Open Thread

Variety reports: Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global have held talks about a potential merger of the two media companies. Specifically, WBD and Paramount would have an interest in combining their Max and Paramount+ premium streaming services to better compete with the likes of Netflix and Disney’s Disney+ and Hulu. A merged WBD-Paramount Global would also be expected to combine …

The Associate Press reports: Jessica Vincent had just started surveying the shelves of a Virginia thrift store when a vase caught her eye. It was shaped like a bottle and had ribbons of color, aqua green and amethyst purple, that spiraled up its glass surface like stripes of paint. The piece looked old amongst the clutter of measuring cups, candles …

Variety reports: Marvel Studios has parted ways with Jonathan Majors — the actor cast to play Kang, the central antagonist in the Multiverse Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — after he was convicted on Dec. 18 of two misdemeanor counts of harassment and assault of Grace Jabbari, his ex-girlfriend. In the verdict, Majors was also found not guilty of …

Broadway.com reports: A new musical based on the 1987 teenage vampire movie The Lost Boys is in development. The new musical will feature a book by Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor, writer and executive producer David Hornsby and Chris Hoch, with music by the Californian rock band The Rescues. Tony Award winner Michael Arden (Parade) will direct. The producing team …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: The Timothée Chalamet-led Wonka scored an opening day gross of $14.4 million from 4,203 theaters at the Friday box office, putting it on course to earn $38 million or more in its North American opening. That’s a promising start for a musical, a genre that has struggled in recent times. From Warner Bros. and Harry Potter …

Billboard Magazine reports: Cher vehemently doesn’t want to be a member of any club that doesn’t want her. The “Believe” legend said so in no uncertain terms on Friday’s (Dec. 15) Kelly Clarkson Show, when the host asked how a legend who has scored No. 1 hits over seven decades is somehow not in the Rock and Roll Hall of …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Meghan McCain is most definitely not amused by a not-so-cryptic suggestion made today by The View co-host Ana Navarro that an (unnamed) former co-host used her famous last name for influence – and the daughter of the late Senator John McCain says she’ll be consulting her lawyers. Navarro’s comment came during a Hot Topics discussion about Hunter …

Variety reports: Century City was abuzz Wednesday with the presence of former First Lady Michelle Obama, who was on hand in Los Angeles for meetings at CAA. The power agency, which closed a deal for new majority ownership in September, represents Michelle and Barack Obama’s production company Higher Ground. Michelle Obama and her team sat for generals across film, TV …

Forbes reports: Rapper Kanye West faces controversy again after donning a black Ku Klux Klan-like hood during a listening party for his new music in Miami Monday night, as he struggles to comeback from a disastrous 2022 that saw him lose a fortune following statements widely condemned as antisemitic. West arrived on stage wearing the hood as his song “Vultures” …

Deadline reports: “Let me sit you down and tell you a Christmas story — a story of chance, coincidence and luck.” That’s what we hear as the clock strikes midnight in the new teaser trailer for the Doctor Who holiday special, The Church on Ruby Road. There’s not much plot revealed in the 30-second clip, but it does feature the …

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 …