If you’re looking for a way to celebrate National Best Friends Day on Saturday, how about a bestie movie date?
The movie Babes, starring Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buteau, is offering BFFs a special buy one, get one ticket promotion exclusively via Atom Tickets.
The film follows two childhood best friends – Eden and Dawn, played by longtime real-life pals Glazer and Buteau, respectively – navigating their adult relationship through unexpected pregnancy, the stresses of motherhood and more.
“We wanted a hard comedy with a lot of heart; big comedy and big feelings,” Glazer, who also co-wrote the film, tells ABC Audio. “That’s my favorite kind of comedy. Comedy that’s so funny, but backed up by realness, real feelings that we experience in our day to day.”
Buteau adds, “What I love about this movie too is that it honors friendship, female friendship, friendship on a whole, of what you may or may not need from somebody to understand where they’re at in life.”
Her sci-fi film Atlas may only have managed a 20% with critics on the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, but it was a hit for Netflix in terms of viewership, and Jennifer Lopez wanted to thank fans for tuning in — and apparently hanging on with her.
In a message to fans on her OnTheJLo website, she wrote, “Hi everybody, I just found out some great news and it’s all because of YOU!! ‘ATLAS’ is #1 worldwide again this week!!! Thank you all so much!!!”
Netflix says the movie has logged 31 million views worldwide since it dropped on the streamer on May 24.
Without getting into specifics, J.Lo also intimated about the bad press that has been swirling around her lately: In addition to weathering rumors she and Ben Affleck are headed for divorce, there was the snark over Atlas‘ reviews and her decision to pull the plug on her worldwide tour.
“It may seem like there’s a lot of negativity out in the world right now…but don’t let the voices of a few drown out that there is soooo much love out there,” she wrote, before concluding with, “Thank you! thank you! Thank you!! I love you all!”
Emmy-winning Black Bird actor Paul Walter Hauser is in demand in Hollywood, recently being cast as Chris Farley in a biopic on the fallen funnyman and taking an as-yet-unknown role in Marvel Studios’ Fantastic Four.
Fans of Marvel’s “first family” are hoping for a fitting big-screen bow for the foursome, following the infamously scuttled low-budget Roger Corman movie back in 1994; a pair of financially successful but fan-drubbed movies in the early 2000s; and the franchise-killing Fantastic Four reboot in 2015.
The new film, slated for a July 25, 2025, release, has Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic; Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/the Invisible Woman; Joseph Quinn playing Johnny Storm/Human Torch; and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing.
Hauser tellsThe Hollywood Reporterof the property, “That movie has not fully been nailed just yet.”
However, he adds the previous attempts “didn’t weigh in as I was deciding whether or not to take the job.”
He also says, “I really do think the combination of the screenplay, and the department heads that are working on the film, and that classy cast of really exciting actors — some of them known for a long time, and some of them having a moment right now — [make me feel that] this movie is special, and it was something I wanted to be a part of.”
The movie’s director, WandaVision veteran Matt Shakman, previously worked with Hauser on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. “To come back together and collaborate on this movie in some capacity, it’s really exciting. I’m excited to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” the actor says.
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
Mattel Films has tapped Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind screenwriter Akiva Goldsman to bring its line of Monster High dolls to the big screen in a live-action film.
The fashion dolls that were introduced by Mattel in 2010 depict the trendy teen offspring of famous movie monsters.
Robbie Brenner, president of Mattel Films, said in an announcement, “Monster High helps fans discover the great beauty in being true to yourself and celebrates the unique sensibilities at the core of who we are as individuals.”
She added, “We’re proud to partner with Universal Pictures and the brilliant Akiva Goldsman to usher this important message to audiences worldwide.”
For his part, Goldsman said, “I’ve been fascinated by Monster High since my daughters were obsessed with the dolls as kids. I’m thrilled to once again join forces with Robbie Brenner and our friends at Mattel to help bring this iconic property to life.”
As he referenced, the project is his second trip to the toy chest with the company: Goldsman is also producing Major Matt Mason starring Tom Hanks.
Goldsman, the producer of many projects, including the hit Paranormal Activity franchise, will produce Monster High under his Weed Road company.
With studios nervous about some high-profile summer movies like Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and If failing to bring people to theaters, a new survey shows maybe it’s your fault.
That is, if you act like a jerk at the movies.
The new survey from CouponBirds published by Yahoo Movies UK says people think movie theater behavior is at an all-time low, with 86.4% saying it’s only getting worse.
Eight in 10 of the more than 1,000 people surveyed say they’ve been irritated by their fellow moviegoers, including the 17.5% of those who blamed a disrupted show on disruptive children. Nearly 16% say patrons using their cellphones during movies was their biggest gripe.
On both, recall the Swiftie takeovers when her The Eras Tour movie turned theaters into social media-documented dance clubs.
Other complaints of the moviegoing experience included pricey tickets, loudly chewing audience members and dirty theaters.
Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.
In the latest installment of their MeSsy podcast, Christina Applegate got real with her co-host, fellow actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also has multiple sclerosis, about her mental state.
The episode dropped on Tuesday, but the podcast noted it was recorded earlier in 2024.
“I don’t enjoy living. I don’t enjoy it,” Applegate admitted. “I don’t enjoy things at all.”
The former Married with Children star noted sarcastically, “It’s not like I wake up and … got things to do, places to go, people to see. All the excitement in my crip’ life.”
Instead, and partially thanks to medicine side effects, Applegate says she mostly sleeps all day.
Applegate said, “I’m kind of just, like, giving up … I’m kind of just, well, this is just it. I’m just gonna lay in bed and sleep all the time, and when my daughter needs me … I’ll do anything for her … and I’ll turn the lights off and go back to sleep.”
She continued, “I don’t enjoy living. I don’t enjoy it. I don’t enjoy things at all. … If someone is like, ‘Let’s get up and go for a walk, or let’s go and get a coffee,’ I don’t enjoy that process.”
Applegate admitted she felt “trapped” in “a real depression, where it’s kind of scaring me … a little bit because it feels really fatalistic, it feels really ‘end of.'”
Throughout, former Sopranos star Sigler tried to boost Applegate’s spirits by pointing out the love she got at a surprise appearance at the Emmy Awards in January. Sigler also revealed to Applegate that she “almost died” in 2023 after going septic following a surgical complication.
“We still have a lot to process, but … you need to give yourself a chance,” Sigler said.
Sigler said, “It is so hard to live in a disabled body but … it’s not a reason enough for you to stop living. I can’t let you give up.”
If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or by visiting 988lifeline.org. You can also contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
Emmy-winning Everybody Loves Raymond matriarch and the mom on The Middle, Patricia Heaton, has joined the cast of the second season of Paramount+’s rebooted Frasier.
According to Deadline, Heaton will play Holly, an “unpretentious” native of the city in which the show’s set, Boston. The character, who tends bar at upscale eateries and events, is “openly mocking of overly-intellectual types,” like Kelsey Grammer‘s titular Frasier.
“Holly is extraordinarily comfortable with both who and where she is in life, a quality that the always-climbing, always-reaching Frasier finds as alien as he does attractive,” the trade reports.
The project is a reunion between Grammer and Heaton: They played squabbling news anchors on the short-lived Fox sitcom Back to You, which aired for 17 episodes back in 2007.
Heaton’s last sitcom project was Carol’s Second Act, which aired from 2019 to 2020 on CBS.
As reported, Grammer’s daughter Greer will also appear in the in-production second season of Frasier, playing the daughter of Peri Gilpin‘s Roz.
CBS has tapped Utkarsh Ambudkar, one of the stars of its hit Ghosts, and former Dancing with the Stars personality Julianne Hough to host The Tony Awards: Act One, its live preshow ahead of Broadway’s salute to its best.
The festivities kick off June 16 on free streamer Pluto TV starting at 6:30 p.m. ET, with the start of the 77th annual Tony Awards telecast on CBS and Paramount+ at 8 p.m. ET.
As reported, Academy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Ariana DeBose will host the Tonys live from New York City’s David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Incidentally, Hough starred in the hit Broadway play POTUS and Ambudkar, who has also appeared in the blockbuster Free Guy, made his Broadway debut in Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s Freestyle Love Supreme.
Frasier star Kelsey Grammer‘s real-life daughter Greer Grammer will be joining the cast for the reboot’s upcoming second season on Paramount+, according to Variety. The Awkward actress will play Alice, the daughter of Roz, Peri Gilpin‘s character from the original series. Alice “moves to Providence to study architecture” and is “eager to catch up with Frasier’s son, Freddy — played by Jack Cutmore-Scott — and complicate whatever romantic plans he may have.” Variety also reportsCommunity star Yvette Nicole Brown will guest star in season 2 as Monica, the sibling rival of Toks Olagundoye‘s character, Olivia. Production on season 2 is underway, but a premiere date has yet to be announced …
Deadline reports Saturday Night Live vets Kate McKinnon and Andy Samberg have been tapped to star alongside Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch in The Roses, Jay Roach‘s reimagining of the 1989 film The War of the Roses. The dark comedy centers on Theo and Ivy — played respectively by Cumberbatch and Colman — a seemingly successful couple that sees “the façade of the perfect family is a tinderbox of competition and resentments that’s ignited when Theo’s professional dreams come crashing down.” Ncuti Gatwa, Sunita Mani, Zoë Chao, Jamie Demetriou and Belinda Bromilow also star. The War of the Roses, directed by Danny DeVito and starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, grossed $160 million worldwide …
Billions and The Holdovers actor Paul Giamatti has inked a deal to star in a Hostel TV series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Per the trade, the series, which is in development and has yet to find a platform, is described by producers as an “elevated thriller” that’s also a “modern adaptation” and “reinvention” of the horror franchise that launched in 2006 and spawned two sequels …
The Umbrella Academy star Elliot Page will narrate and executive produce the feature-length documentary Second Nature, which examines myths about sexuality and gender in the animal world, according to Deadline. “Homosexual behavior in nature is one of the best kept secrets. It’s absolutely everywhere,” one of the film’s scientific experts notes in the teaser for the film. “Dolphins have homosexual sex all the time. Penguins pair bond with members of the same sex too. … Many waterfowl are very gay” …
Among the film screenings and celebrity conversations this year the festival is offering De Niro Con — a celebration honoring Tribeca co-founder Robert De Niro’s 80th birthday.
The event, which runs June 14-16, will journey through De Niro’s iconic film career through screenings, special appearances from his collaborators and immersive exhibits.
So, how does De Niro feel about being celebrated in this way?
“There’s nothing that I can see that’s wrong with it. So, you know, I’ll go with it,” De Niro told ABC Audio.
De Niro’s fellow Tribeca co-founder Jane Rosenthal laughed at his humility, before explaining the reasons behind De Niro Con.
“What do you get Robert De Niro for his 80th birthday?” Rosenthal said. “That’s kind of how everybody, our whole team, approached it. It was, ‘What can we do for Bob and [also] be completely respectful of the work?’”
Thus, De Niro Con was born. There are other new festival offerings Rosenthal is looking forward to this year, including discussions on the rise of artificial intelligence and its place in the film industry.
“I’m excited about some of the short films and conversations that we’re going to have on AI, because it, you know, it’s so new and there’s so much unknown about it,” Rosenthal said.
The film producer also said AI’s future in cinema excites her.
“I like to go into the unknown so we can all unpack it. But I think it’s quite exciting — what we can do with it. It has been around in film for a long time. We just have to work with all of the guilds and make sure that what we’re doing [is] both, ethical, you know, ethical AI, and for human good,” Rosenthal said.
