Will a deliberately shadowy marketing campaign for the monster movie ruin its box office? Also today: Though much hay is often made about the ever-slipping ratings of the Olympics, NBC still wants 'em and they want 'em bad. Plus Cheryl Cole newz!

  • While some people (namely me) are excited for J.J. Abrams' upcoming monster thriller Super 8, the director may have made a marketing error in requesting that visuals and plot points be kept mostly under wraps. It seems the movie, which opens Friday, is not tracking very well, possibly because Abrams has refused to show a glimpse of the film's monster, which is obviously central to the story. So that's what's what nowadays. Nobody wants any mystery, they just want everything shown and explained in the trailer so the movie is just a bigger, longer version of that trailer. Why don't we start making the trailers two hours long and the actual movies two and a half minutes? Makes sense to me. [THR]
  • After a bidding war with ESPN and Fox, NBC has purchased broadcasting rights for the Olympics until 2020. They spent a whopping $4.38 billion on the deal, most of which likely went toward ensuring that Bob Costas' face be engraved on every medal from here on out. So this means NBC will be covering: Next summer's (so sooooon! get excited!) London games, the 2014 Winter Games in Russia, the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, and the next two in 2018 and 2020, wherever they may be. I say the 2018 Winter Games should be at Rockefeller Center. I mean, they already have the skating rink. Think of the synergy! [Deadline]
  • Oooo, Baby Openthemdoors and let the summer sun in! American Idol winner Scotty "The Body" McCreery has recorded a new single that has now leaked onto the internet. The country kid's new song is called "Out of Summer" and it's about a teen boy who really wants to fuck this girl he's been hanging out with over the summer, and maybe he does once or twice, but then school starts and his opportunities to fuck her kind of dwindle so he's all disappointed and just goes home and masturbates a lot. I mean, that's not the language that's used, but that's the real story right there. Sorry to be so blunt. I just think we should be honest when it comes to important things like summertime jams from little Scotty McCreery, American Idol winner. [EW]
  • Moviemaking one man band (he acts! he writes! he directs! he probably does craft services too!) Tom McCarthy has been hired by DreamWorks to write a movie called Home Movies, about a man who can change past events in his family's life by revisiting them through home movies. Aha. So it's a little bit of Stay Tuned with a lot of Click and maybe even a pinch of The Family Man? Guess who's producing it? Shawn Levy. Of course he is! This is the kind of movies that Shawn Levy produces. But is it the kind that Tom McCarthy writes? Not so far, but who knows! He wrote the story for Up, and that was sweet and family-ish, so maybe he'll make this good. Or maybe he'll just make a few million dollars so who the fuck cares if it's good or not. Shakespeare got to get paid, son! [THR]
  • Oh good. Stephenie Meyer, who once squatted in a ditch and pooped out the four Twilight books, will be making a cameo in the latest film in the Mormon vampire sex fantasy series, Breaking Dawn Part 1. Which is fitting, as Meyer really is the Alfred Hitchcock of book writing. She's that good. Oh also Stephen King, she's basically him too. Which is great because, Stephen King loves her! [The Wrap]
  • Cheryl Cole, the Geordie judge who got bounced out of the American version of The X Factor, may be returning to English singing competitions fairly soon. Rumor's afoot that she'll be the host of a British version of The Voice, NBC's reality show about swivel chairs. Wow, an American show is being exported to England? What is this, opposite ocean currents day? That doesn't happen! It's usually the other way! This smacks of British colonialism, taking all our natural resources for their own benefit. I say we throw The Voice in the Boston Harbor in protest. ("I approve of this entirely fitting historical analogy." - Sarah Palin) I mean, no matter what happens with Cheryl Cole or the British or whoever, can we please just throw The Voice into the sea? Please? [Deadline]

[Photo: Paramount Pictures]