Entertainment

The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t kept theatergoers from flocking to see Free Guy.  The action comedy, starring Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comer held onto the top spot at the box office, delivering an estimated $18.8 million and bringing its two-week total to $58.8 million stateside. The film also added an estimated $53.1 million overseas, bringing its current worldwide total to $111.9 million.

Free Guy, showing exclusively in theaters, is from 20th Century Studios, which is owned by ABC News’ parent company, Disney.

Nipping at Free Guy‘s heels in second place is PAW Patrol: The Movie, fetching an estimated $13 million domestically. The animated family-friendly feature, based on the popular Nickelodeon kids’ show, added an estimated $21.5 million overseas, bringing its worldwide tally to $34.5 million.

Repeating at third place in its fourth week of release is Disney’s Jungle Cruise, pulling in an estimated $6.2 million.  That brings the movie’s domestic box-office total to $92.5 million to go along with an estimated $81.2 million internationally, making its worldwide earnings $173.7 million.  Jungle Cruise is also available to Disney+ subscribers for a $30 surcharge.

Don’t Breathe 2, the R-rated follow-up to the 2016 home invasion thriller, sits in fourth place, earning just over $5 million in its second week, to lift its domestic earnings to just shy of $19.7 million.  An estimated $7.5 million in overseas earnings brings its worldwide box-office total to around $27.2 million.

The Aretha Franklin biopic Respect grabbed an estimated $3.8 million in its second week of release for a $15.1 million domestic take so far.

It was a pretty disappointing weekend for this weekend’s other newcomers.  The Protege, starring Michael Keaton, Maggie Q. and Samuel L. Jackson, finished in seventh place with an estimated $2.9 million, while The Night House, starring Rebecca Hall, placed eighth with an estimated $2.86 million

Finally, Hugh Jackman‘s sci-fi thriller Reminiscence had a pretty forgettable opening weekend, delivering an estimated $2 million for a ninth-place finish.

Flag Day, directed and starring Sean Penn and co-starring his daughter, Dylan Penn, also opened to disappointing numbers, earning an estimated $40,750 from 24 theaters.

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Simone Boseman paid musical tribute to her late husband, actor Chadwick Boseman, during Saturday night’s Stand Up to Cancer telecast.

Actor Anthony Anderson introduced the Black Panther star’s widow, saying, “Many of us were devastated to learn of Chadwick Boseman’s tragic passing after he privately grappled with cancer for several years.”

“The world lost an incredible artist, and a true hero,” he continued. “But before he was a public figure, he was a person like you or me — a son, a brother, uncle, cousin, friend, colleague, husband.”

The black-ish star noted that, “Many of us are all too familiar with the fracture a dearly loved one’s passing leaves in the lives of those who love them. Here to perform a song about living with the reality of loss and finding a way forward is Chadwick’s wife, Simone.”

Simone then delivered an emotional rendition of “I’ll Be Seeing You,” the classic song written in 1938 by Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal and recorded by Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, among others.

Also taking part in the SU2C event were a number of celebrities — including Chadwick’s Marvel co-stars Danai Gurira, Chris Evans, Karen Gillan and Paul Rudd.

Reese Witherspoon and husband Jim Toth were among the hosts and executive producers of this year’s event, which raises money for cancer research programs.

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Paul Bettany was proud, and surprised, when his Marvel Cinematic Universe spin-off series WandaVision conjured up 23 Emmy nominations — including Marvel’s first ever acting nominations for him, co-star Elizabeth Olsen, and scene stealer Kathryn Hahn. 

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Bettany explained, “We always thought that we were going to be the sort of kooky cousin that was kind of niche.”

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was supposed to run on Disney+ ahead of WandaVision, he explained, but instead, Marvel Studios launched with WandaVision, an adventure couched in an homage to classic sitcoms. 

“When it all flipped, I was a little apprehensive,” Bettany admits. “But I was so heartened to see it embraced in the way that it was.”

Despite a career featuring solid performances in films like A Beautiful Mind, on which he met his wife, Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly, it was WandaVision that snagged Bettany’s first major award nomination, in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series category.

“It came as a huge surprise and a very welcome one,” the 50-year-old explained. “I was pretending not to care about it, but it turns out I did.” 

Bettany has been a part of the MCU since its inception, first voicing Tony Stark’s AI system J.A.R.V.I.S. starting in 2008’s Iron Man, before appearing as Vision in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. 

He says of WandaVision, “It’s been such a great ride. It’s been so lovely to actually have something really substantial for both Lizzie [Olsen] and I to do…” calling it, “a lovely explosion of creativity from everybody involved.”

The 73rd Emmys will be held live and in person from on Sunday, September 19 at 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS.

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC News.

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With children heading back to school and the summer holidays coming to a close, nothing sends off the season better than gathering around the campfire to roast marshmallows. However, not everyone knows how to toast a s’mores-worthy marshmallow.

Leave it to Cake Boss star Buddy Valastro, who’s toasted his fair share of the plump and fluffy confections, to reveal his secret to getting it right every time.

Speaking to ABC Audio, the celebrity chef remarked, “S’mores is like an American icon.  I mean, we’ve been doing it for over a hundred years.” Yet despite the treat being around for over a century, Valastro notes that some people still mishandle the marshmallow, which is the most important ingredient.

“People get antsy.  They want to put it right into the fire, light it on fire and then it charcoals,” he said, while making a face.

Buddy stressed that a little bit of patience goes a long way. “You got to keep it nice and high so it gets gooey inside,” he explained, noting that it’s time to bring out the chocolate and graham crackers when the marshmallow is “golden brown on the outside.”

“Then it’s got that creamy bite,” Valastro grinned.

Speaking of s’mores, the Food Network star is helping make the American staple a little more creative, by nominating the “official” fourth ingredient to the classic s’mores trio.  Valastro teamed with Jet-Puffed on a nationwide contest, where people submitted their ideas for a chance at $10,000 and a lifetime supply of marshmallows.

He’s currently judging entries on his TikTok and tells ABC Audio, “We’ve had everything from peanuts to pretzels to cream cheese… which was a little weird.”   

A winner will be announced soon.

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Marvel fans will get a chance to see Dominique Thorne before she officially stars as Riri Williams in her highly anticipated Disney+ series, Ironheart.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed to Comicbook.com that Thorne will make her MCU debut in next year’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

First created by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr., Riri was first introduced in Marvel Comics in 2016 as a 15-year-old MIT student who designs a suit of armor similar to Iron Man’s. Tony Stark takes the young inventor under his wing, and eventually gives her an Iron Man suit of her own.

However, since Robert Downey, Jr.‘s Stark is dead in the MCU, the Wakanda Forever connection would likely see Riri catch the attention of Letitia Wright‘s Princess Shuri, Wakanda’s resident tech genius, and one of the smartest people on the planet, according to the Marvel Universe.

Not only was Shuri tasked with heading up the Wakandan International Outreach Centre in Los Angeles at the end of Black Panther, but the character had toyed with her own Wakandan Iron Man-style suits, as seen in the interactive Avengers: Damage Control experience which was co-produced by Marvel Studios.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to hit theaters on July 8, 2022. Ironheart does not yet have a premiere date.

Marvel is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC News.

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While their relationship has been as stormy as the name of their first daughter, Page Six reports Kylie Jenner is pregnant with her second child with Travis Scott. 

The tabloid says the family of the 24-year-old social media superstar and entrepreneur — and mom to 3-year-old Stormi — is “thrilled” with the news. 

Incidentally, Caitlyn Jenner was thought to have spilled the beans on Thursday, according to TMZ, when she announced she was expecting her 19th grandchild, but Caitlyn was referring to the third child of son Burt Jenner and girlfriend Valerie Pitalo, the gossip site later clarified.

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Angelina Jolie has joined Instagram, and while most celebrities do so to sell products or post selfies taken in picturesque locations, the Oscar winner is using her new platform to speak for the voiceless in Afghanistan.

“I’ve come on Instagram to share their stories,” the actress and United Nations Humanitarian Special Envoy for Refugees said. 

Jolie posted a letter from a young girl living in the country, now overrun by the Taliban amid the ongoing U.S. pull-out. “We all had rights, we [were] able to defend our rights freely, but when they came, we are all afraid of them, and we think all our dreams are gone,” the hand-written note from an Afghani girl declares. 

While the Biden Administration is communicating with the Taliban and the group is taking a moderate tone on social media, the girl is skeptical of their behavior. “Some people say the Taliban’s changed, but I do not think so because they have a very bad past,” she writes in the letter Jolie posted.

“We all had rights, we [were] able to defend our rights freely, but when they came, we are all afraid of them, and we think all our dreams are gone,” she continued.

For her part, Jolie added, “I was on the border of Afghanistan two weeks before 9/11, where I met Afghan refugees who had fled the Taliban. This was twenty years ago.”

She continued, “It is sickening to watch Afghans being displaced yet again…” adding, “To spend so much time and money, to have blood shed and lives lost only to come to this, is a failure almost impossible to understand.”

Jolie concluded, “I will not turn away. I will continue to look for ways to help. And I hope you’ll join me.”

 

 

 

 

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In Free Guy, Ryan Reynolds plays Guy, and Lil Rel Howery plays his best buddy, named, well, Buddy — two plain monikers that hint at their seemingly meaningless lives: they’re actually just background characters in a video game. 

However, that revelation only comes to Guy when he dons a pair of glasses that lets him see that he and Buddy’s everyday lives — as, respectively, a bank teller and a security guard — are just cannon fodder for gamers in the real world.

That world-changing revelation doesn’t change their friendship, however, which is cemented in a moving speech Buddy gives at the movie’s climax.

“…[I]t’s always weird when you do speeches like that, you’re kind of like emotionally tied to it,” Howery said with a laugh at a recent press event. “I remember shooting it with [director] Shawn [Levy] and them…and I had to take a walk. I wasn’t like gonna tear up in front of y’all, but I was like, ‘Wow, that’s what that was.'”

He adds, “Buddy has a couple of those moments and which is what I loved about the character, is that, you know, his innocence came with how comfortable he was with his friendship…and that’s what I loved about that.”

Reynolds adds, “Rel and, I just immediately, from the moment we met, kind of clicked. I was a huge fan of his,” Ryan says before adding self-deprecatingly, “and I think we can all say he was a huge fan of [co-star] Taika [Waititi].” 

He continues, “So it was great to get out there and mess around and play and sort of form that bond and put it up on the big screen.”

Free Guy is now in theaters from 20th Century Studios, which is owned by ABC News’ parent company, Disney.

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Selena Gomez took it upon herself to school her Only Murders in the Building co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short on pop culture, especially on Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion‘s smash hit single, “WAP.”

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, the conversation came about when Short, 71, was raving about his “fabulous” young co-star.

“She was in the makeup chair…and right away I could tell within five minutes she was fabulous, funny, loose, and wanted the set to be the way we all ideally wanted,” he began. “And I think every time the three of us went back to our little holding area, and read the news from each other’s phones and laughed, and, you know, she tells Steve lyrics to ‘W.A.P.'”

His story was cut short by Gomez, 29, who chimed in with, “Why did you say W.A.P? It’s WAP.”

“Why can’t you say W.A.P?” Short asked his co-star, to which Martin, 76, replied, “Cause that’s not what they say.”

“That’s not what the kids say,” corrected Gomez.

To back up his younger co-star, Martin jokingly quipped, “That’s like calling the U.S.A., USA” — sounding out the letters like a word instead of saying each one individually.

The trio also confirmed that Gomez “certainly did” explain the meaning behind the summer smash — with Short quickly declaring that he had “known it for years.”

The interview proved just how much chemistry the three have, with the “Lose You to Love Me” singer laughing about the comedy legends, “As you can tell, I can barely keep a straight face.”

Only Murders in the Building premieres August 31 on Hulu.

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Hugh Jackman may not have had Wolverine’s signature adamantium claws in Lisa Joy‘s directorial debut, Reminiscence, but the actor admits that he did have to tap into something “broken” and primal when he took on the lead role of Nick Bannister, a private investigator of the mind, in the sci-fi thriller.

“I love the world of the film,” Jacks tells ABC Audio. “When Lisa told me about it, this idea that we’re in the near future, that feels very believable, where Miami is pretty much submerged, where it’s so hot that you have to live at night — not in the day. And playing a character like Nick that has literally been through the wars, probably suffering PTSD, like, at a high level, I found it challenging to play someone who on the surface is so closed off, but broken on the inside.”

Jackman then pauses for a moment to contemplate his character.

“Well, it sounds a bit like Wolverine in a way,” he laughs. “But it’s very different to who I am as a person, so I really enjoyed that journey.”

That journey, which Jackman also takes with co-stars Rebecca Ferguson and Thandiwe Newton, can be described as a “wild ride” into the days of future past — a theme his X-Men character could surely relate to, if not offer his insight about. Jackman says it’s that familiar theme that makes the film worth watching.

“And then, for [Nick] to have these walls stripped away, to fall in love so deeply, so quickly, then to be taken on this wild ride where he’s wondering if any of it was real… When I read it — and I hope for audiences, and for me playing it — there was never a comfortable moment,” he notes.

Reminiscence is now available in theaters and on HBO Max.

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