The Bangkok Film Festival was scheduled to open tonight (Thursday) with the screening of the Hungarian drama Children of Glory, produced by veteran film mogul Andy Vajna. Vajna was expected to attend the opening ceremonies. His film replaced the Cannes Jury Award-winner Persepolis, which the festival removed at the behest of the Iranian embassy. (The animated film, a smash hit in France, where it has taken in $5.1 million after three weekends, concerns an Iranian girl growing up at the time of the Islamic revolution.) In an interview on the eve of the festival Chattan Kunara na Ayudhya, the public relations chief of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) who oversees the festival, said that he decided to withdraw the film "in order to avoid an international incident." Chattan acknowledged that he had received numerous complaints about his decision from filmmakers and found himself caught "between a rock and a hard place -- very upsetting." He maintained that the Iranians made no threats ("We had a good talk over tea and bisquits"), but that since the festival was not run by an independent film body but by a government entity, he risked upsetting Thailand's relations with Iran if he did not comply with the Iranian request.

Twentieth Century Fox on Wednesday suddenly pulled several highly touted films from next week's Comic-Con in San Diego, saying that "the material wasn't ready." The films included director Doug Liman's Jumper, starring Hayden Christensen; the sequel Aliens vs. Predator, directed by Colin and Greg Strause; Babylon A.D., starring Vin Diesel; and Hitman, starring Timothy Olyphant. The studio's action miffed organizers of the high-profile convention. David Glanzer, a spokesman for Comic-Con, told the Los Angeles Times: "Every major studio usually has a presence at Comic-Con so for Fox to pull out a week before is very unusual." One blogger observed on the Times' website: "Something smells a little fishy. I could see one film not being ready, but all?"

The Last Mimzy , a film that earned only $21.5 at the box office this year, debuted at No. 1 on the DVD sales chart for the week ending July 15, according Nielsen VideoScan First Alert. The previous week's chart topper, Paramount's Shooter, slipped to No. 2 in sales, while continuing to hold the lead in rentals. Mimzy came in third on the rental chart, earning $3.7 million. Black Snake Moan, another film that flopped in theaters, remained in second place on the rental chart with $4 million, bringing its total rental gross to $15.1 million. The film, which cost $15 million to produce, tallied theater ticket sales of just $9.4 million earlier this year.

In an unusual action for "the newspaper of record," the New York Times today (Thursday) broke the publisher's embargo on the latest -- and last -- Harry Potter novel, and ran a review of the J.K. Rowling novel, explaining that it had been able to buy a copy of the book in a local store. Similarly, the Baltimore Sun also published a review of the book, which it said had arrived in the mail. In the Times' review, critic Michiko Kakutani concluded that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, "has some lumpy passages of exposition and a couple of clunky detours -- but the overall conclusion and its determination of the main characters' story lines possess a convincing inevitability that make some of the prepublication speculation seem curiously blinkered in retrospect."

The Sopranos may have ended with a blank screen, but it filled up the list of Emmy nominations announced today (Thursday) with 15 bids, including best drama, best actor (James Gandolfini) and best actress (Edie Falco) in its categories. Nevertheless, the made-for-TV movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee counted up the most nominations, 17. Three new shows also made the list of contenders -- Heroes, Ugly Betty, and 30 Rock.

Nominees for best comedy series: The Office, Entourage, 30 Rock, Two and a Half Men and Ugly Betty

Best drama series: Boston Legal, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, House and The Sopranos

Best actor in a drama series: Hugh Laurie, House; James Gandolfini, The Sopranos; Kiefer Sutherland, 24; Denis Leary, Rescue Me; James Spader, Boston Legal

Best actress in a drama series: Edie Falco, The Sopranos; Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer; Sally Field, Brothers and Sisters; Minnie Driver, The Riches; Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU

Best actor in a comedy series: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock; Steve Carell, The Office; Tony Shalhoub, Monk; Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men; Ricky Gervais, Extras

Best actress in a comedy series: America Ferrera, Ugly Betty; Tina Fey, 30 Rock; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine; Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds.

CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said Thursday that she will welcome controversy over the network's new programs for the fall season. Insisting that the network plans to be "adventurous ... daring and bold and different," Tassler told the TV critics' summer press tour in Beverly Hills that she expected some of the programs to generate negative comment from critics -- in particular, the wife-swapping drama Swingtown. "I hope there are concerns about it. I really do," she said. "We're going to push the envelope with that show." In regards to Kids Nation, a new reality show in which kids create their own society without adult supervision, Tassler said that she expected it "to stir public debate." Asked to explain the departure of Mandy Patinkin from Criminal Minds, Tassler said that he had left because of "personal reasons." When one reporter pointed out that the official announcement said that Patinkin had left because of "creative differences," she responded: "I think 'creative differences' is a euphemism for personal issues." She declined to discuss the matter further. "I don't feel that this is the forum in which I'd like to have that conversation," she said. However, in an interview with today's (Thursday) New York Times, Ed Bernero, the show's executive producer, expressed anger over Patinkin's sudden departure. "I don't get the idea out here that someone can walk away from their job and then everyone bends over backward to make it look like it's our fault," he said. "Everyone was worried last week about protecting the show, and then they released a statement that protects everyone but the show. Why can't we just tell the truth? We expected him to show up for work, and he didn't."

"Trix is for kids," the slogan may go, but Trix will no longer be for kids' TV shows. Ads for the colorful cereal will vanish from Saturday-morning fare, along with other ads for high-sugar products, including candy bars and soft drinks, eleven giant food and beverage companies pledged at a Federal Trade Commission forum in Washington Wednesday. They include Kellogg, Kraft, Cadbury, Campbell Soup, General Mills, Mars, McDonald's, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Pepsico, and Hershey.

As a decision was awaited on whether the Bancroft family, which holds the majority of voting rights in the company that publishes the Wall Street Journal, would approve a sale of the company to Rupert Murdoch, the London Independent today (Thursday) produced new documents revealing Murdoch's behind-the-scenes political power. The newspaper said that after first rejecting its request under the Freedom of Information Act for information about former Prime Minister Tony Blair's contacts with Murdoch, the Cabinet Office "in a surprise change of heart" disclosed Wednesday that Blair had had three conversations with Murdoch in the nine days prior to the start of the Iraq war in 2003. The war was strongly supported by Murdoch's newspapers in Britain, one of which, the Sun, at the time of the Blair-Murdoch phone conversations, began blasting France for failing to do so as well. Referring to French President Jacques Chirac, who opposed the war, the Sun said at the time: "This grandstanding egomaniac has inflicted irreparable damage on some of the most important yet fragile structures of international order."

Caught in a scandal reminiscent of the payola revelations in the U.S. in the 1950s, the BBC on Wednesday suspended all phone-in contests, indicating that it had discovered additional "serious editorial breaches." Last week, the British TV regulator OFCOM imposed a $100,000 fine after one such contest was exposed as a fake. The BBC said that its internal review had revealed that at least six other contests had "failed to meet editorial standards." BBC Director-General Mark Thompson said that "emerging evidence" suggested additional rigged contests and that some producers could be suspended. He said that the publicly supported broadcaster's 16,500 staff members would be required to attend ethical training courses. "We must now swiftly put our house in order," he said.