Sunday, December 21, 2025
Donate
Home Blog Page 1303

Actor Jason Priestley Deletes Tweets Claiming He Hit Harvey Weinstein at a Hollywood Party in 1995

Roger Friedman
-
0
Actor Jason Priestley Deletes Tweets Claiming He Hit Harvey Weinstein at a Hollywood Party in 1995

UPDATE: Priestley writes extensively about his very bad drinking problem in his 2014 memoir. He’s been in and out of rehab, crashed cars, been arrested. If the Weinstein episode did occur, it is NOT even alluded to in the memoir. So, please.

EARLIER Just to catch you up: overnight, “Beverly Hills 90210” actor Jason Priestley claimed he “punched Harvey Weinstein in the face” in a series of Tweets. The incident occurred, he said, in 1995 at the Miramax Golden Globes party. Priestley thought he was being removed from the party. When he queried Weinstein, the movie mogul said he didn’t have to leave and that they should talk about. That’s when Priestley took a swing at Weinstein, he says.

The Tweets have now been removed. They exist only in archive and re-Tweets. But think about it: why was Priestley being asked to leave the party in the first place? And if Weinstein told him it wasn’t so, why did Priestley hit him? It makes no sense.

Weinstein’s been revealed to have done terrible things to women. But some of these subsidiary stories don’t make sense. Someone named Tara Strong started this on Twitter, saying she thought maybe Weinstein had hurt Priestley’s career as retribution. Really? Jason Priestley was a middling TV actor. His claim to fame was “Beverly Hills 90210.” He was never really in movies, and certainly not in the category of Miramax actors. So let’s get a grip here. Brandon Walsh was never going to  deliver the King’s Speech.

Nest thing you know, Ian Ziering is going to say he was blacklisted from being in “Chicago.” Come on everyone.

 

Box Office: “Star Wars” Blockbuster $220 Mil Weekend Still Falls Short of “Force Awakens” As Series Reaches “End”

Roger Friedman
-
0
Box Office: “Star Wars” Blockbuster $220 Mil Weekend Still Falls Short of “Force Awakens” As Series Reaches “End”

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is a huge hit, with a $220 million weekend (including $45 million from Thursday night).

That’s a massive take for Disney, but remember: “”The Force Awakens” took in $247 million two years ago. That’s a difference of $27 million. That’s a lot of money since no movie on the box list this weekend made that much by a long shot.

With this movie, “Star Wars” reaches a chapter ending. Of a long chapter. J.J. Abrams will have to really pull a Porg out of his hat to make Episode 9 special since the original “Star Wars” now consists just of C-3PO and R2D2. And by 9, they’ll be reminiscing in a nursing home.

It should be noted that “Jedi” fell off every day over the weekend in steep decline after the first Thurs-Fri rush: FRI – $104.8M (incl $45M THU pre-shows) SAT – $64M (-39%) SUN – $51.3M. That’s not a good omen at all.

Indeed, there were a couple of real disappointments at a lower level this weekend. Fox’s animated “Ferdinand” did just $13 million. It cost around $115 million. Even if holiday traffic picks up, that doesn’t bode well for Fox Animation in light of the Disney merger. I’m sure there’s going to a big kerfuffle over what Disney Animation does with the Fox animators. It won’t be pretty.

Then, James Franco’s “The Disaster Artist” became an actual disaster over night. This odd cult comedy dropped 59% after a very impressive debut last weekend. Not even Franco’s hosting of “SNL” helped bring in business. In fact, that might have hurt things. “The Disaster Artist” evidently soaked up its audience right away.

Maybe you’re like me. I never heard of Tommy Wiseau or his bad movie “The Room” before “The Disaster Artist” was unveiled. The whole thing seemed like an inside joke among stoners. Franco is a good director who continues to choose strange material. “The Disaster Artist” is pretty much over.

For A24, this means they can get back to “Lady Bird,” a movie everyone should see and has that famous 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. So far “Lady Bird” has underperformed. Maybe A24 will refocus their efforts.

Box Office: “Last Jedi” Scores Slightly Lower Opening Day than “The Force Awakens” as Fans Learn Luke Skywalker’s Fate

Roger Friedman
-
0
Box Office: “Last Jedi” Scores Slightly Lower Opening Day than “The Force Awakens” as Fans Learn Luke Skywalker’s Fate

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” had a whopping opening on Friday, including Thursday previews of $45 million: total

But it’s not a record for the franchise. Two years ago, “The Force Awakens” had a two-day opening (Thursday previews, Friday opening) of $119,119,182.

Over the last 48 hours, fans learned the fate of Luke Skywalker, the central character for forty years. (I won’t say what it is, but he’ll only be back as a memory.)

The opening take was $104.8 million. That’s a difference of $14 million, which isn’t terrible but you would think “Jedi” would be a little higher given that this is IT in many ways, a sayonara to the old Star Wars. Maybe as word of mouth increases today more people will turn out. Still, $105 million is more than the rest of the whole box office all together. You can’t beat that.

Rare Oscar Reunion: Mozart and Salieri from 1985 Winner “Amadeus” Toast Annette Bening, Everyone Goes Mad

Roger Friedman
-
0
Rare Oscar Reunion: Mozart and Salieri from 1985 Winner “Amadeus” Toast Annette Bening, Everyone Goes Mad

“Wolfgang Ah-mah-de-us Mozart!”

salieriAnyone who was alive in 1985 will remember F. Murray Abraham’s thundering intonation as composer Antonio Salieri torturing and taunting poor Wolfie Mozart (Tom Hulce) in the Oscar winning “Amadeus.” And though Abraham and Hulce have each worked a lot in the 32 years hence, they have rarely if ever been seen together since.

Until Thursday night, that is. The pair of former rivals ran into each at the Museum of the Moving Image annual gala on Park Avenue. With the help of Sony Pictures Classics’ Tom Bernard, I was able to get them into this photo. A crowd formed immediately.

Even though he was prodded, Abraham declined to utter that key phrase from which you could not escape in 1985 as “Amadeus” scooped him up 8 Oscars including Abraham’s Best Actor, and more statues for Picture, Director (Milos Forman) and Screenplay (Peter Shaffer).

amadeus-1600x900-c-defaultHulce, who was nominated for Best Actor, is now producing. He’s credited on Michael Mayer’s upcoming film of Chekhov’s “The Seagull” starring the MMI night’s honoree Annette Bening along with Saoirse Ronan, Elisabeth Moss, and Brian Dennehy.

Abraham, of course, is seen on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” He’s also featured — and is great — in Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories.”

The two men composed themselves (rim shot!) and moved on to meet and greet a lot of celebrities in the house including Warren Beatty, Jamie Bell (Annette’s co-star in “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool”), Kate Mara (Jamie’s wife), Bob Balaban, Brenda Vaccaro, Bruce Vilanch, and James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, who kept it low key and was alone, sans wife Rachel Weisz.

 

photo c2017Showbiz411

Son of Legendary Actress Patty Duke Found She’d “Endorsed” FCC Anti-Neutrality–A Year After She Died!

Roger Friedman
-
0
Son of Legendary Actress Patty Duke Found She’d “Endorsed” FCC Anti-Neutrality–A Year After She Died!

Actor Mackenzie Astin is the brother of Sean Astin. Their mother was the great Patty Duke (real name Anna Pearce).

MacKenzie has Tweeted FCC chairman Ajit Pai that he’s found three endorsements of the new anti-net neutrality law on line– more than a year after she died.

He writes: “Hey, @AjitPaiFCC, today my mom would have turned 71. But she didn’t. Because she died in March of 2016. Can you please take the time to explain to me how she made three separate comments in support of ending #NetNeutrality more than a year after she died?”

Stay tuned…

Sony Music’s Columbia Records Throws Away New Barbra Streisand Album, Sells Just Under 12,000 Copies

Roger Friedman
-
0
Sony Music’s Columbia Records Throws Away New Barbra Streisand Album, Sells Just Under 12,000 Copies

The word ‘Columbia’ does not appear anywhere among the top 50 albums this week, or last. Columbia Records, Sony Music’s main label, has no albums on the charts and hasn’t for some time.

So you’d think a Barbra Streisand album of her singing her hits live, from a Netflix special, would have merited some action. Streisand’s 2014 release, “Partners,” sold 196,000 in its debut week.

Last week, I got excited that ‘Streisand will save Sony.’ But I was also evidently in this evaluation.

As of now, Streisand’s “The Music, The Mem’ries, The Magic” has sold fewer than 12,000 copies. And those were sales plus downloads. There wasn’t enough streaming to count into the total.

For some reason, the album was more or less a stealth release. Streisand as well as Sony did nothing for it. If they didn’t care for it, why put it out at all? The only reason could be to fulfill Streisand’s Columbia contract as yet another release.

All in all, peculiar to say the least.

 

Ed Sheeran Releases ANOTHER “Perfect” Duet, This Time with Andrea Bocelli: Who’s Next?

Roger Friedman
-
0
Ed Sheeran Releases ANOTHER “Perfect” Duet, This Time with Andrea Bocelli: Who’s Next?

First there was just Ed Sheeran singing “Perfect” on his “Divide” album.

Then a couple of weeks ago he released a new duet version with “Beyonce.” Now both the original and Beyonce’s duet are at the top of the charts.

Today Ed released a new version with Andrea Bocelli, arranged by his classical musician brother Matthew Sheeran.

Who’s next? Will this become a cottage industry? Is this Sheeran’s way of getting back at the Grammy Awards for ignoring him this year? Sheeran, it’s reported, will not appear at the Grammys since they snubbed him. But he will likely turn up at the special Elton John salute taping at MSG January 30th for play on CBS this spring. Sheeran is managed by Elton’s Rocket Entertainment.

Maybe an Ed-Elton “Perfect” duet is next? And so on and so on. It would be pretty good marketing to have a “Perfect” album of duets.

Eminem Sounds Like a Guest Artist on “Revival,” His Own Soft Boiled Egg of An Album

Roger Friedman
-
0
Eminem Sounds Like a Guest Artist on “Revival,” His Own Soft Boiled Egg of An Album

Eminem fans must be scratching their heads right now.

On his new soft boiled egg of an album, “Revival,” Marshall Mathers sounds like a guest star not the primary artist.

“Revival” features Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, Skylar Grey, X Ambassadors, Pink, and Khelani. They’re all singing and playing and acting like Em has made a cameo on their records.

There are also many credited samples of other material, it’s hard to find Eminem in the mix. The final track, “Arose,” credits Barry White, Bette Midler’s “The Rose, and Rufus Thomas. Is there anyone he forgot?

The problem is that Eminem, presented with the Trump era and so much to rap about, doesn’t seem to have any idea what he’s doing. He’s rich, middle aged and still complaining about the same things that made him a young star. He’s a rebel without a cause when there are now so many actual things to rebel against.

It’s too bad: a new generation of fans may come to “Revival” because of all those guest stars and not for the real Eminem. They’ll think of him as a talk show host introducing pop star acts. Next stop: Caesar’s Palace.

“Star Wars” Burn Out? “Last Jedi” Thursday Night Box Office Falls Short of “Force Awakens” by $12 Million

Roger Friedman
-
0
“Star Wars” Burn Out? “Last Jedi” Thursday Night Box Office Falls Short of “Force Awakens” by $12 Million

It’s good news and who knows what news for Disney and Lucas Film this morning.

Last night, “The Last Jedi” scored $45 million in preview shows around the US. That’s the second highest Thursday preview opening ever, behind “The Force Awakens,” so that’s good news.

But the WTH news is that “The Force Awakens” did $57 million on its Thursday previews two years ago. In between there was “Rogue One” with a $29 million preview Thursday last year.

So what the heck? Is there “Star Wars” burn out with movies three years in a row? Could be.

Otherwise, “Jedi” picked up $60 million in international box office over the last couple of days.

Disney/Lucas Films wants a $200 million plus blockbuster break all records weekend. Now it’s unclear if “Jedi” can do that as it’s running 25% behind “Force.”

Believe me, “Star Wars” fans, you don’t want to miss this one. This is the Big One.

Disney Buys Fox Movies & TV, Gets Potential Oscar Winners, Nominees and Films For Adults At Last

Roger Friedman
-
0
Disney Buys Fox Movies & TV, Gets Potential Oscar Winners, Nominees and Films For Adults At Last

Disney is buying 20th Century Fox today for $52 billion. They get the movie and TV studio but not Fox News or Sports, or the 20th lot at Pico and Motor in Century City.

Rupert Murdoch unloads the part of his business that he never had any feel for, and begins downsizing his empire. He holds on to the press control he so relishes. But he’s off the red carpet.

What Disney gets is a lot for that $52 billion. Already a powerhouse with their own animation, Marvel, Pixar, and LucasFilm, now Disney obtains something out of its reach for a long time: serious movies for adults.

In “big” Fox it gets Stacey Snider, who’s a great studio head, along with Steven Spielberg’s movie “The Post” with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. Disney could wind up with this year’s Oscar winner.

But they could also have the Oscar winner with one of the films from Fox Searchlight, the part of Fox that makes and distributes consistently good movies. Nancy Utley and Steve Gilula have done a masterful job. This year they have “The Shape of Water” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” in the Oscar race, each heading for Best Picture nominations.

Disney has long coveted some way of making those kinds of quality movies with live people in them and no comic book characters, etc. They had Miramax years ago but let it leave in 2004. Now they will be players in a nice new arena.

And of course, Wolverine and the X Men will be reunited with Marvel.

There’s a lot more synergy, and certainly the whole streaming issue will now be to their advantage with the Fox libraries of movie and TV shows.

As far as the Fox lot goes, who knows what the Murdochs will do with it? They’re sitting on a ton of movie sets and memorabilia. It’s not clear whether all of that will move to Burbank. Maybe Rupert will convert the lot back into a residential neighborhood. It’s the end of an era, to be sure.

1...1,3021,3031,304...2,324Page 1,303 of 2,324

Hollywood to the Hudson

Company

Trending

Categories

© Showbiz411.com