Vincent Graeff dies at 80

Vincent Graeff, a young child actor who made an appearance within the "Our Gang" number of shorts with the kind of George "Spanky" McFarland and Robert Blake, died February. 8 in Henderson, Nev. He was 80. Credited as Billy Ray Cruz, Graeff made his debut at age 6 in 1937's "The Pigskin Palooka." In early nineteen forties he made an appearance in MGM shorts including "Baby Blues," "Fightin' Fools," "Robot Wrecks," "Helping Hands" and "Likely to Press." Because he increased a little older, the youthful actor made an appearance in lots of uncredited feature roles, including in notable films for example "A Tree Develops in Brooklyn," "The Valley of Decision," "The Harvey Women," "The Dark Corner," "Sister Kenny," "The Babe Ruth Story," "The Set-Up" and "Cheaper through the Dozen." Graeff ended his acting career in 1951. Born in San Ysidro, Calif., Graeff offered within the Marine Corps throughout the Korean War, generating a Crimson Heart. He'd work like a sheet metal worker. Graeff's brother Paul, who also made an appearance in films growing up actor, died this year. Graeff is made it by his wife, Pat five children and numerous grandchildren and great-children. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

Piracy Has Negligible Influence On U.S. Box Office: Study

Film piracy has a very little impact on box office results in the U.S. but likely cuts into studio profits overseas depending on the time lag between a film’s American debut and rollout overseas. Those are the surprising conclusions of an extensive study titled “Reel Piracy: The Effect of Online Film Piracy on International Box Office Sales,” spearheaded by Brett Danaher of Wellesley College and Joel Waldfogel at the University of Minnesota and the National Bureau of Economic Research. While researchers in the study acknowledge an increase in piracy — especially for genres such as science fiction and action films — U.S. audiences still prefer the theatrical experience. The study found that Americans are heading to theaters in about the same numbers they would have otherwise in the absence of piracy,suggesting that perhaps people opt to see a film in a theater despite an initial pass online, or word of mouth from a pirated copy of a film may push others to the multiplex. The study also concludes that since the advent of piracy software BitTorrent in 2003, the longer the lag time between a film’s release abroad compared to its U.S. opening, the greater the depression in box office receipts. Generally, the study found international returns were 7% lower in the sample set than they would have been had piracy not existed.Hollywood films normally bow in the U.S. before heading abroad, with opening dates varying by country; countries like Denmark, Finland, Italy, Poland, and Turkey generally have longer lag times than the UK, Switzerland and Australia. Researchers found that in 2003-2004 a movie released overseas eight weeks after its U.S. premiere had lower returns by about 22% in a given country. That figure shot up to nearly 40% in 2005-2006 as each additional week of lag time decreased returns for science fiction and action titles by an extra 1.3% compared with other genres.

Hot Trailer: Magnolias Marley

Magnolia Pictures had already acquired U.S. rights for the Kevin Macdonald documentary in regards to the reggae legend. The pic made its world premiere a week ago within the Berlin festival, where it offered a slew of areas. Magnolia has set an April 20 release for that U . s . States, that is timed to unveil worldwide with the summer season to coincide while using 50th anniversary of Jamaican Independence. Here’s a clip, which promises new tracks instead of-before-seen footage.

Lilienfield, Meshel, and Nayor Casting CW Drama Pilots

Lilienfield, Meshel, and Nayor Casting CW Drama Pilots By Daniel Lehman February 13, 2012 Nancy Nayor Casting directors have been hired for two more drama pilots for the CW, Back Stage confirmed. Production dates for both pilots are TBA.Tracy Lilienfield and Jeff Meshel are casting the CW drama pilot "Joey Dakota," a romantic sci-fi musical about a time-traveling documentary filmmaker who must find a way to save her rock star boyfriend from an untimely death. Based on the successful Israeli half-hour series "Danny Hollywood," the pilot is written by Bert Royal ("Easy A"). Royal is also executive producing with Mark Harmon, Eric and Kim Tannenbaum, and Martha Haight for CBS TV Studios. Lilienfield and Meshel have just formed a new casting partnership, and "Dakota" will be one of the first projects for their new office. Lilienfield's casting credits include the CBS comedies "$#*! My Dad Says" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine," the TBS comedy "My Boys," and NBC's "Will & Grace." Meshel cast the TV series "Life Unexpected" and "The Cleaner," in addition to many television movies.Nancy Nayor will cast "Shelter," an hour-long drama pilot set at a historic New England summer resort, where the staff must attend to their guests while navigating friendships, rivalries, and romances of their own. "Shelter" is written by "One Tree Hill" creator and showrunner Mark Schwahn, who is executive producing along with J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk of Bad Robot.Nayor began her casting career Off-Broadway at Manhattan Theater Club in NY, and then moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as senior vice president of feature film casting for Universal Studios. In 1997, she opened her own casting company, where she casts commercials, TV pilots, and feature films such as "Scream 4," "Drive Angry," "The Whole Nine Yards," and "Road Trip." Lilienfield, Meshel, and Nayor Casting CW Drama Pilots By Daniel Lehman February 13, 2012 Nancy Nayor Casting directors have been hired for two more drama pilots for the CW, Back Stage confirmed. Production dates for both pilots are TBA.Tracy Lilienfield and Jeff Meshel are casting the CW drama pilot "Joey Dakota," a romantic sci-fi musical about a time-traveling documentary filmmaker who must find a way to save her rock star boyfriend from an untimely death. Based on the successful Israeli half-hour series "Danny Hollywood," the pilot is written by Bert Royal ("Easy A"). Royal is also executive producing with Mark Harmon, Eric and Kim Tannenbaum, and Martha Haight for CBS TV Studios.Lilienfield and Meshel have just formed a new casting partnership, and "Dakota" will be one of the first projects for their new office. Lilienfield's casting credits include the CBS comedies "$#*! My Dad Says" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine," the TBS comedy "My Boys," and NBC's "Will & Grace." Meshel cast the TV series "Life Unexpected" and "The Cleaner," in addition to many television movies.Nancy Nayor will cast "Shelter," an hour-long drama pilot set at a historic New England summer resort, where the staff must attend to their guests while navigating friendships, rivalries, and romances of their own. "Shelter" is written by "One Tree Hill" creator and showrunner Mark Schwahn, who is executive producing along with J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk of Bad Robot.Nayor began her casting career Off-Broadway at Manhattan Theater Club in NY, and then moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as senior vice president of feature film casting for Universal Studios. In 1997, she opened her own casting company, where she casts commercials, TV pilots, and feature films such as "Scream 4," "Drive Angry," "The Whole Nine Yards," and "Road Trip."

Time Warner revenues jump 5%

wMedia giant Time Warner stated Wednesday profits rose slightly to $773 million from $769 million last quarter.Revenues elevated 5% in the year-ago quarter to $8.2 billion, reflecting greater revenues at shot entertainment from the "Harry Potter" franchise and from cable systems.Network revenue rose 5% (by $151 million) to $3.5 billion, together with a 5% ($89 million) increase in subscription revenues, a couplePercent ($25 million) in ad revenues and 16% ($42 million) rise in content revenues. Advertising revenues achieved positive results from worldwide growth. Content revenues elevated because of greater certification revenues at Turner. Systems modified operating earnings rose 27% ($240 million to $1.1 billion) driven through the timing of programming and marketing expenses.Film revenues rose 7% (by $254 million) to $3.9 billion, due mainly to more powerful home theatre and gaming slates and new subscription video-on-demand contracts. Growth was offset partially by lower theatrical film revenues minimizing television license costs. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

ABC orders Reba McEntire pilot

McEntireABC bought some comedy aircraft aircraft pilots Wednesday including one starring Reba McEntire.The actress/singer will reunite with Kevin Abbott, executive producer in the CW sitcom "Reba," for "Malibu Country," from ABC Art galleries.The multi-camera half-hour follows a fictionalized version of McEntire who divorces her rock-star husband and moves her three kids and mother from Nashville to Malibu, where she tries to boost her singing career and safeguard the household's values. Mindy Schultheis, Michael Hanel, Pam Williams, Dork Stewart and Narvel Blackstock may also be attached as executive producers.ABC also bought "Prairie Dogs," only one-camera half-hour from ABC Art galleries and "That '70s Show" executive producers Jackie and Rob Filgo."Dogs" is about an uncool cubicle worker who reaches to some crook who steals his identity because he realizes the charming conman might help him change his existence. Contact Andrew Wallenstein at andrew.wallenstein@variety.com

Universal Orlando gets new attractions

New Spider-Man ride opens in MarchUniversal revealed plans Wednesday to add new attractions to its Orlando theme park this year as part of the company's celebration of its 100th anniversary. The main attraction is "Universal's Cinematic Spectacular," a nighttime light and pyrotechnics show, narrated by Morgan Freeman, that will project images from U movies onto three screens created by waterfalls in the middle of Universal Studios Florida's lagoon. The 20-minute show will bow this spring. "This is very much a big end-of-day spectacular," said Jim Timon, Universal Orlando's senior VP of entertainment. "This is the big show we send our guests off with, with the Universal brand and message and emotion and impact." Concept is similar to that of Disneyland's "World of Color," which has proved a big draw at California Adventure, especially with families -- and U is looking to attract more families to its own parks. Playing into that theme, Universal will also introduce in the spring a daily "Superstar Parade" featuring floats with characters from "Despicable Me," "Hop," "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "Dora the Explorer." Each float is designed to work as its own show with effects and musical score that can be featured around the park when not in the parade. Universal parks only occasionally offered character parades, primarily during the holidays; they are a staple at Disney's locations. The nightly show and daily parade are the most notable additions since U opened the "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" attraction in 2010. But Universal is in the midst of opening more rides and attractions in the Orlando resort's history, and they'll be featured in a new "Year to Be Here" campaign. An updated "Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man" ride, at Islands of Adventure, opens in March with new 4K-high-definition 3D digital technology, character designs, new ride effects and cameo from comicbook icon Stan Lee. "It's really a mind-boggling presentation, when you look at the imagery," said Mark Woodbury, prexy of Universal Creative for the company's theme parks. "When Spider-Man jumps onto the vehicle, you'll see every thread of his costume, and the details behind him are rich and deep and full and really spectacular." After already announcing plans to build a 3D ride based on "Despicable Me," U announced that "Despicable Me Minion Mayhem" will open this summer and replace "Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast." Ride will feature the voices of actors Steve Carell, Miranda Cosgrove and Elsie Fisher as their characters. Orlando's CityWalk complex also gets a Hollywood Drive-In 1950s B-movie-themed 36-hole miniature golf course, set to open in February. And the Blue Man Group returns in February with a new show and props. Contact Marc Graser at marc.graser@variety.com