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Box Office: “Avatar 2” Opens to Disappointing $17 Mil Previews, Weather or Not

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: “Avatar 2” Opens to Disappointing $17 Mil Previews, Weather or Not

“Avatar 2” finally opened around the country last night in previews.

The box office take was $17, which was a little disappointing for a movie that cost $250 million and was 12 years in the making. That makes it number 36 on the all time preview nights.

But the weather was vicious around the country, and “Avatar: The Way of War” can only be seen in theaters, and mostly through 3D glasses.

The movie has scored only a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes but that won’t stop the audience from coming out this weekend. Disney-Fox is lowballing estimates, hoping to announce on Monday the movie “overperformed.”

Trevor Noah to Host the Grammys, Ryan Murphy Second Murphy to Get Golden Globes Award, “Fabelmans” A Hit on iTunes, Carole King Movie Will Be “Beautiful”

Roger Friedman
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Trevor Noah to Host the Grammys, Ryan Murphy Second Murphy to Get Golden Globes Award, “Fabelmans” A Hit on iTunes, Carole King Movie Will Be “Beautiful”

Here are some of the day’s deals:

THE GOLDEN GLOBES will honor not one but two Murphy’s on January 10th. Already announced is Eddie Murphy getting the Cecil B. DeMille award — that’s the Globes’ Lifetime Achievement for movies. Today they added producer Ryan Murphy for the Carol Burnett Award, aka Lifetime Achievement for movies. Murphy has given us “Glee,” as well as a ton of hits on FX including “American Horror Story” and “Feud.”

THE GRAMMY AWARDS will be hosted once again by Trevor Noah. The February 5th show will be stocked with nominees like Adele, Harry Styles, and Beyonce. Noah has done this job a few times now and is always a terrific choice. By then, too, his fans will have missed him on “The Daily Show.”

”THE FABELMANS” is still in theaters but it’s also one of a few Oscar buzzed films hitting Video on Demand. It’s already number 3 on iTunes. This film is really a tour de force for Steven Spielberg. Beautifully made, “The Fabelmans” features top notch performances by Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, and Gabriel Labelle. It’s my choice for Best Picture of the Year, and I think the Academy will feel the same. What it really has is HEART, and addresses the whole of how families survive changes and remain intact. And no one is in a multiverse, it’s real human drama.

CAROLE KING will see her Broadway musical, “Beautiful,” turned into a movie. Daisy Edgar Jones will play Carole, and Lisa Cholodenko will write and direct The movie is based on the musical written by the late great Doug McGrath and starring Jesse Mueller. Who will play Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil? And Don Kirschner? Still to be determined. Carole started out with Screen Gems’ Colgems label, a division of Columbia Pictures, which of course became Sony Pictures eventually. Now she’s back with the same company, basically. And the world goes round and round…

Russell Crowe Releases a New, Massive Flop Called “Poker Face” With Record 49 Producers, Popular Only in Russia

Roger Friedman
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Russell Crowe Releases a New, Massive Flop Called “Poker Face” With Record 49 Producers, Popular Only in Russia

I think when I kept seeing the title, “Poker Face,” I thought it was in reference to the Lady Gaga song. It’s not.

Turns out, “Poker Face” is a movie directed by Oscar winner (for acting in “Gladiator”) Russell Crowe. He also wrote the screenplay. And it’s a huge bust.

“Poker Face” was released to VOD on November 22nd. Today it turned up at number 10 on the home viewing chart for last week.

The film, co-starring Crowe and Liam Hemsworth, has registered a frightening 9% on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s 9, as in, NEIN. Very few critics liked it, and no one wanted it at home.

“Poker Face” did not get a theatrical release here. But abroad it did, making just $1.5 million. Most of its money was made in Russia– $1.2 million.

In the US, of the people who let this bomb into their living rooms, only 32% liked it enough to say so on Rotten Tomatoes.

What happened to Russell Crowe? He should have been a massive star after “Gladiator.” I’ve never understood his trajectory.

PS “Poker Face” has what I think maybe a record number of producer credits– forty nine! 49! Or forty-nein.

Fake New Sondheim Show for Broadway with Bernadette Peters, Nathan Lane Announced on Twitter by Hoaxer

Roger Friedman
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Fake New Sondheim Show for Broadway with Bernadette Peters, Nathan Lane Announced on Twitter by Hoaxer

Earlier today, the Broadway crowd got very excited for a few precious minutes. On Twitter came the news that an unproduced show by the late Stephen Sondheim was coming next year starring Bernadette Peters and Nathan Lane.

In the Broadway world, that’s like saying Tom Brady would be playing baseball in the NFL off-season.

Anyway, it’s not true. The show, called “Square One,” was never officially finished and doesn’t exist. It’s a hoax. But the Twitter account picked up over 500 followers instantly. The tip-off should have been that @SquareOne followed no other accounts.

The hoaxer’s video is below, followed by the announcement. If anyone knows who this person is, let me know at showbiz411@gmail.com

AARP Movie Nominees Include “Fabelmans,” “Elvis,” “Top Gun” But No “Whale” or “Emancipation”

Roger Friedman
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AARP Movie Nominees Include “Fabelmans,” “Elvis,” “Top Gun” But No “Whale” or “Emancipation”

Believe it or not the AARP Movie Awards are important. They reach a big audience. All their Best Picture nominations were similar to Critics Choice and AFI, even Golden Globes. But they eschewed “The Whale” and “Emancipation,” which should tell us everything. Good luck to everyone! (PS Some actors were excluded because they were too young, like Michelle Williams.)

The complete list of the annual Movies for Grownups Awards Nominees:

  • Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups: Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick, The Woman King and Women Talking.
  • Best Actress: Cate Blanchett (Tár), Viola Davis (The Woman King), Lesley Manville (Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris), Emma Thompson (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) and Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once).
  • Best Actor: Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), Tom Hanks (A Man Called Otto), Bill Nighy (Living) and Adam Sandler (Hustle).
  • Best Supporting Actress: Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Patricia Clarkson (She Said), Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Judith Ivey (Women Talking)and Gabrielle Union (The Inspection).
  • Best Supporting Actor: Andre Braugher (She Said), Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin), Woody Harrelson (Triangle of Sadness), Judd Hirsch(The Fabelmans) and Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once).  
  • Best Director: James Cameron (Avatar: The Way of Water), Todd Field (Tár), Baz Luhrmann (Elvis), Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King) and Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans).
  • Best Screenwriter: Todd Field (Tár), Kazuo Ishiguro (Living), Tony Kushner and Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans), Rebecca Lenkiewicz (She Said) and Dana Stevens (The Woman King).
  • Best Actress (TV): Christina Applegate (Dead to Me), Toni Collette (The Staircase), Laura Linney (Ozark), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary) and Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul).  
  • Best Actor (TV): Jeff Bridges (The Old Man), Steve Carell (The Patient),Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul), Gary Oldman (Slow Horses) and Wes Studi (Reservation Dogs). 
  • Best TV Series:Abbott Elementary, The Old Man, Only Murders in the Building, The White Lotus and Yellowstone.
  • Best TV Movie/Limited Series: Black Bird, The Dropout, Inventing Anna, The Staircase and The Watcher.
  • Best Ensemble: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Nope, She Said, The Woman King and Women Talking. 
  • Best Intergenerational Movie: Armageddon Time, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, A Man Called Otto and Till. 
  • Best Time Capsule: Armageddon Time, Babylon, Elvis, The Fabelmans and Till.
  • Best Grownup Love Story: Empire of Light; Good Luck to You, Leo Grande; Lady Chatterley’s Lover; A Love Song; and Ticket to Paradise.
  • Best Documentary: Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, Lucy and Desi, The Pez Outlaw, Sidney and Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off.
  • Best Foreign Film: Argentina, 1985 (Argentina), Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (Mexico), Broker (South Korea), One Fine Morning (France) and The Quiet Girl (Ireland).

Breaking: Henry Cavill OUT as Superman, James Gunn Writing New Movie Without Him

Roger Friedman
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Breaking: Henry Cavill OUT as Superman, James Gunn Writing New Movie Without Him

There will be no “Man of Steel,” Part 2. And Henry Cavill’s cameo at the end of “Black Adam” was a one off.

All this news has broken tonight on Twitter as Cavill has announced that after meeting with Warner’s DC chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran the dream is dead.

And Gunn has announced that he’s writing a new Superman movie from earlier in the super hero’s life, “so the character will not be played by Henry Cavill.” This suggests that Cavill, now an elderly 39, has aged out of the role. (Yes, a spit take is good here.)

Gunn says: }But we just had a great meeting with Henry and we’re big fans and we talked about a number of exciting possibilities to work together in the future.”

This is code for Don’t call us, we’ll call you, or Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?

Cavill’s statement is below. He says he was told by Warner Bros, to announce his return back in October, which he did, “so this news isn’t the easiest…That’s life.”

Cavill will get over it, and so will the fans. Cavill made good money with Warner’s/DC but you’ve got to think he has bigger and better things coming. Maybe James Bond? As for Superman, it seems like Gunn is going back to reintroducing him yet again as he’s been tweeting references to the original Christopher Reeve movies. So it’s time to return to Krypton, wrap the baby up, crash in Smallville, meet Perry, Lois, and Jimmy. As we’ve learned with Spider Man, you can’t tell an origin story too many times!

Golden Globes 2023 Theme Emerges: Eddie Murphy Getting Lifetime Achievement Award, Jerrod Carmichael Hosting

Roger Friedman
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Golden Globes 2023 Theme Emerges: Eddie Murphy Getting Lifetime Achievement Award, Jerrod Carmichael Hosting

It’s starting to feel a lot like…a new Golden Globes.

Today the Hollywood Foreign Press announced that their lifetime achievement award is going to…ta da… Eddie Murphy. Eddie would be only the fourth POC to receive the award since they started giving it in 1952. (The others are Oprah, Denzel, and Morgan Freeman.)

Previously announced was the host of the show this year, Jerrod Carmichael, who’s Black and gay. So a theme is emerging for this year’s show. This is all in response to the scandal the group suffered over the last couple of years concerning diversity in its membership. They had no Black members.

The HFPA added 100 new voters this season (not actual members), most of them multicultural. Oddly, with all those new voters, it seems like no one liked “Till” or its much acclaimed star, Danielle Deadwyler. That’s an egregious omission. But they did otherwise nominate at least one Black actor in every acting category, so that’s something.

The Globes air January 10th on NBC.

Critics Choice Awards Go Strong for “Fabelmans,” “Banshees,” “Everything,” “Elvis”

Roger Friedman
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Critics Choice Awards Go Strong for “Fabelmans,” “Banshees,” “Everything,” “Elvis”

The Critics Choice Awards will be broadcast on the CW Network on Sunday, January 15th. Chelsea Handler is hosting. These nominations are excellent. What a night that will be! Around 500 very diverse journalists vote for these awards, they’re the real thing!

FILM NOMINATIONS FOR THE 28TH ANNUAL CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS

BEST PICTURE
Avatar: The Way of Water
Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
RRR
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Women Talking

BEST ACTOR
Austin Butler – Elvis
Tom Cruise – Top Gun: Maverick
Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser – The Whale
Paul Mescal – Aftersun
Bill Nighy – Living

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett – Tár
Viola Davis – The Woman King
Danielle Deadwyler – Till
Margot Robbie – Babylon
Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Paul Dano – The Fabelmans
Brendan Gleeson – The Banshees of Inisherin
Judd Hirsch – The Fabelmans
Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Brian Tyree Henry – Causeway

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Jessie Buckley – Women Talking
Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Janelle Monáe – Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Frankie Corio – Aftersun
Jalyn Hall – Till
Gabriel LaBelle – The Fabelmans
Bella Ramsey – Catherine Called Birdy
Banks Repeta – Armageddon Time
Sadie Sink – The Whale

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
The Woman King
Women Talking

BEST DIRECTOR
James Cameron – Avatar: The Way of Water
Damien Chazelle – Babylon
Todd Field – Tár
Baz Luhrmann – Elvis
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin
Sarah Polley – Women Talking
Gina Prince-Bythewood – The Woman King
S. S. Rajamouli – RRR
Steven Spielberg – The Fabelmans

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Todd Field – Tár
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin
Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner – The Fabelmans
Charlotte Wells – Aftersun

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Samuel D. Hunter – The Whale
Kazuo Ishiguro – Living
Rian Johnson – Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Rebecca Lenkiewicz – She Said
Sarah Polley – Women Talking

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Russell Carpenter – Avatar: The Way of Water
Roger Deakins – Empire of Light
Florian Hoffmeister – Tár
Janusz Kaminski – The Fabelmans
Claudio Miranda – Top Gun: Maverick
Linus Sandgren – Babylon

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Hannah Beachler, Lisa K. Sessions – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Rick Carter, Karen O’Hara – The Fabelmans
Dylan Cole, Ben Procter, Vanessa Cole – Avatar: The Way of Water
Jason Kisvarday, Kelsi Ephraim – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, Bev Dunn – Elvis
Florencia Martin, Anthony Carlino – Babylon

BEST EDITING
Tom Cross – Babylon
Eddie Hamilton – Top Gun: Maverick
Stephen Rivkin, David Brenner, John Refoua, James Cameron – Avatar: The Way of Water
Paul Rogers – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Matt Villa, Jonathan Redmond – Elvis
Monika Willi – Tár

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Ruth E. Carter – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Jenny Eagan – Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Shirley Kurata – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Catherine Martin – Elvis
Gersha Phillips – The Woman King
Mary Zophres – Babylon

BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP
Babylon
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Whale

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Everything Everywhere All at Once
RRR
Top Gun: Maverick

BEST COMEDY
The Banshees of Inisherin
Bros
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Triangle of Sadness
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Turning Red
Wendell & Wild

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
All Quiet on the Western Front
Argentina, 1985
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Close
Decision to Leave
RRR

BEST SONG
Carolina – Where the Crawdads Sing
Ciao Papa – Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Hold My Hand – Top Gun: Maverick
Lift Me Up – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Naatu Naatu – RRR
New Body Rhumba – White Noise

BEST SCORE
Alexandre Desplat – Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Michael Giacchino – The Batman
Hildur Guðnadóttir – Tár
Hildur Guðnadóttir – Women Talking
Justin Hurwitz – Babylon
John Williams – The Fabelmans

Soccer Journalist Grant Wahl Was Not Murdered in Qatar, Wife Says Died from Aneurysm

Roger Friedman
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Soccer Journalist Grant Wahl Was Not Murdered in Qatar, Wife Says Died from Aneurysm

Soccer journalist Grant Wahl’s wife, Celine Gounder, has just announced her husband’s cause of death in Qatar. It was not murder. In a way, it was worse.

Gounder writes: “An autopsy was performed by the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office. Grant died from the rupture of a slowly growing, undetected ascending aortic aneurysm with hemopericardium. The chest pressure he experienced shortly before his death may have represented the initial symptoms. No amount of CPR or shocks would have saved him. His death was unrelated to COVID. His death was unrelated to vaccination status. There was nothing nefarious about his death.”

Many jumped to the conclusion that some kind of violence was involved. But Wahl had a time bomb ticking in his head the whole time. It’s tragic.

Read Gounder’s whole statement here

Review: Whitney Houston’s Complex Life, Stunning Highs and Lows, Captured in New Film, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”

Roger Friedman
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Review: Whitney Houston’s Complex Life, Stunning Highs and Lows, Captured in New Film, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”

It’s not easy to make a single movie about Whitney Houston. The late great singer had so many highs and lows before her death in 2012 at age 48, a soup to nuts biopic would seem daunting.

And yet, Kasi Lemmons has made a very triumphant film with a screenplay by Anthony McCarten. “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” very deftly manages Houston’s skyrocketing career counterpointed by her difficult family life and eventual descent into drugs.

The film’s accomplishments are often surprising, starting with Naomi Ackie’s take on Houston’s turbulence. Ackie has a fine voice of her own, and she often uses it throughout the film. But the majority of the singing is from Whitney herself, Luckily Clive Davis — who’s a character in the film played kind of brilliantly by Stanley Tucci — is also a producer. So he’s brought all of Whitney’s sizzling live recordings to the film, which Ackie seamlessly lip syncs.

This shouldn’t work but it does, and it’s to Lemmons’ credit that she’s able to recreate most of Whitney’s classic videos and concert appearances. Many stand out, but Houston’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl is unforgettable as reenacted here.

Ackie and Tucci as Whitney and Clive have a very enjoyable rapport in the film thanks to McCarten’s excellent screenplay. The affection between them is genuine. They are not the only actors firing on all cylinders. Tamara Tunie and veteran actor Clarke Peters capture the essence of Whitney’s parents, Cissy and John Houston. I knew these people for a long time, and I was blown away how the actors were able to embody these complicated relationships.

“I Wanna Dance with Somebody” does not shy away from Whitney’s romantic relationship with Robyn Crawford, or her increasing dependence on drugs. Even though Bobby Brown seems like the villain of the piece, it’s clear that Whitney’s brothers introduced her to drugs in the first place. None of this swept under the rug. It’s all dealt with head on, and all of Whitney’s tribulations are woven into the two hour, twenty minute film.

The filmmakers could not make a miniseries. They were charged with making a film. So a lot of the unpleasant stuff that happened in the 2000s– Whitney and Bobby’s reality series, for example — is simply avoided. Believe me there’s enough material that every beat is played, I was happy not see some of Whitney’s worst episodes splashed onto the screen. The viewer gets the point without it being hammered over the head.

“I Wanna Dance with Somebody” is no whitewash. It’s a balanced mix of dark and light. But in the end what propels it is The Voice, the best voice of her generation. Whitney Houston’s music is what survives the scandal and gossip, and that gorgeous shimmering sound is what remains.

The movie opens December 21st in 3,000 theaters– no streaming. You’ll want to see it on a big screen. Sadly, Sony missed deadlines for the Critics Choice and Golden Globes — they would have gotten nods in many categories.

More on the movie’s opening night later today…

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