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Call the Priest: Mark Wahlberg-Mel Gibson “Father Stu” Has Unholy Thursday, Falls 50% on 2nd Night

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Yikes. That was over fast.

On its second night of release, “Father Stu” succumbed to a cold death with a 50% fall off from night one.

The total was just $775,000, down from $1.55 million on Wednesday.

Call the priest, close the coffin, get the pallbearers. It’s over.

Audiences have simply rejected everything about this movie on an Unholy Thursday. It’s going to a Bad Friday.

Are we surprised? There are really great faith based movies that audiences embrace as genuine. Everything about this project has the feeling of a cash-in according to reviewers who largely panned it. Wahlberg may be sincere in his intentions, but involving Mel Gibson and his babymama Rosalind Ross — the latter to direct her only feature film, no less — was a mistake. I’m surprised. Wahlberg has made mostly smart moves as a producer in the past. Here he had a tin ear.

This was also a huge error on Sony’s part after a series of recent smart successes.

Box Office: “Fantastic Beasts” Sequel Not So Fantastic in Previews, Down 33%

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This may be the end for the “Fantastic Beasts” series.

Last night, number 3, in which Dumbledore expresses his same sex love for Grindelwald, was not warmly embraced by Harry Potter fans.

The take was $6 million, down 33% from 2018’s Part 2 of the trilogy.

Indeed, “The Secrets of Dumbledore” may be ones that fans either aren’t interested in or want more in depth. Reviews are lukewarm at around 50% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The new movie also carries the baggage of author J.K. Rowling’s ignorant and inflammatory comments about trans people which have certainly turned off a big segment of the audience. The more Rowling speaks, the worse it gets, in fact.

It just may be we’ve come to the end of the line on the “Harry Potter” gravy train. It’s not like everyone didn’t make out like bandits. We’ll see what the weekend brings.

I hear Warner Bros. send out magic wands to a lot of the press. Maybe they can use them to cast a spell on the box office.

Mark Cuban Goes After Elon Musk: “Twitter will do everything possible not to sell the company”

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Mark Cuban is clearly not a fan of Elon Musk.

He writes on Twitter today about Musk’s offer to buy the platform:

My conclusion, @elonmusk is fucking with the SEC. His filing w/the SEC allows him to say he wants to take a company private for $54.20 Vs his “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured” Price go up. His shares get sold. Profit is [up]. SEC like WTF just happened. “

Cuban wrote:
“Every major tech company , Google, fb, et al is on the phone with their anti trust lawyers asking if they can buy Twitter and get it approved. And Twitter is on the phone with their lawyers asking which can be their white knight. Gonna be interesting …”

The billionaire entrepreneur, sports team owner and “Shark” on “Shark Tank” didn’t mince words about Musk. He added:
“Elon may have started this, but his threat to sell his shares ,if twitter says no, opened the door for those tech giants to walk in for relatively “little” money and grab huge influence at Twitter or possibly a direct path to acquisition. Elon will smile all the way to the bank …
I think Twitter will do everything possible not to sell the company. They will try to get a friendly to come in and buy Elon’s shares and get him out …”

Cuban’s best comment?
“Want to see the whole world lose their shit ? Get Peter Thiel to partner with Elon and raise the bid for Twitter”


Charlie Rose is Back! Former CBS-PBS Newscaster Posts In-Depth Interview with Warren Buffett (Watch Videos)

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EXCLUSIVE Guess who’s back? Charlie Rose. The PBS-CBS former anchor and interviewer has been off duty for about four years now. But he’s returned to journalist with an in depth interview with Warren Buffett.

Charlie’s interview appears on a site called usetmx.com.

More details to come. But Buffet tells Charlie that “Elon Musk is winning.” And that he, Buffet, is “not a genius.” He says, “I am both dumber and wiser.”

Charlie writes on his own website, ” I’m proud to share this recent conversation with Warren Buffett. It is his first interview on camera in almost a year and the first I’ve done in more than 4 years. It is a step in a journey to engage the most interesting people and explore the most compelling ideas in the world.

PS I spoke to Charlie this afternoon. Will there be more of these? “If the people are right and of interest and the timing is right, I hope so,” he said.



Box Office: “Father Stu” Faith Movie with Mel Gibson, Mark Wahlberg Needs Prayers After Slow Start

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“Father Stu” needs prayers. Or a Hail Mary.

Last night’s opening at the box office pre-Easter was a disappointment for sure. The Mark Wahlberg-Mel Gibson faith movie scored just $1.550 million at the box office. And that was at 2,700 theaters.

If things don’t pick up quickly for the padre, Sony will have a lot of questions. But with just a 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s uncertain that a mass audience will turn up over the weekend to give “Father Stu” absolution.

Gibson is a turn off to 90% of the audience. Wahlberg overweight and not particularly engaging doesn’t help. Plus, Gibson’s baby mama, Rosalind Ross, who’s never directed a feature film, was put in charge of this mess. So we’ll see how things develop this week.

Is Anna Wintour’s Met Gala a Possible Super Spreader? COVID in NYC is UP, New Variants Threatening

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Is Anna Wintour’s Met Gala a possible super spreader for celebrities?

According to the New York Times, two new subvariants of COVID-19 are spreading fast through our fair city.

The NY State Department of Health has issued a warning for New York, as well. Read it here.

Some recent large gatherings in the city where guests went maskless — even with checks for vaccinations — have sent people home sick.

On April 11th, there were 6,917 new cases of COVID. Almost everyone you talk to is suddenly reporting friends or family who are sick despite having three or four shots.

The Met Ball is set for May 2nd. Rihanna, showing off her pregnancy, might want to think twice about setting foot beyond the photo op. Many other stars, particularly those working on Broadway shows or upcoming movies, may be hesitant to be cheek by jowl with a thousand others also unmasked and possibly not fully vaxxed.

In particular, I’m thinking of Hugh Jackman, who’s already had COVID so severe that “The Music Man” had to pause performances. Ditto Sarah Jessica Parker, a Met Ball regular, who hasn’t yet returned to “Plaza Suite” after testing positive.

Wintour may be left with just Karsdashians and other reality stars. They, of course, are immune to all human health issues.

Ratings: “The Conners” Hits All Time Low With All of ABC Wednesday Slate

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It was not a happy Wednesday on ABC.

“The Conners” hit an all time low, following the rest of the ABC Wednesday slate of comedies.

The “Roseanne” spin off came in at 2.66 million viewers, the lowest numbers ever for the series and lowest this season. The show dropped 12% from its last outing, too. “The Conners” has lost over 1 million viewers since the beginning of the season.

Will it be renewed for a 5th season? In all likelihood yes since ABC has nothing to replace it. But this would be the finale, I should think.

The rest of the slate was all under 3 million per show– “The Goldbergs,” “Home Economics,” “The Wonder Years”, and “A Million Little Things” which had less 2 million viewers.

NBC won the night with their Dick Wolf “Chicago” slate, of course.

Cannes: Ethan Coen Beats Mick Jagger to the Punch, Elvis and His Granddaughter Make the Scene As Well

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The 2022 Cannes line up has been announced.

There’s no David Lynch film but plenty of familiar names among directors including David Cronenberg, the Dardennes brothers, and many others.

Already announced out of competition and just for fun are “Top Gun Maverick” and Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis.”

But there will be interest in a documentary about Jerry Lewis by Ethan Coen. His brother, Joel, recently released “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” Ethan obviously had his own project. “Trouble in Mind” could be anything but knowing Ethan Coen it’s a study of Lewis’s more macabre side– two of seven wives died, two children died, he married a cousin, etc.

Mick Jagger had already announced that he was producing a Lewis film through his Jagged Films with the late Steve Bing, before the latter’s untimely death. So what’s going on there is a bit of a curve ball.

Horror is a big part of Cannes this year. The festival opens with Michel Hazanavicius’s “Z Comme Z,” aka “Final Cut,” the French remake of a Japanese horror film. Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future” looks from its teaser to be very much horror/thriller with a little sci fi.

And just t make the “Elvis” presentation interesting, the late legend’s granddaughter, Riley Keough, has co-directed a film called “Untitled Pine Ridge Project.” One description (thanks to Ioncinema.com): This tell the stories of three Lakota men on Pine Ridge Reservation. A tale about belonging this features an East Ridge child belonging to a family, a North Ridge man belonging to “America” and a Wounded Knee elder belonging to his tribe.

There are films by many familiar names including Claire Denis, Cristian Mungiu, Kelly Reichardt, and James Gray, who will bring the star studded “Armageddon Time” with Anne Hathaway, Oscar Isaac, Jeremy Strong, Cate Blanchett, Robert De Niro and so on. Gray’s film has a distributor, Focus Features, which may bring some of these people — including Anthony Hopkins — to the red carpet.

Sacre bleu!

Library of Congress Took 60 Years to Put Andy Williams’ “Moon River” in the National Recording Registry

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What exactly goes on at the Library of Congress?

Yesterday they announced a bunch of recordings they let into the “national registry.” I have no idea what that is, it’s made up, it doesn’t exist.

This much is obvious: no one knows what the heck goes on with this Registry.

For example, they’ve allowed in Andy Williams’ recording of “Moon River.” It’s sixty years old! Why did i take six decades for this to happen?

“Moon River” was written by the great Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer. It was a monster hit when it was released. It was the song from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a perennial favorite movie from that year. Not only did it win the Oscar for Best Song, it also won Grammys in 1962 for Best Song and Best Record for Mancini in its instrumental version.

Yet in all this time, “Moon River” — covered by dozens of other stars over the years — has never been in the National Registry?

The Andy Williams version wasn’t even a single, according to Wikipedia. It was a track from the movie’s soundtrack. And it wasn’t the first version either. That distinction goes to the great Jerry Butler (still alive, living in Chicago) whose record was a simultaneous hit and even reached number 11 on Billboard.

Anyway, these things make no sense.  The other new random additions to the Registry are below. Eclectic to say the least. Maybe they just them all in a hat and draw out a certain number!

 

Andy Williams:

Jerry Butler:

Barry Manilow Tests Positive for COVID, Won’t Be Able to Attend Premiere of “Harmony” Musical

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Barry Manilow has tested positive for COVID. He won’t be at tonight’s premiere of his new musical.

Manilow writes: “I am heartbroken to say that I have just tested positive for COVID-19 and won’t be able to attend tonight’s opening night performance of my new musical, HARMONY. This just might be the cruelest thing that has ever happened to me: 25 years waiting for this show to premiere in New York and I can’t attend. Even in the face of this pandemic, we New Yorkers remain the toughest, staunchest people on the planet — so, put on a mask and go see a show!”

“Harmony” is opening at the National Yiddish Theater tonight in New York. It stars Chip Zien and Sierra Boggess. No, it’s not in Yiddish, but you have to start off Broadway somewhere!

PS Barry’s in good company. A number of people in the music biz have gotten COVID in the last couple of weeks because of all the traveling back and forth across the country. Luckily, symptoms are minimal if you were vaxxed and boosted!