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Writes Sharon Waxman, "The cable channel is poised to acquire the still-in-progress documentary, according to individuals on both sides of the deal. A movie studio may also buy theatrical rights, I’m told." Two years in the making, Norton is one of five producers on the as-yet untitled doc directed by Amy Rice and Alicia Sams. According to Waxman, the filmmakers want to "release the film within the first 100 days of an eventual Obama presidency." [WaxWord]

The Los Angeles branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has asked Warner Bros. "to consider changing the title" of Alan Ball's "Towelhead" before its Sept. 12 release because the term is a racial and religious slur. The film premiered at the 2007 Toronto festival under the title "Nothing is Private," but had been changed by the time it screened at Sundance. (Noted: "Towelhead" is also the name of the novel on which the film is based.) Asks Neil Miller, "Where was CAIR-LA then? If these groups really expect to have changes made based on the 'social implications' of releasing movies with offensive elements, perhaps they should get on their soapboxes a little earlier." [Film School Rejects]

>> RELATED: Former IRA infiltrator Martin McGartland has threatened legal action to stop the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Kari Skogland's "Fifty Dead Men Walking," which is based on his autobiographical novel and stars Sir Ben Kingsley. The festival says it's moving forward with the screening Sept. 10. McGartland remains in hiding for fears of IRA retribution. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Producer Mark Steven Johnson told Rob Allstetter that the project was the point of budgeting when "the new head of HBO felt it was just too dark and too violent and too controversial." Based on the Garth Ennis comic, "Preacher" is the story of a small-town preacher who's been possessed by a supernatural creature composed of equal parts pure good and evil. As a result, the preacher may have more power than God. HBO bought the property in November 2006; Johnson says he's "heard someone is in the process of getting the rights to turn it into a feature film. I hope that happens." [Comics Continuum]

Susan Berg's Global Music Group bid $24M for the label catalog in June, but trustees representing Death Row and founder Marion "Suge" Knight Jr. voided the deal when the money didn't materialize, writes Brian Garrity. A Global Music lawyer says it's all negotiating tactics. There's also court papers detailing fights with rival investor groups that include double crossing and, of course, death threats. [New York Post]

"The Princess of Nebraska" will be available for free online shortly after the theatrical release of Wang's penultimate film, "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers," through Magnolia Pictures in September. Online distribution of "Princess" will be handled by Cinetic Rights Management. Both films are both about women who come to the U.S. from China, are based on short stories by Yiyun Li and premiered at the 2007 Toronto and Telluride film festivals. [indieWire]

"A terrorism thriller about Muslim extremists and FBI investigations?" Eric D. Snider writes. He does a little digging and finds this detail on the "Traitor" website: "Traitor began its journey to the big screen when Steve Martin presented an intriguing idea to producer David Hoberman while they were working together on the blockbuster comedy 'Bringing Down the House.' " Martin is also credited as an executive producer. [Cinematical]

MGM says it will soon announce a new production fund. Carl DiOrio writes that it will be led by the Royal Bank of Scotland, with more than $500 million in financing and a $340 million revolving credit facility; the deal should be done in three to six weeks. DiOrio also says additional investment could come through Middle East financiers and Wall Street. [The Hollywood Reporter]

>> ALSO: MGM's looking for a Paula Wagner replacement to work with Tom Cruise; former Paramount production president Alli Shearmur turned down the  job, according to Michael Fleming and Tatiana Siegel. [Variety]

The subject of the director's discontent is the $60 million "Babylon A.D." And if you don't like the movie (Rotten Tomatoes currently rates it at 0%), join the club. “I’m very unhappy with the film,” says Kassovitz, who describes the pic as  “pure violence and stupidity.” The film stars Vin Diesel as a mercenary who must escort a young woman from Russia to the U.S. while protecting her from evil cultists intent on stealing her "essence." Kassovitz's previous credits include "Gothika," "Crimson Rivers" and "La Haine." [AMC TV's SciFi Scanner, via Film School Rejects]

Moviecentric social network Flixster bought an iPhone appication, Movies.app, created by Carnegie Mellon University sophomore Jeffrey Grossman. Writes Michael Arrington, "The application lets users find show times, watch trailers and get maps to local theaters and has been downloaded 250,000 times. Flixster has updated the app to give users full access to their database of 70,000 movies, so users will be able to look up older titles." Flixster, which was very nearly acquired by Barry Diller's IAC last year, now has 6.5 million monthly visitors to its website and 13.6 million across its network. [TechCrunch]

The only ones now in production are Michael Bay's "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen;" another sequel (actually, prequel), Ron Howard's "Angels & Demons," is now in production at Sony. And that, writes Richard Verrier, is about it. He points to the ongoing possibility of a SAG strike as the reason for the 10% dropoff from this time last year; IATSE business agent Ed Brown says the decline would be greater if it weren't for local TV productions and the smaller-budget films that have signed SAG agreements allowing them to film. Related chart here. [Los Angeles Times]

Specifically, the loan to Hoffman's Seven Arts came through Davis' production company, Too Easy Entertainment. Seven Arts announced the repayment via BusinessWire, much as it announced last week's repayment of $6.5M to the Cheyene Specialty Finance Fund. Release: "the repayment came from financing and distribution of films, as well as from film library revenues. No money was raised, no shares were sold, and no additional debt was incurred, to complete the repayment." Seven Arts and Too Easy were producers on 2005's "Asylum" starring Natasha Richardson and Ian McKellen.

>> PREVIOUSLY: Peter Hoffman's Seven Arts Pictures repays $6.5M debt to hedge fund

"One reason that you can't find movies like the James Bond series, 'The Godfather,' and 'The Lion King' is likely that they haven't yet been released on Blu-ray disc yet, and the studios are sure they'll make more money on selling high-def discs than they can with $9.99 iTunes downloads," writes Scott Kirsner. Jim Flynn, who runs the download sites EZTakes and iArthouse, puts it another way: "The pirates in general have a download exclusive," he says. "These movies are available as downloads -- just not legal ones." Full list of the 50 films here. [Variety, CinemaTech]

If you can believe a text message leaked to In Touch, Heidi Montag and Spencer "I'm a" Pratt each make $1.25 million a year; Audrina gets $35,000 per episode and Brody $10,000. For those who can stomach it, there's more here. [PopCrunch]

His name is Ahmed Abounouom, but everyone calls him Jimmy and he can help you out with everything from local extras to a location that can pass for a prison. His credits include "Babel," "Kingdom of Heaven," "Kundun" and, the upcoming "Traitor" starring Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce. "If they want a camel," Jimmy says, "I'll get them a camel." [Los Angeles Times]

Bob Yari Productions owes $1.3 million to U.K. distributor Momentum, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Federal Court. The suit claims that BYP sold Momentum distribution rights to two pics: "Resurrecting the Champ" starring Samuel L. Jackson, and "Man on a Ledge," with John Travolta attached to star. Momentum says the deal allowed it to return "Champ" distribution rights to BYP if it failed to produce the Travolta pic, with BYP then responsible for repaying the minimum guarantee and other expenses. "Man on a Ledge" was never made and, according to the suit, BYP "has offered no legitimate excuse for its failure to honor its promises." As for "Champ," which has not been released in the U.K., the film earned $70K overseas. See the suit here.  [Courthouse News]

"The partisan lines have never been drawn so neatly," writes Brian Stelter. Ratings for MSNBC's "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann have nearly doubled since August 2006, "when the host started delivering 'special comments' criticizing President George W. Bush." Outspoken commentator Rachel Maddow replaces legal analyst Dan Abrams on MSNBC Sept. 8, while Fox's Bill O'Reilly sees 2.25 million viewers nightly. CNN, meanwhile, "is positioning itself as the objective option for viewers... Greg D'Alba, chief operating officer for CNN advertising sales, said he pitched the reach of CNN's platforms rather than the opinions, or lack thereof, on the programs." [International Herald Tribune]

It's only for "select" titles and the shipping is $5.98. However, the shipping's free for Amazon Prime members. Up first are “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09” (Aug. 26) “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” (Sept. 16) “Fable 2” (Oct. 21) and “Gears of War 2” (Nov. 7). [Business Wire]

"The worst thing that ever happened to indie film was that the studios thought it was a good business," write Dade Hayes and Pamela McClintock. Specialty films have made $161M in 2008 so far; in 2006, the year-end total for indies was $406M. Pleads Sidney Kimmel creative affairs president Bingham Ray, "You've got to look at the historical big picture," remembering a fallow period in the 1980s that saw the demise of companies like Fox Classics, Columbia Classics and UA Classics Island Alive, Goldcrest and Cinecom. [Variety]

Fox will stream the premiere of "Fringe" and season opener of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" online at the same time as they bow on TV, but only computer users on college campuses will be able to log in to watch. [Variety]

Snoop Dogg is launching clothing line Rich & Infamous with plans to promote it across his TV show, CD packaging, web series and, of course, product placement. Writes Marc Graser, "For Snoop Dogg, the name represents 'a fraternity of sorts -- from presidents to gangsters -- who've been able to endure the burden of gaining wealth at any cost. Garnering equal parts admiration and disdain, these men savor the fruits and relish the spotlight.' Those individuals include James Cagney, Frank Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix, Dean Martin, Muhammad Ali, Albert Einstein, Ronald Reagan and Paul Newman." [Variety]

NBC's decision to "bottle the excitement" by showing time-delayed coverage may have cost the network dearly: According to research firm eMarketer, Emily Steel writes, NBC will see a paltry $5.75M in video-ad revenue. Compare that to CBS Sports, which made $23M by streaming NCAA March Madness games.

NBC limited its potential for ad revenue in a number of ways, industry analysts say. To provide a measure of exclusivity for its TV advertisers, it chose not to make available live video for some of the Games' highest-profile events. The network failed to distribute its videos widely on other sites, which would have boosted its audience.  [Wall Street Journal]

Sources say that Merrill Lynch, which has its own problems, "is looking for any event that might trigger a default on the loan -- such as, say, the removal of Paula Wagner -- "and open the door to renegotiations," if not getting rid of the deal altogether. Technically, Wagner's exit didn't change the terms since Tom Cruise remains in place, but the sentiment leaves little chance that MGM might be able to use that $500M to finance its own slate. Back at team Lion, "MGM has retained Goldman Sachs as a strategic adviser to raise equity for film financing as well as other alternatives, including a potential sale of the famed studio, according to three people involved in or close to the situation." [NY Post]

Meanwhile, a group of "Valkyrie" extras say they plan to sue UA for up to $11M in connection with injuries sustained a year ago when they fell off a truck during shooting. UA says there were cuts and bruises; the extras claim concussions and head lacerations. [Infos Jeunes]

The Vancouver-based manager owns tiny Echelon Talent Management. His office doesn't have a sign, but Hollywood knows where to find him for actors like Maggie Q ("Live Free or Die Hard," left), Chin Han ("The Dark Knight") and Valarie Tian ("Juno"). "More films are looking for Asian casts," he tells Alexandra A. Seno. "They want to appeal to the Asian market, so they cast Asians." [International Herald Tribune]

PBS programming like "Super WHY," "Between the Lions," "Word World" and "Word Girl" and the upcoming "Martha Speaks" are the result of a 2005 multimillion-dollar grant from the Dept. of Education. However, while they may encourage pre-reading skills, they may not encourage viewership: Only "Super WHY" cracks the top 10 of kids' shows. U of Michigan education professor Susan Neuman tells Elizabeth Blair that the shows focus "very much on phonological awareness, a key skill that is important to literacy development. But at same time, phonological awareness ... is not terribly fun for young children." [All Things Considered]

A National Cancer Institute report, "Monograph 19: The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use," reviews 1,000 scientific studies and "presents definitive conclusions that a) tobacco advertising and promotion are causally related to increased tobacco use, and b) exposure to depictions of smoking in the movies is causally related to youth smoking initiation." [National Cancer Institute]

The $16M British cop thriller was to star Ray Winstone and Michael Fassbender (left), but Ali Jaafar writes that Fox execs feared the film wouldn't sell outside the U.K. without a major star. To be directed by Nick Love and produced by DNA Films, "The Sweeney" is based on a cult 1970s TV series about a London police unit dedicated to fighting violent crime. Both Fox Searchlight and Love remain attached. Says DNA production chief Allon Reich, "We're confident we'll get the film made next year." [Variety]

That's according to a NewsCorp proxy filing, which says it came in the form of NewsCorp stock. The filing, which puts his total compensation at $19.9 million, also says he's due a second all-share bonus “when the fair market value of the Fox Business Network equals or exceeds two times its cost." Given FBN's low ratings, however, that could be a while. [Financial Times]

Toronto's $60M studio complex Filmport Studios opened yesterday with 260,000 square feet, a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by David Cronenberg -- and not a single Hollywood tenant. However, Filmport president Ken Ferguson predicts that will change once there's a new deal with SAG. Current leasors include George A. Romero's "Diary of the Dead 2." [THR]

As of today, Ticketmaster has been spun off from Barry Diller's IAC and is a standalone company (NASDAQ: TKTM) with a value of $1.2B. Ticketmaster CEO Sean Moriarty promises changes: "The fee structure is too complex," he tells Swati Pandey. "We're hopeful that over the next couple of years we'll make it much more fan-friendly." [Los Angeles Times]

Image Metrics has done facial animation work for more than a dozen films and videogames, including "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," "Grand Theft Auto" and "Meet Dave." However, this pitch video from the company may suggest their work has taken another step toward actor replacement. Or, as Steve Hall suggests, "this technology may cause anything remotely less than perfect to be dubbed absolutely unacceptable." [AdRants]

"If C-SPAN has a demographic, no one I know is part of it," Michael Arrington writes. However, that could change with its launch of two sites dedicated to user-generated convention coverage that will include contributions from YouTube, Twitter, streaming video phone Qik and Twitter as well as third-party blog content. Preview the sites here and here . [TechCrunch]

"Division," which launched Aug. 16, stars Rosario Dawson as a New York detective trying to find her fiance's murderer. The format is meant to have groundbreaking potential: Instead of ads, the five-minute episodes on Hulu.com incorporate "blatant product placements," writes Paul Boutin. So far, not so good; comments include "terrible," "obvious green screen" and "the worst elements of 'Cloverfield.'" [Valleywag]

The money was owed to Cheyne Specialty Finance Fund, part of troubled U.K. hedge fund Cheyne Capital. Says Hoffman: “We are very pleased that cash flow improved our balance sheet so dramatically in the quarter ending June 30th that we were able to repay Cheyne without any dilution to shareholders. We expect to announce further improvements to the balance sheet shortly.” [BusinessWire]

Intel Corp. and Yahoo are creating software that gives TVs the ability to display the internet (say, to check an actor's IMDb profile) without interfering with programming. TVs would need a set-top box to pull up online content. Comcast will begin testing services in the first half of next year. [Bloomberg]

The slump in newspaper and TV ads is spreading to national categories, according a to report from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., which said U.S. ad revenues declined 1.5 percent, the steepest since the company began tracking sales more than five years ago. Magazine sales saw a 10% drop. [Bloomberg]

Actress Golshifteh Farahani was stopped while boarding a plane for Los Angeles. Iranian news agency IRNA says the ban stems from her failure to get the correct permit from the Iranian government necessary for actors to appear in foreign films; she shot Ridley Scott's new film "Body of Lies" without permission. "Body of Lies" stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe and is slated for release through Warner Bros. October 10. [BBC]

Ben Affleck to star in Mike Judge's "Extract" [Variety]
Jennifer Lopez returns to UTA [Variety]
Jean Doumanian to develop "Blackbird" feature [Variety]
Joel Silver options "Fortune's Children" for HBO [Variety]
IFC Films buys "Where God Left His Shoes" [THR]

Hilary Lewis is counting the seconds and has a timeline to back up her claim that "since the end of July, an article a week has come out predicting that DreamWorks deal with Reliance was just days from being announced." [Business Sheet]

Fanboys are livid over the timing of 20th Century Fox's "Watchmen" lawsuit, since it could result in a delayed release. However, a Fox source tells Jeff Jensen that there was no sandbagging. Fox tried to contact Warner Bros. several times before production began, the source says, but was rebuffed. Writes Jensen," All of this would seem to suggest that Warner Bros. either massively screwed up or is pretty darn certain that Fox is grossly mistaken." [EW's Hollywood Insider]

David Zucker's mockumentary is supposed to be a Michael Moore takedown, but Eugene Novikov isn't so sure after screening the trailer. "Is the clip of Bill O'Reilly slapping around Kevin Farley's 'Michael Malone' a commentary on the rivalry between the two, or right-wing wish fulfillment?... I'd eagerly watch a skillful spoof of the pudgy, faux-working-class provocateur. I think parts of the trailer are pretty funny ("Here I am on the island paradise Cuba!"). But if the point is just to pile on the guy, with a rah-rah patriotic, stop-hating-America message at the end, then I'm significantly less interested." [Cinematical]

That's double what Jay-Z made in the no. 2 slot. 50 Cent's windfall was $100 million of after-tax income when Coca-Cola bought his stake in VitaminWater's parent, Glacéau. His portfolio also includes a clothing line, a record label, films, videogames and, of course, his own albums. Up next: platinum mines with South African billionaire Partrice Motsepe. [Forbes]

"I have seen one 3-D process that works, the IMAX process that uses $200 wrap-around glasses with built-in stereo," he writes. "Apparently that process has been shelved, and we are back to disposable stereoscopic lenses, essentially the same method used in 1952." He might have liked "Journey to the Center of the Earth" more without it: "It would have looked brighter and clearer, and the photography wouldn't have been cluttered up with all the leaping and gnashing of teeth." [Roger Ebert's Journal]

Benefits: 100,000 square feet and creating more than 500 jobs. Writes Richard Verrier, "The new production space will be added onto the existing Lakeside Building, which will be renovated. The new facility will house as many as 600 additional digital artists, effects specialists, lighters and technologists with annual salaries of $100,000 to $150,000." CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg expects up to 80% of admissions to come from 3-D by 2010. Of his 3-D competitors, he says: "All of these companies are investing in our future." [Los Angeles Times]

Pandora gets 1 million listeners daily and attracts 40,000 new customers a day, but founder Tim Westergren tells Peter Whoriskey, "We're approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision. This is like a last stand for webcasting." He says royalty fees will amount to 70 percent of 2008 projected revenue of $25 million. Traditional radio doesn't pay performance royalties; satellite radio pays 6 or 7 percent of revenue. [Washington Post]

Writes Carl DiOrio: "Skepticism was high that such an offer -- if even true -- would go anywhere. But the most intriguing aspect of the speculation was the notion MGM currently carries a valuation of just $3 billion." In 2004, a Sony-led consortium bought the studio for $5 billion; banking-community sources say that for now, $3B is about right. [Hollywood Reporter]

CNET blogger Chris Matyszczyk says he's heard several NBC online advertisers are looking to buy space elsewhere. NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker says the network's site has seen 30 million unique users; ComScore puts NBCOlympics.com at 6.7 million for the week ending August 10, with Yahoo's Olympic section getting 8 million uniques. Matyszczyk wonders whether viewers are rejecting Zucker's tape-delay strategies to "bottle" Olympic excitement. [Technically Incorrect]

"Step Brothers" has made $91 million so far; "What Happens in Vegas" made it to $80 million. Even "27 Dresses" got to $76 million. "No wonder the Warner Independents of the world are shutting down," Karina Longworth writes. "Why would anyone waste time and money producing or acquiring “indies” that need constant coddling? Sleepers are no longer “surprises”––they’re the foundation of the system." [SpoutBlog]

"It was a badge of honor to get an IMDb listing," writes Film School Rejects' Kevin Carr. "Now, it seems that any slob who owns a video camera and has a YouTube account can get listed." He's affronted by the presence of Kuma, a Australian Shepherd/Husky listed as "actor" with credits that include the Hallmark Channel's "McBride" and starring in the eponymous direct-to-DVD release "Marlowe." Kuma's talents include understanding more than 50 verbal behaviors and hand signals. [Film School Rejects]

Videogames like "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" are pointing the kids who play them toward their parents' music, Denise Quan reports. "A few weeks ago, when the game featuring Aerosmith ['Guitar Hero: Aerosmith'] came out, there was more than a 40 percent increase in their catalog sales," says Geoff Mayfield, senior analyst and director of charts for Billboard magazine. "I expect you'll see that again when Metallica gets the same kind of treatment in a few weeks." Metallica's "Death Magnetic" is slated for release September 12; drummer and former Napster-hater Lars Ulrich helpfully points out that you can download it and play it on 'Guitar Hero III' the same day. [CNN]