Coldplay’s Chris Martin (are there other people in Coldplay– just asking) debuted the group’s new single “Everglow” on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 Apple Music station today. Martin’s ex wife Gwyneth Paltrow sings on the record despite or may because of their conscious uncoupling. At the end of the track (you can hear below) Chris says the word Everglow came from a surfer dude he met in the ocean. Martin says most people in the ocean– “like bankers or rock stars”– speak perfectly normally, but not this guy. Coldplay’s new album, Adventures in Babysitting, arrives imminently.
UPDATE Brad and Angelina’s “By the Sea” Inches Up to $482,204, But $1 Million Overseas
SUNDAY NOV 29 UPDATE: Still playing in miscellaneous theaters, “By the Sea” inched up to $482,204 this weekend domestically. But get this– it’s made $1 million abroad. Big in Italy. Ciao bella!
EARLIER With all the big holiday and Oscar releases, it was only a matter of time. It does seem that Universal has quietly removed Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s “By the Sea” entirely from release after 12 days. The film made 364,584 in the US and about $606,758 abroad. That’s not quite 1 million dollars total. Even if the stars took no salaries and underwrote all the travel for promotion, the movie had to have cost several million more. But it’s gone, maybe soon to be found on VOD or DVD. For now it’s DOA. A valiant effort.
Meantime, Universal also has reduced “Steve Jobs” down to just a handful of theaters in odd places where no one will notice it. It’s pretty much gone. How to revive it? The Danny Boyle film has great performances and a terrific script. I don’t know what the studio can do. For the first time this year Universal is not on the box office top 20 list. They ruled it for six months. It’s a tough biz that show biz!
“Creed” Wins Friday Bout, Will Score $40mil Plus Weekend, Stallone Heading to Oscars
Sylvester Stallone must be pinching himself this morning. In a good way. All that money and time spent on “Expendables 3” and he got nowhere. Frustrating. Then this kid comes along with an idea for a Rocky movie, and nowi Stallone’s in a hit and on his way to the Oscars.
That’s life!
Warner Bros. must be pretty happy too. After a string of flops, “Creed” is their hit of the season. Last night Ryan Coogler’s film made $11.7 million. They’re heading to a $40mil plus weekend. Stallone is in the Oscar race for Best Supporting Actor, and I think could win. It’s a gift after 40 years of good behavior in the film business. And Michael B. Jordan? My guess is he’s got nominations from the Globes and Critics Choice. He’s that good.
Coogler deserves all the credit. Back when “Fruitvale Station” was first screened he told me he had this idea and was waiting to see if it panned out. He’s going to be around a long time.
Stallone will find himself in a tough crowd for Supporting Actor: Mark Ruffalo and Michael Keaton from “Spotlight,” Christian Bale from “The Big Short,” Joel Edgerton from “Black Mass,” and Mark Rylance from “Bridge of Spies” are already there. Stallone will have to keep someone out, and hold off any potentials from “The Hateful Eight” and any surprises. But he could take it– people love a winner.
Watch “Creed” do even better tonight. Adrian! PS Look for the big turtle Rocky keeps in a tank at home. Nice touch.
Adele Breaks All Records, Selling 3.46 Mil Copies of “25” in One Week (Including Streaming)
Adele broke all records this week, selling 3.46 million copies of her “25” album from Friday through Thursday. That includes streaming. Without streaming, hitsdailydouble.com calls it at 3,354,773. *the with streaming total is 3,468,558.
It’s a staggering number and quite a feat. It will also merit discussion for some time. “25” is now the presumed Grammy Award winner in February 2017– not this February because it was released too late. Can “25” survive 18 months and ride the charts all that time? Or is that the bulk of the sales? At this point, who doesn’t have it?
Meanwhile Justin Bieber sold around 300,000 copies of “Purpose,” and kept his momentum going from his first week. One Direction is doing well, but around a third of that number. Funny since their album is superior to Bieber’s monotone over bird noises. But marketing won the day in that face off.
Now we wait to see how Adele fares in her second week. Can she keep it up? Her NBC Radio City special airs December 14th. Can anyone knock her off that perch? I doubt it.
Thanksgiving Box Office: “Creed” Surprises, Nearly Ties “Good Dinosaur”
Thursday Thanksgiving Box office: “Creed” cummed at $12.5 million, adding $6.5 million to its total in two days. Good word of mouth and a Cinemascore of A is helping. Ryan Coogler’s wonderful film nearly tied “The Good Dinosaur,” which did $6.6 million. The dino is the lowest ever grossing Pixar movie, well behind “Frozen.”
“Creed” could upwards of $30 million. Warner Bros. needed a hit and here it is. I wish they’d done some kind of premiere in New York. But it’s all good.
“Victor Frankenstein” doesn’t seem to be catching on. But “Spotlight” is in the limelight and doing excellent business. The possible Best Picture of the year. Go see it now.
Rihanna’s “Anti” Tour Announced, Album is Coming Today, Somehow, Somewhere
Today Rihanna announced her world tour. She also releases “Anti,” her first new album in three years. Where? How? You got me. My Samsung phone today has a complicated video message. Tap on it and you get some kind of mysterious treasure hunt game. It doesn’t completely work. It’s called the “Anti-Diary,” and contains a number of pictures that unlock some videos of bedrooms and other department store like set ups. I can’t get them to work, but I’m sure it’s all lovely.
“Anti” I think will appear on Samsung phones and on Tidal Hifi, Jay Z’s streaming service which hardly anyone uses. In the face of the Adele tsunami, I don’t know how good an idea that is. Are there songs? Are they good? Does it matter? Rihanna hasn’t had a big hit in a long time and she needs one. She’s been pushing a song called “Bitch Where is My Money,” a typically classy title, after having a couple of dud non-starter singles.
So let’s see what happens. I doubt this is what DefJam wanted to do, but Rihanna moved her project within Universal Music from DefJam to Jay Z’s Roc Nation.
Meantime, Yahoo accidentally published a generic Mad Libs fill in the blank review of “Anti.” I can’t believe that they actually write reviews this way, leaving specifics like song titles to be filled in around bland descriptions. That’s all she rote, get it?
You know, Rihanna has a great voice. But she gets terrible material. I don’t know why. I can’t wait to see what she’s ‘anti.’ I hope it’s not music.
Shock: Frank Gifford Brain Disease Revelation May Help Propel Will Smith Movie “Concussion”
It’s like a bolt out of the blue, literally. Yesterday, Kathie Lee Gifford revealed that her late great husband, former NFL superstar Frank Gifford, suffered from CTE– Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. This is caused by injuries to the brain Gifford no doubt sustained on the football field.
The timing could not be more propitious for Sony Pictures and Will Smith. They’re releasing “Concussion” on Christmas Day, with Will playing Dr. Bennet Omalu, the man who connected CTE to all the suffering that’s occurred among NFL players from head injuries.
Gifford sustained a famous head injury in a Giants-Eagles game in 1960. He was completely knocked out, and was hospitalized, but eventually returned and played three more seasons. Gifford would be the biggest name yet attached to the Concussion debate in NFL– and should become a rallying point for football fans to see Peter Landesman’s excellent film.
Those of who knew Frank Gifford socially knew he was suffering from something but were too afraid to ask. Luckily, Kathie Lee was smart enough to send his brain to pathologists for examination. (Not only that, she may be able to sue for millions eventually.) The Giffords have issued this statement:
After losing our beloved husband and father, Frank Gifford, we as a family made the difficult decision to have his brain studied in hopes of contributing to the advancement of medical research concerning the link between football and traumatic brain injury.
While Frank passed away from natural causes this past August at the age of 84, our suspicions that he was suffering from the debilitating effects of head trauma were confirmed when a team of pathologists recently diagnosed his condition as that of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) — a progressive degenerative brain disease.
We decided to disclose our loved one’s condition to honor Frank’s legacy of promoting player safety dating back to his involvement in the formation of the NFL Players Association in the 1950s. His entire adult life Frank was a champion for others, but especially for those without the means or platform to have their voices heard. He was a man who loved the National Football League until the day he passed, and one who recognized that it was — and will continue to be — the players who elevated this sport to its singular stature in American society.
During the last years of his life Frank dedicated himself to understanding the recent revelations concerning the connection between repetitive head trauma and its associated cognitive and behavioral symptoms — which he experienced firsthand. We miss him every day, now more than ever, but find comfort in knowing that by disclosing his condition we might contribute positively to the ongoing conversation that needs to be had; that he might be an inspiration for others suffering with this disease that needs to be addressed in the present; and that we might be a small part of the solution to an urgent problem concerning anyone involved with football, at any level.
The Gifford family will continue to support the National Football League and its recent on-field rule changes and procedures to make the game Frank loved so dearly — and the players he advocated so tirelessly for — as safe as possible.
“AHS: Hotel” Star Finn Wittrock: Lady Gaga is a real workhorse…very, very approachable”.
Finn Wittrock– yes you’ve seen him before. He started on “All My Children,” the soap, then made a big leap to Mike Nichols’ production of “Death of a Salesman.” He was stranded at sea with Louis Zapata in Angelina Jolie’s “Unbroken.” Right now he’s on TV playing against Lady Gaga in “American Horror Story:Hotel.” He’s also in Angelo Pizzo’s “My All-American,” and is featured in Adam McKay’s “The Big Short,” coming in a couple of weeks.
“My All American” is based on the true-life story of Freddie Steinmark, the University of Texas football legend, who died in 1971 at age 22. Aaron Eckhart co-stars as iconic coach Darrell Royal who offered Freddie a scholarship and a spot on the team despite his small size and build.
The movie has made $2.2 million since its release November 13th as an indie feature.
The role of the clean-cut, religious Freddie Steinmark is miles away from Wittrock’s best known role as the hypersexual, psychopathic character, Tristan Duffy, in “American Horror Story: Hotel” seduced by the Countess, played by Lady Gaga.
At a press conference recently to promote the film, I asked Finn what it was like working with Lady Gaga. He told me, “Gaga’s awesome! She’s a real workhorse. That’s something many people don’t know. She’ll be in New York accepting some award on the weekends and then on set at 7 am and you would never have known that she’d gone anywhere…I think she did a lot to break the mystique about her, by the way. Like she hangs out with the crew, she talks to them, she sings songs on set. She’s very, very approachable.”
With Tristan Duffy, the demented male model in plays in “Hotel,” Wittrock told me, “I decided to just that he was like even though it’s modern I decided that he was like Sid Vicious. He’s like a punk guy from the 80’s. I just immersed myself in the Sex Pistols and when punk was starting and listened to that music every day so you create you a history if there isn’t one already.”
So what’s going to happen to his twisted model character? “I really don’t what to tell you because you’re going to be really shocked. I can say that I have a cool transformation this year, which is something I’ve never done before.”
I asked Pizzo, the first-time director, who wrote the screenplay for the beloved sports films, “Hoosiers” and “Rudy,” if he cast Wittrock against type in “My All American” after seeing him in the gory and demented FX series? It turns out Pizzo never saw the popular Ryan Murphy show.
“I can’t watch it. It’s too creepy,” said Pizzo. “It’s not my thing. I tried when I learned Finn was in it, what was it? The Freak Show last year, and went, ‘Oh my god!’ I couldn’t get through an episode. It was like, ‘Ooh!’”
Despite Freddie Steinmark’s untimely death, he was so optimistic and goodhearted that the movie remains upbeat and inspirational. Freddie was also religious and went to mass every morning. The film, which is a weepie, should also appeal to school kids and church groups.
(I saw a nun at the press junket, which was a first. She told me she reviews inspirational films for her religious website.)
Playing someone as perfect as Freddie presented its own challenges Wittrock told me. Former team mates of the athlete would tell him, “Yeah, he was the best guy I ever knew. He’s like a perfect person.’ It’s like, oh, good, I’ll just do that. That’s why, whenever people started saying, ‘He’s such a good person,’ I would go, ‘Like, no, stop, please, stop talking,” Wittrock said. “I wanted to find out what’s underneath that.”
To prepare for the role, Wittrock, who never played football before, took an immersive football boot camp and ended up doing many of the stunts himself.
“I’m like his size, so when you see guys twice your size coming after you full force you realize how daunting it is and how much mind over matter it has to be to know that you’re five ten and can take down a guy that’s 6’5,” 250 pounds, and he did. And that’s what they said. These guys were like, ‘I didn’t even know what hit me and then all of a sudden I was on the ground and this little runt was hopping away.”
Asked about Austin he said he fell in love with the city just being there two months. “There is still a hippie vibe lurking around the corner,” he said. “That’s the difference between me and Freddie. It’s like he was the clean-cut sort who harkens back to the 50’s All American, you know? I probably would have been the long-haired hippie smoking weed in the corner.”
Photo c2015 Showbiz411 by Paula Schwartz
Susan Lucci Bids Goodbye to the “Wonderful David Canary” Her Longtime Scene Partner
Susan Lucci played Erica Kane opposite David Canary’s Adam Chandler for over 25 years. They were great sparring partners, and much missed on daytime TV. Susan posted this on Instagram as Canary has passed away at age 77:
I just learned the news that the wonderful David Canary has passed away–I saw it posted on Kelly Ripa”s site. My deepest and heartfelt sympathy to his wife Mo and his children, Christopher and Katie. Rest in peace, David–you warm and generous, talented and fabulous man, actor and friend! I am so grateful to have known you–and to have had the privilege of sharing the AMC stage with you! I will never forget you.
Watch Sam Moore and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes Rip it Up on PBS Eddie Murphy Special
The PBS Special for Eddie Murphy’s Mark Twain prize is on line and you can watch it here. What a great show this was– Eddie’s comic genius really is showcased beautifully. All the comics were great. And you can watch Sam Moore and Brittany Howard rip it up on “Hold On I’m Coming.” Nice stuff!
Watch Sam and Brittany at 1:14–