As if it were a thing of importance, the marketing for Justin Bieber’s 2020 has begun.

And remember, we’re going to war.

Tonight he’s released his first new solo single off his forthcoming new album. The song is called “Yummy,” because that’s the level of introspection that Bieber commands. Is he born to run? Has he seen fire and rain? Is he telling us what’s going on?

No. He’s got Yummy on his mind. And it tastes good.

Bieber has already launched a “docu-series” on You Tube, also. This is preparing us for his album and tour, which is set for the summer. Personally, I cannot wait. (And won’t.)

Justin didn’t just write these songs himself. He had collaborators, only two: Poo Bear, and Leon Hlabathi. Leon was born in South Africa in 2002, yes, 2002, like, yesterday. Bieber is an old man compared to him. Poo Bear is 41 year old Jason Boyd. His Wikipedia bio says “Boyd was born in Connecticut. He moved with his mother to Atlanta at age 9, after a tornado left them homeless.” (Connecticut tornadoes are extremely rare. The Nutmeg State had 3 in 1989, although no one was killed.)

And so this is “Yummy.” As Justin put it profoundly last week. God has him right where he wants him. (Justin, I’d move two feet to the left, because lightning is coming.)

Oscar ballots are out for voting today, and they must be returned by end of the day Tuesday in Los Angeles.

In a perfect world, Best Picture nods would go to “The Irishman,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “Little Women,” “1917,” “Ford v Ferrari,” “Just Mercy,” “Richard Jewell,” “Marriage Story,” “The Farewell.” I loved two foreign language films, also: “Pain and Glory,” and “Parasite.” There two films I didn’t care for especially, despite their intentions: “Jojo Rabbit” and “Uncut Gems.”

Best Actor: Robert De Niro, Joaquin Phoenix, Adam Driver, Eddie Murphy, Jonathan Pryce. This is a crowded field. Leonardo DiCaprio was excellent, so was Antonio Banderas. The latter has an excellent shot if he unseats Pryce or Murphy.

Best Actress: There are three “locks”: Renee Zellweger, Charlize Theron, and Saoirse Ronan. I like Cynthia Erivo and Alfre Woodard for spots four and five.

Best Supporting Actress: Kathy Bates, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, Laura Dern, and then…Jennifer Lopez? Maybe. Florence Pugh? Definitely. Scarlett Johansson? My secret wish: Zhao Shuzhen from “The Farewell.”

Best Supporting Actor: Wow. What a crowd: Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, Joe Pesci, Tom Hanks– must be Tom Hanks. Jamie Foxx? Yes.

Best Director: Tarantino, Scorsese, Mendes all in. Now what? Bong Joon Ho? Probably, for “Parasite.” And Greta Gerwig for “Little Women.” Noah Baumbach is the X factor here, for “Marriage Story.” He may take Bong’s spot.

This is going to be one big reveal when the votes are counted. I can’t remember such a wide open crazy year. And so many great choices1!

“Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker” will cross $400 million today. But it’s slowing down. At this rate, “Rise of Skywalker” will have a longer slog to $500 million domestically. This weekend will be key to its ultimate place on all time lists for box office.

Right now, “Rise” stands at $775 million worldwide. On the all time list of domestic films, “Rise of Skywalker” stands at number 38.

Meantime, Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell” added another $1 million to the slow but steady till. By Sunday they could be at $22 million.

But it’s not an easy go for mid level movies. Audiences are clearly choosing “Little Women” over “Bombshell” in the race between movies with predominantly female casts. “Bombshell” — a terrific film — has been handled strangely, to say the least, by Lions Gate. On Monday they had a SAG screening in…Brooklyn!

Tomorrow, they’re having one in LA’s Brooklyn, Sherman Oaks. Luckily on Saturday (this Saturday) director Jay Roach and star Charlize Theron will do a Q&A following a screening at the AMC Century City. The movie is about Fox News, headquartered in New York, and they had no premiere here.

“Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker” is starting its slowdown at the box office.

On the 11th day of release, “Rise” made just $15 million. This is in comparison to “The Last Jedi,” which made $27 million on its 11th day, although that was Christmas Day, 2017. So to be fair, on the 10th day of “Jedi”‘s release, it made $17 million. But still, “Rise” has already had its Christmas Day– its opening day.

The reality is “Rise” is now at $377 million, and “Jedi’ on the same day was at $395 million. The fall off between the two movies is starting now. What’s really unfair for “Rise” is the lack of a second holiday weekend. With New Year’s in the middle of the week, this coming weekend won’t be a holiday for most people. “Back to school” will mean Thursday. By the weekend, the audience will be on to new problems.

The whole box office will suffer, accordingly. And on Sunday night, movie fans will presumably be watching the Golden Globes and and not at the theaters. Here comes 2020, with built in problems.

For “Jedi,” New Year’s Day produced $13 million in receipts. Let’s see how “Rise” does. If you haven’t seen it yet I can’t give it away, but there’s a BIG cameo. Just sayin….

SUNDAY AUGUST 29TH: Taylor Swift’s biggest music flop ever comes in the form of the song she wrote for “Cats.” As of today the much maligned movie has earned less than $18 million in its 10 days of release. 

Originally published December 27th:

EARLIER The biggest loser in this whole “Cats” mess is Taylor Swift. She became instantly identified with the movie even though she’s only in one scene. Some reviews the other day called the movie “Taylor Swift’s Cats.”

Swift wrote a song for the movie with Andrew Lloyd Webber called “Beautiful Ghosts.” It was not short listed for the Oscars’ Best Song category. That was a blow.

But now that the movie is a box office debacle with just $13 million in one week, Swift has another problem. “Beautiful Ghosts” has sold just 35K copies including streaming since it was released. Minus the streaming, there are only 12,000 downloads. It’s the biggest flop release of her career. And the song is good! What a mess.

The “Cats” soundtrack has done much worse. From December 20th through the 25th, the album has sold just 2.6K copies. That’s all downloads or CDs. There is no streaming.

Yes, it’s a disaster, but it shouldn’t be. There’s nothing wrong with the music on the “Cats” album. And Jennifer Hudson’s version of “Memory” is outstanding. Where are all those “Cats” fans from Broadway and the touring company?

Hey just a PS: one of the best Elton John songs for diehard fans is called “Friends.” It was from a 1971 movie no one ever saw– and I mean no one, not even Elton probably. Good songs outlast movies all the time!

Warner Bros. hasn’t had an easy time this year trying to break adult-oriented films. Several of them collapsed quickly and disappeared, from “The Goldfinch” to “Blinded by the Light.” (Does anyone even remember “The Good Liar”?) For some reason, none of them found audiences. Warner’s biggest successes were with “Joker” (part of the DC Universe) , and “It: Chapter Two.”

Now both Destin Daniel Cretton’s “Just Mercy” and Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell” have shown over the holiday that they want to be hits. “Just Mercy” is in just 4 theaters but has made $228K since Christmas Day. “Richard Jewell” has logged $16 million, picking up steam and earning $1 million a day over the holiday.

But people I talk to have little to no idea that these films exist. “Just Mercy,” especially, draws question marks from anyone I’ve mentioned it to. This is crazy. Premiering at the Toronto Film Festival in September to excellent reviews, “Just Mercy” just disappeared from anyone’s radar. The director, Destin Daniel Cretton, also vanished. On the East Coast, at least, he hasn’t been seen at all. Two weeks ago, at a very poorly organized event, the stars came but he was absent, just as he was AWOL at a strange lunch weeks earlier at the Monkey Bar in New York. The reason given was that he was shooting a Marvel movie in Australia. But by the more recent event, he was said to be back in L.A.

As for “Richard Jewell,” this film also had no New York premiere or media. They had their opening in Hollywood, at the American Film Institute festival, which is pretty low key and ineffective at selling movies on nationwide media. There was also a premiere in Atlanta, where the movie takes place. That move only antagonized the Atlanta Journal Constitution, which was already angry about the depiction of one of their reporters. The result is that “Richard Jewell,” like “Just Mercy,” has had to find an audience on its own, through word of mouth. And so it has, chipping away at it day by day.

I did think each of these films would be in the running for Best Picture. In “Jewell,” there are three easy Oscar nominations in Sam Rockwell, Paul Walter Hauser, and Kathy Bates. In “Just Mercy,” Jamie Foxx, Michael B. Jordan, Tim Blake Nelson, and Rob Morgan are powerful presences. Brie Larson put herself in the film to help Cretton, who gave her her big break. Luckily, at least the SAG Awards found Foxx and nominated him. Oscar voters, who will receive ballots on January 2nd, would be wise to watch these films right now and see what they’ve been missing.

PS I don’t know about Los Angeles, but here in New York what we have not had this season are the lunches, dinners, and Q&As that in the past set the tone for smaller movies such as these. There are many reasons, I suppose. But I do think it’s hurt the films and performances by not getting the stories out to the Academy voters, and to the press.