by Selwyn Manning

Aucklanders are being assured that the much heralded Planet Hollywood venture will go ahead with secure backers.

Speculation has been rife for months that New Zealand Planet Hollywood was having difficulty securing backers for the city development.

The parent company has filed for bankruptcy in the USA but will continue to trade while in receivership.

Planet Hollywood’s Auckland Manager, Todd Graydon, says the Auckland based restaurant will come under the umbrella of Planet Hollywood Asia which is an entirely autonomous entity.

Mr Graydon says partners have been signed on and will be identified in the next few weeks.

The Planet Hollywood restaurant is set to open in November.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>