Saturday, December 20, 2025
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Michael Jackson Exonerated: Second Sex Abuse Claim, by Jimmy Safechuck, Dismissed by Court

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The second young man who filed a posthumous sex claim case against Michael Jackson has had his hopes for a big payout dashed. LA Family Court judge Mitchell Beckloff has dismissed the case brought by Jimmy Safechuck, now 39, who was once one of the kids who stayed at Neverland and hung out with Jackson.

The dismissal of the Safechuck complaint comes after a similar dismissal of a complaint brought by dancer Wade Robson. His case was already gone, but a second part of it– filed against Michael’s business entities–is similar to Safechuck’s case. Robon’s part two will likely go the way of Safechuck’s.

Both Robson and Safechuck filed against Jackson’s estate years after the pop star’s death in 2009. Perhaps seeing that the estate was shutting down payouts and settlements of all kinds (most without merit) the pair lined up to what they could get. And the answer was, nothing.

Add their cases to Jackson’s acquittal in the 2005 child molestation case brought by Janet Arvizo on behalf of her son, Gavin. That case turned out to totally without merit, a fantasy, and a possible shakedown.

The one outstanding settlement Jackson made with a family was for the first claim, with Jordan Chandler, back in 1995. It’s pretty clear now that Jackson was frightened and accepted very bad advice to settle with the Chandlers rather than dispute their claim publicly. If only he had, Jackson might be alive today. Everything bad that happened to him followed from that debacle, and he never recovered.

None of Jackson’s eccentric behavior is erased from history. But at least his children breathe a sigh of relief that his legacy has been exonerated. It’s small consolation, I’m sure.

A tip of the hat to the website DailyMichael.com, which has done a great job following all these cases.

 

“Spider-Man” Saves Sony with $117 Million Weekend–Bigger than James Bond!

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Leonardo DiCaprio? Remember when he was the darling of Sony Pictures? We learned in the infamous hack they were flying him around on private planes for no reason.

Well, this weekend Sony gained two new heart throbs. Leo is yesterday’s news.

Tom Holland aka Peter Parker and Ansel Elgort aka Baby– stars respectively of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Baby Driver”– have saved the studio.

In Holland’s case, he’s bigger than James Bond and almost all other Spider-men except Tobey Maguire’s original film.

“Homecoming” is landing a $117 million weekend. Numbers are coming in. Stay tuned. Keep refreshing…

Beatles Fans: Ringo Starr Releases “Give More Love” on 77th Birthday, Title Track from New Album

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One of the great things about Sirius XM’s Beatles channel is that they are deep dives into Ringo Starr’s solo career. We’re not just hearing “It Don’t Come Easy” and “Photograph,” but lots of terrific tracks from Ringo’s many solo albums.

On the occasion of his 77th birthday on Friday, Ringo released “Give More Love,” the title track from a new forthcoming album full of guest stars from Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton to Paul McCartney. The album comes in September. Meantime, the song is very catchy. Peace and love, Ringo! Happy Birthday!

“Spider-Man: Homecoming” Swoops in for $50Mil Friday, Heads to $120 Mil Weekend

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Sony Pictures can breathe easy. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” is their biggest opening since the original “Spider Man” movie with Tobey Maguire in 2002.

Tom Holland, Michael Keaton and crew swept in last night for a $50 million opening night (including $15 million from Thursday previews). They’re on track for a $120 million weekend.

Sony’s biggest opening ever was the 3rd “Spider Man” movie in 2007 with $136 million.

The studio also has a solid hit right now with “Baby Driver.”

Former Sony chief Amy Pascal gets the last laugh because she produced “Homecoming” after being forced out of her job.

Kesha’s New Single “Praying” Is Number 2, Scores 6 Mil Views in 1 Day: “God, please just let me die. Being alive hurts too much”

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Kesha’s new single “Praying” comes finally after her public dispute with producer Dr. Luke, whom she claims raped her and held back her career. Dr. Luke denies all allegations and has countersued. He’s also lost his gig at Sony Music. Other pop stars who’ve taken Kesha’s side include Lady Gaga, Adele and Taylor Swift.

“Praying” is number 2 on iTunes and has scored over 6 million YouTube views since it was released last night.

Ben Stiller to Co Produce Netflix Comedy About Teen Bro Accidentally Cuts Off His (Ahem)

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Amazon is going one way with films– classy, upscale, Oscar level.

Netflix seems interested in going another way. They have a long term deal with Adam Sandler. Now this: Ben Stiller will co-produce a comedy called “Eggplant Emoji” about a bunch of teen guys who go on a camping trip. Hilarity ensues when one of them accidentally cuts off his penis.

I mean, it’s too funny! You have to be there!

Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider wrote the screenplay, Jake Szymanski directs. Stiller co-produces with Nicky Weinstock, Kyle Newacheck, Anders Holm, Adam DeVine, Blake Anderson, and Ross Dinerstein.

By the way, the kid who loses his member is of course described as chubby, “a soft chocolate chip cookie.” In other words, he’s the fat kid– a teen Jonah Hill or Josh Gad, or the late Flounder from “Animal House.” He’s not the Ryan Reynolds guy. He never is.

 

Broadway: “Hello, Dolly!” Without Bette Midler Crashes at Box Office, Falls Below $1 Mil for Week

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Well, now we know what Bette Midler’s contribution to “Hello, Dolly!” is financially. Last week, with Midler gone and the great Donna Murphy replacing her, box office receipts for the Tony winning revival dropped bigly.

The show was down $1.7 million from the prior week, and fell to $936K. There was a potential to sell $1.5 million worth of tickets. Seating capacity was down by 25 percent. Ouch!

Producer Scott Rudin must have factored in Midler’s leaves of absence, but this has to sting. The formerly Divine Miss M doesn’t return until July 9th. She has more breaks coming at the end of the summer and in the fall.

Tickets for “Hello, Dolly!” averaged $106.31 during Murphy’s run–waaaay down from $499-$799 Rudin gets when Midler’s on stage.

The irony is that Murphy is probably excellent. (I wouldn’t know. There haven’t been press tickets for this column. Or many others.)

And this points up the problem of what happens when Midler finally calls it quits– by the end of the year. Rudin is already facing that problem with his other show, “A Doll’s House, Pt. 2.” The stars– Laurie Metcalf and Chris Cooper– already exiting in the next two weeks. (Tony season’s over, gotta get back to film and TV.) Metcalf is being replaced by Broadway star Julie White, but receipts are going to drop like a rock. When Midler finally leaves, we may be singing “Goodbye, Dolly!”

Paul McCartney: Now We Know Why Sony Music Publishing Settled So Fast– They’ve Lost Bruce Springsteen (in the UK)

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UPDATED To say the least, last week’s announcement that Sony-ATV Music Publishing and Paul McCartney had settled over Paul’s portion of the rights to the Beatles songs in the US came as a huge surprise. In January, Paul had sued Sony saying he was taking back his copyrights as their terms lapsed. Sony balked, saying it was still looking at the situation. Sony had no intention of settling quickly, and was making Paul stew a bit in legal channels.

All of a sudden, last week, Sony caved. The announcement came from McCartney’s lawyer. Although their settlement is confidential, it’s likely similar to the one made by the John Lennon estate. Paul gets his rights back — the ones lost to Michael Jackson in 1985– on 251 Lennon & McCartney songs. In exchange, Sony -ATV gets to administer the rights and collect a fee.

But why settle so out of the blue? It turns out Sony-ATV has lost the rights to Bruce Springsteen’s music publishing in the UK. That huge and profitable catalog is going to Universal Music Publishing. Everything from “Because the Night” to “Fire” to “Born to Run” is in that package. So is “Blinded by the Light” and “Glory Days.” The very short, catchy Springsteen songs are worth a bloody fortune to publishers. (Springsteen’s publishing in the US was with Downtown Music publishing. That goes to Universal as well.)

Springsteen’s recording contract stays with Sony-Columbia Records. McCartney recently returned his whole recording catalog to Capitol/Universal. (Paul’s solo songs are not part of his new deal. He owns the publishing to things like “Band on the Run” and “Maybe I’m Amazed.” John’s solo songs like “Imagine” are also run by a different company, Downtown Music.)

Publishing royalties are where the money is in the music business. That’s why Michael Jackson held the Beatles catalog so close to the vest for years, borrowing hundreds of millions against it. McCartney was taught well by his late father in law, Lee Eastman, a genius who knew the value of a copyright. Lee and his son John were the ones who guided Paul to buy big catalogs of other people– like Buddy Holly– when his own songs slipped away.

Universal Publishing no doubt paid top dollar for Springsteen. Sony was likely unable to match that money while holding on to Paul. In a sense, everyone won.

 

 

Amazon Scores Opening Night and Centerpiece Selections at NY Film Festival– Todd Haynes, Richard Linklater Films

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Amazon has scored the centerpiece selection of the New York Film Festival– Todd Haynes’ “Wonderstruck,” which was a hit in Cannes.

Roy Price, Ted Hope, and Bob Berney can now add this to their opening night film at the New York Film Festival– Richard Linklkater’s “Last Flag Flying.”

I’m not sure if they can get closing night, too. But why not?

Amazon is serious about film making and film makers. They are now going to dominate one of the most important film festivals in the world.

Wait! They could get closing night with Woody Allen’s “Wonder Wheel.” Alexa can get that for them, I guess!

TV: Gabrielle Anwar Joins ABC’s “Once Upon a Time,” Now She Needs a Literary Agent

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Congrats to Gabrielle Anwar. She’s joining the cast of ABC’s “Once Upon a Time.” Will she be good or evil? On “Burn Notice,” she was very good, then stayed on in Miami, got married and has been writing a novel.

So attention Hollywood literary agents. I’ve read Gabrielle’s “Timepiece” and it’s a winner. Set in England, it’s kind of a sweeping romantic mystery– and it takes place in contemporary times. Women are going to gobble up the story of Amelia Beart, who goes on a very intriguing investigation of her family history.

Gabrielle calls it “a lyrical exploration into a variation of the Oedipus complex, the attraction between a child and their opposite gender parent. Due to her absentee father, our heroine discovers the psychological & physiological effect of patriarchal rejection, and then the resulting desire to pursue unrequited love as an adult.”

By the way, Gabrielle will be commuting to Hollywood from Miami. A couple of years ago she married Shareef Malnik, owner of the famous Forge restaurant. A multi-talent, she’s having the best of all worlds!