Prince ordered to pay Irish concert promoters millions for last minute cancellation in 2008

A Dublin judge ordered U.S. pop singer Prince to pay €2.2 million ($2.95 million) to Irish concert promoters Friday for canceling a 2008 concert at the last minute.

High Court Justice Peter Kelly said he was making the total damages public because Prince has yet to pay anything to Dublin promoters MCD Productions Ltd. in their confidential settlement reached Feb. 26.

Kelly ruled that Prince had committed to perform in Dublin's 82,300-seat Croke Park in June 2008, but withdrew without explanation just days beforehand, after 55,000 tickets were sold. The 51-year-old Prince did not testify at last month's hearing.

Kelly said Friday his order was specifically against Prince, not his agents from the William Morris agency, who were absolved of liability. Prince's lawyer Paul Sreenan consented to the order.

MCD lawyer Maurice Collins said he might seek to pursue Prince using a more powerful European Enforcement Order if the performer didn't pay up soon.

MCD, Ireland's biggest concert organizers, said it had paid Prince half of his demanded $3 million fee up front, another €700,000 ($950,000) to book Croke Park for the night, advertised the concert aggressively and refunded all 55,000 tickets.

During last month's court hearing, William Morris agent Marc Geiger testified that he rarely spoke to Prince directly and found him one of his toughest clients to understand or nail down.

Geiger said he told Prince of the fury that the singer was causing MCD owner Denis Desmond during a rare face-to-face meeting in Los Angeles on June 3, 2008. He quoted Prince as replying, "Tell the cat to chill. We will work something out."

Guns N' Roses' singer Axl Rose being sued for nearly $2 million by managment company

LOS ANGELES -- Axl Rose is being sued by a famed music manager who claims the singer owes him nearly $2 million in unpaid commissions.

Front Line Management, which was founded by Irving Azoff, sued Rose in Los Angeles on Thursday for nearly $1.9 million in unpaid fees. The company claims it had an oral agreement with Rose to receive 15 percent of the Guns N' Roses' frontman's commissions.

The lawsuit states the commissions are due on more than $12 million in earnings Rose made for performances abroad.

Attempts to reach Rose's current management were unsuccessful.

Azoff has represented famous musicians such as The Eagles and Joe Walsh and is currently the executive chairman of Live Nation Entertainment Inc., which recently merged with Ticketmaster Entertainment.

Box office preview: 'How to Train Your Dragon to lord over the weekend

Jeffrey Katzenberg should be thrilled with Paramount’s distribution team right about now. Why? The group was able to secure 2,178 3-D locations for its release of the animated pic How to Train Your Dragon. (And that includes IMAX.) That’s quite impressive work considering Alice in Wonderland has been holding steady in theaters for three weeks, and Clash of the Titans is barreling into those same theaters next weekend. Paramount also requires two-week guarantees so Warner Bros. may have a real fight on its hands next weekend as they scramble for 3-D screens. Regardless, this weekend Dragon is destined to win the number one slot. How well it does has a lot to do with the 3-D upcharge, which is going up between $3-$5 million at most theaters around the country. If consumers don’t balk at the increased fees, the weekend gross could be a lot higher than tracking suggests. It will take a lot of 3-D tickets, though, to get to numbers as great as Monsters vs. Aliens, Dreamworks Animation’s hit last spring that bowed to close to $60 million.

Also jockeying for some box office coin is MGM’s R-rated comedy with the best name since Snakes on a Plane. The John Cusack-starrer Hot Tub Time Machine will open in 2750 theaters and while the studio is trying to tamp down expectations for the film with the $35 million budget, prognosticators think its could get up to $20 million for the weekend.