Idol's Danny Gokey Is Engaged

Danny Gokey and Leyicet Peralta The American Idol Show alum Danny Gokey, who notoriously lost his wife shortly before his Season 8 audition 3 years ago, is engaged to his girlfriend, Leyicet Peralta.The happy couple intends to get married late the following month, they introduced online for Gokey's children's foundation, Sophia's Heart, that is named after his late wife.Take a look at photos of Danny Gokey"He's thrilled to possess found Leyicet who also shares the love and need to help children and families in need of assistance,Inch reads the content. Gokey and Peralta are asking for all gifts be as a donation to Sophia's Heart."We're grateful for numerous benefits God has provided us with,Inch the pair states inside a statement. "It's our need to see destitute children and families be stored together and lifted back on the ft with the assistance of Sophia's Heart. We like and appreciate all of you.InchSophia Gokey died in This summer 2008 from complications following a routine heart surgery. Four days later, Gokey auditioned for Idol and managed to get completely to 3rd place behind Kris Allen and Adam Lambert.

FilmFunds buys post house

PARIS -- FilmFunds, a crowdsourcing venture launched at the Toronto Film Festival, has stepped into the 3D conversion biz with the acquisition of Duran Duboi U.S., a California-based post-production and vfx house. Created by Christian Paris in 2002, Duran Duboi U.S. has developed 3D LiveFlix software, which enables real-time 3D conversion of films and toons. Deal allows FilmFunds to poll moviegoers to see what popular library titles they want to see in 3D and offer conversion services to digital players like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, as well as studios. The Los Angeles-based company allows filmmakers to post their synopses and marketing material on FilmFunds' website and mobile app and lets members give feedback on the projects. FilmFunds' online community is currently building, but the goal is to reach the 60 million moviegoers in the U.S., per Carl Freer, co-founder and chairman of FilmFunds.Freer says the idea behind the acquisition of Duran Duboi U.S. is to become a one-stop shop for filmmakers and people in the industry. "We're looking to help content distributors evaluate the market for 3D conversion and decide what movies to convert," Freer said. "Our model is simple: We either have the content owners write the check for the 3D conversion or we fund it inhouse and do a revenue share with pay-per-view websites."Paris, who's now VP of FilmFunds, says the 3D LiveFlix technology, recently used on "Conan the Barbarian," works best to convert homevid titles. "We could convert a catalog of 600 titles in one week," said Paris, a French post-production vet. FilmFunds also is bidding for Quinta Industries' Duran Duboi, the Paris-based vfx and animation shingle that was placed in bankruptcy last week.Paris said the bid has yet to be approved by French authorities. If greenlit, FilmFunds will pursue ongoing productions, such as Luc Besson-produced "The Boy With the Cuckoo-Clock Heart," according to Paris. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Polish satcasters to merge

PARIS -- Vivendi's Canal Plus Group has finalized the merger of its Cyfra Plus Polish satcaster with rival pay TV platform "n," owned by Polish TV operator TVN and the third largest in the country, CPG announced Monday. Together Cyfra and "n" will form a new pay TV operator in which CPG will have 51% stake and TVN 32%. The new joint satcaster will be jointly managed by CEO Markus Tellenbach and deputy CEO Beata Monka. Canal Plus Group has also paid Euros230 million ($300.1 million) for a 40% shareholding in N-Vision, which holds 51% of TVN. The Gallic pay TV giant stated Monday that the merger will prompt synergy savings and revenue growth worth $72.6 million and provide subscribers with "exclusive content and the latest technology, including the broadest high-def offering in the Polish market." Also Monday, Nickelodeon announced "n" would launch a new channel bouquet, Kids XL package, including Nickelodeon HD. 'n' will also add Nick Jr. The satcaster merger enables Canal Plus, whose Cyfra Plus is already Poland's second largest satcaster with 1.5 million subscribers, to consolidate its position in Polish pay TV and step into the free TV market, as TVN also owns free-to-air channels. "The timing for this deal is right. Cyfra Plus had lost some subscriber momentum since the arrival of 'n' on the pay TV landscape," explained Christophe Cherblanc, head of media research at Societe Generale. "The Polish pay TV market was becoming saturated with three big pay TV groups: Cyfrowy Polsat, Cyfra Plus and 'n.' Other European markets have only one major pay TV platform, or two, as in Italy." The newly-created platform is expected to reach 2.5 million subscribers by year-end. Deal has yet to be greenlit by anti-trust authorities. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Angelina Jolie's Luc Besson Movie Is Up Next

Angelina Jolie is about to get her "Fifth Element" on, it seems, as reports of her upcoming sci-fi action collaboration with director Luc Besson are heating up ever more today. Meanwhile, Harrison Ford may have finally found his Jackie Robinson, Michael Shannon's "Iceman" serial killer has found his bride, and "Burt Wonderstone" is crunching the numbers. It's December 13, and you're tuning into today's Casting Call! Angelina Jolie's Besson Collaboration Inches Closer It's looking more and more likely that Angelina Jolie and Luc Besson will indeed be teaming together for a big new sci-fi project. Deadline reports that Universal has made a deal to secure 80% of the upcoming film's distribution rights, including in the United States. The movie is expected to be Jolie's next, though few to no details are currently known beyond the two key players involved and the fact that it's tonally similar to Besson's earlier efforts "The Professional" and "The Fifth Element." In other words: awesome. Jackie Robinson Found Ladies and gentlemen, now batting, number forty-two: Chadwick Boseman! Variety reports that the relative newcomer has been cast as legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson in the upcoming Legendary Pictures biopic "42." Boseman will likely star opposite Harrison Ford, who was previously announced as part of the project. Brian Helgeland will direct from his own script. Ryder Marries The "Iceman" Don't do it, Winona! He's a serial killer! Oh--oh, it's just a movie? Okay, that's not so bad. Looks like Winona Ryder, best known recently for brief appearances in "Black Swan" and "Star Trek," has a killer new role up her sleeve. According to Deadline, she'll star in thriller biopic "The Iceman" as Deborah Kuklinski, who had no idea that her husband (played by Michael Shannon) was secretly a contract killer. Chris Evans also stars as a fellow killer-for-hire. Garrett Meets "Wonderstone" Just as everybody loves Raymond, so too does everybody love "Burt Wonderstone." Or, at least, "Raymond" vet Brad Garrett is a big fan. THR reports that he's joining the Steve Carell-led "Wonderstone" in a supporting role as an accountant that Carell's magician character fires. The cast also includes Jim Carrey, Olivia Wilde and Steve Buscemi. Cooper's "Summer" Vacation THR also notes that Dominic Cooper is about to enjoy "Summer in February." The "Devil's Double" actor has signed on for the novel adaptation that's described as "a true tale of love, liberty and scandal amongst the Edwardian artists colony in Cornwall." Dan Stevens and Ophelia Lovibond also star. Got any casting news to pass along? Send it to me @roundhoward! Let us know what you think of today's Casting Call in the comments section and on Twitter!

Fox Business Says Muppets Movie Anti-Biz

How did we miss this? Fox Business news on the network’s “Follow the Money” program last week opined that Disney’s The Muppets moviestoryline featuring an evil oil baron made it the latest example of Hollywood’s anti-corporate liberal agenda. “They’ve been doing it for decades. Hollywood, the left, the media, they hate the oil industry,” Gainor continued. “They hate corporate America. And so you’ll see all these movies attacking it,” complainedDan Gainor of the conservative Media Research Center:

Raquel Welch and Bo Derek Going to CSI: Miami

Raquel Welch, Bo Derek Raquel Welch and Bo Derek are likely to warm up CSI: Miami.The legendary sex symbols will guest-star in separate instances of the crime drama early the coming year.Bo Derek to guest-star as herself on Chuck Derek will have a "well-maintained" mother who runs a equine stable in which a murder is committed, based on Entertainment Weekly.Welch will have the matriarch of villain Diego Navarro (Carlos Bernard) and the boy Esteban also known as "The Miami Taunter" (Kuno Becker), TVLine reviews. Her episode will air after Derek's.Welch, who started in A Million Years B.C., last made an appearance on television around the short-resided 2008 CBS sitcom Thanks for visiting the Captain. Derek, who's most widely known on her role in 10, can next be viewed on Chuck, where she'll play herself.CSI: Miami airs every sunday at 10/9c on CBS.

'Twilight' maintains top place at Friday B.O.

'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Beginning -- Part 1'The domestic B.O. treaded water yesterday as no new wide releases meant another Friday victory for Summit's "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Beginning -- Part 1." Lower 67%, pic made $5.5 million getting its cume to $235.9 million.In second, Disney's "The Muppets" made $2.7 million for any cume of $48 million. Pic is anticipated to include another $13 million to Disney coffers through Sunday, though yesterday's perf indicates it might only land within the high single numbers rather. "Breaking Beginning -- Part 1" should gross around $15 million a few days ago.The bigger-than-usual drop and the possible lack of major releases this frame could be credited towards the calendar. The weekend following Thanksgiving is typically among the softest Stateside seshes of the season, using what couple of moviegoers you will find likely to play get caught up.The newcomer which has most likely received probably the most buzz this frame is Fox Searchlight's "Shame." The NC-17 drama starring Michael Fassbender like a sex addict opened up on 10 screens countrywide yesterday to some respectable average of $11,048 per screen, landing in 16th place in the domestic B.O.Using the relaxation of yesterday's top films kept in a equine race behind "Muppets," Paramount's "Hugo" jumped from last week's fifth for this week's third with $two million, possibly considering its recent National Board of Review best film win. Par's pic was then a set of The new sony releases, "Arthur Christmas" and "Jack and Jill," which made $1.7 million and $1.six million, correspondingly. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Liam Neeson Is a Badass Wilderness Hero in New Trailer For The Grey

Last time we saw Liam Neeson in a trailer for the upcoming survival drama The Grey, he was preparing to battle a few angry wolves. In the new kickass preview for Joe Carnahan’s wilderness adventure, Neeson is not only preparing to wage a full-scale attack on all of the wolves that stand between him and civilization, but he heroically maintains the morale among a group of fellow stranded plane crash survivors on their long walk home. Courtesy of Moviefone, the new promo shows the deadly plane crash that takes down Neeson’s character, an Alaskan pipeline worker, and a few of his colleagues (Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, James Badge Dale), stranding them in the middle of an endless stretch of white wilderness. As the group struggles to make fire, maintain hope and ultimately make the long, freezing trek towards civilization, they must battle nature’s creatures and perilous landscapes while maintaining their own will to survive. The Grey, which rolls into theaters January 27, marks the first reunion between Neeson and his A-Team director Joe Carnahan. VERDICT: I’ll watch any plane crash survival movie as long as the characters don’t resort to Donner party survival tactics. [via Moviefone]