The soundtrack for the film debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 album chart, making it the all-time highest debut for a film adaptation of a stage musical.
It was blocked from the top spot by Kendrick Lamar‘s surprise album, GNX, which earned the singer his fifth consecutive #1 album.
The Wicked soundtrack also scored the top spot on Billboard‘s Top Album Sales, Soundtracks and Vinyl Albums charts.
Wicked released in theaters on Nov. 22 and became the highest-grossing movie based on a Broadway musical at the domestic box office over the Thanksgiving weekend. It stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. By Sunday, Dec. 1, the movie had earned a total of $263.1 million.
Two Saturday Night Live alums will host the final 2024 episodes of the sketch comedy series.
Chris Rock and Martin Short are set to host the Dec. 14 and Dec. 21 episodes of the show, respectively. This marks Rock’s fourth time hosting SNL, while it will be Short’s third time hosting individually. He previously also co-hosted alongside friend Steve Martin in December 2022. The pair also co-hosted along with Chevy Chase in December 1986.
Gracie Abrams will make her SNL debut as the musical guest for the Dec. 14 show, while Hozier returns to Studio 8H to be the musical guest for the show on Dec. 21.
SNL returns Dec. 7 after a three-week hiatus. Paul Mescal is hosting the episode, which will feature musical guest Shaboozey.
Nikki Garcia is speaking out after a whirlwind few months that ended with her divorce from Artem Chigvintsev.
“I’m going to try my best not to get too emotional in this episode,” Nikki said at the top of the Dec. 2 episode of The Nikki & Brie Show, her podcast with her twin sister, Brie Garcia.
Nikki went on to thank those around her — including her family, friends and fans — for “all the love and support, for the respect of privacy and space” they had shown her and her 4-year-old son, Matteo, whom she shares with Artem.
Nikki went on to say that she had “disconnected from social media, from the world” the past few months, because “I’m a mom, and my son’s protection and privacy is the most important.”
“So, I was gonna do whatever it took for that, most importantly,” she said. “So it’s been tough. It’s been really tough. I’ve been heartbroken, sad.”
The WWE Hall of Famer’s podcast return comes just over three months after Artem was arrested following an alleged domestic violence incident on Aug. 29. Nearly a month later, the Napa County District Attorney’s Office announced that he would not face criminal charges related to his arrest.
Nikki filed for divorce on Sept. 11. A representative for Nikki confirmed to ABC News in a statement on Nov. 20 that the couple had “settled their divorce and will not be going to court.”
In her podcast return Monday, Nikki spoke about the pain attached to the breakdown of her relationship. “You dream of having this family, and you have this incredible love, and it just goes the other way,” she said. “And you go from having a great love story to having a terrible one … never saw any of it coming, you know, as far as what the ending would be.”
Nikki said protecting Matteo during it all has been “the hardest part,” adding, “I didn’t know that your heart can break that many times in such a short period of time.”
It seems many Americans paired popcorn with their turkey this year.
AMC Theatres broke records during its five-day Thanksgiving holiday period, claiming its busiest Thanksgiving Day in the company’s 104-year history, based on attendance and admissions revenue.
The company also saw its busiest pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday, busiest Black Friday and busiest five-day Thanksgiving holiday period of all time. The figures are based on attendance, admissions revenue, and food and beverage revenue. It surpassed the previous Thanksgiving records, which were set in 2018.
Worldwide, 8.8 million moviegoers pilgrimaged to their local AMC to watch a movie over the long holiday weekend.
Going further, Friday, Nov. 29, was the second-highest total revenue day in all of AMC Theatres history, based on admissions revenue, and food and beverage revenue. The only thing surpassing it is the weekend of April 27, 2019, which saw the opening of Avengers: Endgame.
This year, business was drawn by the opening of Disney Animation’s Moana 2, along with the holdovers of Wicked and Gladiator II.
“This 5-day Thanksgiving period in 2024 was one for the ages. At AMC theatres in the United States and abroad, AMC welcomed more than 8 million moviegoers from Wednesday through Sunday,” AMC CEO Adam Aron said. “Apparently, movie fans decided in droves that Thanksgiving dinner is made all the better when accompanied by some delicious AMC popcorn, an ice-cold Coca-Cola, and a great film to watch as showcased on AMC’s huge silver screens.”
Wayne Northrop, the soap opera star best known for his roles as Roman Brady on Days of Our Lives and Michael Culhane on Dynasty, died on Nov. 29 at the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s Woodland Hills home in California, his publicist tells Good Morning America. He was 77. According to a statement from his wife, Lynn Herring Northrop, he had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s 6 years ago. Northrop’s other appearances include the medical soap opera Port Charles …
The North American release date for Paddington in Peru, the third installment of the CG and live-action Paddington franchise, has been switched from Jan. 17 to Feb. 14, according to Variety. This time out, Paddington — voiced by Ben Whishaw — goes on an adventure to South America after he receives “a letter from Peru telling him that his beloved Aunt Lucy — voiced by Imelda Staunton — has inexplicably gone missing from her jungle cabin at the Home for Retired Bears.” Antonio Banderas, Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer and Julie Walters also star …
Writer/director Marshall Brickman, best known for teaming up with Woody Allen on box office hits like Sleeper, Manhattan and Manhattan Murder Mystery, and winning a best screenplay Oscar for Annie Hall, died Nov. 29 in Manhattan, his daughter Sophie Brickman tells The New York Times. He was 85. Brickman’s other work includes Simon, Lovesick and The Manhattan Project …
Disney’s Moana 2 posted a heroic box office box office debut, setting a Thanksgiving weekend box office record with an estimated $221 million.
The animated adventure, featuring Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson returning as the voices of Moana and Maui, respectively, was the biggest five-day domestic opening of all time, surpassing The Super Mario Bros. Movie which had $204.6 million in 2023. Moana 2 is also the all-time biggest Thanksgiving weekend debut, beating the $125 million five-day Thanksgiving haul held by Disney’s Frozen in 2013.
Overseas, Moana 2 grabbed an estimated $165.3 million, for a global tally of $386.3 million.
Disney is the parent company of ABC News.
Meanwhile, Wicked continued its impressive box office run, earning an estimated $117.5 million over the long weekend for a second place finish. That brings its two-week North American tally to $262.4 million and $359.3 million worldwide.
It’s now the highest-grossing musical based on a Broadway musical.
Third place went to Gladiator II, delivering an estimated $44 million in its second week of release. Its two week totals currently stand at $111.2 million domestically and $320 million worldwide.
The holiday adventure Red One snagged the number four spot, adding an estimated $18.7 million, bringing its North American tally to $75 million, for a total of $148.6 million globally.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever rounded out the top five with an estimated $4.9 million over the Thanksgiving weekend. Its domestic gross now stands at $32 million and $32.1 million globally.
Judge Arun Subramanian ruled to deny bail for Sean “Diddy” Combs on Friday.
Both federal prosecutors and Combs’ attorneys submitted their final letters about whether the music mogul should be allowed out on bail on Monday.
Prosecutors argued that Combs’ attempt to influence witnesses while in jail “constitutes obstruction” of his criminal case. They also called out Combs’ “recent efforts to influence the jury pool” through a social media campaign organized by his children.
Defense attorneys said that their client’s conduct was protected free speech, meant to combat “outrageous claims about Mr. Combs” by “government agents, plaintiffs’ attorneys, and others with questionable motives.”
Subramanian had asked the parties to submit these final arguments in writing and said he would issue a written decision on bail.
Combs, who pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and prostitution charges, has offered to remain on home confinement in a three-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side with 24/7 security guards and restrictions on visitors and communications.
Last Friday, the defense called the proposed conditions “far more restrictive” than Combs faces in jail.
They included limiting phone calls to lawyers, restricting visitors other than lawyers and specific family members, keeping a visitation log, and avoiding contact with witnesses or potential witnesses.
However, federal prosecutors have said there are no conditions that can reduce Combs’ risk of tampering with witnesses or shaping the opinions of potential jurors.
They also brought up a 2016 video of Combs attacking then-girlfriend and protégé Cassie Ventura in a hotel hallway, saying that it showed the danger he could pose to women if allowed out on bail.
In court last Friday, prosecutors summarily said that Combs “cannot be trusted” to follow the rules of a pretrial release.
The Wicked promotional run has become the press tour that has spawned a thousand memes, as stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were seen constantly tearing up, full-out crying and being dramatic while talking about the film. But the star of another musical film — albeit an animated one — says people just don’t understand what it’s like to be, as she puts it, “a theater kid.”
Auli’i Cravalho, who provides the voice of the main character in Disney’s Moana and Moana 2, tells Vanity Fair, “I need people to understand what it’s like to be a theater kid. Being a theater kid is emotional. Get off my girls Ariana and Cynthia’s backs. Do you understand me?”
She continues, “You don’t know what it’s like to be working on a film for this long. The film is two hours and 40 minutes long. If you’re not crying after working with someone for that long, and you’re both theater kids and you’re singing live … I am very passionate about this.”
Auli’i says she plans to see Wicked as soon as she can.
Margot Robbie is waiting for the world to catch up on Babylon.
On a recent episode of the Talking Pictures podcast, host Ben Mankiewicz told Robbie he kept wondering, “Why don’t people like this movie?” as he watched the Damien Chazelle-directed 2022 film.
“I am still saying that,” Robbie said. “I love it.”
She elaborated, saying she doesn’t understand why the film didn’t connect with audiences.
“I know I am biased because I am very close to the project and I obviously believe in it, but I still can’t figure out why people hated it,” Robbie said. “I wonder if in 20 years people are going to be like, ‘Wait, Babylon didn’t do well at the time?’ Like when you hear that Shawshank Redemption was a failure at the time and you’re like like, ‘How is that possible?’”
Robbie also had nothing but good things to say about working with Chazelle, whom she described as thorough.
“Do you know what I loved so much about working with him? I felt like no one had really put their foot to the floor with the gas, but he wanted that all the time. He wanted more always. Even when we were prepping,” Robbie said.
How far will Moana 2 go at the box office? That’s yet to be determined, but the film has already scored a Disney Animation record.
The film earned $13.8 million at the box office on Tuesday in preview screenings, according to Variety. That makes it the largest preview sum amounted in Disney Animation’s history. It’s also the most a film has made in a pre-Thanksgiving preview, and it’s the second-best preview sum of all time for an animated movie.
To compare this to recent animated films, Inside Out 2 brought in $13 million in Thursday previews before it scored $152 million over its opening weekend, while Toy Story 4 collected $12 million in Thursday previews and scored $121 million over its first three days.
Moana 2 officially opens in theaters on Wednesday. It is estimated to earn anywhere from $135 million to $145 million over its first five days.
