Open Thread

Variety reports: For the past year, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been greeted with open arms by awards shows, film festivals and even the New York Stock Exchange. But when it comes to landing airtime on the most coveted telecast of all — the Oscars — the Ukrainian leader is being met with a cold shoulder. For the second year in a …

Deadline reports: Actors’ Equity Association has condemned Tennessee’s new legislation restricting drag performance, urging theaters in the state to “join us in rejecting it entirely and lobbying for its elimination.” The union, which represents actors and stage managers in live theater, also said it is “monitoring the progress of similarly dystopian laws in other states.” Tennessee recently became the first …

Variety reports: Lyrics from “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” have been quietly removed from the set list of Disneyland’s Magic Happens parade. The melody originates from the 1946 feature “Song of the South,” which has been criticized for featuring racist imagery and themes. During its release in the ’40s and across subsequent re-releases, the film drew criticism for its use of racist stereotypes and …

Variety reports: Almost a year after the infamous Oscars slap, comedian Chris Rock finally addressed what happened in his live Netflix special, “Selective Outrage.” After an hour of new material that only alluded to Slapgate — “They say, ‘words hurt.’ Anybody who says ‘words hurt’ has never been punched in the face,” he joked earlier in the night — the …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Saturday Night Live went with the week’s biggest media stories for its cold open: the revelations from Dominion Voting Systems bombshell filing in its defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Hosts Steve Doocy (Mikey Day), Ainsley Earhardt (Heidi Gardner) and Brian Kilmeade (Bowen Yang) explained the revelations and why the network hasn’t covered the case. The skit also …

Variety reports: 20th Century Studios has announced new plot details, cast additions and production status for the latest “Alien” film. The ninth film in the franchise will begin production on March 9 in Budapest. The untitled project joins the prequel series, which first premiered in 2012, with “Prometheus,” followed by “Alien: Covenant.” The original series began in 1979 with “Alien,” …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Schindler’s List director Steven Spielberg, appearing on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last night, had some chilling words on the rise of public antisemitism in recent years. The director, whose most recent film is the Oscar nominated The Fabelmans, said that “not since Germany in the ‘30s have I witnessed antisemitism no longer lurking, but standing …

Variety reports: ABBA’s ‘Voyage’ virtual concert — which opened in a specially built London arena last May and has sold more than 1 million tickets — will go on a global tour, Universal Music Group chairman Lucian Grainge confirmed during the company’s earnings call on Thursday. “Plans are now in development to take ‘ABBA Voyage’ around the world,” Grainge said …

Variety reports: Woody Harrelson railed against COVID protocols on film sets during a new interview with The New York Times. The actor is making the press rounds in support of his new movie “Champions.” Harrelson expressed uncertainty about the future of indie movies given “all the COVID protocols” in place, calling such protocols “absurd.” “What’s absurd about the Covid protocols?” …

Deadline reports: After very close to three years and more than 100,000 deaths related to Covid-19, the nation’s largest state ends its State of Emergency related to the pandemic at 11:59 p.m. tonight. While on March 4, 2020 California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the State of Emergency in a news conference carried on virtually every local network amid concern over …

Yahoo Entertainment reports: Earning $23 million its opening weekend and with sequels already being plotted out for the future, Cocaine Bear has proven that it has no natural enemy in the wild world of Hollywood. Except, maybe, a certain alligator that finds its own reserve of illegal drugs to consume and a community to wreak havoc upon. Low-budget production company …

Variety reports: Universal’s horror-comedy “Cocaine Bear” blew past box office projections, earning an impressive $23 million from 3,534 North American theaters in its opening weekend. The blood-splattered animal adventure landed in second place on domestic charts behind Disney’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” which all but collapsed in its sophomore outing. “Ant-Man 3” managed to remain in first place given …

Variety reports: Amazon Prime Video has released the official trailer for its upcoming sci-fi series “The Power.” The first three episodes will premiere March 31, with the remaining six episodes available each Friday until the finale on May 12. Based on Naomi Alderman’s novel of the same name, the new sci-fi series follows as a group of teenage girls who …

Deadline Hollywood reports: John Cameron Mitchell, creator of the Hedwig and the Angry Inch musical, believes “in the future, we will all be canceled for fifteen minutes” and he’s turning this idea into a podcast. Mitchell has teamed up with Michael Cavadias, who has acted in film Wonder Boys and Hulu series Difficult People to create Cancellation Island. The scripted …

Variety reports: Warner Bros. Pictures is revamping the “Lord of the Rings” film franchise. On a Thursday earnings call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav announced that newly-installed studio leaders Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy have brokered a deal to make “multiple” films based on the beloved J. R. R. Tolkien books. The projects will be developed through WB …

Variety reports: A former MoviePass executive was arrested Tuesday on charges that he embezzled $260,000 from the company to pay for a party at Coachella Music Festival. Khalid Itum, 42, was indicted on two counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering. The charges allege that Itum submitted sham invoices to MoviePass to pay for the marketing event, …

Variety reports: Almost 60 years since first meeting, it looks like the Rolling Stones and the two surviving Beatles may come together on a new Stones album. Variety hears from multiple sources that Paul McCartney has recorded bass parts for a forthcoming Rolling Stones project being helmed by 2021 Grammy producer of the year Andrew Watt. Ringo Starr is also …

Deadline reports:  The DreamWorks Water Park in New Jersey’s American Dream Mall will remained closed at least through Wednesday following a frightening incident Sunday when a decorative helicopter fell from the ceiling into a swimming pool. At least four people suffered minor, non-life-threatening injuries, according to New Jersey State Police, with one taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and …

The Associated Press reports: Tom Sizemore is in critical condition after suffering a brain aneurysm, a representative for the actor said Sunday. Sizemore suffered the aneurysm around 2 a.m. Saturday at his home in Los Angeles. He was hospitalized in intensive care, his manager Charles Lago said. Lago described Sizemore’s condition “a wait and see situation.” Sizemore, 61, has acted …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Jen Shah, star of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, has surrendered to prison after pleading guilty for a telemarketing fraud scheme that conned people out of their money. “I am surrendering to serve a sentence in a federal prison today,” read a statement posted on Shah’s Instagram account. “It is the price I must …