Entertainment

Ruth Ware‘s bestselling novel The Woman in Cabin 10 is being turned into a star-studded thriller for Netflix.

The streaming service has announced Keira Knightley is joining Hannah Waddingham and Guy Pearce in the project, along with The Dark Knight‘s David Ajala, The Walking Dead veteran David Morrissey, Loki‘s Gugu Mbatha-Raw and The Gentlemen series’ Kaya Scodelario, among others.

The project has Knightley playing a journalist who finds herself in the center of a whodunnit. “While on a luxury cruise for a travel assignment, a journalist witnesses a passenger tossed overboard late one night, only to be told that she must have dreamed it, as all passengers are accounted for,” Netflix teases.

“Despite not being believed by anyone onboard, she continues to look for answers, putting her own life in danger,” it concludes.

The film has no drop date yet on the streamer.

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Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal star in a brand-new trailer for Gladiator II that was released by Paramount Pictures on Monday, and it reveals a key link to Ridley Scott‘s original film.

“Whose head could I give you to satisfy your fury?” Washington’s character, Macrinus, a wealthy arms dealer, asks Mescal’s Lucius in the new trailer.

“The general will do,” Lucius responds, setting up the context for a duel between Lucius and Pascal’s character, Marcus Acacius, the general who demolished Lucius’ adopted homeland, leading to his enslavement.

“I will have my vengeance,” Lucius says.

Connie Nielsen, who plays Lucius’ mother, Lucilla, also appears in the trailer — and drops the bombshell that Russell Crowe‘s character from the 2000 epic was his father.

“Lucius, take your father’s strength. His name was Maximus, and I see him in you,” she says.

While Lucius appeared as a boy in the first film, and it was apparent Lucilla and Maximus had a relationship in the past, she never mentioned that Lucius was his son.

The action-packed trailer for Scott’s sequel also features charging rhinos, decadent Roman-era costumes, and a dramatic conversation between Macrinus and Lucius.

The film also stars Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Derek Jacobi, Tim McInnerny, Alexander Karim, Rory McCann and more.

Gladiator II arrives in theaters Nov. 22.

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On Monday, Marvel Studios dropped an action-packed teaser to its May 2025 team-up Thunderbolts*.

As reported, the movie is an unlikely collab of former Marvel Cinematic Universe bad guys: Florence Pugh‘s Yelena and her adopted dad, Alexei aka Red Guardian (David Harbour); Sebastian Stan‘s Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier; Hannah John-Kamen‘s Ava Starr/Ghost from Ant-Man and the Wasp; Olga Kurylenko‘s Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster from Black Widow; and Wyatt Russell‘s John Walker/U.S. Agent from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

The trailer begins with Yelena knocking on Alexei’s door; she says she’s been looking for purpose, and “throwing herself into work” — in her case, being a master assassin — wasn’t cutting it.

It’s a malaise apparently felt by Bucky, who seems to be working as a security minder in Washington, D.C., as well as Walker, who is shown ignoring a baby in a crib and instead reading an article about his fall from grace as the one-time replacement to Steve Rogers’ Cap.

Yelena is then seen fighting her way into a facility and finds that each of the characters were led there, as well — the gang fights each other, until a guy in a pair of medical scrubs tumbles out of a crate. With every weapon trained on him, the guy identifies himself as “Bob.” 

And then the windows of the room slam shut, and they’re trapped. 

“Someone wants us gone,” Yelena says.

Returning Marvel player Julia Louis-Dreyfus reappears as the shadowy Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who seemingly brought the “adorable” gang together. 

“We’re brought up to believe there are good guys and there are bad guys,” she says in voice-over. “But eventually you come to realize there are bad guys, and there are worse guys — and nothing else.”

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

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The Broadway League has announced it will dim its lights the night of Sept. 23 in honor of the late James Earl Jones. 

The EGOT-winning actor, who passed away at 93 years on Sept. 9, was a force on the Great White Way, in addition to his big-screen work. Now the national trade association for the Broadway industry says it will pay tribute to him on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. ET.

“James Earl Jones was a true pillar of the Broadway industry, providing unforgettable experiences to multiple generations of theatregoers — all while accumulating many well-deserved honors, awards, and achievements for his iconic performances in other entertainment fields,” said Jason Laks, interim president of The Broadway League.

“While we acknowledge and celebrate Mr. Jones’ significant legacy across multiple mediums, we are particularly proud of his legacy on Broadway, and are grateful for the many memorable performances with which he graced our stages.” 

Jones made his Broadway debut in 1957 as an understudy in The Egghead. A decade later, he won his first Tony Award for his performance in The Great White Hope.

Throughout his career, he was nominated for four Tonys and won two. In 2017 he was honored with a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. Jones last appeared on the stage in 2016’s The Gin Game.

Additionally, on Sept. 12, 2022, New York City’s Cort Theatre was renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in his honor.

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Ahead of the release of its creepy new serial killer series Grotesquerie, FX is conducting a symphony — of screams — and it wants you to participate. 

The network had already popped up booths in New York, Nashville and Los Angeles, which let horror fans have their screams recorded, and now it’s opening up the creepy collection process to social media.

The network’s “call-to-scream” campaign can be found on Instagram and TikTok with #SymphonyOfScreams and #GrotesquerieFX, where you can get the chance to join in.

The harvested howls will be compiled into “a horrific work of art” composed by producer Blake Slatkin.

Starring Niecy Nash-Betts and Courtney B. Vance, Ryan Murphy‘s 10-episode Grotesquerie premieres Sept. 25 at 10 p.m. ET on FX and streams next day on Hulu.

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James Cameron is shedding a little more light on his upgrade to the Terminator franchise, which he launched as an upstart director with his smash 1984 original. 

To Empire magazine, Cameron says you shouldn’t expect to see a retread of the same characters and canon. 

“This is the moment when you jettison everything that is specific to the last 40 years of Terminator,” he says, “but you live by those principles.” So it seems like we’re not going to be seeing a now-77-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger as the old reliable cyborg, the T-800; Linda Hamilton has said the underperforming Terminator: Dark Fate would be her last go as humanity’s savior Sarah Connor.

Cameron continues of the old canon, “You get too inside it, and then you lose a new audience because the new audience care much less about that stuff than you think they do. That’s the danger … but I think we’ve proven that we have something for new audiences.”

That said, as real-life technology has grown exponentially since the 1984 original — and indeed its “far future,” 2029, is now just a few of years away — Cameron says an update is in order, though certain themes persist. 

“You’ve got powerless main characters, essentially, fighting for their lives, who get no support from existing power structures, and have to circumvent them but somehow maintain a moral compass. And then you throw AI into the mix. Those principles are sound principles for storytelling today, right?”

He enthuses, “So I have no doubt that subsequent Terminator films will not only be possible, but they’ll kick a**. But this is the moment where you jettison all the specific iconography.”

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Max has canceled its Pretty Little Liars reboot after two seasons, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin starred Good Witch‘s Bailee Madison as Imogen, described as “a true survivor” and the “final girl” to uncover the mystery of “A.” Chandler Kinney and Maia Reficco also starred …

Kathryn Crosby, the actress and singer best known for her roles in films like The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Anatomy of a Murder, died Sept. 20 of natural causes at her home in Hillsborough, California, a representative for the Crosby family announced, according to Variety.  Crosby, the widow of singer/actor Bing Crosby, was 90. Kathryn was also a frequent guest on her husband’s Merrie Olde Christmas specials. Bing Crosby died in 1977 at the age of 74 …

When Hope Calls has gotten a season 2 pickup at Great American Country, according to Parade. Season 2 launched with a two-part Christmas special called When Hope Calls: A Country Christmas back in 2021, but since then its fate had been up in the air. The When Calls the Heart spinoff follows the lives of two sisters, Lillian and Grace –played respectively by Morgan Kohan and Jocelyn Hudon –separated as children following the death of their parents and reunited as adults.  When Hope Calls originally aired on the Hallmark Channel before moving to GAC …

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice topped the domestic box office for the third straight week, earning an estimated $26 million and bringing its total up to $226 million. The sequel added an estimated $17.2 million overseas for a global tally of $300 million.

Right behind Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was Transformers One, opening in second place with an estimated $25 million — below its targeted $30-$40 million. Internationally, the animated film, with a voice cast that includes Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Hamm and Keegan-Michael Key, collected an estimated $14 million, for a $39 million global haul.

Speak No Evil took third place with an estimated $5.9 million second week haul, bringing its North American total to $21.4 million. The black comedy grabbed an estimated $7.3 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $42 million.

The Halle Berry-led horror film Never Let Go debuted with an estimated $4.5 million at the domestic box office for a fourth place finish.

Deadpool & Wolverine rounded out the top five, adding an estimated $3.9 million to bring its domestic haul to $627 million. Globally, the film has collected $1.3 billion.

Elsewhere, The Substance, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, opened just outside the top five with an estimated $3.1 million.

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Olivia Munn and John Mulaney are welcoming their second child.

Munn posted a collection of photos on Sunday including a shot alongside Mulaney holding their newborn, Méi June Mulaney. The couple welcomed their daughter earlier this month via a surrogate.

“Méi June Mulaney came into the world September 14, 2024, the year of the dragon,” Munn wrote.

“I had so many profound emotions about not being able to carry my daughter,” she added.

The actress was diagnosed with Luminal B breast cancer in both breasts in April 2023. Munn revealed in March that she underwent a double mastectomy among other surgeries in the months following her breast cancer diagnosis. She also opened up about undergoing a hysterectomy in the wake of her cancer treatment.

“When I first met our gestational surrogate we spoke mother to mother. She showed me so much grace and understanding, I knew I had found a real-life angel,” wrote Munn.

She continued to express gratitude for the gestational surrogate who carried Munn and Mulaney’s child.

“Words cannot express my gratitude that she kept our baby safe for 9 months and made our dreams come true,” she wrote. “I am so proud of my little plum, my little dragon for making the journey to be with us. My heart has exploded.”

She ended the post with a note clarifying the pronunciation of her newborn. “Méi (pronounced may) means plum in Chinese,” she finished.

Mulaney also took to Instagram to celebrate the news writing, “We stole so much stuff from the hospital. I love my little girl so much.”

Mulaney and Munn, who wed this year, also share a son, Malcolm, who they welcomed on Nov. 24, 2021.

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Gladiator II, the sequel to Ridley Scott‘s 2000 Oscar winner, doesn’t hit theaters until Nov. 22, but the filmmaker says he’s already looking ahead to a third installment. 

As reported, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington star in the upcoming sequel, which centers on Mescal’s Lucius, who returns to Rome against his will, but with vengeance on his mind.

While promoting the picture to the French-language publication Premiere, Scott revealed, “I’m already playing with the idea of Gladiator III,” before adding, “No, seriously! I lit the fuse.”

Scott, who will be turning 87 just after the second film debuts, reveals another famous sequel inspired him to push the story further. “The ending of Gladiator II is reminiscent of The Godfather, with Michael Corleone ending up with a job he didn’t want, and wondering, ‘And now, Father, what do I do?’ So, the next [one] will be about a man who doesn’t want to be where he is.”

It’s likely in this case he’s referring to Mescal’s character as the stand-in for Al Pacino‘s Michael. However, Mescal isn’t putting the chariot before the horse: he said Scott only recently clued him in to a third film.

“I’m waiting to see what will happen, but I’m interested, of course,” the actor said. “But we must not hurry anything,” stressing it’s all up to whether a third film would serve the story.  

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