Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: In Varun Chopra’s Oscar-contending documentary short Holy Cowboys, the director offers a peek into a side of India’s societal structure on how the cow, a sacred and holy animal to the majority Hindu population, is being protected from slaughter by a growing group of Hindu nationalists. Winner of the Grand Jury prize at the 2022 DOC NYC, …

Variety reports: Jennifer Lopez is attached to star in a feature adaptation of the 1993 Broadway musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” written and directed by “Dreamgirls” filmmaker Bill Condon. The music is by legends John Kander and Fred Ebb, based on the novel by Manuel Puig and the book of the musical by Terrence McNally. The musical is set …

Deadline reports: According to an end-of-the-year accounting by live tour publication Pollstar, Taylor Swift’s tour has now grossed more than any tour by any other artist ever: $1,039,263,762. And Swift set the record in only eight months. In eight months, the superstar played 60 shows in 24 cities. The tour’s kickoff was on March 17, its conclusion on Nov. 11. …

Variety reports: The audience for NewsNation‘s Wednesday-night Republican primary debate was one of the smallest and the biggest. Nearly 1.6 million tuned in to the Nexstar-backed upstart cable-news outlet to watch. More than 2.5 million chose to watch a simulcast on the CW broadcast network, a corporate sibling. At about 4.1 million, the overall TV audience is the smallest secured …

Variety reports: While the LGTBQ rights movement has made tremendous strides since that first rock was thrown at the Stonewall Inn in New York City in 1969, there are still many areas of the U.S. where the queer community doesn’t feel safe. In the new Hulu documentary, “We Live Here: The Midwest,” director Melina Maerker and producer David Clayton Miller …

Billboard Magazine reports: A short 65 years after its 1958 release, Brenda Lee‘s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” finally hits the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. The Christmas classic, which rose to No. 2 each of the last four holiday seasons but was previously unable to unseat Mariah Carey’s beloved “All I Want for Christmas …

Variety reports: “Barbie” will soon be available to stream on Max from your own Dreamhouse (or Mojo Dojo Casa House). Max announced that Greta Gerwig’s sparkly pink fantasy comedy will hit the streamer on Dec. 15, a few months after “Barbie’s” July 21 theatrical release date. There will also be an American Sign Language version available. Earning over $1.4 billion …

Variety reports: Queen Bey is the new box office queen. “Renaissance,” a concert film written, directed and produced by Beyoncé, topped the domestic box office with $21 million in its opening weekend, slightly ahead of expectations. These ticket sales rank as one of the best debuts for a concert film, joining the company of Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” (far …

Variety reports: “Fallout” is finally stepping out of the vault. The Prime Video adaptation of the popular video game series received its first trailer on Saturday, showcasing its nuclear wasteland setting and the terrifying monsters that roam the devestated world. “Fallout” is created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, the duo behind “Westworld,” and stars Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, Kyle …

Deadline reports: After stunning the business world by telling any marketer pausing their advertising on X (formerly Twitter) over antisemitic content to “go f–k yourself,” Elon Musk closed the week by taking more swings. Posting on the platform he bought last fall for $44 billion, the Tesla CEO shared a self-pitying meme showing a dejected-looking robot. “Here I am, the …

Billboard Magazine reports: The Nashville judge overseeing the bitter lawsuit between Hall & Oates sided with Daryl Hall on Thursday (Nov. 3) and ruled that John Oates temporarily cannot sell his share of the band’s joint venture to Primary Wave until a private arbitrator hears the case. Hours after attorneys for the two singers squared off in court, Chancellor Russell …

Variety reports: Sebastian Stan is playing young Donald Trump in a movie titled “The Student” from Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi (“Holy Spider”), Variety can confirm. The cast also includes “Succession” Emmy winner Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn and “Borat 2” and “Bodies Bodies Bodies” actor Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. According to the logline, “‘The Student’ is an exploration of …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Jake Cannavale has been tapped to play Aaron Hernandez’s love interest in the first installment Ryan Murphy’s anthology series American Sports Story. Cannavale will recur in the anthology that stems from the Boston Globe and Wondery podcast Gladiator: Hernandez and Football Inc. that explores Hernandez’s identity, family, career, suicide, and legacy in sports and American culture. Hernandez …

Billboard Magazine reports: Dolly Parton’s Rockstar blasts in at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Dec. 2), scoring the music legend her first leader on the 32-year-old tally. Rockstar bows with 118,500 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 23, according to Luminate. That marks biggest sales week for an album in the modern …

Variety reports: Marty Krofft, who with his brother Sid produced memorable kids shows “H.R. Pufnstuf” and “Land of the Lost” — as well as the 2009 feature based on the latter — has died. He was 86. Krofft died of kidney failure Saturday in Los Angeles, Calif., a family representative told Variety. In 2007 TV Guide named “H.R. Pufnstuf” No. …

Variety reports: The mystery of why Daryl Hall obtained a restraining order against John Oates has been solved, at least in part, now that part of the case has been unsealed by a Tennessee judge who previously ordered all details to be kept under wraps. It’s now been revealed that Hall is attempting to block his longtime musical partner from …

Variety reports: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade packed a punch for NBC in its 99th edition. The New York holiday tradition delivered a record audience of 28.5 million viewers across airings Thursday on the network and its streaming sibling Peacock. In a good sign of the parade’s status as an American institution, more than two-thirds of that audience (22.3 million) …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Squid Game: The Challenge contestants are threatening legal action against Netflix and producers after claiming they were injured during the filming of the game show. A British personal injuries law firm is representing two unnamed players who say they suffered hypothermia and nerve damage while shooting in cold conditions in the UK. The contestants’ allegations concern their …

Variety reports: Hall & Oates are embroiled in a confidential legal battle that has led to Daryl Hall getting a restraining order against his former music partner John Oates. Little information about the lawsuit is publicly available, as the court documents are sealed, but based on court records, Hall filed an undisclosed complaint against Oates on Nov. 16, as well …

Axios reports: When Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in 2019, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” peaked at #2. Carey repeated the climb to #1 the next year, with Lee right behind her in second. Then it happened again in 2021. And 2022. This Christmas might …