Open Thread

Billboard Magazine reports: Will Smith wants to ensure that anyone with Internet access can stream his passion project, Emancipation, for free on Apple TV+. The Antoine Fuqua-directed film, chronicling the harrowing freedom journey of a Black man who escaped slavery in Louisiana, premiered on the streaming platform on Friday (Dec. 9). The 54-year-old actor reached out to Apple and secured …

Deadline reports: In the midst of his massive farewell tour, Sir Elton John took the time to say another goodbye this morning. “I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked,” John wrote on Twitter. “All my life I’ve tried to use music to bring people together. Yet it …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Discovery+ and ID are exploring the real story behind Fox’s hit series Glee. The streamer has ordered a three-part docuseries from Ample Entertainment, the company behind HBO docuseries The Invisible Pilot and Facebook’s 9 Months with Courteney Cox. The currently untitled series will address the controversies surrounding the series, including the case of Mark Salling, who played …

Variety reports: Broadway veteran Ethan Slater, who scored a Tony nomination for “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical,” has been cast as Boq in Universal’s big-screen adaptation of “Wicked.” In the film, directed by Jon M. Chu, Slater is joining the previously announced cast of Ariana Grande as Glinda, Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero. Variety also reported that …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Detailing eerily familiar alleged modus operandi on the part of the man once known as “America’s Dad,” two former The Cosby Show actresses and three other women today sued Bill Cosby and NBCUniversal for sexual assault and battery in New York state court. “Plaintiffs were all sexually battered, assaulted, and abused by Bill Cosby as a part …

Deadline reports: Pop superstar and songwriter Neil Diamond, who retired from touring in 2018 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, surprised the opening night audience of A Beautiful Noise Sunday with a post-show performance of his signature hit “Sweet Caroline.” Diamond was greeted with a standing ovation upon entering the the Broadhurst Theatre just before the start of the musical, …

Billboard Magazine reports: Glass Animals‘ “Heat Waves” reigns as the No. 1 hit on Billboard‘s 2022 year-end Hot 100 Songs chart, following its sizzling, record-breaking run on the weekly ranking, which blends streaming, radio airplay and sales data. Meanwhile, Bad Bunny tops Billboard‘s 2022 year-end Hot 100 Artists recap. He charted all 22 newly released tracks on his album Un …

Variety reports: The tables seem to have turned for Kanye West fans. Following the 45-year-old’s appearance on right-wing talk show host Alex Jones’ “Infowars” on Thursday, where he continued to spew anti-Semitic rhetoric and deliberately gave praise to Adolf Hitler and Nazis, fans on the artist’s r/Kanye Reddit page, which has more than 700,000 subscribers, have decided to turn the …

Variety reports: Overnight success was a long time coming for Kim Petras. After a decade navigating every rung of the music industry, she finally hit the jackpot with “Unholy.” At the beginning of October, the slinky Sam Smith collaboration became Petras’ first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and, to her complete astonishment, topped the chart a month later and …

Variety reports: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are about to pull back the curtain on their love story and subsequent retreat from life as working royals. After months of mystery, distributor Netflix released a first-look trailer for the highly anticipated doc series on Thursday. The project, which is directed by “What Happened, Miss Simone?” …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Stevie Nicks is remembering her late Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie as her “best friend in her whole world since the first day of 1975.” “I didn’t even know she was ill until late Saturday night,” Nicks writes on Instagram. “I wanted to be in London, I wanted to get to London, but we were told to …

Deadline reports: Over the past two weeks, the 7-day average test positivity in L.A. County has grown more than 100%, from 6.5% the Wednesday before last to 14.7% today, public health officials reported. Daily case numbers have fluctuated, with 3,077 new infections reported last Wednesday and 2,370 today. Either way, county officials say, those numbers are an undercount given the …

Variety reports: Disney’s “Strange World” bombed at the box office over Thanksgiving, leaving the studio to mop up oceans, mountains and terrains of red ink. The animated feature debuted dramatically behind expectations with $11.9 million from 4,174 North American theaters over the weekend and $18.6 million over the five-day holiday frame. Before projections were revised downward, the movie was expected to …

Deadline Hollywood reports: The tempestuous tandem of country music icons George Jones and Tammy Wynette are brought to life by Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain in the John Hillcoat-directed limited series George & Tammy. Produced by Chastain’s Freckle Films, 101 Studios, and Andrew Lazar’s Mad Chance and MTV Entertainment Studios, the series premieres on Showtime December 4. It is the …

Variety reports: The 96th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade drew 27.7 million viewers on Thursday when counting both linear viewing on NBC and streaming on sister platform Peacock. The three-hour special that aired 9 a.m.-noon in all time zones and the 2 p.m.-5 p.m. repeat, plus digital viewership as well as streaming on Peacock, brought in a total of 27.7 million …

Deadline reports: Kelsey Grammer is opening up about David Hyde Pierce’s decision not to return to the upcoming Frasier revival series on Paramount+. Hyde Pierce played Grammer’s titular Frasier Crane’s younger brother on the Emmy-winning Cheers spinoff series. “David basically decided he wasn’t really interested in repeating the performance of Niles,” Grammer told People in an interview. After Frasier, Hyde …

Variety reports: In the wake of the major problems surrounding Ticketmaster’s management of Taylor Swift tour ticket sales last week, a U.S. Senate antitrust panel will hold a hearing on the lack of competition in the industry, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Lee (R-UT) announced Tuesday. The hearing comes after reports of major service failures and delays on Ticketmaster’s …

Variety reports: Mickey Kuhn, a former child actor and the last surviving cast member of the 1939 film “Gone With The Wind,” died at the age of 90 on Nov. 20, 2022, at a hospice facility in Naples, Florida, his wife confirmed to Variety. In the classic film, Kuhn played Beau Wilkes, the son of Ashley and Melanie Wilkes, played …

Variety reports: Harrison Ford is back in adventure mode in the first images from “Indiana Jones 5,” which debuted exclusively via Empire magazine. Along with some photos comes confirmation that Ford will be de-aged using visual effects so that Indiana Jones appears in the film as his age from the original trilogy. The de-aging technology is only used in the …

Deadline reports: Kanye West is back on Twitter, posting this morning a test to see if his account was working. It was and it is, and the test message is drawing mostly positive reviews, with a few “oh no” reactions. His return comes a day after Twitter renewed the account of former President Donald Trump and a few other controversial …