Monday, December 22, 2025
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Dwayne The Rock Johnson Wrestled to the Ground in Lowest Opening Weekend Since 2010 with “Smashing Machine”

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Apparently, no one wants to see Dwayne the Rock Johnson in his newest movie.

“The Smashing Machine” had a two day opening of $2.7 million, looking at a $7 million weekend.

That would be The Rock’s lowest opening since around 2010.

Even his domestic dogs, like “Baywatch,” made over $100 million abroad.

The story of mixed martial artist Mark Kerr had no appeal for anyone, not even other mixed martial artists.

A24, which is usually successful at getting moviegoers to see things that no one understands, couldn’t pull this off.

Wrestling movies, even when they’re top notch like “Foxcatcher,” have trouble at the box office.

Even “The Iron Claw,” starring a pre-Springsteen Jeremy Allen White, made $35 million.

“Smashing Machine” won’t get near that, and probably ends the “For Your Consideration” like Oscar hopes for The Rock.

It’s amazing how the hype from the Venice Film Festival doesn’t translate into reality. Oh, the raves! The tweets!

And then…splat.

“Smashing Machine” seems very odd because it trades on Johnson’s fame, but he looks like someone else in the clips. If that person is real life wrestler Mark Kerr, maybe he can make a movie where he looks like Johnson.

Fleetwood Mac 2026 Farewell Tour Possible: Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood Wish Lindsay Buckingham a Happy Birthday on Social Media

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No one’s said anything yet, but a Fleetwood Mac 2026 farewell tour looks all but certain.

Today both Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood each wished Lindsay Buckingham a Happy Birthday on social media.

This is part of a continuing rapprochement since Buckingham was fired in 2018 by the group a few years ago.

That moment was stunning. Nicks accused her former lover and musical partner of abuse in no uncertain terms. The disagreement was said to stem from Buckingham asking the group to delay a tour. A tour did go out without him, but including Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.

Soon after, Christine McVie — who’d written so many of their hits and had been a huge part of the band — died. Christine’s ex husband, bass player John McVie, had retired.

But the group lived on. “Rumours” and “Greatest Hits” continue to sell like crazy. The songs “Dreams,” “Go Your Own Way,” and “Everything” are heard on commercials constantly.

Then this summer Nicks and Buckingham had begun reaching out to each other publicly. That campaign resulted in the reissue of their “Buckingham Nicks” album from 1974, all remastered and remixed. It’s been a huge hit — over 37,000 copies since September 19th.

A farewell reunion tour would be a massive hit. It would follow the blueprint laid out by the Eagles, also down one founding member — Glenn Frey — due to untimely death. The groups share a manager, the legendary Irving Azoff, who could move a pyramid if necessary. Imagine a Fleetwood Mac residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. It would be sold out in the next century.

So happy birthday, Lindsay. The summer of 2026 looks very promising!

 

Trump Coin Against the Law: “Only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency and securities”

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Yes, it’s true.

As part of the continuing effort to promote himself and create an authoritarian state, Trump has asked the Dept of the Treasury to strike a coin with his image on it.

However if anyone cares, this is against the law.

“Only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency and securities.”

This is US Law and widely known among anyone who has a grasp of how this country operates.

That would exclude Trump, who is also illegally altering the White House by building a $200 million ballroom larger than the original ballroom.

There is still no release of the Epstein files. This is just the latest effort to distract the public from that issue.

Will anyone in Congress stop this?

Of course, is Trump is insistent about the coin, he may know something about his health that we don’t. The only hitch is that two years have to pass in between the death and the minting.

Mariah Carey’s Lambs Got Sheepish About Buying New Album: “Here for It All” Sells Many Fewer Units than Expected

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Where are all the lambs?

Mariah Carey’s fan club did not come through for her with the new album, “Here for it All.”

Total sales fell much shorter than predicted mid week.

“Here” was supposed to sell 65,000 copies including streaming.

The actual number was just 51,166. Physical sales were about 43,000. There was little streaming.

Mariah did a lot of publicity, but it didn’t work. Certainly everyone knew she had a new album out.

But radio is cruel to artists over 35. They’ll play your old music endlessly but ignore new material. That’s what happened here.

Luckily for Mariah, Christmas season is soon, and she can throw in a couple of those songs while she’s dressed as a snow bunny.

Antisemitic Singer Lorde, Who Has Few Record Sales Worldwide This Year, Sees Songs Pulled from Apple in Israel

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Lorde, the New Zealand singer with one hit in twelve years, has underscored her previous antisemitism.

She’s seen her music pulled from iTunes in Israel after shouting “Free Palestine!” at a New York show.

She won’t be missed.

Lorde already said several years ago she wouldn’t do shows in Israel. This was met with a collective yawn.

Her one hit, “Royals,” came in 2013. Since then, her record sales are minimal. No one in Israel, or most countries, was clamoring for her music.

This year, according to Luminate, Lorde has had sales of just 115,1999 in downloads, CDs, and vinyl.

Adding in streaming, she has 742,581. Most of the sales from “Royals.”

How Lorde even has a US record label is a mystery. She hasn’t sold a record here in a decade.

Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor has made herself a pariah. Frankly, she should have all her music removed from iTunes ASAP.

Taylor Swift’s New Album So Far Hasn’t Generated Any Hits on iTunes or Spotify But Rolling Stone Is All In

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What is going on here?

“The Life of a Showgirl” album by Taylor Swift — released at midnight — is number 1 on amazon and iTunes.

But on iTunes and Spotify there’s no action. On the former, no individual tracks have revealed themselves. On the latter, one song — “Ophelia” — is registering.

How can all these things exist at the same time?

More interesting: the “Showgirl” tracks take up the top 20 of Apple streaming. Nothing on Apple’s iTunes, where albums are made or broken by individual tracks catching fire.

As of 4:23pm, Swift has nothing on the iTunes top 100.

And then there’s Rolling Stone. The long venerated rock and roll bible has given over its entire home page to “Showgirl” as if it were “Sgt. Pepper.” They are all in, bestowing a ridiculous five star review.

The fans don’t seem to like the album. Twitter X is full of comments saying the album is “mid” Swift, nothing new, and a disappointment.

On Metacritic, the rating is at 62%, not exactly a run away hit.

And let’s not forget my previous story about the title track sounding awfully similar to the Jonas Brothers’ 2019 song, “Cool.”

Stay tuned…

Dwayne The Rock Johnson Getting Rolled as “Smashing Machine” Has $850K Preview Night, Looking at Record Low Weekend

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Dwayne Johnson must be cursing his luck today.

His new movie, “The Smashing Machine,” is not smashing anything, not even potatoes.

Last night’s previews yielded just $850,000. Ouch! The movie is headed to a $10 million weekend, which would be a record low in Johnson’s resume.

“Smashing Machine” is about real life mixed martial artist Mark Kerr. Directed by Benny Safdie and co-starring Emily Blunt, the movie has a lowly 73% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Johnson, who’s had lots of big hits, looks nothing like himself in the movie or in the advertising.

Who is Mark Kerr? A nice guy, I’m sure. So is everyone else involved in the project. But why did they make it? Who was it for?

Studio A24 has had a pretty rough year with things like “Eddington,” “Warfare,” and their Apple Spike Lee movie, “Highest 2 Lowest.”

Next up they gamble the whole shebang on the $70 million “Marty Supreme” starring Timothee Chalamet. Director is Josh Safdie, brother of Benny. The talented brothers made Adam Sandler’s “Uncut Gems” a few years ago. They have a lot of good will with critics. But “Marty” has to live on its own merits.

Taylor Swift and the Jonas Brothers May Have to Decide If Their Songs, “Life of a Showgirl” and “Cool,” Sound Pretty Similar

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I can’t take credit for this.

Sean McNulty, who writes the excellent The Wake Up newsletter at The Ankler — I guess he’s a Jonas Brothers fan — noticed the similarity right away.

The title track of Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” and the Jonas Brothers’ 2019 “Cool,” sound very similar.

Last night I praised Swift’s track, from her new album, because it sounded so different from the rest of the record.

I am not much of a Jonas expert, but when I heard “Cool” I really liked it — as if I’d heard it before.

The Swift song is written with Max Martin and Shellback. The Jonas Brothers song comes from the Ryan Tedder house of songs.

Taylor Swift Drops Airless New Album, “The Life of a Showgirl”: Is It Good? Is It Bad? Does it Matter? Marketing Machine is Humming

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Taylor Swift’s latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” has been out for 40 minutes. It’s easily number 1 everywhere.

Is it good? Is it Bad? Does it matter what I think, what you think? No.

The marketing machine is already churning. Girls are downloading it, streaming it, buy it with sweaters and God knows what else. “The Life of a Showgirl” is a souvenir.

It’s here below, if you have Spotify. My first impression is that, except for the final track — the title song — the album sounds a little lifeless.

Now, look. I love the song, “Lover,” and have really enjoyed a lot of Taylor Swift songs. For some reason, on this album, she’s covered George Michael’s “Father Figure,” and added her own lyrics. Not sure why. Another song, called “Actually Romantic,” has something to do with singer Charlie XCX. Makes no difference to me but it’s smart to start a feud with another singer.

“The Life of a Showgirl” is co-written and produced with hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback. I assumed this would give it a more top 40 pop feel but in fact, the songs are little airless.

Maybe they’ll grow on me. I’m sure all the kids buying it tonight love every song. But listen to that last one and note the difference. The title song sounds like the real Taylor Swift. The others maybe were hatched in between going to NFL games and dodging paparazzi on the way into mediocre restaurants.

Keith Urban Counting on Concertgoers Still Buying Tickets After Scandal Because His Album Sales Are a Bust

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Keith Urban is gone from good guy husband to philanderer over night.

Nicole Kidman filed for divorce this week from her husband of 19 years. Apparently, Keith is possibly screwing around with the 25 year old female guitarist in his band named Maggie Baugh.

Nicole is learning the words to the Pointer Sisters’ “Betcha Got a Chick on the Side.”

Much of Urban’s popularity in the country music world has come from his marriage to Nicole and their family with two daughters. Kidman has been at every country music award show supporting her husband for years. It’s added a lot of value to Urban’s career.

But now we’ll see what the impact is of this scandal. Keith is on tour right now, with current shows sold out. But as the schedule goes on, he will depend on good will to sell tickets. Already there are signs of shows like in South Carolina where the fans don’t seem so motivated.

Keith’s record sales aren’t going to help him. Year to date, according to Luminate, Urban has sold 260,000 albums but almost all come from streaming. He’s sold only 15,281 downloads and CDs. Ouch!

Will curiosity seekers be buying concert tickets to see what’s going on? For Keith’s sake, let’s hope so.