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Disney’s “Inside Out 2” turned the business inside out with a $155 million weekend. That’s the biggest debut since “Barbie” last summer.
That’s the biggest debut of 2024 certainly. It knocks off “Dune Part Two” which opened with $82 million this winter.
Paramount’s “If,” which looked iffy when it opened, finally crossed the $100 million mark. The John Krasinski directed family film didn’t get enthusiastic reviews, but it was the sole picture you could take kids to this spring.
Sony’s “Bad Boys Ride or Die” is up to $110 million.
At least these titles show some light at the end of the tunnel as “Furiosa,” “The Fall Guy,” “Challengers,” and “Civil War” didn’t do much to help the first half of 2024.
And now we wait for “Deadpool and Wolverine,” which will break all 2024 records, and maybe some for 2023 as well!
I told you a couple of weeks ago, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has charged the chief financial officer of the Epoch Times with trying to launder $67 million.
Weidong Guan, a/k/a “Bill Guan,” the Chief Financial Officer of the Epoch Times, allegedly used the right wing conspiracy-based website “in a transnational scheme to launder at least approximately $67 million of illegally obtained funds to benefit himself and the media company.”
Great. So where did the money go? I can tell you one thing: Guan apparently used the Shen Yun dance company — that group you see advertised every year with bright costumes and sets — and cleaned their clothes, so to speak, with at least $14 million.
Guan runs the Epoch Times website and media company as a 501 c3 charity. The government will spend a lot of time studying the Epoch TImes Association’s tax filings to figure out where the $67 million went and what it what used for.
On the Epoch Times’s Form 990 for 2020, the picture becomes clear. The Epoch Association donated $3 million to Shen Yun Performing Arts Center in Cuddeback, New York. Then, on the 2021 Form 990, Shen Yun got another $10.4 million.
I always wonder when I see those beautiful TV Shen Yun TV ads, and subway posters: Where do they get the money for all this promotion? And the production, with its extravagant elements rivaling the Met Opera?
Now, I think, we know. Guan has literally danced away with the money.
That’s not all. In 2022, Epoch Times Association also donated a massive $41 million to the Universal Communications Network on West 28th St. They have the same address as Epoch Times. Universal Communications is also known as New Tang Dynasty, a TV channel that’s like a conspiracy theory PBS for adherents of Falun Gong, a Chinese dissident organization considered by many to be a cult.
Epoch, New Tang Dynasty aka Universal, and Shen Yun are all basically the same thing, all connected to Falun Gong.
Universal Communications aka New Tang didn’t receive just that $41 million. On the 2021 Form 990, Epoch Times gave them another $8.3. In 2020, Epoch gave them just over $1 million. So that’s over $50 million in two years. That’s a lot of money for one TV channel that, according to reports, spreads conspiracy theories about vaccines and perpetuates Q’Anon. (You can read all about them on Wikipedia.)
All roads on the tax returns for these groups lead back to Cuddeback, New York. That’s where Shen Yun is officially headquartered, although no one answers the phone or takes messages. When I called their 800 number, I was told it was just for ticket sales and no one there knows anything about them.
Shen Yun itself is run as a 501 c3 non profit. In 2022, they claimed $228 million in net assets. In Cuddeback, in addition to the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center, they also run a temple, a college, and an academy of the arts– all of which are tied up in their financial ball.
Curiously, Falun Gong doesn’t seem too happy about Guan exposing them with the $67 million scheme splashed everywhere. Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi is already trying to distance himself from Guan. He wrote in the Epoch Times this week:
“The trouble that the practitioner-founded media company is now facing mainly owes to practitioners not doing well, though factors from other dimensions are also at work behind the scenes. You were thinking that it’s hard to fight the CCP’s persecution without funds, and wanted to make money for this cause; and that the U.S. government would be understanding if something wasn’t handled quite right. But that was your own thinking. You thought that it would be justifiable since you were using that money not for other ends but to fight the persecution, given that live organ harvesting is happening and people are dying from the persecution every single day. But you mustn’t forget that Dafa practitioners need to always act with integrity, or there will be problems.”
Jack Schlossberg is back to posting eccentric videos on Instagram.
Now he’s got Harlequin sunglasses and screeching, “New York, New York.”
The correlation is to his famously crazy cousins, the Beale sisters, from “Grey Gardens.” The eccentric, reclusive Beales came from grandma Jackie Kennedy’s bloodline.
Schlossberg, 31, is obviously not helping Joe Biden to get re-elected. He sounds and looks just as crazy as the Beales. Sorry, but this isn’t funny anymore. What the heck is going on?
The grandson of JFK and son of Caroline Kennedy obviously knows these videos he’s posted over the last few weeks make him look nuts. What’s the point, really? One would have sufficed. But now there are dozens.
When is number 1 really number 1? Or is it number 5?
Bon Jovi debuted its “Forever” album this week and sold more CDs, LPs, and downloads than anyone — 52,000.
But the album had no streaming whatsoever.
The result is “Forever” is number 5.
Number 1 is — you guessed it — Taylor Swift’s “Tortured Poets.” Total was 128,380 copies. All but 23,000 came from streaming.
Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft” came in at number 2. Not having a designated single from this album has hurt it. As much as everyone likes “Chihiro” and “Birds of a Feather,” they aren’t propelling the album.
As for “Forever,” one week should do it. All legacy albums behave this way now. No singles, nowhere to play them, no tour.
Disney Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” will hit somewhere in the vicinity of $140 million tomorrow for its opening weekend.
The sequel to the 2015 hit, “Inside Out,” made $50 million Friday night for a total opening of $62 million! .
For Disney, this couldn’t have come any sooner. The company that got very taken away with itself thanks to Marvel movies had a dreary 2023. Only five releases cleared $100 million. Of those, only one — “Elemental” — was animated. And even that one was not a breakout hit.
The rest of 2023 included “Wish,” “The Marvels,” and “Haunted Mansion,” all non-starters. And while “Guardians of the Galaxy 3” scored $359 million, there wasn’t a lot else to celebrate.
But now, after a long drought, “Inside Out 2″ looks to be the hit everyone needed. Perfectly timed for the end of school, aimed at girls, ‘inside Out 2” is off to a stunning start. If only Richard Kind were in this one, it would have done even better!
Google — and AI — are doing as predicted — killing oft the media business.
Yesterday there were a lot of layoffs again, all top people with a lot of experience. Forget print sales! Internet traffic is way down. It started last September, when Google employed a drastic change to it algorithm.
But now it’s even worse the web traffic, which has dropped like a stone over the last three months. Some sites have seen their readership cut in half as Google and other search engines point to artificially created links.
Yesterday, Penske Group’s The Hollywood Reporter let go of several staff including long time top TV editor Lesley Goldberg, and editor writer Rebecca Sun (who’d been laid off before and rehired). Penske owns the Reporter, Variety, Deadline, Rolling Stone, and Billboard among others. I’m told these layoffs aren’t the end.
The Daily Beast has reportedly offered buyouts to 70% of its unionized staff. Non-unionized staff is next as former Hearst editor Joanna Coles and ABC News chief Ben Sherwood take the reins to save the Beast from closing.
Media news: The Daily Beast buyout results are in, and they're just about gutting the site. 25 (or 70%) of unionized staffers took the buyouts, including nearly all of the most senior journalists. Meanwhile, non-union editors expect to face a round of firings at end of the month.
Over at The Sun.com, there’s buzz of more were sent packing. According to Semrush, The Sun.com has lost 20 million visitors since February. I’m surprised considering YahooNews just told me they’re relying on tabloid news. Go figure.
In Canada, 35 media people were laid off the by Global News. That’s in addition to 11 who already got the axe this year.
I do read snarky comments about all these layoffs who think that media people getting cut is funny, or that they deserve it. How stupid can people be? Is there really a desire for a fascist dictator — Donald Trump — and no free press? Were education programs cut so deeply in the 1980s that we have a generation of ignorance? The more media shrinks, so do the opportunities to know what’s going on in the world — whether you like it or not. The media contracts, the more you should worry.
And back to the headline: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc are the villains, and they’re doing this all unchecked. The government has yet to to intervene for any kind of oversight or regulation. We were warned about AI more than a year ago, and no one took it seriously.
Actor Jonathan Majors was convicted of assault last December in New York. He didn’t get jail time, but he did get a sentence of 52 weeks of an in-person batterer’s intervention program. He was also ordered to continue his mental health therapy.
But this is Hollywood. So on June 21st, Majors will receive the Perseverance Award from an organization called the Hollywood Unlocked Awards. The event will recognize designer Christian Louboutin with the Innovator Award, legendary rapper Fat Joe with the Culture Award, and Cardi B with the Inspiration Award. Tiffany Haddish will host the Los Angeles show, held at the Beverly Hilton.
How did Majors persevere? Despite scuffling with his girlfriend, and being convicted by a jury, he’s continued to pursue his Hollywood career. That shows get-up-and-go, apparently.
What is Hollywood Unlocked? Also, who would sponsor an awards event honoring a convicted abuser?
Hollywood Unlocked is run by someone named Jason Lee. He sells health insurance on his website. Lee has registered a 501 c3 (because who hasn’t?) called the Hollywood Cares Foundation, which so far has filed nothing with the IRS.
Every generation has a Jason Lee. Think David Gest. But even David Gest wouldn’t have honored a recently convicted domestic abuser. The party is on June 21st, and when sponsors are revealed, we’ll tell you.
On Saturday he’s the co-host of a big Hollywood fundraiser for Joe Biden. Julia Roberts is also featured, and there will be plenty of stars and heavy hitters.
But last night, George was in New York. According to Keith McNally’s Instagram report, Clooney made an appearance at Balthazar last night where he joined Francis Ford Coppola and daughter Sofia Coppola for dinner along with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
What were they discussing? We don’t know, but one topic could have been Coppola still unable to find a distributor for his “Megalopolis” a month after it was shown in Cannes. (We’re rooting for this movie!)
I guess a private plane will whoosh Clooney back to LA in time for the fundraiser. Tomorrow night all eyes will be on the Oscar winning actor because his wife, Amal, who is British and Lebanese, has come out strongly against Israel. As a member of the International Criminal Court, it was Amal who helped issued a warrant of arrest for Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu. She wrote the papers herself. This is completely in opposition to the US stand on Israel.
WIll Amal be at the fundraiser? I think she will be. If she’s not, her absence will raise more questions, particularly for tabloid writers who are looking to stir up trouble. But Mrs. Clooney is not only a diplomat, she’s a fashionista. She won’t miss a chance to appear in some incredible frock.
Paul McCartney turns 82 on Tuesday, so he’s sent us a gift.
“One Hand Clapping” is a collection of in-studio recordings Paul did with Wings in 1974. They are songs from “Band on the Run,” as well as a few Beatles tunes and oldies, plus some never heard tracks.
Listen, these were probably on bootlegs for 50 years, but most fans, including me, never heard them. Now they’re all cleaned up and remastered. The result is we owe Paul and his staff a thank you note.
What a lovely surprise. Live recording is always preferable to heavily produced, and “One Hand Clapping” proves the point. Paul, wife Linda, Denny Laine, and Jimmy McCulloch sound fresher and more vibrant than ever. The songs could be brand new, that’s how invested with life they are after five decades of listening to the conventional recordings.
“One Hand Clapping” is meant for a stereo, not headphones. The new production puts right in the middle of that studio. The sound is surrounding in the least technical way. Minor songs like “Soilly” and “C Moon” — which were dismissed as B sides when they were released — are more enjoyable than ever.
The main thing about “One Hand Clapping” is that McCartney comes off relaxed and invested. His singing is supple and fun. His rhythm section is tight, and his piano playing on “Long and Winding Road” and “Lady Madonna” is sort of brilliantly off the cuff and simultaneously masterful.
All of this was before Wings went out on the 1976 Wings Over America tour, which was in stadiums and, of course, bombastic compared to this. So consider this at the home preview. There are a few new songs that got away like “Let’s Love” and “All of You” that could and should have been properly released a long time ago. (This is like “Flaming Pie” cast offs “Same Love” and “Love Come Tumbling Down.”) Also, a 1982 B side called “I’ll Give You a Ring” gets a whole new resonant life.
I think from now on I will use these new, sparkling versions only of “Band on the Run,” “Hi Hi Hi,” “Junior’s Farm” — all records we know so well — as my standards. Wow. And sluggist ones that we also know — “Let Me Roll It” and “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five” — are equally revived.
“Inside Out 2” is going to save the movie business.
Last night, Disney’s sequel to the hit “Inside Out” scored $13 million in previews. The weekend looks insanely good as Disney could hit $75 million for an opening weekend.
The Mouse House hasn’t had a hit in a long time, certainly not an animated one. Also, with Marvel in a lull, Disney’s run as box office king has been diminished greatly.
But the first “Inside Out” won the Oscar in 2016 for Best Animated Feature, and was a financial hit as well. Preview night in 2015 brought in $3.7 million and total weekend take was $90 million. Nothing like a good IP to brighten the box office.
