Martin Scorsese‘s Apple Original Film, Killers of the Flower Moon, is coming to digital platforms on Tuesday, December 5.
The acclaimed film was co-written by Scorsese stars Robert De Niro,Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone,and based on David Grann‘s bestselling book of the same name, which depicts the real-life serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation.
De Niro plays the scheming uncle of DiCaprio’s character, who recruits the younger man in a plan to steal the oil discovered on Osage land — through marriage into the tribe and murder.
Meanwhile, Leo’s Ernest Burkhart is torn between both worlds: his uncle’s plot and his Native American wife, Mollie, played by Gladstone, who begs him to avenge her family.
To date, the October release has grossed more than $154 million worldwide.
Special releases by The Doors, U2 and more were among the bestsellers on Record Store Day Black Friday this year.
The Doors’ Live From Bakersfield, August 21, 1970, which captures a 1970 concert around the time of Jim Morrison‘s indecent exposure trial, landed at #4 on the list of bestsellers, followed by U2’s remastered Under a Blood Red Sky at #6.
Two Grateful Dead related albums also sold well. The March 2, 1969, Dead concert at San Francisco’s Fillmore West, which was released as a five-LP package, landed at #8, while Pure Jerry: Marin Auditorium, San Rafael, CA – February 28, 1986, a recording of a performance by Jerry Garcia and John Kahn, landed at #12.
Also making the top 25 is Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark Demos, at #15, and The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album, at #16.
Meanwhile, artists seeing the best sales on Record Store Black Friday include The Doors, who had the second-best overall sales, Grateful Dead at #6 and U2 at #8.
Overall, it seemed to be a great Black Friday at independent record stores this year, with weekend year-over-year increases up as much as 40%.
(DALLAS) — The search was on Monday for an assailant who killed four people, including a 1-year-old boy, inside a Dallas home and left a teenage girl hospitalized with bullet wounds, police said.
The quadruple killing unfolded Sunday afternoon in a southeast Dallas neighborhood. The Dallas Police Department said the carnage appears to stem from an isolated incident and “there is no threat to the public.”
The killings marked the 627th mass shooting this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks shootings across the nation and defines a mass shooting as an event with a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter.
The child killed in the Dallas shooting was identified by the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office as 1-year-old Logan De La Cruz, who became the 272nd child 11 years old or younger killed in a shooting this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The shooting unfolded about 4:20 p.m. on Sunday when police responded to calls of gunfire in the 9700 block of Royce Drive, according to a statement from the Dallas Police Department.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found three adults dead from gunshot wounds inside the house and two children, Logan and a 15-year-old girl, according to the police statement.
Logan was taken to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries, police said. The teenage girl, whose name was not released, remained hospitalized Monday in stable condition, according to police.
The others killed in the shooting were identified by the medical examiner’s office as Vanessa De La Cruz, 20; Karina Lopez, 33; and Jose Lopez, 50.
No one has been arrested in slayings and a motive remains under investigation.
The number of homicides in Dallas is up roughly 11% this year from 2022, according to Dallas Police Department crime data. As of Sunday, the city had recorded 226 homicides in 2023.
WillSmith says work on the long-awaited I Am Legend sequel is well underway.
During his appearance at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, Smith gave an update about the film, which he stars in and produces alongside Michael B. Jordan.
“I have a call with Michael B. Jordan tomorrow,” he said, per Variety, at one of the event’s conversations. “We’re really close, script just came in.”
The actor delved into the storyline for I Am Legend 2, revealing it’ll be a continuation of one of the two endings from the original 2007 film.
“You have to be a real I Am Legend buff to know this,” he said. “But in the first, theatrical version, my character dies, but on the DVD there was an alternate version of the ending where my character lived. We are going with the mythology of the DVD version.”
Smith noted he can’t say much more about the sequel right now; he did say that “Michael B. Jordan is in.”
News of the remake surfaced back in 2022, with Deadlinereporting Oscar winner AkivaGoldsman, who adapted the RichardMatheson‘s 1954 novel for the original 2007 movie, will reprise his role as writer and producer.
Slipknot, Disturbed, Misfits and the reformed Pantera will headline the 2024 Sonic Temple festival, taking place May 16-19 in Columbus, Ohio.
The bill also includes Limp Bizkit, Evanescence, Falling in Reverse, Staind, Judas Priest, Rise Against, Sleep Token, 311, Mudvayne, Seether, Breaking Benjamin, A Day to Remember, Kerry King, Sum 41, Architects and In This Moment.
In other festival news, Limp Bizkit has joined the lineup for the U.K.’s 2024 Download Festival, taking place June 14-16. Previously announced headliners include Queens of the Stone Age, Fall Out Boy and Avenged Sevenfold.
Cole Swindell is hitting the road in 2024 for his headlining Win The Night Tour.
The trek kicks off May 16 in London, Ontario, and will conclude in Bonner, Montana, on July 20.
Dylan Scott will serve as direct opener while Jon Langston, Lily Rose, Mackenzie Carpenter, Meghan Patrick and Restless Road will open on select dates.
“My band and crew on the road have been a big reason for the successes in my career and I never take that for granted,” says Cole, who recently released “3 Feet Tall.” “It is our goal every single night to give the fans the best show we can, so the last three words we say before stepping on stage is ‘Win The Night.'”
“This one is for my band, my crew, my team and for the ones that continue to show up- the fans!” he adds. “We can’t wait to get out there in 2024 with Dylan and Jon Langston, Lily Rose, Mackenzie Carpenter, Meghan Patrick and Restless Road.”
Tickets for the Win The Night Tour go on sale Friday, December 8. Presale for Cole’s Down Home Crew fan club begins Tuesday, December 5, at 10 a.m. local time.
For Cole’s full tour schedule and tickets, visit coleswindell.com.
Variety held its 2023 Hitmakers event on Saturday, December 2, during which boygenius was honored with the Group of the Year award. The “Not Strong Enough” trio was introduced at the ceremony by folk legend Joan Baez.
“I believe that the songs of these three women speak to the delicacy of the human condition,” Baez said of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus. “And they are in a sense trailblazers, not just with their music and its uniqueness, but in their willingness to speak out for people who are marginalized, and in fact ostracized and persecuted in this society.”
“I was brought up listening to and singing harmonies, and I’ve heard a lot of them in my day,” Baez added. “I have seldom heard harmonies as true and as f****** angelic as yours. It’s just a glory to listen to.”
During boygenius’ speech, Baker apologized for getting “a little emotional” due to Baez’s remarks.
“Joan Baez is telling us that we mean something to her personally,” Baker said. “You’re a living legend and to hear you speak so highly of us is derailing my mind completely.”
Meanwhile, St. Vincent also took the stage in honor of Olivia Rodrigo, who was named Storyteller of the Year.
In her speech, St. Vincent referred to Rodrigo as a “precious baby angel muffin, but if a precious baby angel muffin were also tough as nails and cool as hell.”
Olivia Rodrigo topped the list of bestselling albums for this year’s Record Store Day Black Friday event, which saw artists exclusively releasing limited-edition vinyl albums in independent record stores.
It’s not surprising that Olivia topped the list, considering her release, GUTS: the secret tracks, pressed on deep purple vinyl, collected the four songs she’d added on to the different variations of the vinyl versions of GUTS: “Obsessed,” “Scared of My Guitar,” “Stranger” and “Girl I’ve Always Been.” As soon as fans found out the songs existed, they began clamoring for them.
The second biggest seller was Noah Kahan’s Cape Elizabeth EP, which had never before been available on vinyl. Other acts whose Record Store Releases were among the top 10 bestsellers include Post Malone, with his Diamond Collection vinyl, and records by Linkin Park, The Doors, U2 and the Grateful Dead.
Taylor Swift didn’t have a specific Record Store Day release this year, but the vinyl version of 1989(Taylor’s Version) was #22 on the list of top-selling albums. Among all artists in general, Olivia was #1, followed by The Doors, Noah Kahan and Taylor.
In other Olivia Rodrigo news, she was named Storyteller of the Year at Variety‘s Hitmakers awards ceremony over the weekend. Presenting her with the award was friend and singer/songwriter St. Vincent, who co-wrote Olivia’s song “Obsessed.” In her speech, she called Olivia a “precious baby angel muffin… but if a precious baby angel muffin was tough as nails and cool as hell.”
St. Vincent added, “She is shockingly talented, whip smart, and to me, the most important combination, curious and kind. These attributes make her great and will make her a great storyteller for years to come.”
A new Vanity Fair cover story dives deep into Robert Downey Jr.‘s journey from Hollywood bad boy, to box office superhero, to what many believe will be his third Oscar nomination, for his portrayal of Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer.
Jon Favreau and now-Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige pushed for casting Downey as Tony Stark in 2008’s Iron Man.
Feige recalled “the Marvel board being nervous at putting all of their chips in their future films on somebody who famously had those legal troubles in the past.”
He adds, “I wasn’t very good — and I’m still not great — at taking no for an answer … I try to figure out ways to make it as clear to other people why we should head in a direction.”
That included a screen test that netted Downey the job.
Billions of dollars at the box office later, Downey said farewell to Tony Stark: With a finger snap, he defeated Thanos and sacrificed himself to save the world in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
And despite recent reports, Tony isn’t coming back, Feige says.
“We all worked very hard for many years to get to that [moment], and we would never want to magically undo it in any way,” he insists.
That momentous finger snap — and Tony’s defiant last words: “I am Iron Man” — came via a reshoot after the “tearful goodbyes” when the movie wrapped, director Joe Russo says.
Co-director Anthony Russo says it was “difficult” for Downey, noting, “[W]e were shooting on a stage directly opposite where he auditioned for Tony Stark. So his last line as Tony Stark was shot literally a couple hundred feet from his original audition that got him the role.”
Joe says, “We promised him it would be the last time we made him do it — ever.”
Music fans will be able to say their final goodbyes to the late Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan later this week.
RTE reports that a funeral for MacGowan will be held Friday, December 8, in Tipperary, Ireland, with the mass at St. Mary’s of the Rosary Church in Nenagh, which will be open to the public.
There had been plans for a procession from Dublin, but that is reportedly no longer happening.
MacGowan passed away November 30 at the age of 65. His wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, told The New York Times that he died from pneumonia, although he had also been battling viral encephalitis at the time of his death.
“He wasn’t ready to give up,” Clarke told RTE. “He wasn’t ready to stop fighting – but his body did it for him.”
Meanwhile, U2 paid tribute to MacGowan during the Friday, December 1, show of their Las Vegas residency, U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere.
Fan-shot footage posted to YouTube shows the Irish rockers performing the Pogues classic “A Rainy Night in Soho” for the Vegas crowd.
The band had previously paid tribute to MacGowan on social media, writing, “Shane MacGowan’s songs were perfect so he or we his fans didn’t have to be.”
