Heather Locklear, Daphne Zuniga, and Laura Leighton reuniting for ‘Melrose Place’ reboot

Cast of ‘Melrose Place’ celebrating 100 episodes in 1995 — Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc

The TV nostalgia keeps on rolling: Melrose Place is reportedly becoming the next 1990s show to get a reboot.

ABC Audio has confirmed Heather Locklear, Laura Leighton and Daphne Zuniga are all on board for a new chapter of the popular nighttime soap, which was a huge hit for Fox back in the day.

CBS Studios is currently developing a reboot with the stars attached and looking for either a network partner or a streaming service to bring it to screens.

CBS’ Insatiable creator Lauren Gussis is writing the project.

The studio teases, “In the new installment, when one of their dearest friends dies suddenly, the OG residents of Melrose Place gather to honor the deceased. But the pressure cooker of a reunion soon uncovers old traumas, rekindles old romances, reignites old resentments, and reveals new secrets … throwing our characters into chaotic drama that’s reminiscent of the past, but with a much more modern perspective.”

During its run, the Beverly Hills, 90210 spinoff was a buzzy guilty pleasure for viewers — in fact, one Seinfeld episode hinged on Jerry not wanting to admit to anyone that he watched it religiously.

Locklear’s work was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama; Leighton was nominated in the supporting role category of the Globes in 1995.

A 2009 revival of the show, in which the trio guested, only lasted one season on the CW.

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“Even a wallflower can bloom” — Penelope follows her heart in ‘Bridgerton”s third season trailer

Netflix/Liam Daniels

“Dearest gentle reader: We have been apart for far too long” is how Lady Whistledown coyly starts the trailer to the third season of Netflix’s Bridgerton — fitting, as fans have been waiting to hear from her, too. 

As reported, the third season centers on Nicola Coughlan‘s Penelope — Whistledown’s secret alter-ego — finding love. 

After hearing what he said about her last season, Penelope is trying to move on from crushing on Luke Newton‘s Colin Bridgerton, but her quest for a suitable husband isn’t easy. “It seems as if every Bridgerton was born to attract notice. For some of us, the notice is very slight,” she laments. 

Complicating matters, Colin has returned from his summer abroad with “a new look and a serious sense of swagger,” Netflix says.

One of his brothers notices his now “sturdy” appearance in the trailer, thanks to one of likely many shirtless scenes for the character.

However, Colin is “disheartened to realize that Penelope, the one person who always appreciated him as he was, is giving him the cold shoulder.”

Eager to win back her friendship, “Colin offers to mentor Penelope in the ways of confidence to help her find a husband … But when his lessons start working a little too well, Colin must grapple with whether his feelings for Penelope are truly just friendly.”

There’s a role reversal afoot, with Penelope showcasing a glamorous green-gowned glow-up that catches the eye of the dashing Lord Debling (Sam Phillips).

“What more could you want?” she asks.

Through Lady Whistledown, Penelope expresses her conflict between the logical choice — Debling — or the emotional one, Colin: “What is the primary force that guides us along our paths? Is it our minds, or our hearts?”

Part 1 of Bridgerton‘s third season debuts May 16; Part 2 drops June 13.

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Kirsten Dunst reveals the one thing required for a ‘Bring It On’ reunion

ABC/Paula Lobo

Kirsten Dunst is just as surprised as you that Bring It On was a huge hit.

The actress reflected on the iconic 2000 cheerleading movie during an interview with Good Morning America on Wednesday to discuss her new film, Alex Garland‘s Civil War.

Dunst, who starred in the flick alongside Gabrielle Union, Eliza Dushku and Jesse Bradford, said she feels “very old” thinking about how the film turns 25 next year and revealed what she would require for a possible reunion.

“Of course I would!” she said when asked if she would ever don her Rancho Carne Toros uniform once more. “But it would have to be such a good script … ’cause those things can be sad sometimes if they’re not good.”

Dunst said she and her fellow cast members had no clue Bring It On would be such a big deal at the time, saying, “I was just as shocked as anyone that this was such a huge success. We really didn’t know … the effect it has on our culture.”

Dunst also reflected on growing up in front of the camera, “while making my own taste in films and discovering films.”

“I think the biggest thing for me was doing Interview with the Vampire, which was a very all-male dominated set, and then going right from that to Little Women, which was directed by a female,” she said. “I think that juxtaposition so young really informed my choices of working with a lot of females after.”

As for her advice for a long-lasting career? The Spider-Man alum said, “be selective and follow your heart.”

Dunst’s heart most recently led her to Civil War, in which she stars as a photojournalist living in a dystopian version of America gripped by a second civil war.

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In Brief: ‘Curb’ finale scores best numbers in years, and more

Variety reports Curb Your Enthusiasm scored its highest viewership of season 12 with its finale on Sunday. The last episode of the Larry David comedy drew 1.1 million viewers, based on a combination of Nielsen’s measurement of linear viewers on the HBO cable channel and Warner Bros. Discovery’s own data regarding streams on Max. The series finale also drew Curb Your Enthusiasm’s largest audience since its season 10 finale back in 2020, which hit 1.4 million viewers …

ABC announced that Jeopardy! Masters will return for its second annual tournament, running May 1 to May 22. The competition, hosted by former Jeopardy! champ Ken Jennings, will showcase the show’s six highest-ranked current contestants, including Jeopardy! Masters 2023 champion James Holzhauer, returning contestants Matt Amodio and Mattea Roach, and newcomers Yogesh Raut and Victoria Groce. The sixth and final “wildcard” contestant, chosen by Jeopardy! producers, is to be revealed at a live Inside Jeopardy! event at Hudson Yards in New York City on Friday …

Deadline reports Jurassic World‘s Daniella Pineda has been tapped to star in The Accountant 2, the sequel to the 2016 thriller, alongside Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, J.K. Simmons and Cynthia Addai-Robinson, who will reprise their roles from the original film. The sequel, per the outlet, follows Addai-Robinson’s character, Treasury Agent Marybeth Medina, who’s forced to contact Christian Wolff and his estranged but lethal brother Braz — played respectively by Affleck and Bernthal …

 

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Zoë Saldaña discusses the timely message of her latest movie, The Absence of Eden

Roadside Attractions

The subject of Zoë Saldaña’s new movie is very personal to her and her family.

The film The Absence of Eden stars Saldaña as a woman fleeing a deadly situation in Mexico for the hope of a better life across the border in the U.S. The movie, about the harsh realities of immigration, was co-written and directed by her husband, Marco Perego-Saldaña.

Zoë tells ABC Audio that she was compelled to “share the way that we are processing immigration in our home and in our lives in hopes that it continues to sort of encourage people to just talk about it.”

That conversation, adds Marco, is about humanity. “And the thing [that’s] really stuck in my head is no matter what situation you are, if you are a Syrian refugee or you are a European refugee … why we don’t grow from this experience, why we — the loop of this journey is going over and over and over. And we don’t look at each other like a human being.”

Zoë says the story she wanted to tell is also reflected in the movie’s title, explaining, “You will cross oceans … swim through rivers … run through deserts and climb walls to get to this paradise. But it’s not there. There’s an absence of that freedom. And it’s becoming more and more a utopian idea that … never materializes.”

Zoë speaks Spanish in the film, and she tells ABC Audio the opportunity to do that meant a lot to her: “It celebrates my culture.”

“I’m very proud of my heritage and my roots. But also, from a professional standpoint, I feel like I’m still able to grow and expand my craft. And sometimes defying sort of the gravity of language, for some people like myself, that has always been a goal.”

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Margot Robbie going from ‘Barbie’ to ‘Monopoly’ movie

Disney/Scott Kirkland

Margot Robbie may just be becoming a one-woman monopoly on the toys-to-movie pipeline. The Barbie star and Oscar-nominated producer of that blockbuster will be producing a film based on the board game Monopoly

Variety reports Robbie and her LuckyChap production company are teaming up with Hasbro Entertainment and Lionsgate to bring the game from the board to the big screen. 

And while it may seem like a, well, roll of the dice, pun intended, the trade points out that the Monopoly game is available in more than 100 countries and has sold nearly half a billion copies since it launched in 1935.

According to Variety, Adam Fogelson, the head of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, revealed at the CinemaCon confab in Las Vegas that Robbie’s company has “a clear point of view” on how to translate the game to the movies.

Then again, who in the world would have thought a movie based on Barbie dolls would gross more than a billion bucks and be nominated for eight Academy Awards? 

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Blumhouse and Lionsgate to collaborate on new ‘Blair Witch Project’ film

Artisan Entertainment

Horror filmmaker and producer Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions are paying it forward to a film he said was influential to his career: 1999’s The Blair Witch Project

Blumhouse and Lionsgate will collaborate on a new Blair Witch movie “as the first film in a multi-picture pact with Blumhouse reimagining horror classics from the Lionsgate library,” reads an announcement from Adam Fogelson, the head of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group

Written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, the thriller centered on a small documentary crew that disappeared in the woods of Burkittsville, Maryland, while tracking rumors of a supernatural presence. According to the film, their camera equipment was the only trace of them to be found, and thanks to a creative guerrilla marketing campaign, first audiences believed the story was true. 

The micro-budgeted “found footage” horror film went on to gross $248 million worldwide. 

In the announcement, Blum said, “I’m very grateful to Adam and the team at Lionsgate for letting us play in their sandbox. I’m a huge admirer of The Blair Witch Project, which brought the idea of found footage horror to mainstream audiences and became a true cultural phenomenon.”

He added, “I don’t think there would have been a Paranormal Activity had there not first been a Blair Witch, so this feels like a truly special opportunity and I’m excited to see where it leads.”

Blumhouse has collaborated with Universal Pictures to bring to theaters a string of horror hits, including Paranormal Activity, The Purge, Insidious, Sinister, Halloween, Five Nights at Freddy’s and M3GAN, as well as the Oscar winners Get Out and BlacKkKlansman. 

To date, Blumhouse films have grossed nearly $6 billion at the worldwide box office.

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Motion Picture Academy and ABC announce date for 2025 Oscars

ABC/AMPAS

While the 96th annual Academy Awards were just a month ago on Wednesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC are already looking forward to next year. 

The academy and ABC jointly announced that the 97th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 2, 2025, live from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, and broadcast on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.

Like this year’s event, the festivities will start at 7 p.m. ET., an hour earlier than usual.

The joint announcement also revealed that the deadline for general entry and Best Picture submissions is Thursday, November 14; voting for short lists in 10 categories will run from December 9 through December 13, and results for the short-listed projects will be announced on December 17.

Further, it explained Oscar nominations voting will start on January 8 and run through January 12, with the official nominations revealed on Friday, January 17 — later in the week than usual.

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Ryan Gosling cowboys up after fanboying over Chris Stapleton in ‘SNL’ promo

2024 NBCUniversal Media, LLC

If you’ve seen Barbie, you know Ryan Gosling can pull off a cowboy hat. Well, the big screen’s Ken takes that to another level in a new promo for his upcoming stint as host of Saturday Night Live.

The clip shows the Oscar nominee wearing a Chris Stapleton T-shirt, hesitating in front of his upcoming musical guest’s dressing room door, trying to gin up the courage to ask for an autograph or perhaps a photo “for the ‘gram.”

Eventually, he enters, only to find the Grammy winner’s well-worn cowboy hat, as Stapleton’s “White Horse” starts up. Ryan drops his sharpie and photo in shock, and approaches the coveted covering with something approximating lust.

He hesitates again, and thankfully for the Gosling stans out there, gets the courage to try it on, winking to the camera.

You can check out Ryan and his musical guest Saturday night on SNL. Maybe The Fall Guy star will finally get that autograph.

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‘People’ looking back at 50 years with famous people-packed cover

People

People is celebrating its 50th birthday, and to commemorate, it has packed the cover of its anniversary issue with a galaxy of stars: Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Viola Davis, Michael J. Fox, Dwayne Johnson, Nicole Kidman, John Legend, Matthew McConaughey, Serena Williams, Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon.

The magazine notes the cover features winners of “14 primetime Emmys, 16 Golden Globes, five Oscars, four Tonys and 14 Grammys,” as well as “three Sexiest Men Alive, two EGOTs, two humanitarian award winners, a World Champion, and a G.O.A.T.”

The cover stars also shared some exclusive thoughts about the magazine, with actor and activist Michael J. Fox calling People “this chronicler of my life, and I appreciate it.”

Barrymore echoed that sentiment, calling herself “a lifelong lover of this magazine.” Drew expressed, “At every interval that’s been symbolic in my life, there is a People cover to show for it.”

Aniston recalled the first time she appeared on the cover, in its first Friends feature. “Oh, everything was the most exciting thing on the planet. It was just magic,” she enthused.

Witherspoon remembered her first People cover story, saying, “The reporter came to my trailer, and I was so scared. I said, ‘Please don’t write anything mean about me!'” She said being on the cover the first time “was surreal — you can’t believe it’s happening.”

The issue is dedicated to “a half-century of captivating storytelling, celebrity features, and cultural snapshots that have defined generations.”

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