Taylor Swift has broken Elvis Presley‘s longstanding record for the most weeks spent atop the Billboard 200 album chart by a solo artist. She set a new mark of 68 total weeks, as “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” landed on top of the chart for a fifth time in the final full tracking week of 2023. Although
Month: December 2023
Android or artificial intelligence isn’t the enemy in “Robot Dreams,” Pablo Berger‘s gently whimsical fantasy of a loner finding manufactured friendship in a scuzzy vision of 1980s New York City. Indeed, one takeaway from this portrait of a shabby-happy Big Apple populated solely with anthropomorphic animals and surprisingly sensitive automatons is that the world might
Shecky Greene, the legendary standup comedian known for his long tenure as a Las Vegas headliner and for working with Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, died Dec. 31 at his home in the city. He was 97. Greene’s wife of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, confirmed his death to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Greene was
“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” is quickly sinking at the box office. The comic book adventure, starring Jason Momoa as the King of Atlantis, was positioned on the calendar as the de facto blockbuster of the holiday season. But, so far, the follow-up to 2018’s megahit “Aquaman” has failed to recapture the spark of the
Maybe it’s time for Dave Chappelle to try some new material. The comedian’s newest special, “The Dreamer,” debuted on Netflix on Dec. 31, and largely focuses on his early years in entertainment and how he manifested his success. But he floods the first 12 minutes of the set revisiting his favorite target in recent years:
Comic-book movie culture didn’t just stumble this year. It face-planted, giving us one movie after another that fans didn’t much care about and that the corporations backing these films took a disquieting loss on. And that’s not how it was supposed to go. According to the Gospel of 21st-Century Hollywood, the words “comic-book film” and
Paramount Global has clinched a deal that is crucial to its future — but it’s not the transaction that Wall Street has been buzzing about for a few weeks. Paramount Global and Comcast have extended the broad carriage agreement covering Paramount’s cable channels and CBS-owned stations. The pact averts the prospect of a blackout for
Warner Bros. is continuing to beat out Warner Bros. and Warner Bros. over the New Year’s holiday weekend, with “Wonka” now rising above “The Color Purple” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.” With that trifecta, the studio has laid claim to the three of the top five slots at the domestic box office throughout the
Maurice Hines, an actor, dancer and choreographer who starred with his brother Gregory Hines in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Cotton Club,” died Friday. He was 80. Friends including Debbie Allen and John Manzari reported the news of his death. Hines began studying tap dancing at 5 years old, making his Broadway debut in “The Girl
Tom Wilkinson, the British actor who appeared in films including “The Full Monty,” “Shakespeare in Love” and “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” died Saturday in the U.K., the BBC reported. He was 75. “It is with great sadness that the family of Tom Wilkinson announce that he died suddenly at home on December 30. His
What a relief it is to close the door on 2023, an annus horribilis for the entertainment industry (and the world). After the dual strikes effectively shut down most production from May through November, the doors have reopened again onto a landscape that’s been forever changed. The realities of the streaming bubble and the rifts
Paula Abdul alleged in a lawsuit on Friday that she was twice sexually assaulted by Nigel Lythgoe, the executive producer of “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance.” Abdul rose to stardom in the late 80s and built a second career as a judge of reality show competitions in the early 2000s. In
Ring in 2024 with Variety‘s list of New Year’s Eve specials to watch, including performances by stars like NewJeans, Ivy Queen, Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, Cardi B and Maroon 5. ABC’s “Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” The most-watched annual New Year’s Eve special, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” returns
“Batman Returns” screenwriter Daniel Waters participated in a recent discussion about the Tim Burton-directed sequel (via IndieWire) and revealed the collaborators’ clashing visions for a spinoff project centered on Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman. Waters was envisioning a satirical take on the comic book movie genre, something he says was more akin to Prime Video’s “The Boys”
Netflix has garnered a reputation for canceling a large number of its original series, a superlative that seems inevitable given its high content output compared to other streaming services. And while the stat has lessened since 2022, when 20 shows were canceled, there were still 14 on the chopping block in 2023. Five of the
The career of Scott Frank got a lengthy deep dive courtesy of a profile in The New Yorker that revealed the writer-director has a $300,000 weekly fee as a Hollywood script doctor. Frank acknowledges this fee is “insane,” but being a script doctor is how he’s made a life for himself despite being a credited
“Oppenheimer” may not be streaming on Peacock until the new year, but “Barbie” is ready to watch from home right this second courtesy of Max. And it’s far from the only great movie in 2023 to find itself available on streaming as the year comes to a close. From Netflix’s Oscar contenders to Hollywood tentpoles
Bram Inscore, best known for his work with Troye Sivan, Beck and BTS, has died at the age of 41. The songwriter, producer and instrumentalist died by suicide after a battle with depression, according to a statement from his family and friends. Throughout his career, he contributed to singles including Sivan’s “Youth,” Andy Grammer’s “Don’t
Lewis “Lew” Rothman, an entertainment executive who held top jobs at the Weinstein Company and Strategy PR, died suddenly at his home in East Hampton on Dec. 22. He was 63. Rothman is remembered for his smarts, honesty, humor, colorful language, movie star looks and an attitude and accent that betrayed his Queens roots. Beginning
The dual Hollywood strikes wiped out much of the scripted programming this fall on the linear networks. And yet, according to Variety‘s annual list of the year’s 100 most-watched primetime telecasts, we actually watched more entertainment fare this year. CBS’ “NCIS” led the pack in 2023 with 12 episodes making the list, followed by the
The rare documentary that opens not just with a content warning, but with a request not to share identifying images of its child subject, To Kill a Tiger is a heavy but necessary work about the legalese and cultural attitudes surrounding sexual violence in rural India. The Oscar-shortlisted doc from New Delhi-born director Nisha Pahuja
Years after Kanye West sampled her classic “Through the Fire” for his breakthrough single “Through the Wire,” Chaka Khan has had a change of heart about the rapper’s use of the track. West initially released “Through the Wire” in 2004, featuring a pitched-up sample of Khan’s 1984 single. Since then, the R&B singer, whose son
Blackpink — the four-piece K-pop act comprised of Jisoo, Lisa, Jennie and Rose – are no longer working with YG Entertainment for their solo endeavors, the company announced in a press release on Friday. The group will remain signed to YG Entertainment as an entity but the four women will pursue their solo careers outside of
This year’s Golden Globe nominees for best animated feature span four films from mainstay Hollywood studios and two critically acclaimed movies from lauded Japanese helmers. Though their settings and stories may be vastly different, spanning from an elemental metropolis or Japan to the multiverse, their throughline is innovative and inspiring animation. “Suzume,” helmed by Makoto
Avenged Sevenfold is venturing into the blockchain world, using Berify’s authentication technology and Bitflips’ expertise as well as a collaboration with Ticketmaster. The band’s members hope to become trailblazers at the intersection of music, blockchain and fan engagement. Avenged Sevenfold has minted a staggering one million NFTs for their alternate reality game (ARG) and “Life
Here’s a brief history of documentary moviegoing. In the 1960s, the documentary as we know it was being invented, but hardly anyone saw them. In the ’70s and ’80s, a new generation of masters — Barbara Kopple, Ken Burns, Errol Morris, Claude Lanzmann — came to the fore, and mainstream audiences began to take notice.
Timothée Chalamet retained his holiday season crown as “Wonka” topped the box office on Thursday. The family film, which looks at chocolatier Willy Wonka and his quest to open the world’s most fantastical candy company, earned $8 million, pushing its domestic gross to $110.6 million. “Wonka” carries an $125 million budget and has been a
Paul Schrader wrote Martin Scorsese‘s “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull,” and it appears he would’ve handled things differently had he been the one to pen “Killers of the Flower Moon.” In a recent interview with France’s Le Monde, Schrader called “Flower Moon” a “good movie” but one that could’ve been better had DiCaprio been playing
Chaka Khan isn’t mad at Kanye West for sampling her voice on his debut single … and admits she was just clueless about how the Hip, Hop, the hippity hop operated at the time!!! The R&B songstress harked back Friday on her tense treatment of Kanye in a new interview with Rolling Stone … and
Move over, Gritty, the sports world has a new favorite mascot. The first-ever Pop-Tarts Bowl introduced college football fans to a life-sized, actually edible Pop-Tarts mascot that was gleefully lowered into a giant toaster and ravenously devoured by players Thursday night. Named Strawberry, the Pop-Tarts mascot immediately went viral on social media for its sacrificial,
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