Indie Film Shakeout: There Will Be Blood

The economic recession may be ending but the independent film industry’s shakeout continues to roll, as we were recently reminded by Disney’s October decision to gut its Miramax division, cutting staff by more than 70%. It won’t be the last to fall under the knife, industry insiders predict, pointing to Universal’s Focus Features as the next likely victim.

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Photographer Leibovitz could lose portfolio due to debt

Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz could lose the right to her entire portfolio of world-famous photographs if she doesn’t meet a Tuesday deadline to pay back a $24 million loan she is alleged to owe. Leibovitz, who has photographed everyone from the Rolling Stones to Queen Elizabeth II, put her art, intellectual property and even real estate assets up for collateral last year when she consolidated her massive debts

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Disney World: When Death Comes to the Magic Kingdom

Enchantment can be dangerous work. A series of employee fatalities this summer at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., has exposed a hard truth: the recipe for making dreams come true at the Magic Kingdom includes not only pixie dust and princesses but the hard work of very mortal human beings acting in a risky world where sometimes things go badly awry. Over the past six weeks at Disney World, a 21-year-old monorail driver, a 47-year-old actor portraying pirate Captain Jack Sparrow’s henchman “Mack” and a 30-year-old stuntman practicing for the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular died in on-the-job accidents

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Disney performer dies after suffering head injury

A Disney stunt performer died Monday night after suffering an injury during a rehearsal, company and local officials said. Walt Disney World spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez said the performer was injured while performing a tumbling roll for the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, part of the Orlando, Florida, theme park. It was the third fatal incident at the park in less than two months

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Disney adds robotic Obama to attraction

He looks like President Barack Obama, speaks like him, and even gestures like him, but he is not exactly the president of the United States. This president is an audio-animatronic Obama surrounded by the 42 other U.S. presidents at Walt Disney World’s newly revamped Hall of Presidents in Orlando, Florida.

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