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“Melania” is already playing in 1,778 theaters. Most showings are totally empty or show one or two seats sold.
Nevertheless, Amazon/MGM is adding 225 theaters tomorrow.
That will bring the total to 2,003.
“Melania” has a rating of 5 on Rotten Tomatoes. On the audience score, there are hundreds of fake reviews.
Plus, most everyone will be watching the Super Bowl on Sunday.
So why add theaters? WTF is really going on here?
Plus, the popcorn bucket arrived by UPS. I paid 30 bucks for it. It’s very flimsy, made out of thin plastic, and small compared to those for other movies. It will be of fun use in the bathroom.
Very sad.
Back to the theaters: this will take a village, but anyone seeing a movie in the same complex as “Melania,” please stick your head inside and see if anyone is sitting there.
Is it possible to buy blocks of tickets and not use them? Yes. That’s what I think is happening. Someone is doing it. All I see are empty seat maps.
EXCLUSIVE Just how easily did Jeffrey Epstein’s pimp girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell inveigle herself into New York society?
So easily that she was a guest of former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown twice — in 2008 and in 2016.
This week, on her Substack, Brown whinges on about a dinner party invite she didn’t accept in 2010 to at Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion. She can’t believe anyone would associate with Jeffrey Epstein — or his ilk — knowing the pedophile had been in prison.
And yet, photos show that Brown did exactly that.
I can tell you that on April 1, 2008, Ghislaine Maxwell — sidekick, side piece, pedophile pal of Epstein — hobnobbed with the A-list at a cocktail party at Brown’s swanky home on East 57th St. in Manhattan.
There’s plenty of evidence of Maxwell enjoying the evening with Brown’s guests thanks to pictures taken by legendary society photog Patrick McMullan.
Brown doth protest too much about being invited in 2010 to Epstein’s house. When Brown had Maxwell over for smart talk and cocktails in April 2008, Epstein was already two years past his 2006 arrest and indictment in Palm Beach. He was off to jail two months later. He pleaded guilty to state charges: one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. Brown definitely knew what was on Maxwell’s resume.
Now, however, Brown is expressing horror that she was invited to that dinner at Epstein’s home in 2010 — which was in actuality presented as a chance to meet Prince Andrew (who was not yet on the Most Unwanted List). On Substack, Brown crows that she was too smart to accept the invitation.
“What the fuck is this?” Brown says ‘screamed’ when the invite was proffered. “The pedophile’s ball?” But two years earlier, Maxwell had been in her home, looking pretty happy to mingle with socialites.
It’s not like Brown didn’t know who Maxwell was. In a 2003 article in Vanity Fair — then edited by Brown’s successor, Graydon Carter — Ghislaine had been identified as Epstein’s girlfriend and procurer of young women.
Brown herself says she published articles about him at The Daily Beast. Did she think Maxwell was there to sample the petit fours?
By that time, Epstein and Maxwell had been extensively reported on by the Miami Herald and were being investigated by the FBI. This was now eight years after the Siegal dinner party at Epstein’s home along with Katie Couric, George Stephanopolous, and Woody Allen.
Brown certainly knew who Maxwell was by 2016, and her relationship to Epstein, when Maxwell came to Spring Studios. You could say, she was having her own pedophile ball.
Brown hosted a number of celebrity guests that night at Spring Street, including Naomi Campbell. One of her co-panelists for the evening, Samantha Boardman, looks cozy with Maxwell in the picture above.
In her Substack piece, Brown tries to blame famed movie publicist Peggy Siegal for inviting her to the 2010 dinner, as if Siegal were trying to pull one over on her. She describes the fashionable Siegal as a ‘”warhorse” — which is ironic — and claims she was “spying on her” (she should be so lucky). But Siegal had nothing to do with Maxwell being in Brown’s home in 2008, or swanning around Spring Studios as a guest in 2016. And you know Tina checked her invitation list for each event the way Stephen Miller counts immigrants.
This should be a lesson to all the smart asses throwing rocks in glass houses as they examine the Epstein files like the Dead Sea Scrolls. Maxwell, acting on Epstein’s behalf, was everywhere, even if she wasn’t wanted or was merely being tolerated.
What’s really irritating: In the end, Brown’s piece is all about her — look, I knew these people! — and not about the women who were victimized by Epstein and Maxwell.
Brett Ratner’s infomercial about the hollow First Lady dropped 27% on Wednesday from Tuesday.
It’s a jolt to see the $1.2 million Tuesday jump fall to $819K.
But it was predictable considering theaters are absent of humans even though tickets have been sold in red states particularly in the South.
However the tickets have been purchased, there’s a limit to how much Republican party operatives can spend on this nonsense. Even they have to eat Donald Trump’s overpriced supermarket food.
This afternoon there was a stiff breeze blowing through movie theaters in Palm Beach and Dallas, where the $75 million “Melania” has shown taken seats that were often unoccupied. No one’s there now not even ghosts.
Bad Bunny is headlining the Super Bowl half time show on Sunday.
That’s on NBC.
Over on YouTube, Erika Kirk — the Merry Widow — is presenting Kid Rock and a bunch of nobodies for her “alternative” half time show.
No mind that Kid Rock sings about being attracted to underage girls. Erika’s Turning Point crowd will sing a long.
But let’s look at the basic tale of the tape. Which artist will have a bigger impact this Sunday?
From January 1st 2025 through today, Bad Bunny has sold 6.4 million equivalent albums. That’s 13 months.
Over his whole career, Bunny has logged 32. million in sales.
Kid Rock — who Carson Daly once told me Kid Rock was his “best friend” — sold just 408,000 albums in that same period. Over his career lifetime — two decades or more — Kid Rock’s sales total 5.7 million.
Should be a lot of fun. The Bunny is going to munch on the redneck from Detroit. Also, we’re going to know the viewing numbers for the Turning Point show instantly. What a moment that will be!
I love Paul Simon, but I do have to laugh at this point.
I know I went to his final show at Madison Square Garden in September 2018. He said he was done with touring with two shows there, and the last at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens.
But Simon has turned into Cher, or The Who, each of whom loved doing farewell tours. I think Cher is still doing them.
Now Paul has announced a whole new slate of shows beginning in April. He plays Forest Hills on July 8th. God bless.
So there is no sound of silence. His hearing has improved — the reason given when he retired — and he’s probably bored at home. Why not get out there? His song catalog is unparalleled. He’s a musical genius.
It’s too bad he won’t include Art Garfunkel. The angelic singer just performed at Clive Davis’s pre-Grammy dinner and brought the house down with “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Neither of them has their original voice, but the intent is there. Audiences embrace both of them.
Paul Simon 2026 Tour Dates:
April 9 – Prague – Congress Centre
April 10 – Prague – Congress Centre
April 12 – Prague – Congress Centre
April 15 – Berlin – Uber Eats Music Hall
April 16 – Berlin – Uber Eats Music Hall
April 18 – Copenhagen – Falconer Centre
April 19 – Copenhagen – Falconer Centre
April 22 – Amsterdam – AFAS Live
April 24 – Amsterdam – AFAS Live
April 25 – Amsterdam – AFAS Live
April 27 – Brussels – BOZAR
April 28 – Brussels – BOZAR
April 30 – Brussels – BOZAR
May 3 – Paris – Grand Rex
May 4 – Paris – Grand Rex
May 7 – Liverpool – M&S Bank Arena
May 9 – Glasgow – Armadillo
May 10 – Glasgow – Armadillo
May 13 – London – Royal Albert Hall
May 14 – London – Royal Albert Hall
May 17 – London – Palladium
May 18 – London – Palladium
May 20 – Dublin – 3Arena
June 4 – Palo Alto, CA – Frost Amphitheater
June 7 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
June 9 – San Diego, CA – Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
June 12 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
June 13 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
June 16 – Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre
June 18 – Cincinnati, OH – PNC Pavilion
June 20 – Rochester Mills, MI – Meadow Brook Amphitheater
June 23 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center
June 25 – Toronto, CA – RBC Amphitheater
June 27 – Lenox, MA – Tanglewood
June 30 – Gilford, NH – BankNH Pavilion
July 3 – Bethel Woods, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
July 5 – Philadelphia, PA – The Mann Center
July 8 – Queens, NY – Forest Hills Stadium
July 11 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
July 13 – Atlanta, GA – Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park
July 15 – Franklin, TN – FirstBank Amphitheatre
July 17 – Highland Park, IL – Ravinia
July 18 – Highland Park, IL – Ravinia
Savannah Guthrie and her sister and brother have posted an emotional video about their missing mother, Nancy.
I cannot imagine the pain they’re in. How could anyone do this to an innocent 84 year old woman? Or her family? I got to know Savannah twenty years ago when we were both covering the Michael Jackson trial in Santa Maria, California. She’s always been so lovely, gracious, and smart. This whole thing is insane. And cruel.
Savannah says in the video: “She’s 84 years old. Her health, her heart, is fragile. She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive, and she needs it not to suffer. We, too, have heard the reports about a ransom letter in the media. As a family, we are doing everything that we can. We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen.”
Nancy Guthrie raised her family as a single mom after her husband died young. She’s a church goer, a beacon of her community. God help the person or people who have abducted her. But for now, the main thing is to get her home safely.
Bee Gees great Barry Gibb sounds like he’s in trouble health-wise.
Gibb’s son, Stephen, has been posting dire notices on Threads about Barry’s arthritis.
“Things feel like they’re getting out of hand,” Stephen wrote tonight.
In full he says: “Please my dear fans, it breaks my heart to say this but I shared earlier that my dad has not been too well and sadly his arthritis is getting worse and things feel like they’re getting out of hand right now, so I’m humbly asking from the bottom of my heart for your prayers and love for my dad during this very difficult time for our family.”
No jokes about “Staying Alive” but we hope Barry does, and not in pain. The last member of the chart topping group, Barry is 79. He and his brothers Robin and Maurice made history with their endless list of hits first in the Sixties with “I Started a Joke,” “To Love Somebody,” “Words,” “Lonely Days,” and “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.”
Then, in the 70s, they came roaring back with the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack including “Staying Alive,” “Nights on Broadway,” “More than a Woman,” “Emotion,” and “How Deep is Your Love.” They also wrote hits like “Grease” for Frankie Valli and “Heartbreaker” for Dionne Warwick and “Islands in the Stream” for Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
Sadly, both Robin and Maurice each died of cancer much too soon. Their younger brother, Andy, scored his own solo hits but died from substance abuse.
Barry, of course, had a monster solo hit with Barbra Streisand, called “Guilty,” a song he wrote and produced.
Born in the UK, Barry has lived in Miami for decades. Stephen made a surprise tribute to his dad on stage at the real Kennedy Center Honors in Washington DC a couple of years ago. I was so thrilled to meet him at Clive Davis’s Grammy dinner also not too long ago.
We don’t know how bad Barry’s situation is, or if a caring son is just freaking out. But everyone must send prayers and good thoughts to Barry Gibb. He’s too important to the soundtrack of our lives.
Tuesday is always a big day for mid week movie sales. Especially for “adult” movies.
Yesterday, all of the studio films had big increases from Monday’s ticket sales. Except for “Melania.”
The Brett Ratner infomercial rose just 27%. Everything else went up between 70 and 80 percent including “Send Help” and even “Shelter.”
The only other decline was for the self-distributed “Iron Lung.”
“Melania” is also the subject of speculation about its overall ticket sales. There are many offers for group sales, and possible sales of tickets for audience members who don’t show up — they’re just buying tickets online but not actually going to theaters or sitting through the panned film.
Indeed, none of the “Melania” ticket sales make sense. The only shows with sales are senior citizen discount screenings in the afternoons, and in the South or red states.
But all that may be over. Today, the 4:35pm show in Palm Beach is empty. See below.
People are not watching the CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil.
Last week CBS News PR says the ratings were 4.5 million. That’s down from 4.9 mil the week before.
It’s also down from 5.13 million exactly one year ago.
CBS says the key age demo is up somehow, but in reality it’s also down.
Producer Bari Weiss is doing to CBS News what Donald Trump did to the Kennedy Center. Unfortunately, CBS can’t suspend the Evening News for two years to install marble seat rests.
Absolutely no one is taking the Dokoupil broadcast seriously, especially after all the negative press for him, Weiss, and the overall management of the network.
Interesting to note that after all the Weiss CBS fawning over Donald Trump, he’s doing his Super Bowl interview with Tom Llamas on NBC. Llamas had better go hard on Trump — as a journalist he’s risking his career at this point.
