USA: MOVIE STAR AND RESTAURANT ENTREPRENEUR BRUCE WILLIS ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEW WEB SITE 'PLANETHOLLYWOOD.COM'

Record ID: 389906

  • Title: USA: MOVIE STAR AND RESTAURANT ENTREPRENEUR BRUCE WILLIS ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEW WEB SITE 'PLANETHOLLYWOOD.COM'
  • Date: 17th July 2000
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA (JULY 17, 2000) (REUTERS) CU PLANET HOLLYWOOD WEB SITES
  • Embargoed: 1st August 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA163UNEH7HX72IFGT33AW5KW2S
  • Story Text: Movie star and restaurant entrepreneur Bruce Willis has announced the launch of a new web site called PlanetHollywood.com - in the latest attempt by the restaurant chain to fight their way back from bankruptcy.
    For anybody who can't make it to one of the famed Planet Hollywood restaurants, a new web site hopes to bring everything but the food right to your home computer.
    Famed action man actor and one of the founders of Planet Hollywood, Bruce Willis announced the launch of a new multi-million dollar web site, PlanetHollywood.com.
    The site will offer celebrity chats, exclusive Web cam footage of celebrity events, merchandise, games, contests and the latest movie, television and celebrity news.
    Bruce Willis believes the web site is a logical move for the company.
    "It's just a natural progression, everbody's on the web now and it just makes sense for people who can't necessarily get out and come to Planet Hollywood to go on line and see what's up," he says.
    The Planet Hollywood restaurant chain was started by some of Hollywood's hottest celebrities that included, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Demi Moore.
    After early success, the chain went through a major expansion by opening a number of restaurants all over the world and offering shares in the company to the public.
    By the time the company realized they had expanded too fast it was too late and Planet Hollywood was forced to file bankruptcy.
    But Bruce Willis remains positive, "I think three or four years ago we had a really major expansion and some of the stores worked and some didn't and like any major corporation you know sometimes there are some downsizing but the stores that we still have now are all doing great, the food's great and I've always been a fan and always kept the faith."
    PlanetHollywood.com is wasting no time in bringing celebrities and fans to its site. Ten days after the launch of the site, pop star Britney Spears will host a live chat on the site.
    A wrap worn by Marilyn Monroe and a vest worn by John Wayne will immediately be available for auction as well.
    Through a direct link with e-bay, PlanetHollywood.com also offers visitors to the site the opportunity to bid on an ever changing list of movie memorabilia.
    "We've got over 96,000 pieces of memorabilia within Planet Hollywood restaurants, we're not going to put all of those up for sale but we're going to continue to get more auction items from the sources that we have and we'll continue to sell and put some of our best pieces up for auction," said John Caparella, President of Hollywood.com.
    And for those interested in the hottest summer movies, PlanetHollywood.com offers those who come to their site the chance to buy T-shirts, order the soundtrack, read reviews and watch the movie trailers. Planet Hollywood will also sell its entire line of T-shirts and souvernirs over the web.
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