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“Spider Man” Brand New Day” continues to be amazing.
Yesterday, the Tom Holland-Zendaya blockbuster broke the record for best Tuesday box office in history.
“Brand New Day” made an astonishing $42 million, and was only down 11% from the previous day, when it also broke the record for Mondays.
Total in the US is now up to $449.1 million, which means $500 million is coming today or tomorrow at the latest.
Worldwide total is up to $1.15 million.
This probably means that “Brand New Day” is bringing back audience for second and third viewings, which is what any studio wants.
Sony is saying they’re giving the stars “a break” before filming Spider Man 5, which will probably be the end of the series.
There was some noise yesterday about who would direct the next one, but it seems probable that Destin Daniel Cretton will return since he’s now a record holder in many categories.
Producer Amy Pascal is now the most successful female producer in history. She’s certainly one of the most successful of any gender. She already had “Project Hail Mary” this year, and is looking forward to the next James Bond movie. She’s gotten the last laugh after being relieved of her duties running Sony because of Wikileaks. Nicely played!
If you know someone who’s in trouble or experiencing a mental health crisis, there is help. Call 911 or 988 immediately. Speak to a professional who can assist.
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t get into this but calls are coming in from anywhere.
Gossip blogger Perez Hilton is having a serious mental health issue right now in Miami.
We know this because he live-broadcasted it on TikTok. So many people called the Miami Police they issued a statement below.
Hilton’s real name is Mario Lavandeira Jr. He apparently was cutting himself live on TikTok and was covered in blood, reportedly naked.
I wouldn’t normally report any of this, but again, it’s become public. See the Miami Dade response here. Let’s hope Perez will get the right help and he will be ok. This is not to be taken lightly.
It’s definitely the summer of Hollywood’s young married couples.
Already Tom Holland and Zendaya, who’ve been low key about getting married in the first place, have done the whole press tour for “Spider Man: Brand New Day.”
There isn’t an interview, a junket, a TikTok the couple have avoided. The result is $1 billion at the box office.
Now it’s time for Callum Turner and Dua Lipa. They just got married, too. He’s the star of “One Night Only.” She’s already a pop superstar.
Last night Dua (or is it Ms Lipa?) walked the red carpet with her new husband, no problem. Not only was she there, but Oscar nominee and Tony winner Andrew Garfield — now sporting a lions’ mane — walked the carpet with his girlfriend, Monica Barbaro, the other star of the film.
(Of course, Garfield has a reason. He’s promoting two new films, one coming in just a couple of weeks.)
Remember the days when Brad and Angelina wouldn’t horn in on the other’s action? Ben Affleck and (pick a wife)? Even with their Circus Maximus wedding, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are not so present together unless it’s “by accident.” Until recently, Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes kept it quiet, too. And in the future, Ryan Reynolds may be taking Hugh Jackman as his plus one, not Blake Lively.
Well, anything to sell movies. And “One Night Only” might need the help. Reviews won’t come out til tomorrow, but ticket sales are mostly slow so far. The trailer was a turn off, and that didn’t help. It also only has 4.6 million views on YouTube after 3 weeks. Not a lot.
Also, last night’s premiere was attended by the cast, a lot of unknown people, and the Queen of Darkness, Maye Musk, mother of Elon, for unclear reasons. She shows up on just one movie publicist’s guest list, and scares the beejeezus out of most people. She can sic DOGE on anyone at a given moment!
But ABC’s “General Hospital,” on the air since Lincoln was president, has been a hit all summer on Hulu. The six decade old soap been attracting more viewers on Hulu than the Emmy-nominated “The Bear.” That’s a stunner.
Streaming has increased the audience of the soap to the point where it’s finished in the top 3 or 4 every week on Hulu. And that’s despite cast changes.
One shot in the arm might have been the special appearance of talk host John Oliver, who asked for a role and got one. He didn’t play a comedian, though. Oliver was a tough guy with a gun, made a pass at the show’s main character, got slapped, and produced a lot of publicity.
“General Hospital” has a large cast so there are always changes. But this summer has been brutal. Long timer Kristen Storms dropped out after some mental health and domestic issues. Producers wrote out not only her character, but everyone attached to her. Another actor, Nathan Dean Parsons, abruptly disappeared, was replaced, and that guy was out after a day.
Back on rounds at the hospital (where insurance issues are rarely discussed), though, were Finola Hughes and Steve Burton, two other veterans who’s taken time off — Hughes, I’m told, was away 8 months. Burton left for 3 months. So their returns might have re-sparked interest from fans.
“General Hospital” averages 2 million viewers a day on ABC, and remains popular with younger women and housewives. It’s not going anywhere, since ABC is no longer in the syndication game with talk shows, and there’s enough bleak news going on 24/7. No one needs more of that.
PS A little trivia I uncovered: Rachel Ames, one of the original stars of the series, is alive and well at age 95. Also, Jack Urbont, who composed the original theme music used from the 60s through the late 90s, is still making music. So the treatment at General Hospital wasn’t as bad as I assumed!
“House of the Dragon” is coming to its season end this Sunday.
What happened? I don’t know. I was in and out with it, as I fear most fans didn’t feel it was urgent viewing.
None of season 3’s episodes cracked the 100,000 viewers mark. It’s possible Sunday’s finale might, but it’s unlikely.
Despite being a spin off of “Game of Thrones,” “Dragon” has never caught on. You never hear anyone talking about it. There’s no buzz. “Dragon” has not crossed ove into the culture the way “Game of Thrones” did. It’s just there for the remaining 950,000 linear viewers on the HBO channel.
Of course, there may be untold millions watching on HBO Max. But those numbers do not get reported, so we have to go with what we’ve got.
HBO is committed to one last season of “Dragon,” and that will be that. The TV world of George R. R. Martin may finally be over.
Maybe a lesson learned here: by setting “Dragon” a zillion years ahead of “GoT,” there was no chance for guest stars from the original series to pop in. A good spin off series always promises a visit from the earlier hit show. An actual sequel might have had a better chance.
Oh, for the days when “Game of Thrones” was scoring 8 million viewers on Sunday nights, when social media lit up with reactions to the Starks, the Lannisters, and Jon Snow. But even the dragons seem worn out at this point. It’s hard to keep those wings flapping.
Rosie O’Donnell may or not return to “The View” this fall for an anniversary show.
But if she doesn’t, we’ll know why. ABC is already censoring her stint as guest host coming up this month on Jimmy Kimmel. Her week begins on August 17th, and it will be the most must-see TV since Trump briefly got Kimmel off the air earlier this year until the public outcry was cacophonous.
Rosie tells podcaster Kara Swisher that ABC refuses to allow her to sing her parody about Trump, “If I Only Had a Brain,” from “The Wizard of Oz.”
Why the censorship? Rosie tells Swisher the reason was, “It’s political.” Go to the bottom of this story to see Rosie sing the song in its entirety. It’s hilarious.
ABC is currently in a huge fight with Trump’s FCC over whether “The View” is a news or entertainment show. The FCC wants to give equal time to moronic Republicans if it’s entertainment. The Trump-run government agency will do anything it can to limit free speech, and they’re using ABC as a target.
Some of the lyrics:“His approval rate is 30, his diaper’s always dirty. I think the guy’s insane, da da, duh duh, da da da.” (more below)
“He ain’t no stable genius, he’s got a teeny tiny [penis],” O’Donnell continued caroling. “But he doesn’t have a brain. The Reflecting Pool is green, his reasons were obscene. It’s him we all do blame, da da da, nah nah nah nah.”
“He grew a magic ear, stole billions in a year, ‘cause he doesn’t have a brain.”
“Oh, I, can’t tell you why some people think he’s smart. All he does is lie and cheat and steal — and he’s asleep when meets start. He still dreams that he’s Putin while our country, he is lootin’. On humanity, a stain. Da da da, nah nah nah nah.”
“All he does is cause us trauma ’cause he’ll never be Obama, ’cause he doesn’t have a brain.”
Here’s Rosie singing the very witty parody, which she apparently performs in her sold out off Broadway show, “Common Knowledge.”
Rosie O’Donnell sings a song she wrote for Trump: “His approval rate is 30, his diaper’s always dirty, I think the guy’s insane. He ain’t no stable genius, got a teeny tiny- but he doesn’t have a brain. The reflecting pool is green, his reasons were obscene, it’s him we all do… pic.twitter.com/Nl5TPzMzcO
In the late 70s, great pop and rock was all about Stiff Records and its various tributaries.
The New Wave centered on the the English label, with Graham Parker and Nick Lowe at the center (along with Elvis Costello and others). Parker’s band was The Rumour, and they were legendary. Bob Andrews was their pianist and helped drive their uniue sound.
So here’s the video of the tribute to Andrews, who died in June 2025, with Parker, Lowe, and Stiff Records star Jona Lewie who had two of the wittiest hits ever in New Wave — the massive UK #1 “Stop the Cavalry” and the best titled song “You’ll Never Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties.” Really genius, and such a relief in 1979 from the likes of Fleetwood Mac, et al.
The video was posted by Stiff Records’ leader Dave Robinson, who I have to thank you for taking all my money in those years. I still have all your vinyl, in black and colours. It was an exciting time waiting around at Bleecker Bob’s for your releases. (Where is Lene Lovich, Dave?)
EXCLUSIVE The late very great Clive Davis left quite a music legacy, literally the soundtrack of our lives.
Davis passed away on June 22nd at age 94, but that hasn’t stopped him from inspiring and influencing new hits on the charts. I mean, of course. The Universe is reverberating now with Clive’s genius.
Clive was a huge fan of the cult 90s group New Radicals, whose 1998 album “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed, Too” contained the massive hits “You Get What You Give” (Joni Mitchell’s favorite song, btw), and “Someday We’ll Know.” He loved the songwriting team of Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois so much that he the sent the former’s song, “Game of Love,” to Michelle Branch, and it went to number 1 in 2002.
Branch recorded the song with Carlos Santana on sizzling guitar after another version with Tina Turner — available to hear — didn’t click. But Davis always wanted Alexander to record his own duet with Branch and pushed them to do it.
Alexander tells me he was actually on a plane to New York from Prague to play Clive the new version on the day the music mogul died. Now the new “Game of Love” has entered the Billboard charts at number 33 with a bullet, and will be a hit all over again. It’s kind of a divine inspiration.
It’s all part of the New Radicals Renaissance that Davis instigated — so much so that he introduced Alexander to The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas. The result is a standout track called “Going to Babble On” on the Strokes’ new album. The song is performed by the Strokes, but has the New Radicals signature sound.
And even more: the New Radicals have also resurfaced with the title song of the new Callum Turner-Monica Barbaro romcom called “One Night Only.” It’s the New Radicals’ first new song really since the halcyon days some 28 years ago.
But their influence has never ebbed. Brisebois co-wrote Natasha Bedingfield’s famous pop standard, “Unwritten” in 2004. Alexander wrote “Murder on the Dance Floor,” which became a big hit again when Barry Keoghan danced naked to it in the movie “Saltburn.” Alexander and Brisebois were nominated for an Oscar for writing, “Lost Stars,” the main song from the great John Carney film, “Begin Again.”
Hey– it’s just under the wire for the Grammys — deadline is the end of this month — but I wouldn’t be surprised to “One Night Only,” “Game of Love,” and “Going to Babble On” in the mix. Real songs by real writers, no committees, or teams, the real deal. What a throwback!
PS Will all of this lead to a second New Radicals album, 30 years after the first, “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed, Too” entered the music canon? Alexander won’t say. But you know, you get what you give, and a massive amount of people want that to happen badly.
photo c2026 Showbiz411 by Leah Sydney — Brandi Carlile, Cameron Crowe, Dave Grohl, with Gregg Alexander and somehow yours truly.
So far everyone and everything attached to the new “Spider Man” movie is a success.
“Brand New Day” has broken all time box office records this weekend. Usually, when the tide rises, all boats are lifted.
But not so much with the movie’s end credits song.
Steve Lacy’s “Oh Yeah” is not in the iTunes top 100 at all.
On Spotify it has a mild 6 million streams, which is pretty good considering it’s not included on the Michael Giacchino soundtrack CD.
If all things were going to play, “Oh Yeah” would be remixed, lengthened, and playing everywhere. It would certainly be suggested for Best Song at the Oscars.
The fact is the videos for “Oh Yeah” on YouTube have garnered fewer than 500,000 views is surprising.
But is all this a coincidence? Is Lacy’s song being punished by Marvel? Could be. On the red carpet at the LA premiere last week, Lacy accidentally let loose a spoiler from the film. It wasn’t a big deal, but you know social media seized on it like he’d revealed the bombing codes for Hiroshima.
Is Marvel/Disney not supporting the song? “Oh Yeah” has a perfectly rhythmic groove that actually reminds me a little of Gary Numan’s “Are Friends Electric?” and some “Dark Side of the Moon.” It should at least be in the top 10 while “Brand New Day” is breaking those records. Go figure.
