Billy Joel and wife Alexis have made what they call an “initial donation” of $250,000 to Ukrainian war relief. They’re doing it through Bethenny Frankel’s B Strong Foundation which is part of the Global Empowerment Mission. It sounds from their statement on Instagram that more is coming. Billy has always been incredibly philanthropic, especially locally on Long Island.
“The Batman” Scores $36 Mil Friday for Total Opening Night of $57 Mil, Eyeing Over $120 Mil Weekend
“The Batman” flapped his wings over Gotham City last night.
Friday’s total is $57 million, with $21 mil of that from Thursday previews and other showings. A $36 mil take just for Friday points to over $100 million for the weekend. POW!
“The Batman” may not be on “Spider Man” Levels yet, but it’s close. Without the distraction of an HBO Max showing, fans will be flocking today to theaters.
The number to keep in mind is $120,686,863. That was the opening weekend for “The Dark Knight Rises” in 2012. If “The Batman” can do a penny more, that will be outstanding considering everything go on right now.
John Mayer Leaves Columbia Records After 21 Years and Diminishing Sales with Surprise Announcement
John Mayer is an accomplished guitarist and singer. But his days of hits is behind him, at least right. So after 21 years he’s decided to leave Columbia Records. He made the announcement on Instagram without any warning. He doesn’t say where he’ll go or what he’ll do. But Mayer was deeply affected by the death of his friend Bob Saget and this may be a reaction to that, a sort of life changing moment of reckoning.
Mayer’s most recent album, “Sob Rock,” was released in July 2021 and was sales disappointment: around 520,000 copies including streaming, but about just 95,000 CDs and LPs. There were no singles, but “New Light” was the leading track with sales of about 7,000.
It’s frustrating for legacy artists which Mayer is now, believe it or not, at age 44. Live performance is the next movie for artists like him, and these past two years have been a disaster because of COVID. Mayer also hasn’t done much to be part of a music community or network, which is what saves the current generation of Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Camila Cabello, and so on. The charts are filled with duets and so on. But for artists like Mayer, who go their own way. it’s a lot tougher. He could have a lot of interesting collaborations.
So goodbye Columbia Records and Sony Music. No word on what happens to his catalog or masters. Stay tuned…
RIP Hollywood Dynasty, Second Generation Successes: Alan Ladd Jr., 84, Tim Considine, 81
This week, two members of Hollywood’s second generation, each successes in their own right, passed away.
TIM CONSIDINE’s death was announced on Friday. He was an early TV sensation for a being a kid and teen star in the 1950s and early 60s. His first role was on “Spin and Marty” but then he became famous as the older son on “My Three Sons” with Fred MacMurray. Playing Mike Douglas, Considine was able to capitalize on his fame also from “The Mickey Mouse Club,” where he co-starred with Annette Funicello. Considine was on “My Three Sons” for five years, then left for a career in writing and directing.
Tim Considine came from a show business family. His uncle was a famous sports columnist, Bob Considine, His father, John Sr., was a movie producer in Hollywood. His mother was the daughter of the Pantages family, the theater chain. The Pantages Theater in Hollywood today is where Jimmy Kimmel’s show is broadcast from. Tim’s older brother, John, is still alive, and an accomplished actor with dozens of credits including long runs on soap operas in the 1980s including “Another World” and “Santa Barbara.”
ALAN LADD JR. died this week at age 84. Known as “Laddie,” he was one of the town’s best liked film producers and executives. His father was Alan Ladd, the famous actor who starred in “Shane” in 1953. (The name Ladd may be more known to kids from the 70s because Cheryl Ladd was his half-brother David’s wife for most of that decade.)
Alan Ladd Jr. has a long list of films he produced on his resume. The biggest is “Star Wars.” Among the other movies he produced were were “Chariots of Fire” (1981), and “Braveheart” (1995), each of which won Best Picture at the Oscars. Even if he didn’t have a producing credit himself, Ladd was a behind the scenes quarterback for a lot of important, much loved films including “Moonstruck,” “Julia,” and “Alien.”
Kathie Berlin, one of the great and legendary PR people, wrote of Ladd on Facebook: “My mentor and the best boss I ever had died this morning. Alan Ladd known as Laddie. A brilliant film producer and studio executive. Never yelled , always an open door and made movies for and about women. Thelma and Louise, Turning Point, Moonstruck, Julia. I will miss him. Won Best Picture for Chariots of Fire and Braveheart.”
Oscars: If ABC Had Tried to Cancel Them, Netflix or Amazon Would Have Been There in a Minute
There’s a good report today by Scott Feinberg in the Hollywood Reporter regarding the current mess with the Oscars.
A source, an Academy governor, claims they were told “ABC will cancel the Oscars” if changes aren’t made.
That may very well be true. Maybe ABC was threatening the Motion Picture Academy. But I think not.
If nothing else, ABC no doubt learned the lesson CBS had this past year with the Academy of Country Music Awards. CBS refused to ante up the $22 million fee the ACM’s wanted. The country music group up and left for the bright horizons of Amazon Prime. They’re planning a big event on Monday night that will draw millions to the Amazon Platform and cross-promote with Amazon Music.
Don’t think for a minute that Netflix or Amazon wouldn’t jump at the chance to have the Oscars. Netflix in particular would love to take over and have the prestige of the Academy Awards. Netflix is in the hunt this for Oscars with “The Power of the Dog” and “Don’t Look Up,” not to mention nods for “The Lost Daughter” and “Tick Tick Boom.” They’re thisclose to being included in Cannes– maybe in 2023. The Oscars would be the final blow in world domination.
And if Netflix or Amazon couldn’t do it, Apple wound grab up the Oscars so fast heads would be spinning. They’re in the running for Best Picture this season with “CODA” and Best Actor with Denzel Washington for “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” Apple is on a roll, sees their opening, and would be delighted to have the Oscars.
So ABC threats? Maybe a little sabre rattling. But that’s it.
Thursday Ratings: “Law & Order SVU” Handily Beats “Grey’s Anatomy,” Mothership Ties “Station 19”
Bringing back “Law & Order” was a pretty good idea for NBC. The second week return of the mothership show did very well Thursday night, basically tying “Station 19” on ABC.
Yes, “Law & Order” is a 9pm show, it’s a little jarring at 8pm. But the new cast is excellent. Hugh Dancy is hiding his lovely British accent and doing a swell job as the new ADA. Anthony Anderson and of, course, Sam Waterston, are all on point. It’s nice to see the “L&O” original formula back. They had to do this when “For the Defense” never materialized. It all worked out.
“SVU” then beat “Grey’s Anatomy” handily, 4.37 million to 3.8 million. Chris Meloni’s “Organized Crime” beat ABC’s “Blue Sky” also. “SVU” was better than ever last night with a very creepy performance by Jake Weber and a guest appearance from Peter Hermann. Kelli Giddish’s Rollins was right on top of the whole situation.
But CBS won the night using bookend comedies, “Young Sheldon” and “Ghosts” to knock out the competition. The two comedies in between, “B Positive” and “United States of Al” were also on. “Bull” followed at 10pm on its last legs.
First a Movie, Now a Musical: “Tammy Faye” with Music by Elton John Headed to London and then…Broadway?
Jessica Chastain is up for an Oscar as Tammy Faye Bakker in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” She may even win!
Now Baz Bamigboye reports for the Daily Mail that Elton John and his pal Jake Shears (of Scissor Sisters fame) have written songs for a musical. It’s going to open in the fall in Islington, London’s prestigious Almeida Theater directed by their artistic director, Rupert Goold. The book is by Tony–nominated playwright James Graham.
Will it come to Broadway? You know, if Sir Elton is involved, they’re not kidding. What drew Elton to this material? Undoubtedly Tammy Faye’s incredible early support of AIDS patients. That is, after she and Jim Bakker ripped off thousands of their TV followers. See, she redeemed herself!
The only question remaining is can Jessica Chastain sing? We know Andrew Garfield can!
#TammyFaye Musical by @eltonofficial , @mrJamesGraham & @Jakeshears set to open @AlmeidaTheatre early Autumn. @rupertgoold will direct. Illustration by @garycature pic.twitter.com/PGq5eGHuQq
— Baz Bamigboye 💙 (@BazBam) March 3, 2022
Holy Box Office, Robin! Warner Bros. Says “The Batman” Has Already Taken in $21 Million!
POW!
“The Batman” has raked in $21 million in Thursday previews and other fan events.
So Warner Bros. reports, and the day has barely begun. Are we looking at a $100-$150 million opening weekend? Wouldn’t that be swell, fellow Bat lovers?
Unlike the last year or more of WB movies this one is not available on HBO Max. You’ve got to get pick yourself up and go to a theater! You can do it! You’ll like it!
Will “The Batman” knock off “SpiderMan”? Doubtful, but you never know. Will moviegoers start going to movies like “Belfast” and “West Side Story” again? Let’s hope so!
Stay tuned to that same Bat dial, Gotham City freaks! Let’s see where this goes!
“Mrs Maisel” 5 & 6: Midge and Joel Probably Not Reuniting, And the Plot Finally Kicks In
Dropping this day on Amazon Prime, Friday, are Season 4, episodes 5 and 6 of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Each of these is a huge improvement on episodes 3 & 4 which addressed a death and then introduced the burlesque club.
This new pair of chapters are each a bit of genius, although the second one is loaded with surprises. All I can tell you is my feeling that the Palladino’s have decided Joel and Midge will not be reuniting. I can’t tell you why. You’ll figure that out for yourselves.
Episode 5 — “How to Chew Quietly and Influence People” picks up with Midge wearing a sling, which is never explained. But we saw the odd way she fell of the stage at the end of number 4. Unless Rachel Brosnahan herself needed a sling, and thus this story, I still don’t get it. But the main story is Midge and Susie are invited to Shy Baldwin’s wedding in the Plaza Hotel ballroom. So we get to see Leroy McClain again, and he sings (thanks to Darius de Haas) and we get to see what may have been the last TV performance by the late, great Ned Eisenberg, who passed away this week in real life. He will be sorely missed.
The end of episode 5 is as odd as its predecessor. Midge spies someone out a cab window and runs after them. When the next episode begins, we learn that she has scraped Lenny Bruce (the great Luke Kirby) off the street and brought him back to the Upper West Side. Lenny Bruce in the Weissman home is jarring — to us, and certainly to him because Abe and Rose are really busy doing “You Can’t Take it With You” for breakfast. Kirby visits Midge’s world like some kind of apparition. Is he real? Or are all just imagining it?
There’s a big surprise in episode 6 plot-wise. Again, it’s a spoiler. The other big surprise is that the Palladino’s have fully brought back Jane Lynch’s Sophie Lennon because…because she’s too great to abandon. But Susie doesn’t want to work for her and Midge hates her, so you know this will end in tears.
It’s really not fair that there are only 8 episodes of this season, only two remain, and then one more season. With number 6 — called “Maisel vs. Lennon: The Cut Contest” — the real spirit of the series comes alive in so many ways. Rose goes to Brighton Beach, summoned by a crew of rival matchmakers who are like the leaders of the five families (look for guest stars Kelly Bishop and Jackie Hoffman) in hats and gloves. The scene is of the most glorious in the “Maisel” pantheon.
Shout outs to Tony Shalhoub, Marin Hinkle, to Santino Fontana, to Kevin Pollak and Caroline Aaron, to the adorable Stephanie Hsu, and Michael Zegen. But the show belongs to Midge and Susie, to Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein, who could just keep going and remain watchable forever. I hope Season 5 has more than 8 episodes, that’s for sure.
PS Reid Scott finally does show up, as a talk show host, and it’s great to see him. Find an indie movie he made a few years ago called “Sister.” Wonderful. He’s more than just “Veep.”
Grade? Do I give grades? Grade: A.
PS The burlesque shows are outstanding. Better than anything I ever saw at “The Box.”
ABC’s “The Goldbergs” Keeps Pretending Jeff Garlin’s Character Is Still on the Show– and the Fans Know It
Where in the world is Murray Goldberg?
On Wednesday night Murray’s daughter, Erica, got married to Geoff. But the father of the bride was no there to give her away. Weeks ago, star Jeff Garlin, who plays Murray. left the series in its 9th and probably final season. There were still a lot of episodes yet to be shown.
For weeks, “The Goldbergs” have been pretending Murray is still around. They use stand ins, make oblique references, but Garlin’s face is long gone.
Last night, fans were howling on social media that Murray’s daughter got married and there was no sign of him. His whole family was present. At one point, the narrator referred to “my parents” and there was a shot of a stand in pretending to be Murray from behind, dancing with his wife.
The whole thing is very lame, and the fans know it. Only 3.3 million people watched “The Goldbergs” wedding. Since September the show has lost half a million viewers and dropped around 20% in the key age demo. It’s basically not worth watching without Garlin. If for some reason it’s renewed for a 10th season it’s because ABC has nothing to fill the time slot. (Murray could become what Lars was to “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
PS Can’t wait to see Garlin on the next season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”!