Entertainment

Actor Michael Stuhlbarg, who starred in Dopesick and Your Honor, as well as movies like Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange, will take to the Broadway stage Monday evening as scheduled, a night after he was attacked in Central Park.

According to New York affiliate WABC-TV, the Boardwalk Empire star was walking near East Drive at East 90th Street on Sunday evening when a homeless man threw a rock that struck him in the back of the head.

Stuhlbarg, 55, chased down his alleged attacker, who was apprehended by police. Xavier Israel, 27, was charged with felony assault. Israel has three prior arrests, two for misdemeanors and one for theft, all from January 2022, according to WABC-TV.

Stuhlbarg suffered a small bruise and declined medical attention at the scene, WABC-TV reports.

The play Patriots will have its first preview performance at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, and Stuhlbarg will be there, producers said Monday. “As media outlets have reported, the actor was randomly attacked near Central Park last night,” reads a release from the production.

“The entire Patriots company fully supports Mr. Stuhlbarg, who feels fine and is looking forward to performing on stage tonight,” the message concluded.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On Monday, Paramount+ dropped a new teaser to the third season of the acclaimed Jeremy Renner-led drama Mayor of Kingstown, noting the show will return on the streamer June 2. 

Renner, who got back to work on the show as bruising local Minnesota fixer Mike McLusky not long after his miraculous recovery from a near-fatal snowplow accident, voices over the hard-hitting sneak peek. 

The snippet begins with Mike and other characters attending a funeral — likely that of Mike’s mother, Miriam, who was played by Oscar winner Dianne Weist. As reported, her character was seriously wounded in the cliff-hanger finale of the second season and subsequently news emerged that she wouldn’t be back for the show’s third installment.

“Five percent of people are truly good,” Renner narrates. “Five percent are evil. The rest of us, we wrestle between the two: Who we are, what we are, what we’re willing to do.”

Meanwhile, a title card reads “The Mayor is back in business,” and the onscreen action shows just that. 

Co-created by cast member Hugh Dillon and Yellowstone‘s Taylor Sheridan, the series also stars Emma Laird, Tobi Bamtefa and Michael Beach, among others. 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Former Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman will return to television for the first time since serving time behind bars for the “Varsity Blues” college admission scandal in the Paramount+ spinoff Criminal Minds: Evolution.

ABC Audio has confirmed the actress will guest star in the forthcoming season as Dr. Jill Gideon, “a brilliant biological psychiatrist who agrees to help the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit investigate a murderous conspiracy theory.”

Gideon has a “complicated history” with Criminal Minds star Joe Mantegna‘s David Rossi and was married to Jason Gideon, Mandy Patinkin‘s Behavioral Analysis Unit team leader for two seasons of the show, who, it was revealed, was killed during an investigation.

“Her specific skill set could help them uncover another clue to the elusive Gold Star mystery,” the tease from Paramount+ continues.

As reported, Huffman was to return in a spinoff of ABC’s The Good Doctor, but the pilot wasn’t picked up.

Huffman was one of the 33 parents, including Full House actress Lori Loughlin and her designer husband Mossimo Giannulli, who faced federal charges in the admissions scandal, pleading guilty to their involvement in 2020.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Jake Gyllenhaal-led Road House is a knockout for Prime Video, delivering an audience of 50 million people worldwide in its first two weekends on the streaming service.

The performance from the Doug Liman-directed remake made the movie AmazonMGM Studios’ most-watched produced film debut ever on a worldwide basis.

In a statement, Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, trumpeted, “The groundbreaking, successful debut of Road House is a testament to the hard work and commitment from the entire Road House filmmaking team and the film’s cast led by the phenomenal Jake Gyllenhaal.”

She added, “It’s great to see the film taking off with both fans of the iconic original as well as a huge turnout from new audiences. This incredible film is really giving everyone something to talk about, and we couldn’t be more proud!”

Two of the movie’s stars, Jessica Williams and Lukas Gage, credited Liman for the movie’s different feel. “It was really, like, intense,” Williams, who plays the roadhouse’s owner Frankie, tells ABC Audio.

“I think there was a lot of moving parts. There’s a lot of action sequences. What was really cool about Doug is that he doesn’t have, he doesn’t use any marks or lighting or anything. … So, it was really cool working with a director that just kind of let us move around in the space and really live. It doesn’t happen like that all the time.”

Gage, who plays Billy, agreed. He also joked there was “no acting required” playing a fan of Gyllenhaal’s former UFC fighter Elwood Dalton, who teaches Billy how to be a better bouncer. “Just being myself,” he laughs. “Lukas starstruck to be in a scene with Jake Gyllenhaal.” 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Walking Dead fans who were tuning into Giancarlo Esposito‘s new AMC show, Parish, on Sunday evening got a glance of an old friend: Melissa McBride‘s Carol Peletier.

The network dropped a sneak peek at the forthcoming season of its hit spinoff The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol. After an opening that sees Norman Reedus‘ Daryl continuing the fight overseas, it shows McBride’s Carol on the hunt for her old friend back in the States.

The fan-favorite has lost none of her edge: While inquiring to a group of men who could service an old motorcycle — Daryl’s bike — she spots his unmistakable crossbow in their possession.

And in true Carol form, she plays nice just long enough for the men to let their guards down, then scoops up the weapon and points it at them. “Don’t move. Keep your guns down. Where is my friend?” she asks.

AMC teases, “The new season picks up where The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon left off, following fan-favorite characters Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier. They both confront old demons while she fights to find her friend and he struggles with his decision to stay in France, causing tension at the Nest.”

The new show debuts this summer on AMC and AMC+.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ezra Miller has apparently been recast in the hit animated series Invincible. The embattled actor, whose legal troubles made headlines but didn’t prevent him from starring in the box office dud The Flash, formerly played District Attorney Sinclair on the Prime Video series. But according to The Hollywood Reporter, veteran voice over actor Eric Bauza — Warner Bros.’ official voice of Bugs Bunny — now has the part, as seen in the new season’s credits …

Following their Best Director and Best Picture wins for Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan and his producing partner wife, Emma Thomas, will receive knighthood and damehood by the U.K. government in recognition of their contribution to film. The pair, who have four children — Flora, Oliver, Rory and Magnus — run Syncopy, the company behind Oppenheimer, as well as acclaimed movies like Tenet, Dunkirk and Inception, among others …

The werewolf thriller Wolf Man, starring Poor Things‘ Christopher Abbott, has been bumped from an October 25, 2024, release to January 17, 2025, Variety says. Leigh Whannell, who directed a 2020 version of another Universal horror property, Invisible Man, wrote and directed the new thriller, about a family man trying to keep his loved ones safe from a fanged terror …

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire had a monster of an opening weekend.

Variety reports that the monster movie, a sequel to 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, is now the third-highest-grossing movie of the year after just three days of release, with a roaring $194 million worldwide box office total. In North America, it beat predictions with an impressive $80 million haul.

That puts Godzilla x Kong behind only Dune: Part Two and Kung Fu Panda 4 in the rankings of 2024’s biggest films globally. Those movies have taken in $626 million and $347 million, respectively, worldwide since their releases five and four weeks ago.

Godzilla x Kong, the fifth entry in the MonsterVerse franchise, starts Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Brian Tyree Henry and Kaylee Hottle. In it, Godzilla and Kong team up to fight a common enemy.

According to BoxOfficeMojo, another sequel with “empire” in the title, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, landed at #2 at the domestic box office with just under $16 million, followed by Dune: Part Two with just over $11 million. Kung Fu Panda 4 was #4, with just over $10 million, and the horror film Immaculate rounded out the top five with just over $3 million.

Of note, Variety reports that Christopher Nolan‘s Oscar-winning Oppenheimer finally opened in Japan, where it took in $2.5 million, coming in third at the box office in that country. The movie has now made some $965 million worldwide.

Given the film is about the man who helped create the bomb that killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens, there was a question as to whether it would ever open in Japan. Variety reports that in December a new distributor came on board after “months of thoughtful dialogue.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Chance Perdomo, one of the stars of Prime Video’s The Boys spinoff Gen V, died in a motorcycle accident Friday, his family and representatives announced Saturday.

Perdomo was 27.

“His passion for the arts and insatiable appetite for life was felt by all who knew him, and his warmth will carry on in those who he loved dearest,” his family and representatives said. “We ask to please respect the family’s wish for privacy as they mourn the loss of their beloved son and brother.”

Perdomo played the metal-bending Andre Anderson in Gen V, and the producers of the show posted to Instagram, “We can’t quite wrap our head around this.”

They added, “Chance was always charming and smiling, an enthusiastic force of nature, an incredibly talented performer, and more than anything else, just a very kind, lovely person. Even writing about him in the past tense doesn’t make sense. We are so sorry for Chance’s family, and we are grieving the loss of our friend and colleague.”

The producers added, “Hug your loved ones tonight.”

His Gen V co-star Patrick Schwarzenegger offered, “This hurts. A lot. What a young talented actor, and a great friend — gone way too soon.” He adding it “was a pleasure to work with him.”

Amazon MGM Studios and Sony Pictures Television also posted they were “devastated by the sudden passing” of the star, offering “our heartfelt thoughts and support to Chance’s family and all who loved him at this difficult time.”

In 2019, Perdomo was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for his role in Killed By My Debt, a BBC Studios production.

Perdomo’s other television roles included Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

While deals are being worked out to get the movie’s eager stars to return, Disney has hired Nisha Ganatra to direct a sequel to the 2003 hit Freaky Friday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Both Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan have expressed interest in reprising their respective mother-daughter roles in the body-swap comedy’s sequel. In the meantime, the veteran of Hulu’s Welcome to Chippendales series has gotten the tap from ABC News’ parent company, according to the trade.

That said, Curtis and Lohan have already reunited — at least in a photo on Instagram.

The Everything Everywhere Academy Award winner on Friday uploaded a selfie with Irish Wish star Lohan, along with the caption “DUH! FFDEUX!” 

If the photo was meant to light a fire under the studio to get the deals done, it was a savvy move: The post got more than 220,000 likes in a matter of hours.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Members of the movie’s A-list cast, as well as other stars, turned out for the first-ever screening of Francis Ford Coppola‘s long-gestating, mostly self-funded movie Megalopolis in Los Angeles Friday.

Deadline‘s Mike Fleming was there, noting the legendary Godfather Oscar winner’s movie played for the likes of Academy Award winners Al Pacino, Anjelica Huston and Nicolas Cage, as well as Iron Man director Jon Favreau, The Whale‘s Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky and more.

Some of the cast, including Shia LaBeouf and Coppola’s sister, Godfather and Rocky franchise star Talia Shire, were also on hand at the Universal CityWalk IMAX Theater for the event, which was designed to get studios interested in bringing the movie to theaters.

Fleming says the film — despite its epic premise, about a New York-like city rebuilding after a disaster — evidently doesn’t have an epic length, à la Killers of the Flower Moon. It runs a “remarkably brief two hours and 13 minutes, not including credits,” according to his article.

As reported, the movie’s cast also includes Oscar winners Forest Whitaker, Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman; Oscar nominees Adam Driver and Laurence Fishburne; Emmy nominee Giancarlo Esposito; Licorice Pizza‘s Isabelle Kusman; Saturday Night Live‘s Chloe Fineman; and Fast and Furious series star Nathalie Emmanuel.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.