Joker: Folie à Deuxis expected to top the box office this weekend, but comparisons to the original, which grossed more than $1 billion, are already haunting the sequel.
The movie, which stars Joaquin Phoenix reprising his Oscar-winning title role, has him teaming up with Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. It took in $7 million from Thursday night sneak preview showings, according to Variety.
While those are respectable numbers, the 2019 original had $13 million in the bank by Friday morning, on its way to a $96.2 million opening weekend.
Also weighing on the sequel’s box office future are reviews much weaker than its predecessor and a budget that was way higher — $200 million versus $65 million for the first one, according to the trade.
ABC News’ parent company Disney is mum so far, but Deadline says Raya and the Last Dragon director Adele Lim will be calling the shots on The Princess Diaries 3.
Lim also directed the hit R-rated road trip comedy Joy Ride, which featured four Asian leads, and wrote the blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians, which was hailed for its cultural representation.
She tells the trade, “As a diehard fan of the original Princess Diaries, I’m beyond excited to be a part of bringing the third iteration of this beloved franchise to life. We look forward to celebrating its core tenants of female power, joy and mentorship with audiences worldwide.”
The late Garry Marshall directed Anne Hathaway in both 2001’s The Princess Diaries and its hit 2004 sequel, The Princess Diaries: Royal Engagement. Hathaway played a teen who finds out she’s the heir to the throne of the fictional country Genovia.
The Valley(Bravo) Brittany Cartwright has responded to her estranged husband’s errors in his response to her divorce filing. On Wednesday, Jax Taylor submitted a response to the petition to divorce without help from legal advisers. The handwritten document included the incorrect statement that the pair were not legally married and included an incorrect timeline of their relationship. “We are legally married,” Cartwright commented under a post from E! News. “I’m guessing paperwork is hard for some people.”
Finding Mr. Christmas(Hallmark+) It’s not Christmastime without a Hallmark movie marathon. You can’t have one of those films without a hunky leading man, and now Hallmark is launching its first-ever reality competition series centered around finding the perfect holiday hunk. The show, called Finding Mr. Christmas, puts 10 aspiring actors up against each other to test their acting skills and holiday spirit. Entertainment Weekly revealed the cast on Thursday. The winner of the show will nab a leading role in the upcoming Hallmark Channel film Happy Howlidays.
The Hills(MTV) Jason Wahler is about to become a father for the third time. The Hills star is expecting his third child with his wife, Ashley Wahler, he confirmed to People. The couple got married in 2013 and have two other children, a daughter, Delilah Ray, and a son, Wyatt Ragle.
Patrice: The Movie, currently streaming on Hulu, tells the story of Patrice Jetter and Garry Wickham, a disabled couple whose desire to get married is impeded by government bureaucracy.
Disabled people risk losing not only their benefits but their Medicaid if they tie the knot, or even live together, and both Patrice and Garry are fighting to see that change.
Patrice is an outspoken activist for the rights of the disabled, and she tells ABC Audio there’s a simple reason why she speaks out.
“Because what’s happening is an injustice to not just me and my friends, but an injustice to everyone with a disability all over the country,” she says. “Somebody has to be willing to not be afraid to speak up.”
While Patrice and Garry haven’t gotten married, they did celebrate their love with commitment ceremony, which Patrice says was “the happiest day of my life.”
“It was like the next best thing to getting legally married,” she shares. Garry adds, “The day was something I had completely dreamed of that I never thought would happen for me.”
The film’s director, Tom Passon, says he hopes the film brings awareness to the marriage penalty, sharing, “We’re really hoping that this film can help be that national conversation so that something can finally change after all these years.”
For Patrice, she’s hoping viewers who watch the movie will be inspired to speak out and lend their support, while Garry hopes viewers will simply realize disabled people are just like everyone else.
“We’re no different. We want the same wants, we want the same things,” he says. “And you know, we want to be able to do the same things you do, only we do them differently.”
Fans of the Netflix spin-off That ’90s Show have been asking star Kurtwood Smith when they’ll find out about a season 3, the actor said on Instagram, but he’s leaving them disappointed with news the show won’t be back.
The veteran character actor who played loveably gruff Red Forman on the show and its predecessor, That 70s Show,posted on Thursday a lengthy caption to a photo of him signing autographs for the show’s studio audience. “I have tough news,” he wrote. “Netflix will not be renewing.”
“I just want to take a minute to say THANK YOU to all of the fans everywhere who supported and watched the show. You have come up to me in random parts of the world when I’m traveling and reached out to me through social media and just been so wonderful. I’ve loved every minute of getting to bring Grandpa Red to life for you all.”
The actor continued, “[T]his show had so much heart behind it and the most wonderful cast, writers, directors, producers and crew an actor could hope to work with. Thanks for letting Red and Kitty, their grandkid, all their grandkids friends and neighbors, the original cast members of That 70’s Show and all of our wonderful guest cast members entertain you for two seasons.”
He also gave fans a glimmer of hope, noting they’ll be looking for a new home for the project.
“To steal Red Forman’s words … we aren’t going to be dumba****…we will shop the show, because good grandparents would try hard to get these kids graduated from high school.”
Incidentally, #SaveThat90sShow has sprung up, echoed by one of Smith’s first replies, from The Penguin and SpongeBob Squarepants vet Clancy Brown.
Danny Feld/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
Eva Longoria is taking a stroll down memory lane — or Wisteria Lane, actually — to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Desperate Housewives.
The actress, who played Gabrielle Solis on the ABC dramedy, took to Instagram on Thursday, Oct. 3, to mark the day the show premiered back in 2004 and express what the show means to her.
“20 years of Desperate Housewives!!” Longoria began. “I get so emotional thinking about how this show changed everything for me.”
“So many memories, so many episodes (we used to film 24 episodes a season back then!), and so many iconic outfits. Everything I know about filmmaking and TV I learned on that show,” she continued. “I’m so grateful for my forever mentor, Marc Cherry, and for the women who took me under their wing and showed me the way,” following that with a pair of heart emoji.
Longoria’s post included a photo of her and her Housewives co-stars who stayed with the show from beginning to end: Marcia Cross (Bree Van de Kamp), Brenda Strong (Mary Alice Young), Teri Hatcher (Susan Mayer) and Felicity Huffman (Lynette Scavo).
Longoria also featured behind-the-scenes photos from her time on the show as well as some of her character’s most iconic moments.
Another cast photo among the slideshow features Nicollette Sheridan, who played Edie Britt for the first five seasons.
Desperate Housewives aired for eight seasons, airing its series finale on May 13, 2012.
FX has dropped the official trailer for the sixth and final season of What We Do in the Shadows. The mockumentary series, based on Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi‘s film of the same name, follows a group of vampires — played by Kayvan Novak, Natasia Demetriou, Matt Berry and Mark Proksch — living in the New York City borough of Staten Island. What We Do in the Shadows returns Oct. 21 on FX and streams on Hulu. Disney is the parent company of FX, Hulu and ABC News …
Hulu has renewed The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives for an additional 20 epodes, according to Deadline. The series follows the “scandalous world of a group of Mormon mom influencers,” led by self-acclaimed MomTok founder Taylor Frankie Paul, which “implodes when they get caught in the midst of a swinging sex scandal that makes international headlines,” per the streaming service. The new episodes are set to launch in the spring …
Ron Hale, the actor best known for his roles on the ABC soap operas General Hospital and Ryan’s Hope, died Aug. 27 in St. George, South Carolina, according to an obituary shared by a local funeral home. He was 78. A cause of death was not listed. In addition to his television credits, Hale appeared in a number of films, including 1976’s All the President’s Men …
Sarah Paulson stars in the new thriller Hold Your Breath, which is now streaming on Hulu. Set in Oklahoma in 1933, when biblical dust storms ravaged the Midwest, the creepy film has Paulson playing a mother grieving the loss of one of her daughters, while trying to keep her two surviving daughters safe amid the apocalyptic setting.
“I love the idea of the backdrop being this part of our country’s history, this hideous storm,” Paulson tells ABC Audio.
With people desperate to keep the dust out of their lungs, they resorted to wearing masks, which draws an eerie parallel to the COVID-19 era, she agreed.
“Our writer, Karrie Crouse, had written the screenplay prior to the pandemic,” Paulson says. “It’s funny how history can repeat itself. And although this was not an airborne illness that was plaguing that part of our country during that time period, it certainly was a harrowing thing.”
As if the dust storms aren’t enough to worry about, there are rumors of a murderous drifter afoot, and those fears come to a head when a mysterious man shows up, played by The Bear‘s Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
“I would watch him read the phone book. I’d watch him walk across the street. I’d watch him do just about anything,” Paulson enthused about the actor.
“And when the filmmakers said, you know, ‘What about Ebon?’ I … just jumped out of my chair. I was like, ‘Yes, yes, yes, please. Yes!'”
She added, “And that was before I got to be on The Bear. So I got to have this experience with him first. It was so, so special.”
Fat Joe has gone from social media to Starz, where his new show, Fat Joe Talks, premieres Friday. It’s a result of manifestation, which started with The Fat Joe Show, a series that came to life on Instagram Live thanks to his daughter, Azariah.
“During COVID, my daughter … was like, ‘Dad, you should go Live,'” Fat Joe recalled, admitting he “didn’t even know what Live was.” Taking Azariah’s advice, he went online and noticed that “Michelle Obama was in the comments.” “We made it a TV show on Instagram every day,” he said. “We had anybody you could name on it, Dr. Fauci, whoever, everybody was on there.”
“We was helping people get through a tough time, and so that led to Starz being interested in us having this show, and it took four years to really happen,” Joe says.
Now that the show is ready for fans to see, he can’t believe it’s happening.
“With music and music videos or whatever, you start with an idea in your mind, and most people don’t know how to follow through and see it done,” he says. “And so to actually see that idea done is so gratifying.”
With so many talk shows and podcasts out now, Joe insists Fat Joe Talks is different than everything else.
“[Artists] put up these invisible bars that you can’t see as a fan and … [artists] got to worry about somebody asking you some trick questions or whatever. With me, they know Joe’s not jamming them,” he says. “Within the conversation, you as a fly on the wall … get to hear conversations and see incredible vibes that you would never see in any other interview.”
The controversial Western film Rust is making its world premiere at Toruń, Poland’s EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival, which runs from Nov. 16 to Nov. 23.
Almost three years ago, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was mortally wounded and director Joel Souza injured when a live bullet in the chamber of a Colt-style revolver being aimed by Alec Baldwin discharged, striking both of them.
The annual event is the most recognized festival dedicated to the art of cinematography and cinematographers, and the screening — and a follow-up Q&A panel that will include Souza — will be a tribute to Hutchins, who was born in nearby Ukraine.
Hutchins “was part of the festival family [and] Camerimage is set to honour her memory and remind the world of her legacy,” organizers say.
Also on the panel will be Bianca Cline, the cameraperson who stepped in to Hutchins’ shoes to complete the movie, as well as Stephen Lighthill, “Halyna’s mentor from her beloved film school, AFI.”
“We knew that our event was important to her, and that she felt at home among cinematographers from all over the world, who have been gathering at Camerimage for over 30 years,” says festival director Marek Zydowicz.
“During the festival, we [previously] honoured Halyna’s memory with a moment of silence and a panel of cinematographers discussed safety on set. Now, once again, together with cinematographers and film enthusiasts, we will have this special opportunity to remember her,” he concludes.
As reported, a New Mexico judge recently declined to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter case against Rust armorerHannah Gutierrez, who was responsible for the weapons and ammunition on set, and who was convicted in the fatal shooting.
The same judge, Mary Marlowe Sommer,had in July dismissed the involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin for evidence suppression.
