We won’t see “Dune” soon.
Denis Villeneuve’s blockbuster remake of David Lynch’s “Dune” is moving from December 2020 to October 2021.
There are almost no movies left for Christmas season. This is why Regal Theaters have thrown in the paper towel.
What’s next? We don’t have much left for the Oscars, and even the films that are still on schedules for January are looking precarious. Can we have an awards season with so few candidates?
Stay tuned…
Bruce Springsteen’s “Letter to You” album drops on October 23rd with a documentary. Directed by Thom Zimny, who did the western album, too — the black and white doc will show how they made an album in four days. Looks good!
Kayleigh McEnemy, who lied and mocked, has been tested COVID positive. So have two of her assistants, according to CNN. Shrill and stupid, McEnany has for months made fun of people wearing masks, lied about the virus, proclaimed all kinds of lies about Obama and Biden, ridiculed science and scientists, says she’s “asymptomatic” so far, but hold on because Karma is a bitch.
CNN says that McEnany’s assistants have it, too. So there’s now a long list starting with Trump, his wife, senators, Kellyanne Conway (who gave it to her 15 year old daughter), journalists, etc who are positive because Trump lied about when he was ill.
— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) October 5, 2020
This is your president on steroids. Sixteen tweets between 6 and 7 am. More since. And he has the nuclear football. I know I feel safe. No one is in charge. Make American Goofy Again.
Over the weekend, the Times of London reported that Regal Theaters, via their company Cineworld, were shutting down.
At first the company hemmed and hawed and said they were “considering” the move. But the reality was, the Times was right, and they were closing their doors, lowering their projectors, and unpopping the popcorn.
Today they announced it’s all over. Regal had been closed from mid March through July, then re-opened. So it’s not like their closing is a surprise, just how badly they handled it. In all 536 theaters in the US will close, 127 in the UK. Total jobs gone: 45,000.
But they have few movies to show. And when “No Time to Die” was moved to next April, they were finished. “We are like a grocery shop that doesn’t have vegetables, fruit, meat,” Cineworld CEO Moshe “Mooky” Greidinger said in an interview. “We cannot operate for a long time without a product.”
My thanks to all the Regal execs in Knoxville and Chattanooga who refused to return calls or emails on Friday night. It’s unclear if they’re losing their jobs.
Donald Trump thinks “school” is a place without books. “This is the real school, not read the book school,” he said during the short video he made in his hospital room before exposing his Secret Service agents to his COVID. He put them in a sealed SUV and drove around outside Walter Reed hospital so he could feed his ego in front of his “fans.” (Their mental acuity is certainly in question.)
This statement about school says it all. Trump thinks books are for losers, and suckers. He “went to school” but as we know, read nothing. He still reads nothing, that’s apparent from this whole weekend. An actually intelligent person would have considered this debacle of a hospital stay as a chance to catch up on some reading. Not Trump. He faked photographs showing he was “working”– signing blank pieces of paper– and couldn’t detox from attention for five minutes.
He will survive COVID, return to the White House, claim that it’s easy to survive, make lots of really stupid statements, and hopefully return to Mar-a-Lago on January 21st as a civilian dodging lawsuits and indictments.
Keep refreshing…
Spike Lee has announced on Twitter and Instagram that actor Thomas Jefferson Byrd was murdered last night in Atlanta. Byrd was 78 or 79 years old.
UPDATE FROM THE ATLANTA PD: On Saturday, October 3rd, 2020 at 1:45 am, officers were dispatched to 2257 Belvedere Ave on a person injured call. Upon arrival, units located a male lying unresponsive at the location. Grady EMS responded to the scene and pronounced the male deceased from multiple gunshot wounds to the back. The victim was later identified as Thomas Byrd. Homicide detectives responded to the scene and are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident. The investigation continues at this time.
Byrd was nominated for a Tony Award in 2003 for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” He’s appeared in at least 8 Spike Lee films including “Clockers” and the “She’s Gotta Have It” TV series. Byrd has many other screen credits as well.
Spike writes: “I’m So Sad To Announce The Tragic Murder Of Our Beloved Brother Thomas Jefferson Byrd Last Night In Atlanta,Georgia. Tom Is My Guy,Here Below You See Him As The Frightening Character Errol Barnes In CLOCKERS. Brother Byrd Also Did His Thang In My Joints- CHI-RAQ,SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS, RED HOOK SUMMER,BAMBOOZLED,HE GOT GAME,GET ON THE BUS,GIRL 6 And CLOCKERS. May We All Wish Condolences And Blessings To His Family. Rest In Peace Brother Byrd.”
From the imdb: Born in Georgia, Byrd earned a bachelor of science degree in education from Morris Brown College and later received a master of fine arts degree in dance from California Institute of the Arts. He has starred in numerous regional stage productions including the San Diego Repertory Theater’s award-winning performance of “Spunk”. He has also starred in “Home” by Samm-Art Evans, “Two Trains Running”, “The Piano Lesson” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” at the Alliance Theater, “Flyin’ West”, “Hamlet” and “Miss Evers’ Boys” at the Indiana Repertory, and in other productions of “Flyin’ West” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and at the Long Wharf Theater.
“Saturday Night Live” returned last night for its 46th year and scored a whopping 7.77 million total viewers.
How big is that? It’s up 89% from last year’s premiere with Woody Harrelson, which had 4.1 million viewers. That’s the average for last season, 4 million fans per show, with the exception of Eddie Murphy’s now Emmy winning hosting night. That was an event, and the result was 163 million viewers in a show that also featured Lizzo.
This year’s Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, was the musical guest last night with Chris Rock as host. They were each excellent, and Megan was on point politically. Her production was top notch.
It wasn’t a great show, though. The cold open was too long. Jim Carrey has to find his Joe Biden; I prefer Jason Sudeikis. The first couple of sketches were lame, especially the “Edith Puthee” one. It was infantile. The nicest moment of the 90 minutes was Kate McKinnon’s farewell to RBG.
What accounted for the huge ratings? Several things. Pent up demand for a laugh. The curiosity of how the show would handle the political chaos of the last week. The guest stars, of course, who are incredibly popular.
A special nod to Chloe Fineman’s parody of the “Drew Barrymore Show.” She calls Drew her “queen” on Twitter, but the sketch was a little more biting than that. Drew and her show are insufferable. Fineman has found that already. Barrymore is so loaded on being upbeat that she’s already Tweeting how much she loves it. I don’t want to be there when she crashes.
The Times of London is reporting that Cineworld, the company that owns Regal Theaters, is shutting them down in the UK and possibly the US, as well.
The move is a shock since they closed in March and April when the pandemic began, but re-opened where they could in July. But with New York, New Jersey, parts of California and Florida still shut, they may have had no choice.
In New York, Regal has over a dozen sites including Times Square and Union Square. None have been been open since March or April. Regal E Walk in Times Square is a magnet movie going location. It would be devastating to lose it. Ditto Union Square.
The Times of London says that the moving of the James Bond film, “No Time to Die,” was the reason Cineworld decided to shut down for good. They have no major studio movie coming, and no people to fill the seats.
In the US Regal operates out of Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tennessee. They are incredibly charitable. The Regal Foundation has been giving away an average of $5 million a year to groups in Tennessee mostly and some in other states. It would be a shame if that money dries up too. They seem really serious about it.
I’ve tried reaching out to some executives. If I hear anything, there will be an update.
Donald Trump sent out a four minute video address on Twitter from Walter Reed Army Hospital. Despite having COVID and no doubt against doctor’s orders, he sent out a video calling his treatment “miracles from God.” He doesn’t believe in science or scientists. He thinks his medicines come from God. Okay, he is crazy. We know that. He also said he’ll beat “this Coronavius or whatever you call it.” Well, that’s what we call it.
Trump wants to reassure everyone that nothing is wrong. But actually, something is wrong. It’s unclear if we’ll get a true account of it for him, or if it will have to be leaked out like everything else.
See below, I don’t think he’s wearing pants.
Cue: “Smiling Faces Sometimes” by the Undisputed Truth.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2020