James Gray’s “Ad Astra” is coming, and fast, like a meteor about to hit Earth. We have now have a surprise second trailer for the Brad Pitt- Liv Tyler- Tommy Lee Jones- Donald Sutherland space opera. The space visuals are very, very cool, and now the trailer really delineates the father- son relationship. Can this be Brad Pitt’s Oscar time? Everyone hopes so. It’s important for “Ad Astra,” one of the last films from 20th Century Fox, to be a hit. But there is a fear that this will be “First Man” all over again– great reviews, highly respected, and then no audience. Cross fingers against that. (And watch “First Man,” a great movie.)
Divorce! Sony Splits with Disney Over Spider Man, Separating Peter Parker Once Again from Marvel Universe
Spider Man is an orphan once again, and Tom Holland, the current Peter Parker, could be out of a job.
Sony Pictures apparently refused to make a 50/50 deal with Disney-Marvel over the latter’s participation going forward with Spider Man movies. The result is that Spider Man will return to Sony without his Marvel buddies, to start his own universe. The Avengers, with whom Spider Man has been involved now for several movies including the colossus “Endgame,” will go on without him.
For eons, Spider Man had been parked at Sony getting his own movies. Then the Marvel Universe took off at Disney. The studios reached an agreement so that Spider Man could be part of the Marvel gang in Disney movies. The Marvel characters then appeared, at last, in the recent two Spider Man movies starring Tom Holland. Disney was paid a small fee for the exchange.
But now according to reports Marvel’s Kevin Feige– who waved a magic wand over Spider Man: Homecoming, and Far From Home — will not continue to work with Sony’s Tom Rothman or the studio. He’s out. Reports say Rothman wouldn’t even talk to Disney.
“Far from Home” has turned out to be Sony’s highest grossing movie ever. Sony should be sending thank you notes to Feige. After all, the last set of Spider Man movies did not work out so well. But now Sony has called for a divorce. It’s not going to end well.
Disney-Marvel and Feige must be shocked. They weaved Spider Man into their films as the successor to Robert Downey, Jr.’s Iron Man. That plot line and character arc is now gone. At Sony, their choice will be whether to proceed with Tom Holland in more movies, or cut him loose and start over again. Sony has a history of killing the Spider Man franchise when it’s successful. They did it to Tobey Maguire when they replaced with Andrew Garfield. Now they may do it again.
Don’t worry about Tom Holland. He’s 23, loaded, and very talented. The world is his oyster. But for Marvel movie fans, it’s a big loss.
Taylor Swift’s New Album Drops Friday with Big Expectations, But So Far the Signs Aren’t There
On Friday, Taylor Swift drops her new album, “Lover.” My friends over at hitsdailydouble are hoping it will sell a million copies in its first week. All of her previously albums have sold a million in their debut weeks. No pressure at all!
But so far, Taylor’s sales for the first singles from the album aren’t so swift. And her streaming numbers are terrible.
On Apple Music today, Taylor’s newest single, which I like so much, “Lover,” is not number 1 or in the top 120 or 20. It’s an alarming number 33.
On Spotify, “Lover” has had a very poor 13.8 million streams. That sounds like a lot but isn’t. The single that came right before it, “The Archer,” has streamed 34.3 million times. That’s also not a lot.
The two hits from this new album were “Me!” with Brandon Urie, and “You Have to Calm Down.” They actually did get a lot of streaming–239 million and 159 million respectively, although frankly, the first one–“Me!”– is the success. In sales, “Me!” has sold 1.4 million copies — mostly streaming, with 400K in downloads.
Streaming has not been Taylor’s strong suit so far. But streaming is now much more important than downloads. According to Buzz Angle, since its release last week “Lover” sold only 25,000 copies. Including streaming, the sales total is 80,000.
The “Lover” album will have 14 songs we haven’t heard, plus the 4 singles already released. So there’s plenty of room for more hits that will drive sales of the album. But so far, prognosticators need to calm down. “Lover” may not smash records on day 1.
James Bond 25 Finally Gets a Title, And it’s Upbeat Enough to Suggest 007 Will Be In Lots More Movies
Drum roll…
The title of James Bond 25 is “No Time to Die.”
It’s upbeat enough to suggest 007 will be back for more adventures after this one, and Daniel Craig’s title character will not be exiting this mortal coil any time soon.
I like it. Even though this is Craig’s last mission, we can look forward to more James Bond for eons to come.
“No Time to Die” hits theaters next April. We know the cast– Rami Malek, Christoph Waltz, etc plus Ralph Fiennes and Ben Whishaw. So now, the big question, who will sing the song? “No Time to Die” is perfect for a song title. And you can already hear Adele’s voice, can’t you? But will it be her? Or someone new?
That’s the cliffhanger!
Elton John is Angry about UK Press Treatment of His French Vacation for Prince Harry and Meghan, And He’s Right
Elton John is absolutely right to be angry about press treatment of his French vacation for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. I don’t understand this constant obsessing over this couple, and the incredible criticism. Elton says he flew them to Nice in his private plane– and that he paid for their carbon footprint. What were they supposed to do? Easy Jet? Are you kidding? People are much more daft than they used to be. Elton can do what he damn pleases. Harry’s mother was his close friend. He doesn’t have to explain himself.
Here’s what Sir Elton says:
“I am deeply distressed by today’s distorted and malicious account in the press surrounding the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s private stay at my home in Nice last week.
“Prince Harry’s Mother, Diana Princess Of Wales was one of my dearest friends. I feel a profound sense of obligation to protect Harry and his family from the unnecessary press intrusion that contributed to Diana’s untimely death.
After a hectic year continuing their hard work and dedication to charity, David and I wanted the young family to have a private holiday inside the safety and tranquility of our home. To maintain a high level of much-needed protection, we provided them with a private jet flight. To support Prince Harry’s commitment to the environment, we ensured their flight was carbon neutral, by making the appropriate contribution to Carbon Footprint™
“I highly respect and applaud both Harry and Meghan’s commitment to charity and I’m calling on the press to cease these relentless and untrue assassinations on their character that are spuriously crafted on an almost daily basis.”
Bruce Springsteen Reveals in “Western Stars” Documentary: “I’ve spent 35 years trying to learn how to let go of the destructive parts of my character”
Bruce Springsteen has already been pretty revealing in his autobiography, “Born to Run,” the book, and in his Broadway play (now nominated for an Emmy Award).
But in the trailer for the documentary he’s made about his excellent new album “Western Stars,” Bruce admits: “I’ve spent 35 years trying to learn to let go of the destructive parts of my character.”
“Western Stars” will debut at TIFF, then Warner Bros. will open it in October. “Western Stars” the album should win the Grammy for Album of the Year if it’s placed in the right category and the mysterious Grammy committee admits it’s the best album of 2019. Which it is. Not Pop, Traditional, Americana or some other nonsense. Best Album.
Here’s the trailer:
Billionaire to the Rescue: Oracle’s Larry Ellison Cleaning Up Daughter Megan’s Debt on Annapurna Pictures
Annapurna Pictures’ Megan Ellison is independent and very smart, but her Annapurna Pictures has dug itself into a hole. This weekend’s release of “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?” was the last straw, with just $3.4 million taken in over three days. It’s a bust.
“Bernadette” follows a string of failures, most of them better reviewed than “Bernadette” but none of them commercial successes. This is all since Megan decided to become her own distributor and not partner up on her quality releases. And she’s had them, too, with “Zero Dark Thirty,” “American Hustle,” and so on.
Deadline.com reports now that Megan’s dad, Larry, founder of Oracle software, and a massive billionaire, is paying off Annapurna’s debuts of over $200 million setting the ship right. No, not everyone can do this when their business founders. Indeed, most companies would file for bankruptcy. But Larry won’t let that happen to his daughter. And $200 million is a drop in the bucket for him. So it’s all good.
But Annapurna has to take a look at what’s happened here. They’ve had some huge failures, like “The Sisters Brothers.” They had a chance with “Booksmart,” and blew it. Two summers ago they just dumped Kathryn Bigelow’s “Detroit” instead of waiting for Oscar season. Another colossal disaster. Annapurna has suffered from no PR and no marketing. Instead of attracting press, they repel it. That’s got to change. Megan Ellison has to get some smart people into the office, ones to whom she’ll listen. Then Annapurna can rise from the ashes of this chapter.
Listen to 3 Versions of The Beatles’ “Something” from “Abbey Road” 50th Anniversary Edition Remixed, Demo, and Instrumental
You can now listen to three new versions of The Beatles’ “Something,” one of George Harrison’s masterpieces, on YouTube and on Amazon. I’ve posted the YouTube links here.
These are from the upcoming 50th anniversary edition of “Abbey Road,” due September 27th. There are several iterations– CD, CD and vinyl, vinyl alone.
All the songs have been remixed by Giles Martin and his team the same as “Sgt. Pepper,” “The White Album,” and the “1” album. Just doing an A/B comparison between the remastered “Abbey Road” from the 2009 black box set is a mind blower. It’s as if someone removed a muffling device from the 2009 version — and we thought then that that was incredible improvement!
Ringo, for one, should be jumping up and down. His magnificent drums roll like thunder now when needed, and are light as feathers as well. George’s guitar solo now crackles, it actually “speaks” so expressively. And listen to the demo version, which (I don’t know) maybe only collectors had, but I don’t think so.
“Abbey Road” 50th was hard to assemble because some of it had turned up in other places in bits and pieces. But now it’s remixed so vibrantly, I can’t wait to hear the rest of it.
Something-remixed
Something-demo
Something– instrumental
Ellen Barkin Succinctly Answers Question Why She Was Killed off “Animal Kingdom” TV Series After 4 Seasons
I wrote the other day that Ellen Barkin was killed off her TNT series, “Animal Kingdom,” after four seasons. At the same time, she left her talent agency, CAA, and BFF Bryan Lourd, after 12 years.
Some fans speculated that Ellen wanted out. Let me tell you, no actor really wants off a TV series. If they leave, it’s usually because of a failed negotiation, i.e. money. But Barkin is loaded, so that wasn’t the reason. It wasn’t her decision, clearly, to have Smurf shoot herself in the head.
So what was it? A fan with few Twitter followers wrote in and asked Barkin a simple question: WHY? She answered succinctly: “65 year old woman.”
Ouch!
65 year old woman
— Ellen Barkin (@EllenBarkin) August 17, 2019
Ellen Barkin, kids, is hot. She doesn’t look like a “65 year old woman.” But she’s made her point. And even though “Animal Kingdom” the movie was centered on a mother who rules her unruly brood of gangster sons, the series will now go on with just young people. How crappy is that? My guess is that without Barkin, the bottom drops out of whatever ratings they had.
But will outspoken Barkin speak about ageism and what happened to her? Or she is bound by an NDA? I sure hope not. I’ve never known Ellen to be anything but forthright on every subject. Stay tuned…
Where’d Ya Go, Audience? $3.4 Mil Box Office Bust for “Bernadette,” Dumped Richard Linklater-Cate Blanchett Film
I promised this headline, so here it is: Where’d ya go, Bernadette? Richard Linklater’s comedy starring Cate Blanchett, based on a best selling book, scored just $3.4 million this weekend. It’s the lowest Linklater opening, it’s pretty low for Blanchett, a two time Oscar winner.
Linklater’s oeuvre is indie films, but for an indie film in wide release, “Bernadette” is a disaster. It’s a disaster we knew was coming, however. Originally scheduled for last winter, “Bernadette” was held and supposedly tweaked. But the damage was done.
Rotten Tomatoes has it 43%. Annapurna Pictures, which can’t get out of its own way, held the premiere way downtown, stealthily. Their August release date for a Blanchett-Linklater film signaled anyone who cared that this was not a festival or prestige film. “Bernadette” was dumped.
At least Annapurna’s other recent failure, “Booksmart,” made $22 million. “Bernadette” will not get that far. Annapurna, now releasing as United Artists Releasing, has released four films this year and taken it a total of $104 million. They’re waiting, I guess, for the MGM James Bond film, set for next spring. But by that time their staplers will be empty and they’ll have to dog ear memos without paper clips.
Could “Bernadette” have been saved? A Hail Mary pass might be bringing it to Toronto, and launching Cate into a thin (so far) Best Actress crowd, made a big deal at the Gotham Awards (where Cate and Richard would have been hailed as heroes). But Annapurna is marketing-and-publicity-free. No effort was better than anything else, I guess.