UK company reportedly looking to serve up British version of ‘Cheers’
Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank
Thirty years after Ted Danson‘s Sam Malone declared, “Sorry, we’re closed,” to end the 11-season classic sitcom Cheers, a U.K. company is reportedly interested in serving up an English version.
That’s the news from Deadline, which reports that the U.K. company Big Talk has tapped Men Behaving Badly writer Simon Nye to develop a new version of the show that was based at that Boston bar where everybody knew your name.
Cheers opened for business on NBC on the evening of Sept. 30, 1982, and its finale, “One for the Road,” attracted 40 million viewers on the evening of May 20, 1993 — one of the most-watched finales of all time.
During its run, the show earned a total of 179 Primetime Emmy nominations and 28 wins, and spun off another Emmys magnet, Frasier, in 1993.
A new official teaser for the live-action Lilo & Stitch is here.
In the new clip, which was shared on social media and YouTube, Stitch is lifted into the air like Simba in the opening scene of The Lion King.
The furry blue alien appears to be wearing floaties and squirms his way out of the hands of the person who lifted him before making a splash in the water on a beach.
The film’s iconic song, “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride,” plays in the background, and at the very end of the clip, Stitch crawls on screen and says, “Hi.”
The teaser notes that the movie will arrive in theaters May 23, 2025.
An official new poster was also released showing Stitch being held in the air by what appears to be Rafiki from The Lion King.
According to a description, the upcoming movie is a “reimagining of Disney’s 2002 animated classic, Lilo & Stitch.” It is “the wildly funny story of a lonely Hawaiian girl and the fugitive alien who helps to mend her broken family.”
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Dean Fleischer Camp is directed the film, which stars Maia Kealoha as Lilo and Chris Sanders as Stitch, reprising his voice role from the original film and its 2003-2006 spinoffs.
The film also stars Sydney Elizebeth Agudong as Nani, Kaipo Dudoit as David, Billy Magnussen as Agent Pleakley, Hannah Waddingham as the Grand Councilwoman, Courtney B. Vance as Cobra Bubbles, Amy Hill as Tūtū and Zach Galifianakis as Dr. Jumba Jookiba.
Tia Carrere, who voiced Nani in the original animated film and several spinoffs, also returns as social worker Mrs. Kekoa, and Jason Scott Lee, who voiced David in the original animated film, returns as a lū’au manager.
He’s one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, but two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington is thinking about retirement — and reveals he’ll be in one of Marvel’s biggest franchises before he calls it a career.
To Australia’s Today program, the star of the upcoming Gladiator II revealed Ryan Coogler is writing a role for him in the third Black Panther film — and that project will be one of his final acting jobs.
“For me it’s about the filmmakers,” Denzel says. “Especially at this point in my career, I am only interested in working with the best. I don’t know how many more films I’m going to make.” He adds, “It’s probably not that many. I want to do things I haven’t done.”
Washington mentioned how he got his start — performing Shakespeare — and how he’ll be revisiting The Bard on Broadway opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in 2025.
“I played Othello at 22. I am about to play Othello at 70. After that, I am playing Hannibal [for Netflix]. After that, I’ve been talking to Steve McQueen about a film. After that, Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next Black Panther. After that, I’m going to do the film Othello. After that, I’m going to do King Lear. After that, I’m going to retire.”
Incidentally, it was the original Black Panther‘s star, the late Chadwick Boseman, who once praised his British Academy of Acting program patron Washington by saying, “There is no Black Panther without Denzel Washington.”
“Imagine receiving a letter that your tuition … was paid for by the dopest actor on the planet,” Boseman said at an AFI Tribute to Washington that took place a little more than a year before Boseman’s untimely death from cancer in 2020.
Apple TV+ has given the Jon Hamm-led drama Your Friends & Neighbors the go-ahead for a second season ahead of its April 11, 2025 series premiere, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series follows Hamm’s Andrew “Coop” Cooper, a disgraced hedge fund manager who resorts to stealing from his wealthy neighbors’ homes following his divorce. Amanda Peet and Olivia Munn also star …
Game show veteran Chuck Woolery, who hosted the original versions of Wheel of Fortune and Love Connection, has died, longtime friend and podcast cohost Mark Young tells the Associated Press. He was 83. Woolery also hosted Scrabble as well as a revival of The Dating Game, and guest starred as himself on a number of TV series including the sitcoms 227 and Scrubs …
Apple TV+ has scrapped its plans for a sequel to its comedy thriller Wolfs, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, according to Variety. Wolfs features Clooney as “a professional fixer hired to cover up a high-profile crime,” per the streaming service. “But when a second fixer — played by Pitt — shows up and the two ‘lone wolves’ are forced to work together, they find their night spiraling out of control in ways that neither one of them expected.” Amy Ryan, Richard Kind, Austin Abrams and Poorna Jagannathan also star …
