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The Oscars are well behind us in the rearview mirror. All the movies nominated for Best Picture are available via streaming, cable, DVD, video on demand, etc.
So which of the nominees is the most viewed at home? According to Digital Entertainment Network, it’s not the winner, “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
No. The most watched at home movie of all the Oscar players is Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans.” It’s number 2 on the chart this week behind “Puss N Boots.”
The third most watched film is “The Whale.”
And “EEAAO”? It’s number 7, behind “A Man Called Otto,” “Top Gun Maverick,” and “Wakanda Forever.”
Further down the list in the top 20 are “Tar,” “Women Talking,” and “Elvis.”
Am I surprised? No. For one thing, “EEAAO” has made $70 million at the box office. Whoever wanted to see it has done so. It’s also on Showtime night and day, where no matter how many times I’ve waded into it, I’ve skipped to the end each time.
“Shazam 2” has somehow provoked the actual Fury of the Gods.
The Zachary Levi led super hero movie sequel had a lackluster weekend. But the mid week numbers are worse.
On Monday, “Shazam 2” fell 77% from Sunday, the biggest dip of any movie in the top 10. On Tuesday, a day when people try to get to movies they missed over the weekend, “Shazam 2” rose 42%, a low increase.
Wednesday, however, crushed the hope that “Shazam 2” was getting good word of mouth. Receipts fell the same 42%, wiping out gains and the aforementioned help. This film is cooked. With a $125 budget (which is always lower than the real numbers), “Shazam 2” would need $250 million to break even, and another $75 million to turn a profit. This is not going to happen.
So what did happen? Was it Levi’s weird and off putting social media? Was it the new Warner’s-DC Comics brass just not caring about “Shazam 2” as they go on to build a new brand? Levi now is blaming the marketing. Well, something went very wrong. Could it be fans are just tired of these super hero movies?
We will know soon when “The Flash” finally shows up in June.
“Succession,” as you may know, is back for a fourth and final season. Why is this the end? It could be a money thing with HBO and the actors, I don’t know. But watching the first episode of Season 4, all you can think is how can we all put ourselves through this again? How can Jesse Armstrong, who writes it?
So where are we now? The Roy kids are pitted against Logan, their father, in a bidding war. Cherry Jones, who plays Logan’s rival, Nan Pierce, is at the center of it. The Roy Kids, when we see them at first, are starting their own business, which would be swell. But then, of course, they see something Logan wants.
Everyone is vicious, even when they are tender. Shiv and Tom are always on the verge of something decisive. Cousin Greg, is well, an idiot. Kendall and Roman are rogue soldiers. They can go either way. Kendall remains vague and cerebral. Roman is a spewing machine.
The writing remains deeply textured to the point where you have to listen to it twice to pick up the nuances. I’m so relieved when there’s a moment in English, slowed down, where one person asks another what’s going on? Because there are always a couple of minutes when the dense dodging of emotions and expressiveness makes you want to reach for an Advil or a stiff Scotch, no rocks.
Things happen in this episode. We don’t walk out clean. New battle lines are drawn. Some futures may change. We may have seen a red herring swimming through a birthday party. I’ll say this: Cherry Jones is to be adored and appreciated. Between this and her turn in “Poker Face,” she has to get something from the Television Academy, not just flowers.
Watch on Sunday, we’ll come back and talk a little more on Tuesday, and get ready for Episode 2. Me? I’ve got to lie down. Now.
Blondie founder Chris Stein is reporting new health issues but sounds upbeat.
He writes on Twitter: I’m yet again sorry to report that I won’t make it to our scheduled speaking engagements in the UK. This year I’ve been dealing with a prostate cancer diagnosis on top of my regular bullshit heart ailments. As a result I’m more fried than usual. I’m still working on various projects while spending a lot of time in sweatpants at home with my wife Barbara, kids and animals. Luckily this thing was caught early and I have access to great healthcare resources at NewYork-Presbyterian…I’ve done radiation and hormone treatment, PSA levels are under one, and I suspect the latter is why I’m more fatigued. Doctor says I should be ‘back to baseline’ soon enough and that the treatment is going according to plan….I’m thinking of all of you. Thanks so much for supporting xxx”
Stein is 73. He and Debbie Harry founded Blondie in 1974, becoming one of the first successful punk-New Wave bands along with the New York Dolls, Television, and the Ramones. But Blondie was sort of ‘it’– and they began having hits circa 1979 with “Heart of Glass.” They took off like a rocket and never looked back, becoming iconic for their sound and look.
Blondie is playing tonight and tomorrow night in Bogota, Columbia and has dates lined up this spring. Stein doesn’t say if he’s with them or how this affects his touring. But Godspeed– sending best wishes to one of the great geniuses of rock and roll!
I like Aaron Sorkin very much and admire his plays and movies. But still, today he tells the New York Times he had a stroke last November and they slough it off like it was the result of smoking, drinking, and eating red meat.
Alas, Sorkin had a vicious drug problem 20 years ago. It wasn’t a secret. He was in the newspaper constantly. He told TV Guide that he smoked crack cocaine daily while writing the 1995 movie “The American President.” He was treated for cocaine addiction in 1995. Sorkin was thought to have had success with rehab.
But that wasn’t the end of it: in 2001 he was arrested at Burbank Airport for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana, and crack cocaine. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and two felony counts, and was allowed to enter a drug treatment program instead of serving prison time.
“You know how I got addicted to cocaine? I tried it,” Sorkin announced in a commencement address he delivered at his alma mater, Syracuse University, in 2012.
The good news is that Sorkin has been drug free for the last two decades, so he’s a success story, thank goodness. But it’s a little disingenuous not to mention all of this in light of Sorkin being told his blood pressure was so high “you should be dead.” He attributes the stroke — which included slurring of words and being unable to writing his own name — to heavy smoking. Um, New York Times science writers might have a different idea.
Anyway, Sorkin has written an updated version of “Camelot,” opening on Broadway April 13th. And again, thank goodness he changed his life two decades ago and was able to go to write such important creations as “The Social Network” and the update of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Twenty three deserving Americans received Presidential Medals of Honor yesterday from Joe Biden.
A lot of press was given to Bruce Springsteen, who we all love and Biden does, too.
But I was most excited about Gladys Knight, whom Biden dubbed “The Empress of Soul,” getting her medal. No one deserves it more. I love the fact that Gladys is finally getting incredible recognition. She just received a Kennedy Center Award.
Some of the others in yesterday’s group included journalist Walter Isaacson, “Just Mercy” writer Bryan Stevenson, actress Julia Louis Dreyfus, novelist Amy Tan, and writer Mindy Kaling.
Ben Affleck, director of the excellent movie, “Air,” coming April 5th to theaters, has one of the best soundtracks of all time.
There are dozens of hit songs in “Air,” and Affleck chose them all himself, not using a music supervisor. The music, all from the early to mid 80s, moves along the story of how Michael Jordan became Nike’s sports mascot before he was even an NBA star perfectly. In fact, there are several nods to the theme from “Beverly Hills Cop.”
And it all works, just like in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies. It’s unclear so far if there will be a CD or iTunes collection. If so, it would be a smash hit.
One song that should get a big push is one of my all time favorites: “Tempted,” by Squeeze, the most under-rated group in pop history. The great Squeeze duo Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford wrote the song. You can hear them and Elvis Costello singing back up on the record to Paul Carrack’s soulful lead. It’s one of the greatest pop songs of all time.
So how did “Tempted” from 1982 wind up in “Air”?
Affleck told me this week at the “Air” Party in New York: “Originally I had Jump by Van Halen in that spot. But you can’t license Jump or any Van Halen song. Apparently they’re all fighting with each other and no one can agree on anything. So we gave up. I’m much happier with Tempted anyway.”
When “Air” launches, it would be swell if “Tempted” goes the way of Kate Bush’s “Running Up that Hill” and gets discovered by a whole new generation.
So you know “Smash” was a TV series about a Broadway show that finally opened on fictional Broadway after many soap opera like developments. Along the way, “Smash” became a cult favorite, although not a ratings hit.
Now “Smash,” very meta- meta, will come to Broadway in the 2024-2025 season. The great Susan Stroman is directing. Rick Elice and Bob Martin, who know how to meta- meta anything, are writing the show about a show called “Bombshell,” based on the novel by Garson Kanin. Steven Spielberg and Neil Meron are producing it, along with Bob Greenblatt. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman are writing the songs.
What could go wrong with that gang?
So who will play all those TV roles? The TV series starred Angelica Huston, Debra Messing, Will Chase, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, and so on. The last two could actually wind up being in the Broadway show, who knows? And Donna Murphy should play the Huston role. Otherwise, maybe there will be a documentary about the making of “Smash” about the making of “Bombshell” about the making of….It could go on and on!
Who were the Marcuses? A dentist and his wife who escaped the Holocaust just barely, came to America to start their lives, and lived in Great Neck, New York. Howard and Lottie Marcus are the subject of an unusual documentary that connects them to billionaire investment adviser Warren Buffett, to Israel, and climate activism.
The large part of “Who Are the Marcuses?” is not about them, per se, but why they left a stunning $400 million to Ben Gurion University for research about water science when no one knew who they were or that they had any money at all. The donation doubled the size of the university’s endowment.
Howard died at 104 years old in 2014 and Lottie shortly after in 2015 at age 99. Their lovely, and unassuming daughter does a lot of the talking for her parents, and there are clips of interviews with Howard talking about growing up in Germany and seeing the Nazi tide rise toward him. He was smart to leave, although his trip to America and under the radar financial success was not a straight line.
But who does remember the Marcuses? Of all people, Warren Buffett, who is not Jewish but came to meet them through a mutual college friend in 1962. He was just starting to advise investors when the Marcuses put their lives in his hands. To say they had a successful relationship is an understatement. His small firm blossomed into Berkshire Hathaway, bringing the Marcsus along for the ride of their lives.
Buffett was devoted to the Marcus family and still is: He’s not only interviewed quite thoroughly in the film, but Buffett has been turning up at screenings about the couple and their extraordinary donation. From the beginning he was on the same wavelength as them. It’s interesting that he says their quiet collaboration could “only have happened in America” and that a lot of it was just luck. It also feels like some kind of divine intervention.
An Israeli professor interviewed in the film says, “Howard felt the next World War could be fought over water.” It was a visionary thing to say considering issues the US itself has had in Flint, Michigan and Jackson, Mississippi over access to clean water for everyone. Israel’s David Ben Gurion also saw this as the country began to populate, and turned his attention to finding revolutionary new ways to make that happen through science and education.
So “Who Are the Marcuses?” is kind of brilliant as it shows how this couple, after surviving near death and coming to America, set their sights on the future of the Earth. No one had heard of them when they died and that they made the single biggest donation ever in Israel, revealed in 2016. They didn’t have a mansion — their last few years were spent in a two bedroom apartment in San Diego. They didn’t have fast cars, or a vast collection of jewelry or art. They were the anti-Kardashians.
It’s a fascinating doc, making the festival rounds right now. It belongs on PBS, where I think an audience will be thrilled to see it.
There’s a scandal brewing at Rolling Stone magazine, reported by NPR’s estimable David Folkenflik.
There are a lot of players here so bear with me. Last fall Rolling Stone investigative reporter Tatiana Siegel wrote a piece about an ABC News journalist called James Gordon Meek. She said he’d suddenly disappeared after the FBI raided his home in April 2022 and found classified documents on his computer.
Siegel had only recently joined Rolling Stone from The Hollywood Reporter, also owned by Penske Media, after she brokered a deal to write for the trade and also do podcasts for Janice Min’s The Ankler newsletter. The whole negotiation was a big deal in a small circle who knew all these people.
Are you following me? Suddenly at the end of the year it was announced that Siegel was “ankling” both Rolling Stone and The Ankler and going to another Penske vehicle, Variety, as film and TV editor. It didn’t make sense, but what does anymore? Siegel had fought so hard to get that RS-Ankler combo. Why didn’t it work out?
Now Folkenflik says that Siegel left because Rolling Stone editor in chief Noah Shactman spiked info in the Meek story because of his friendship with the ABC contributor. It wasn’t government classified info on Meek’s computer. It was child porn, and it was so bad that when you read it you might, as I did, gasp. Siegel had said in her original piece the raid turned up info that Meek had on his computer that wasn’t work-related. The charge is that Shactman removed that line, and the material on the computer seemed like it was indeed work related.
So got that? Shactman, newish to RS after running The Daily Beast, is being accused by Folkenflik and sources of protecting an alleged child pornographer. This is stunning. You can read Folkenflik’s story here. Turns out that Siegel’s mother was dying as she turned her original piece on Meek in. Folkenflik says Shactman changed the story without Siegel’s knowledge. When she found out she insisted on leaving Rolling Stone.
Many questions arise here: if the raid was last April, how much did they know at ABC News? When Siegel reported the story in October, weren’t Penske and Rolling Stone alerted to the real nature of the FBI discoveries? Why did it seem in Siegel’s story (which was changed from her original) that this was the work of the Biden government to repress a story about them? It had nothing to do with Biden or classified documents.
All of it too bad, also, since Siegel is a reporting barracuda. She won’t comment now, but she goes for the jugular. I can imagine how upset she must have been. And Rolling Stone has been doing some great stuff lately. It would be a shame if this tainted them. And more importantly– where is Meek? What happened to him? He sounds like a very disturbed guy.
