HOLLYWOOD

David Letterman

HOLLYWOOD — While late-night viewers were stunned by David Letterman’s announcement that he’s retiring next year, insiders say, like Jay Leno, it was time for him to step aside. The days of talk shows where they just talk are at an end. Jimmy Fallon’s success is telling networks that late-night shows need to be variety shows that use social mediums to keep viewers’ attention. Letterman had a good run, but didn’t change with the times.
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Are Arnold Schwarzenegger fans giving up on him? Last year “The Last Stand” cost $30 million to make and earned $48 million, which might have been due to his Oscar-winning co-star Forest Whitaker. “Escape Plan” cost $50 million to film and took in $137 million, which could have been because of his co-star, Sylvester Stallone. His most recent effort, “Sabotage,” cost $35 million but only pulled in $6.5 million despite “Avatar’s” Sam Worthington, Oscar-nominee Terrance Howard, “Magic Mike’s” Joe Manganiello, and “Lost” and “Intelligence” star Josh Holloway on board. The true test will be the $10 million zombie film “Maggie.” with just Abigail Breslin and Joely Richardson. Hopefully, it will come out after Aug. 15, when “Expendables 3” hits theaters with Jason Stratham, Jet Li, Dolph Lungren, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, Kellen Lutz and Kelsey Grammer. The Governator’s autobiography, “Total Recall,” crashed and burned … could be the public hasn’t forgiven Arnold for his “Maidgate” yet!
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The tireless Johnny Depp hits theaters this month with the $100 million “Transcendence.” Then he has a cameo in Billy Bob Thornton’s film “London Fields,” with fiance Amber Heard and “Divergent” star Theo James, followed by a role as The Wolf in the $40 million musical “Into the Woods” with Meryl Streep (out Dec. 25). He’s already finished “Mortdecai” with Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn and Gwyneth Paltrow, and currently is shooting “Black Mass” with Guy Pearce and Dakota Johnson (star of “50 Shades of Grey”), both for 2015. Depp’s original “Alice in Wonderland” grossed over $1 billion, and he’s set for the sequel, as well as “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” which starts shooting at the end of the year. Both are for 2016 release.

Chris Pine has “Horrible Bosses 2” (out Nov. 26), “Into the Woods” (out Dec. 25) and the sci-fi film “Z for Zachariah” (currently filming in New Zealand) upcoming, but he must be wondering what became of the March 21 opening of “Stretch” with Patrick Wilson, Brooklyn Decker, Ed Helms and Jessica Alba. Apparently, Universal Pictures wasn’t happy and let the producer shop it around to other studios, but no one wanted it. Maybe calling it an action-comedy-thriller was “Stretch”ing the point too far!