2023 was the year of the woman in the U.K. music business. Women artists spent the most weeks at No.1 on the Official Singles Chart in a calendar year since the countdown launched in 1952, according to analysis of Official Charts data by BPI, the trade body of the U.K. recorded music industry. Led by
Month: January 2024
Selena Gomez is gearing up to release her new record — the follow-up to 2020’s “Rare” — this year and has been subtly dropping hints about what fans what can expect to hear. However, it seems the actor and singer is more focused on her time on screen than in the studio. In an unreleased
America Ferrera has found herself in the Oscar race for supporting actress thanks to her role in “Barbie,” which is largely defined by a nearly three-minute monologue in which her character, Gloria, passionately rails against double standards women face on a daily basis. Both the speech and “Barbie” at large have been criticized by some
Mickey Cottrell, a veteran publicist for independent films known as a champion of filmmakers and actors, died Monday at the Motion Picture Hospital in Woodland Hills, his sister Suzy Cottrell confirmed. He was 79. Cottrell had returned to Los Angeles in 2019 after living with his sister in Arkansas while he recovered from a stroke
Thanks to Mario, J. Robert Oppenheimer and M3GAN, Universal Pictures ranked as the highest-grossing studio at the 2023 box office. The company’s slate — a range of 24 films that included “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Oppenheimer” and “M3GAN” — collected $4.907 billion in worldwide ticket sales. Universal’s victory is notable because it marks the
ABC kicked off the new year with a No. 1 as the network’s annual New Year’s Eve special led the broadcast competition. Split into two parts, the first half of the “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2024,” which aired during the 8-10 p.m. primetime block, recorded 7 million total viewers and
Daisy Ridley‘s Rey is coming back to the big screen in a new “Star Wars” movie directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”) and written by Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”). The film makes Obaid-Chinoy the first woman and first person of color to direct a “Star Wars” feature film. Previous film directors in the franchise include
Stand-up comedy specials dominated the Netflix Top 10 English TV chart during the holiday viewing window (Dec. 25-31) as Ricky Gervais’ “Armaggedon” opened atop the list of titles following its Dec. 25 debut with 8 million total views. Therefore, pushing “My Life With the Walter Boys” down to No. 2 after the show’s two-week run
In 2021, Paris Hilton spoke on Capitol Hill about the trauma she endured at a camp for troubled teenagers in Utah. “I was strangled. Slapped across the face. Watched in the shower by male staff,” she shared. So begins the Netflix documentary “Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare,” which offers an origin story for Hilton and countless
The new owners of Cheddar News, once touted as a kind of next-generation financial news network ala CNBC, have furloughed staff members because of “unforeseen” circumstances, the New York Times reported. Cheddar, founded in early 2016, was acquired by cable operator Altice USA in 2019 for $200 million. Last Thursday (Dec. 28), Altice USA said
Jack Black has joined the cast of “Minecraft,” a live-action adaptation of the popular video game. As previously announced, Jason Momoa is starring in the movie alongside “Wednesday’s” Emma Myers and “The Color Purple” actor Danielle Brooks. Production is expected to begin imminently in New Zealand. “Napoleon Dynamite” filmmaker Jared Hess, who previously worked with Black
Check out an official behind the scenes featurette for Night Swim starring Kerry Condon and Wyatt Russell! ► Buy Tickets for Night Swim: https://www.fandango.com/night-swim-2024-233713/movie-overview?cmp=Trailers_YouTube_Desc Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to be notified of all the hottest trailers: http://bit.ly/2CNniBy ► Shop Rotten Tomatoes: http://bit.ly/3KvCU1M US Release Date: January 5, 2024 Starring: Amélie
Following years of delays and pandemic restrictions, and now celebrating a post-strike awards season, what better way to kick off the 35th annual Palm Springs Intl. Film Festival than with a “fun and naughty film,” says festival director Lili Rodriguez. Thea Sharrock’s “Wicked Little Letters” will enjoy its U.S. premiere Jan. 5 at the desert
Herman “Hy” Levine, a 48-year veteran of the film industry who rose through the marketing ranks at Universal and Disney, died Dec. 27 in Rockville, Md. after suffering from pancreatic cancer. He was 87. Levine was an executive Disney from 1986 to 1998, rising to the rank of Vice President of Co-Op Advertising at the
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating a deadly car crash that occurred outside of the band Moe.’s New Year’s Eve show at the Kodak Center in Rochester, NY. Authorities began looking into the incident as a possible domestic terror attack. However, Rochester police have since confirmed they did not uncover any information indicating
Jordan Peele is not ready to disclose any information about his next movie, which will serve as the follow-up to his 2022 science-fiction thriller “Nope,” but he does think it could be “my favorite movie” as long as he makes it right — no pressure. Peele was supposed to already be making his fourth solo
Gary Oldman’s band of MI5 misfits are set to return for another outing. “Slow Horses,” the hit Apple TV+ series based on Mick Herron’s spy series of the same name, has been renewed for a fifth season, Variety can confirm. Oldman, who recently earned a Golden Globe nod for his performance in the show as
Elton John and Brandi Carlile apparently have recorded a new album together, according to an interview with Elton’s longtime friend, the Who’s Pete Townshend, that was published by Clashmusic late last month. Speaking about Elton’s plans now that he’s retired from touring, Townshend said, “Elton is so fraught with loss at not knowing what to
First there was “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.” Now, get ready for “Steamboat Willie” horror films. The 1928 version of Mickey Mouse entered the public domain on Monday, and indie horror producers are wasting no time in capitalizing on it. Steven LaMorte is set to direct an untitled horror-comedy based on Mickey’s cartoon debut.
Warner Bros.’ “Wonka” continued its golden run at the U.K. and Ireland box office with £6.6 million ($8.4 million) over the Dec. 29 weekend. The Timothée Chalamet starrer now has a total of £43.8 million in the territory after four weekends on release. Black Bear’s “Ferrari,” directed by Michael Mann and starring Adam Driver and
The Coca-Cola Company wants to kick off 2024 with a family affair. A new campaign from the beverage giant that starts bubbling Tuesday emphasizes its broad portfolio of drinks, not just a single product such as Fanta, Diet Coke or Dasani as has been the company’s typical marketing strategy over the years. The TV commercial,
Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” led the 11th annual Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Award nominations. The final installment of the “Guardians” franchise used over 22,500 prosthetics, 500 wigs and 130 facial hairpieces, breaking the world record for most prosthetics used in a film. It was nominated in special makeup effects, period
Despite the box office success of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Elizabeth Banks’ “Cocaine Bear,” female directors are not getting the same opportunities in Hollywood as their male counterparts. At the same time, major studios, which pledged to reexamine their employment practices in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, fail to produce many films from people
The French box office jumped 19% in 2023 with an estimated €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion) grossed from 181.2 million tickets, according to Comscore France. Unlike in 2022, when the top 10 was exclusively dominated by U.S. movies, 2023 was bolstered by a mix of Hollywood blockbusters and French fare. Notably, “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle
Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie” wasn’t just the year’s biggest box office winner. It also made history as the highest-grossing movie directed by a woman. Despite the film’s outsized success, major studios gave most of their biggest gigs to male filmmakers. That’s the conclusion of a new study by the Center for the Study of Women in
The first trailer for Hulu‘s upcoming reality show “Vanderpump Villa” promises plenty of “Vanderpump Rules“-esque drama. After an inter-cast affair turned “Vanderpump Rules” into a viral sensation in 2023, “Villa” focuses on the servers at another one of “Real Housewives” alum Lisa Vanderpump‘s restaurants. The show is described, per a press release, as: “Decadence and
Everyone feels it: It can feel like a chore getting to a show. We all know the routine: dealing with the online ticket queues for bigger concerts, navigating the extra fees at checkout for shows large and small, and then, once you’ve experienced that thrill of victory, remembering that you will, in fact, have to
Ana Ofelia Murguía, the Mexican actor best known for voicing the titular character of Disney and Pixar’s 2017 animated movie “Coco,” died Sunday, Dec. 31, BBC News reports. She was 90. “Coco,” which follows a young boy as he crosses over to the land of the dead during Mexico’s Día de los Muertos, won two
“Wonka,” a musical fantasy that has been the biggest hit of the holiday season, topped the box office on New Year’s Eve, closing 2023 on a sweet note. The film, which stars Timothée Chalamet as a more youthful Willy Wonka, grossed $22.7 million for the weekend and a projected $29.5 million for the four-day holiday. That
Les McCann, the legendary jazz pianist who has been sampled countless times and is perhaps best known for the protest song “Compared to What,” died Friday at a Los Angeles area hospital, his manager confirmed. No cause of death was announced, although he had been hospitalized last week after contracting pneumonia; he was 88. The