Entertainment

Thursday is May 4th, and thanks to a punny 1979 London Evening News headline and a legion of die-hard fans, it’s known the world over as “Star Wars Day.” The headline about the election of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — “May the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations” — inspired a grassroots movement for Star Wars junkies to celebrate George Lucas‘ galaxy far, far away.

May 4, 2011 marked the first organized celebration of Star Wars Day, at the Toronto Underground Cinema in Canada.

ABC News’ parent company The Walt Disney Company purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, and has officially observed the holiday since 2013, with events at Disney parks and other celebrations.

There’s also new Star Wars content on Disney+, including the second season of the animated Star Wars: Visions, and for the younglings out there, the first kid-skewing cartoon, Young Jedi Adventures.

There’s a new Simpsons crossover, too: Maggie Simpson stars in Rogue Not Quite One. 

Of course, Disney+ also has every film in the Star Wars saga, as well as the standalone films Rogue One and Solo, and more. You can also find The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the critically acclaimed Andor.

And if you must leave the house, this is the last day to see Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in theaters.

Here are the 5 highest-grossing Star Wars movies at the time of their release, according to FinanceBuzz:

• Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015) – $936,662,225
• Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017) – $620,181,382
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) – $532,177,324
• Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019) – $515,202,542
• Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) – $431,088,295

Adjusted for inflation, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) is the highest-grossing movie in the franchisee, with a take of $1.8 billion in 2023 dollars. 

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Netflix has renewed Sweet Tooth, the drama based on Jeff Lemire’s DC Comics series, for a third and final season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series, from executive producers Susan Downey and Robert Downey Jr., is set in a post-apocalyptic world and follows a hybrid deer-boy, played by Christian Convery, and a wanderer — portrayed by Nonso Anozie — as they venture through the land. Rosalind Chao and Amy Seimetz were promoted to series regulars and Cara Gee and newcomer Ayazhan Dalabayeva were added as new cast members for the final season…

The classic 1990s sci-fi series Babylon 5 is getting animated, according to original series creator J. Michael Straczynski. “BABYLON 5 ANIMATED MOVIE coming from Warner Bros. Animation & WB Home Entertainment!” Straczynski shared Wednesday on Twitter. “Classic B5: raucous, heartfelt, nonstop, a ton of fun through time and space & a love letter to the fans. Movie title, release date and other details coming one week from today.” The original Babylon 5 ran on TNT for five seasons and spawned a miniseries and five TV movies…

Strap yourself in and get comfortable for the series finale of HBO’s Succession. “It’s 90 minutes,” composer Nicholas Britell tells Variety. “It’s a huge episode — like a movie.” The episode, directed by the show’s executive producer Mark Mylod, will air Sunday, May 28. So far, season 4 has seen the death of Brian Cox‘s Waystar Royco patriarch Logan Roy, leading to Roman and Kendall — played respectively by Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong — becoming “interim” co-CEOs. Meanwhile, The company’s pending sale to Lukas Matsson — portrayed by Alexander Skarsgård — sparked a division between the Roy children…

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The wait is over for Bridgerton fans. The latest installment of the franchise, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, hits Netflix Thursday and Shonda Rhimes is shedding some light on what fans can expect. 

Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Rhimes shared that Queen Charlotte, which delves deeper into the background of how Charlotte became queen, is “very different show in terms of tone.” 

“It’s fun and it’s funny and it’s sexy and witty, but it also has serious issues that they’re dealing with and you’re watching women come in to their power, which is really the essence of the show,” she adds. 

The accomplished creator and showrunner also dished that the show will not shy away from the topic of race and, in regards to King George‘s story in the series, mental health.

“It was incredibly important to infuse the narrative with these themes mainly because the character that we’re talking about, Queen Charlotte, [we] already created a very simple backstory for her on Bridgerton,” Rhimes explained. “Their love united the countries is the explanation for the society and I really wanted to explore that part because what does that actually mean?” 

“We never really get to see the true united society, but we do get to see the effects of them starting out and trying things,” she continued. “I think it’s an important issue to discuss. It’s clearly something people are still talking about today. It’s an issue we are all living with, so I thought it was great to touch on it.”

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To The Hollywood Reporter, actress Billie Lourd lashed out at her famous relatives over her decision not to invite them to her mother, Carrie Fisher‘s, posthumous Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony Thursday. 

Fisher’s brother Todd, and half siblings Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher went public with their disappointment. Todd told TMZ the snub was “heartbreaking and shocking,” and his siblings issued a joint statement on Joely’s Instagram calling Billie’s decision “bizarre [and] misguided.”

To THR, Billie had her say, noting, “because they publicly attacked me, I have to publicly respond. The truth is I did not invite them to this ceremony. They know why.”

Carrie Fisher died on December 27, 2016; one day later, her mother, Debbie Reynolds, passed away.

Lourd, the only daughter of the Star Wars icon, continued, “Days after my mom died, her brother and her sister chose to process their grief publicly and capitalize on my mother’s death, by … selling individual books for a lot of money, with my mom and my grandmother’s deaths as the subject.”

She added, “They never consulted me or considered how this would effect [sic] our relationship. The truth of my mom’s very complicated relationship with her family is only known by me and those who were actually close to her,” calling their actions “very hurtful to me at the most difficult time in my life.”

Billie continued, “To be clear — there is no feud. We have no relationship.”

She concluded by saying, “The people who knew and loved my mom at Disney and Lucasfilm have made this star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to honor her legacy possible. This moment is about Carrie Fisher and all that she accomplished and what she meant to the world. I’m going to focus on that. May the 4th be with you.”

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John Wick: Chapter 4, the highest-grossing movie in the Keanu Reeves hitman franchise, will come home on digital streaming on May 23.

The movie will have its release on Blu-ray, 4K, and DVD on June 13.

The action epic grossed more than $402 million worldwide, and like Baba Yaga himself, the latest home video release promises to come fully loaded.

There will be featurettes on the extensive training Reeves underwent to once again play the man in black, including the movie’s climactic staircase fight in Paris as Wick tries — repeatedly — to make his date with Bill Skarsgård‘s Marquis de Gramont to face him in single combat and clear his name.

The film also stars Donnie Yen, Rina Sawayama, Shamier Anderson, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Clancy Brown and the late Lance Reddick, who passed away at 60 in March, just before the movie’s $137.5 million worldwide box office debut.

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Jamie Foxx has released his first statement since he was hospitalized for what was described by his daughter Corinne as a “medical complication” on April 12.

“Appreciate all the love!!!” began the message on the Oscar winner’s Instagram. “Feeling blessed,” the short message concluded, along with prayer hands, a heart and a fox emoji.

Celebrities were quick to throw their support behind the message, with Chris “Ludacris” Bridges offering his own prayer hands. DJ Khaled replied with the “raising hands” one, and AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys commenting, “your [sic] in my prayers day and night bro. Lets get you better and home.”

Tamar Braxton offered “Love to you my brother,” and The Purge and Marvel movie star Frank Grillo noted, “Lets go brother. You have lots to do and more people that love you. Heal up. Prayers in abundance warrior.”

Nothing is known about what landed Foxx in a Georgia hospital, which sidelined him from production on Back In Action, the Netflix action comedy in which he stars with Cameron Diaz, but previous comments from friends led to some fearing the worst.

TMZ reported Foxx’s Fox game show Beat Shazam was rolling on without him; the gossip site updated that Tuesday afternoon to say his pal Nick Cannon would be taking Foxx’s place temporarily, with Kelly Osbourne taking Corinne’s place in the DJ booth.

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With the promos tagging the Guardians of the Galaxy‘s “one last ride,” that means Bradley Cooper had to say goodbye to his beloved buttkicker, Rocket, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

The actor-director has voiced the character since the team of misfits became unlikely box office superheroes with 2014’s original film, and at its recent world premiere, he was emotional. He explained it felt like just yesterday writer-director James Gunn asked him to play the part, which he’s reprised throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “It’s been incredible,” Cooper said of his run.

The final film shows how Rocket came to be, and it isn’t pretty. Shown as a baby — and voiced in his youth by Sean Gunn, who has performed as Rocket on set since the original movie — Vol. 3 shows the animal experimentation that elevated him to the ship-piloting little warrior fans know and love. And it adds poignancy to one of his lines from the first film, “Ain’t no thing like me, ‘cept me.”

Cooper expressed, “I love Rocket a lot, and it was a real privilege to play him, to be part of the team that is Rocket. And then to do — in this last incarnation of Guardians that they really were able to focus on his story meant a lot to me to be able to help tell that.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which also stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Will Poulter, Sylvester Stallone and Chukwudi Iwuji, starts sneak previews on IMAX Wednesday, May 3, before an official opening Friday, May 5.

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

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The official trailer for Dune: Part Two has arrived.

The preview of Denis Villeneuve‘s highly anticipated sci-fi sequel begins with Timothée Chalamet‘s Paul Atreides sitting in the sand of Zendaya‘s character Chani’s desert planet Arrakis. He tells her about a world covered not by sand, but by water. “You can just dive in,” he says.

“I don’t believe you,” she replies.

“In the shadows of Arrakis lie many secrets,” warns franchise newcomer Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan. “But the darkness of them all may remain the end of House Atreides.”

She continues, “What if Paul Atreides is still alive?”

Also in the trailer are Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling and Javier Bardem, all of whom are returning as their characters from 2021’s Oscar-winning adaptation of Frank Herbert‘s sci-fi classic. Also glimpsed is Elvis Oscar nominee Austin Butler as the villainous Feyd-Rautha. 

Paul, the prince of his line, has gone native and is later shown summoning one of Arrakis’ fearsome sandworms to ride. “Don’t try to impress anyone,” Bardem’s Stilgar warns. “Be simple. Be direct. Nothing fancy.” 

To the natives’ surprise, he manages to snag one of the massive beasts with a pair of grappling hooks.

As war is at hand — and revenge is on Paul’s mind for the murder of his father — Chani tells him, “You will never lose me,” before they’re seen sharing a smooch.

The trailer ends with Chalamet’s character directly quoting Herbert’s words before a duel, “May thy knife chip and shatter.”

The film from Warner Bros. Pictures hits theaters November 3.

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(NOTE LANGUGE) A slightly hesitant Gwyneth Paltrow spilled the organic chamomile tea regarding her ex lovers Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck, and in the end, both guys scored well in the scoring department.

Paltrow’s interview on Alex Cooper‘s Call Her Daddy podcast dropped on Tuesday, and during a game of “Brad or Ben” the Oscar winner blurted out “Brad” — before realizing a series of questions was coming.

Gwyneth admitted it was “really hard” to suss out who was better in bed.

Affleck, whom she dated between 1997 and 2000, won praise for being “technically excellent” at the act. An embarrassed Paltrow added, “I can’t believe my daughter is listening to this! Am I blushing?”

Pitt, who preceded Ben, hit Gwyneth in the feels.

“Brad was like the sort of major chemistry, love of your life, kind of, at the time,” the 50-year-old said, explaining he was more romantic. Ben made her laugh the most — and was also the one she was more likely to argue with.

Both leading men were also rated good kissers, for the record.

In a subsequent game of “F***, Marry, or Kill,” Pitt scored the “eff,” while Chris Martin earned “marry.” While she wouldn’t “kill” Ben, he made the last slot by default.

Paltrow went on to marry Coldplay‘s Martin in 2003, before consciously uncoupling in 2014; the pair share Apple, 18, and son Moses, 17.

Gwyneth married producer Brad Falchuk in 2018.

Pitt married Jennifer Aniston in 2000, but divorced in 2004; he married Angelina Jolie in 2014, but they divorced in 2019.

After splitting from Jennifer Lopez in 2004, Affleck married Jennifer Garner in 2005, and had three children — daughters Violet, 17, and Seraphina, 14, and 11-year-old son Samuel — before the couple divorced in 2015; he married Lopez in 2022.

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Emma Watson hasn’t acted in a movie since 2018’s Oscar-winning Little Women, and to the Financial Times, the Harry Potter franchise veteran revealed why.

“I wasn’t very happy, if I’m being honest,” says Watson, in a feature about her family’s endeavors in the wine and spirits industry. “I think I felt a bit caged.”

She adds, “The thing I found really hard was that I had to go out and sell something that I really didn’t have very much control over … It was very difficult to have to be … the spokesperson for things where I didn’t get to be involved in the process.”

Watson explains, “I started to realize that I only wanted to stand in front of things where if someone was going to give me flak about it, I could say, in a way that didn’t make me hate myself, ‘Yes, I screwed up, it was my decision, I should have done better.'”

To that end, she’s making the foray into directing, cutting her teeth on a campaign for Prada and a music video for a famous star she won’t reveal. “People always told me I should direct and produce, even when I was on Potter,” she says. “Being a director seemed unattainable. I don’t think I had any confidence in that. I know it seems weird. I mean, I grew up on a film set.”

Watson revealed she is returning to school in September to get a master’s in creative writing at Oxford University. That said, she’s not closing the door on being in front of the camera.

“But I’m happy to sit and wait for the next right thing,” she says. “I love what I do. It’s finding a way to do it where I don’t have to … switch into robot mode anymore.”

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