Angelina Jolie to produce kids’ news show for BBC

Star of “Maleficent” and director of “Unbroken”, Angelina Jolie is adding another producer’s credit to a dozen-strong list by way of the ten-episode children’s series “Our World”.

The show is aimed at children between the ages of 7 and 12 years old, 7 being the age that children become aware of the news (per BBC-commissioned United Kingdom research) and just over 12 and a half being when the average U.S. child opens their first social media account (per a 2016 Common Sense Media report).

“Children today are exposed to a lot of opinion, but not necessarily to information that is fact-based and reliable,” Angelina Jolie said in the BBC’s announcement.

“As a mother, I am very pleased that the BBC World Service is taking this step. It is also important to me that the project is global, and will help young people in different countries to be connected to each other and to have greater awareness and understanding of the news on an international basis,” she explained.

Jamie Angus, the BBC’s World Service director, noted that, over a six-month period, “59 percent of 10-18 year-olds had shared a story that they either subsequently found to be inaccurate or were now uncertain as to its veracity,” according to another 2017 United States survey.

The show’s aim is to “give kids the tools to distinguish the genuine from the false and encourage them to develop critical thinking,” Angus said, “to ask themselves: who produced the video and why? Are they a reputable organization? Are they just telling one side of the story? Is there another view?”

“Our World” is to debut in 2019 in the form of a 10-week project pilot, with the BBC looking to distribute internationally through existing World Service partners and other broadcasters.

Jolie’s existing producer or executive producer credits include “In the Land of Blood and Honey”, “Unbroken”, “By the Sea” and “First They Killed My Father”, all of which she directed, as well as upcoming animated gorilla comedy “The One and Only Ivan”, Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland crossover prequel “Come Away” and “Maleficent” and its 2020 sequel. JB

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Angelina Jolie highest earning U.S. actress - Forbes

NEW YORK - Angelina Jolie, who will next be seen on the big screen in the film "Maleficent," is Hollywood's highest paid actress with estimated earnings of $33 million in the last year, according to Forbes.

She easily surpassed this year's Best Actress Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, who came in second with $26 million, and pushed Kristen Stewart of the "Twilight" series, who topped the list last year, into third place with earnings of $22 million.

"Hollywood hasn't shied away from Jolie. She's still one of the few actresses who can demand a paycheck north of $15 million for the right movie - like Disney's retelling of the old Sleeping Beauty story, Maleficent," reporter Dorothy Pomerantz, wrote on Forbes.com.

Jolie, 38, made headlines earlier this year when she revealed she had a double mastectomy after learning she had inherited a high risk of breast cancer. "Maleficent" will be released next summer.

The celebrity mother, who has three biological and three adopted children with her fiance, actor Brad Pitt, rose from third place on 2012's list.

Jennifer Aniston, whose newest movie "We're the Millers" will be released in U.S. theaters next week, captured fourth place with earnings of $20 million and Emma Stone, who appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man" with real-life boyfriend Andrew Garfield was No. 5 with $16 million.

Forbes talked to agents, managers and other people with knowledge of the film industry to compile the ranking based on estimated earnings from June 2012 to June 2013.

Sandra Bullock, who was third in last year's list, dropped to No. 7 with estimated earnings of $14 million and Julia Roberts slipped from sixth to 10th place this year, taking home $11 million.

Oscar-winner Bullock wowed audiences with the female buddy comedy "The Heat." Her 2009 film "The Blind Side," who which she won a best actress Academy Award, earned $309 million on a budget of $30 million, according to Forbes.

Mila Kunis, at No. 9, was a newcomer to the ranking this year with earnings of $11 million. Two films she starred in, "Ted" and "Oz: The Great and Powerful," earned a combined $1 billion at the global box office. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy to elude breast cancer

LONDON -- Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has had a double mastectomy to reduce her chances of getting breast cancer and says she hopes her story will inspire other women fighting the life-threatening disease.

Jolie wrote in the New York Times on Tuesday the operation has made it easier for her to reassure her six children that she would not die young from cancer, like her own mother did at 56.

"We often speak of 'Mommy's mommy', and I find myself trying to explain the illness that took her away from us. They have asked if the same could happen to me," wrote Jolie, 37.

"I have always told them not to worry, but the truth is I carry a 'faulty' gene."

The Oscar-winning actress said her doctors had estimated she had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer.

"Once I knew this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much as I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy," she said.




Partner and fellow Hollywood star Brad Pitt was by Jolie's side through three months of treatment that ended late in April, she said. The two got engaged last year.

Jolie said that even though she had kept silent about her treatment while it was going on, she hoped her story would now help other women.

"I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer. It is my hope that they, too, will be able to get gene tested."

Breast cancer alone kills some 458,000 people each year, according to the World Health Organization. It is estimated that one in 300 to one in 500 women carry a BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 gene mutation, as Jolie does.

Her decision was hailed by breast cancer patients and charities.

Richard Francis, Head of Research at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity in Britain, said it demonstrated the importance of educating women with the gene fault.

"For women like Angelina it's important that they are made fully aware of all the options that are available, including risk-reducing surgery and extra breast screening," Francis told Reuters.

Breast Cancer Campaign Chief Executive Baroness Delyth Morgan said Jolie's openness in talking about her experience and her decision to have surgery would raise awareness of the disease and its risk.

Jolie won a 1999 best supporting actress Oscar for "Girl, Interrupted".

She lends her star power to a range of humanitarian campaigns, including serving more than 10 years as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

In April, she urged governments to step up efforts to bring wartime sex offenders to justice. - Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com