Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick finally sold their Greenwich Village townhouse, getting $19.95 million for it, according to The Real Deal.

The historic house was originally put on the market in 2012 for $25 million, but the couple later delisted it before putting it back up for sale in September for $22 million. The celebrity couple bought the place in 2011 for $19 million.

The 6,800-square-foot townhouse, which is located on East 10th Street, has five bedrooms, seven fireplaces, a landscaped garden, and a hand-carved stone tub.

Alyson Penn contributed to this story.

Welcome to Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick's 25-foot-wide Greenwich Village townhouse.

The bottom floor, or garden floor, includes an eat-in kitchen characterized by walnut and stainless steel.

The dining room contains direct access to the split-level garden.

The runaway success of "Dragon Blade," a Chinese film starring Adrien Brody and John Cusack, proved that two actors with middling success in their home country could find success overseas.

In fact, it feels like reaching out abroad is the best bet for many entertainers right now.

Today, studios count on a film's foreign box office even more than its domestic gross.

Stars who struggled in the United States can find a new life in unexpected places. Sometimes, they can do it by exploring a new medium, whether it be music or painting.

Here are eight American actors who have found surprising success overseas.

Nicolas Cage — China

In America, Nicolas Cage's over-the-top performances have made him both a punchline and a meme. China, however, takes the Oscar-winning actor a lot more seriously. It might have to do with the fact that many of his films, including "The Croods," "Ghost Rider," and "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" were just three of a handful of American films to make it past Chinese censors.

In fact, Cage is so well-liked in China that in 2013, he received the "Best Global Actor in Motion Pictures" Award at the Huading Awards Show.

He also stars in a car ad for Beijing Automotive.

His upcoming "Outlander," an American-Chinese-Canadian co-production, will be released in China on April 3.

Here's the trailer:

David Hasselhoff — Germany 

In America, Hasselhoff fame has gone up and down multiple times. In the 1980s and '90s, he starred in hit shows "Knight Rider" and "Baywatch." Lately, he is probably best known for an infamous YouTube video in which he drunkenly eats a cheeseburger.

But even when he was down stateside, he maintained a loyal following in Germany.  

On New Year's Eve in 1989, Haselhoff performed a tune called "Looking for Freedom" for a newly reunited Berlin. That year, the song became Germany's top selling single, and Haselhoff proved that if its not working as an actor, you can always try and write a pop song. 

Here is Haselhoff singing at the Berlin Wall:

Halle Berry — China

Similar to Adrien Brody, an Oscar win unfortunately didn't bolster Halle Berry's career for long. While she does star in a few of the "X-Men" movies, she also won a Razzie for her performance in 2004's "Catwoman."

Berry was up for a much more prestigious award in 2014: she won a Global Icon award at China's Huading Film Awards. When she got onstage, she said she felt like "an original Beatle" in China.  

This could be perplexing to some, given that a few of her recent starring vehicles ("Catwoman," "The Call," "Perfect Stranger") didn't even play in China. Yet, "Cloud Atlas" made the bulk of its $103 million foreign box office gross in China.

John Cusack — China

As mentioned earlier, Cusack has found surprise stardom in China, thanks to his starring role in "Dragon Blade." In recent years, Cusack has starred in a wide array of projects, ranging from blockbusters to independent films, that have been met with mixed box office and critical success in America.

Part of Cusack's viability overseas may be because he is already a proven box office draw in China: "2012" was a big hit when it was released there back in 2009.

Perhaps Cusack's collaboration with Jackie Chan was inevitable. After all, Cusack has been an admirer of martial arts and has used it in his movies since the days of "Grosse Pointe Blank":

Jerry Lewis — France

France's love of Jerry Lewis is like folklore at this point, but it is no myth. Lewis has been a fixture in French culture since the 1960s, where many French critics and historians have praised his work, with some saying they prefer him over Woody Allen. His popularity hasn't wained there: an annual Jerry Lewis film festival is held every year in Paris.   

Here is Jerry entertaining paparazzi (who are clearly huge fans) in Paris:

Kevin James — Germany

Haselhoff isn't the only one who's big in Germany. Comedian Kevin James has been a fixture in Germany since "The King of Queens" became one of the few American sitcoms to truly succeed there.

His movies such as "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" (which was promoted more heavily on James than Adam Sandler) and "Zookeeper" (where it made its highest foreign gross) attract big audiences in Germany, based on his name alone. American humor tends to get lost in translation when crossing overseas, and while James is much maligned in America, his brand of slapstick doesn't require a translator.

Here is Kevin James making an appearance on the popular German TV show "Wetten, dass..?" ("Wanna Bet?") alongside Cameron Diaz:

Clint Eastwood — Italy 

Clint Eastwood is currently having a career renaissance behind the camera with "American Sniper," which recently became the 

highest-grossing film in the US in 2014. It also opened to big numbers in Italy.

It may be because Eastwood has been a huge star over there since the 1960s, when Sergio Leone's "The Dollars Trilogy" first cemented him as a movie star. Eastwood is the rare actor who went abroad in order to become a star in his home country.

Sylvester Stallone — Russia

Sure, the Soviet Union might have once been Rocky Balboa's enemy, but in recent years, Stallone's films have gained something of a following in Russia.

Outside of the "Expendables" franchise, his "Grudge Match" earned its highest overseas total there (at just $2.8 million, though) while his 2013 film "Escape Plan" trailed China for second place. Russians also saw a side of Stallone that Americans never get to witness: a 2013 exhibit in St. Petersburg displayed paintings by Stallone.

His artwork might not have received positive reviews, but Russians from all across the country still came to see it.

Check out some of Stallone's art below:

SEE ALSO: This movie starring Jackie Chan, Adrien Brody, and John Cusack is huge in China right now

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Seasoned fans of the show “Jeopardy!” know that certain categories pop up much more often than others.

And it turns out, there are common correct responses that surface over and over again too.

The data visualization website Tableau Public crowdsourced a compelling visualization of the top “Jeopardy!” answers and categories for the show, as well as for Double Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy! rounds.

You can play around with the embedded infographic above to see the most common response and categories for each "Jeopardy!" round.

Since the show premiered in 1984, the most common response overall was “What is China?” and the most common category was Before & After.

For Double Jeopardy, the most common response was “What is Australia?” while in Final Jeopardy, the most common correct response was “What is Canada?”

To prepare for Final Jeopardy rounds, future contestants will want to brush up on their word origins. Since the show’s premiere over 30 years ago, this category has been used in the Final Jeopardy round 34 times, far surpassing the next most common Final Jeopardy category American History.

So if you ever find yourself on “Jeopardy!” and aren’t quite sure of the answer, remember the most common responses — statistics could be on your side.

SEE ALSO: Jeopardy's Controversial New Champion Is Using Game Theory To Win Big

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Melissa Carbone scored big on "Shark Tank" in the show's fifth season when she made a $2 million deal with Mark Cuban in exchange for 20% of her horror attractions company, Ten Thirty One Productions.

Not only did she make one of the biggest deals in the show's history, but she's also been one of its most successful entrepreneurs.

Last year, Ten Thirty One brought in $3 million in revenue, and Carbone has plans for expanding her Haunted Hayride and other spooky events from Los Angeles to New York, San Francisco, and Atlanta.

She tells Business Insider that a crucial lesson she learned in her 20s has allowed her to be the CEO and president of a successful and rapidly growing company.

As a manager at Clear Channel, Carbone realized that she couldn't be a leader if she mulled over a decision for too long or continuously looked for counsel.

The lesson: "Use your best judgement and just make a decision," she says. "It may not always be the right one, but that's OK. A wrong decision is better than a demeanor of uncertainty."

"A good and swift decision-maker will gain the trust and buy-in from employees, business associates, and customers/clients because it will illustrate confidence," Carbone explains. "Decision-makers are leaders."

SEE ALSO: 15 successful entrepreneurs share the most important lesson they learned in their 20s

DON'T MISS: Highly successful 'Shark Tank' entrepreneur shares the best advice Mark Cuban ever gave her

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Monday, Universal Studios debuted the seventh “Fast and Furious” film, “Furious 7” for fans at seven private screenings across the country over two weeks before its big screen debut.

Stars Tyrese, Ludacris, Jordana Brewster, and Vin Diesel showed up to introduce four of the premieres. 

Diesel opened the premiere in Los Angeles, where the first film in the franchise takes place.

There, he gave an emotional speech honoring costar Paul Walker who died in November 2013 in a car crash.

Since Walker's death, fans of Diesel have rallied behind the actor as he has openly grieved, sharing memoriesand photos of his time with the late actor, who he refers to as his brother and best friend Pablo, most noticeably on Facebook. He's shared updates about "Furious 7" online before Universal Studio made announcements.

Here's one of his most recent postings:

Diesel is now one of the most followed actors on Facebook with over 90 million followers.

Small snippets of Diesel’s conversation made their way onto social media, but we couldn’t find a full video of his over three minute speech to the crowd until now. 

Here's what he said to fans Monday evening:

I had to introduce the first screening in California where the whole franchise started. This was, as you know, this was a very, very personal and important film to us. Every time when I saw the movie at the premiere, Paul Walker and I would go up to the side, and he would always tell me, ‘Vin, the best one’s still in the can.’ Well, I hope tonight, you let Pablo know that this is the best one for you guys. 

If you love the movie, and I hope you do, I think you will, feel free to talk about it. At the same time, know that you are a select few that have been allowed to see this movie before April 3. So, think about that. And allow people to enjoy the movie and discover it for themselves. 

This was a labor of love. It was in some ways the hardest I ever had to do because the relationships that you see on film are so real. When the tragedy happened, I lost my best friend. I lost my brother. 

Tonight (here, Diesel takes a big pause as fans encourage him to go on) … what can I say guys, thanks for being my family. Thanks for always taking care of us. Thanks for believing in us. 

Thanks for taking the themes that we put in this action saga, and somehow applying it to your own lives. You know what’s most important in life. 

We truly made this for you. I said at the premiere at “Fast and Furious 6” at Universal Studios that we would bring the saga back home. And in this film, that’s exactly what we do. 

Please, from my heart, know that we made this movie from our hearts, and know that this is our gift to you. And, more importantly, it’s for my brother there.

Watch the full video below:

[h/t Cinemablend]

SEE ALSO: 'Fast and Furious 7' is an absolutely ridiculous thrill ride and Paul Walker tribute that fans will love

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NOW WATCH: The new 'Furious 7' trailer is packed full of cars, explosions, and ridiculous stunts

Hefner's youngest son, Cooper, recounts his childhood spent in what many consider to be a sort of adult fantasyland. For Cooper, it was quite the opposite: a child's wonderland fueled by Indiana Jones-inspired adventures in the Grotto, a zoo full of exotic animals, and epic games of hide-and-seek played in the mansion's private forest of redwood trees.

Cooper shared his experiences growing up inside the mansion, and invited Business Insider along on a private tour of the grounds.

Produced by Graham Flanagan. Additional Camera by Ryan Larkin.

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The “Freemium” model dominates mobile games. From Candy Crush Saga to Clash of Clans, “freemium” games and their in-app purchases account for about 70-80% of the $10 billion or more in iOS revenue each year.

But they aren’t limited to mobile. Today, many of the most popular computer games are freemium games as well.

Such games have generated plenty of criticism for seemingly favoring money over skill, since players need to pay for in-game currency and special features. But game designer and former pro StarCraft player Sean Plott thinks it is actually the best business model for popular multiplayer games like League of Legends, Defense of the Ancients 2, and Hearthstone.

To Plott, it's about an alignment of goals.

The freemium model offers users the core product — the game — for free and then optionally charges them for premium content such as in-game currency, extra content, or customizations.

In multiplayer games, the goal is to create a game that brings players back for hundreds of hours of gameplay, says Plott. If developers don't have a strong monetary incentive, it's difficult for them to constantly improve the game experience. With freemium games, players are continuously spending money on the game, as opposed to paying once and forgetting about it. Developers are then incentivized to put that stream of revenue directly back into the game to improve it.

"If people are playing your game and there is something they are frustrated with, the developers can fix it and make the players happy, and the players will continue to stay on the product. If they don't, players leave," says Plott.

For example Plott offers up League of Legends. While League of Legends is 100% free to play, it generated more than $1 billion last year in revenue. It did so through its micropayments to buy champions (new characters) and skins (new color schemes or appearances of a champion). Any person can play League of Legends — and play it well — endlessly without spending a dime.

Here's what the League of Legends store looks like. The prices of items are marked in RP (Riot points):

And here's how much RP equates to real dollars:

Spending money just adds customization to the experience. It’s a benefit that many players are more than willing to do. However, some players — as evidenced by this League of Legends subreddit — complain of spending more than $2,000 on the game over the course of several years.

A considerable portion of the profits from League of Legends micropayments go right back into the game. Riot is constantly updating the mechanics of the game to make them more balanced and fluid, redesigning the artwork and character designs so they look sharp, and adding content so the game stays fresh. All of that is given to players free. As Plott notes, that would be an impossible proposition for any gaming company that releases standalone games.

Plott is so convinced of the model that he thinks we could see traditional console games splitting their products between single-player games, which would cost a flat fee, and multiplayer games, which are free-to-play.

Freemium games have generated most of their criticism over the mobile gaming experience. Last year, South Park famously skewered the concept as a money grab that preys on addicts and leads to boring games. The singer of the Sex Pistols, John Lyndon, claimed last year that he spent over $15,000 on iPad apps.

In 2013, Apple settled a class-action lawsuit for parents who alleged that Apple didn’t make it clear that free apps could charge money.

The “freemium” model has proven itself to be incredibly profitable. The question now is how game developers use it to grow without alienating a large share of the gaming community.

SEE ALSO: The ‘freemium’ model is brilliant, but it’s ruining my life

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Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has bros ... in different area codes. 

The likely presidential candidate met up with Chris Bridges — better known as the rapper Ludacris — at the Georgia State Capitol on Thursday. 

Bridges, a Georgia native, was there to be recognized for his Ludacris Foundation's work, while Bush was there to meet with elected officials and advocate for education reform, according to Bush's campaign.

"Never thought @Ludacris would be my opening act! His foundation does great work," Bush tweeted excitedly alongside a photo of the two.

Business Insider reached out to Bush's team to ask what is the former governor's favorite rap song and inquire as to who he thinks is the greatest rapper of all time.

A spokesman said Bush was tied up at the moment in meetings and unable to answer the questions.

However, Bush was asked on Thursday about his favorite Ludacris tune.

Bush laughed and said, "I like 'em all."

SEE ALSO: Here's how Donald Trump is framing his potential presidential campaign

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Larry King, the 81-year-old news broadcasting legend, doesn't tweet like the rest of us.

"When Larry King wants to tweet, he doesn’t log onto the Internet. He pops open the flip phone stored in the shirt pocket between his suspender straps and calls the number for a voicemail set up specifically for this purpose," writes the Washington Post. 

That voicemail gets transcribed into a tweet by an assistant, which then goes out to his 2.6 million Twitter followers.

How did Noah know there were only two flies on the Arc? #itsmy2cents

— Larry King (@kingsthings) March 16, 2015

This has won Larry King a lot of admiration among the common class of Twitter users who make their posts the old fashioned way:

Twitter transcription by staff? Um, seriously, really, why not? His name is Larry King, not Larry Proletariat. #SMH#obs

— mariachong (@mariachong) March 19, 2015

 The Washington Post article goes into more depth about the former CNN superstar's new career in online media, which has seen him start an Internet video channel called Ora TV that nets him eight million viewers per episode, down from the billion he commanded at his television peak. He's also embraced the Internet in other ways, including doing a Reddit AMA ("Ask Me Anything") where users could ask him questions directly.

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We're just over a month away from the release of Marvel and Disney's highly anticipated "Avengers" sequel. Today the studio released a new TV spot for the film that features a ton of new footage with detailed looks at all of the main characters, including the villain Ultron.

"The Avengers: Age of Ultron" opens May 1.

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The culture of hip-hop began in New York City in the 1970s. Encompassing rap, deejaying, "b-boying" or breakdancing, and graffiti art, hip-hop has become a hugely influential art form.

The Museum of the City of New York is celebrating New York City's central place in that history in its current exhibit "Hip-Hop Revolution," featuring more than 80 photographs of 1970s and '80s hip-hop by photographers Janette Beckman, Joe Conzo, and Martha Cooper.

The Museum has shared a number of the photos with us here, and you can check out more by visiting their website or heading to the museum.

DJ Tony Tone, left, was a founding member of the Cold Crush Brothers, a Bronx hip-hop group that formed in 1979. DJ Kool Herc, right, is often credited as the starting point of hip-hop. Herc pioneered the use of hard funk and Latin percussion records in deejaying, which formed the basis of hip-hop.

DJ Charlie Chase was a founding member of the Cold Crush Brothers. He is credited with making Latinos a force in the Bronx hip-hop scene. Here he is performing at Norman Thomas High School in Manhattan.

Almighty Kay Gee began as a break-dancer before joining the Cold Crush Brothers in 1979. This is Kay Gee performing with the group at Harlem World.

Jerry Dee Lewis, or JDL, was also a member of the Cold Crush Brothers.

JDL, right, and Grandmaster Caz, another member of the Cold Crush Brothers, perform at Club Negril. Grandmaster Caz now hosts Hush Hip-Hop Tours in New York City.

Charlie Ahearn, second from left, is an American film director who rose to prominence documenting hip-hop culture in New York City in the '70s. This is Ahearn shooting Wild Style, a 1983 film about hip-hop at the time.

Chuck D. helped form the politically and socially conscious rap group Public Enemy. He's one of the most influential MCs.

Before his years on VH1 reality shows, Flavor Flav became famous as a member of Public Enemy. He's known for popularizing the role of the hype man, whose job is to excite the crowd with call-and-responses.

Eric B & Rakim have been called "the most influential DJ/MC combo in contemporary pop music, period," by Tom Terrell of NPR. They hail from Queens and Long Island, New York, respectively.

LL Cool J started out in 1984 recording for Def Jam Records. His deejay at the time was Cut Creator, seen on LLCool J's right. The other two are E-Love and B-Rock.

Queen Latifah made her name as one of hip-hop's premier female emcees, rapping about issues like domestic violence, harassment, and relationships.

Salt-N-Pepa is a hip-hop trio from Queens. They were one of the first all-female rap groups.

EPMD is one of the longest-running groups in hip-hop, staying active for the majority of their 29 years of existence. Made up of Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith, the group hails from Brentwood, New York.

Rammellzee, left, was a visual artist, graffiti writer, and hip-hop musician. He was one of the original hip-hop artists in the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy was a graffiti artist and musician who became well known as the first host of Yo! MTV Raps. Rammellzee died in 2010.

Afrika Bambaata is a deejay from the South Bronx. He is known as the Godfather of hip-hop and electro-funk. He also formed the hip-hop awareness group the Universal Zulu Nation.

Big Daddy Kane began his career as a member of the Juice Crew. Rolling Stone called him "a master wordsmith of rap's late-golden age and a huge influence on a generation of MCs."

KRS-One, left, and Scott La Rock both began as members of Boogie Down Productions. After the release of their first album, Scott La Rock was killed. KRS-One continued the group.

SEE ALSO: These are the strangest conventions in America

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Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Anne Vyalitsyna, better known as Anne V, is expecting her first child with Yahoo! executive Adam Cahan.

Anne announced her pregnancy Thursday, her 29th birthday, by posting a photo of her sonogram to Instagram. 

"On this birthday I couldn't feel luckier, happier and more grateful. @acahan and I couldn't be more excited for your arrival little feet!"

And it appears she's already pretty far along. Anne also posted this photo Thursday showing off her baby bump alongside fellow model Christy Turlington.

"So proud to be a part of @everymomcounts! Thank you @cturlington for your love and birthday wishes and for being the best role model ever!!!"

Anne V, who previously dated Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine and New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey, is a Russian-born model best known for her ten-consecutive-year run of appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

Adam Cahan is Senior Vice President of Mobile and Emerging Products at Yahoo!

Cahan joined Yahoo! four years ago through the $20-$30 million acquisition of IntoNow, a company for which he was both founder and CEO. 

According to Forbes, "When Marissa Mayer arrived as the new CEO of Yahoo! in 2012, she appointed Adam to lead the company’s mobile initiatives... an area that has gone from 150 million mobile users to 550 million today in those short two years with Adam at the lead. The results? Mobile revenue more than doubled year-over year."

"Cahan seems uniquely equipped for his role at Yahoo!," notes Forbes. "After graduating from Brown, the New York City native joined National Geographic and took off for central Africa to shoot wildlife films for a couple of years. He then returned to the US, where he graduated from Columbia Business School, then landed a job at Google when it was still a fledgling company. He left Google to focus on a video infrastructure start-up that Adobe snapped up. Then, in 2011, Cahan joined Yahoo! when the tech giant bought his second start-up IntoNow."

For more on Cahan's role at Yahoo, head to Forbes >

SEE ALSO: Here's what Sports Illustrated swimsuit models look like in real life

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Netflix is currently working with Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris (“The Fog of War”) on a six-part docu-series.

Though details on the project have been kept mum, in a conversation with Morris about the Blu-ray release of his seminal documentary “The Thin Blue Line” out next Tuesday, he gave a little insight to Business Insider exclusively on what the series will be about.

"[It] has an element of true crime in it," he told BI over the phone from Los Angeles.

Morris brought the true-crime film genre to prominence with the release of “The Thin Blue Line” in 1988, which looked at the wrongful conviction of Randall Dale Adams. The findings in the film helped eventually get Adams released.

The 67-year-old filmmaker says true crime is a subject he's still very interested in.

"I wrote a book about true crime, 'A Wilderness of Error,' it sold and will be made into a feature film," he said. "'Tabloid' is true crime. A number of projects I'm working on as we speak are true crime."

When asked if the current six-part Netflix series he's making was one of them he replied, "That, yes, has an element of true crime in it. Yes indeed it does."

He would not go into detail about the series, only to say that an announcement was forthcoming.

The interest in true crime is at its peak at the moment, most recently with the arrest of real estate heir Robert Durst coinciding with the finale of the popular HBO documentary “The Jinx,” which examines the three murders Durst is suspected of carrying out and then presumably admitted to committing in the final episode of the series.

The documentary follows the success of the podcast series “Serial” and the fictitious true crime series on HBO, “True Detective.”

Most recently, Morris directed six short films for ESPN titled, "It's Not Crazy, It's Sports." 

Along with the Netflix series he's also prepping his first narrative feature in 24 years, “Holland, Michigan,” which he says will begin shooting in the fall.

"'Holland, Michigan' is not true crime," he pointed out with a chuckle.

SEE ALSO: HBO filmmakers cancel all press; could be key witness against alleged murderer Robert Durst

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Will Ferrell has never been one to go the conventional way to promote his movies.

For the 2008 basketball comedy “Semi-Pro,” he posed in character with Heidi Klum in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue as the film’s afro-rocking star, "Jackie Moon."

At Comic-Con to promote the animated feature “Megamind” in 2010, in which he voiced the title character, Ferrell showed up dressed as the big-headed blue character.

So for the release of next Friday's “Get Hard,” Ferrell's new comedy co-starring Kevin Hart, what did the funny actor have up his sleeve to get the word out?

Here’s a rundown of the antics we've seen so far:

1. On March 12, Ferrell headed to Arizona and played for 10 Major League Baseball clubs in five spring training games throughout the day.

But he didn’t do it just solely to promote “Get Hard.” All the memorabilia from the day (jerseys he wore, his gloves, bats, balls he signed) will be auctioned and the proceeds will go to Cancer for College and Stand Up to Cancer. And the footage will be aired in a special for HBO through his website, Funny or Die.

2. A few days later, Ferrell showed up to the taping of the "Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber" as his legendary "Anchorman" character Ron Burgundy to give his two cents about the pop star. Here are some of the remarks from San Diego’s favorite Scotch-drinker. You’ll get to see the whole show when it airs March 30. (h/t Funny or Die).

3. Ferrell showed up as himself, in a suit, to the South By Southwest Festival and hung out with the hip kids along with co-star, Kevin Hart, for a screening of "Get Hard."

4. Ferrell then headed to New York to hit the late night shows. His appearance on “Late Show With David Letterman” turned out to be on St. Patrick’s Day. He showed up in festive attire. 

5. The following day he appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and decided to also dress a little differently while chatting with his former "SNL" cast mate. As he tells it, he's the new face of Little Debbie snack cakes. 

6. On Thursday, Ferrell showed up on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" wearing a t-shirt with Zack Galifianakis faces all over it and commended Stewart for departing his longtime hosting gig. 

"For 17 years you've banged your head against this desk, and we've all watched this train wreck go on," Ferrell joked. "I just applaud you for going, 'It's not working.'"
 

Regardless what you may think of these wild appearances, Ferrell must be doing something right as he's still a viable box office draw. It will be interesting if "Get Hard" receives a bigger bump with the inclusion of Kevin Hart's raising popularity. Warner Bros. is ceratinly hoping for big things.

SEE ALSO: LEAKED: Sony Execs Calls out Kevin Hart for requesting money to promote his movies on social media

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Freemium games have evolved into one of the most lucrative models in the video game industry, with mobile version and their in-app purchases generating about $7-8 billion in iOS revenue last year. It isn’t limited to mobile either.

League of Legends, the wildly popular multiplayer online battle area PC game is “free-to-play” as well. But “free-to-play,” like “freemium,” doesn’t really mean free – last year, the game generated over $1 billion in microtransactions.

Like many “freemium games,” League of Legends offers players the the core game for free and then optionally charges them for premium content such as in-game currency, extra content, or customizations. Players in League of Legends can purchase new champions (characters), skins (customized looks for those characters), and influence-points boosts (which help you gain IP faster from playing the game, so you can buy champions without spending money).

Here are some of the champions you can buy in League of Legends:

And here are some of the skins you can buy:

Riot also often has sales and bundles like any retail store:

After the news was announced back in October, players on the League of Legends subreddit discussed just where all that money was coming from— namely, players spending thousands of dollars per year to keep up with new content.

One Redditor by the name of DTSuteru estimates that he spent around $2,000 since he began playing the game in March 2013.

Another user by the name of cguo0516 estimates having spent more than $4,000 on the game over the past three years.

Other players weren’t as drastic. User Cloud_Rice estimates having spent $600 on the game over the last four years, while user Jagla estimates spending $200 over the course of two to three years.

One user had an idea how people spent so much money.

"Due to the way League of Legends works ... newcomers often benefit and feel good when spending real money. You can quickly lose track of how much has been spent and the true cost of what you are buying because of the genius 'RP' conversion [In order to purchase items, you must convert money to “Riot Points”]. The game has been designed to be a cash cow from the start,” explains user ElDanesh, who estimated spending around $200 on the game.

Here's what it looks like to buy "Riot Points" in the game.

One of the most interesting things about the thread is that, despite spending a large amount of money on a video game, the users were mostly satisfied with having done so.

"In all honesty, I really don't regret spending money on the game. You can legitimately play the game [without] spending a dime. The only thing that requires cash are skins. Anything else can be bought with enough play time,” wrote user Sw0rDz.

Here’s user Captain_Canadian’s justification for spending between $1500 and $2000 on League of Legends over the last five years:

It started as supporting a smaller developer, but it turned into me wanting to stay competitive but having less time due to school and work [note:While nearly all champions can be obtained for free with enough gameplay, it can take a long time to rack up enough “Influence points” from winning games to do so]. Thankfully I make enough money that it ended up being more worth my time to just pay for the champs/skins I wanted in [League of Legends] and just work a bit longer to make up the difference.

I would rather pay $1500 and keep playing a game I enjoy with friends than have to give up the time it would take to earn enough IP for the newer champs. In the end that's basically only about 30-40 hours of work for me so it's better than playing the additional hundreds/thousands of hours it would otherwise take.

Redditor Servalpur had a similar perspective:

I'm in a similar boat. I love League, but I also have a 9-5, a wife, and a 14 month old daughter. This all equates to me playing (at the most) 2-3 games a night, and more likely one game a day. I don't have time to [earn influence points], I am however an adult with a good job. A thousand bucks over two years is more than fair to me to enjoy a hobby I like so much. God knows I've spent more on sh*t I've enjoyed less.

Not all Redditors were happy however. Many complained that despite spending so much, the game still suffers routine game bugs and server outages.

"This just shows again how [expletive] people really are and how easy it is to sell them sh*t they don't need. Good job Riot, your pyramid is awesome and works,” wrote user ChaosCore.

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Season 5 of "Game of Thrones" premieres on Sunday, April 12 at 9PM ET on HBO. To get you ready for the big event, we put together an economic update of the Seven Kingdoms through season 4 of the HBO show. The analysis is based on information from the TV show and the books.

Produced by Sara Silverstein and Alex Kuzoian. Additional Illustrations by Mike Nudelman.

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"Insurgent," the second movie in the popular "Divergent" series starring Shailene Woodley, debuts in theaters this weekend.

It's one of many highly-anticipated book-to-film adaptations lined up for 2015. 

We compiled a list of some of the best books becoming movies this year. This year brings back "Gone Girl's" Gillian Flynn with a new psychological thriller and the culmination of the "Hunger Games" series.

From sci-fi to period pieces, and even some true stories, here are the books you need to read before they become movies this year. 

"Insurgent" by Veronica Roth

Release Date: March 20

In the first "Divergent" film we learn members of the dystopian society are tested and assigned one of the five factions at the age of 16. Those who fit into more than one, like protagonist Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) are deemed Divergent and are considered a threat to society. 

In the series' second installment, Tris and the other Divergents are on the run from Jeanine Matthews, leader of the Erudite faction. Tris must embrace her divergence to fight for and protect the ones she loves while uncovering the truth about the past and future of her world.

The much-anticipated sequel returns with stars Shailene Woodley, Kate Winslet, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, and Miles Teller. 

Buy the book

"The Longest Ride" by Nicholas Sparks

Release Date: April 10

Two couples separated by generations converge in another one of Nicholas Sparks' tear-jerking romantic tales. Ira is 91-years-old and lost his wife Ruth nine years prior. College student Sophia and bull-rider Luke come from two different worlds but fall deeply in love. While the two stories are different they remind us that the most challenging choices in life can yield extraordinary journeys.

The romantic film stars Scott Eastwood and Britt Robertson. 

Buy the book

"The Moon and the Sun" by Vonda N. McIntyre

Release Date: April 10

King Louis XIV is determined to find the key to immortality, and he believes he finds this immortality in a rare sea monster, Sherzad. He plans to endanger and ultimately kill the creature, so against the orders of the king and the pope, a young lady-in-waiting fights to free the innocent creature.

The period piece stars Pierce Brosnan, William Hurt, Benjamin Walker, and Kaya Scodelario.

Buy the book

Liu Chunhua, who was born in eastern China in 1944, does not even have an English-language Wikipedia page — but he did produce an image that was printed a staggering 900 million times.

The painting that re-wrote history, typified one of modern China's turning points, and came to epitomize one of the towering figures of the 20th century.

Liu was a government propagandist who belonged to a paramilitary "Red Guard" unit. He painted "Mao Zedong Goes To Anyuan"when he was 24, just a couple years after Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, a disastrous, decade-long attempt to head off possible challenges to Communist rule by reshaping Chinese society according to hardcore collectivist principles.

As former Washington Post China correspondent Philip Pan writes in Out of Mao's Shadow, the government printed enough copies of the painting "for every man, woman, and child in China, making it perhaps the most reproduced painting in the history of the world." 

In her 2012 book Anyuan: Mining China's Revolutionary Tradition, Elizabeth J. Perry also notes that the poster "is said to be the most reproduced painting in history."

It's been called "perhaps the most important painting of the Cultural Revolution period," and "the benchmark for the iconographical representation of Mao."

The image depicts the young Mao on a mountaintop near the eastern industrial city of Anyuan in 1922, supposedly en route to the city to coordinate a landmark communist-led coal miners' strike.  The Chinese Communist Party had been founded just the year before, and the Anyuan strike was one of the iconic early moments in the movement's history.

But the painting is a politically-motivated fiction: as Pan writes, "Mao was only indirectly involved" in the strike, "but the party later exaggerated his role and wove the story of the strike into its founding mythology."

The painting is also meant to create a particular image of Mao within a very specific time and political context. Millions died in the Cultural Revolution, an upheaval that led to the imprisonment or forcible relocation of over 36 million Chinese, according to Pan. It required not just mobilizing the entirety of China's population, but whipping it into a state of permanent crisis and hysteria.

The image of Mao in the painting doesn't typify violent ideological frenzy — but that might explain why it's such effective propaganda. As Liu explained according to a 1968 book translated by ChinaPosters.net, the painting was meant to reinforce Mao's most positive and admired attributes while emphasizing his centrality to China's national existence.

"To put him in a focal position, we placed Chairman Mao in the forefront of the painting, advancing towards us like a rising sun bringing hope to the people," Liu explained. "His head held high in the act of surveying the scene before him conveys his revolutionary spirit, dauntless before danger and violence and courageous in struggle and in 'daring to win'; his clenched fist depicts his revolutionary will, scorning all sacrifice ... The old umbrella under his right arm demonstrates his hard-working style of traveling, in all weather over great distances, across the mountains and rivers, for the revolutionary cause."

Even nature itself recognizes it's in the presence of an unstoppable personality, subordinate to the historical forces he commands: "With the arrival of our great leader, blue skies appear over Anyuan. The hills, sky, trees and clouds are the means used artistically to evoke a grand image of the red sun in our hearts. Riotous clouds are drifting swiftly past. They indicate that Chairman Mao is arriving in Anyuan at a critical point of sharp class struggle and show, in contrast how tranquil, confident and firm Chairman Mao is at that moment."

This is a lie as well. Mao's rule was anything but tranquil, and China's human-made crisis during the decade of the Cultural Revolution was traumatizing enough to convince all of China's subsequent leaders to eschew collectivization and "Mao Zedong thought." 

But Liu's undeniably powerful image was used to create the exact opposite perception over 900 million times.

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By this point, we all know that most people eat things that are terrible for them on a regular basis.

Americans consume an estimated 500 more calories per day (the equivalent of a McDonald's Big Mac) than they did in 1970, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. 

But it's not all our fault: Americans get help in their bad eating habits from the companies that rely on those habits for profit, Jon Stewart argued in a segment on Tuesday's The Daily Show.

Stewart targeted "Big Agra and the food lobby" for feeding us what he called an "addictive, fattening, death menu of artificial chemicals, antibiotics, and cool ranch carcinogens," and ridiculed the ways companies are responding to Americans' increased dietary awareness.

"Screw your health study"

Rather than back off in the face of health concerns, some companies are doubling down. 

Stewart highlighted a new deep dish pizza wrapped in three and a half feet of bacon from Little Caesar's, plus advertisements for "endless" buffets and appetizers and Olive Garden's "buy one, take one" entree special.  

He called this the "I don't give a f*** approach," by which fast food companies essentially say "screw your health study."

A tiny, tiny bit better

Next, Stewart ridiculed "the making-food-slightly-less-bad-for-you craze." 

In this category, we see McDonald's announcing plans to phase out chicken raised with antibiotics from its menu — "I'll miss treating my ear infections with the buffalo ranch chicken," Stewart jokes — and Dunkin' Donuts planning to eliminate titanium dioxide from its powdered donuts. (The chemical, which makes food and also things like toothpaste appear bright white, is classified as safe by the FDA.)

Needless to say, however, chicken nuggets and donuts still don't qualify as healthy food.

Buying a fig leaf

Stewart reaches maximum scorn levels when he addresses companies that don't actually change their products at all, but pretend to be better through crafty PR. 

His case in point is Kraft, which got the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' "Kids Eat Right" label on its Kraft Singles after donating to the Academy to support the program. (To be fair, the label says in small type "supporter of" Kids Eat Right — not "approved by.") Kraft Singles are labeled "pasteurized cheese product," not even real cheese. 

"It turns out the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is an academy in the same way this [Kraft Singles] is cheese," Stewart quipped. 

Check out the whole video below, courtesy of Comedy Central. 

UP NEXT: Jon Stewart Perfectly Mocks Liberals Who Deny Science

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Bruce Willis is in contract to buy a $16.995 million duplex on Central Park West, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Willis is purchasing the home from Milwaukee Bucks owner Wesley Edens. 

The duplex has six bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, and gorgeous views of Central Park. Edens told the Journal his family no longer needs the 6,000 square foot space.

Jay Glazer and Landis Hosterman of Compass made the sale.

The 6,000 square-foot home has several living room areas.

Many of the rooms overlook Central Park.

A nice view of trees for a city apartment.