Friday, December 19, 2025
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Box Office Update: Disney Says “Captain America” Took $181 Mil Weekend

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Disney says “Civil War” rebounded on Saturday and will do well enough today–Sunday–that it made $181 million for the weekend. Revisions tomorrow.

The terribly reviewed “Mother’s Day” actually increased by 9% over last weekend. I guess  a lot of people said Let’s take mom. How bad can it be? And you know there’s no sex or violence or coherence.

The rest of the box office is pretty dull but the new “Barbershop” movie is inching towards $50 million. It couldn’t have cost that much. Go WB!

Sony waits for “Money Monster” next Friday like water in the desert. I’m rooting for them. We see it Thursday in Cannes.

 

Exclusive: Kesha Performing Lady Gaga Diane Warren Rape Anthem Tonight at A List Benefit

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Big statement tonight by singer Kesha. She’s performing tonight at the big A list gala for the Humane Society on the Paramount lot. My spies say she’s performing “Til it Happens to You,” the Oscar nominated anthem by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga. The song was written for rape survivors. Kesha claims she was raped by her producer Dr. Luke. (He denies it.) Moby, Priscilla Presley, and her granddaughter Riley Keough are in the audience. Stay tuned for more…

Box Office: Ouch! “Captain America: Civil War” Opens Lower than “Batman v. Superman”

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Ouch! The folks at DC Comics and Warner Bros. must be getting a little chuckle this morning. Marvel-Disney’s “Captain America: Civil War” opened far lower last night than “Batman v. Superman.”

The cap’n took in $75 million vs. BvS $81 million. And everyone hated the latter movie apparently. “Civil War” Friday included $25 million from Thursday night.

But “Civil War” may be softer than anyone expected. And that’s weird given the huge amount of money it’s made overseas in advance of its US opening. It’s already made $291 million in foreign lands.

Maybe that’s why Disney did the big worldwide opening first. Something in the research may have suggested a little burn out on “Avengers” movies. Because “Civil War” is another “Avengers” movie with a different title and the oddity of a new Spider Man. It’s really “Iron Man 4” (I’ve lost track.)

So we’ll see how the superheroes fly tonight and tomorrow. They should do $174 million and beat “BvS” ($166 mil opening weekend) easily. Still, who knows?

“Empire” CD Sold 15,700 Copies, One-Tenth of Original CD Last Year; Drake Cracks a Million

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Fame is fleeting. The folks at Empire, the hot TV show of 2015, are finding that out. And they’re doing it with Sony Music. Last year at this time, the “Empire” sold 110,000 copies in its debut week. Then last winter, the follow up sold just 39,000 copies.

This week, the new “Empire” CD sold 15, 710 copies– around a tenth of the original CD last year. Whoops! That party is over. And there were no streaming numbers. No one streamed “Empire Season 2 Volume 2” at all? I guess not. I know it’s Spotify. I listened to it there. Will there be another “Empire” CD? Doubtful.

Elsewhere, Drake outsold Beyonce 3 to 1. “Lemonade” is just ten days old and it’s old news. Drake sold 825,000 CDs and downloads. But with streaming he finished up at 1,075,494. Drake is the Adele of the spring.

And Justin Timberlake is number 1 on the singles charts with his new release, “Can’t Stop the Feeling.”

Sinead O’Connor vs. Arsenio Hall Gets Better and Better: Lawsuits and Recriminations

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The latest Facebook post from Sinead O’Connor after Arsenio Hall filed suit against her for claiming Arsenio helped get Prince and Eddie Murphy get drugs back in the day, Arsenio vehemently denies all of it.

From Sinead:

REGARDING ARSE-INIO HALL’S LAUGHABLE THREATS

I’m more amused than I’ve ever dreamed a person could be and look forward very much to how hilarious it will be watching him trying to prove me wrong.
I’m also very happy to notice that the DEA have taken me seriously enough to be thoroughly questioning all of Prince’s friends and aides from the last thirty years as to his KNOWN history of hard drug use and where he obtained his drugs. I do not like drugs killing musicians. And I do not like Arsenio Hall. He can suck my dick. That is if he isn’t too busy sucking someone else’s dick. : )

Earlier, Sinead had posted a long diatribe that she says cannot be republished without her permission. Well, the whole of it can be found here. The gist: that they had a bad date during which Sinead was offered a “spliff,” which she smoked.

“There’s something in the splif that isn’t marijuana. I don’t know what. I never had it before nor since. Its so hard to describe. Its like if I hadn’t had a stronger mind I wouldn’t have known what I was doing. Its like ‘Me’ went very far into the back of my mind and something else took over the rest.
Everything inside me and outside me was undulating
Suddenly he’s laughing. An “Aha! You’re not so tough now” laugh. My body is melting into a dead weight, trying to pull me to the floor. His smile looks like the wolf in Grandmas’s bonnet.
I know what he’s done.”

So this is after Arsenio filed suit following the original post.

I do wish Sinead would stop using Facebook and get serious about all this. I know she had some problems last winter. But when I met her a couple of years ago at a Curtis Mayfield tribute show in New York, she was quite lucid and a lot of fun. The accusations and the lawsuit can just go on and on, but if she really has information and wants to dispense it, I think we’d all like to hear what it is.

Sinead– my email is showbiz411@gmail.com.

Prince: Family Statement on Memorial: Nothing Official Yet, Plans to be Announced

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Prince’s siblings sent out this notice tonight via their lawyers, but the law firm points out this is not from them, but from the siblings. Friday night, 8:20pm, so we’re still on Prince time now that new people have taken over. You are allowed to laugh at that. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Here’s the statement:

We would like everyone to know that, contrary to previous and current reports, there has been no memorial, funeral or tribute service for Prince that was organized or authorized by the family or Paisley Park representatives. Together, the family is planning an official memorial service and public event to take place in the near future. Prince and his music influenced so many people that we feel inspired to celebrate his life and legacy in just the right way. We appreciate the public’s patience and have been comforted by your outpouring of love, support and condolences. We look forward to sharing with the world this celebration of, and farewell to, our Prince. Details will be coming soon.

— Alfred Jackson, John Nelson, Norrine Nelson, Omarr Baker, Sharon Nelson, and Tyka Nelson.

UPDATE Inside Job? Michael Jackson’s Mother Victim of Scam Over Home Ownership

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6:22PM EXCLUSIVE UPDATE the Jackson family lawyer Perry O. Sanders, who wanted to tell me he’s been in touch with Trent Jackson, and is working on “getting to the bottom” of this story. “No one will take advantage of Mrs. Jackson.” And — this is from me– while Trent Jackson may have rubbed some people the wrong way, we are in no way suggesting that he filed these papers. More to come…

Someone is trying to sam Katherine Jackson.

Papers were recently discovered with her “signature” in which Michael Jackson’s mother was seen signing away the rights to her old home in Encino, California. Mrs. Jackson hasn’t lived there for years, but the house– a walled compound– still exists on Hayvenhurst Avenue.

Unfortunately, whoever tried to sign away the house from Mrs. Jackson didn’t realize something important: she doesn’t own it. The property has been owned by Michael Jackson’s estate since he died. Michael himself owned it before that for years. You may recall he almost lost it in foreclosure back in 2005.

Someone– no one knows who but there is speculation– got Mrs. Jackson’s signature, had it notarized and stuck onto a Quit Claim notice.

Katherine Jackson(4)-page-001

Katherine Jackson(4)-page-004

Mrs. Jackson has lived with her grandchildren– Prince, Paris, and Blanket– in a house now owned by Michael’s estate in Calabasas, California. The only other person who’s around her all the time is Joe Jackson’s nephew, Trent Jackson, who acts as her daily aide and supervisor.

Trent was very helpful four years ago when Mrs. Jackson was spirited away by several of her children in what looked a little shady. But Mrs. Jackson returned to her home, and life went on. Since then, Trent, my source says, has become very proprietary in relation to his aunt by marriage. “He’s very unpopular in the family,” a source says. “If you want to speak to or see Katherine, you have to go through Trent.”

You might think this is a strange story if you’re just joining our program in progress. But really, it’s just another bump in the long road that is the Jackson Family Highway to Hell.

Sharon Stone’s Rap Video with James Corden Should Be a Viral Hit (Watch)

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It’s Sharon Stone, bitch!

Sharon’s rap video made by James Corden and friends for his late night show is wonderful and hilarious. It should go viral and be big hit. So clever.

Watch:

New Han Solo Gives Warren Beatty Film a Boost, and Credits Woody Allen, Coen Brothers

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There’s a new Han Solo. Or rather an “origins” Han Solo. Alden Ehrenreich, as I predicted a couple of times here, has gotten the job.

So you’re asking, who the heck is Alden Ehrenreich? Well, he played Cate Blanchett’s stepson Danny, the one who broke ties with her in “Blue Jasmine” in an emotional scene in a video store. And he was also the star of the Coen brothers’ “Hail Caesar” this past winter. He stole the film from a bunch of stars including George Clooney.

Ehrenreich’s ascendance to Han Solo shows how smart Warren Beatty is. Two years ago Beatty tapped him to be the star of his “Howard Hughes” movie playing the young romantic lead. Warren saw something in this kid, who was basically known except for that scene in Woody’s movie.

When Warren’s film comes this fall, Ehrenreich will get his first big attention boost. From what I’m told he’s excellent in Beatty’s film.

Song of the Summer? Here’s Justin Timberlake’s Great New Single “Can’t Stop the Feeling”

Dance! The song will be included in “Trolls” which debuts in November. But when Justin hits Cannes next week, I guarantee we’ll be hearing “Can’t Top the Feeling” all over the beach.