Morning Report - News from Aug. 14, 2002

POP/ROCK

Elvis: Fiscal Life Even After Death

A quarter-century after his death, Elvis Presley is still raking in the big bucks. The Recording Industry Assn. of America has announced that 100 million albums by the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll” have been sold--putting him second to the Beatles, who have sold 165 million units in the U.S.

And, for the second year running, Presley leads the list of the top-earning dead celebrities, according to Forbes magazine. Sales of all things Elvis totaled $37 million from June 2001 to June 2002--$4 million of which came from a British dance remix of his 1968 song “A Little Less Conversation.”

No. 2 on the list is “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz, with $28 million in earnings. John Lennon and race car driver Dale Earnhardt, who’s new to the list this year, both made $20 million. Other first-timers: former Beatle George Harrison, with $17 million in earnings; rapper Tupac Shakur, with $7 million; and author Robert Ludlum, with $5 million.

Forbes reporters determined the top dead earners by looking at estates, interviewing lawyers and surviving family members, and calculating pretax earnings to the estates from licensing agreements and book and record sales.

Stones Retrospective Due Out Soon

On Oct. 1, shortly after the launch of the Rolling Stones’ two-year world tour, Virgin Records will release what is being billed as the first “complete and definitive” retrospective of the band’s 40-year career.

The two-CD set--with selections picked by the band itself--is the first to combine the group’s post-1970 music with the ‘60s hits controlled by former manager Allen Klein. A thaw in the chilly relationship between Klein and the Stones led the accountant to approve the project, which his ABKCO Records is co-issuing.

“The Stones wanted it, and I’m happy we could do it with them,” Klein said.

The set will also serve up four new tracks: “Keys to Your Love,” “Stealing My Heart,” “Losing My Touch” and “Don’t Stop,” which will be released as a single. The album will hit the foreign market on Sept. 30--with the exception of Japan, where it will surface a week earlier.

On Tuesday, ABKCO is also reissuing its newly remastered 22-title Stones catalog.

TELEVISION

‘Anna Nicole Show’ Dips in Week Two

E!’s “The Anna Nicole Show” averaged 3.4 million viewers on Sunday, reflecting an 18% drop from the program’s record-setting premiere for the basic cable network the week before.

E! noted that the rating actually rose among adults 18 to 34, the target demographic for the program. Critics skewered the premiere of the show, which tracks the life of model-actress Anna Nicole Smith using the same cinema verite style as MTV’s “The Osbournes.”

DANCE

Bourne Has Stumbled but Keeps Moving

Director-choreographer Matthew Bourne, whose comi-tragic rewrites of “Swan Lake” and “Cinderella” took the dance world by storm in recent years, hasn’t had an easy time of late. Feuding with the administrator of his Adventures in Motion Pictures, he lost control of the company. And plans to become the resident company at London’s Old Vic never panned out.

Never one to roll over, however, Bourne has formed a new company--one aptly called New Adventures. He’s also rehearsing “Play Without Words,” an experimental mime creation about sex and class. Commissioned by London’s National Theatre, the project was aborted during his “commercial period” with his former company.

Though he “loved doing the big stuff,” Bourne told the London newspaper the Telegram, “shifting gears isn’t hard.... Fame is quite nice if it’s only a very mild form of fame.... If I could just have a company and do a piece a year, develop dancers, develop a style, I’d be happy.”

After the opening at the National later this month, Bourne is revising one of his old hits, “The Nutcracker!” for Sadler’s Wells at Christmas. In his spare time, the choreographer is developing ideas for a stage show of “The Little Mermaid” for Disney. And next year, he may create the stage version of Tim Burton’s “Edward Scissorhands.”

QUICK TAKES

Sally Field will make her Broadway debut in Edward Albee’s Tony-winning “The Goat: or Who Is Sylvia?” She and Bill Irwin will replace Mercedes Ruehl and Bill Pullman starting Sept. 13.... PBS commentator Bill Moyers pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of negligent driving. He was fined $750 for taking the wheel under the influence a month ago in Vermont.... Wolfgang Petersen (“The Perfect Storm”) will direct and produce “Troy,” an adventure based on “The Iliad.” According to the Hollywood Reporter, he’s putting his “Superman vs. Batman” on hold to make the new project’s 2004 release date.... The famed “Lansdowne” portrait of George Washington will be on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Nov. 8 through March 9 as part of its first U.S. tour organized by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.... Jodie Foster will receive the outstanding acting achievement award at the Hollywood Film Festival taking place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Oct. 7. Naomi Watts (“Mulholland Drive”) and director McG (“Charlie’s Angels”) will get the breakthrough awards. .... Simon & Schuster will publish Ellen DeGeneres’ second book of comic essays--a follow-up to her 1995 bestseller, due in the fall of 2003.

Elaine Dutka