Lil Wayne’s feature film debut has officially been downgraded to “Direct to DVD” status. Unfortunately Hurricane Season, which stars Forest Whitaker, Bow Wow and Wayne has officially reached the same status as the Ice Cube comedy Janky Promoters and is currently available at all Blockbuster Video stores as an exclusive. Check this scene from the movie where Wayne plays Lamont, a high school kid who sells stolen kicks to the basketball team and even bets against his own school.

Hurricane Season was actually a project that many Hollywood studios were excited about. It had a legit director (Tim Story from Barbershop and Fantastic Four), an Academy Award winner in Forest Whitaker and a hot young cast with Bow Wow and Wayne. Unfortunately the project was under the Weinstein Studio which faced financial troubles and shelved a handful of their films including this one.

Problem was, although the movie is solid and definitely deserves a major theatrical release, the subject matter was considered “been there and done that” since it was centered around post-Hurricane Katrina. The good out of all this? You get to watch a pretty solid movie and see Lil Wayne play a 17 year old all for $5 now. Go buy rent it now.

Young Jeezy x Janky Promoters. We were the first to break the news that the Weinsteins were pulling the plug on the completed Ice Cube and Mike Epps comedy Janky Promoters, and staying true to our reports, The Weinstein Company officially released the movie straight-to-DVD with no marketing, no media and no promotions last Tuesday. The movie was filmed over a year ago and starred Ice Cube, Friday franchise counterpart Mike Epps and a special musical performance by Young Jeezy (see video clip after jump) and originally was developed and set to be distributed by The Weinstein Company as part of their push for urban films.

At the time, the Weinstein Company also developed and was set to distribute Hurricane Season starring Bow Wow and Lil Wayne to give the studio a formidable 1-2-punch in the urban film genre. Unfortunately, as we previously reported, The Weinsteins ran into financial difficulty and were forced to shelve a majority of their 2009 slate because they wouldn’t be able to afford the distribution and marketing costs. Janky Promoters was then taken off the release schedule and Cube and his production company Cube Vision awaited a new release date from the Weinsteins.

As time went on and the 3rd quarter of 2009 rolled around, our insiders report that The Weinstein Company had to make the decision to completely cut certain films from their slate and sell off the rights or distribute straight-to-DVD. In the case of Janky Promoters, it was decided that with the star power of Ice Cube behind it and it being a comedy which generally rent well, that they would go straight-to-DVD and take their chances with it as a Blockbuster exclusive.

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Jermaine Dupri x Nu Pop Movement. Readers know we tend to hate on Jermaine Dupri…but that’s all in the past now. First I give him mad props for hitting the press circuit and really pushing how much social media has helped his own business and hip-hop in general. He’s becoming a positive spokesperson for the industry and we like he even more now because his watch company Nu Pop Movement is pretty legit and the designs are fresh.

And what better way to promote your own watch company than to get artists like Bow Wow and Nelly on board. Here are two new “casual” promo shots of them showing off the goods. Check the official Nu Pop site here. See Nelly’s pic after the jump…

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Bow Wow x Ice Cube x The Lottery Ticket. We were one of the first on the net to break the news about the urban comedy Lottery Ticket (full synopsis) starring Bow Wow and Ice Cube and now here is a set pic from Bow Wow’s Twitter. Film is shooting in Atlanta and set for a 2010 release.

The Weinstein Company, the studio home of Lil Wayne and Bow Wow’s Post-Katrina basketball film Hurricane Season, has just announced their 2009 – 2010 film slate. Unfortunately for those involved in making Hurricane Season and those Wayne fans hoping to get a glimpse of him playing a punk high school kid, the movie has been dropped from the schedule…again. Many involved with the film were optimistic that it would get a proper release but due to major financial issues facing the Weinstein Company including recent layoffs, the film has been shelved indefinitely. In a recent interview with the Times Picayune – New Orleans, Hurricane Season producer Raymond Brothers still hopes for the best.

“We’re very grateful to the Weinstein Co. and (sister company) Dimension for making the movie in New Orleans — we spent $50 million in New Orleans. The movie tested extremely well, and we’re very hopeful that in a very short period of time we’ll come to some resolution about the release date.”

Considering the multi-million dollar budget, urban appeal with Lil Wayne and Bow Wow and major star appeal with Forest Whitaker, one hopes this movie will not get the dreaded straight-to-DVD treatment. Some Wayne fan out there needs to start a petition and get this movie in theaters.

Ice Cube x Bow Wow x Lottery Ticket. Bow Wow gets his first lead role in a movie since 2005’s Roll Bounce in the urban comedy Lottery Ticket co-starring Ice Cube. In the film, a young man (Bow Wow) living in the projects has to survive a three-day weekend of crazy antics after his neighbors find out he’s holding a winning lottery ticket worth $350 million. Ice Cube plays a former boxer who lives in the basement of the project where the young man lives and other cast members include Brandon T. Jackson from Tropic Thunder and Naturi Naughton from Fame and Notorious. Movie is currently filming in Atlanta and set for a 2010 release.

Lil Wayne x Hurricane Season. Back in June we exclusively reported that Hurricane Season, the basketball film starring Bow Wow, Forest Whitaker and Lil Wayne was being shelved by the Weinstein Company because the film studio could not afford to market and distribute it. At that time, The Weinstein’s were facing dire financial hardship and had invested a big part of their theatrical marketing spend in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards. If Tarantino’s film failed, films like Hurricane Season would go from shelved to sold off in a matter of months….luckily for the studio, Inglorious Bastards will turn a profit as it already has grossed over $140 million world-wide and cost $70 million to make.

So what does this mean for Hurricane Season? It means The Weinsteins will have replenished funds to release and market a select few of their upcoming titles and we have the exclusive drop that Hurricane Season is one of them that will be resurrected. In other words you, yes you, will have the opportunity to watch Lil Wayne play a seventeen year old high school student who hates his school’s basketball team AND you will get to see Bow Wow play a star player on the team. Now that is definitely worth the wait…and the $12 ticket.

“It’s official, I’m a Cash Money Millionaire” as Bow Wow broadcast the news to his thousands of followers on Twitter. Since his last album “New Jack City II which sold 73,000 copies Bow Wow has departed ways with Columbia Records. He was deciding between signing with T.I’s Grand Hustle or relaunching So So Def with mentor Jermaine Dupri. But Bow Wow chose to join the Young Money roster where he will also join Omarion, the two collaborated on The Face Off album.

Lil Wayne x Bow Wow x Hurricane Season. I’m sure you Wayne fans remember this movie being filmed last year and Wayne hyping it up to MTV and the press. Movie is based on the true story of a Post-Hurricane Katrina high school basketball team made up from five different schools and the coach that led them to the state championships.¬†Bow Wow plays Gary, a 5 ft. 7 guard for the team and Weezy plays a high school punk named Lamont who bets against his own high school. Heck we even dropped the first exclusive pics of Bow Wow from the movie way back in the day.

Well now we got more exclusive news for you. Our sources here in Hollywood are telling us that the studio that owns the marketing and distribution rights to Hurricane Season¬†literally has run out of money and will not be able to release it anytime soon. The studio is the Weinstein Company, and it all makes sense since it’s very public knowledge that they are going through big-time financial issues. Hurricane Season finished filming in mid 2008 and was set for a late 2008/early 2009 release date. Instead, it has been pushed back indefinitely.¬†

So what does this all mean? Well you won’t be seeing Wayne playing a high school kid or Bow Wow playing a basketball player anytime soon. Either that or the producers try and buy back the rights so they can sell them to another studio….or it ends up going straight-to-DVD 50 Cent style.¬†

Bow Wow x Entourage. Bow Wow makes good on his promise so far to quit the hip-hop game to concentrate on acting. He recently stated in his Twitter he’s making the full-time move to Los Angeles as well:

Reading scripts all day 2mar then moving into my new place! Ready to start that grown man life! New city, New attitude! Time 2 take ova Hollywood..

According to CL, Bow Wow begins filming for his reprised role in HBO’s “Entourage” this week as well. Bow Wow’s next movies are Hurricane Season with Lil Wayne and the drama Happy Together where he plays a thug named T-Boy.

Bow Wow, the self-proclaimed “Jordan King” just a couple of months ago, will now be re-focusing his sneaker efforts on building up the Starbury brand. Bow Wow becomes the first musician to join Stephon Marbury’s sports apparel company as he will develop a soon-to-be-named brand that will charge low prices which are in line with Continue Reading…

So what does that really mean in English you say? Well when you look at a movie poster, the studio always lists the main actors at the top of the poster…this is top billing credits. In Hollywood, getting top billing credits is HIGHLY political, especially when there are too many actors but not enough space on a movie poster.

So Lil Wayne will be making his major movie debut in the upcoming basketball movie Hurricane Season. See exclusive pics here. The movie also stars Forest Whitaker, Isaiah Washington and Bow Wow. Although Bow Wow has more screen time and experience in movies and film, Lil Wayne has managed to steal the spotlight and is given top billing credits over Bow Wow. So in the popularity contest of rappers, we now know what the studio thinks. Shad can’t be too thrilled about that.

That’s right. Hurricane Season is now the movie starring Forest Whitaker and Lil Wayne. An Academy Award winner with the winner of who can use the most Styrofoam cups. I didn’t believe it at first…until I saw the official title shown below. Props to Weezy and his agent. Now he can be top billin’ with an Academy Award winner.

For those 18 and up also NSFW. I swear I didn’t go looking for this. Readers send me this stuff. So Bow Wow had his much hyped sex scene with a pornstar in HBO’s “Entourage” last night. You can check out the video below (if you are 18). But apparently during the sex scene, Bow Weezy showed a little more than viewers bargained for. I’m not going to explain. Just look at the second video and see for yourself.

Deez nuts!

As many of you already know, Shad Moss (aka Bow Wow), Lil Wayne and Forrest Whitaker are starring in the sports movie Hurricane Season. Movie is based on the true story of a Post-Hurricane Katrina high school basketball team made up from five different schools and the coach that led them to the state championships.

Bow Wow plays Gary, a 5 ft. 7 guard for the team and Weezy plays a high school punk named Lamont who bets against his own high school. Movie comes out Christmas Day but WoooHa, Inc. drops another exclusive with these first look pics of Shad from the movie. Still waiting to get our hands on the Weezy pics though so stay tuned.

“Entourage” is finally back on the air with the season premiere tonight on HBO. Vince, Eric, Turtle, Ari and Drama are all back for a fifth season that kicks off with a guest appearance by Shad Moss AKA Bow Wow. Earlier last month Bow Wow told the press that his scene in the TV show is actually a sex scene with a pornstar.

“It was with a porn star. I don’t know her name,” stated Bow Wow. “She probably watching this like, ‘What?! I did a scene with him, and he doesn’t remember my name?!’ I was cool…”

For Bow Wow this is just one of many attempts at staying true to his word of retiring from the rap game to become the next Will Smith of acting. Here is a shot of Bow Wow on the set of “Entourage” with Vince’s manager E. “Entourage” premieres tonight on HBO 10pm. (Source)