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Box Office: “The Mandalorian and Grogu” Fly to $81 Million Weekend — Not the Best, But Not Too Bad, “Michael” Dances to $782 Worldwide, “Boosters” Busted

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: “The Mandalorian and Grogu” Fly to $81 Million Weekend — Not the Best, But Not Too Bad, “Michael” Dances to $782 Worldwide, “Boosters” Busted

Bad weather, I think, helped “The Mandalorian and Grogu.”

Total for the weekend came to $81 million, a little more than anticipated on Friday morning. With cold and rainy weather, movies were the place to go this weekend.

“M and G” could hit $100 million on Monday. That’s some consolation for middling reviews and social media slagging.

Me? I really enjoyed it, and I know next to nothing about these characters.

Meantime, “Michael” now stands tall at $314 million in the US, and more than double that worldwide.

Lionsgate says the second movie is happening. The first one ended in 1988. Maybe the second one will just run from then until 1993. Because that’s when Michael meets the Chandlers and everything unravels. Still, if a second movie were even 50% accurate, the main character would be doing more shopping for tchochkes in Las Vegas than singing or dancing.

After that, the title would be “Law and Order: Michael Jackson.” Maybe in the sequel one of the Jackson brothers will speak. And Janet will make an appearance.

Meanwhile, there’s good news, bad news: Blumhouse release “Obsession” actually increased from last week by 30%. Movies do not grow from week to week, but this one did. “Obsession” cost $1 million, and has brought in $52 mil in the US.

Bad news: “I Love Boosters” seems to be mostly DOA. Opening weekend is $3.7 million. Boots Riley and his Pharrell Williams inspired hat is a cult director, at best. His appeal is limited as well because of his pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel stance. He’s perceived as antisemitic. That will cut out a lot of the movie going audience.

Here Are the Winners of the Cannes Film Festival, for Better or Worse: Neon Pictures Picks Up 7th Top Prize for “Fjord”

Roger Friedman
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Here Are the Winners of the Cannes Film Festival, for Better or Worse: Neon Pictures Picks Up 7th Top Prize for “Fjord”

Neon Pictures has picked up its record breaking 7th Palme d’Or in a row for “Fjord” directed by Cristian Mungiu.

There were no American winners, although actor Sebastian Stan — better known as Bucky from the Marvel films — is the star along with Renate Reinsve. They are each past Oscar nominees.

For Stan, it must be particularly rewarding since he was born in Romania to Romanian parents before emigrating to the United States.

All these films will be up for Best Foreign Film at the different awards shows next winter.

Best Sport prize goes to Thierry Fremaux, chief of Cannes, who couldn’t get American films, settled for D list celebrities to get attention, and even had Barbra Streisand bail on him. He deserves a purple star, and a re-do for next year!

Palme d’or

FJORD
Cristian MUNGIU

Grand Prix

MINOTAUR
Andreï ZVIAGUINTSEV

Joint Best Directors

LA BOLA NEGRA
Javier CALVO & Javier AMBROSSI

FATHERLAND
Pawel PAWLIKOWSKI

Best Screenplay

A MAN OF HIS TIME
Emmanuel MARRE

Jury Prize

DAS GETRÄUMTE ABENTEUER (THE DREAMED ADVENTURE)
Valeska GRISEBACH

Best Performance by Actresses

Virginie EFIRA, Tao OKAMOTO
in ALL OF A SUDDEN directed by HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke

Best Performance by Actors

Emmanuel MACCHIA, Valentin CAMPAGNE
in COWARD directed by Lukas DHONT

Short Films

Palme d’or

PARA LOS CONTRINCANTES (FOR THE OPPONENTS)
Federico LUIS

Un Certain Regard

Un Certain Regard Prize

EVERYTIME
Sandra WOLLNER

Jury Prize

ELEPHANTS IN THE FOG
Abinash BIKRAM SHAH
1st film

Special Jury Prize

IRON BOY
Louis CLICHY

Best Performance by Actresses

Marina DE TAVIRA, Daniela MARÍN NAVARRO, Mariangel VILLEGAS
for SIEMPRE SOY TU ANIMAL MATERNO directed by Valentina MAUREL

Best Performance by an Actor

Bradley FIOMONA DEMBEASSET
for CONGO BOY directed by Rafiki FARIALA

Caméra d’or

BEN’IMANA
Marie-Clémentine DUSABEJAMBO
Un Certain Regard

La Cinefondation

First Prize

LASER-GATO (Laser-Cat)
directed by Lucas Acher
NYU, USA

Second Prize

SILENT VOICES
directed by Nadine Misong Jin
Columbia University, USA

Joint Third Prize

ALDRIG NOK (Never Enough)
directed by Julius Lagoutte Larsen
La Fémis, France

GROWING STONES, FLYING PAPERS
directed by Roozbeh Gezerseh & Soraya Shamsi
Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Germany

The Higher Technical Commission for Sound and Images

The 2026 Jury of the CST Artist-Technician Award grants the prize to Nicolas Rumpl, Chief Editor of A man of his time, directed by Emmanuel Marre. The subtle editorial choices bring out the visual aesthetic, the ambition of the direction, and the performances of the actors in Emmanuel Marre’s A man of his time.

The 2026 Jury of the CST Young Female Technician Award is proud to present this year’s prize to Esther Mysius, production designer of the film The Birthday Party, directed by Léa Mysius. Her intimate work in shaping the sets allows them to become a true narrative force.

Watch Barbra Streisand Accept Her Palme d’Or from the Cannes Film Festival by Video: “Merci beaucoup and Vive La Cinema!”

Roger Friedman
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Watch Barbra Streisand Accept Her Palme d’Or from the Cannes Film Festival by Video: “Merci beaucoup and Vive La Cinema!”

Barbra Streisand cannes-celled her trip to the Cannes Film Festival because of a knee injury.

But she sent a video for the closing ceremony, where she was awarded an honorary Palme d’Or for her contribution to cinema.

Isabelle Huppert introduced her after a clip reel highlighting Streisand’s career.

Stephen Colbert Already Back on TV! Follows CBS Series Sign Off by Hosting Michigan Version of “Forever Fernwood” at Local Station (Watch)

Roger Friedman
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Stephen Colbert Already Back on TV! Follows CBS Series Sign Off by Hosting Michigan Version of “Forever Fernwood” at Local Station (Watch)

Stephen Colbert was already back on TV on Friday.

Hours after signing off his 11 year run on CBS, Colbert popped up as guest host of “Only in Monroe,” a local access show in Michigan.

He last hosted the same show in 2015, right before taking over “The Late Show.”

It’s like the real life version of “Forever Fernwood.” Hilarious.

Guests include actor Jeff Daniels and rocker Jack White.

There’s a lot of talk of hot dogs, and, of course, local news.

Maybe Stephen can book a full time job!

Rapper Drake Comes Howling Back onto the Charts with 650K Debut Over Three New Albums, Wiping Clean Memory of Kendrick Lamar Feud

Roger Friedman
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Rapper Drake Comes Howling Back onto the Charts with 650K Debut Over Three New Albums, Wiping Clean Memory of Kendrick Lamar Feud

Drake is really back.

The Canadian rapper issued three new albums simultaneously last week, and now he’s cleaned up.

Drake’s trio sold a total of 650,000 copies, mostly from streaming.

“Iceman,” the biggest one, came in at 460,000 equivalent sales. That was followed by “Habibti,” with 114K and “Maid of Honour” with 109K.

That’s a stunning return after living through the chaos and humiliation of his feud with Kendrick Lamar.

The latter’s fans declared Drake “over,” as Lamar had his monster hit with “Not Like Us,” and won Grammy Awards as well. Five of the top ten singles on Spotify are from the album, as well.

Add to that another 50,000 in sales for older albums on the chart.

Is this Drake’s way of fulfilling his contract with Universal Music? Or just a three pronged attack? Universal won’t say, but the real life Aubrey Graham is probably better staying put now and letting bygones be bygones. After all, Universal made this happen. And what’s Kendrick going to do now? Release four albums at once?

Elsewhere on the chart, Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” album from a decade ago is having a Renaissance. I’m not sure why. But coincidentally Paris Jackson — Michael’s daughter– has released a new song produced by Linda Perry called “Teenage Drama.” And it’s very good.

Disney Dilemma: Meryl vs. Mandalorian: Streep Film Outpacing New “Star Wars” Movie As “Devil Wears Prada 2” Boffo at Box Office, and “Mandalorian” Meh

Roger Friedman
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Disney Dilemma: Meryl vs. Mandalorian: Streep Film Outpacing New “Star Wars” Movie As “Devil Wears Prada 2” Boffo at Box Office, and “Mandalorian” Meh

Meryl Streep recently said in an interview: I think when we tend to Marvel-ize the movies now — we got the villains and we got the good guys — and it’s so boring.”

The first lady of film added: “And what’s really interesting about life is that some of the heroes are flawed and some of the villains are human and interesting and have their own strengths. So that’s what I like about this [film]. It’s messier.”

A three time Oscar winner, Streep may have been prescient. Her own Disney-released movie, “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” made for adults, is a surprise box office behemoth with $556 million already banked worldwide.

No one flies around in a spaceship or wears a cape in “Prada 2.”

Meantime, another Disney movie, made for kids and with plenty of special effects, is having a tough time.

“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” is off to a slow start this holiday weekend.

Jon Favreau’s movie version of a TV series should be much bigger than “Prada 2.”

But in previews and Friday showings, the total is only $33 million. It probably won’t get to the $100 mil mark by the end of Monday, Memorial Day. Crazy.

Friday was really a day of disappointment for “M and G.” Of course, bad weather over the weekend will keep people away from beaches, so maybe they’ll check the film out. But it should have done far better last night.

Ironically, one feature of “M and G” is the voice of Martin Scorsese, the famed director. He’s taken a dim view of comic book movies in the past. Yet, he’s one of the best reasons to see the latest “Star Wars” Film!

It’s also cold out on Memorial Day after three days of 90 degree weather. We’re really living in the Upside Down!

amFAR Cannes Was A D List Affair with C List Performers: Where Was Hot Pop Star Sombr? His Parents Work for the Company!

Roger Friedman
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amFAR Cannes Was A D List Affair with C List Performers: Where Was Hot Pop Star Sombr? His Parents Work for the Company!

amFAR Cannes on Thursday at the Hotel duCap Eden Roc in Antibes was a D list affair, D for desultory.

The performers were Lizzo, Robbie Williams, and Zara Larsson. Robin Thicke was present but it’s unclear if he performed his purloined Marvin Gaye song, “Blurred Lines.” People would rather hear the original, Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.”

Long gone are the days of Elton John and other superstars who performed at this event when it was meaningful.

If you have to hire Robin Thicke, you know you’re in trouble.

This left people wondering, Where was Sombr? The 20 year old New York popstar has been the talk of the music industry for over a h once year. He was nominated for Grammys, sells out shows, and has big hits like “Back to Friends,” and “12 to 12.”

Sombr would have been an easy booking, you’d think. Both of his parents work for amFAR. Mom Bennah Serfaty is the publicity director for eons. Dad Andy Boose, who also manages his son, has been putting on the amFAR event for as many eons. Couldn’t he have gotten Sombr at a discount?

Alas, amFAR Cannes — which was once a hot ticket — looked like a dreary echo of itself. Sharon Stone, of course, is long gone. Rami Malek might have been the biggest star. There was almost no one of note who’d been at the festival. Stars who were in town — like Penelope Cruz– were absent. Aside from Heidi Klum and Eva Longoria, it’s hard to say who was actually in attendance. The pictures are of people you’ve never heard of!

Despite this lack of star power, amFAR execs are still raking it in. Here’ s a snapshot from their 2024 tax filing:

 

Stephen Colbert Goes Out on Top with 6.74 Million Viewers Watching His Finale, Way Above the Average 2.60 of His Final Season

Roger Friedman
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Stephen Colbert Goes Out on Top with 6.74 Million Viewers Watching His Finale, Way Above the Average 2.60 of His Final Season

Stephen Colbert went out on top last night.

His season finale scored 6.74 million viewers, way above his average 2.6 million.

It didn’t hurt that both Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon showed re-runs out of respect for him. They also appeared on Colbert’s show.

Other guests included Paul McCartney, Jon Batiste, Elton John and a miscellaneous group in the audience including Ryan Reynolds and Tim Meadows from “SNL.” The latter trained at Second City in Chicago with Colbert years ago.

The show was extended by a half-hour for the occasion. It wasn’t necessary. The additional time was wasted on a long, boring bit about time warps and wormholes with Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

But the two final musical numbers — one an Elvis Costello song performed by the singer, Colbert, and Jon Batiste — and Paul McCartney’s big all star finish of “Hello, Goodbye” — were poignant and moving. Even more so was McCartney turning off the lights at the Ed Sullivan Theater 62 years after the Beatles performed on its stage.

The final moment was a sweet touch. A spotlight shined on a little glass snow globe a la the ending of “St. Elsewhere,” in which autistic Tommy imagined the whole series.

Byron Allen leases the time starting next week for his “Comics Unleashed.” The ratings won’t be very high, but CBS doesn’t care. They just wanted Colbert silenced from attacking Donald Trump every night. Trump agreed, gloating today on his failing social media. No can wait until he’s gone and maybe some sense and sensibility will return.

Family Man: Trump Will Miss Son Don Jr’s Second Wedding This Weekend, Avoiding Time with Grandkids Whose Mother Now Has Cancer

Roger Friedman
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Family Man: Trump Will Miss Son Don Jr’s Second Wedding This Weekend, Avoiding Time with Grandkids Whose Mother Now Has Cancer

Donald Trump is such a family man. His first wife is buried on his golf course. His second wife is gagged from speaking and works for him Palm Beach.

Let’s not forget Barron, MIA all the time, locked in the White House basement,

Now Trump says he’s skipping son Don Jr’s wedding to Bettina Anderson, who will be his second wife.

Obviously, Melania doesn’t want to go and Donald won’t go alone to the private island in the Bahamas. He’d have to spend time with Don Jr’s five children. Their mother, Vanessa, announced yesterday she has breast cancer. Trump doesn’t want to get involved with that lot. He’s not the Consoler-in-Chief, after all. (He lacks empathy for everyone.)

Will he play golf? If the weather is good. Otherwise it will be a long day of insane post on the failing Truth Social, which hit another all time low yesterday on the stock exchange.

Bonus: Watch Colbert Finale Extra with Jon Batiste and Paul McCartney — on Trumpet! — Play “When the Saints Go Marching In”

Roger Friedman
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Bonus: Watch Colbert Finale Extra with Jon Batiste and Paul McCartney — on Trumpet! — Play “When the Saints Go Marching In”

Paul McCartney on trumpet! Jon Batiste leading the band!

After the “Colbert” finale was over, the whole gang led the audience in “When the Saints Go Marching in.”

Of course, afterwards, all the celebs we saw on screen went to an after party down in the Flatiron District. Stephen must have quite a headache this morning!

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