He ain’t afraid of no ghosts: Jason Reitman’s ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ opens today

He ain’t afraid of no ghosts: Jason Reitman’s ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ opens today
He ain’t afraid of no ghosts: Jason Reitman’s ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ opens today
Sony Pictures/Eric Charbonneau

If busting makes you feel good, then you’re in luck this weekend — Ghostbusters: Afterlife opens in theaters.

It’s directed by Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman, who directed and produced the original films, and his dad couldn’t be more proud.

Jason tells ABC Audio, “I think most parents had this dream that their child will one day want to work with them and pick up what they’ve built over their lifetime. And my father built Ghostbusters, and I think it was his dream that I would one day work in the shop behind the counter.”

The film is also about family — specifically, Egon Spengler’s — which Jason describes as “three generations of a family reckoning with itself as these young kids find a proton pack and Ecto-1. And in uncovering them, figuring out their new adventure, their legacy.”

Jason made it very clear to his dad that he wanted to make his own film, which was fine with Ivan, who encouraged him to make a Ghostbusters for a new generation.

“Anything new, my father was thrilled about,” notes Jason. “Oddly, it was when I would echo the past and lean into the nostalgia that my father’s back would get up and get uncomfortable.”

At the same time, Jason and co-writer Gil Kenan “felt this responsibility to simultaneously look forward, but also give people who have always loved this franchise another moment with characters they love [and] all the equipment…the music, the sound effects, the ghosts…that we’ve been wanting to see again.”

Father and son did have one major disagreement:

“If my father had his druthers, there’d be a lot more slime in this movie, I will say that,” Jason admits. “And I perhaps should have conceded just to make him happy.”  

 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

‘King Richard’ cast hopes to inspire others with powerful story about love and family

‘King Richard’ cast hopes to inspire others with powerful story about love and family
‘King Richard’ cast hopes to inspire others with powerful story about love and family
Warner Media

King Richard, the highly anticipated story of Venus and Serena Williams and the plan their father, Richard Williams, had to make them tennis champions hits theaters today.

The film stars Will Smith as the title character and Reinaldo Marcus Green, who directed the film, tells ABC Audio that his movie explores how Richard is a complicated man.

“Look, nobody’s perfect. But I think there is no doubt that that man loved his kids and gave a tremendous amount of time and commitment to their story and to who they are as a family,” he explained.

Venus and Serena’s mother, Oracene Williams, is played by Aunjanue Ellis and she shared the movie is a powerful story about love and family and she hopes it will inspire others. 

Recalling one of her “favorite scenes” in King Richard where “Will says to Venus that she’s not just representing her, she’s representing…all the little black girls in the world,” Ellis gets emotional and shares, “I mean, that’s the movie for me.”

It’s not all rainbows and blue skies though, viewers will also see that life wasn’t easy for the family. 

“We see that struggle play out for them early on in the film,” says Green. “Five girls living in one bedroom, five girls taking a really tiny VW bus, five girls hanging posters and picking up balls and what that’s like as a family.”

Ultimately, Green says it was important to make a story about an inspirational African-American family who loves and supports each other.

“There’s a huge generation of kids out there that need to see themselves, should see themselves, are worth it,” he declares. “And I think stories like this tell us that we’re worth it. And it’s through hard work and dedication, not through anything else.” 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ava DuVernay announces end of ‘Queen Sugar’; Halle Berry endured broken ribs in ‘Bruised’; and more

Ava DuVernay announces end of ‘Queen Sugar’; Halle Berry endured broken ribs in ‘Bruised’; and more
Ava DuVernay announces end of ‘Queen Sugar’; Halle Berry endured broken ribs in ‘Bruised’; and more
OWN

Queen Sugar creator Ava DuVernay has announced that her OWN series will end after its next season. The finale of season six aired Tuesday night.

Queen Sugar being my first series where I’ve had to consider when I’m done, I’ve had to push myself to say, ‘Do you have anything more to say that needs to be said with these characters?'” the two-time Emmy winner told Deadline. “I’m so proud of what we’ve done and I’m proud that I’m brave enough to walk away.”

In other news, Halle Berry revealed that she shot the fighting scenes in her new movie Bruised with broken ribs. In the film, which marks her directorial debut, the Oscar winner portrays MMA fighter Jackie Justice.

“I knew if I told [producers] this happened, they would shut down and I would probably lose my funding,” the 55-year-old actress told USA Today. “I took a bunch of Advil and I just acted as if it wasn’t happening.” When Halle broke her ribs while shooting John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum in 2019, production shut down for eight weeks. Bruised streams November 24 on Netflix.

Finally, former Basketball Wives star Tami Roman said Wednesday on The Real that she’s willing to allow her husband, Reggie Youngblood, to father a child with another woman.

“A baby for me right now would just not be the thing to do,” she said. “So what I offered him was an opportunity for us to take a break for a year or two and let him go find someone to have a child with. And then when he has his bab, we could get back together.”

Tami continued, “He’s an only child, and he does not have any children, so it’s really more for him than it is for me.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Teaser for ‘South Park: Post COVID’ event shows two of the ‘South Park’ kids all grown up

Teaser for ‘South Park: Post COVID’ event shows two of the ‘South Park’ kids all grown up
Teaser for ‘South Park: Post COVID’ event shows two of the ‘South Park’ kids all grown up
MTV Entertainment Studios ©2021 Paramount+. All Rights Reserved.

Paramount+ has dropped a sneak peek at South Park‘s Post Covid “exclusive event,” and there’s some time-shifting involved. 

According to the teaser, Kyle and Stan are now adults, looking back at the madness of the pandemic days. 

“What will the future hold?” a legend asks menacingly.

Kyle rings up Stan and asks him, “You remember when we were little, as friends we said we’d always be there for each other when things got bad?”

To which Stan replies, “What do you mean, what’s happened?”

South Park: Post Covid streams exclusively on Paramount+ on Thursday, November 25 — Thanksgiving Day.

(Video contains strong language)

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson “officially dating”

Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson “officially dating”
Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson “officially dating”
Rosalind O’Connor/NBC — ABC/Eric McCandless

What seemed apparent — albeit no less confusing — has “officially” come to be: Page Six says Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson are “officially dating.”

The publication had initially said a connection “sparked” between the pair when she hosted Saturday Night Live in October. 

Since then, the 41-year-old entrepreneur reality star and the 28-year-old tattooed SNL funnyman had been spotted out together in New York City — and, yes, even on Staten Island, where Davidson lives.

Page Six reports that Davidson traveled to Los Angeles on Tuesday to celebrate his birthday with Kim, and he also hung out with Kim’s momager, Kris Jenner, and Flavor Flav, who posted pics of a get-together on his Instagram.

Oh, and Kim, Pete and Kris were wearing matching outfits in one of the photos — from Kim’s SKIMS leisure line, with Davidson rocking some of Flav’s trademark neckwear.

In an accompanying caption, the hip hop legend referred to Davidson as his “adopted son,” and wrote to the birthday boy, “I never took a clock off my neck to give to someone and you will be the last person I do this for.” Flav added, “it lookz real good on you.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The end of ‘The Simpsons’? Showrunner Al Jean has the “perfect” series finale idea

The end of ‘The Simpsons’? Showrunner Al Jean has the “perfect” series finale idea
The end of ‘The Simpsons’? Showrunner Al Jean has the “perfect” series finale idea
Fox

The Simpsons is the longest-running scripted show on U.S. television, and while it’s been renewed for two more seasons, longtime showrunner and executive producer Al Jean has been thinking about the end. 

Deep breath, Simpsons fans: “Nobody’s going, ‘Let’s wrap it up,” Jean tells Digital Spy. “No one.”

That said, Jean explained setting the final episode where the first one took place, at a school Christmas pageant, would be the “perfect” capper. “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” the series’ first full-length episode, aired December 17, 1989.

“I just thought that the beautiful thing about that would be that the whole show would never have an end. It would be a loop, and you’d never go,” said Jean, explaining, “In animation, you don’t want characters to age and grow. You want them to be the same, you know, Bugs Bunny that he always was. So, I thought that would be a perfect end to the show.”

Jean says, “Fortunately, we are not tasked with coming up with an ending any time soon.”

He also allows of his ideal closer, “[I]t might be like the ‘Heisenberg principle‘, in that now that I’ve stated it, it’s less likely to happen.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The ‘Queer Eye’ folks head to Texas in new season 6 teaser

The ‘Queer Eye’ folks head to Texas in new season 6 teaser
The ‘Queer Eye’ folks head to Texas in new season 6 teaser
Netflix/Ilana Panich-Linsman

The gang from Queer Eye is coming back for its sixth season, and as a new teaser shows, they’ll be in Austin, Texas this time around. 

Tan FranceAntoni PorowskiBobby BerkKaramo Brown and Jonathan Van Ness are first all seen through a set of saloon doors, walking High Noon-style down a dirt Western street. The stars are all rocking some authentic cowboy couture — except, as one might predict, Jonathan, who rocks a black frilly skirt along with his high-heeled cowboy boots.

The teaser also revealed a premiere date: December 31.

Netflix declares, “This season, Queer Eye’s fearless ambassadors head to the Lone Star state with a home base in Austin, TX. Watch as they work their life-changing magic yet again and transform the lives of deserving Texans.”

In June, France told Bustle that the new season is “a really special one.”

“[W]e’re getting to hear what people have been up to the last year and a half and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their lives,” adding, “We have the likes of front-line workers or people who have been truly affected by the pandemic.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Lily Collins is “coming in haute” in second season trailer for ‘Emily in Paris’

Lily Collins is “coming in haute” in second season trailer for ‘Emily in Paris’
Lily Collins is “coming in haute” in second season trailer for ‘Emily in Paris’
Netflix/Stéphanie Branchu

Star and producer Lily Collins returns as the titular character in the new second-season trailer for Netflix’s Emily in Paris

This time around, she’s “looking for amour…and coming in haute,” according to the new footage of the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated series. There’s break-up sex, fashion, and, of course, travelogue-worthy shots of the City of Lights. 

The streaming service says, “Now more entrenched in her life in Paris, Emily’s getting better at navigating the city but still struggling with the idiosyncrasies of French life. After stumbling into a love triangle with her neighbor and her first real French friend, Emily is determined to focus on her work — which is getting more complicated by the day.”

Complicating her life further, is “a fellow expat” who “both infuriates and intrigues her.”

“You need to decide what you want, and not what’s gonna make everyone else happy!” advises Emily’s bestie, Mindy Chen, played by Ashley Park — and by the looks of things, it looks like Emily is taking her advice.

See how it all shakes out when the entire sophomore season of Emily in Paris drops December 22 on Netflix.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Alamo Drafthouse dedicates Lower Manhattan movie house in honor of ‘Ghostbusters’ director Ivan Reitman

Alamo Drafthouse dedicates Lower Manhattan movie house in honor of ‘Ghostbusters’ director Ivan Reitman
Alamo Drafthouse dedicates Lower Manhattan movie house in honor of ‘Ghostbusters’ director Ivan Reitman
L-R Jason, Ivan Reitman/Alamo Drafthouse

Alamo Drafthouse has honored Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 director — and Ghostbusters: Afterlife producer — Ivan Reitman by naming its Lower Manhattan theater in his honor. 

“Ivan Reitman has entertained and influenced generations of film lovers with seminal films like StripesMeatballs, and Dave,” the cinema says in its announcement, which honored Reitman for his “incalculable influence on cinema.”

That the newly-crowned Ivan Reitman Cinema is located in the Big Apple was no coincidence. “In Ghostbusters, he made hilariously wild concepts feel grounded, and cemented his entire cast — including a 112-foot-tall marshmallow man — into New York icons,” Alamo says.

Ivan Reitman was on hand Monday for the dedication of the theater in New York City’s financial district, as was his son, Jason, who directed Afterlife

Reitman, 75, said of the honor, “As a wide-eyed five-year-old breathlessly watching my first film in a packed theater of kids, I could only dream that this might be the magical path that my life would follow.”

He thanked Alamo Drafthouse for naming the theater in his honor, and for, “clearly demonstrating belief in the future of this art form by building a great movie palace — just blocks from the firehouse that the Ghostbusters occupy!”

The theater has gone all-in on the anticipated movie, which opens Friday, with a giant statue of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man perfect for selfie-taking, as well as themed menu items including an “Ectoplasmic Residue” cocktail, and that sought-after Hi-C Ecto-Cooler juice.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The infamous Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape takes center stage in new ‘Pam & Tommy’ trailer

The infamous Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape takes center stage in new ‘Pam & Tommy’ trailer
The infamous Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape takes center stage in new ‘Pam & Tommy’ trailer
J.Sciulli/WireImage

As has been reported, Lily James and Sebastian Stan became perfect doppelgängers for Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee for the Hulu film Pam & Tommy, but now the buzzy Hulu series has a new teaser.

The clip serves as something of an origin story for one of the couple’s most infamous — and intimate — escapades: their stolen sex tape. 

Seth Rogen and Parks and Recreation‘s Nick Offerman are seen scanning through a videotape that was stolen in a burglary of the stars’ Malibu home, when they strike gold: X-rated honeymoon footage of the pair.

“It’s so private,” Offerman’s Uncle Miltie says. “It’s like we’re seeing something we’re not supposed to be seeing. Which is kinda what makes it so hot.” 

The stolen footage was leaked online, prompting the Motley Crüe drummer and the Baywatch icon to sue the distributor, Internet Entertainment Group. After settling with the company, the footage was released legitimately in 1998, and made a reported $77 million in less than a year. 

Helmed by Stan’s I, Tonya director Craig GillespiePam & Tommy tracks the couple’s whirlwind romance, their quickie 1995 wedding, and their turbulent marriage, which ended in 1998, amid reports of physical abuse. 

Neither stars were involved in the making of the series, which was produced by Rogen and his longtime collaborator, Evan Goldberg.

Pam & Tommy premieres Feb. 2 on Hulu.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.