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“Wicked For Good” lost some steam this holiday weekend.
The “Wicked” sequel originally came in like the cyclone that blew Dorothy’s house off its foundation.
But for a second weekend, “WFG” took a beating from “Zootopia 2,” sequel to the 2016 hit.
The latter grossed $96.8 million over its first five days and beat “WFG” soundly, denying the Ozzian tale a second week at number 1. The total counting the first two days comes to $156 million. It’s breathing down the neck of the old Wizard.
“WFG” had a regular three day weekend and produced just $62.8 million.
Nevertheless, “Wicked For Good” will hit $300 million in the US on Monday or Tuesday.
Nothing else on this long weekend did more than $7 million which itself was a magic trick performed by “Now You See Me Now You Don’t.”
Nothing coming this week looks like competition for either “WFG” or “Z2” except maybe the horror film, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.”
The next big movie won’t come for two weeks, when “Avatar: Fire and Ash” opens wide. “Marty Supreme” also get a very limited release on December 18th. A trio of wide releases come on Christmas Day including “Marty,” “Anaconda,” and “Song Sung Blue.”
But this is not the holiday release month of the old days. Even “Avatar,” now on its third iteration, can’t be counted on to save the 2025 box office. The year is going out with a whimper, not a bang, which is too bad.
One bit of hindsight: a real release for “Frankenstein,” with real marketing, would have been a boon in theaters. Alas, Netflix kept it to themselves.
Out in Las Vegas, Mariah started a residency tonight at Caesar’s Palace.
The show runs through December 13th and features her whole holiday mishegos culminating in “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
But what Mariah really wants is fannies in the seats.
The shows are surprisingly half-sold at best. Tonight’s show is a little better because it’s opening night. But unless Caesar’s puts the show on discount, Mariah is going to be staring into the abyss beyond the orchestra section.
It’s not her fault. This is the state of Vegas these days. She’s also chosen an odd time. Kids are still in school, people are spending their money on gifts — after gas, groceries, and heating.
Maybe the word hasn’t gotten out. And knowing Mariah it’s costing more to lodge her in Vegas than the shows are taking in.
A lumbering, catatonic looking Barron, 19, was seen walking into Thanksgiving dinner at Mar-a-Lago with his parents. You can hear “We Are the World” playing in the background.
In the video Barron has a grim visage. He doesn’t wave or smile. He barely acknowledges the club’s guests taking pictures of him and his family.
Barron has not been seen since at least last April, if not before. He left studies at New York University and was said to have moved into the White House. NYU has a campus in Washington DC.
But there’s been nary a sighting of him all year, and not even a Tweet. For a man who stands at six foot nine, Barron remains otherwise invisible to the naked eye.
In the video, it looks like he’s being held hostage. His ability to blink Morse code may have been taken away from him. But something is very wrong. Barron has not been seen at any public events this year, especially ones — like NFL or MLB games — that most 19 year olds would be thrilled to attend.
EPIC! Barron Trump at 6-foot-9 spotted entering Mar-a-Lago for Thanksgiving with President Trump and Melania
Magnificent playwright Tom Stoppard has died in London at age 88.
A statement from United Agents said: “We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved client and friend, Tom Stoppard, has died peacefully at home in Dorset, surrounded by his family. “He will be remembered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language. It was an honour to work with Tom and to know him.”
Stoppard won the Oscar in 1999 for co-writing “Shakespeare in Love.”
But it’s his enormous list of plays that are his legacy.
In 2023, he capped his career off with the amazing “Leopoldstadt,” which won the Tony for Best Play and resonates right up to this very minute.
Stoppard won six other Tony’s for Best Play including “The Real Thing,” “Rosencranz and Guildenstern are Dead,” “Travesties,” and the three parts of “The Coast of Utopia.”
Some of his other highly acclaimed titles include “Arcadia,” “Jumpers,” and “Rock N Roll.”
Born in Czechoslovakia, Stoppard was prolific. Among his movies were “Empire of the Sun,” and “Brazil.”
Just a note on “Leopoldstadt”: Stoppard revealed that in his 50s he learned he was Jewish. His parents fled the Nazis in 1937, his father died, and his mother never discussed their past. The play was and is explosive in its exploration of this denial.
Tributes and interviews below:
Tom Stoppard was my favourite playwright. He leaves us with a majestic body of intellectual and amusing work. I will always miss him. pic.twitter.com/c9c2Y3ohZn
In the 2025 Thanksgiving box office, you’re either a blockbuster or not much else.
“Zootopia 2” and “Wicked 2″ are all that matters, it seems.
The former is giving a drubbing to the latter as ‘Z2” is running roughshod over “W2,” which has only been out for 9 days.
The Disney animated sequel raked in $38.5 million Friday night vs. $26 million for the Oz musical dramedy.
Not to be alarmed about “Wicked for Good,” however. The second part of what now could be a 26 part series — a threat from Universal — has already achieved $233 million in the US and $303 million worldwide. So no one there is suffering.
But maybe “WFG” made its money too fast in the first few days. The slowdown is noticeable. But this is a long race through New Year’s, so we’ll see who loses momentum first.
At the other end of the spectrum, “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere,” is tuning out at a little less than $23 million. Somewhow, this very good film just went wrong. It’s too bad for the main actors, Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong. Great work.
You might wonder what singer Ed Sheeran has been doing with his millions of dollars earned from tours and record sales.
He tells Jimmy Fallon he’s been buying up movie memorabilia like crazy.
He actually owns the C3PO that was used in the final “Star Wars” trilogy.
He’s also bought up everything from “Batman and Robin,” his favorite “Batman” movie.
Sheeran owns the famous knife from “GoodFellas,” as well.
He doesn’t tell Jimmy what he’s going to do with all this stuff. But let’s hope he leaves it to the Smithsonian or to the new George Lucas museum in Hollywood.
“Wicked For Good” was bested by another movie yesterday. Trounced, really.
“Zootopia 2” cleaned up with $19.2 million as parents obviously took kids by the drove. The sequel to the 2016 hit is now almost at $60 million after two days.
Meantime, “Wicked For Good,” which started with a bang, fell to just over $12 million on Thursday. It’s not like “WFG” isn’t a success. It’s already up over $200 million in just a week. But no one could have guessed that Elphaba and Glinda would lose their grip on number 1 so fast!
Fame is fleeting in Hollywood!
Meantime, the marketing for Timothee Chalamet’s “Marty Supreme” is working. Advanced sales are through the roof at AMC Lincoln Center for preview day on December 18th. There’s barely a seat left in any format at any time. Will everyone come dressed with orange ping pong balls on their heads? I hope so!
Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss’s son, Ben, is always pretty candid on social media.
This week he offered an anecdote about his mother, Jeramie Rain, who was married to Dreyfuss from 1983 to 1995. They had three children.
But before Before she married Dreyfuss, Rain dated Jack Nicholson. Remember, this was the late 70s, early 80s. Remember: Jack had a wild reputation for being a ladies man, equal to more than his best friend, Warren Beatty.
Apparently Jeramie, now 77, reminisced with son Ben about the good old days, and he’s been kind enough to share this anecdote. As Ben says, his mother should write a book!
To paraphrase one of Jack’s movies: “It’s only Hollywood, Jeramie. It’s only Hollywood.”
After Ben posted this story, his sister Emily wrote: “What, your family didn’t overshare to this level when you were growing up? Congratulations! Fuck off! We might be slightly traumatized but we laugh a lot.”
PS Richard Dreyfuss won his Oscar for the movie “Goodbye Girl,” which would also be a good title for this story!
Ben writes:
“Want to hear a funny story about Jack Nicholson? I’m bored so I am going to tell you a funny story about Jack Nicholson. My mom is dating Jack Nicholson in the early 80s and he starts getting all these letters and phone calls from a deranged fan…
“And Jack Nicholson is weirded out by it enough that everyone is the house is told not to engage with this crank woman who keeps calling and professing her love for him. My mom doesn’t live with him but is staying over a lot so is also aware of this.
So one night my mom is over at his house and there is a knock knock at the door and there is some strange woman. Jack and my mom both quickly realize it is the crazy lady. She has come from Iowa or wherever to see him.
“She gets in the door and they’re in the living room while this nutjob is explaining her love for him or whatever and Jack Nicholson tells my mom subtly to go into the kitchen and call for help. Call someone. Call the police. Call whoever. They need to get this woman out of here
“So my mom goes into the kitchen and makes a series of phone calls to his agent and assistant. I don’t think called the police but she called lots of people to come help.
“And after about five minutes she goes back in the living room. And there is no one there. And she’s confused. She starts calling Jack Nicholson’s name (I’m saying Jack Nicholson since I don’t know him but she probably called him Jack).
“So she’s looking in all the rooms. “Jack?!” And eventually she goes upstairs and she opens the bedroom door and finds the woman on her knees giving Jack Nicholson a b****b.
“And my mom is like “what the fuck!” And starts screaming at the lady, who spits Jack Nicholson’s d*ck out of her mouth and is hurried out the door. My mom pushes out into the driveway. And Jack Nicholson is putting his pants back on trailing behind her.
“And my mom says “what is wrong with you? What the fuck is wrong with you? She’s a stalker! And also, I’m your girlfriend! I was calling for help!” And he says…”look, I mean, she offered me a blow job. I wasn’t going to say no.
Is it any surprise that the music supervisor for “Stranger Things” finally found their most appropriate song?
That would be Diana Ross singing “Upside Down,” an early 80s disco hit written and produced by Nile Rodgers. After all, the mysterious and dangerous place run by vicious monsters, located underneath Hawkins, Indiana is called The Upside Down. And believe me, it’s no nightclub. (The rest of the soundtrack is a cool 80s throwback, with occasional whisps of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill.”)
Tonight, Netflix drops the first four episodes of “Stranger Things” final season 5. It’s been a while since Season 4 so the first thing you may notice is that the kids from this Spielbergian adventure look a lot older. They’re still supposed to be playing teens, so suspend your disbelief. At least there are some inside jokes as Winona Ryder’s Joyce is upbraided by son, Will, played by Noah Schnapp, about giving him some freedom. (He’s not a kid anymore.) Also, Will gets to joke about his bowl haircut.
To balance out all these young adults, “Stranger Things” now puts in peril a young girl. That’s Holly Wheeler, sister of Nancy and Mike, played by a recast Nell Fisher. Holly is supposed to be about 10 in the show but is 14 in reality, and a knockout young actress. Fisher is a find as the new girl in peril, used as a pawn by the evil Vecna in his alien monster takeover of the midwest 1987 town.
Season 5 brings a healthy dose of 1980s trivia including references to the flux capacitor from “Back to the Future” as well as a lot of “ET” and other Spielberg type movies. There’s also the usual dollop of Dungeons and Dragons. But what’s more interesting now is Holly’s reading material, the classic children’s book “A Wrinkle in Time,” which seems to hold answers to the show’s many questions.
The plot of Season 5 — after a surprise opening involving Vecna and Will going back to the very beginning of the series — is that Hawkins is now under military quarantine. The feds are trying to figure out the Upside Down and Vecna but of course, they know nothing. The experts are our gang who’ve been in on it since Day 1.
Ryder’s Joyce and David Harbour’s Hop are now a real couple, although they’re not together a lot. Hop’s scenes are primarily with Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven, who’s quite mature (more Twenty One, than Eleven) and more confident. The Harbour and Brown scenes will be of much interest since in real life, Brown was said to have filed some kind of complaint against Harbour during shooting. They do have a lot of intense scenes with just the two of them, but on the recent press tour they looked like they’d resolved their differences.
As a “Stranger Things” fan from the beginning in 2016, I will say I was amused watching all these 20 year olds so earnestly invested in the Upside Down and Vecna. They really act like they believe it, which is possible maybe because the production quality is pretty high. The monsters look real and disgusting. The whole atmosphere of the Upside Down is a creative landscape far removed by the safe environs of the pristine Hawkins.
As the first three new episodes that the press received evolve, all the characters are back with the exception of Max, played by Sadie Sink, who was on Broadway beginning last March in “John Proctor is the Villain.” Season 5 reportedly wrapped at the end of last year, but maybe this played a part in Sink not showing up until the end of Episode 3.(She’s shown in coma.) Everyone else is present and now even more sharply drawn including Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Maya Hawke (Robin), Finn Wolfhard (Mike), and the romantic triangle of Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan (Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery). Caleb McLaughlin, now 24, as Lucas is really ready for movies.
There are also two other adults of note: Linda Hamilton as an Army doctor up to no good, and Cara Buono reprises her role as the Wheeler mom (she’s very funny).
Will this gang finally defeat evil, seal off the Upside Down, and rid the world of Vecna? You know, probably. Will anyone else perish in the effort? I hope not. Five years from now there will undoubtedly be a reunion show with a new generation of kids and monsters. Until then, “Stranger Things” remains lots of fun and very clever, kind of an American “Harry Potter.”
Netflix is going to show the final episodes in theaters on New Year’s Eve. But they should really have a whole season 5 marathon on the big screen. It’s worth it.
Ethan Browne, 52, son of superstar singer songwriter Jackson Browne, has died in Los Angeles.
On Instagram, Jackson wrote: “It is with deep sorrow that we share that on the morning of November 25, 2025, Ethan Browne, the son of Jackson Browne and Phyllis Major, was found unresponsive in his home and has passed away. We ask for privacy and respect for the family during this difficult time. No further details are available at this moment.”
What makes this even more terrible is that Ethan Browne’s mother, Phyllis, committed suicide in 1976, three years after he was born. She overdosed on pills at age 30. Jackson wrote his hit song, “Here Come Those Tears Again,” with Phyllis’s mother.
Ethan was a model and actor who appeared in “Hackers” (1995) and “Raising Helen” (2004), as well as a 2002 episode of The WB’s “Birds of Prey.” He was also a DJ who founded the label Spinside Records.
Jackson Browne has another son Ryan, 43, from his marriage to Lynne Sweeney.
