Universal Studios News

In celebration of the 2nd ANNUAL AMERICAN HUMANE ASSOCIATION HERO DOG AWARDS((TM), which will premiere on Hallmark Channel today, November 8, 2012 at 8:00 pm ET/PT, the network announced today a special three-day programming stunt centered around our four-legged best friends

Reinforcing its position as the leading cable destination for holiday programming, Hallmark Channel garnered record ratings for its COUNTDOWN TO HOLIDAY PREVIEW WEEKEND(Friday, November 2nd, 8p through Sunday, November 4th, 12m) with 14.1 million unduplicated viewers tuning in for the network's holiday fare

For 100 years, Universal Pictures has been entertaining audiences all around the world with some of the most unforgettable movies ever made. For a limited time only, own a piece of Hollywood history with the Universal 100th Anniversary Collection arriving on Blu-ray™ and DVD today, November 6, 2012 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

Performance Network Theatre, Ann Arbor's professional theatre known for bringing Michigan audiences the hottest new scripts from New York and beyond, is proud to announce the December installment of its Fireside New Play Festival, showcasing four full-length plays as from emerging American playwrights. These new plays have been selected from hundreds of submissions and will be showcased to the public at Performance Network from Sunday, December 2 through Wednesday, December 5 in developmental performances known as a "staged readings."

The Crown Center has announced the following upcoming events.

Nearly 3 million unduplicated viewers fell under the spell of Hallmark Channel's original movie, THE GOOD WITCH'S CHARM, summoning a 1.9 HH rating for the network during its Saturday, October 27th premiere.

From the producers of Wedding Crashers comes the adrenaline-fueled Hit & Run, written by, directed and starring Dax Shepard ('Parenthood,' Idiocracy). Kristen Bell ('House of Lies,' You Again) stars along with Shepard in this hilarious, non-stop, action-packed comedy co-starring Bradley Cooper (The Hangover), Kristin Chenoweth ('Glee') and Tom Arnold (Madea's Witness Protection). Hit & Run is a high-speed race to the finish where the brakes are off and the chase is on. Open Road's outrageous caper Hit & Run will be available on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, On Demand and Digital Download on January 8, 2013 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

East Jefferson General Hospital Broadway in New Orleans announced the premiere New Orleans engagement of Cameron Mackintosh's new 25th anniversary production of Les Miserables, playing at the Mahalia Jackson Theater tonight, October 30 - November 4, 2012. Tickets will go on sale to the public Friday, August 24, at 11 a.m.

The multi-award-winning NoHo Arts Center Ensemble (NoHoAce) presents a world premiere play, ONE NOVEMBER YANKEE, written and directed by Joshua Ravetch and starring four-time Golden Globe nominee Harry Hamlin and two-time Emmy winner Loretta Swit. ONE NOVEMBER YANKEE will preview on Tuesday, November 13 at 8pm; Wednesday, November 14 at 8pm; Thursday, November 15 at 8pm and will open on Friday, November 16 at 8pm and will run for eight weeks through Saturday, January 5, 2013 at the NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd. (at Lankershim) in North Hollywood.

As Halloween nears, NBC turns tonight, October 26 into Fright Night when it premieres the pilot of the much-anticipated MOCKINGBIRD LANE (8-9 p.m. ET) - based on executive producer Bryan Fuller's ("Pushing Daisies," "Heroes") script and directed by executive producer Bryan Singer ("X-Men" film series, "House").

NBC's acclaimed drama series GRIMM will join with Telemundo, mun2 and Universal Studios Hollywood's 'Halloween Horror Nights' in an unprecedented NBCUniversal cross-divisional event when its Halloween episode 'La Llorona' is broadcast on October 26/27.

To celebrate the Blu-ray release and the 30th anniversary of Steven Spielberg's beloved family film E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL, six Madame Tussauds locations including Hollywood, London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Sydney, and Tokyo are set to bring to life one of films' most iconic characters. The Extra-Terrestrial star will be immortalized in Madame Tussauds' signature wax form and unveiled today, October 22nd, 2012.

Chelsea Lately's move to a new stage this week at 11pm performed to a .73 HHLD rating, 516K A18-49 viewers and 840K Total Viewers and saw immediate gains as the show ranked as the highest-rated and most-watched show on E! on each of the four days thus far. The show is up +50% with HHLDS and roughly +40% with A18-49 versus the 3Q'12 Chelsea Lately 11pm average and equaled the show's second-highest rated week for all of 2012. Additionally, Chelsea Lately has been seen by more than 3.5 million unique Total Viewers across all telecasts this week.

The Academy is hosting an October-long celebration of classic horror films in honor of "Universal's Legacy of Horror"- part of the studio's year-long 100th anniversary celebration.

Steps off Broadway Productions, Inc., will be performing the stage production of ONCE UPON A CRYSTAL BALL tonight, October 20th and October 26th, & 27th at 7:30 pm. and October 21st and 28th at 2:00 pm.

On the verge of having their conspiracy exposed, members of the government's intelligence community will stop at nothing to erase all evidence of their top secret programs in THE BOURNE LEGACY, coming to Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, DVD and On Demand December 11, 2012 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

WIR Productions presents the world premiere musical, THE HOUSE OF FINNEGAN, by Bill Rich and Steve Kopandy, directed by Alissa-Nicole Koblentz with Musical Direction, Arrangements and Orchestrations by Bonnie Janofsky tonight, October 18-28, 2012, at the Monroe Forum in the historic El Portal Theatre, NOHO Arts District, North Hollywood, Calif.