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“Rush Hour” Movie Revival Signals the Start of Donald Trump Telling Paramount’s Ellison What He Wants — And Danger for Warner Bros.

Roger Friedman
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“Rush Hour” Movie Revival Signals the Start of Donald Trump Telling Paramount’s Ellison What He Wants — And Danger for Warner Bros.

The return of “Rush Hour” with a fourth chapter is not a good sign for anyone.

It’s evidence that Donald Trump is having an influence on Paramount, now owned by his friends, the Ellisons.

“Rush Hour” was a hit trilogy. But another installment was not possible after director Brett Ratner became the target of the #METoo movement in 2017. Ratner became a pariah after six women accused him sexual misconduct. One of them sued, and Ratner settled.

But last year, Ratner surfaced as director of the $40 million Melania Trump infomercial paid for by Jeff Bezos for Amazon Studios. The connection was Arthur Sarkissian, producer of the Melania film thanks to being a close pal of Trump and an enthusiastic donor.

You see, Sarkissian is the producer of the “Rush Hour” series.

Now Sarkissian has obviously used Trump to get Ratner and “Rush Hour” back on track. Warner Bros., the original studio, didn’t want to get involved with this, so they agreed to license the new film. And who was waiting to do it? David Ellison, who bought Paramount with his father’s money. The Ellisons and Trump are thick as, pardon the expression, thieves. Hence, Paramount will now distribute “Rush Hour 4.”

Ratner probably didn’t deserve the drubbing he got in 2017, like many others who got caught up in the fervor over Harvey Weinstein. He’s a good director who can make hits. But his return via Trump and Ellison is worrisome, especially if Trump is going to be giving advice to Paramount on new movies.

This is one more reason Warner Bros. should not be sold to Paramount, which would only increase the anxiety of this situation. But this is what we’re up against now.

If they’re really going to make “Rush Hour 4,” I do hope Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker return, regardless. They and Ratner were a blockbuster bos office trio.

What’s next? It’s probably time for a remake of of Sandra Bullock’s “While You Were Sleeping.” Cast it now: Glen Powell, Anthony Mackie, and Zendaya. Why not?

Jimmy Cliff and Johnny Nash Are Not Interchangeable Reggae Stars: “The Harder They Come” is the Famous Song by Newly Deceased Singer

Roger Friedman
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Jimmy Cliff and Johnny Nash Are Not Interchangeable Reggae Stars: “The Harder They Come” is the Famous Song by Newly Deceased Singer

David Muir made a big mistake last night on ABC World News.

I see a lot of other people have, too.

Jimmy Cliff, who just died, was famous for “The Harder They Come” and “Many Rivers to Cross.”

He sang a cover version of Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now.”

These are not interchangeable reggae artists. But now Cliff’s cover of “I Can See Clearly Now” is number 2 on iTunes outpacing his own songs.

“The Harder They Come” is not only anthem, it was the title of a 1972 movie starring Cliff. The song and the movie were a big deal at the time, and the song has hung on as a classic.

“Many Rivers to Cross” preceded it in 1969, and the following year came “You Can Get It If You Really Want.”

Let’s give credit to Jimmy Cliff, no offense to Johnny Nash.

Someone tell the Daily Beast that Jimmy Cliff was NOT the music icon behind “I Can See Clearly Now.”

Oy vey.

Box Office: “Wicked for Good” Hits the Real World, Drops 57% on First Weekday But Still Makes Almost $15 Million

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: “Wicked for Good” Hits the Real World, Drops 57% on First Weekday But Still Makes Almost $15 Million

Monday box office.

There’s always a fall off, a rude awakening for the big weekend hit.

And so it is for “Wicked for Good” which made $147 million from Thursday through Sunday.

Now it’s back to school, and a drop in box office receipts. Monday’s drop was 57%, which is a lot. But still “Wicked for Good” made $14.7 million on its first weekday.

Tuesday there’s usually a bounce back, and Wednesday — with school ending midday for Thanksgiving — the numbers should be back up over that rainbow.

Of the Oscar bound movies, “Nuremberg” is doing pretty well, down only 46% on Monday, Keep an eye on that one…

Kennedy Center: “Christmas in Belfast” Starts Tonight, Has Few Takers, Same for “Christ” Concert as Trump Takeover Shunned

Roger Friedman
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Kennedy Center: “Christmas in Belfast” Starts Tonight, Has Few Takers, Same for “Christ” Concert as Trump Takeover Shunned

Tonight at the Kennedy Center, “Christmas in Belfast” starts shows through Sunday.

Want to go? Why not? The theater is brimming with available tickets at all prices, on all levels, at all times.

Few people are coming to see the show performed by Irish tenors famous on PBS.

Even fewer people are coming on December 17th to see “Noel: Jesus is Born!”

That’s the show tricky Dick Grenell, Trump’s lackey, personally promoted in Catholic magazines as his big Christmas epic.

Seat maps show not only few tickets sold in the orchestra sections, but almost nothing in the balcony for any of these shows.

Under Grenell, the Kennedy Center has ground to a halt.

The good news is that Grenell has given the place away next Friday, December 5th, to FIFA, the World Cup Soccer organization. They’re going to have their draft picks, and give Donald Trump a phony baloney Peace Prize.

Grenell says FIFA is donating $7.4 million to the Kennedy Center, but it’s really just $2.4 million, with “opportunities” of another $5 million in sponsorships.

Under Grenell, Trump brags about big donations to the Kennedy Center, not understanding the purpose of a not for profit arts institution. Donations are great, but you need people supporting programs. You need full theaters. Grenell is gloating about cutting the Kennedy Center staff to ribbons, not caring he can’t fill seats.

Trump, an ignoramus, doesn’t get that part of the deal. No one is coming. Even National Symphony Orchestra subscribers are turned off by Grenell kicking them out to put on the FIFA event.

Meantime, the US Senate is investigating how Grenell has been running the place, questioning the giving away of the theaters for pro-Trump political events.

“Contracts, invoices, and facility use agreements reveal that you operate the Center for the enrichment of your friends and acquaintances, to dole out political favors, and as a playground for the President of the United States and his allies,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, wrote to Grenell. 

Whitehouse continued: “The Center is being looted to the tune of millions of dollars in foregone revenue, cancelled programming, unpaid use of its facilities, and wasteful spending on luxury restaurants and hotels—an unprecedented pattern of self-dealing, favoritism, and waste.”

Here are a couple of seat maps. I should note that I’ve written twice about “Noel” in the last week, that it wasn’t selling, and nothing has changed.

PS The Kennedy Center Honors are Sunday night, December 7th. There’s no information on what’s happening, or how Trump — who’s supposed to host the show — is filling the theater. Please email me at showbiz411@gmail.com in confidence, with tips.

 

UPDATED Broadway: $27 Mil “Queen of Versailles,” Musical Will Close January 4th After Terrible Reviews Sent Box Office Reeling

Roger Friedman
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UPDATED Broadway: $27 Mil “Queen of Versailles,” Musical Will Close January 4th After Terrible Reviews Sent Box Office Reeling

UPDATED WEDS 3:25pm: Hard figures show that once reviews came out, “Queen of Versailles” plummeted. They went from just over $1 million to $877K. You can see producers had no choice but to post closing notices. The writing was on the wall.

On Broadway, that’s it for “The Queen of Versailles.”

The musical based on a documentary about lavish living starred Kristen Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham.

The show opened last week to negative reviews — except, strangely enough, in The New York Times. Everything else was mixed or very bad.

Including previews, the six weeks “The Queen of Versailles” been playing have yielded about $5 million — not enough to keep going and no advance sales. It costs at least a million dollars a week to keep a show like this going.

The cost of putting on the show in the first place was around a staggering $27 million That money is gone with the wind.

The irony here is that the musical reunited Chenoweth with her “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz. As the “Wicked” movie is booming at the box office, the magic they once made could not be re-created.

Broadway is tough right now, so a show without the reviews or advance sales has no chance of survival after the holidays.

As for the New York Times, their review was a head scratcher, and totally out of tune with the consensus. It wasn’t enough to save the show.

Condolences.

MUBI Can’t Find The Substance This Year as Jennifer Lawrence “Die My Love” Is Dead, Jarmusch Film Sent to Art House Despite Star Cast

Roger Friedman
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MUBI Can’t Find The Substance This Year as Jennifer Lawrence “Die My Love” Is Dead, Jarmusch Film Sent to Art House Despite Star Cast

Last year at this time MUBI was the talk of the town. Owner Efe Cakarel was brilliant.

Today, not so much.

What went wrong?

MUBI got pretty far last year by turning Demi Moore into a cause célèbre, or a celebrity cause in “The Substance.” The movie was unwatchable, but Moore was inspired casting. It doesn’t look lightning is going to strike twice.

MUBI, a streamer, paid $24 million at the Cannes Film Festival for “Die My Love” starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson.

But Lynne Ramsay’s movie has been a bust. “Die My Love” has made just $5 million in theaters. Critics at the festival loved it, but when “Die My Love” hit the real world, the party was over.

The RT critics rating is a meh 73%. The audience meter is at 46%.

Earlier this year we were served with Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal in a period piece about gay lovers who comb the Ozarks for country songs. Yes, did you read that description? “The History of Sound” made $841,366.

Next up come a couple of releases that don’t look promising. First up is Kelly Reichardt’s “The Mastermind,” the second Josh O’Connor movie, which has a 90% among critics. But audiences don’t want it. Their response is just 38%, so that’s not going to work out.

After that, Jim Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother.” It’s loaded with stars like Cate Blanchett, Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, and Charlotte Rampling.

But MUBI is dumping it into art houses — at least, the Film Forum in New York — on Christmas Eve.

Critics have given it an 82%, but not that many have seen it. There’s very little press on the Jarmusch film. Releasing it on Christmas Eve isn’t causing much enthusiasm — unless the family in the movie is Jewish, which they don’t appear to be.

Hulu Renews Kim Kardashian Legal Drama Even Thought It Has the Worst Reviews Ever and Audiences Don’t Like It

Roger Friedman
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Hulu Renews Kim Kardashian Legal Drama Even Thought It Has the Worst Reviews Ever and Audiences Don’t Like It

“All’s Fair” in TV negotiations.

Hulu has renewed the Kim Kardashian legal drama “All’s Fair” for a second season.

This is despite the show having a 3% critics rating and only a 66% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Talk about rotten. Something stinks about this renewal. No one likes this show despite it turning up in the Hulu top 10 every week.

It sounds like “All’s Fair” got its renewal because Hulu airs the incredibly stupid Kardashian family show.

Really — if only 66% of the audience likes it, why would you bring back an expensive soap opera that absolutely every blogger and reviewer thinks is trash?

Let’s wait and see if all the A list actresses, like Glenn Close and Naomi Watts, return for a second season. It pays their bills, but they may not feel it’s worth being bashed again. Or Hulu may not want to ante up for their services.

Poor Hulu. Coming to the end of high praised fare like “The Bear” and “Only Murders in the Building,” this is what they’ve invested in.

RFK Jr, Cheryl Hines, Olivia Nuzzi: Salacious Private Scandal Public Doesn’t Care About Results in Non-Existent Book Sales

Roger Friedman
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RFK Jr, Cheryl Hines, Olivia Nuzzi: Salacious Private Scandal Public Doesn’t Care About Results in Non-Existent Book Sales

Are you up to date with Robert Kennedy Jr’s personal life?

He’s been married to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actress Cheryl Hines since 2014. It’s his third marriage. His second wife committed suicide after finding his list of lovers during the time they were together. They had four children.

Hines married him anyway. Then he became a right wing conservative Trump lackey, conspiracy promoter, anti-vaxxer, and enemy of his extended family. This weekend his cousin, Tatiana Kennedy Schlossberg, railed against him for canceling research into the cancer that’s killing her.

Last year, New York magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi was revealed to have had some kind of affair with her while he was writing a piece about him. She was fired.

Since then, Hines — who has doubled down supporting RFK Jr and burned all her Hollywood bridges – has published a book called “Unscripted.” No one has bought it. “Unscripted” stands at number 23,392 on amazon’s bestseller list.

Nuzzi is publishing a book next Tuesday called “American Canto.” It’s been excerpted in Vanity Fair, where she is now West Coast Editor. The publicity surrounding the book is very salacious. Her ex-fiancee is busy tearing her down on his Substack. She’s had other affairs, it seems, including one with the much older Keith Olberman, who paid her bills for years.

The fiancee, one Ryan Lizza, fired from the New Yorker for inappropriate behavior, revealed a poem the married Kennedy sent to the love of his life. It reads:
“Yr open mouth awaiting my harvest,” Kennedy Jr., the current Secretary of Health and Human Services, wrote to Nuzzi in undated texts recounted by Lizza in a piece published on his Substack early Saturday.

“I mean to squeeze your cheeks to force open your mouth. I’ll hold your nose as you look up at me to encourage you to swallow. ‘Don’t spill a drop.’ I am a river You are my canyon. I mean to flow through you. I mean to subdue and tame you. My Love,” Kennedy allegedly penned to Nuzzi.

You’d think all this would sell books. But “American Canto” has no advance sales. Today it’s at 13,600 on the amazon list.

Now Vanity Fair says it’s printing a nude sketch of Nuzzi in its new issue, on sale this week.

I love these people. They are all garbage. Click bait is the least of it.

Stay tuned…

Famed Actor Udo Kier Dies at 81, Known for Edgy Movies with Auteurs, Even Played Madonna’s Lover in Video and Sex Book

Roger Friedman
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Famed Actor Udo Kier Dies at 81, Known for Edgy Movies with Auteurs, Even Played Madonna’s Lover in Video and Sex Book

So sorry to hear that Udo Kier has died.

The German actor was 81, and a favorite of auteur directors making edgy movies.

He’s featured in a new Oscar bound film called “The Secret Agent,” which is about to be released. As usual, his performance is welcome and memorable.

Over a long and respected career, Kier won many awards. He received an Indie Spirit Award for Best Actor in the 2021 film, “Swan Song.” He was also a favorite of director Lars von Trier, and of Andy Warhol, among others. He even played Madonna’s lover in one of her videos. He was a big part of her scandalous 1992 “Sex Book.”

I was lucky enough to meet Udo Kier a few years ago. He was a lovely guy. Condolences to his family and friends.



History Repeats? Golden Globe Show’s Owner Accused of Selling Tickets to Rich Patrons for $70K, Will CBS Drop Them Again?

Roger Friedman
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History Repeats? Golden Globe Show’s Owner Accused of Selling Tickets to Rich Patrons for $70K, Will CBS Drop Them Again?

It’s hard to imagine the Golden Globes are in trouble again.

This morning the NY Post’s Page Six reports the group’s owner, Penske Media, is selling tickets for $70,000 a couple.

I’ve confirmed it because the evidence is still online through the Robb Report, owned by Penske, which also owns Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline.com, as well as Rolling Stone and Billboard. (See the ad below. They did the same thing last year, too. )

Penske bought the Golden Globes — produced by Dick Clark Productions, which they also own — after the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was charged with racism and financial mismanagement.

That was when the show jumped from NBC to CBS, where it had been decades ago. But in 1982, CBS dropped the Globes after actress Pia Zadora’s wealthy husband was accused of buying her the New Star of the Year Award by lavishly gifting and entertaining the group’s members.

At all the years with NBC, I and others reported about the HFPA’s shenanigans. Selling tickets for profit to outsiders was always a scheme whispered about over the years. For the right price, you could get a seat in the hotel ballroom with the stars.

When Penske (and partner Eldridge Industries) took over the Globes and ended the HFPA there was hope that all the backstage antics and double dealing was over. But in the last few weeks, showbiz newsletters Puck and The Ankler have been reporting a new level of issues.

The Globes added a category called Best Podcast, which was curious and irrelevant. According to the newsletters, Penske then required the potential nominees to advertise across their platforms to get votes from their Globes members.

Currently, there are big, lit up video ads playing in Times Square promoting right wing conservative Ben Shapiro’s podcast — as if there were Golden Globes voters who’d be influenced by them. The chances of that are 1 in 1 million. But Shapiro paid the money to Penske and the ads are running in case someone on the way to Penn Station is voting in the Globes.

The $70,000 ticket price is no surprise. Since Penske took over the Globes, voters have had trouble getting seats in the Beverly Hilton ballroom. The company has allegedly been stuffing the room with giveaways to corporate friends. Members of the Globes, which include many former HFPA, have complained about being put in an overflow room and being invited to the after party.

Will CBS take a dim view of this latest report? Hard to say since they are now under new ownership that likely laid claim to its own block of tickets.

PS The Globes are supposed to be broadcast on January 11, 2026. They are the second awards show of the season, preceded by the scandal free Critics Choice Awards on January 4th.

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