Category: Entertainment Daypop

Hollywood writers went on strike on Tuesday after negotiations between the writers union and the studios fell through. The union said in a statement that the board of directors for the Writers Guild of America (“WGA”) voted unanimously to call for a walkout effective just after midnight; picketing began Tuesday afternoon. The strike will bring an end to television production until an agreement is reached, bringing major impacts to the entertainment industry.

WGA said the decision to strike came after it failed to reach an agreement after six weeks of negotiations with studios and streaming services including Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony under the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The union’s statement read: “The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing.” 

As a result of the strike, scripted television series may be forced to shorten their seasons, while the production of television shows and films may be delayed. Nightly network talk shows including The Late Show with Steven Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers will immediately stop running new episodes, and in most cases will instead air re-runs.  Additionally, NBC’s Saturday Night Live has shut down production, with the May 6th episode with Pete Davidson returning as host now cancelled.

Union members are seeking pay increases to offset higher living costs. According to WGA statistics, median writer-producer pay has declined 4%, or 23% when adjusted for inflation.  The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (the association that represents studios, television networks and streaming platforms), said that it had offered compensation agreements for the writers. However, one of the biggest disputes was regarding union proposals that would require companies to staff television shows with a certain number of writers for a specific period of time, “whether needed or not.”

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During a livestream on Tuesday, actors Lea Michele and Myles Frost announced the nominations for the 2023 Tony Awards, which recognize excellence in live Broadway theatre.

Some Like It Hot (a musical adaptation of the comedy film starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) leads the nominations this year with 13, including Best Musical. The show follows two friends/musicians who disguise themselves as women to join an all-girl band, after fleeing from Chicago after witnessing a mob hit. The musical, starring Christian Borle and J. Harrison Ghee with songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, has been turned into an embrace of trans rights. Borle and Ghee also both earned acting nominations.

& Juliet, New York, New York and Shucked followed with nine nominations each, while Kimberly Akimbo and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street both earned eight nods; and Ain’t No Mo’, A Doll’s House, Into the Woods, Leopoldstadt and Parade are each up for six awards.

The 76th annual ceremony, hosted by Ariana DeBose for the second straight year, will take place June 11 at United Palace in New York City and air on CBS. The show will also be available to stream on Paramount+.

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie has become the first film released in 2023 to gross over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. The film is now just the fifth movie (and first animated film) since before the COVID-19 pandemic to gross $1 billion worldwide. It is among the most successful animated films in history and only the third ‘non-Disney’ release to gross $1 billion (the others being 2015’s Minions and 2017’s Despicable Me 3).

The Super Mario Bros. Movie also had the biggest global debut for an animated film of all time, surpassing Frozen II. It’s easily the highest-grossing film ever based on a video game and the first video game movie to gross $1 billion.

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Red Table Talk—the celebrity talk show co-hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, her daughter Willow Smith, and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris—has been canceled after five seasons. The cancellation of the series (which launched in 2018 on Meta’s streaming service Facebook Watch) comes amid Facebook’s shift away from original programming to Virtual Reality experiences.

The 51-year-old Pinkett Smith wrote in a statement on Instagram: “We are so grateful to have had such a beautiful partnership with Facebook Watch and we are sorry to see the entire team disband. We wish everyone well in their new journeys to come. We at Red Table are in talks of finding a new home and we’ll see you soon.”

Red Table Talk often hosted celebrities in the aftermath of a scandal. For instance, influencer Jordyn Woods appeared on the show when she was accused of cheating with Khloe Kardashian’s on-again, off-again boyfriend Tristan Thompson in 2019. Pinkett Smith even addressed her own personal scandals, including her extramarital “entanglement” with singer August Alsina, as well as a brief look at how “The Slap” (that involved her husband Will Smith and Chris Rock ) had negatively impacted her family.

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HBO Max shared a teaser trailer for the new film ‘Reality’, featuring Sydney Sweeney. The film adaptation  is based on the Tina Satter play ‘Is This a Room’, which opened on Broadway in October 2021.

‘Reality’ explores the true story of Reality Winner, a former U.S. Air Force member and NSA translator who was convicted in 2018 for leaking a confidential report about Russian interference in the 2016 election, and features verbatim dialogue from a transcript of the FBI’s interrogation of Winner at her home in 2017. Josh Hamilton and Marchánt Davis play the FBI agents in charge of Winner’s questioning.

Reality is co-written by Satter and James Paul Dallas, and marks Satter’s directorial debut. The film had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February and will premiere May 29 on HBO Max. Check out the teaser trailer for ‘Reality’ – here.

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Universal Pictures shared the second trailer for the upcoming film ‘Fast X,’ hitting theaters on May 19th.

The action-packed film will see the return of “The Family,” including Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Jason Statham, Charlize Theron, and Scott Eastwood. The cast also features new members of the Fast Family, including Brie Larson and John Cena, who plays Dom’s brother.

The trailer begins with a Vatican City action sequence, and the villain portrayed by Jason Momoa unleashing a spherical bomb that Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) knocks off its path to its target. Momoa is playing a character connected to the safe heist from 2011’s Fast Five, who returns for revenge against Toretto and his family, both biological and those bonded by their love of auto racing.

Take a look at the trailer for ‘Fast X’ – here.

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Legendary talk-show host Jerry Springer has died at age 79. Bradley Singer, a representative for Springer, confirmed that Springer died peacefully at his home in Chicago on Thursday morning following a brief bout with pancreatic cancer.

Jene Galvin, a lifelong friend and spokesman for the Springer family, said in a statement: “Jerry’s ability to connect with people was at the heart of his success in everything he tried whether that was politics, broadcasting, or just joking with people on the street who wanted a photo or a word. He’s irreplaceable and his loss hurts immensely, but memories of his intellect, heart, and humor will live on. To remember Jerry, the family asks that in lieu of flowers you consider following his spirit and make a donation or commit to an act of kindness to someone in need or a worthy advocacy organization. As he always said, ‘Take care of yourself, and each other.’”

Springer is best known for hosting his talk show ‘The Jerry Springer Show,’ which ran from 1991 to 2018. Guests shared their problems on the talk show, which ranged from accusations of infidelity to demands for paternity tests (and often culminated with physical altercations that had to be stopped by the show’s director of security). The series featured audience members chanting, “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” upon Springer’s entrance.

In addition to his time on television, Springer had a prolific career as a politician, starting out as a councilman in Cincinnati before becoming the city’s mayor from 1977 to 1978. He then switched up his career, working for WLWT as an anchor. Later on during the time hosting his talk show, Springer also made cameos in numerous films including 1999’s Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and on television shows, including Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Simpsons, and The X-Files.

The final episode of The Jerry Springer Show aired in July 2018. The following year, Springer made his return to TV with ‘Judge Jerry’, a reality court show which ran for three seasons until August 2022.

Springer is survived by his daughter Katie Springer, and his older sister Evelyn.

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According to an announcement shared by Sony Pictures, “1923” actor Brandon Sklenar will play Atlas Corrigan in the film adaptation of ‘It Ends with Us.’  Atlas is the high school love interest of the story’s main character, Lily Bloom, who will be played by Blake Lively. The film and studio shared in a joint social media post: “Considerate. Humble. Strong. @BrandonSklenar is Atlas in #ItEndsWithUsMovie” 

‘It Ends with Us’ is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover, who serves as an executive producer on the upcoming film. Hoover also shared the news of Sklenar’s casting as Atlas in an Instagram post: “They announced Atlas! Cannot wait for this. Loving the cast so far. Feels like a dream #ItEndsWithUsMovie @blakelively @justinbaldoni @brandonsklenar.”

‘It Ends with Us’ tell the story of Lily Bloom, a woman who falls for a neurosurgeon, Ryle (portrayed by Justin Baldoni), while living in Boston. At first, Lily believes she’s found her soulmate but begins to doubt the relationship over time. In addition, her high school love interest, Atlas, comes back into her life.  Baldoni also celebrated the casting news on social media: “Ladies and gentlemen… meet your #Atlas” he wrote on Instagram.

Baldoni will direct and executive produce the film in addition to starring, with Lively signed on as executive producer on the project.

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Aziz Ansari is making his feature directorial debut with “Good Fortune,” with Deadline reporting that Ansari, 40, will write, direct and star alongside Seth Rogen, 41, and Keanu Reeves, 58, in the upcoming film.

Lionsgate has landed rights to the film, a comedy whose plot is shrouded in secrecy. Since the logline is being kept under wraps, it’s unclear who the actors are playing in the movie. Production has been greenlit and will start principal photography next month in Los Angeles.

Said Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group chair Joe Drake: “We have indeed found good fortune with this film. We love the script and believe strongly in Aziz as both a performer and a director. And when you add in Seth and Keanu — two incredible world-class talents — toplining alongside Aziz, this has the potential to be a very special film for us. We moved quickly to land this project once it was available.”

“Good Fortune” is Ansari’s second attempt at making his directorial debut. He was previously working on the film “Being Mortal” for Searchlight, but production was suspended over complaints about actor Bill Murray’s inappropriate behavior on set.  That project, which also starred Rogen, was officially scrapped earlier this year.

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Comedian Richard Lewis, 75, revealed the health issues he’s been faced with over the last three-and-a-half years. The star of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm shared in a video posted to Twitter that amid four surgeries for his back, shoulder and hip, two years ago he was also diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Lewis said he wanted to address questions about if he will perform stand-up again, noting that he recently wrapped the 12th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, on which Lewis is an original series regular. Lewis announced his retirement from stand-up, but says he plans to continue acting and writing.  Lewis says was in the middle of a comedy tour before his health issues began, and decided to end on a high note. “I’m at the top of my game. After 50 years almost, I’m going to just call it quits. And I felt great about that. And then out of the blue, the shit hit the fan.” Lewis says he had four surgeries back-to-back, for issues with his back and shoulder, and then needed both shoulder and hip replacement. He continued: “And on top of all of that, two years ago I was walking a little stiffly, I was shuffling my feet. And I went to a neurologist and they gave me a brain scan, and I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. And that was about two years ago. But luckily, I got it late in life, and they say you progress very slowly if at all, and I’m on the right meds, so I’m cool.”

Lewis has alluded to health issues and complications on social media over the years, which kept him from appearing on Curb Your Enthusiasm as much as he would like. Lewis appeared in only one episode of the 11th season, and is slated to appear in the upcoming season 12.  Lewis said in his video: “I guess I just wanted you to know that that’s where it’s been at. I’m finished with stand-up, I’m just focused on writing and acting. I have Parkinson’s disease but I’m under a doctor’s care, and everything is cool and I love my wife [Joyce Lapinsky], I love my little puppy dog and I love all of my friends and my fans.”

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