The Walt Disney Co. is selling Miramax Films to a group of investors for $660 million, marking a new phase for a studio that helped launch the career of Quentin Tarantino and push independent movies into the mainstream.

The deal announced Friday ends speculation that founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein — who lent the names of their parents, Miriam and Max, to the company — could regain control of the studio they launched more than three decades ago.

With ownership of the studio passes the rights to a long catalog of Oscar winners, including “Shakespeare in Love” (1998), “Chicago” (2002) and “No Country for Old Men” (2007).

It also comes with challenges, most notably a decline in DVD sales that has put into question the value of Hollywood movie libraries.

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Director Kenneth Branagh discusses 'Thor' at Comic-Con in San Diego. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Kenneth Branagh is directing “Thor” for Marvel Studios, and some think it’s a stretch for him to take on a superhero movie. He’s more Shakespearean, having adapted several of the Bard’s films for the big screen.

But the 49-year-old actor-director says Shakespeare’s characters aren’t unlike today’s superheroes.

Shakespeare wrote about “Henry V” centuries after his reign, and turned the king into a sort of superhero who could do no wrong, Branagh says.

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On Call: Happy Birthday Medicare: Andy Griffith lights the candles

Actor Andy Griffith has a new role: pitching President Barack Obama’s health care law to seniors in a cable television ad paid for by Medicare.

The TV star — whose role as sheriff of Mayberry made him an enduring symbol of small-town American values — tells seniors that “good things are coming” under the health care overhaul, including free preventive checkups and lower-cost prescriptions for Medicare recipients.

Polls show that seniors are more skeptical of the health care law than younger people because Medicare cuts provide much of the financing to expand coverage for the uninsured.

Medicare says the national ad is not political, but part of its outreach to educate seniors about new benefits available next year. Griffith is 84.

Anna Nicole Smith and her attorney, Howard K. Stern, in a 2006 file photo. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

Attorneys were setting the stage for the trial of two doctors and the attorney boyfriend of the late Anna Nicole Smith, arguing about what evidence will be allowed in court.

In a hearing Friday, defense attorneys are opposing the use of photos of Smith and her psychiatrist nude in a hot tub and a controversial video of Smith in clown face makeup. Prosecutors say she appears to be drugged. Other motions include prosecutors’ opposition to one doctor’s claim that he is being prosecuted because he is gay and East Indian.

The defendants have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to illegally prescribe opiates and sedatives to the former Playboy model. They are not charged with causing her death. Jury questioning begins Monday.

The Black Eyed Peas have more proof of the ubiquity of “I Gotta Feeling.”

Their No. 1 hit has become the first song to reach the 6 million mark in digital downloads.

The milestone was announced Friday and confirmed by Nielsen SoundScan. For the group’s leader, will.i.am, the moment is about much more than the song.

“We came out in ’98 and our career, if you would look at it on chart, there’s no dips in it,” he said in a phone interview Thursday. “For our career to still be healthy and vibrant and doing things like 6 million downloads, it’s pretty significant.”

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Ellen DeGeneres is dancing off “American Idol” after one season, leaving Fox’s hit show with two vacancies on its judging panel.

If the singing contest intends to revamp itself to stem a ratings slide, it has the opportunity to bring in two new faces for season 10 in January.

Fox has yet to announce a replacement for Simon Cowell, who left after the season finale in May to start a new talent show for the network.

Ellen Degeneres only lasted one season as a host on 'Idol.'

“A couple months ago, I let Fox and the ‘American Idol’ producers know that this didn’t feel like the right fit for me,” DeGeneres said in a statement. The comedian-talk show host said she realized that while she “loved discovering, supporting and nurturing young talent, it was hard for me to judge people and sometimes hurt their feelings.”

DeGeneres said she told the network she would delay any action until it had time to “figure out where they wanted to take the panel next.”

A Fox statement contained no announcement of a replacement for DeGeneres. The network could make an announcement Monday, when it presents its 2010-11 programming schedule to members of the Television Critics Association meeting in Beverly Hills.

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Rapper-turned-underwear model-turned-Oscar-nominated actor Mark Wahlberg has been enshrined in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The 39-year-old actor was presented with a star Thursday on Hollywood Boulevard’s famed sidewalk monument.

Will Ferrell, who stars with Wahlberg in the action-comedy “The Other Guys” being released next week, was on hand for the ceremony.

Wahlberg first gained game in the 1980s and ’90s with the group New Kids on the Block, then quit to form Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

That was followed by a ubiquitous ad campaign featuring him in Calvin Klein underwear.

He then turned to acting and got attention with his breakout role as Dirk Diggler in 1997′s “Boogie Nights.” Wahlberg got a supporting actor Academy Award nomination in 2006 for “The Departed.”

Gabourey Sidibe is pinching herself over her unexpected life, which includes an Oscar nomination and a new TV series.

At a meeting Thursday of the Television Critics Association in Beverly Hills, Sidibe described herself as a “middle-of-the-lane, very normal” person who’d planned to be a receptionist.

The 27-year-old Sidibe said it’s been a “strange year” that’s included her Academy Award nod for her role as a teenager who rises above abuse in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” and her co-starring role in Showtime’s “The Big C.”

The comedy-drama stars Laura Linney as a schoolteacher confronting a terminal-cancer diagnosis. Sidibe plays a smart-alec student.

“The Big C” debuts 10:30 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 16, on Showtime.

Rascal Flatts has a new home.

The country music titans will release their new album, “Nothing Like This,” on Big Machine Records on Nov. 16.

Big Machine also is the home of Taylor Swift, giving the independent label two of country music’s most bankable acts.

The Disney Music Group shuttered the band’s only previous label, Lyric Street, in April.

Bassist Jay DeMarcus called the new partnership with Big Machine “a perfect fit” and says label president and CEO Scott Borchetta understands what the band is trying to accomplish. Disney will retain Rascal Flatts’ back catalog.

The band will immediately release its latest single, “Why Wait,” to country radio stations.

William Rast, the fashion line by Justin Timberlake and his childhood friend Trace Ayala, has a new partner: Target.

The retailer announced Thursday that a William Rast collection, including denim, outerwear and sportswear for men and women, would launch in December and be available for a month.

Target has had a steady stream of limited-edition partnerships with top-level designers, including Zac Posen, Jean Paul Gaultier, Rodarte and Proenza Schouler, giving the retailer a certain prestige among the fashion crowd and bringing designer labels down to a more affordable price point.

The typical William Rast look is casual, with an emphasis on jeans and leather jackets. The fall runway collection, presented earlier this year at New York Fashion Week, was dubbed “New America” and inspired by road trips between the Mississippi River and the West Coast, Timberlake said.