Mumia Abu-Jamal

Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook April 24, 1954) is a convicted murderer who was sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.

Abu-Jamal became involved in black nationalism in his youth and was a member of the Black Panther Party until October 1970, after which he became a radio journalist, eventually becoming president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists. On December 9, 1981, Faulkner was fatally shot while conducting a routine traffic stop of Abu-Jamal's brother, William Cook. Abu-Jamal was found at the scene with a bullet wound from Faulkner's gun and his own discharged revolver beside him. He was arrested and charged with Faulkner's murder.

Prosecution witnesses identified Abu-Jamal as the shooter and two testified that he had confessed to shooting Faulkner. A jury convicted Abu-Jamal on all counts and sentenced him to death. He spent the next 30 years on death row. After a succession of all possible appeals by Abu-Jamal were exhausted, his conviction was upheld but his death sentence vacated. He was resentenced to life in prison without parole. District Attorney Seth Williams later stated that no further appeals would be filed in pursuit of the death penalty.

Mummy (disambiguation)

A mummy is an unusually well preserved corpse.

Mummy or The Mummy may also refer to:

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Universal Studios

Universal Studios Inc. (also known as Universal Pictures) is an American film studio, owned by Comcast through its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal, and is one of Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios. Its production studios are at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California. Distribution and other corporate offices are in New York City. Universal Studios is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Universal was founded in 1912 by the German Carl Laemmle (pronounced "LEM-lee"), Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour.

It is the world's fourth oldest major film studio, after the renowned French studios Gaumont Film Company and Pathé, and the Danish Nordisk Film company.

History

Early years

Universal Studios was founded by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane and Jules Brulatour. One story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the day's takings. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, Laemmle gave up dry goods to buy the first several nickelodeons. For Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for Trust-produced films they showed. Based on the Latham Loop used in cameras and projectors, along with other patents, the Trust collected fees on all aspects of movie production and exhibition, and attempted to enforce a monopoly on distribution.

Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise (born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV; July 3, 1962) is an American actor and filmmaker. Cruise has been nominated for three Academy Awards and has won three Golden Globe Awards. He started his career at age 19 in the 1981 film Endless Love. After portraying supporting roles in Taps (1981) and The Outsiders (1983), his first leading role was in the romantic comedy Risky Business, released in August 1983. Cruise became a full-fledged movie star after starring as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in the action drama Top Gun (1986). Since 1996, he has been well known for his role as secret agent Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible film series, whose most recent film, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, was released in 2015.

One of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood, Cruise starred in several more successful films in the 1980s, including the dramas The Color of Money (1986), Cocktail (1988), Rain Man (1988), and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). In the 1990s, he starred in a number of hit films, including the romance Far and Away (1992), the drama A Few Good Men (1992), the legal thriller The Firm (1993), the romantic horror film Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), the romantic comedy-drama sports film Jerry Maguire (1996), the erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut, and the drama Magnolia (both 1999).

Stephen Sommers

Stephen Sommers (born March 20, 1962) is an American screenwriter and film director, best known for The Mummy (1999) and its sequel, The Mummy Returns (2001). He also directed Disney's live action version of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1994), the action/horror film Van Helsing (2004), and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009).

Early life

Stephen Sommers was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and grew up in St. Cloud, Minnesota, where he attended St. Cloud Apollo High School. He is a 1980 graduate of Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and the University of Seville in Spain. After graduating, he spent four years performing as an actor in theater groups and managing rock bands throughout Europe. He eventually returned to the United States and moved to Los Angeles, where he attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts for three years, earning a master's degree and writing and directing the award-winning short film Perfect Alibi.

Career

Perfect Alibi helped Sommers acquire independent funding to write and direct his first feature film, the teen racing film Catch Me If You Can, filmed for $800,000 on location in his hometown of St. Cloud. The film was sold at the Cannes Film Festival for $7 million and later debuted on video in the United States.