Oprah named entertainment's most powerful woman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Hollywood Reporter on Friday named Oprah Winfrey the most powerful woman in entertainment on its annual "Power 100 List."

Winfrey, whose "Oprah" talk show began in national syndication 22 years ago, played a role in the victory of President-elect Barack Obama by endorsing him early in his run and by supporting him throughout the campaign.

Elizabeth Guider, editor of The Hollywood Reporter, remarked on Winfrey's "immense cultural influence" and said she could be "the most influential woman in America."

Winfrey, 54, jumped from the No. 6 spot on the entertainment trade paper's 2007 list to No. 1 this year. The Hollywood Reporter noted that a study by University of Maryland economists found Winfrey's support for Obama won him more than 1 million votes nationwide.

Winfrey's production company, Harpo Inc., made $345 million last year. She overseas an empire that includes her TV show, a magazine and an online store.

Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television Group, was given the No. 2 spot on the list after coming in top a year ago. Sweeney oversees her company's news, entertainment and daytime divisions, along with its cable and publishing branches.

Amy Pascal, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, won the No. 3 spot on the list.

Other women listed included actress Angelina Jolie, at No. 24, who has bolstered her public image with philanthropic endeavors; comedian Tina Fey, No. 51 in part for playing Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, in wildly popular TV impersonations during the election campaign; and 16-year-old pop star Miley Cyrus, who has a Disney franchise built around her and rounded out the list at No. 100.

The Top 10 in the Women in Entertainment Power 100 list are;

1. Oprah Winfrey, chairman of Harpo Inc.

2. Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television Group and co-chairman of Disney Media Networks

3. Amy Pascal, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group and co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment

4. Nancy Tellem, president of CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group

5. Stacey Snider, co-chairman and CEO of DreamWorks

6. Bonnie Hammer, president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment and Universal Cable Productions

7. Judy McGrath, chairman and CEO of MTV Networks

8. Mary Parent, chairman of MGM Worldwide Motion Picture Group

9. Dana Walden, chairman of 20th Century Fox Television

10. Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Jill Serjeant)

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Which X-Men Should Be First Class?

By Graeme McMillan

Now that we know that Fox has brought Gossip Girl and Chuck creator Josh Schwartz on board to write a new X-Men movie, the obvious next question is, which X-Men should the movie feature? The writers of both the Young X-Men and X-Men: First Class comics have weighed in on the subject, but we've got our own ideas, as well...

As yet, neither Fox nor Schwartz are saying whether the new movie, X-Men: First Class will be a retro look at younger versions of familiar characters (like the Marvel comic of the same name), or a new team of mutants that follows on from the events of X-Men: The Last Stand (a la the comic Young X-Men). Perhaps unsurprisingly, Young writer Marc Guggenheim would prefer the latter, as he told MTV's Splash Page blog:

What movie would you rather see? There’s more in the next generation than the junior versions of the very first group, now that you already have movies where they’re established as adults. Do a sequel, not a prequel.

First Class comic writer Jeff Parker doesn't think that it's really about any characters in particular as much as it is a central concept, as he also told MTV:

To me, the heart of it is that young people who were different found others like themselves and for once, they didn't feel like freaks.

We agree... and with such a wide variety of unexplored mutants already in Marvel's library, we've come up with five that we'd like to see hit the big screen big time.

Cannonball
Call me old-fashioned, but there's just something oddly charming about a superhero whose only power is flying and crashing into things. It helps that Sam Guthrie is the sort of character whose intentions are good, even if he's not always the smartest guy in the room - Give High School Musical's Zac Efron the role and get that all important Disney Demographic interested.

Dazzler
It's Britney, but with superpowers. Who can resist the lure of a pop star who's also secretly a superhero - and whose powers rely on turning pulsing pop beats into laser light shows? So what if she's still stuck in the '80s despite numerous attempts to update her? She's the closest thing Marvel have to a mutant Miley Cyrus, and in terms of potential crossover marketing dollars, that can only be a good thing.

Pixie
Every X-Men movie needs a point of view character, and now that Rogue has spent three movies in the spotlight - or, really, one movie in the spotlight and then been drawn more and more towards the background in each successive installment - why not give Pixie a chance to shine? The brand-new X-Man (She officially joined the book in this year's Uncanny X-Men #500) is pretty much a clone of former teen POV character Kitty Pryde, right down to demonic weapon made out of her soul or something, to please the old school fanbase, plus she looks like a fairy, which'll bring in the Harry Potter crowd. It's win-win. Unless you happen to have something against things with wings.

Northstar
Despite Marvel continually killing off different versions of the character, there's too much potential in Canada's second-most-popular mutant (The movie Wolverine is still Canadian, right?) to keep him from the silver screen for too long. I mean, he's Marvel's first openly gay superhero, who also happens to be an Olympic gold medalist champion skier - no, really - and an asshole with superspeed powers. If Josh Schwartz really can't do something with that, then I want to know who really wrote all of those OC episodes I adored.

Xorn
This one's more unexpected, I admit. In fact, I'm not even sure if Xorn even officially exists in X-Lore anymore - He was (spoiler) a fake identity used by Magneto in Grant Morrison's run on the series early this decade, and later retconned into a real person whose identity had been stolen by Magneto, but I have no idea if that's just been quietly ignored these days or not. But nonetheless, there was something magnetic - no pun intended - about the silent, naive buddhist with a black hole for a head, and making him a character in his own right could provide an interesting counterpoint to the lights and violence that'll otherwise seep through the movie.

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Geoff Johns: Telling Superman's Secret Origin

By Matt Brady

Click for covers 1-4 as one large image

ENLARGE IMAGE

As DC Universe Executive Editor revealed to Newsarama on Wednesday, in early 2009, Geoff Johns and Gary Frank will leave Action Comics, and move to the six-issue, standalone, Superman: Secret Origin, a re-telling of Clark Kent growing up and becoming Superman.

As DiDio described the series, “With the Superman books following Infinite Crisis, we made some suggestions as to some of the changes that might be occurring within Superman’s origin and who he is. There were a lot of things that have been changed over a period of time, and what Geoff has done, what Geoff always does so well is that he incorporates so many of the various aspects of Superman’s origin to what I feel is really a clean, definitive take on the character as he exists today, and more importantly, how we will continue to present him in the years to come.

“The John Byrne changes were important and strong when they occurred back in the ‘80s, and I feel that Geoff’s origin is going to make that same imprint now, for 2009 and past that.”

So what does Johns have planned along with Frank for Secret Origin? We asked him just that.

Newsarama: Geoff, why does Superman need a revised/tweaked origin now, or rather, a definitive one?

Geoff Johns: Because people have been asking for it. And so have we.

The new official "Secret Origin" of Superman is a project that Gary and I have been planning since we began working together on Action Comics. With the changes going on it made sense for Gary and I to move onto Superman: Secret Origin as a standalone series. The issues are longer than normal and it's given us time to work ahead of schedule. This incredibly important to us and the quality and eventual scheduling, must be perfect.

To me, origin stories - particularly "Secret Origin" stories in the DC Comics universe - are vital to the introduction of characters and mythology to the larger audience, and I think they can be to the long time audience as well. We haven't seen a modern day retelling of Clark's first adventure as Superboy with the Legion of Super-Heroes, or the day Superman met Jimmy Olsen or the origins of Superman's long time enemies like the Parasite and Metallo. More importantly, Clark Kent himself will be explored in his earlier years in a way I don't think he's ever been explored before. And freaking Gary Frank, one of the greatest Superman artists in history already, is illustrating it. Every cover, every panel, ever line.

For long time readers, with the inclusion of the Legion of Super-Heroes back in Superman's history, General Zod introduced and all the other changes made post-Infinite Crisis nearly 3-years ago, they've been requesting a definitive secret origin. Man of Steel was brilliant and Birthright was a beautiful book, but Superman: Secret Origin will be what lines right up for the modern day monthly books. It will feature new looks at the origin of not only Superman, but some of his greatest allies, enemies and supporting cast and it will tie into everything Gary and I have done so far on Action Comics as well as setting the stage for the future.

NRAMA: As readers of Gary and your work on Action know, you’ve been adjusting things on Krypton in New Krypton as well as touching upon Clark's early years, so what's the scope of this story, time-wise?

GJ: It goes from Clark's teenage years, through his first adventure with the Legion of Super-Heroes and into his arrival and introduction to Metropolis as Superman. We've included the first three covers with the interview and you can see a pretty big part of Clark Kent's history is being reintroduced as well - namely, Superboy. But with a bit of a twist.

NRAMA: Can you tell us any characters or beats that you're going to play up more than they've been mentioned previously? Any that you're going to de-emphasize?

GJ: You'll see Ma and Pa Kent, Lana Lang, Pete Ross, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Mordru, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, the Parasite, Metallo, Lex Luthor and others...

NRAMA: In telling Superman’s origin, what has to be there? What is inviolate, in your eyes?

GJ: I can only say, unlike previous Superman origin stories, this will be told almost entirely from Clark's eyes. We won't be spending an issue on Krypton. We'll be opening on one of Clark's earliest memories as a kid and moving forward from there. This is his story of self-discovery and the world's story of meeting Superman.

NRAMA: There've been many tellings of Superman's origins and early years - from the versions in comics to that of your mentor, Richard Donner in Superman: The Movie, to Smallville... what would you say yours is closest to?

GJ: This isn't Smallville or Superman: The Movie or Superman: The Silver Age, this is Superman: Secret Origin by me and Gary. It's a different look at the beginnings of the characters and mythos of Superman that will set the stage for the monthly Superman comics. And this does not signify the end of my involvement with the Superman Family.

This is also not the end of Gary and I as a team. We're in sync creatively on a level I think either of us have ever reached. Gary is one of the greatest storytellers and artists in comic books and these characters are as lucky as me to work with him. I am incredibly thankful for it all. And after Superman: Secret Origin, Gary and I already know what comes next. It'll be a monthly.

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!

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