Stranger things have happened: Millie Bobby Brown has announced on Instagram that she’s engaged to her “partner in life” Jake Bongiovi, the 20-year-old son of Jon Bon Jovi.
To a series of sweet snaps, one of which showed off the 19-year-old Emmy-nominated Stranger Things star’s round cut engagement ring, Millie said, “I’ve loved you three summers now, honey, I want ’em all.”
For his part, Bongiovi posted other photos of the pair at the beach, captioning them, “Forever.”
Euphoria‘s Eric Dane will join Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for the fourth Bad Boys film, according to Deadline. The Grey’s Anatomy alum joins the previous cast from Bad Boys: For Life, including Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig, who are all returning for the fourth installment. Bad Boys for Life — the third installment — made more than $426 million worldwide before COVID-19 forced theaters to shut down in 2020. The Bad Boys franchise has grossed a total of $840.7 million globally. Dane will next be seen in the film National Anthem, opposite Sydney Sweeney, Halsey and Paul Walter Hauser…
Elizabeth Hubbard, the daytime soap opera star best known for her playing Lucinda Walsh in CBS’ As the World Turns from 1984 until the show’s final season in 2010, and her Emmy-winning role as Dr. Althea Davis in NBC’s The Doctors, died over the weekend at the age of 89. Her son Jeremy Bennett confirmed the news in a Facebook post on Monday. Hubbard’s other TV credits included One Life to Live, Law & Order, Hope & Faith and Life on Mars. She also appeared on the big screen in The Bell Jar, Ordinary People, Cold River and Center Stage…
Downton Abbey‘s Michelle Dockery has joined the cast of Here, Robert Zemeckis’ adaptation of Richard McGuire’s graphic novel, according to Deadline. The film, also co-starring Paul Bettany, reunites Zemeckis with his Forrest Gump cast members Eric Roth, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. Here centers on a place in New England where “love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations,” according to the outlet…
NBC announced on Monday that it has renewed all six of its Dick Wolf-produced scripted series — including Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime — for the 2023-24 season.
“I’m pleased to continue my four-decade relationship with Universal Television and NBC,” Wolf said in a statement. “All six shows being picked up again is the ultimate accolade to our incredible casts, producers and writers. I’d also like to thank our loyal fans who have kept our NBC shows on the air for what will be a cumulative 84 seasons.”
Law & Order: SVU, starring and executive produced by Mariska Hargitay, will return for its record-breaking 25th season, while the original Law & Order — which returned in 2021 after 11 years — will enter its 23rd season. Law & Order: Organized Crime, led by Chris Meloni, is back for its fourth season. SVU and Organized Crime both rank among the top 10 dramas with adults 18-49.
All three Chicago shows rank among the top 10 shows on broadcast TV this season — excluding sports — in both total viewers and adults 18-49, according to Nielsen’s seven-day ratings. Chicago PD is tied with Fox’s 911 as the top drama in the 18-49 demographic.
Wolf also executive produces CBS’ three FBI series — FBI, FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanter — which is in the middle of a two-year order that runs through next season.
HBO’s Emmy magnet drama Succession continues to score for the network. Its most recent third episode of the fourth and final season scored 2.5 million viewers, putting it 7% higher than its season debut record of 2.3 million viewers.
Weeks later, that first episode’s viewership has ballooned to 7 million viewers, as people catch up on streaming, according to HBO.
Sunday night’s installment, “Connor’s Wedding,” saw the shocking death of a main cast member. The intrigue — and, likely, the haunting prospect of being spoiled about it — propelled the show’s viewership to new heights.
If you don’t want to be spoiled about exactly who met their fate in the third episode, definitely don’t read the Variety article about it, in which director Mark Mylod says show creator Jesse Armstrong had the major death planned since season 3.
Netflix has announced it will keep the Stranger Things phenomenon going in animated form. The streaming service has just greenlighted a new animated series that’s “set within the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things universe.”
In the announcement, Matt and Ross Duffer, the sibling creators of the smash series, say, “We’ve always dreamed of an animated Stranger Things in the vein of the Saturday morning cartoons that we grew up loving, and to see this dream realized has been absolutely thrilling. We couldn’t be more blown away by what Eric Robles and his team have come up with — the scripts and artwork are incredible, and we can’t wait to share more with you! The adventure continues.”
This is the latest medium change for the hit series from Netflix, which announced last month that Stranger Things: The First Shadow will make its debut on London’s West End later this year. To be directed by Tony Award winner Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, the stage production will be set before the events of the show and show things were pretty much always amiss in Hawkins, Indiana.
Meanwhile, shooting on the fifth and final season of Stranger Things will reportedly commence in May or June of this year, with a debut sometime in 2024.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the number one movie in the world, with an opening weekend haul of more than $377 million. But co-star Jack Black had already become number one at home — when he was cast as Bowser.
“I did get some dad points. It’s true,” Black told ABC Radio, adding of sons Sammy, 16, and 14-year-old Tommy, “The boys were impressed. They’re not easily impressed. But this one, they were like, ‘Nuh uh.’ I was like, ‘Yep.’ ‘Really?’ ‘Yeah,'” he recalled with a hearty laugh. “Oh, yeah. It was good. It was a good day at Casa de Black.”
It’s easy to imagine his role in the most recent episode of The Mandalorian had that same effect at home — but Jack wasn’t allowed to spoil that when he chatted with us.
Black explained his love of the Super Mario saga goes way back. “When I was a kid, I was there for the very first Nintendo video game. Little game. You might not have heard of it: Donkey Kong. It was Mario saving the Princess from the Donkey Kong. And it was incredible. I mean, I — I was obsessed with it. I was 12 and I played the hell out of it. I must have sunk thousands of quarters into the local machine.”
Complete with an imitation of the game’s sound effects, Black recalls, “I never conquered it. It was a tough game. You had to time those jumps of the barrels perfectly.”
He adds, “I have great, great, fond memories of Nintendo. … that was like the seed, the sprout of Nintendo. And to see it grow over the decades into a whole gigantic universe, that’s pretty impressive. Unprecedented in the world of video games.”
Kim Kardashian had a different kind of update to her Instagram account on Monday: She announced she’s joining the FX anthology series American Horror Story for season 12.
ABC Audio has confirmed the news, and that season 9 vet Emma Roberts will return for this season. According to The Kardashians star’s tease, season 12’s subtitled “Delicate” — a reference to its apparent source material, Danielle Valentine‘s novel Delicate Condition.
Amazon’s description of the book, due out August 1, calls it a “gripping thriller that follows a woman convinced a sinister figure is going to great lengths to make sure her pregnancy never happens — while the men in her life refuse to believe a word she says.”
Series creator Ryan Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter, “Kim is among the biggest and brightest television stars in the world and we are thrilled to welcome her to the AHS family. Emma and I are excited about collaborating with this true force in the culture.”
Says Murphy of the season’s scribe, “Halley Feiffer has written a fun, stylish and ultimately terrifying role especially for Kim, and this season is ambitious and unlike anything we have ever done.”
According to the trade, Murphy was impressed with Kim’s acting chops during her appearance as host of Saturday Night Live back in 2021.
As director Ridley Scott prepares his sequel to his Oscar-winning film Gladiator, the original’s star seems to admit he wishes he could re-enter the arena.
In a chat with Collider, The Pope’s Exorcist star Russell Crowe, who won an Academy Award for playing Roman Army General-turned gladiatorial champion Maximus Decimis Meridias in the original film, was asked what he thought of the sequel project.
“I mean, look, the only thing that I really feel about it is slightly jealous, you know?” he admitted. “Because I was a much younger man, obviously, and it was a huge experience in my life. It’s something that changed my life, really. It changed the way people regarded me and what I do for a living, and, you know, I’ve been very lucky to be involved in lots of big movies, but the legs on that film are incredible.”
Crowe continued, “Here it is, it’s 2023, and we made that film in 1999. I guarantee you, somewhere around the world tonight, Gladiator is going to be showing on primetime TV. And you don’t always get that kind of longevity with every film you do, so, it obviously holds a special place in my heart.”
Recent Oscar nominee Paul Mescal is Ridley’s star this time around, reportedly playing a now-grown Lucius, the son of Connie Nielsen‘s Lucilla and the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix‘s murderous Emperor Commodus in the original film. In Gladiator, the character was just a boy, played by Unbreakable and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. veteran Spencer Treat Clark.
The Banshees of Inisherin‘s Barry Keoghan is apparently also circling a role in the Gladiator sequel, which is set for a November 22, 2024, release.
When Halle Berry decided to take a break with a glass of wine — and from wearing clothes — people were watching.
The Oscar winner on Saturday posted to social media a snap of herself standing on a balcony in her birthday suit, sipping from a wine glass, captioning it “I do what I want.”
The caption was short, but the picture, as they say, was worth a thousand words — and more than 268,000 likes on Twitter. On Instagram, it earned more than 661,000 likes and counting.
For the record, Halle is posed in such a way as to somewhat protect her modesty.
That said, for all the supportive comments, plenty took the 56-year-old star to task, likening the photo to Madonna‘s recent naked snaps as thirsty. One Twitter user snarked in part, “What’s wrong Halle is the girl playing the little mermaid taking all your attention???”
Still, many were all in, including one commenter who said, “How I want to spend my 50s…”
The Million Dollar Baby and Boys Don’t Cry Oscar winner took to Instagram on Sunday to announce that she has welcomed her twins.
“It wasn’t easy. But boy (and girl!) was it worth it,” the Alaska Daily actress captioned a photo of her cradling her new bundles of joy, adding, “Happy Easter! Posting from pure Heaven.”
The sweet snap shows Swank standing on a balcony in her robe, back facing the camera, as she holds her two babies, one on each side, and stares off into the sunset.
The babies, whose names have yet to be revealed, are Swank’s first children with her husband, Philip Schneider, whom she married in 2018.
Swank first announced she was expecting her twins on Good Morning America in October, saying, “I’m going to be a mom— and not just of one, but of two. I can’t believe it.”
Swank’s Sunday post garnered well-wishes from fellow celebrities, including Kate Hudson, Sharon Stone and Juliette Lewis.
“Welcome home angels,” Mariska Hargitay wrote in the comments adding a heart emoji, while Swank’s fellow Oscar winner Viola Davis added, “Aaaaahhhh!!!!! Congratulations,” and her own hearts.
