Two very different, very anticipated movies are headed into theaters Friday, and some prognosticators say it could lead to a new “Barbenheimer” box office bonanza.
Wicked and Gladiator II are Friday’s big openers, and with both films getting strong reviews — and both with impressive sneak preview numbers — it’s reminiscent of when Barbie and Oppenheimer‘s very different double bill led to a $235.5 million worldwide opening weekend in July 2023.
The Hollywood Reporter says Wicked made $11 million from showings on Thursday, but other special showings throughout the week bumped that take to $19.2 million in the U.S. before Friday’s official opening day.
Gladiator II,Ridley Scott‘s follow-up to his 2000 Oscar winner, made $6.5 million in the U.S. ahead of Friday’s opening day. Unlike Wicked, however, it opened up overseas first, and its global take already stands at nearly $99 million, according to BoxOfficeMojo.
While Jason Kelce can already be seen on ESPN as the host of Monday Night Countdown, the now-retired former Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro center will be testing out his game as a late-night host.
They Call It Late Night With Jason Kelce will kick off a five-episode run on Jan. 4 at 1 a.m. ET on ESPN, with the fifth episode, on Feb. 1, beginning at 1:30 a.m.
The sports network teases “an immersive experience … showcasing the Super Bowl champion’s oversized personality and infectious humor mixed with celebrity guests from the football world and beyond, in front of a live audience of NFL fans.”
“The show’s format will position Kelce and his guests to dissect NFL topics and storylines, mainly focused on that weekend’s games” and will include “active participation from the fans in attendance.”
The show will be available on ESPN+, ESPN YouTube and the Jason Kelce channel on YouTube presented by ESPN following its initial ESPN airing.
Jason and his younger brother, Travis Kelce, have been making their mark off the field for some time: Travis can be seen in the FX series Grotesquerie and also hosts the Prime Video series Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity?
Jason has appeared in numerous commercials, in addition to hosting the sibling NFL stars’ podcast New Heights, and making a headline-grabbing entry in the ring in the most recent WrestleMania.
Actor Jonathan Majors and his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari have agreed to resolve her civil claims that followed his misdemeanor assault conviction in New York, according to a court filing.
Majors and Jabbari stipulated to a dismissal of her lawsuit for defamation and assault that she brought against him in March, the filing said. A reason was not given.
Jabbari sued Majors about the same time he was sentenced to domestic violence intervention classes in April. She alleged he physically abused her and then defamed her by denying the assault in an interview with ABC News.
Majors was found guilty of one count of misdemeanor third-degree assault and one count of second-degree harassment, but was acquitted of two other counts of assault and aggravated harassment in a split verdict.
Since the verdict, Majors has been dropped from his management and PR firms. In addition, he was cut from future Marvel films and his role as Kang in Avengers:Kang Dynasty.
As part of his sentencing, Majors was ordered to complete a 52-week in-person batterers intervention program in Los Angeles, continue mental health counseling and stay away from Jabbari.
Nearly two and a half decades after the monumental film Gladiator hit theaters, acclaimed filmmaker Ridley Scott is returning the iconic Roman-era epic to the big screen with Gladiator II.
The film, starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen and more, is a Roman warrior story of redemption, family and nation, told on a scale big enough to match its preceding legacy.
In an interview with Good Morning America, the cast opened up about making the second installment of a classic, carrying on the Gladiator legacy and how Scott “built” Rome for the new film.
“We thought about it for 24 years — not every day, it was always there in the back of my mind,” Scott said of making the sequel. “But in that time, I did 17 other movies. Big ones. So, it really wasn’t an incredible challenge other than saying ‘It would be nice to get to it,’ And we finally got to it by sitting down at a table and saying, ‘Whatever happened to Lucius?'”
Enter: Mescal as Lucius, the son of Maximus — the main character from Gladiator, played by Russell Crowe.
Mescal undoubtedly had big boots to fill, succeeding Crowe as the leading man in the sequel. According to two-time Oscar winner Washington, who plays Macrinus in the new film, Mescal was more than able to carry the staggering legacy of Crowe’s character.
“First of all, he pulls it off,” said Washington. “I can only imagine the pressure he must have felt coming behind Russell 25 years later.”
Despite that pressure, Mescal made clear his dominant feeling was one of excitement. “Obviously there was a nervousness attached to it and concern because you care about the work that you do,” he said. “But the predominant thing was one of getting ready to go — and excited about it, to be honest.”
Scott’s Rome, which he built with production designer Arthur Max, featured more than 500 extras filling rows in a replica Colosseum that reached a third of the original structure’s actual size.
“I’d never been on sets like that,” said Washington, explaining the scope of the production. “They built Rome, basically.”
Mescal said actors on Scott’s set are immersed in the world of Gladiator — barring the cameras of course, though he was sure to note that Scott even dresses up the camera operators in costume.
“It is a total, total gift,” said Mescal of the elaborate set design. “You walk onto set, and if you can’t act in that environment, I don’t think this job is for you.”
Netflix has announced Jan. 16 as the premiere date for season 2 of its To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before spinoff, XO, Kitty. The new season, filmed in Seoul, South Korea, “will follow Kitty — played by Anna Cathcart — as she returns to high school for a new semester at the Korean Independent School of Seoul (KISS),” according to the streaming service. Season 2 will also introduce three new characters: Stella, Praveena and Jin — played respectively by Audrey Huynh, Sasha Bhasin and Joshua Lee…
Starz has revealed Jan. 17 as the premiere date for its steamy, seductive thriller The Couple Next Door, along with a teaser trailer. The series follows a couple, played by The Illusionist‘s Eleanor Tomlinson and How to Get Away with Murder‘s Alfred Enoch, who move into the upscale neighborhood and strike up a friendship with the couple next door, portrayed by Outlander‘s Sam Heughan and Pennyworth‘s Jessica De Gouw, per Starz. The two couples grow increasingly close to each other and become sexually entangled in a way that will change their lives forever. The Couple Next Door will be available to stream weekly on Fridays on the STARZ app and all Starz streaming and on-demand platforms …
TheSocial Network‘s Jesse Eisenberg has lined up his next film, an untitled musical comedy starring The Room Next Door‘s Julianne Moore and The Holdovers‘ Paul Giamatti, according to Deadline. The feature, directed by Eisenberg from his own script, “follows a shy woman who is unexpectedly cast in a local production of an original musical. Under the spell of the strong-willed and enigmatic director, she loses herself in the role and the high-stakes world of this community theater production,” per the outlet …
Disney+ has greenlit a second season of the Korean sci-fi fantasy series Moving, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Based on the popular webtoon created by Kang Full, Moving centers on three teenagers with genetic superhuman abilities and their parents who protect them from a group of South Korean spies. The series features some of the biggest names in Korean film and television, including Ryu Seung-ryong, Han Hyo-joo and Zo In-sung. Disney is the parent company of ABC News …
In her new movie Maria, Angelina Jolie plays the titular role of iconic opera singer Maria Callas, for whom singing meant so much.
For Jolie, who sat down to discuss her new work with Good Morning America co-anchor Michael Strahan, motherhood is the main focus in her life, in the way singing was for Callas.
“It’s my happiness,” Jolie shared. “You can take everything else away from me. Nothing else matters.”
Jolie is mom to six kids: sons Maddox, Pax and Knox, and daughters Zahara, Shiloh and Vivienne.
And despite her life in the spotlight, Jolie said her children don’t have the desire to follow her footsteps into acting.
“None of my children want to be in front of the camera at this time,” Jolie said. “They’re quite private. Shiloh’s extremely private. They weren’t born with privacy, right? So I hope they can have that as they grow.”
For her starring role in Maria, Jolie learned how to sing opera in order to embody the tragic prima donna and her final days living in Paris while struggling to make a career comeback.
“All of my children suffered through my early opera singing in the house before I got kinda good, which was a nightmare,” Jolie recalled.
Jolie said she and Callas may have even been friends, had their paths ever crossed in real life. Callas died on Sept. 16, 1977, following a heart attack.
“There’s obvious things that people would tie our lives and see we have in common. But I think it’s more … how hard she is in herself with her work, sometimes seen as strong, but actually very vulnerable and human. I certainly am,” Jolie said.
“I think we would have been friends,” she added. “She might have hated me at first. Think it would have grown on her.”
Maria debuts in select theaters on Nov. 27 and will be available to stream on Netflix starting on Dec. 11.
Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan‘s other hit show, Tulsa King, could reportedly be headed to a third and fourth season — and beyond.
According toVariety, star and executive producer Sylvester Stallone is nearing a deal for at least two more seasons of the Paramount+ series, which has him starring as a displaced East Coast mob boss out of water in Oklahoma.
That said, there’s no official word from the streamer, and the series has yet to be renewed.
Tulsa King also stars Andrea Savage, Garrett Hedlund, Vincent Piazza, Martin Starr, Dana Delany and Annabella Sciorra. Yellowstone vet Neal McDonough and Marvel movie baddie Frank Grillo joined for the current second season.
Keira Knightley gets back to action in the new trailer for Black Doves, a six-part spy thriller set at Christmas and bound for Netflix on Dec. 5.
Knightley co-stars with Ben Whishaw in the spy series, in which she plays Heleb Webb, “a quick-witted, down-to-earth, dedicated wife and mother — and professional spy,” according to the streamer.
She’s been passing her politician husband’s secrets to her spy organization, called the Black Doves, for a decade, but when her secret lover, Jason, is assassinated, she’s teamed up with Wishaw’s assassin, Sam, to uncover the truth.
“As his past threatens to catch up with him, his task is to protect Helen as she investigates who killed Jason and why,” Netflix continues. “Together they uncover a vast, interconnected conspiracy linking the murky London underworld to a looming geopolitical crisis.”
Knightley’s character is shown taking out enemies hand-to-hand and leaping from an exploding building. She later looks shocked when a mysterious voice over the phone reveals her cover is blown, meaning her family is in danger.
The series will also star Sarah Lancashire, Ella Lily Hyland and Andrew Buchan.
On Thursday’s installment of The Jennifer Hudson show, Emmy winner Courtney B. Vancetalked about his anticipation of receiving one of the biggest honors in showbiz, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Vance is following in the Walk of Fame footsteps of his award-winning wife, Angela Bassett.
“Angela got hers I think back in ’07, and the [children] were 2,” he said of their fraternal twins, Bronwyn Golden Vance and Slater Josiah Vance, who are now 18.
“Aw, they were babies!” J. Hud gushed to a throwback photo of the family at Bassett’s ceremony.
Grotesquerie star and executive producer Vance said they still need to schedule his ceremony, but added, “It’s such a blessing to be in the class of ’24-’25.”
Vance will be in good company: When the next slate of nominees was announced back in June, it was revealed that some of the actor’s “class” will include actress Nia Long, actor-director Bill Duke, Sherri Shepherd, Fantasia, Colin Farrell and Jane Fonda.
According to the organization’s website, upcoming star ceremonies are usually announced 10 days prior to dedication.
