Open Thread

The Kansas City Star reports: Chappell Roan is known as much for her elaborate drag queen and vintage-inspired stage costumes as her music. She’s dressed as Joan of Arc in a suit of armor, been the Statue of Liberty complete with spiky headdress. There’s fringe, lots of fringe, fishnet stockings, sequins, feathers, cowboy hats and boots. Now she has donated …

Collider reports: Star Trek: Starfleet Academy takes place in the 32nd century, and features the first Academy class in over a century following a galaxy-spanning disaster, The Burn. It stars Holly Hunter as Nahla Ake, the Chancellor of Starfleet Academy and captain of the Athena; faculty members include engineer Jet Reno (Tig Notaro) and Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr), both …

Deadline reports: Dave Franco is open to the idea of playing Luigi Mangione in a biopic. The actor and his wife, Alison Brie, made an appearance on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, where he was asked about portraying Mangione. “Oh, how do I answer this?” Franco said that after being asked by a fan if he would play Mangione, social …

Deadline reports: Turns out James Cameron was right. The U.S. Coast Guard released the findings from its multi-year investigation into the implosion of OceanGate’s Titan submersible in 2023 and found that the disaster, which killed all five of the vehicle’s occupants, was a “preventable tragedy.” The 335-page report from the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation found that “OceanGate’s failure …

USA Today reports: Sean “Diddy” Combs, who remains jailed ahead of his October sentencing, has been denied bail again after the rapper and his legal team requested that he be released on a $50 million bond. Judge Arun Subramanian, who presided over Combs’ landmark sex-trafficking trial in Manhattan court, denied Combs’ renewed attempt in an order filed Monday, Aug. 4. …

Billboard Magazine reports: Madonna continues to be in a reflective, dance floor-ready mood. A week after finally dropping the long-rumored Ray of Light remix album Veronica Electronica, the singer was back in the groove on Friday morning (Aug. 1) with a 40th anniversary celebration of her beloved Like a Virgin single “Dress You Up.” The final single from the diamond-certified …

Variety reports: Just hours after the long-awaited release of her new single, “The Subway,” Chappell Roan has shared a music video for the song, a ballad she performed for the first time more than a year ago, at the 2024 Governors Ball festival. The clip is a New York City-themed fantasy that features the singer in multiple, often surreal scenes: …

Deadline reports: “I’m voting for Stephen,” reads the billboard. Surprisingly, this is Jimmy Kimmel’s message of support his late-night peer Stephen Colbert, whose Late Show was unceremoniously canceled by CBS days after he was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Talk Series category. The tagline currently adorns one billboard in West Hollywood above a liquor store, but it’s clear …

Variety reports: Justin Timberlake has revealed that he has been diagnosed with Lyme disease and opened up about the struggles he’s faced while on his “Forget Tomorrow World Tour.” The singer posted a pair of Instagram Stories detailing his diagnosis to coincide with the conclusion of his global tour. Fans recently noticed that Timberlake appeared sluggish and low-energy during performances …

404 Media reports: Spotify is requiring users in the UK to verify they’re over 18 to view “certain age restricted content,” and users are reporting seeing a popup on Spotify to verify their ages following the enactment of the UK’s Online Safety Act last week, which forced platforms to verify the ages of everyone who tries to access certain kinds …

Variety reports: “South Park” will not be airing a new episode on Comedy Central this week, but that doesn’t mean creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are taking a break from targeting President Trump. In a new trailer for Season 27 Episode 2, the show’s version of Trump is seen groping Satan’s leg under a table during a public dinner …

Variety reports: Disney has released the first trailer for director James Cameron’s third “Avatar” movie, titled “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” It’s scheduled to hit theaters on December 19, 2025, three years after “Avatar: The Way of Water.” Just like “The Way of Water” introduced the aquatic Metkayina clan of Pandora, “Fire and Ash” will debut a new group called the …

Variety reports: “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is off on the right foot at the box office. Marvel‘s latest comic book adaptation has lifted off with $118 million from 4,125 North American theaters over the weekend. Those ticket sales were slightly ahead of expectations of $100 million to $110 million. “Fantastic Four,” a retro-futuristic adventure starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, …

Variety reports: David Letterman unloaded on CBS and Skydance on Friday for cancelling “The Late Show,” which he launched 32 years ago, saying the network had mistreated his successor, Stephen Colbert. In an interview posted to his YouTube channel, Letterman said he does not buy the official explanation that the show was cancelled for financial reasons. “This is pure cowardice,” …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Patrick Aiello and Timur Bekmambetov‘s reboot of War of the Worlds is debuting around the world on Prime Video on July 30. The modern-day adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic novel follows Will Radford (Ice Cube), a top cyber-security analyst for Homeland Security, who spends his days tracking potential threats to national security through a mass surveillance program, …

Deadline Hollywood reports: After Deadline reported a Murder, She Wrote reboot in the works at Universal, Jamie Lee Curtis has officially confirmed she’s on the case. The Oscar winner revealed she “a minute away” from taking over the late Angela Lansbury’s beloved middle-aged mystery writer and amateur sleuth role, Jessica Fletcher, in a feature adaptation of the CBS series that …

Variety reports: Sacha Baron Cohen is shocking fans with his Men’s Fitness U.K. cover story, which includes photos of the muscular body transformation he underwent before filming scenes as Mephisto in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The “Borat” creator debuted as the infamous comic book villain in the Disney+ series “Ironheart” earlier this summer. “Some celebs use Ozempic and some use …

Variety reports: The mysterious marriage and subsequent split between David Geffen and model Donovan Michaels has spilled out into the public domain. And it’s getting nasty. On Tuesday morning, Michaels, aka David Armstrong, sued the Hollywood mogul for breach of contract in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming that the multi billionaire treated him like “a living social experiment — a …

Variety reports: Anne Hathaway is officially back as Andy Sachs in a first-look photo the Oscar winner and 20th Century Studios posted to social media amid filming “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” the long-awaited sequel to the beloved 2006 comedy-drama. Hathaway is returning alongside original co-stars Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci, plus director David Frankel and screenwriter Aline …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: Superman has transformed into a bonafide crowd pleaser at the box office in a much-needed inaugural win for the Warner Bros.-owned DC Studios, which is run together by James Gunn — also the film’s director — and producer Peter Safran. The big-budget tentpole was all but assured of staying atop the domestic box office in its …