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Disney’s “Moana 2” is their biggest opening for one of their animated films. It’s also the fourth highest opening for an animated film from anyone.
Total last night plus Tuesday’s previews is a stunning $57 million.
Families obviously went in droves, many will go again. Is it good? Who cares? It’s the “Moana” brand and apparently it looks great even if the story isn’t too different from the 2016 original.
The whole run from Tuesday through this Sunday could hit the $175 milliom target.
But what about “Wicked” and “Gladiator II”? They’re doing fine, but nothing like “Moana 2.”
Meantime, “The Piano Lesson” is playing on Netflix and it’s must see for adults of discerning taste. It’s like a throwback to actual acting, writing, and directing. Michael Potts steals the show, just as he did on Broadway.
As long as I’ve been in this business — jokingly since 1931 — there were two gold standard PR firms who handled Hollywood, PMK and Rogers and Cowan. A few years ago they merged, bringing together the talents of Cindi Berger, Alan Nierob, and Fran Curtis among others. They represented the biggest stars anywhere.
Now we learn from a new lawsuit that infidels at the company are accused of staging an ambush, pulling employees and clients from R&CPMK in what they must think is a coup. But the Empire Strikes Back: R&CPMK accuses the leaders of this gang of breaching contracts, corporate interference, and so on.
In the lawsuit, filed in New York, the principals of the new firm, called 2PMSharp, breached their duty of loyalty to R&CPMK, which stands to lose “untold revenues from the loss of client business.” R&CPMK says because of this surprise attack they will have to restore the morale of its remaining employees and manage a threat to its reputation as an industry leader.
“The Former Employees’ conduct is particularly egregious in that some of them were senior executives who understand the importance of protecting Company business relationships,” the suit states.
R&CPMK says that in the weeks leading up the announcement of 2PMSharp, employees downloaded 11,000 confidential files. Over a span of a few days, a dozen or so executives submitted resignations without explanation.
The leaders of 2PM Sharp include Mark Owens, who left the company last March 2024 after his dismissal in January; plus Lindsay Galin and Jeff Raymond, who serve as Co-Presidents and resigned on October 1st to join Owens.
As the complaint states: “R&CPMK represents more than 400 of the most prominent and influential actors, musicians, producers, directors, content creators, and athletes in the world, and creates distinctive integrated marketing campaigns for some of the largest brands and Fortune 500 companies across the globe.”
Over the years, PMK has survived other groups of employees leaving to start new firms. Among the firms that emerged were Leslee Dart’s 42 West, and ID-PR. Even though those were tough divorces, they were nothing like this.
2PMSharp has launched a website and Instagram account but they’ve yet to announce which clients they’ve persuaded to join them in their revolution. For decades, Rogers and Cowan has represented both the Rolling Stones and Elton, for example. I’d be very surprised if those savvy acts went along with this idea. Ditto for actors who are long time clients.
In May she’ll release a new album called “The Right Person Will Stay.” Lana recently got married, so this will be a celebration. The right person stayed, indeed!
Jack Antonoff is the producer, of course. This won’t be her promised country album called “Lasso,” which we thought was coming out this year. But all new songs from Lana are welcomed. Can’t wait to hear this collection!
Here’s a snippet she teased almost a year ago of a new song called “Henry Come On.” This year Lana married Jeremy Dufrene, a swamp tour guide. Because, why not?
Disney’s “Moana 2” arrived in theaters last night.
Cashing in on the 2016 original, the sequel opened with $13.8 mil in previews. That’s slightly less than the $15 million the first one made on its opening day.
Reviews are mixed, not very enthusiastic. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 67% so far. The consensus is that the movie is visually stunning but not so great story-wise.
Still, “Moana 2” should be a big hit over the holiday weekend. For families that have seen “Wicked,” this would be the next stop.
Abel’s releasing a new album on January 24, 2025. It’s called “Hurry Up Tomorrow.” This will be his first big release since the debacle of his HBO TV series, “The Idol.” The series was critically panned and a ratings disaster.
A single called “Sao Paolo” — with Anitta — was already released, and flopped. But Tesfaye will persevere nonetheless.
Adele has wound up her triumphant run of 100 shows at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
As she cashes out, the superstar singer is now taking orders for a live album. But not just any live album. It’s a $350 box set. There are 3 LPs involved, covering the 21 songs of the concert.
This will sell out fast, of course, and Adele will be rolling in the deep for real.
No word on whether there will be a CD version, or streaming.
The box will include a 56-page photo book housed within a fold out box that mirrors the magnificent Weekends With Adele stage. It comes complete with your own confetti directly from the show.
Shipping begins in April 2025.
The set list is the same as the 100 shows. For some reason, Adele never performed her first hit. “Chasing Pavements, co-written with Francis “Eg” White.
Remember when Adele cancelled the Vegas dates at the last minute? There was chaos on the Vegas strip. Fans who’d made plans and reservations that couldn’t be changed were furious.
But then Adele bounced back with her “Weekends” stint and 50 pairs of shows. She also went to Munich for a run there. Once she got the hang of it — and seeing millions roll in — the feisty sometimes foul-mouthed singer was on board.
So now what? It’s been three years since Adele released her last album. Prior to that there was six year break, so who knows when she’ll have a new collection ready? Meanwhile, fans with deep pockets will have something to remember her by in a few months.
What a life! Winner of two Tony Awards on Broadway, Gallagher was best known to TV audiences as the star of the ABC soap, “Ryan’s Hope.” She played wise matriarch Maeve Ryan from 1975 to 1989 when the show ended.
One of Gallagher’s Tony Awards was for the revival of “No, No, Nanette,” the massively successful musical.
But it was “Ryan’s Hope” that became the cornerstone of her career. She won three Daytime Emmy Awards as Best Actress for playing Maeve with a lilting Irish accent. She was clearly from the stage world, and on a whole different level than most TV stars during daytime or primetime.
The sort of plodding Oscar season got itself a jolt the last few days.
Into the mix comes Timothee Chalamet, singing and playing guitar in James Mangold’s Bob Dylan movie, “A Complete Unknown.”
The Searchlight film doesn’t open until December 19th, and reviews are held until December 10th.
But “Complete Unknown” has started screening for the press, and the times they are a-changing.
Chalamet’s stock is off the charts. In a heavy field of actors, the “Dune” and “Willy Wonka” star has pulled ahead to lead the pack that includes Adrien Brody, Ralph Fiennes, Colman Domingo, and Daniel Craig.
If Chalamet wins, he will tie for youngest to win Best Actor. Ironically, the current prize holder is Brody, who was also 29 when he won for “The Pianist.”
All those other names I mentioned — and plenty more — have turned in great work this year. Fiennes, especially good in “Conclave,” has been nominated in the past but never grabbed the statue.
But Chalamet may help director Mangold repeat his “Walk the Line” triumph from 2005. Reese Witherspoon won her Oscar in that movie, for playing June Carter Cash. You’ll recall that Reese performed her songs herself and learned how to play the auto harp. Mangold has evidently used a page from that playbook for Chalamet and Dylan.
“A Complete Unknown” also joins the roster of potential Best Picture nominees which include blockbusters “Gladiator II,” “Wicked,” “Dune Two” and indie films like “Conclave,” “A Real Pain,” “Maria,” “Emilia Perez,” “The Brutalist,” and “Anora.”
The awards picture is coming into focus quickly now.
The Kennedy Center Honors will be hosted this year by the great Queen Latifah.
Latifah is a great choice since she was recently inducted herself, and also because she’s a CBS star (of “The Equalizer”). She’s essentially the new LL Cool J.
This may be a historic Kennedy Center Honors since it’s likely to be the last for a while involving the White House. The Bidens will host the inductees and other guests, and then attend the show.
But once Donald Trump and co arrive, we’ll probably go back to the scenario of his first administration. No inductee will agree to be hosted, Trump will disavow the whole enterprise anyway. No one wants him sitting there with Elon Musk and Melania waving from the presidential box.
Trump’s only interest in “culture” is something that benefits or advances his personal wealth and agenda. By next year’s Honors he will have probably deported millions of people, created internment camps, slashed the NEA budget, closed libraries, and threatened most creatve people’s livelihoods.
This year’s inductees include Francis Ford Coppola, Bonnie Raitt, Arturo Sandoval, what’s left of the Grateful Dead, and a tribute to NY’s Apollo Theater. Still not in: Liza Minnelli, Jane Fonda, Denzel Washington, and so on.
Brady Corbet’s three-and-a-half hour epic, “The Brutalist,” wants very badly to be a masterpiece. I can’t blame it. It looks like a masterpiece, it’s long, and rises to enormous heights many times during its showing. You could say it’s like a piece of Brutalist architecture.
“The Brutalist” comes to theaters on December 20th. It has a lot of rave reviews simply for its existence. But it’s unclear how it will be received when actual people see it.
At this time of year, what you need to know first is that Adrien Brody will be nominated for an Oscar after waiting twenty years since he won for “The Pianist.” Brody plays a character named Lazlo Toth, who has nothing at all to do with the real person named Lazlo Toth. That man is a Hungarian born geologist who became infamous in 1972 for vandalizing Michelangelo’s Pietà statue in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. It was a cause celebre at the time. Toth was deported to Australia, where he lives today.
Who knows if Toth has been told that Corbet borrowed his name and nationality? But that’s where the comparisons stop. Corbet’s Toth arrives from Hungary in the US after surviving the Holocaust. He’s had to leave behind his wife (Felicity Jones, excellent) and battle scarred niece (Raffey Cassidy), but promises to reunite with them swiftly.
In the US Toth heads for Philadelphia where he has an American cousin named Attila who’s assimilated beautifully. He’s become Catholic and has a trophy wife. His furniture store business is booming. It’s an ugly name, Attila, and strange that he hasn’t Americanized it. Alessandro Nivola creates a whole world for this character that you wouldn’t mind finding more about. He’s a charming schemer.
Thanks to Attila’s networking, Lazlo meets a wealthy man named Harrison lee van Buren (Guy Pearce) from ugly Doylestown, PA who wants to build his own Rockefeller Center — a huge complex. He buys into Lazlo’s vision of a harsh, unwelcoming series of structures astronomically expensive and not really welcome in the wilds of Pennsylvania. Harrison’s son, played with sinister, slow building edginess by Joe Alwyn, is suspicious of the whole thing.
Lazlo’s success working for van Buren means he can send for the wife and niece. You’ve never been so happy to see Felicity Jones in your life. “The Brutalist” has a harsh look that isn’t made easier by the lack of females. But it’s not a joyous reunion between Lazlo and Erzsébet. You know trouble is coming.
And it does, after the 15 minute intermission, when Lazlo and Harrison journey to Italy to get just the right slab of marble for their project. Up to that point, “The Brutalist” seems to be unfolding in the direction of greatness. But when the film resumes, terrible things happen, the kind of things you might to warn friends about before they return to their seats. This is not a feel good movie, and Corbet wants to remind us with a mallet.
(In a movie this long, some things don’t make sense. When Erzsébet arrives, she’s in a wheelchair and can’t walk. But after the intermission she’s walking just fine and has made a complete recovery. The niece doesn’t speak for most of the film, but also post-intermission her PTSD has disappeared and she has a husband. But we’re so invested in the main story, there’s no time to dissect these nuances.)
There’s a lot of great filmmaking in “The Brutalist.” Sometimes it feels like Corbet is making a Terrence Malick film. In an era when there is little original material out there, Corbet can only be praised for creating this totally fictitious yet totally possible community. Even as it grows darker and darker, “The Brutalist” has a mesmerizing quality. And in the end, who is the Brutalist anyway? The architect with an unending vision? Or the millionaire who enables him?
Corbet swings for the fences, that’s for sure. Brody and Jones are outstanding. No one plays emotionally haunted like Brody. His trick is to get the audience on his side even though you’re not sure you agree with him. Pearce is disturbing. The rest of the cast is outstanding, although again I wish Attila had come back into the picture. Will you make it through the whole nearly four hours? Undoubtedly, although repeat viewing may be better served at home.
Special mentions to Daniel Blumberg for the powerful score, Lol Crawley for a kind of architectural cinematography, and whoever did the credits sequence. Saul Bass is in heaven, applauding.
