Monday, July 6, 2026
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“Star Wars: Mandalorian and Grogu” Will Likely Finish 3rd This Weekend Behind Two Indie Horror Movies Made by Young Social Media Grads

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The weekend box office is going to be very weird.

Already we can see that “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” is in trouble.

Yesterday M&G finished third to two horror movies made by young social media graduates.

This could be how the weekend pans out, too.

The movies are “Backrooms,” directed by Kane Parsons aka Kane Pixels. It made $10 million on Thursday night, swamping “M&G.”

The other movie is “Obsession,” at number 2, already with $78 million banked after two weeks. The director is Curry Barker, 26, who got his start on YouTube.

Parsons at 20 is the youngest director ever of a feature film. He also cut his teeth on YouTube and social media.

According to an AI summary, Parsons created the original “Backrooms” viral found-footage horror videos on YouTube using Blender and DIY VFX before being signed to direct the official movie. He also has real actors including stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, and Mark Duplass.

The biggest name in “Obsession” is Conan O’Brien’s sidekick, Andy Richter. That movie was made for just $1 million.

The “Backrooms” budget was $10 million, and produced with A24.

And then there’s “M&G.” It cost between $150 and $200 million. It’s the lowest grossing “Star Wars” movie ever. But it should be pointed out that it has no connection to the main “Star Wars” movies other than Jabba the Hutt’s family. It’s a brand license. Even though it follows a TV series, it’s original IP, really.

But Parsons and Barker are “disruptors.” When the box office is counted on Sunday, they will have disrupted Disney in a profound way.

Taylor Swift Teasing “Toy Story” 5 Song in Her Usual, Cryptic Way — She Likes to Make a Treasure Hunt Out of Every Announcement

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Last weekend, a source told me there was no way Taylor Swift had a song on the “Toy Story 5” soundtrack. It would be her first release of 2026.

I reported it, and I’m sorry. They were wrong. I used bad info.

Indeed, today Taylor — who loves playing games with her fans for fun — started teasing her participation in the movie.

I’m told she has at least one song.

Swift started putting up billboards in odd locations, showing her initials “TS” over a blue sky filled with thirteen clouds. ’13’ is her favorite number, and the fans know it.

She’s been dropping more clues all day, including changing the cover of one of her albums as it turns up streaming on iTunes. The 1989 album used to have seagulls flying against a blue sky. Now it’s those clouds.

The fans are great at playing Sherlock Holmes. Good for them! At least someone’s having fun.

All of this is a nice prelude to Taylor’s wedding to Travis Kelce, which is either on July 3rd or earlier, on June 13th either in New York or Rhode Island or Mars!

Meantime, I’m gobsmacked about Scooter Braun’s interview with sketchy Free Press and the sister of CBS News executioner Bari Weiss. He tells her he never met Taylor and wishes her well, his answer to the chaos he caused buying and then flipping her catalog of reords at Big Machine.

It doesn’t matter whether he knew her or not. He knew he was victimizing her and he was stupid. She re-recorded all the albums, making the value of his flip meaningless. It was an unnecessary move for Braun, who’s made hundreds of millions selling his company to Korean KPop company Hybe. One thing Weiss’s sister got right: he’s Public Enemy Number 1 among Swifties.

Paul McCartney New Album Number 1 on Amazon, 2 on iTunes: Sweet Revenge Outselling Michael Jackson 40 Years After He Lost His Songs

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Paul McCartney has gotten some sweet revenge today.

His new album, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” is number 1 on amazon.com and number 2 on iTunes.

The raved about new album is outselling Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and greatest hits. That’s not easy considering they’re attached to the “Michael” movie, on its way to a billion dollar take around the world.

Why revenge? In the early 80s, Michael skunked McCartney and bought the Beatles song catalog out from underneath him. The enmity continued until Michael died and McCartney eventually got his rights back.

But the tug of war went on for decades.

When they were recording for “Thriller” in 1982, McCartney told Jackson about his the catalog of songs he wrote with John Lennon being up for sale. McCartney said he and Yoko Ono were not going to bid on it. Jackson cannily called his lawyer, John Branca, and told him about. They swept in and bought the catalog.

The rest was misery. Jackson spent the next two days leveraging his insane spending against the value of the catalog.

McCartney never got over it.

The Beatle has done an amazing press tour the last two weeks promoting his new album, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane.” The reviews are stellar, and the result is big sales right away. (Kudos to his PR people.)

So far, no singles have popped up on iTunes. McCartney was never good with singles. In the Wings days, he released one per album, leaving a lot of chart action on the table.

For “Dungeon Lane,” good impact tracks would be “Lost Horizon,” not to mention the Ringo Starr duet, “Home to Us,” and even “Life Can Be Hard.”

Pop Legend Frankie Valli, 92, Taking the Rest of the Year Off as Fans Urge Him to Announce Retirement After Many Perilous Appearances (See Video)

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Hopefully, this is it for Frankie Valli.

The pop legend has announced cancellation of the rest of his shows for the year.

The 92 year old has been urged by fans to retire. On the road he looks perilously frail, and unable to continue singing songs like “Walk Like a Man.”

No pop stars want to retire. They live for the road. There’s another person out there, a decade younger, who should also be stopped. I’ve seen them and they are sundowning during their shows.

Frankie’s current wife is quite young and approved of continued touring. But there are severe disagreements in his family.

Frankie says: “I’m so sorry to disappoint the folks who have purchased tickets to my shows, but I have decided to take the rest of the year off from touring to focus on my health. I’m looking forward to getting healthy and seeing you all again soon. Thank you for all your good wishes.”

What an incredible career he’s had, culminating in the Tony Award winning musical “Jersey Boys.” A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Frankie has dozens of hits and almost 70 years of performing to sold out crowds around the world.

Frankie, go home, lie down,please.


Kanye West, Hitler Lover, Approved to Play Two Concerts in Netherlands Near the German Border Next Week Despite Their Past Nazi Association

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Kanye West is going to play two shows next week in the Netherlands (Holland).

The city is called Arhem, near the border of Germany.

The shows are set for June 6th and 8th.

It’s the perfect location for Kanye, who loves Hitler. Amsterdam, not far away, also part of the Netherlands, was the home of Anne Frank, the most famous Holocaust victim. She bravely hid with her family from the Nazis, a story that has become seminal in the history of the murder of 6 million Jews.

West has a long history of antisemitism, invoking Hitler as a hero. Multiple brands have dropped him and broken deals, shunning him.

Maybe Kanye can stop by the Anne Frank house and get some selfies.

Get this: “Solid grounds are needed to bar people ⁠from entering [the country]. We have not found those in the analyses that were conducted,” Deputy Prime Minister Bart van den Brink said, per Reuters. “His past statements are not, at this moment, a reason to deny him entry.”

Kanye’s past actions include releasing a song called “Heil Hitler” and selling t shirts with swastikas.

at the same time, Kanye’s Tampa, Florida concerts are also going ahead. The first of two shows has yet to sell out. The second one is a Blue Dot bonanza, with few seats sold.

The concerts are being held at Raymond James Stadium, named for Raymond James Financial. Like the Netherlands, Raymond James has no problem with Kanye West.

Investors, take note.

Kennedy Family Celebrates Judge’s Ruling to Keep Trump Name off Kennedy Center, Or Shutting Down: Great way to celebrate JFK Birthday!

Kennedy cousins Maria Shriver and Kerry Kennedy have each weighed in on the great news.

A Federal judge in Washington DC has prevented Donald Trump from removing President John F. Kennedy’s name from the Kennedy Center or adding his own.

The judge has also nixed Trump’s plans to shut the Kennedy Center down.

Today was Kennedy’s birthday, which makes it even sweeter.

Read the Stunning 94 Page Decision Stopping Donald Trump from Destroying The Kennedy Center, Naming it For Himself, Shutting Down

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You can read the 94 page decision by Judge Christopher Cooper here.

It’s an amazing document. But it only temporarily stopped Trump on his path of destruction from renaming the Center or closing it.

The judge did say Trump could continue his renovations.

But since this was issued, Trump has surrendered, saying he won’t continue his plans while the theater is open.

There are a lot of questions. Trump says he’s turning the Kennedy Center over to the board, but they were appointed by him.

Trump also remains in charge, so he will still choose recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors.

It will be up to the present staff to try and book entertainment at the last minute because Trump was shutting down right after July 4th. Everything was canceled. The Kennedy Center has no summer or fall bookings. Also, the National Opera has left the building, and the National Symphony Orchestra is on its way out.

But the success of the lawsuit brought against Trump is thanks to Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, who sits on the board and doesn’t have a vote. She’s held over from the old board as ex-officio. Before the vote — which was termed “unanimous” — she spoke out publicly against Trump’s plan. He didn’t listen to her, but Judge Cooper did.

Judge Cooper wrote:

“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name and only Congress can change it.”

As for closing, the Judge wrote:

“…the Board was derelict in discharging the full range of its responsibilities to the Center. More specifically, the Board based its decision on an insufficient, one-sided presentation of information and neglected to consider the full range of its statutory obligations and potential adverse consequences of closure on programming and memorial functions. The deficiencies in the Board’s decision-making thus “fall[] below even a forgiving standard of prudence.”

Trump wrote after this decision was published:

“Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into “NEVER NEVER LAND.” There has never been a President of the United States who has been treated so unfairly by the Courts as I but, that’s OK, I will continue to do, what is considered to be, a great job for the wonderful people of our Country. I have instructed the Department of Commerce to make all necessary arrangements with Congress to allow a full and complete transfer of this Institution, giving them the responsibility for its Operation, Maintenance, and Management. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President”

Trump Stopped from Renaming, Closing Kennedy Center by Judge –His Response Feels Like a Surrender for Now: “I have no interest in continuing”

Let’s cut to the chase.

Donald Trump is surrendering his campaign to rename the Kennedy Center and to shut it down for renovations.

He’s been forced by the court to stop everything and take down his name.

Trump’s response appears to be a surrender.

He wrote on Truth Social:

“Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into “NEVER NEVER LAND.” There has never been a President of the United States who has been treated so unfairly by the Courts as I but, that’s OK, I will continue to do, what is considered to be, a great job for the wonderful people of our Country. I have instructed the Department of Commerce to make all necessary arrangements with Congress to allow a full and complete transfer of this Institution, giving them the responsibility for its Operation, Maintenance, and Management”

These may be the most important words Trump has ever committed to Truth Social. He’s been defeated!

Here’s his entire statement:

Bret Michaels Says Freedom 250 is Poison, Rocker and Former “Apprentice” Player Drops Out of Donald Trump’s State Fair Over “Threats”

And then there were three.

Bret Michaels, of the group, Poison, is out. He says he and his family and crew have received threats about the appearance. (See below.) So, forget it.

Two thirds of the acts set for Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair on the Washington Mall have dropped out.

It took just three days for six of the nine acts to scratch from the bill.

The Fair, produced by Keith Krach’s Freedom 250, is set to start June 25th.

The remaining artists are Vanilla Ice, FloRida, and a fake version of C&C Music Factory.

Michaels’ post is below. If he’s gone, you know things are bad. Michaels joins Morris Day, Martina McBride, Young MC, Milli Vanilli in nixing Trump’s big show. Michaels won season 3 of Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2010.

Maybe the first “Apprentice” winner, Bill Rancic, has a band. Or Omarosa? They could team up with Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, and Nicki Minaj.

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Bret Michaels Official (@bretmichaelsofficial)

Listen: Nick Jonas Has a Potential Hit and Best Song Oscar Nominee in “How to Write a Song Without You” from Paul Rudd Movie, “Power Ballad”

Nick Jonas has a potential hit out today.

“How to Write a Song Without You” is the very catchy, beautifully produced main song from the John Carney movie, “Power Ballad.”

Gary Clark, one of the UK’s great current pop composers, wrote it.

Paul Rudd also sings his own version in the movie. Rudd plays a journeyman musician living in Ireland who meets a boybander (Jonas) looking for a hit. Their chance encounter produces the song, and changes Rudd’s character’s life.

The movie is incredibly charming, and both men make a film about how music is created and friendships are navigated into a winner. The movie comes next Friday.

In the meantime, the Jonas track is out on all platforms and it sounds even better now than I remember it from the movie.

PS You can also hear Rudd’s version of the song on YouTube. He sings throughout the movie and deserves a lot of credit. But this version is the one for hit purposes.