Angelina Jolie-Brad Pitt engagement sure to fuel media frenzy

By SANDY COHEN
Associated Press

Angelina Jolie, right, and Brad Pitt arrive at the 84th Academy Awards in Los Angeles in February. (AP photo).

LOS ANGELES Will and Kate were just the warm-up for the true wedding of the century.

After years of cohabitation, six kids and countless tabloid headlines, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie made it official: They plan to make it official.

If you thought the media circus involving the worlds most glamorous couple was on overdrive before, just wait. Now that Brangelina are officially engaged, expect endless speculation about where and when theyll wed, what theyll wear, what their kids roles will be, and who might get to attend the celebration.

This is really a state wedding, said Stephen Galloway, executive editor of features at The Hollywood Reporter. This is Americas equivalent to Prince William and Kate Middleton.

He called the Brangelina wedding the media event of the new century.

Pitts manager confirmed the couples engagement Friday after Jolie was spotted wearing a diamond ring on her wedding finger. Jeweler Robert Procop said he spent a year working with Pitt to design the ring.

The prominent engagement ring is giving the world a warning, Galloway said. It says look out, get ready.

But Bradley Jacobs, a senior editor at Us Weekly, sees things differently. He anticipates the wedding will be a private, even low-key affair.

I dont think youre going to see a bunch of fanfare, he said. Its certainly not going to be a Kim Kardashian-style wedding... Its going to be very subdued.

Still, expect massive media coverage either way: We will not rest until we know when and where and how and whos going to be there, Jacobs said. Continued...

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Entire magazine issues could be devoted to each stars wedding-day outfits and hairdos.

Every single designer on the planet will be pursuing Angelina for the dress, Galloway said. Its literally worth millions of dollars in business.

Jolies wedding dress is a career-making outfit for the winning designer.

Even Pitts look leaves room for ample speculation: Long hair or short? Facial scruff or clean shaven? A classic tuxedo? And designed by whom?

Then theres the guest list. Who will be the best man and maid of honor? Will Jolies father, Jon Voight, attend? Will George Clooney be in the house? Jolie has said she doesnt have many close friends.

This is going to be a map of the inner state of their private life, Galloway said. This is like Kremlinology. Youll be able to read all sorts of things into this wedding.

Unless, of course, the two elope.

The timing of the engagement and the wedding are also fodder for editorial exploration. The couple long maintained that they wouldnt marry until the right to do so was extended to all Americans, but when Galloway interviewed Pitt for a February cover story, the 48-year-old actor said he didnt think theyd be able to hold out that long.

It means so much to my kids, and they ask about it, Pitt said at the time. And it means something to me, too, to make that kind of commitment.

But days later, he backtracked, saying hed spoken too soon. Continued...

Theres a certain mystery in these contradictory statements made in the weeks leading up to this (engagement news), Galloway said. People whove been together a long time get married when things are great or when you want to shore up things that are not so great.

The A-listers have been partners since they began a relationship in 2005 while working on the film Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Already megawatt superstars i! n their own right, the romantic pairing of Pitt and Jolie instantly made them Hollywoods most glamorous and photographed couple. The fact that Pitt was still married to Jennifer Anniston when he met Jolie only fueled the tabloid fire; Pitt and Aniston divorced in 2005 after five years of marriage.

Jolie was previously married to Billy Bob Thornton and British actor Jonny Lee Miller.

Regardless of the size of the celebration or where it takes place, the Jolie-Pitt wedding has major economic implications. Journalists from all over the world will swarm to the wedding location; the designers of each nuptial element will see their businesses boom; the rights to the photos and footage will be haggled over by publishers and broadcasters with deep pockets.

Galloway predicts the bidding has already begun.

A mini-industry in itself will be created as a result, he said. The money generated by the wedding in direct fees to them and indirect income to other people will be more than the equivalent of everything the two of them have earned in their career. Youre talking about two empires meeting.

Some of that revenue will, of course, be in magazine sales.

After the rash of celebrity divorces last year, Brangelina fans will be happy to see them affirm their relationship and what they mean to each other, Jacobs said.

And they might be just as eager to read accounts of why the wedding is not to be. Galloway speculates that between now and whenever the wedding takes place, there will be at least a dozen stories that say its off; Brangelina call it quits. Continued...

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy .