Movies

As we first reported ... hip-hop dancer/teacher Honey Rockwell sued the studio for millions, saying she never gave them permission to make the movie that mirrors her life. She claims she busted out the "Honey" stage name more than 20 years ago ... way before its release.

But a judge decided her claims came too little too late and says the studio was protected by the First Amendment -- that means, no matter how bad it was, the movie was artistic expression.

Rockwell says she couldn't file sooner because she wasn't familiar with the film industry and didn't know who to sue ... the court said that's no excuse and decided she also doesn't own any rights to the name.

Kim Jong-Un's mouthpiece called President Barack Obama a "monkey" for forcing Sony to release "The Interview" -- and for pulling off a cyber counter attack on North Korea.

A rep for Kim's National Defense Commission resorted to 4th grade name calling in an angry statement about the movie coming out ... saying, "Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest."

N. Korea denies involvement in the Sony hack, but believes its own recent Internet outage was the work of big wigs in Washington, DC looking to retaliate.

Rohan Chand is about to star in Warner Bro's "Jungle Book: Origins" ... he's also poised like Shere Khan to jump a lot of tax brackets and become one very rich 10-year-old.

Producers are ready to make the next Mowgli a household name with $160K for his first film and a tree house full of future options ... they just need a judge to sign off on the contract because he's a minor ... and then it's the bling necessities.

The court docs show Chand's pay will double every time WB options another sequel, with the best case scenario ... more than $2.2M.

Makes you wanna be like him.

Bruce Vilanch has a fun game for moviegoers going to see "Into the Woods" this holiday weekend ... it's called find the black people -- and apparently, it ain't easy.

Vilanch was heading out of Arclight in Hollywood and pointed out ... the movie is ethnically challenged.

Bruce muses ... you'd think no black people get lost in the woods -- except two women who appear in the background.

WWE superstar Sheamus may not be a champ anymore, but he's still living like one -- dropping a bundle on the crown jewel for all exotic car lovers ... who also happen to love "Back to the Future."

Our sources tell us the Celtic Warrior went searching for a DeLorean last weekend -- and hit up Just Toys Classic Cars in Orlando for a test drive. He clearly fell in love with it on the spot ... 'cause he scooped it up for around $55K.

Unclear if Seamus is a "Future" fanatic ... but he can forget about a road trip to 1955. The seller tells us the car -- which is more than 30-years-old -- has a "tough time getting to 88 miles per hour."

Buyer beware!

"The Interview" was splashed across a movie screen in downtown L.A. to a packed house, which included an ebullient Seth Rogen.

The Silent Movie Theatre screened the flick just after midnight on XMAS day. Seth charged up the crowd, taking the stage and saying, "If it wasn't for theaters like this and people like you, this wouldn't be f***ing happening."

A total of 331 movie houses will play the film beginning Thursday, but in a crazy twist they'll be competing with Video On Demand ... it's available on YouTube Movies, Google+ and Xbox.

James Bond was white, is white and should always be white ... at least according to Rush Limbaugh.

On his radio show Tuesday, Limbaugh was reacting to a story that came from the leaked Sony emails ... saying Idris Elba, star of "Luther" and "The Wire," should take over the iconic part from Daniel Craig.

But Limbaugh feels that Elba (who he describes as "African-English," since Elba is a Brit) is not right for the role because Bond was created as a white guy and should stay that way.

Limbaugh said, "Now Sony is suggesting that the next James Bond should be Idris Elba, a black Briton rather than a white from Scotland. But that's not who James Bond is, and I know it's racist to probably even point this out."

9:27 AM PT -- It's a done deal ... "The Interview" will be available online TODAY (Christmas Eve) via YouTube, Google Play, the Microsoft Xbox video game console and a special Web site called SeeTheInterview.com.

It will cost $5.99 to rent and $14.99 to buy and should be available at 1:00 PM ET.

The schizophrenic execs at Sony have come up with yet another change of course on "The Interview" ... this time nearing a deal to release it on YouTube.

The plan, according to CNN, is to have the film available for rental on YouTube the same day it goes into theaters ... Christmas Day. It's not a 100% done deal and Sony already had a deal with iTunes fall apart.

It's latest about face for Sony ... the studio has reversed course multiple times over "The Interview" ... even more than Karrueche changes her mind about Chris Brown.

Our inside sources at Sony say it's bedlam over there and there is no singular voice making the decisions ... which explains the Sybil act.

In addition to the theater flip-flop -- which intiially drew harsh criticism from Prez Obama -- Sony also pulled the flick off social media, per the hacker's demands.

James Caan has a dog in the Sony hacking scandal fight, but you don't see him complaining ... because he's already been paid!

Lost in all the commotion about "The Interview" is a movie called "The Throwaways" ... which is actually about cyber hacking. Caan is one of the film's stars and it was supposed to premiere this month on Crackle (which is owned by Sony) ... but the company pushed it back because of the scandal.

But when our photog asked him about the film Tuesday night outside of Madeo, Caan said once he cashes the check ... it's out of sight, out of mind.

Clint Eastwood is officially a single man ... his divorce from wife Dina is final.

According to docs filed in Monterey County Superior Court, the marriage of Clint and Dina ended Monday. The couple struck a property settlement and custody agreement, but details are thin.

As TMZ previously reported, Clint attempted to block Dina from getting spousal support ... claiming money to which she was entitled was covered by their prenup. It's unclear if the terms of the prenup were honored in the settlement, but typically there's give and take in these divorce agreements.

Dina requested primary physical custody of their daughter, but she's 18 now so the issue is moot.

The couple separated in June 2012 and Dina filed for divorce last December.

10:30 AM PT -- Seth Rogen tweeted about the news, writing, "The people have spoken! Freedom has prevailed! Sony didn't give up! The Interview will be shown at theaters willing to play it on Xmas day!"

James Franco jokingly added, ""The Interview" starring Seth Rogen and James Flacco saved by President Obacco! I MEAN PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!!! Sorry!!!"

In a bizarre twist ... Sony has done an about face and it's green-lighting "The Interview" for theaters to run on XMAS day.

The CEO of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema tells TMZ .... Sony called Monday and said a copy of the film would be delivered Wednesday. The CEO -- was vague about extra security, but says it will run in more than 20 theaters, located in Texas, Colorado, Virginia, New York and more.

An Atlanta theater owner says he got a similar call and he plans on running it as well.

It was a simple question -- Would you ever work with Sony again? -- but Kevin Hart didn't answer ... or did he?

Hart -- who is easily the most talkative and approachable big celeb in town these days -- was leaving a club in Hollywood Monday night when our photog asked the question. It seems relevant, given that one Sony exec called Hart "a whore."

Hart, who initially came out swinging for "his brand" ... deflected our question in an interesting way.

Check it out.

Most of Hollywood is ripping Sony Pictures for its decision to pull "The Interview" from theaters -- but 2 guys from System of a Down understand why it had to be done.

Our photog spotted drummer John Dolmayan and bassist Shavo Odadjian in Santa Monica Saturday night -- and the guys stood up for Sony.

System is signed to Columbia Records -- which is owned by Sony -- and while John and Shavo aren't in total agreement with their company's decision ... they think the haters are forgetting one very important factor.

Dr. Evil is scoffing at the Guardians of Peace for sheer laziness.

The "Austin Powers" super villain appeared on "Saturday Night Live" with some solid advice to the GOP ... "It's easy to kill a movie, just move it to January."

But the evil doc's real beef is purely domestic, and very political.

Steven Spielberg is always ready for his close up!

Here's a 39-year-old version of the "Goonies" god at an old school Hollywood event back in 1985 (left) and nearly 30 years later ... the movie making mogul -- who celebrated his 68th birthday earlier this week -- at a fancy Washington D.C. party earlier this month (right).

Looks like the "Guardians of Peace" scored another victory ... Sony quietly gave in to another hacker demand by wiping almost all traces of "The Interview" from its social media pages.

Hackers threatened top level Sony execs Friday saying, "We want everything related to the movie, including its trailers, as well as its full version down from any website hosting them immediately."

The movie studio almost immediately obliged ... the movie's Twitter page no longer has any tweets, the Facebook page has been deleted and all "Interview" footage has been wiped from its YouTube page.

Sad.

1:50 PM PST -- The hackers also released a message Saturday afternoon mocking the FBI ... saying, "The result of investigation by FBI is so excellent that you might have seen what we were doing with your own eyes. We congratulate you success. FBI is the BEST in the world."