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ABBA Reunion Fizzles as “Voyage” Project Sinks: Album Disappears from iTunes Top 200, Concert Tickets Widely Available

Roger Friedman
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ABBA Reunion Fizzles as “Voyage” Project Sinks: Album Disappears from iTunes Top 200, Concert Tickets Widely Available

Doesn’t November 5th seem like a long time ago?

It must to the people behind ABBA, the Swedish pop group. Until then, ABBA hadn’t released a new album since 1982. Their hits from the 70s and early 80s were wildly popular, the basis for a Broadway musical and two movies.

So the idea of releasing a new album, and putting together a stage show full of avatars — not the singers in person — must have seemed like a good one. When they announced it, ABBA made it seem like the pope was not only coming to town but raffling off dinner in people’s homes.

Dreams die hard, however. This week, six weeks after “Voyage” debuted, it’s not anywhere to be found on the iTunes Top 200 albums. On Amazon, the “Voyage” CD is number 14. But the total sales are just about 100,000 copies. The album, featuring mediocre songs, is a dud. There are no hit singles. According to Spotify only two of the songs have streaming action. But the numbers are low. “Don’t Shut Me Down” has just over 39 million streams. “I Still Have Faith in You” has 24 million. The others average 3.5 million streams.

Over at theater built for the avatar show in London, tickets are moving slowly. “Voyage” opens at the end of May 2022. For the first month are so, tickets are sold for seats but there are plenty of standing room only opportunities on the “dance floor.” By mid July seats begin to open up and by August and September, if you want to sit in a theater with fake video versions of the Benny, Bjorn and the women, you’ve got plenty of choices.

How did things go so wrong? First of all, the show looks dreadful. The real ABBA isn’t there. Who wants to sit and watch ciphers sing those songs? Then there’s the album. Without a breakout hit, there’s little to no interest. And honestly, those songs are painful compared to “Waterloo” or “SOS.” They’re laborious, lacking hooks or freshness. They sound like ABBA knock offs.

The ABBA well may have run dry at last. Maybe there’s a third “Mamma Mia” they can put together. But “Voyage” is sunk.

“Spider Man” Fans Stare COVID Down as Movie Scores $253 Million, 3rd Biggest All Time Weekend

Roger Friedman
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“Spider Man” Fans Stare COVID Down as Movie Scores $253 Million, 3rd Biggest All Time Weekend

COVID? What COVID?

“Spider Man” fans stared down Omicrom and laughed in its face this weekend. “No Way Home” scored the 3rd biggest weekend in Hollywood history with $253 million at the box office. (The last two Avengers movies are ahead of it.)

The Jon Watts directed third film in his series, and 8th overall in the “Spider Man” oeuvre, brings the worldwide total in just four days to $587 million. Spidey is on his way to $1 billion.

It’s  a victory for Sony, Columbia Pictures, Amy Pascal, and movie theaters. Hopefully the good vibes will spread to other movies as well. If you can’t get in to “Spider Man,” try “West Side Story”!

Alas, other movies were not so lucky this weekend. “Nightmare Alley” opened with less than $3 million as audiences stayed away from the Guillermo del Toro horror remake. Movies that didn’t go right into wide release before the ‘Cron tsunami are hurt the worst. “Licorice Pizza,” stuck in four theaters, may never expand at this point, with video on demand its only solution.

 

“SNL” Soldiers On Without Much of Cast, No Audience or Musical Guest: Tom Hanks, Tina Fey Pitch In

Roger Friedman
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“SNL” Soldiers On Without Much of Cast, No Audience or Musical Guest: Tom Hanks, Tina Fey Pitch In

COVID attacked the cast of “Saturday Night Live” and the result was a show with mixed results. The best you can say is, they soldiered on in the face of adversity.

It seems like the only cast members who didn’t get COVID or didn’t mind coming in tonight were Kenan Thompson and Michael Che. Otherwise, everyone else was AWOL.

But the show was live, with taped pieces, no musical guest, and no audience. Tina Fey and Tom Hanks pitched in and came, Steve Martin sent in a taped piece. Paul Rudd, scheduled to be the host, did his job. We can kind of assume that the people who did show up either had COVID or were satisfied that their shots were working. Hanks, of course, obviously had COVID last year.

The bulk of the show consisted of old Christmas clips. There was one new video taped earlier in the week, a musical piece that didn’t quite work. But everyone gave it the old college try.

Colin Jost obviously was one of the four cast members who tested positive. And everyone else? This just shows that the current COVID Omicron wave is very serious. Please everyone get your vaccines and boosters.

“Saturday Night Live” Gets Viral: Possibly 7 Cast Members Out Tonight. No Live Audience Thanks to COVID

Roger Friedman
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“Saturday Night Live” Gets Viral: Possibly 7 Cast Members Out Tonight. No Live Audience Thanks to COVID

“Saturday Night Live” is going viral tonight. as in the Coronavirus.

Reports are that at least four members of the cast have tested positive for the ‘Cron. And three others are not keen about coming in since they’ve possibly been exposed.

Taking precautions, NBC has nixed tonight’s live audience for guest host Paul Rudd, who is impervious to aging andi illness anyway. Musical star is Charli XCX. Or CVS. Not sure.

Luckily the cast is so big right now, few will notice the absences unless they are pointed out.

But Omicron is causing a problem, that’s for sure, in entertainment in New York. Several Broadway shows are paused. The Rockettes are kicking back and not doing any more shows at Radio City this Christmas.

And the city, except for Times Square and Rock Center near the freakin’ tree, is empty. I drove around today unimpeded by traffic or stop lights. There are few pedestrians. Whole avenues are deserted. This is not the typical Saturday before Christmas.

Still, it’s impossible to park. Most avenues have been marked for Commercial Vehicles only when they shouldn’t be, on a Saturday. Traffic is backed up on Lexington Avenue because two lanes are marked for buses that aren’t there. If new mayor Eric Adams wants to be popular in Manhattan then give us our driving back. You used to be able to park on avenues in front of stores. But now there are blockades everywhere. The stores have closed. I wonder why?

“Spider Man: No Way Home” Sets Record 2nd Biggest Opening Ever with $121 Mil Including Thursday Previews

Roger Friedman
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“Spider Man: No Way Home” Sets Record 2nd Biggest Opening Ever with $121 Mil Including Thursday Previews

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUNDAY UPDATE AS “SPIDER MAN” BREAKS ALL TIME WEEKEND RECORDS

 

Execs at Marvel and Sony and Pascal Productions have that “tingling” this morning.

“Spider Man:No Way Home” smashed Friday box office records after a $50 million Thursday preview night.

The total now is $121 million. Sony/Columbia Pictures have basically saved the movie theaters. That opening is equal to what several “blockbusters” made this year in their full runs. And Spidey is just getting started!

The webslinger, now a multiple, and two decades worth of villains also took in $114 million overseas over two days.

Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zendaya, Marisa Tomei, Alfred Molina, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church and a couple of other guys we’re not supposed to mention should be very thrilled, along with director Jon Watts.

The sky’s the limit this weekend as the money comes pouring in. Saturday and Sunday numbers will be equally high.

And what future is there for “Spider Man”? Despite the massive case of amnesia at the end of this film, expect three more Holland-centric Spidey movies in the future. Some of the above obviously won’t be in them, but most will. And even if takes seven years, Holland will still look 25!

 

Broadway: “Company” Musical Stopped 10 Minutes in, Canceled for “Food Poisoning” But COVID Rumors Persist

Roger Friedman
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Broadway: “Company” Musical Stopped 10 Minutes in, Canceled for “Food Poisoning” But COVID Rumors Persist

With many Broadway shows canceled tonight because of COVID, the ones that soldiered on did so bravely.

But 10 minutes into the start of “Company” at the Bernard Jacobs Theater, the show stopped tonight. Star Patti Lupone came out and it was explained that someone in the cast had food poisoning. Lupone sang to the audience from the foot of the stage, told some jokes and took a few questions.

That was not enough to save the night. The audience was sent home because, they were told, someone in the cast had food poisoning.

You might ask, Are there no understudies? And the answer might be No. That’s because two days ago, an anonymous Twitter account stated:

“Covid cases have apparently been detected under the cast of

@CompanyBway

!!! KEEP PATTI LUPONE SAFE!!! Don’t let her get it!!!”

More, from another source: “They detected one covid case in the cast last Friday. On Monday 4 more cases were discovered of which 2 were false positives leaving them with at least 3 covid cases as of Monday. I honestly don’t know who has/had it, a friend of mine who’s working on Company told me about the covid cases in the cast. People commented about it on an Instagram post of Company, sending well wishes, Company immediately deleted those comments and messaged those people telling them to not speak about the matter in public. Which, in my opinion, actually confirms that they have cases in their cast. Broadway shows normally cancel their shows when they detect covid outbreaks in their company and they inform the public…You could say the opening night after party resulted in covid outbreaks in the cast. Someone also posted that he was glad he didn’t go to the Opening Night party since it resulted in 4 covid cases. My friend only knew of 3 but it might be more!”

So it would seem someone got something because food poisoning isn’t enough to stop a Broadway show.

“Company” is a Stephen Sondheim show, and though this song isn’t part of it, I’d say at this point, Send in the clowns.

Presumably the show will go on tomorrow. “Company,” by the way, is sold out and spectacular.

Broadway: Michael Jackson Musical Shuts Down Until December 27th for COVID, Other Shows Go Dark As Well

Roger Friedman
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Broadway: Michael Jackson Musical Shuts Down Until December 27th for COVID, Other Shows Go Dark As Well

That’s it for “MJ: The Michael Jackson Musical.” They’ve shut down until December 27th for COVID.

This is a real blow because it’s the Christmas season, some tourists might be in town, and they need some box office money now.

But one or more people backstage have tested positive for COVID.

“MJ” is not alone. Last night the audience for “Moulin Rouge” was already seated when they were told there would be no show. Same thing there. Performance cancelled. Everyone had to leave.

“Mrs. Doubtfire” is on hiatus, “Hamilton” is on pause, and several other shows are dark until everyone is cleared. These two weeks are so key for shows financially. It’s a shame. But they must take precautions to keep everyone safe.

Movie Season’s Biggest Shock: “King Richard” Is Will Smith’s Lowest Grossing Film Ever, Even with Awards Buzz

Roger Friedman
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Movie Season’s Biggest Shock: “King Richard” Is Will Smith’s Lowest Grossing Film Ever, Even with Awards Buzz

The pandemic claims another victim today.

Will Smith’s “King Richard” is lost most of its theaters. After a month in release, “King Richard” is wrapping up its run in movie houses with just about $15 million in grosses. It’s Will Smith’s lowest grossing movie ever.

No one knows for sure why this happened. Was it the film’s availablity on HBO Max? No one knows because HBO Max doesn’t give numbers and they haven’t once bragged about viewership for this film.

Was it the subject matter? It shouldn’t have been. Richard Williams is the father of Serena and Venus, he put them on the map. Their story is compelling. The tennis in the movie is terrific.

The acting can’t be questioned. Smith is on his way to an Oscar nomination. So is Aunjanue Ellis. There may be other nominations, too. And the marketing/PR: couldn’t have been better.

But skepticism about going to theaters, coupled with apathy, did them in. And this was while Will Smith was fairly present in the public eye. He had a memoir out, “Will,” and a NetGeo TV series. He was all over the news, it seemed, every day.

Nevertheless, “King Richard” did worse than some real Smith stinkers, like “Collateral Beauty” and “Gemini Man.” Now “King Richard” will sit in 207 theaters this weekend and drain out. For Serena and Venus, it’s a rare loss. But who knows? Maybe some Oscar nods– and wins– will give it life down the road.

Sex and the City: And Just Like That the Theme Music from the TV Series is Gone, Did Anyone Notice?

Roger Friedman
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Sex and the City: And Just Like That the Theme Music from the TV Series is Gone, Did Anyone Notice?

And just like that, the theme music from “Sex and the City” is gone.

Has anyone noticed?

In the HBO Max reboot, there is no opening sequence of Carrie getting splashed by a bus passing by with her face on the side.

And there’s no jaunty theme music written Douglas Cuomo.

I wondered if maybe the license expired and HBO didn’t want to pay for it anymore. But Cuomo– who’s writing operas and pieces for the London Philharmonic now — says that’s not it.

“HBO owns the music, they can do anything they want with it,” he told me. “Maybe it’s because the women are older and they’re not in that place anymore dramatically. But I don’t know.”

The “SATC” theme is heard just at the very beginning of Episode 1, for a second, and slowly fading out. Instead, there is no theme. It’s all existing music, disco, or some pedestrian stuff

But maybe that’s what’s wrong with “And Just Like That.” With one character MIA, another dead, and one more exiting after episode 3, the show has a somber tone to it. It’s not fun anymore. Cuomo’s theme set a great tone. And it’s glaringly missing.

 

Flashback: How Andrew Garfield Got Himself Fired from “Spider Man” And Now Might Get an Oscar Nod

Roger Friedman
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Flashback: How Andrew Garfield Got Himself Fired from “Spider Man” And Now Might Get an Oscar Nod

Andrew Garfield is back on top. But it wasn’t easy.

After making two “Spider Man” Movies he managed to get himself fired from a third one. I wrote the below column on May 1, 2015.

Now–as you might know–he’s back in the “Spider Man” fold. He’s also looking at an Oscar nomination for “tick tick Boom.” In fact, I think he could win Best Actor.

In between, Garfield won a Tony Award for “Angels in America” on Broadway. And he still has that full head of hair!

Here’s my column from May 1, 2015:

Thanks to the Sony hacks, via Wikileaks, we now know why Andrew Garfield won’t be making any more “Spider Man” movies– or maybe any Sony films for the foreseeable future.

It turns that Garfield insulted Sony chief Kaz Hirai by snubbing him last summer in Rio de Janeiro at a big Sony gala celebrating the end of the World Cup. Kaz had planned to introduce Garfield as the star of “Spider Man 3” set for 2016 in a speech before 750 guests. But Garfield, having just arrived in Rio, made a huge mistake. He snubbed Kaz and never came down for dinner. Yikes. In Rio this didn’t go well, and the bad feeling reverberated. An email alerting everyone read: “Here we are about one hour away from our Gala event and Andrew decides he doesn’t want to attend.  He has a rather scruffy beard and he just wants to be left alone.”

Kaz Hirai had planned on making this speech:

Andrew is an actor who has graced the screen in roles in several important Sony Pictures Entertainment films, including The Social Network, in which he played Mark Zuckerberg’s onetime friend and co-founder of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin.  The Social Network, to my mind, is the Citizen Kane of the 21st Century, a film that social historians hundreds of years from now will point to as one of the most emblematic of our era.

[slide showing poster of The Social Network and The Amazing Spider-Man 2] Another historic movie starring Andrew is The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which continues to weave movie magic in hearts and minds around the world.  Together those two films have taken in more than $XXX million at the global box office.

I’m proud to say that Andrew will be returning as Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man 3, which will be released in May, 2016.

Needless to say, when Garfield didn’t come down for dinner, the speech was changed. Garfield next stars in “99 Homes” this September, and Martin Scorsese’s “Silence” with Adam Driver.

Here is a series of emails explaining all this:

Fwd: Andrew Garfield in RioBegin forwarded message:
From: “Clark, Nigel”Date: July 14, 2014 6:53:47 PM PDTTo: “Pascal, Amy”Cc: “Blake, Jeff”

Subject: Andrew Garfield in Rio

Amy,
As requested, here are the relevant emails.
In red, at the very bottom: the email I received on Saturday afternoon, from Steve Bernard informing me that Andrew was not making the red carpet or the Sony gala dinner, and Kay Aoki’s response.

In blue: my email correspondence with Rupert upon receiving the news.
In black (immediately below): an email from Steve Bernard in response to my asking earlier today how Andrew was feeling.

As I mentioned when you called, it may very well be that Andrew met Kaz on the day of the match etc. I’m not aware of that.

Best,
Nigel

Very happy. Mark Wachter took him and Rupert surfing this morning. They are touring the city now.
Sony Music took them out for a late dinner last night.
I asked AG if he minded if I sat Santana next to him at the match. He had a big smile.

All good now

Stevan (Steve) Bernard
Executive Vice President – SEHS
Sony Pictures Entertainment

Rupert,
I’m sure the event was successful, despite Andrew’s absence. The last minute change to Kaz’s speech and to the seating arrangement was manageable, but it’s a slight to Kaz and the Sony hosts on the ground.
Nigel
_____

From: Rupert Fowler
To: Clark, Nigel; Enriquez, Vianne; Knight, Prue
Cc: Aoki, Keiko; Bernard, Stevan; van der Werff, Susan; Blake, Jeff
Sent: Sat Jul 12 16:13:35 2014
Subject: RE: URGENT URGENT: World Cup

​Hi Nigel,

He had been feeling under the weather all day and exhausted from coming off the plane early this morning so I gave as much notice as I could. Not ideal though I understand, hope it didn’t have too great an impact on things.
Rupert
_____

From: Clark, Nigel
Sent: 12 July 2014 19:56
To: Rupert Fowler; Enriquez, Vianne; Knight, Prue
Cc: Aoki, Keiko; Bernard, Stevan; van der Werff, Susan; Blake, Jeff
Subject: Re: URGENT URGENT: World Cup

Rupert,
I hear that Andrew decided at the last minute to skip the Sony event and dinner. Is that true? It puts us in an embarrassing situation with Kaz Hirai.
Nigel

That is extremely embarrassing….
But I will tell Kaz and change the seating and his speech!!
Thanks for letting me know.

Kay

From: Bernard, Stevan
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2014 4:49 AM
To: Clark, Nigel
Cc: Aoki, Keiko
Subject: AG Problem – PLEASE READ
Importance: High

Nigel/Kay,
Here we are about one hour away from our Gala event and Andrew decides he doesn’t want to attend.  He has a rather scruffy beard and he just wants to be left alone

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