Entertainment

At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Chris Hemsworth‘s Thor steps aside as King of Asgard, leaving things in the capable hands of Tessa Thompson‘s Valkyrie. 

But with a new mirror selfie snap from Thompson’s dressing room on the set of the upcoming four-quel Thor: Love and Thunder, fans can see it’s more than her hands that are capable.

Tessa’s pic shows her in a costume similar to Thor’s Avengers-era armor: It’s sleeveless, all the better to show off the actress’ jacked arms. Thompson looks lean and mean: Her hair is long and braided, featuring a faux-hawk-style top-knot, and blue-colored tips. Aside from her upper body armor, she’s rocking leather pants and what appears to be an Asgardian-armored loincloth. 

In short, the look is pretty darned fierce. 

Incidentally, an earlier set snap spied Thompson’s photo in a makeup room for the upcoming sequel The Marvels, giving away the character’s likely appearance in that film, too, along with returning Captain Marvel co-star Lashana Lynch, recently seen in the James Bond movie No Time to Die. 

Written and directed by Thor: Ragnarok‘s Taika Waititi — with whom Thompson has been romantically linked — Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters July 8.

The movie will also star Hemsworth and his Thor series flame Natalie Portman, as well as Christian Bale, returning Ragnarok player Jeff Goldblum and Ragnarok cameo stars Matt Damon, Sam Neill and Luke Hemsworth. Chris Pratt and his Guardians of the Galaxy pals Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff and Sean Gunn will also appear, as will Russell Crowe.

The Marvels, also starring Brie Larson, is slated for a February 2023 opening.

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

A look at Valkyrie’s new suit in Thor Love and Thunder pic.twitter.com/FA1s2fBenr

— Cinematic Hub (@Cinematic_Hub) January 3, 2022

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With the 26th season of The Bachelor kicking off on ABC tonight with Clayton Echard looking for love, any fan can tell you their favorite TV guilty pleasure has its share of clichés, from contestants to catchphrases. 

With that in mind — and of course, “for the right reasons” — Express VPN dove deep into the series to pluck out some key data points. 

The analysis shows “my person” was the most-used phrase over the past 12 seasons, repeated by various contestants and would-be Bachelors 68 times. Close behind is that classic Bachelor utterance “for the right reasons,” which clocked in at 65 times.

“Head over heels” was repeated 43 times, followed by “falling for you” at 40. And although it sure seems like far more, “can I steal you?” was uttered 27 times. 

While The Bachelor has seen hopefuls who have ranged from a mortician, to a Radio City Rockette, to a self-described “free spirit” — is that even a job? — ‘teacher’ ranked as the most common occupation of the show’s contestants. ‘Realtor’ came in second, followed by ‘nurse,’ ‘model’ and ‘student’.

According to Google search data relative to population size, Minnesota has the greatest number of Bachelor fans in the country, followed by Utah and Iowa.

Also according to the analysis, there’s an average 4.8-year age difference between each season’s Bachelors and their hopefuls. Of the married heterosexual couples in the U.S. who didn’t find their spouse on a reality show, the age gap is on average 2.3 years between men and women.

The average length of a relationship from The Bachelor‘s finale was 3 months, 6 days, Express VPN’s analysis shows. The exception is Sean and Catherine from season 17; they tied the knot and remain married to this day.

Both Arie and Becca from Season 22, and Peter and Hannah from season 24 broke up after just one day. 

Here’s a list of each The Bachelor couple for the past 12 seasons, and how long their relationships lasted:

Season 14 — Jake & Vienna — Broken up after 3 months, 21 days
Season 15 — Brad & Emily — Broken up after 3 months, 15 days
Season 16 — Ben & Courtney — Broken up after 6 months 23 days
Season 17 — Sean & Catherine — Married since March 11, 2013
Season 18 — Juan & Nikki — Broken up after 7 months 18 days
Season 19 — Chris & Whitney — Broken up after 2 months, 19 days
Season 20 — Ben & Lauren — Broken up after 2 months, 1 day
Season 21 — Nick & Vanessa — Broken up after 5 months, 12 days
Season 22 — Arie & Becca — Broken up after 1 day
Season 23 — Colton & Cassie — Broken up after 2 months, 17 days
Season 24 — Peter & Hannah — Broken up after 1 day
Season 25 — Matt & Rachael — Dating since March 15, 2021

Methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

With 2021 in the record books, Heritage Auctions reveals it raked in a record of its own: $1.4 billion in sales from everything from sports memorabilia, to comic books, to one of Elton John‘s pianos. 

The 45-year-old institution revealed some of the year’s biggest sellers, including the sole best-known copy of Batman No. 1, which sold for more than $2.2 million at the start of 2021.

Not to be outdone, one of four known near-mint copies of Amazing Fantasy No. 15 — which introduced Spider-Man — sold in September for $3.6 million.

A rare first edition of J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone set a record last month for the highest price paid for any single modern novel, when the hammer fell for $471,000.

In more you’re-sure-to-be-mad-at-Mom-for-throwing-it-out news, vintage video games generated more than $26 million bucks through Heritage Auction sales in 2021, including “a magnificent sealed copy of Super Mario 64” that sold for $1,560,000 in July.

On that note, trading card games like Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering generated more than $11.6 million at auctions throughout last year — including a single, sealed “First Edition Pokémon Base Set Booster Box” that sold for $408,000. 

Heritage Auctions also revealed that more than $19.8 million in prized possessions also went under the hammer in 2021, including $4.2 million that a collection of Journey guitarist Neal Schon’s instruments fetched in the summer, and a touring piano played by Elton John for decades went for more than $915,000 in July.

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Like many Broadway productions, Mrs. Doubtfire: The Musical is being jeopardized by the Omicron variant of COVID-19. 

On the show’s Twitter, the musical’s producers noted the show that opened in December of 2021 is going on hiatus starting January 10 through March 14. 

The lights at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre are set to turn back on March 15 for the adaptation of the 1993 Robin Williams comedy, about a divorced actor who dresses up as a nanny in order to spend more time with his kids.

Ticket holders can get a refund at point of purchase, or exchange their tickets for a future date when the musical gets back on its feet.

Between positive test results — even among headliners like Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster in The Music Man — and New York City’s child vaccine mandates cutting into audience numbers, the Great White Way has been struggling in what was to be a rebound season after 2020’s shutdowns.

Producers of Mrs. Doubtfire: The Musical are hoping the pause will give time for the worst of Omicron to pass, lest the show suffer the fate of productions including Jagged Little Pill, Diana, and Thoughts of a Colored Man, all of which were forced to close in part to increasing COVID-19 cases and falling numbers of ticket-buying tourists.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Max Julien, best known for playing Goldie, an ex-con who becomes a big-time Oakland pimp opposite Richard Pryor in the 1973 blaxploitation classic The Mack, died on New Year’s Day at Sherman Oaks Hospital, his wife of 30 years, Arabella, told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 88. The cause of death had not been determined.  The Mack has been widely praised, with Quentin Tarantino once writing, “Even including its flaws, The Mack is the best and most memorable crime picture of the whole blaxploitation genre.” Julien also wrote the screenplay for 1973’s Cleopatra Jones, starring Tamara Dobson. His other acting credits included Psych-Out, with Jack Nicholson, Getting Straight, opposite Candice Bergen, and The Mod Squad, among others…

The Kardashian-Jenners revealed the title of their new Hulu show in a teaser released on Friday. “WHEN THE COUNTDOWN TO THE NEW YEAR ENDS…THE COUNTDOWN TO THE NEW SHOW BEGINS,” read a graphic displayed over a black screen, followed by sisters Khloé, Kim and Kourtney Kardashian, along with Kendall and Kylie Jenner and their mom Kris Jenner, saying in unison, “Happy New Year, everyone.” The 15-second video closed with the series’ title, which is simply The Kardashians. According to the show’s official synopsis, “The Kardashian / Jenner family bring their exciting next chapter to Hulu in this new, intimate journey into their lives”…

Peaky Blinders rang in the new year on Saturday by dropping the official trailer for the acclaimed period drama’s sixth and final season. Cillian Murphy returns as Tommy Shelby, seeking a means for the titular Birmingham-based family to finally rest. Tom Hardy, Paul Anderson, Finn Cole, Anya Taylor-Joy and Sophie Rundle are also back, along with Stephen Graham. Co-star Helen McCrory died this past April, however the fate of her character, Aunt Polly, is not revealed in the clip. An air date also has not yet to be announced, although it has been teased for early 2022. The BBC series airs on Netflix stateside…

Music composer and producer Stephen J. Lawrence, whose credits included 1972’s Free to Be… You and Me, as well as a prolific run on Sesame Street, died on Thursday at Clara Maas Medical Center in Belleville, New Jersey, his wife Cantor Cathy Lawrence tells Variety. He was 82. Lawrence served as as musical director and co-producer on Free to Be… You and Me, and wrote the album’s title song, as well as the tracks “When We Grow Up” and “Sisters and Brothers.” Lawrence was a music director, arranger and conductor on Sesame Street for over 30 years, composing over 300 songs and scores for the program while winning three Daytime Emmy awards for outstanding achievement in music direction and composition along the way. Lawrence’s numerous other credits also include composing the score for the 1973 film Bang the Drum Slowly…

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Sony-Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home dominated the box office for the third weekend in a row, earning an estimated 52.7 million dollars to push its three-week domestic take to 609 million. That makes it the tenth-highest-grossing domestic release in history, just edging out 2018’s Incredibles 2.

Adding its $759 million from overseas earnings, Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s global tally now stands at $1.37 billion.

Sing 2, while earning an estimated $19.6 million in its second week of release, was caught in Spider-Man‘s web, settling for second place. The animated sequel has tacked on an estimated $54.9 million internationally so far, bringing its worldwide tally to $144.6 million.

Third place belonged to the prequel to the Kingsman action franchise, The King’s Man, earned an estimated $4.5 million in its second weekend. Its stateside haul now stands at $19.5 million, to go along with an estimated $28.3 million internationally, putting its global box-office total at $47.8 million.

Finishing in fourth place was the sports drama American Underdog, grabbing just short of $4.1 million in its second week of release. American Underdog, which has delivered a total of $15 million so far here in the states, has yet to open outside the U.S.

Rounding out the top five was The Matrix Resurrections, which continued to struggle, taking in an estimated $3.8 million. The fourth film in the Matrix franchise has only managed to scratch out $30.9 million after two weeks. The film had better luck overseas, where it’s pulled in $75.1 million to date.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Hollywood stars, celebrities, co-stars, admirers and even the president of the United States took to social media to bid goodbye to beloved TV icon Betty White, who passed away just weeks before her 100th birthday.  Here’s a roundup of some of those tributes:

President Biden: “Betty White brought a smile to the lips of generations of Americans. She’s a cultural icon who will be sorely missed. Jill and I are thinking of her family and all those who loved her this New Year’s Eve.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “Today, we lost a beloved TV icon. Betty White was a pioneering actress, who blessed generations of Americans with her talent and humor for 8 decades. May it be a comfort to her loved ones and many admirers that so many mourn with them during this sad time.”

Ryan Reynolds: “The world looks different now. She was great at defying expectation. She managed to grow very old and somehow, not old enough. We’ll miss you, Betty. Now you know the secret.”

Debra Messing: “Betty White. Oh noooooooo. I grew up watching and being delighted by her. She was playful and daring and smart. We all knew this day would come but it doesn’t take away the feeling of loss. A national treasure, indeed. Fly with the Angels.”

Jamie Lee Curtis: “What women WANT is to live a life like Betty White. Full of love and creativity and integrity and humor and dedication and a life of service to animals. To honor her today please make a donation to the @morrisanimalfoundation Morris Animal Foundation or any animal advocacy group! She would LOVE that. Rest easy you beautiful woman. We will carry on for you!“

Octavia Spencer: “It’s as if we’ve lost a member of our family, but even now she makes me smile.”

Henry Winkler: “Betty White : I[t] is very hard to absorb you are not here anymore.. But the memories of your deLIGHT are ..Thank you for yur humor , your warmth and your activism .. Rest now and say Hi to Bill.”

Kerry Washington: “BETTY WHITE. Oh Dear Lord. Heaven just got a new superstar to celebrate with tonight! An icon, a legend, a trailblazer, a bada**, and a ray of sunshine who gifted us creative genius, joy and laughter for 99 years. It was an absolute privilege of a lifetime to get to work with you and witness your comedy brilliance IN PERSON at the SNL 40th Anniversary. A moment I will forever treasure. Thank you for your bold and generous spirit. Rest In Peace.”

Seth Meyers: “RIP Betty White, the only SNL host I ever saw get a standing ovation at the after party. A party at which she ordered a vodka and a hotdog and stayed til the bitter end.”

LeVar Burton: “Y’all, with the passing of #BettyWhite we have lost one of the best humans ever!”

Kristen Chenoweth: “Thank you for being a friend (and so so so much more)  Rest easy, Betty.“

George Takei: “Our national treasure, Betty White, has passed just before her 100th birthday. Our Sue Ann Nivens, our beloved Rose Nylund, has joined the heavens to delight the stars with her inimitable style, humor, and charm. A great loss to us all. We shall miss her dearly.”

Ava DuVernay: “99 years here and millions of laughs left behind. Pretty fantastic.”

Cher: Watched Her on her first TV Show Life With Elizabeth When I Was 7 Yrs Old. When She Did [Sonny & Cher], I Got a Chance To Tell Her. I Was Embarrassed cause tears came to my eyes. She put her arms around me, & I Felt 7 again. Some Ppl Are Called ICONS, BETTY IS A TRUE ICON.”

Steve Martin: “In 1974, I was an obscure opening act for Linda Ronstadt at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Passing through the lobby before the show, I saw Betty White and her husband Allen Ludden waiting in line. I loved Betty White, so I went up to them: ‘I’m so honored to meet you both.’ And then I said, ‘Isn’t Linda great?’ She said, ‘We came to see you.’ I said, ‘Why?’ ‘Because we heard you were funny.’ I was elated.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Betty White, the award-winning actress and comedian famed for her roles on The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, has died at age 99, according to numerous reports.

White died fewer than three weeks before her 100th birthday, on January 17.

Best known for her television roles as the ditzy Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, White endeared herself to audiences for decades. She told People magazine in an interview published earlier this month that one of her secrets to aging gracefully has been maintaining her sense of optimism.

“I’m so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age,” she told the magazine. “It’s amazing.”

In 2013, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized White with having the longest television career for a female entertainer.

During a career that spanned more than 75 years, White received 23 Emmy nominations and won six. She also held the record as the oldest Emmy nominee overall, receiving her most recent nomination in 2012 at age 90.

Born an only child in Oak Park, Ill., Betty Marion White moved with her parents to Los Angeles at age 2. She began her career in radio, as a singer and voice actress.

Her big television break came in 1949, co-hosting a daily live variety show, Hollywood on Television. Based on one of the sketches from the show, White and two others came up with the sitcom Life with Elizabeth, in which she played the title character. The show was a huge boost for her career, and White became one of the first female producers in Hollywood.

White went on to appear in other sitcoms, late-night talk shows and daytime game shows. It was during a 1961 appearance on the game show Password that White met her third husband, the host Allen Ludden. The couple remained married for 18 years until Ludden died of stomach cancer in 1981. White never remarried. A stepmother to Ludden’s three children, White never had children of her own.

In the 1970s, White’s career got a huge boost when she was cast in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. As Sue Ann Nivens, White showed audiences a sly wit that lay behind her sweet smile. In contrast, her character on the 80s hit sitcom The Golden Girls, opposite Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur and Estelle Getty, was, as White put it, “terminally naive.”

After The Golden Girls ended in 1992, after seven seasons, White guest-starred in a number of shows, including Ally McBeal, The Ellen Show, That ’70s Show, and Malcolm in the Middle.  Her most recent roles were playing Elka Ostrovsky in the sitcom Hot in Cleveland for six seasons, and hosting the practical jokes show Betty White’s Off Their Rockers.

Her career went through another resurgence in the mid-2000s, with White appearing in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful and co-starring opposite Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds in the film comedy The Proposal. As her popularity continued to grow for new generations of fans, White became the oldest host of Saturday Night Live in 2010, at age 88, following a widespread Facebook campaign dubbed “Betty White to Host SNL (Please).”

Off-screen, White was an ardent advocate for animals and pets.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Betty White, the award-winning actress and comedian famed for her roles on The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, has died at age 99, ABC News has confirmed.

Her longtime agent and friend, Jeff Witjas, told ABC News in a statement, “Betty has had a fantastic life and career and she was one of the positive people I know. I know that she is thrilled to be reunited with her [late husband] Allen Ludden.”

Best known for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, White endeared herself to audiences for decades. She told People magazine in an interview published earlier this month that one of her secrets to aging gracefully has been maintaining her sense of optimism.

“I’m so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age,” she told the magazine. “It’s amazing.”

In 2013, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized White with having the longest television career for a female entertainer.

During a career that spanned more than 75 years, White received 23 Emmy nominations and won six. She also held the record as the oldest Emmy nominee overall, receiving her most recent nomination in 2012 at age 90.

Born an only child in Oak Park, Ill., Betty Marion White moved with her parents to Los Angeles at age 2. She began her career in radio, as a singer and voice actress.

Her big television break came in 1949, co-hosting a daily live variety show, Hollywood on Television. Based on one of the sketches from the show, White and two others came up with the sitcom Life with Elizabeth, in which she played the title character. The show was a huge boost for her career, and White became one of the first female producers in Hollywood.

White went on to appear in other sitcoms, late-night talk shows and daytime game shows. It was during a 1961 appearance on the game show Password that White met her third husband, the host Allen Ludden. The couple remained married for 18 years until Ludden died of stomach cancer in 1981. White never remarried. A stepmother to Ludden’s three children, White never had children of her own.

In the 1970s, White’s career got a huge boost when she was cast in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. As Sue Ann Nivens, White showed audiences a sly wit that lay behind her sweet smile. In contrast, her character on the 80s hit sitcom The Golden Girls, opposite Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur and Estelle Getty, was, as White put it, “terminally naive.”

After The Golden Girls ended in 1992, after seven seasons, White guest-starred in a number of shows, including Ally McBeal, The Ellen Show, That ’70s Show, and Malcolm in the Middle.  Her most recent roles were playing Elka Ostrovsky in the sitcom Hot in Cleveland for six seasons, and hosting the practical jokes show Betty White’s Off Their Rockers.

Her career went through another resurgence in the mid-2000s, with White appearing in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful and co-starring opposite Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds in the film comedy The Proposal. As her popularity continued to grow for new generations of fans, White became the oldest host of Saturday Night Live in 2010, at age 88, following a widespread Facebook campaign dubbed “Betty White to Host SNL (Please).”

Off-screen, White was an ardent advocate for animals and pets.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Queer Eye‘s sixth season kicks off Friday, when the Fab 5 heads to to Texas for what star Bobby Berk says is one of the best seasons ever.

“This season was very emotional, and I know that every season’s emotional, but this one’s more,” the interior designer explained.  “Tan cried! Tan’s never cried.  If you look back on every single episode we’ve ever done, almost 70 of them, Tan has never cried.”

Bobby said it was a jarring moment for everyone because, “All of a sudden, behind me, I start hearing this awkward, weird whimper and I look back and it’s Tan crying. And we were all taken out of the moment because we’ve never seen Tan be emotional before.”  

Bobby says the upcoming season is a fresh start for the Fab 5 because the pandemic shut down production, allowing them time to relax and reflect after churning out five seasons since 2018.

“We were very burnt out.  We were very exhausted,” Berk admits, saying he’d look back at older episodes and “see a lot of us on autopilot.”  The time off, he says, allowed everyone to “reevaluate the things that are important… And it really re-energized us to get out there and help people.”

He says season six feels like season one “because we…had our hearts back in it.” 

Food expert Antoni Porowski added, “We all really missed each other” during the production shutdown, so when everyone came back, “It was like, ‘Let’s go!'”

Aside from great stories and great heroes, Antoni adds this season sends “love to small businesses” and those deeply affected by the pandemic, as well as the “really crazy storms” that tore through Texas “just two weeks before we arrived.” 

Queer Eye premieres Friday on Netflix.

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