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“Jojo Rabbit” Box Office Struggling as Word of Mouth Spreads, New Yorker Calls it “The world’s unfunniest comedy made in pursuit of success”

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“Jojo Rabbit” is headed for the dust bin of movie history if early box office numbers are any indication.

Over the last four days, the extremely wrong “satire about the Nazis and Hitler” has lost audience in the five theaters that are saddled with it.

On Tuesday (yesterday) “Jojo Rabbit” was the only new movie to lose audience from the previous day. Monday and Tuesday, especially, are big movie nights for adults. On Tuesday, when everything else was up with big numbers (Joker up 39%, even Gemini Man was up 62%) “Jojo” was down by 1%. By contrast, “The Lighthouse,” with Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson– in black and white, grim, art house, in three more theaters–was up by 13%.

That no one who sees “Jojo Rabbit” would recommend it is not a surprise. But my guess is those who do see it tell their friends to forget it. Whatever director Taika Waititi had in mind went very wrong. To any Jewish audience, this movie is anti-Semitic. I said that at the Toronto Film Festival, and I’ll stick with it. No one wants to sit through an hour or more of “Jews are bad” (and I’m putting this mildly) and then get the Anne Frank story.

On top of that, sensible, serious reviewers are weighing in. Richard Brody says in The New Yorker that “Jojo Rabbit” is “the world’s unfunniest comedy made in pursuit of success.”

It’s not just Waititi misses the mark on satire, or completely misunderstood “The Producers.” At a time when hate crimes are up, anti-Semitic attacks have increased, and there is no guidance from our leaders– particularly Donald Trump — in denouncing these attacks, “Jojo Rabbit” is a recipe for trouble. I can’t imagine audiences enjoying its message. As it is, there were walkouts at the Hamptons Film Festival. And, now from the look of things, there won’t be walk-ins.

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker Will Include At Least One Surprise Return with Hayden Christensen Reprising Anakin (aka Darth Vader), Harrison Ford Likely, Too

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EXCLUSIVE Hayden Christensen is definitely redux in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” I am told this is confirmed, Anakin Skywalker, who became Darth Vader, is the grandfather of evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). The word is he will appear as a force ghost, just as Yoda returned in “The Last Jedi.” Christensen is said to have filmed his scenes last year.

There were rumors of Anakin’s return in September and even last April. But I’m told it’s solid, Christensen is back, and that his appearance will give a jolt to his dormant career. He’s mostly been in D list movies the last few years. He’s always been kind of a wooden actor, although I liked him as Bob Dylan in “Factory Girl.”

Anakin appeared in “Attack of the Clones” and “Return of the Sith” aka Episodes 2 and 3 of the George Lucas prequels. Why bring him back? I’m told that JJ Abrams will slavishly wrap up the 42 years of “Star Wars” by dotting every i and crossing every t. (Please god that doesn’t mean Jar Jar Binks, however.) Anakin will tie together all the “Star Wars” movies and Abrams makes “Rise” his “Gotterdammerung.” (See Wagner.)

There is also strong possibility we’ll see Harrison Ford as Han Solo one last time. Remember, I told you this. Knowing JJ, there’s quite possibly a final shot of Han, Luke, and Leia to make the audience burst into tears. So stand by.

 

Paul McCartney “Looking for Changes,” Issues Animated Video for 1993 Protest Song Against Animal Testing, for PETA

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Paul McCartney has always been an avowed animal rights activist. His second album was called Ram, and he was never sheepish about his devotion to protecting four legged friends. Now he’s issued a video for a 1993 protest song (it’s very good — he can write catchy songs, did you know?) called “Looking For Changes.” McCartney did this for PETA, everyone should start singing along and getting with the program. (Personally, I never tested my cats, they always failed!) Good work, Paul!

Lyrics

I saw a cat with a machine in his brain
The man who fed him said
He didn’t feel any pain
I’d like to see that man take out that machine
And stick it in his own brain
You know what I mean

I saw a rabbit with its eyes full of tears
The lab that owned her had
Been doing it for years
Why don’t we make them pay for every last eye
That couldn’t cry its own tears
Do you know what I mean

When I tell you that we’ll all be
Looking for changes
Changes in the way we treat our fellow creatures
And we will learn how to grow

Well I tell you that we’ll all be
Looking for changes
Changes in the way we treat our fellow creatures
And we will learn how to grow,
When we’re looking for changes

I saw a monkey that was learning to choke
A guy beside him gave him cigarettes to smoke
And every time that monkey started to cough
The bastard laughed his head off
Do you know what I mean

When I tell you that we’ll all be
Looking for changes
Changes in the way we treat our fellow creatures
And we will learn how to grow

When we’re looking for changes
We’re looking for changes
We’re looking for changes
We’re looking for changes in the way we are

The Joker, aka Arthur Fleck, aka Joaquin Phoenix Wasn’t the First to Immortalize Grand Concourse Steps: That was Rhoda

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Suddenly, the Grand Concourse is back in fashion. This is thanks to “Joker,” and the scene in which Arthur Fleck aka Joaquin Phoenix, dances jubilantly down the stairs on Shakespeare Avenue in the Bronx.

But you know, everything old is new again. Arthur Fleck wasn’t the first screen character to immortalize the steps on the Grand Concourse. Rhoda Morgenstern did it first, on October 28, 1974.

Rhoda, aka Valerie Harper, ran UP, not down, the big double stairs on the Concourse when Phyllis (Cloris Lindstrom) failed to pick her up for her wedding. Rhoda’s Wedding was as big a hit on TV as Joker is now in the movies. 52 million people watched that show, half the viewing audience for the night.

Remember? It’s a lot easier to go down then to come up those stairs, especially in a wedding gown and heels. Alas, Rhoda’s marriage to Joe was a disaster, and they divorced. But the episode remains one of the funniest and cleverest of all time. (And “Mary Tyler Moore” creator Jim Brooks rides the subway with Rhoda when she can’t find a cab.)

Rhoda’s Wedding

Carly Simon Spends 3 Hours Signing “Jackie” Books for Fans, Drops Newly Mixed Single Also Named “Touched by the Sun”

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Barnes & Noble in Union Square doesn’t often get bona fide rock stars to sign books for fans. But they did Tuesday night, despite raw weather, a cold steady rain, and the World Series starting on TV.

The rock star was Carly Simon, who filled the 4th floor stage area of B&N with appreciative fans who waited 30 minutes past the scheduled time of 7pm to see the singer of “You’re So Vain” and dozens of other hits. (Carly is still not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is nuts.)

They got to see a short Q&A between Carly and moderator Bill Goldstein of the New York Times Book Review online. Simon was decked out in a pants suit covered by a snazzy sparkly scarf. She wore very hip sunglasses she’d purchased at Barneys earlier in the day along with a gold watch she gifted herself. (They don’t have such meta-department stores on Martha’s Vineyard, you know.)

The book is called “Touched by the Sun: My Friendship with Jackie,” and it’s already number 6 on amazon.com best seller list after a few hours. It’s a touching and somewhat revealing look at the most famous and private first lady in the last years of her life.

The title of the book is taken from a song Carly wrote for Jackie in the early 90s, and appeared on a couple of her albums. To commemorate the occasion, Simon asked her long time producer/mixer/engineer Frank Filipetti to remix the track from her “Live at Grand Central” concert. They released the new version today. “Live at Grand Central” was Jackie’s idea, Carly said. Onassis was a huge reason Grand Central Station was restored in the 1980s.

Carly played the show on April 2, 1995, almost a year after Onassis died. The concert aired on Lifetime, was issued on VHS, and has since disappeared. But soon the whole album will be released in remixed form on CD, DVD, and for streaming. Watch this space.

 

Actor Daniel Goddard Out at “Young and the Restless” After 13 Years as Show Fights for Its Ratings Life

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Six weeks ago, when I was in Los Angeles for the Emmy Awards, a source close to “The Young and the REstless” told me they were letting go of Daniel Goddard. The Australian actor had played Cane Ashby for 13 years. “He doesn’t know it, but he’s out,” this source told me. “They’ve been trying to get rid of him for a long time.”

And now it’s happened. Goddard announced his exit on social media on Tuesday afternoon. I think he was surprised. The only reason I didn’t write it was, it would have been mean. I didn’t want to surprise him myself. Goddard is eminently employable on other soaps, easily. He could go to prime time, too. He won’t have trouble finding work.

Ratings for “Young and the Restless” are slightly up in the most recent report, but that’s relative. They are way down from last year and two years ago. The head of CBS Daytime is gone. As I told you the other day, Drew Barrymore’s CBS talk show is threatening the existence of “Y&R” and “Bold and the Beautiful.” Both shows will be paring down and tightening up to meet new challenges.

In Goddard’s case, he lost two co-stars, Kristoff St. John (who died suddenly this year) and Christel Khalil. Without them, his character was left dangling. He would be a shot in the arm to either “General Hospital” or “Days of our Lives.” One of them will pick him up. As for “Y&R,” they’d better get it together soon.

Gladys Knight Celebrates Her 75th Birthday Six Months Late, But in Style, With A List Crowd and “Midnight Train to Georgia”

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Even though the Goddess known as Gladys Knight turned 75 this past May 28th, it’s never too late to celebrate her birthday. Two nights ago, her pals did just that Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Jazz Grill in Bel Air. Gladys is currently on a world tour but took a break with her husband William McDowell to be feted at the event, which was dubbed One Knight in October.

Produced and hosted by Rafi Anteby aka “Rafi’ the Israeli born self-described “man behind the scenes,” a good friend of Gladys and her husband, Rafi is also the creator of the successful jewelry line, The Domino Effect and “Bullets For Peace.” Rafi explained, “I care about people who do good in the world, and Gladys is one of them.”

Known as the “Empress of Soul,” she was worshiped by her fellow artists which included Diane Warren, David and Katherine (McPhee) Foster, Tommy Chong, Terry Crews, Loni Love, Billy Dee Williams, La Toya Jackson, George Wallace, Dorit and PK Kemsley and more.

The evening led off with gushy videotaped messages from Jaime Foxx, Smokey Robinson, Chrissy Metz, Linda Thompson and Motown’s Berry Gordy. Then came a lovely video retrospective of her storied career and life. which was followed by powerhouse performances by Taylor Dayne, Chante Moore, Freda Payne, V. Bozeman, Brie Capone, Louis Price and Al. B. Sure!

MAJOR, a Grammy nominated singer, performed his smash song, “Why I Love You,” changing the lyrics to make them Gladys-centric. Lala Hathaway sang Happy Birthday to Gladys with the requisite over the top cake, before Gladys took the stage and gave us her smash hits,  “Love Overboard,” “Neither One Of Us,” and closed out with “Midnight Train to Georgia.” Gladys told me that “God put me here. I’m so blessed. I’ve been through a lot over the years. But his plan for me was to still be around, still performing which I love to do. I’m trying to make the most of every moment.”

Well Gladys, your fans in the industry and out, can’t get enough of you! You are indeed our soul “Empress!”

 

Photos cShowbiz411 2019 by Leah Sydney

Talking Really Dead: “Walking Dead” Drops to Its Lowest Rating Ever, 13 Million Viewers Are Gone Since Its High

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There was a time when 17 million people tuned in on a Sunday night to see “The Walking Dead.” That time is over.

Now in its 10th season on AMC< the show itself is a zombie, left to walk dead with a fraction of its fans. Who knows why they're still watching it? On Sunday, just 3.5 million watched the show. That was down slightly from the prior week, but off by over a half million people from the first week of this season, which was 4 million. The key demo has dropped each week as well, whittling away from 1.44 to 1.19. Sunday night football has made a big recovery, so that's drawn off viewers. But also, the show should be over. Andrew Lincoln and many other actors are gone. The zombies won, frankly. Now we'll just watch as the numbers drain down over this season to nothing. Listen: fewer people are now watching "Walking Dead" than watch a daytime soap opera or game show.

Hear Prince in a Rare Acoustic 1979 Demo of “I Feel for You,” Song Made Popular by Chaka Khan

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The Prince estate has released a rare acoustic demo of “I Feel for You,” the song Prince wrote and sang on his second album in 1979. “I Feel for You” went on to become a gigantic hit for Chaka Khan in 1984. Prince was 20 in 1978-79. Wow! We miss him a lot.

Prince, 1979

Chaka Khan, 1984

The Next Straight to Video Bruce Willis Movie, “Trauma Center,” Looks Terrible, Last One Made $13,679

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The latest in a trilogy of straight to video D list movies with Bruce Willis is coming December 6th. “Trauma Center” looks like it cost four dollars. Bruce speaks haltingly in it, and not just because of the screenplay. It does seem like the main action is set on a young actress, Nicky Whelan, who is stalked in an empty hospital by killers until Bruce returns to save the day after leaving her there “safely.” Willis looks like maybe he worked a day or two. Same for Edward Norton’s “Motherless Brooklyn,” in which he disappears after 10 minutes.

“Trauma Center” is the middle piece of garbage after “10 Minutes Gone” — which had a total worldwide box office of $13,679 according to the Internet Movie Data Base– and before “The Long Night.” A couple more look like they’re in the planning stages. Whoever cut these deals is doing Bruce, who’s got to be wealthier than Zeus, no favors for his legacy. The movies are terrible, he’s not the star, and he looks and sounds terrible. The movies don’t play in the theaters, and they’re even hard to find on video platforms. Isn’t there a better way to deal with Bruce’s situation? He was a mega star at the box office, and charming as hell.

Nicky Whelan is the queen of D list movies. Her resume is a long recitation of titles you’ve never heard. She has the background, though: at least three movies with Nicolas Cage, whose Oscar is in the pawn shop.

PS Sylvester Stallone should write a funny screenplay for Bruce, Cage, and John Travolta called “VOD.”