Ariel has new 'Beginning' on DVD

Home video prequel outsells 'What Happens in Vegas'




Hollywood's gamble with movies made directly for DVD tone ending continues to pay off -- large time.

Disney Home Entertainment topped the national sales chart for the week ending Aug. 31 with the direct-to-video sequel "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning," even though the film was up against the $80 million theatrical bump off "What Happens in Vegas."

"Vegas," from Fox, debuted at No. 2 on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart, but it only sold about 60% as many copies as "Mermaid."

The success of "Mermaid" comes in the rouse of various other strong sales showings by DTV titles, including Universal's "The Scorpion King 2: Rise of the Warrior," which debuted at No. 4 on the sales chart the previous week after selling more than than 1 million DVDs and Blu-ray Discs its first six days in stores.

Another nontheatrical release, the second-season set up of NBC's "Heroes," from Universal, bowed at No. 3 on the home video sales chart for the workweek ending Aug. 31. Disney's new collector's edition of "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas" debuted at No. 4, while the previous week's top vender, "Camp Rock," slipped to No. 5.

On Home Media Magazine's tV rental graph for the week, "Vegas" debuted at No. 1, bumping the previous week's top renter, Fox's "Street Kings," to No. 2.

On the Blu-ray chart, the gross sales crown went to "Nightmare," with Season 2 of "Heroes" a strong No. 2 and "Vegas" at No. 3.


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Muse have tracks written for fifth album

Muse have got been meddling in the studio and already have a several tracks written for their next record.


As previously reported, Muse had tentatively started work on album number five, the follow up to 2006's 'Black Holes And Revelations', earlier this year.


Drummer Dominic Howard has now explained that the band wrote a few tracks ahead of their headline V Festival slots (August 16-17) and are set to head endorse to their studio nigh Lake Cuomo in Italy soon.


Speaking to BBC 6music Howard aforesaid: "We're working on new stuff and we're gonna have a couple of weeks off and then in just about two weeks time we're back out to Italy to pop out writing again."


He added: "We've already done a few tracks and it sounds great, so we're just working towards the future."

Howard also admitted he was a massive fan of recent Reading And Leeds Festivals headliners Rage Against The Machine.


"The music they make is so from the eye, so passionate and really, they virtually started a genre of music," he declared.



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Hurrikaine J

   
Artist: Hurrikaine J

   Genre(s): 
Other
   

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Discography:


   
 The Storm Of The Century

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 19

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Skalariak

   
Artist: Skalariak

   Genre(s): 
Other
   

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Discography:


   
 Radio Ghetto

   Year: 2003   
Tracks: 13


   
 En La Kalle

   Year: 2001   
Tracks: 12


   
 Klub Ska

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 14

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14th Century

   
Artist: 14th Century

   Genre(s): 
Rap: Hip-Hop
   

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Discography:


   
 Gung Fu The First Principle (Paper Cranes)

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 15

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Dispatch From BEA: Doom-Sayers, Agents, and Jackie Collins

Clockwise from top left, Jackie Collins; an enterprising author; the crowd; Henry Holt president Dan Farley, PW's Louisa Ermelino, agent Ira Silverberg.Photos: Boris Kachka

New York's Boris Kachka reports from Book Expo America, the book industry's largest get-together, which runs this weekend in Los Angeles.

Was the first promotionally costumed character we saw an omen of the tenor of this year's book fair? Probably not, because the woman walking around in a white wig carrying a placard reading "The Rapture Is Coming" clearly had her tongue in her cheek. She was one of the co-writers of How to Profit From the Coming Rapture, a how-to book, she told us, about "where to invest, and when to invest, when the world ends." But how does she know she'll be left behind? "We have to be," she said. "We're Jews."



Considerably more popular was Jackie Collins, demurely and silently signing away in full-haired, medallioned glory. Booksellers were just getting their bearings this morning, but several favorites among the hundreds of upcoming books on display were emerging. As usual, the Philip Roth galleys went first (for Indignation, due in September) — more than 800, gone in about an hour. Kira Salak's The White Mary and Brunonia Barry's The Lace Reader were books from this year's early Buzz Panel that seemed to be pulling their weight. The latter was a favorite of both Bridget Kinsella, a Publishers Weekly contributor, and Kathleen Caldwell, owner of Oakland's A Great Good Place Books. Caldwell also talked up Seldon Edwards's The Little Book, almost apologizing for the fact that, yes, it involves time travel. "I don't usually read that stuff, but it's so good," she said.

Even more sought-out were books that, for one reason or another, you wouldn't be seeing here. New galleys by bookseller faves E.O. Wilson, Malcolm Gladwell, and Marilynne Robinson were not yet available. Are their publishers just slackers, or is the fair maybe less of a priority in buzz-building than it used to be? Agent Ira Silverberg thought so but put a positive spin on it. "It's not about that one 'buzzy' book so much," he said. "It's back to the way it was when I started working — just people meeting each other, learning and talking and going to panels." BEA continues through the weekend. —Boris Kachka

Jackie Chan, Segway dealer, says co. fears piracy

HONG KONG —

Actor Jackie Chan says his Segway dealership here is doing well, though costs are high because the manufacturer won't let him assemble the battery-powered scooters in China for fear of piracy.

"They're afraid of people stealing the technology," the 54-year-old action star said Wednesday at a security fair in Hong Kong.

China is a leading source of knockoffs ranging from movies and music to sporting goods and medication. Beijing has toughened penalties and cracked down repeatedly, but manufacturers say violations are more prevalent than enforcement.

Chan said he was confident Segway executives would change their minds as Chinese sales grow.

A basic Segway scooter costs about $10,000 in China - pricey in a country where the average worker makes less than $100 a month. The two-wheelers, which balance on their own and glide noiselessly down streets or sidewalks, cost about $5,000 in the U.S.

Chan, who is from Hong Kong, said he didn't start the business to make money but to bring the clean technology to China. He also sells the scooters in Macau, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

"This is very little money to me. I don't rely on this to make money," he said.

Chan's business partner, Matt McGuire, said they aim to sell 600 to 1,000 Segway scooters in China this year. Security and grounds staff at the Olympics will use about 100, the Beijing airport's new terminal has ordered four, and police in the eastern province of Shandong have bought 30 scooters to patrol the Olympic sailing venue, he said.

Among the Segway models on display at the security fair Wednesday were a police model and a camouflage-colored military version.

When the scooter hit the market in 2001, inventor Dean Kamen predicted it would make the car obsolete in congested cities. Segways are still a rare sight, however.

McGuire said Chan's dealership has grown "significantly" since opening in 2006, with annual revenue now in the millions of U.S. dollars.

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