BANK ROBBING MAGICIANS ARE COMING...

To the big scree, Screek Junkies reports that they caught up with writer-producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci recently an got word of their next project. The subject? Bank robbing magicians.  According to the article:

New You See Me, scripted by Ed Ricourt and Boaz Yakin, is about a heist crew of illusionists who rob banks and are actively inviting the FBI to try and figure out how they get away with it. Regarding audience expecations for magician movies, Kurtzman said:

Because I think the trick about a magician movie is that the movie itself has to be a magic act, which is an incredibly difficult thing to do. It requires cleverness and an intelligence. The magic act has to pay off in spades so the setup has to be brilliant and the payoff has to be brilliant.

ARE MAGICIANS HEADED TO THE TRASH BIN?

According to an article from Yahoo Finance, magicians will join jugglers, clowns and dancers among the careers headed in the wrong employment direction. Here's the essence of what they have to offer:

In some cases, market and technology changes simply speed up an occupation's decline once it goes out of fashion, Shatkin says. Stage performers -- a category that includes magicians, jugglers, clowns and dancers -- suffered a steep five-year decline of 61%. Increased interest in movies and home entertainment technologies, including video games, he says, has decreased the demand for live performances.

PAWN STARS, MEET SID RADNER

Pawn Stars' "Chumlee" wasn't impressed with the shackles and leg irons that were recently brought into the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop for a recent episode of the popular show. According to Mass Live,

Harrison brought in an expert on magicians who verified the handcuffs and leg shackles were Houdini’s, citing the “Sid Radner” paperwork as key. The expert said the handcuffs were worth $5,800 to $6,500 and the shackles $3,800 to $4,500. Harrison offered the guy who brought them in $5,000, the guy requested $7,000 and they settled on $6,000. 

SHOWTIME ACQUIRES "MAKE BELIEVE"

Just after being told byJeff McBride & Dan Sperry that the documentary movie "Make Believe" would air at the upcoming World Magic Seminar on February 28th, and that it had been picked up by Showtime, I found an article in Variety with more info. THe film follows six hard-working young magicians-in-training as they prepare to compete for the title Teen World Champion in Las Vegas. It was featured in an article from the LA Times which focuses on 19 Krystyn Lambert. but also has quotes from Lance Burton and the film's director J. Clay Tweel.  For more info on the film and the LA Film Festival click here. Watch the trailer for the film HERE:

JIM STEINMEYER CHAT ON IRISH RADIO

Thanks to our friend from Ireland, Brendan of IrishMagicNewsw.com I am able to share the following chat with Jim on the Moncrieff Radio Show which was broadcast today. From Brendan's post: Imagine my surprise that when driving along today and listening the Newstalk 106 - 108FM that Jim Steinmeyer should pop up as a guest on the Moncrieff show. Jim was on to chat about his new book, The Last Greatest Magician in the World: Howard Thurston versus Houdini & the Battles of the American Wizards. book.

LISTEN TO JIM ON NEWSTALK 106:

OTHER WAYS TO LISTEN:

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FISM PREVIEW?

What’s better than one magician? Two magicians. What’s better than two magicians? Two magicians going head to head! We've talked about our reporter from down under before,  but here's a peek at the latest promo video of Mada -vs- Vegas, and you might just get a look at some material that will appear at FISM. Time will tell!

MADA vs VEGAS The Dueling Magicians "Teaser" from MADAvsVEGAS on Vimeo.

BROKEN WAND :: STEVE DACRI

Yet another one of our amazing performers has been stolen from us by cancer.  I have just learned of the passing of Steve Dacri. Anyone that laughs or casts aside thoughts of performing an effect using "sponge bunnies," never saw Steve perform. He did so much more than that, but it is the first thing that popped into my head. There aren't many details available as yet, but based upon the emails that I've received and the information that he had posted on his own blog, Steve had been battling cancer for some time and lost the fight early this morning. Vegas veteran Norm Clark was among the first to share the sad news. Obviously, Jan and his family and friends are in our thoughts as I write this.

Steve last discussed what he was going through on his blog on January 31st. You can read what he had to say at that time HERE. We'll miss you brother!

SYFY DEVELOPING "AMONG THE SPIRITS"

Just the other day, I reported on the purchase of a script by Dreamworks focused on the friendship between Houdini & Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Today, I discovered a report from Deadline which announces the development of a series by SyFy on same topic. According to the article,

Independently, Syfy had been negotiating for Among the Spirits, a drama series project about Houdini and Doyle solving mysteries in 1920s, with the deal closing at the very time the feature announcement was coming out. "I guess there is something in the air about that whole time period and that very interesting relationship between Houdini and Doyle," said Syfy's president of original programming Mark Stern. 

HAVE WE SEEN THE LAST NATIONAL TOUR FROM DAVID COPPERFIELD?

In a recent column, Mike Weatherford talks to David Copperfield about his increased presence at MGM's Hollywood Theater. David is currently scheduled for 40 weeks in the theater this year.

Now that Drew Carey and his band of improv comics are gone with the Super Bowl, the MGM's Hollywood Theatre is basically Copperfield's room.

In spite of that, "you kind of had to hunt to find me. I have no marquee at the MGM," he says. "It'll change more over this next year. You'll see more presence outside the building."

"I'm beginning a very big promotional kind of co-branding with the MGM and you'll see more of that (branding)," he says. "We're sneaking new illusions into the show all throughout the year. Doing out-of-town tryouts in town."

HOUDINI - CONAN DOYLE MOVIE IN THE WORKS?

If you take a dash of Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, toss in a bit of Houdini, make it a movie and I'm sold... at least on the concept. Well, according to Cinema Blend and the Hollywood Reporter, this describes a project that Dreamworks as purchased from comic scribe & screen writer J. Michael Straczynski currently titled "Voices from the Dead."  Here's the story as we know it to date:

Houdini and Doyle, who was a leading Spiritualist at the time, met in 1920 and became friends for a while despite long-running arguments about the existence of the supernatural. Doyle included a chapter in his book The Edge of the Unknown that claimed that Houdini had psychic powers, while Houdini often used his acts to debunk fraudulent claims about the spirit world. Straczynski's script creates a fictional account of the two teaming up with a psychic to solve a set of murders in 1920's New York.