Friday, December 19, 2025
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Prince Advance Album Sales Soar After “60 Minutes” Feature, “Welcome 2 America” Hits Number 2 on Amazon 14 Weeks Before Release

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The heirs of Prince may be fighting among themselves, but they should happy about all their recent publicity.

Thanks to a big promotional segment on Sunday’s “60 Minutes,” sales took off big time.

Prince’s never released 2010 album, “Welcome 2 America,” set for July, has soared to number 2 on amazon’s album chart. And that’s just the single CD. The deluxe album package, priced at ninety nine dollars, is number 5!

At the same time, Prince’s “Purple Rain” album jumped to number 36 on iTunes.

So the Prince estate should be feeling very royal right now. And what if “Welcome 2 America” is a little disappointing? Well, what isn’t these days?

Here’s Jon Wertheim’s excellent piece.

 

Academy Books All Star Cast of Presenters for Oscars Including Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, More

The Oscars are shaping up for April 25th on ABC. Producers have announced their first group of presenters, all big names, and very multi cultural.

More names are coming, of course. I don’t know why, but I was hoping for Awkwafina. Also, now that Rosie Perez has pointed out that she’s never been asked to do anything, the one time Oscar nominee– whom we all adore– should be included, no?

Anyway, here’s the first group:

Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, Bong Joon Ho, Don Cheadle, Bryan Cranston, Laura Dern, Harrison Ford, Regina King, Marlee Matlin, Rita Moreno, Joaquin Phoenix, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Renée Zellweger and Zendaya.

“In keeping with our awards-show-as-a-movie approach, we’ve assembled a truly stellar cast of stars,” said producers Jesse Collins, Stacy Sher and Steven Soderbergh. “There’s so much wattage here, sunglasses may be required.”

Best Documentary of the Year, Garrett Bradley’s “Time,” Streaming for Free on Amazon and YouTube

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Have you movie fans seen “Time” yet? Garrett Bradley’s film is the best documentary of 2021, and is nominated for the Academy Award.

For the next two weeks you can see it for free on Amazon Prime and YouTube. Starting right now.

Fox Rich is the real life star of the year, and so his her husband, Rob. I know everyone thinks the octopus is cute. but “Time” and “Crip Camp” were the best docs of the year.

And PS Dick Johnson still isn’t dead. So forget that one.

“Time” is free! Watch it! Garrett Bradley could be the first black woman to win Best Documentary. Wouldn’t that be something?>

A press release adds this: The film will return to theaters starting on Friday, April 16 in New York at the Village East, Los Angeles at The Landmark, and San Francisco at the Embarcadero. If Time wins, it would be history-making as it marks the first time ever a Black female director would win an Academy Award for Best Documentary.

“Time” is the most honored documentary of the year, since the film’s world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival where Garrett Bradley won the Best Director award for US Documentary Competition. She and the film continues to garner notable accolades including a Gotham award, National Board of Review, National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Black Film Critics Circle, as well as directing awards at Doc NYC and the IDA Awards.

Fox Rich is a fighter. The entrepreneur, abolitionist and mother of six boys has spent the last two decades campaigning for the release of her husband, Rob G. Rich, who is serving a 60-year sentence for a robbery they both committed in the early 90s in a moment of desperation. Combining the video diaries Fox has recorded for Rob over the years with intimate glimpses of her present-day life, director Garrett Bradley paints a mesmerizing portrait of the resilience and radical love necessary to prevail over the endless separations of the country’s prison-industrial complex.

Time cross-cuts footage from the past and present, framing it with a lyrical voiceover from Fox and her sons to provide a uniquely intimate perspective into the long-term costs of incarceration: the children who grow up without fathers, and the mothers who are forced to become caregivers and legal experts all at once. It also reveals how families sustain themselves on sheer faith to prevail over the endless separations of the prison-industrial complex — a remnant of the legacy of slavery. The film’s gorgeous black-and-white cinematography and symphonic rhythm lend an epic quality to Fox and Rob’s story — a story not just of strife, but also of radical, resilient love.

As Bill Gates noted in his review on Gates Notes, http://gatesnot.es/Time-documentary, “This is one of the most intimate movies I have ever seen. It records events that are almost unbearably emotional. There is one scene at the end that is unlike anything I had ever seen before in a documentary…If Time wins the Oscar this year, it will be the first documentary directed by a Black woman to do so. Garrett Bradley’s talent makes her worthy of that milestone.”

Time is directed by Garrett Bradley (Alone, America) and produced by Lauren Domino (The Earth Is Humming, America), Kellen Quinn (Midnight Family, Brimstone & Glory), and Garrett Bradley. Executive producers are Laurene Powell Jobs (The Price of Free, A Thousand Cuts), Davis Guggenheim (Waiting for ‘Superman,’ An Inconvenient Truth – 2014 Academy Award winner for Best Feature Documentary), Nicole Stott (Searching for Sugar Man, Restrepo), Rahdi Taylor (Minding the Gap, I Am Not Your Negro), and Kathleen Lingo (Walk Run Cha Cha, 4.1 Miles). Co-executive producers are Jonathan Silberberg (Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, “Iconoclasts”) and Shannon Dill (Inheritance, He Named Me Malala).

Time will stream at no cost starting on Monday, April 12 on Prime Video and on YouTube.

Watch Anthony Hopkins in Wales, Thanking Someone for Being the Oldest Ever Actor to Win a BAFTA

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Sir Anthony Hopkins won the BAFTA yesterday for Best Actor in “The Father.” He’s the oldest ever BAFTA winner. Frankly, he deserves the Oscar. His performance in Florian Zeller’s adapted play into an excellent movie is the best of the year.

But Sir Tony for some reason didn’t show up for BAFTA even on Zoom. He didn’t show up for SAG or the Golden Globes either. Does he just not like Zoom? He likes social media, that’s for sure. Here he is this morning, from Wales.

Wales, you say? So he might not be back in Los Angeles for the Oscars. Hmmm…Someone on his team has to sort this out. What if he wins the Oscar and he’s a no show there, too? Not good.

NY: Anna Wintour’s Self Important Met Ball Postponed from May til September, and Scaled Way Down

This morning there are headlines from a press release that Anna Wintour’s self-gratifying Met Ball will really be TWO Balls!

No, it’s not.

The gala set for next month has been postponed until September. Then the regularly scheduled event for May 2022 will take place back on track.

Get a grip.

There was no Met Ball last May because of the pandemic and it’s the same this year.

The event is costly, and grotesque. As I’ve written in the past, millions are spent to make millions. That’s the idea. It’s an ego trip for Wintour, who has been so mired in controversies about race at Vogue that she’s been ladling on Black cover subjects left and right.

Wintour, in fact, has been so part of the BLM complaints at Conde Nast that her name is taken off the focus of these upcoming events. But she’s still in charge.

They’ve even gone so far as to round up two major figures from Black Hollywood so Wintour can’t be accused of anything. Franklin Leonard, the creator of the BlackList, which is about unproduced hot screenplays and has nothing to do with race will consult. Also Bradford Young, the cinematographer behind “Selma” and “When They See Us.” It’s pretty cynical on Anna’s part, but good representation nonetheless.

So, not two Met Balls. One a year, Calm down. But will Anna do now that Kim and Kanye are no longer a couple? She played them like fiddles for years.

Original “Dreamgirls” Reunite for 40th Anniversary as Quarantunes Raises Over $1 Million for Broadway Cares

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Another amazing night for Richard Weitz, daughter Demi (just got in to Stanford U), and Quarantunes.

They raised around $1.3 million for Broadway Cares last night, hosting their famed Zoom show from Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theater. They and two or three others were only people allowed in the theater.

It was another four hour extravaganza for a Zoom crowd of 600 or more with plenty of famous and familiar faces on the call, and a lot of once in your lifetime entertainment.

The high point of the adventure was a 40th anniversary reunion of the original “Dreamgirls” from Broadway: Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, and Jennifer Holliday. They reminisced about the show and sang live, a capella, sounding no different than they did in 1981. And yes, Jennifer Holliday simply opened her mother and gave the crowd her signature hit, “And I’m Telling I’m Not Going.” It was a mic drop for the ages.

There were plenty more moments like that including Heather Headley’s stunning take on “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” which would make Elton John plotz. Stephanie Mills recorded “Home” from “The Wiz” for the show, Robert Cuccioli warbled “This is the Moment” from “Jekyll and Hyde,” Lena Hall rocked the audience, and so on. It was just one Broadway show stopper after another: Chris Jackson, James Monroe Inglehart, each stunning.

There were a few non Broadway moments, too. Songwriter Diane Warren, nominated for her 12 th Oscar for “Seen (Io Si)” from the movie “The Life Ahead,” introduced Laura Pausini. Pausini sang her nominated song in Italian, and got an overwhelming reaction from the Zoom crowd on the chat bar.

Melissa Manchester and Carole Bayer Sager checked in, and Melissa sang a couple of their hits as if no time had passed since the 80s.

As a special treat, 17 year old Demi Weitz had a birthday surprise for her dad. Even though she claimed “I cannot sing,” she worked out a duet with Kristen Chenoweth on a number from “Wicked” as a tribute. This teenage girl (very pretty, by the way) indeed can’t carry a tune in a basket but has such life force, humor, and poise that she carried it off. If Kelly Ripa can hold off retiring until Demi Weitz graduates from college, Michael Gelman will have a replacement all lined up!

This was the one year anniversary since the Weitzes started Quarantunes with the help of Clive Davis a and  a village of people who’ve helped them raise around $23 million total. It’s quite an accomplishment and there’s more to come since the pandemic — though you hear otherwise a lot — is not over by a long shot!

 

All Star Quarantunes Will Broadcast LIVE from Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theater Today at 5PM Eastern

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Big news:

Uber agent Richard Weitz and his daughter Demi are streaming an all star Quarantunes today at 5pm Eastern LIVE from Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theater.

Their year long fundraising effort for many charities is today for Broadway Cares. The Weitzes will pass the $22 million mark. Amazing!

Richard writes: “Tonight marks a milestone as we try to surpass $22 million and we have so many once in a lifetime surprises planned you won’t want to miss it. So if you or your spouse or your significant other, partner or child wants to watch the Masters let them while you either juggle watching both or just enjoy the amazing performances we are going to have to honor the Broadway Community.”

I will offer a report later on the what what and why.

 

UPDATING BAFTA Winners Point to Possible Oscars: “Nomadland,” Director Chloe Zhao, Frances McDormand & Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Kaluuya, Yuh-Jung Youn

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BAFTA, the British Academy, is handing out their awards now live in London. The show won’t air in the US until 9pm on the BBC. Who cares? The whole thing is being done on social media, so why watch at 9? It’s a big mistake, they are decades behind in understanding this.

Anyway, the winners are going along the lines of prior winners of prizes. UPDATING

Neither Anthony Hopkins nor Frances McDormand bothered to show up for the BAFTAs even on video. Really. Deserving as they are, I don’t think they will win Oscars. SAG voted for Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman, who will have the edge. But “Nomadland” will certainly win Best Picture now.

BEST PICTURE: “Nomadland”
BEST ACTOR Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”
BEST ACTRESS Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Daniel Kaluuya in “Judas and the Black Messiah”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Yuh-Jung Youn in “Minari”

BEST DIRECTOR Chloe Zhao, “Nomadland”

“Nomadland” won Best Cinematography.

“My Octopus Teacher” won Best Documentary, which is very nice. But I implore Academy voters to vote for “Time,” from Amazon Studios, the actual best documentary.

Pixar’s “Soul” is Best Animated Feature and won Best Score.

“Promising Young Woman” Best British Film and Best Original Screenplay.
“The Father” won Best Adapted Screenplay.

 

“SNL” Ratings Stuck at All Time Low as Kid Cudi Wears Dress, Sells No Records, Carey Mulligan Forgets “Promising Young Woman”

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“Saturday Night Live” ratings remained stuck last night at the all time low of 3.6 million. They were the same as the last couple of weeks, quite bad and for a reason: the show was mystifying.

Musical guest Kid Cudi wore a floral print dress during one number. He said later it was a tribute to Kurt Cobain. The message was lost. Since last night, no one has purchased a Kid Cudi record on any platform. There was no sales bump from the appearance. It’s very unusual but after his “SNL” appearance there isn’t one Kid Cudi record on the iTunes top 100 or on the Spotify top 50 streaming.

More to the point, host Carey Mulligan was supposed to be promoting her film, “Promising Young Woman.” She never even mentioned it. There was no reference to it whatsoever. Universal only ran a commercial for the film at the very end of the show. So much for her Oscar chances.

There were good, if not great, sketches: the World War II thing, the “Star Trek” parody, and Bowen Yang stole the show as the iceberg that sank the Titanic. But overall, “SNL” is in a deep funk.

Now we get a couple of weeks of reruns before May sweeps and the end of the season.

Taylor Swift is so “Fearless” That Fans Are Buying the New Album and Streaming the Old One Like Crazy

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We do know Taylor Swift is fearless.

She released the re-recorded version of her 2008 album “Fearless” on Friday. In one day she basically sold 80,000 albums on CD and downloads with almost no streaming. Fans rushed to collect the new album.

But whoops! At the same time, the original “Fearless,” which Taylor is trying to bury, sold 37,000 copies anyway. They were almost all from streaming, with very little in the way of downloads or CD sales. The original “Fearless” isn’t even turning up on the iTunes album charts, although Taylor has about five entries there.

She has also has six or seven singles on the iTunes charts, all from the new “Fearless.”

It’s possible those 37,000 streaming equivalent sales of the original album are fans listening to make comparisons between the old and the new versions. We’ll see how the week pans out for both albums.

As for Shamrock Capital, the investment firm that paid between $300 million and $400 million for Taylor’s masters, buying them from Scooter Braun, they can’t be too happy.