Sunday, March 22, 2026
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Box Office: Honeymoon Ends for “The Bride!” with Disastrous $7.3 Million Opening Weekend, “Melania” Makes Strudel on Amazon Prime

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There will be no honeymoon for “The Bride!”

Sadly, all trips are canceled as Maggie Gyllenhaal’s $80 million plus adventure is a disaster.

Total weekend take was just $7.3 million, according to Warner Bros. Exhibitor Relations says it was $7.2 million. All the gifts have been returned. The wedding dress has to be returned by the end of today.

The movie starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale, among others, has worked out best for headline puns and not much else. I’m so sorry for everyone involved, but “The Bride!” was fun to write about.

No word on the popcorn buckets.

The number 1 movie this weekend was “Hoppers” with $46 million. “Scream 7” followed with $17 million.

“Melania,” playing in a theater near Palm Beach, made strudel and went to bed.

Seriously, the infomercial starts playing on Amazon Prime tomorrow. So far, they haven’t said how much it will cost t0 rent or buy, but considering it lost $75 million, the price per person might be $100.

Watch Stevie Wonder Performing Note Perfect “Always” from “Songs in the Key of Life” at Jesse Jackson Memorial Service

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Only Stevie Wonder could do this: sit down and perform a note perfect version of his timeless classic “Always” at Rev. Jesse Jackson’s memorial service.

That’s Stevie’s long time aide and friend Brian LaRoda holding the microphone for him.

Stevie just sits down and plays that keyboard with certainty and abandon. His voice is youthful as ever. And the whole audience sings along.

RIP Jesse Jackson, who also had all the living presidents in attendance.

Box Office: “The Bride!” Wedding Gifts Will Be Less Than $10 Million Weekend After Dismal $3 Mil Opening

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“The Bride!” is getting very weak wedding gifts.

Thurs previews plus Friday came to $3 million. The Weekend total looks like $7-$8 million.

“The Bride!” cost between $80 and $90 million, so it’s a wipe out, the first real Warner Bros. flop in over a year.

The movie, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, with an all star cast, will go down in the annals of box office disasters.

Box Office: “The Bride!” Stood Up at Altar, Makes Just $1 Million in Thursday Preview, First Warner Bros Flop in a Year

Hilary Duff’s “Luck” Has Run Out: Pop Renaissance Was Short-Lived as Sales of New Album Crater by 94% in Second Week

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I never understood the revived interest in Hilary Duff.

The star of TV’s “Lizzie McGuire” and “Younger” had had a minimal pop career, but it was over 15 years ago. Her most recent album was released in 2005.

Suddenly, Atlantic Records thought the 38 year old would make a huge comeback. They signed her to an album deal and a docuseries was announced.

Last week, Duff’s new album, “Luck…or Something” debuted and sold a respectable 78,000 downloads/CDs/stream equivalents. But no single track took off. And to be realistic, the album didn’t sound so good.

Well, the other shoe has dropped. Atlantic didn’t turn in numbers for the second week of sales to hitsdailydouble. On Luminate, you can see why. Physical sales dropped 94%, and all sales including streaming dropped 88%.

“Luck…or something” sold just 4,100 copies (downloads/CDs) and 10,300 including streaming. Radio ignored the album. Song sales were actually just 406.

That first week, the “Lizzie McGuire” fans came through with nostalgic excitement. But there was nothing more to back “Luck” up.

What happened? The album wasn’t very good, there was no buzz. The first two songs had lyrics about cunnilingus. Radio is modern, but not that modern. The only “going down” is to the corner store.’

The whole deal was a little strange, anyway. Atlantic jettisoned most of their staff and brought in new, hip people who were going to revive the famed legacy of the Erteguns, and even Jason Flom, Craig Kallman, and Julie Greenwald. They have a big hit with Bruno Mars, but he was there from long ago. With Duff, there was no there there.

Next up for Duff is a major tour that includes two nights at Madison Square Garden in August. Sales are decent if only because only half the venue is being sold. They might have been smarter to put her in Radio City Music Hall for a sellout. But no one asked for opinions.

Box Office: “The Bride!” Stood Up at Altar, Makes Just $1 Million in Thursday Preview, First Warner Bros Flop in a Year

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I knew The Bride when she used to rock and roll.

But that was a long time ago.

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride!” is DOA at the box office. Last night the all star feature made just $1 million in previews.

It’s likely to take in less than $10 million this weekend.

For Warner Bros., after a spectacular year of hits, this is their first flop.

This means a total write off of $80-$100 million.

“The Bride!” has been panned by critics. It’s sitting at 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, up from 47% a day ago.

The cast is all A list, including Jessie Buckley, Annette Bening, Christian Bale, Penelope Cruz, and Gyllenhaal’s husband, Peter Sarsgaard, and brother, Jake Gyllenhaal.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is such a smart actress and director it’s hard to understand how this happened. But it does. Think of “Megalopolis,” or “Babylon,” or “Amsterdam.” Or “Ishtar.” The scale is too big, and it all goes out of control.

Anyway, we’ll keep track of this unfortunate turn of events. I hope Maggie gets a chance to make another, smaller film and isn’t punished for “The Bride!”

Magician Copperfield Makes $50 Million a Year But His Philanthropy is His Biggest Illusion: Just 4 Grants Totaling $30,000 in The Last 5 Years

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David Copperfield has made at least a billion dollars over the last 25 years.

You’d think there would be a Copperfield Wing at a Las Vegas hospital. Or a museum. A fund for education.

But a look on GuideStar.org shows just one tax free entity in his name. Project Magic Fund is supposed to use magic to help people with “physical, psychological and social disabilities.”

But according to GuideStar, “David Copperfield’s Project Magic Fund Inc has made 4 grants to 3 recipients totaling $30,100 over the most recent 5 years of available data.”

In 2001, Copperfield claimed $226,529 in fair market value of the Project Magic Fund. According to the Form 990 filed every year, he often adds a small amount just to make it seem like Project Magic Fund. In 2023, total revenue was $50. Copperfield pays an accountant and distributes about $1,400 annually. Otherwise, Project Magic is a shell operation. It does nothing. The current net balance is $123,787.

Meanwhile, Copperfield owns a chain of islands in the Caribbean, and has spent a great deal of time in the last few years fending off accusations of sexual impropriety and rape. He owns a $20 mil-plus mansion in Vegas, and an abandoned $7.4 million penthouse in New York.

On April 30th, he will cash in his Vegas chips and end a 25 year run at the MGM Grand. He’s leaving money on the table — three months of sold out shows that are being cancelled and presumably refunded.

Epstein Curse: David Copperfield’s Sudden Vegas Exit Will Mean Millions in Refunds for May, June, July as People Are Still Buying Tickets

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You can still buy tickets to see David Copperfield in Vegas this spring and summer.

The ticketing machine in Las Vegas is so complicated that it hasn’t caught up with last night’s abrupt announcement.

After 25 years, Copperfield is ending his 25 year run at the MGM Grand on April 30th.

This decision must have come very quickly because plenty of brokers and websites are still selling tickets to Copperfield’s magic show for May, June, and July 2026.

Plenty of tickets have been sold in advance. Even more are selling right now. Even on the MGM Grand website.

But this is the curse of Jeffrey Epstein, the gift that keeps on giving. Overnight, Copperfield’s career is being destroyed.

Copperfield is a prominent presence in the FBI files, accused of rape and sexual misconduct. There are numerous transcripts of his various depositions in such cases.

There’s also lots of correspondence between Epstein’s office and Copperfield’s. The two men were close friends with similar interests.

The MGM Grand is going to have to refund millions of dollars to people who made plans to see Copperfield during their Vegas trips. But now Jeffrey Epstein has made David Copperfield disappear.

Magician David Copperfield Leaving Las Vegas MGM Grand After 25 Years Amid Epstein Files Release, Cancels Hundreds of Shows Through End of July

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Magician David Copperfield is disappearing himself.

Copperfield announced tonight that he’s suddenly wrapping a 25 year run at Las Vegas’s MGM Grand Hotel at the end of April.

The famed magician was booked at the MGM through the end of July 2026. That means hundreds of shows — sometimes three a day — are being cancelled.

Copperfield’s announcement is a shock, and then not so much. His illusion as a family friendly act may have been ruined by the Epstein files. He’s all over them, and not in a good way. The magician is listed in 47 different pages of the available Dept of Justice files. Many of the documents mention underage girls and allegations and accusations.

Indeed, Copperfield — like Epstein — has his own mysterious island called Musha Cay a 700-acre  privately owned island in the Exuma Chain, in the southern Bahamas. It is located 85 miles  southeast of Nassau and is part of a nine island chain that he owns. 

His exit from the MGM — and his inclusion in the Epstein files — is just the beginning.

There have long been rumors of Copperfield’s unsavory lifestyle, so it’s not hard to digest that he and Jeffrey Epstein were friends who may have had similar interests. There are many pictures of Copperfield with convicted sex offender and Epstein bf/gf Ghislaine Maxwell.

Read this story from The Guardian.

This was another story about Copperfield — who has always denied all and any accusations — from 2010. https://6abc.com/archive/7397121/

The very first document in the Epstein files when “Copperfield” is searched comes from a redacted source to a redacted recipient, and it’s marked “for official use only,” meaning t came from the Dept of Justice. You can see it below Copperfield’s post tonight about his exit. See also below an email within the DOJ about Copperfield and Epstein from 2008, when Epstein first went to jail in Florida.

There are many investigations into Copperfield conducted by the DOJ. Here’s another link to an FBI report in the Epstein files. 

According to reports, Copperfield is worth between $800 million and $1 billion. He is one the top earners in Las Vegas history, making around $50 million a year.

Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Susannah Hoffs, Warren Haynes, Trombone Shorty Headline 10th Annual Love Rocks Show With a Bang (Video)

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Live right at Veeps.com — Love Rocks 10th annual concert to benefit Gods Love We Deliver.

Already Trombone Shorty, Jon Batiste and the Preservation Hall Band, Elvis Costello, Susannah Hoffs, and Linda Perry have completely wowed the sold out audience.

UPDATED

The sound is amazing. Elvis opened with “Pump it Up” with Trombone Shorty, and “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace Love and Understanding” — best versions ever.

Will Lee of “Letterman” and Fab Faux is running the four star band.

Some stunning moments tonight.

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Netflix Making Aristotle and Alexander the Great into the Next “Heated Rivalry”: Sandals and Togas Instead of Sticks and Pucks

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Aristotle and Alexander the Great will now be the next Shane and Ilya of Macedonia.

Netflix has signed up a new series about the two historical hunks, created by Jacob Tierney of “Heated Rivalry” fame.

Just trade out hockey sticks and pucks for sandals and togas, and you’ve got the picture.

“Alexander” is based on Annabel Lyon’s novel, “The Golden Mean,” which is described as having graphic sex scenes and the mandatory violence needed in such series (see “Game of Thrones”) as Aristotle tutors young Alexander. Will they wind up in the cottage or the castle?

The Netflix press release promises: “The world’s greatest mind, Aristotle, arrives in Macedonia to tutor a volatile young prince, Alexander. Amid palace intrigue, forbidden love, brutal war and ruthless ambitions, their unlikely friendship shapes an empire and alters the course of history.”

Anyway, there will be lots to talk about, and “Heated Debates.” There is no promise of tuna melts.