded the weekend with $73.7 million. That's significantly lower than last year's "Unexpected Journey" ($84.6 million). Instead, it's more in line with what "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" made opening weekend ($72.6 million) —a decade ago — proving audiences may not be taking kindly to Warner Bros. / MGM's decision to stretch J.R.R. Tolkien's small novel into three features.

SEE ALSO: Our review on "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"

Join the conversation about this story »

The Midtown Manhattan penthouse Leonardo DiCaprio's character Jordan Belfort used in the upcoming film "The Wolf Of Wall Street" is on the market, New York Daily News reported. 

The Penthouse B at the Milan Condominium at 300 East 55th is for sale for $6.495 million.

"Million Dollar Listing" star/Nestseekers broker Ryan Serhant has the listing, the NYDN report said.  

The apartment is the location of the infamous scene where Belfort's crew beat up the butler and dangled him over the balcony threatening to drop him.  

The Penthouse is located on the 32nd floor of the Milan Condominium in Midtown East. It offers stunning views of the East River.

This is where Belfort's crew beat up the butler, Patrick, after Belfort's mistress Nadine caught him having a gay orgy in the apartment. 'Victor threw the first punch and Patrick's face exploded into raw hamburger meat...,' Belfort wrote in his memoir.

The Wolf Of Wall Street 

After it was revealed that Patrick took $50,000 from Belfort's sock drawer, Victor Wang hung him over the ledge of the balcony and threatened to drop him.

The Wolf Of Wall Street 

Yahoo will be paying Katie Couric $6 million a year to do a new video show for the web, TMZ reports. 

It may sound like a lot of money, but TMZ notes that it might be a slight reduction in pay for Couric. When she was the news anchor at CBS, she was pulling in $15 million annually, and at ABC she had a deal worth $40 million over three years. 

At Yahoo, her role is still somewhat unclear.

CEO Marissa Mayer announced the hire at the end of November, saying, "Today, I am incredibly excited to announce that Katie Couric is joining Yahoo as our Global Anchor. Starting in early 2014, Katie will lead a growing team of correspondents at Yahoo News who will cover the world’s most interesting stories and newsmakers."

She currently has an ABC talk show, but that should be winding down shortly so she can focus entirely on Yahoo.

SEE ALSO: The Truth About Marissa Mayer

Join the conversation about this story »

"Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" is in theaters Wednesday. 

Ahead of the film's release, we went back to watch our DVD of the original and started reading through the production notes.  

Something you may not know is that the idea for the cult favorite comedy came to Will Ferrell while watching a documentary. 

From the "Anchorman" production notes on the DVD: 

"Will Ferrell was watching the documentary, which featured interviews with several anchorman of the 1970s, and found some of the interviews with the newsmen to be unintentionally funny." 

"'I called Adam [McKay, the director] with an idea to do a script about the petulant male-dominated world of the newsroom and how these men dealt with a woman for the first time, and he said 'great, let's do it.'" 

It was one of the men inside the documentary, anchor Mort Crim, who inspired the Ron Burgundy character. 

We found the 45 minute documentary, called "Intimate Portrait: Jessica Savitch" that aired on Lifetime.  

The documentary tells the story of Savitch, one of the first woman network news anchors who was voted more trusted than journalists Ted Koppel and Peter Jennings by a TV Guide poll in 1982. 

She was tragically killed in a car accident at the age of 35.  

Essentially, she's the real-life anchor Christina Applegate portrays in the film as Veronica Corningstone, a young woman rising through the ranks as one of the first female anchors.

Here's Savitch: And here's Applegate in the "Anchorman" sequel: 

You can start it with the interview of Mort Crim that originally caught Ferrell's eye here. 

Otherwise, you can watch the documentary in full below:

SEE ALSO: What movies you should check out during the holidays

Join the conversation about this story »

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

Looks like "Family Guy" punk'd everyone.

As many predicted, Brian the dog returned in last night's Christmas episode of the Seth MacFarlane animated comedy and it looks like he's here to stay.

Late November, the series killed off the family dog in an episode that left many fans upset.

Now in its 12th season, the death helped ratings jump a bit.

Here's a look at the ratings for the past three episodes: 

Nov. 17 (episode before Brian's death): 4.5 million viewers
Nov. 24 (episode where Brian died): 4.6 million
Dec. 8 (episode following death): 5.4 million

With media — us included — covering the dog's death, "Family Guy" rolled with it, going as far as changing the opening of the show to reflect Brian's absence and make viewers believe he was gone for good.

Last week, we reported it looked like Brian may return to the show after reviewing a future episode synopsis.

So in a twist that should shock no one, this week the dog returned from the dead after Stewie Griffin was able to get a hold of his old time machine to go back in time and save his beloved dog. 

Confused?

Here's how it went down:

Stewie saw a time-traveling version of himself (it's a cartoon show) in the present, so he easily borrowed his time machine to travel back to the past to bring back his dead dog.

And just like that, he's back.Wonder if this will have repercussions. 

Either way, while Brian's back, it looks like this will be the end of Vinny the dog (played by "Sopranos" actor Tony Sirico) who shortly became the Griffin's new family dog.

Good knowing you, Vinny.

SEE ALSO: Clues Brian was never gone for good on "Family Guy"

Join the conversation about this story »

Former NBC and ESPN host Michelle Beadle may have griped about forking over $132 to get across town in the middle of an NYC blizzard Saturday night, but that's nothing compared to what Jerry Seinfeld's wife — cookbook author Jessica Seinfeld — paid Uber to make sure that the couple's young children attended social obligations despite the night's harsh weather.

Jessica posted a screenshot to her Instagram account Sunday after the surge pricing controversy, writing: "UBER charge, during a snowstorm (to drop one at Bar Mitzvah and one child at a sleepover.) #OMG #neverforget #neveragain #real" and revealing the insane price she paid:

If anyone can afford it, it's Seinfeld, whose TV icon husband is worth a reported $800 million — but we're still glad to see that even she was freaked out by the insane up-to-8.25-times-more-than-usual pricing.

Comments on the photo confirmed many in the Seinfeld's social circuit were forced to pay similar exorbitant fees:

Complaints about the astronomical fares went viral on Twitter, with many users posting screenshots of Uber ride receipts throughout the weekend.

SEE ALSO: Uber Asked Customers — Including TV Host Michelle Beadle — To Pay 8 Times More Than Usual Last Night

MORE: Why Uber Sometimes Asks You To Pay A Lot More Than Usual

Join the conversation about this story »

A June 2011 Flaunt magazine cover is under attack by the blogosphere for photoshopping cover model Jennifer Lawrence.

In the below GIFs, it's clear "The Hunger Games" actress has been given more pronounced cheekbones, collarbone, and generally slimmed down.

Ironic considering Lawrence has been extremely outspoken about Photoshop, saying of her recent Christian Dior ads, "That doesn't look like me a at all," and adding that Photoshop was to blame.

During a chat with Yahoo! CEO Marissa Meyer in November, Lawrence further added: "The world has this idea that if you don't look like an airbrushed perfect model. You have to see past it. You look how you look, you have to be comfortable. What are you going to do? Be hungry every single day to make other people happy? That's just dumb."

But apparently J.Law didn't have a say in this 2011 shoot. Check out the perfectly-GIF'd before-and-after below:

 Let's see that again:

Here's the resulting magazine cover:

SEE ALSO: The 15 Worst Celebrity Magazine Photoshop Fails

Join the conversation about this story »

Jenko and Schmidt are back!

Sony just released the first trailer for "22 Jump Street." 

This time, instead of dealing with high school drama, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill's characters are heading to college.

The "21 Jump Street" reboot made $201 million at the box office worldwide last year.

The sequel looks even more ridiculous than the first. 

"22 Jump Street" is in theaters next summer. 

Watch the red band trailer below:

SEE ALSO: 27 actors who dramatically changed their looks for movies

Join the conversation about this story »

The journalist who broke the first story about R. Kelly's sex crime allegations and spent years reporting on the subject, Jim DeRogatis, says the musician gets off too easy.

Kelly was acquitted in 2008 in the trial accusing him of filming sex with a 13-year-old.

Still, the mountain of allegations against Kelly is significant enough that DeRogatis has criticized media outlets like Pitchfork for letting him headline a music festival this summer and Jezebel for positively reviewing his new album, "Black Panties."

Today, Jessica Hopper of the Village Voice published an interview with DeRogatis, who now hosts the syndicated public radio show "Sound Opinions" and teaches at Columbia College, along with embedded court documents and reporting on the investigation.

Below are some of the worst allegations against Kelly, which DeRogatis says can be found in Cook County, Ill. records:

• Dozens of lawsuits allege stories of R. Kelly's sexual assaults on young, African-American girls, according to DeRogatis. 
• In one, hundred of pages long, a girl claimed R. Kelly had a relationship with her as a sophomore in high school. He would allegedly pick her and other girls up at school and make them all  have sex together. When he dumped her, her suit said, she attempted suicide by slitting her wrists.  
• In one video, part of R. Kelly's infamous child porn indictment, the R&B star reportedly ordered a girl to call him Daddy and urinated in her mouth. "You watch the video ... and there is the disembodied look of the rape victim," DeRogatis said. 
• R. Kelly allegedly pressured one high school student to have an abortion. He even "had his goons drive her," according to DeRogatis.
• DeRogatis also implied that R. Kelly may have paid off one of his alleged victims. When DeRogatis wrote one of his stories, the girl, "fresh out of eighth grade," and her family suddenly took a six-month vacation to France. "This was an aluminum-siding, lower-middle-class house on the South Side, with a station wagon which is 13 years old — you know what I mean? And now they're in the south of France," DeRogatis said.

Prosecutors spent more than six years trying to take R. Kelly to court, and a jury acquitted him of all 14 charges in just a few hours, according to The New York Times. Kelly's high-powered defense team convinced the jury they couldn't determine the girl's identity, even though more than a dozen witnesses for the prosecution identified her.

Read court documents and more from DeRogatis at the Village Voice »

Join the conversation about this story »

Christian Bale is no stranger to altering his appearance for a role.

He has often shed weight for films, whittling himself down to one third of his body weight in one instance. But Bale's latest role has him going to the other weight extreme.

Here's what the 39-year-old looks like normally, at "The Dark Knight Rises" premiere with his wife, Sibi, in July 2012:

For his role as an industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year in 2004's "The Machinist," Bale lost 63 pounds by living on a diet of apples, coffee and cigarettes:

For 2010's "The Fighter," Bale again lost weight to play a boxer-turned-drug addict. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role portraying Dicky Eklund:

For his latest role as a '70s con man-turned-FBI agent in "American Hustle," Bale went to the other weight extreme and packed on 43 pounds.

"I ate lots of doughnuts, a whole lot of cheeseburgers and whatever I could get my hands on. I literally ate anything that came my way," Bale revealed to People magazine. "I was about 185 and went up to 228." 

Here's Bale with his clothes on in "American Hustle":

But underneath that checkered suit was Bale's newfound belly:

Let's zoom in on that, shall we?

But Bale's 8-year-old daughter approved of his new look: "She found it funny. Having a big old gut and a bald head, she would slap it and tease me. She had lots of fun and found it amusing." 

Bale, meanwhile, has struggled to take off the weight since filming ended, telling People "I'm still working it off."

Bale displayed his latest look at a screening in NYC earlier this month:

But remember when the "American Psycho" star looked like this?

SEE ALSO: 27 Actors Who Dramatically Changed Their Looks For Movies

MORE: Great GIF Proves Jennifer Lawrence Magazine Cover Was Totally Photoshopped

Join the conversation about this story »

Will Ferrell's big "Anchorman" sequel is out Wednesday.

It's been nearly a decade since the channel 4 news team assembled on screen.

How much do you know about the original film?

From actresses Christina Applegate beat out for the coveted role of Veronica Corningstone to the real-life journalists who served as inspiration for the two leads, see what you don't know about "Anchorman."

The idea for the film came after Will Ferrell watched a Lifetime documentary on an anchorwoman from the 1970s.

Titled "Intimate Portrait: Jessica Savitch," the biography followed the journalist's road to becoming one of the first women network news anchors.

"There were all these interviews with anchormen of the day who were talking about how upset they had been that a woman had come in to work with them," said Ferrell."We were laughing so hard at these guys with perfect ties admitting that they were completely freaked out by a woman coming into the news office."

(Source: "Anchorman" production notes)

Veronica Corningstone's character is based on journalist Jessica Savitch.

She was the focus of the Lifetime documentary Ferrell watched. 

You can read more on her inspiration on the movie here. 

Ron Burgundy is based off of a real-life local newscaster, Mort Crim.

Ferrell told the New York Times upon seeing Jessica Savitch's one-time co-anchor in the Lifetime documentary, "he was struck by ... his reminiscences in a silky baritone."

“He [Crim] literally said the line: ‘You have to remember, back then I was a real male chauvinist pig. I was not nice to her.’” said Ferrell.

(Source: The New York Times)

Fans who bought a premium super ticket to see "Anchorman 2" two days early in New York City were surprised when stars Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, and David Koechner showed up to introduce the movie.

In addition to seeing the sequel first, fans received a digital download of "Anchorman – Wake Up Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie," a pre-ordered digital download of "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues," and $5 to spend at the AMC concession stand for the purchase of a $50 ticket.

Looks like it was money well spent.

Watch Ferrell, Carell, and Koechner surprise fans below:

Watched 1st show of #Anchorman2 w/ special intro from Will Ferrell @SteveCarell& @DavidKoechner, BEST.COMEDY.EVER!! pic.twitter.com/PYZhMgUEwr

— Devon Ricci (@NYCgeekDad) December 17, 2013

#Anchorman2 was legendary. Thank you #WillFerrell, @SteveCarell, and @DavidKoechner for surprising us!

— Robert Rosenberg (@RobMRosenberg) December 17, 2013

They're not the only actors heading to screenings.

Last Thursday, Ian McKellen popped up at a midnight premiere of "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug."

SEE ALSO: 12 things you probably don't know about "Anchorman"

Join the conversation about this story »

It all started with a haircut.

With the shearing of Miley Cyrus' perfectly coiffed long hair, so went her squeaky clean "Hannah Montana" image.

Since the chopping of her hair, Cyrus released racy music videos, hosted "SNL" with her tongue out, and smoked a joint while accepting an award on-stage. And who can forget when the nearly naked singer twerked alongside Robin Thicke during the most talked about MTV Video Music Awards performance of all time, inspiring the most popular Halloween costume of the year?

Needless to say, 2013 is the year Miley Cyrus effectively killed her "Hannah Montana" character.

But is it all part of a larger plan?

Ira Kalb of USC's Marshall School of Business wrote of Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber's marketing genius, despite any negative press:

"Their behavior, while criticized by more than a few, is part of a deliberate market plan to shatter their goody two shoes images and create new ones that fit the desires of their changing audiences. They need new keys for evolving locks, and that is what they are creating. 

If you judge them by the numbers — followers on social media, brisk record sales, and sold out tours, their rebranding plans are working really well.

Howard Bragman, vice chairman of Reputation.com, author of the book "Where’s My Fifteen Minutes?" a seasoned Hollywood publicist of 30 years, and good friend of Miley Cyrus' rock star dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, seems to think Cyrus is on the right path for a longstanding career.

Bragman, who has consulted on dozens of celebrity careers, says don't count Miley out despite the negative attention she received this year following her VMA performance.

"It's a rite of passage, particularly with these Disney girls. They seem to want to say 'hey, I'm not that little kid anymore, I'm a grown up lady,'" Bragman explained to Business Insider.

"Effectively she killed Hannah Montana [at the VMAS]," says Bragman. "Long live Miley Cyrus, I think that was the message."

The veteran Hollywood publicist further explains, "I understand it from a psychological point of view and a marketing point of view."

"From a psychological point of view, everyone tells Miley that they loved her as Hannah Montana and I'm sure she wants to throw up," he explains bluntly. "From a marketing point of view, these artists want to carry their audience with them — which is hard to do. It's easy to be hot for a while but in music in particular, it's hard to keep that going."

So how does Miley "keep that going" and where does she go from here?

"I think she has a different kind of path ahead of her, different kind of music," says Bragman. "Whether you liked it or not, she made her point. She had to be the caterpillar that shed her skin and now we're going to see what butterfly she's going to become."

As for how to do that, Bragman advises, "All it takes is a couple good songs and you're relevant and you're hot. It's less about branding and more about what resonates. I think this is part of her finding herself and finding her new brand."

While some reports said Miley's team was "freaking out" over her nearly naked twerk-tastic VMA performance, Bragman argues "I think they're thrilled."

"The VMAs were up 66% in viewers, she got over 300,000 tweets per minute, I do not think that any damage was done."

But Bragman also doesn't think that it's the people behind Miley who are pushing her new look and act.

"I think Miley's been in the business a very long time; I know her, she has opinions," adds Bragman. "She wouldn't do it if she didn't feel comfortable doing this."

Bragman adds, "You look at all the people who performed that night and we're all talking about Miley —who didn't win an award. But she won the night."

Not only that, she pretty much won the year:

Our Person of the Year shortlist includes @MileyCyrus, @pontifex, Bashar Assad and more http://t.co/WebcbPlQ9i#TIMEPOY

— TIME.com (@TIME) December 9, 2013

SEE ALSO: The 20 Most Impressive People of 2013

Join the conversation about this story »

Netflix has been killing it this year. 

The video streaming service passed HBO in paid subscribers, has Emmy-winning shows, and big plans for 2014.

Under the command of CEO Reed Hastings, the company has come a long way since 2011 when many thought Netflix did itself in by trying to split itself into two different companies, one for DVDs and another for streaming.

In the past year, Hastings has helped redefine the way people are consuming and distributing TV — something that should have network heads worried.

Since January, the service has launched successful original shows including Primetime Emmy-winning "House of Cards" and critically acclaimed prison drama "Orange is the New Black."  

It also resurrected FOX's old series "Arrested Development" and is in talks for more seasons. 

If you told someone a few years ago that n original Internet series would win win Emmys, you would have thought them nuts.

But the video streaming service is doing something television and other streaming venues (including Hulu) haven't been able to perfect: giving people access to shows and movies they want to watch any time, without ads, and in bulk if desired.  

It led to the rise of binge-watching culture.

Viewership for the final season of "Breaking Bad" skyrocketed. Why? It didn't surge by itself. Even creator Vince Gilligan believes Netflix had a role to play in record numbers.  

More than that, it's changing the way we discuss television shows. When every episode of "House of Cards" and "Arrested Development" were released at once on the streaming service, TV reviewers were at odds with what to do. Binge-watch and review all at once? What about the viewers who were watching an episode a day? A week?

This showed another weakness of broadcast / cable television — rolling out an entire series at once is something a network simply cannot do. 

Hastings' push to evolve TV has paid off.

Today, the company has 33 million video subscribers. Back in 2008, Netflix had just under 5 million.

In a way, Hastings very much called the future five years ago in an interview with The Wall Street Journal when he predicted people would want to watch movies on something smaller than a TV screen: 

"I think there's a huge category of people who will watch movies on laptops," said Hastings. "And remember, it's not the laptop of today. Think of the laptop in five years. People will continue to want to watch movies on TV. No doubt about it. But laptop screens are improving. And young people are living on laptops."

Looking toward the future, Netflix inked a big deal with Disney in November. The two are partnering for four exclusive live-action Marvel superhero shows that will culminate into a miniseries starting in 2015. 

Hastings has also said he expects to double the company’s investment in original series and movies next year— a figure that should mark less than 10% of the company’s overall content spending. 

SEE ALSO: The 20 Most Impressive People of the Year

Join the conversation about this story »

“Iron Man 3” may have made the most money at the box office this year, but he didn’t star in the most-searched movie.  

Google released its annual Zeitgeist list of most-searched for terms. Lists released range from most-searched athletes and events to movies and car companies. 

The movies most searched for in the US included a lot of scares.

Here are the films people wanted to know about most. 

10. “Mama”
9. “Pacific Rim” 

8. “The Purge”
7. “Despicable Me 2”
6. “The Great Gatsby” 

5. “The Conjuring”

4. “Jobs”

3. “World War Z"

2. "Iron Man 3"

1. "Man of Steel"

NOW: Learn what you don't know about "Anchorman" before you see the sequel

Join the conversation about this story »

There's a free screening of "The Wolf Of Wall Street" on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. EST in Battery Park City. 

You can RSVP to watch the film at TheWolfOfWallStreet.com [via Bloomberg TV].

It will be playing at the Regal Battery Park City, which is located behind Goldman Sachs' offices at 200 West Street. 

"The Wolf Of Wall Street" is the movie adaptation of Jordan Belfort's tell-all memoir from his days of running a boiler room in the 90s.  The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey and Jonah Hill and it's directed by Martin Scorsese.   

It debuts in theaters on Christmas Day. 

Watch the trailer here: 

Join the conversation about this story »

Before queuing up "Auld Lang Syne," let's reflect on 2013.

The Year of the Selfie brought us a government shutdown, a new pope, intelligence leaks of unparalleled proportions, and the Hyperloop. Physics' greatest mystery — the theory of how particles acquire mass— was resolved. Some "leaned in," others twerked.

We collectively named "Satoshi Nakamoto," the anonymous inventor of Bitcoin, Business Insider's Person of the Year.

From politics to sports, entertainment, finance, and more, people have done extraordinary things this year. These are the people who impressed us the most (listed in alphabetical order).

"Satoshi Nakamoto," Bitcoin inventor

Most Impressive Person of the Year

Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym used by the anonymous inventor of Bitcoin, the electronic currency that seemingly came out of nowhere and has been taking over financial market headlines since.

Bitcoin is a form of digital currency that doesn't actually exist in the physical world, only as cryptic code in computers. Unlike the U.S. dollar, it's controlled privately, keeps no record of the identity of its owner, and can be transacted without the government's knowledge.

There have since been numerous attempts — comprehensively tracked by Hilary Sargent, AKA Chart Girl— to determine Nakamoto's identity, but nothing conclusive has yet emerged.

Click to get to know Satoshi Nakamoto, our Most Impressive Person of the Year »

Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pioneered a three-tier approach — nicknamed "Abenomics" — to get the Japanese economy humming again. The plan buoyed the Japanese stock market up more than 51% year to date.

Abe was elected in 2012 on the promise that he would pursue extremely aggressive stimulative policies, which included weakening the yen. The currency's plunge effectively makes the country's exports cheaper and stoked some moderate inflation.

It seems to be working. The Japanese stock market is at its highest level in almost six years and data shows the country is breaking out of its deflationary slump.

Click to see how Shinzo Abe radically transformed Japan's monetary policy »

Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke steered the U.S. out of the worst financial crisis and ensuing recession in the last 80 years.

The methods that Bernanke used to keep the economy going were untested — a highly accommodative monetary policy and near-zero interest-rate policy that's expected to outlast the man himself. His tenure as head of the U.S. central bank ends in January.

Bernanke made transparency and independence hallmarks of his leadership. He shocked market participants earlier this year with the decision not to taper despite pressure from more conservative economic thinkers.

Click for the 16 times when Ben Bernanke was a total badass »

Shia LaBeouf is in hot water today after the Internet called out the actor for plagiarizing his new short film "HowardCantour.com” from Daniel Clowes’ obscure 2007 comic “Justin M. Damiano.”

Both story lines revolve around the inner dialogue of a disgruntled film critic — and it ended up being film critics who called LaBeouf's bluff.

While no one picked up on the similarities between the two projects when the actor's short film debuted last May at the Cannes Film Festival, the Internet went nuts Monday when it debuted online.

Those familiar with Clowes' work immediately noticed that LaBeouf lifted the characters and dialogue directly from Clowes' comic panels.

As word quickly spread of LaBeouf's alleged intellectual property theft, thanks in part to a story on BuzzFeed, the short film was blocked on its hosting site, Vimeo. 

And Cowles had no idea.

“The first I ever heard of the film was this morning when someone sent me a link. I’ve never spoken to or met Mr. LaBeouf,” Clowes told BuzzFeed. “I’ve never even seen one of his films that I can recall — and I was shocked, to say the least, when I saw that he took the script and even many of the visuals from a very personal story I did six or seven years ago and passed it off as his own work. I actually can’t imagine what was going through his mind.”

After realizing Clowes wasn't credited whatsoever in the credits for LaBeouf's film, Eric Reynolds, longtime editor of Clowes’ comics and associate publisher at Fantagraphics, called the short“shameless theft!”

LeBeouf took to Twitter to admit and apologize for his mistake, saying he was simply "inspired" but knows he "f----d up":

To watch the short film in question and original comic, click here >

SEE ALSO: Peter Jackson Explains Where 'The Hobbit' Would Have Been Split Into Two Movies

Join the conversation about this story »