Entertainment

Make way for Moana 2.

Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney CEO Bob Iger have announced that a sequel to the smash-hit 2016 musical arrives in theaters on November 27.

“Moana remains an incredibly popular franchise,” Iger said, “and we can’t wait to give you more of Moana and Maui when Moana 2 comes to theaters this November.”

The sequel to the original Oscar-nominated film will focus on our favorite wayfinders on a brand new journey. According to its official description, the story picks up after Moana receives an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors. “Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced,” the description reads.

Moana 2 is directed by Dave Derrick Jr. and features music from Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, the duo who won a Grammy in 2022 for Best Musical Theater Album for The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical.

The original film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker with music by Lin-Manuel Miranda. It starred Auli’i Cravalho as Moana and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the demigod Maui.

A first-look announcement video for the sequel film was released on Wednesday. The 16-second clip shows Moana standing on the shores of her home island, Montuni, blowing into a conch shell. While there’s no official word as to whether Cravalho and Johnson will reprise their roles, you can hear Johnson’s voice exclaim a happy cheer right before the video ends.

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Robert De Niro is opening up about being a dad of seven.

The 80-year-old actor, who is People‘s February cover star, spoke to the outlet about welcoming his youngest child, 10-month-old daughter Gia, with girlfriend Tiffany Chen, 45, last year.

“She’s such an adorable baby. So sweet,” he told the magazine. “[When I] look at her, everything else goes away. So it’s a great joy and relief to just be with her in the moment.”

De Niro said his other children — up to his eldest child, daughter Drena, 56 — “all get a big kick out of” Gia.

“The grandkids even. She’s their aunt — [and] they’re about to be teenagers!” he added.

De Niro said the fact that his entire family can all come together “is everything” to him.

This awards season, the two-time Oscar winner is up for Best Supporting Actor for his role as William “King” Hale in Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon.

Of his 50-year collaboration with Scorsese, who first directed him in 1973’s Mean Streets, De Niro said he’s “lucky” to have forged that relationship.

“He allows people to do what they can do best and then he’ll direct from there,” De Niro said.

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(A previous version of this story published on February 7 referred to Joe Alwyn’s What’s App group as “The Tortured Poets Department.” It’s actually “The Tortured Man Club.” Further, Taylor Swift has not indicated that her new album was inspired by the chat group. The text below has been updated to correct the error.)

Since she apparently opened up a whole new demographic to watching football on Sundays — or at least when the Kansas City Chiefs are playing — it should be no surprise that Taylor Swift could introduce people to a drama from 1989, even accidentally.

Evidently, however, that’s the case with Dead Poets Society, the Robin Williams school drama that at one time had white prep school kids dreaming of a future in beat poetry, and young teachers hoping they could inspire their students by riffing as John Wayne.

Acclaimed for its time, and earning the late Williams an Oscar nomination, searches for how to stream the movie jumped some 1,135% after Taylor declared at Sunday’s Grammys that her new album would be called The Tortured Poets Department.

To boot, there was a 368% increase in searches for the movie itself, according to data compiled by the site NoDepositRewards.

All that, evidently, because the movie’s title kinda-sorta sounds like Taylor’s forthcoming opus.

It was close enough for the Swifties to be off to the races on Google. 

Fans believe the real inspiration for the title is apparently a riff on a no longer inside joke between Taylor’s ex Joe Alwyn and fellow actors Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott: their What’s App chat group is called The Tortured Man Club. 

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It seems if one goes on a road trip with Jason Momoa, you don’t want the ride to end.

Such is the case with Max, which just announced a second season for the Aquaman franchise star’s docuseries, On the Roam.

The news comes ahead of the first season’s final two installments dropping on Thursday, February 8.

The eight-part show follows Momoa “as he travels the country chasing art, adventure, and friendship through the lens of craftsmanship.”

For his part, the Fast X baddie — who is also the show’s executive producer — enthused that the renewal news was an “absolute honor” and a “dream come true.”

Momoa added, “I put my heart and soul into this show, and I am thrilled to dive back into the untamed beauty of On the Roam for another season – it will be an extraordinary adventure!”

Nina Rosenstein, HBO’s executive vice president of programming, said of Momoa, “His passion shines through in every episode, and the joy he gets from introducing us to these amazing artisans is infectious.”

She added, “It’s such a beautifully crafted series, and we hope that it inspires audiences to discover their own passions.”

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Star Wars, a franchise once nearly synonymous with merchandise, has taken a back seat to Barbie.

According to online search data compiled by the clothing brand Chummy Tees, Barbie merchandise has become the most-searched for stuff in the U.S., over seven times more per month than Star Wars.

The ranking of the most in-demand movie and TV merch saw Barbie on top with an average of 152,053 searches a month, according to the data.

Spider-Man-related merch was second in the movies category with 93,726 average monthly searches, followed by Harry Potter in a distant third with more than 52,422.

Fourth place went to Batman, and Star Wars rounded out the top five with 21,179.

South Park had 23,868 monthly searches, but the long-running animated series topped all other TV shows.

For all the Star Wars TV series on Disney+ — from The Mandalorian to the new Ahsoka — that galaxy far, far away didn’t even make the top 10 of most sought-after TV merch, according to these stats.

After South Park, the Adult Swim toon Rick and Morty placed second. Friends was third, followed by a surprising #4: the period drama Peaky Blinders.

Donald Glover‘s Emmy-winning series Atlanta was fifth, followed by Star Trek, Breaking Bad, The Office, Sesame Street and Game of Thrones.

Methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.

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Paramount+ announced on Wednesday that Demi Moore has joined the cast of the forthcoming Billy Bob Thornton drama Landman.

The new project from Yellowstone hitmaker Taylor Sheridan will have the Indecent Proposal star playing Cami, wife to one of the most powerful oil men in Texas and friend of Tommy Norris, played by Oscar winner and series lead Thornton.

In the announcement, a “thrilled” Chris McCarthy, the president and CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, called Moore “an iconic and extraordinary talent.”

Based on the notable 11-part podcast Boomtown, the West Texas-set Landman is “a modern-day tale of fortune seeking in the world of oil rigs,” according to the streaming service, which calls the series “an upstairs/downstairs story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a boom so big, it’s reshaping our climate, our economy and our geopolitics.”

The show also stars Sheridan show veterans James Jordan from Yellowstone and Michelle Randolph from the prequel 1923, as well as Ali Larter, Jacob Lofland, Kayla Wallace and Paulina Chávez.

Moore can currently be seen in the second season of Ryan Murphy‘s anthology series Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans, playing socialite and actress-turned-murder suspect Ann Woodward.

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ABC’s hit sitcom The Conners returns for its sixth season Wednesday night, February 7, at 8 p.m. ET.

The show has had its ups and downs, first starting as a hit reboot of Roseanne in 2018, then with a retooling of The Conners after lead Roseanne Barr was fired for an online post that was criticized as being racist.

Through it all, the audience stayed. “It’s very gratifying,” says John Goodman, who plays family patriarch Dan, to ABC Audio.

“Because … when we first started doing this, we only thought we were going to be like a little stunt for ABC and do a few shows. And then they called us back and, we kept getting more episodes,” he continues, adding, “I’ve been grateful as hell and really rather surprised by it.”

Goodman expresses with a laugh, “It’s fun because it’s always fresh. You know, what the hell are they going to do to us this week?”

Laurie Metcalf explains, “Coming off of a pandemic slash strike, it’s … fantastic to be back!”

This season, Laurie teases her character has a “very healthy relationship,” so it’s “really fun to be a little bit more grounded occasionally, not just, you know, flying here and there as crazy Aunt Jackie.”

Sara Gilbert, who stars as Darlene and is an executive producer, says this season won’t have any live performances. “I think we’re probably keeping it simple,” she says, explaining the family is the focus. “We have just awesome arcs set out and great stories this season.”

Gilbert adds that it’s “amazing that we’ve lasted this long, and I just am grateful that the audiences have stuck with us and … hopefully we don’t let them down too much.”

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Paramount Pictures has just released the trailer to A Quiet Place: Day One, starring Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o.

The third installment of John Krasinski‘s blockbuster franchise acts as a prequel, setting the clock back on the alien invasion that already had occurred according to the first two hit films.

The teaser shows the aliens — who hunt by noise — crash landing in the loudest place on earth: New York City.

Nyong’o’s character is shown walking down a crowded sidewalk with her cat when all hell breaks loose from above.

She tries hiding under a car with another victim, only to see him snatched away, and the car nearly crush her.

“This summer, discover why our world went quiet,” title cards spell out.

Later, Lupita is shown covered in ash when she makes the mistake of coughing, only to have another survivor, played by Djimon Hounsou, clasp his hand over her mouth, silencing her as the aliens stalk them.

Although it was based on an idea from the star and director of the first two installments, Krasinski passed the writing and directing baton to Michael Sarnoski, who called the shots on the acclaimed Nicolas Cage drama Pig.

The movie, which also stars Joseph Quinn of Stranger Things fame, debuts in theaters June 28.

Paramount Pictures is also inviting fans to get a special taste of the film by texting BE QUIET to 929-202-SHHH (7444).

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Ahead of its season 2 premiere, Animal Control has been renewed for a third season by Fox. The Joel McHale-led series, about a group of animal control workers, also stars Michael Rowland, Vella Lovell, Ravi Patel, Grace Palmer, Alvina August, Kelli Ogmundson and Gerry Dee. The series premiere of Animal Control marked Fox’s most-streamed debut in network history and most-streamed comedy episode ever in the network’s history, according to the network, averaging 5.2 million multiplatform viewers, including 2.6 million on Hulu …

Tyne Daly was forced to back out of her starring role in the Broadway revival of Doubt after she was unexpectedly hospitalized. “Tyne Daly was unexpectedly hospitalized on Friday and unfortunately needs to withdraw from the production while she receives medical care; she is thankfully expected to make a full recovery,” the Roundabout Theatre Company posted Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter. She’ll be replaced by Amy Ryan, who takes over the role of Sister Aloysius in the revival of the John Patrick Shanley play, which also stars Liev Schreiber and Zoe Kazan. Opening night has been postponed to March 7 — a week later than its planned February 29 debut …

AMC Networks on Tuesday announced that the critically acclaimed series Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire returns for its second season May 12 on AMC and AMC+. Further, Billions star David Costabile has joined the production as a guest star, according to the network. Meanwhile, season 2 of another Rice adaptation, Mayfair Witches, is currently filming with Fatal Attraction‘s Alyssa Jirrels cast as a season regular. A third series is also in development, based on the intriguing secret society The Talamasca, which has been featured in several of Rice’s classic novels …

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Broadway theaters will honor the memory of Tony winner Chita Rivera on February 17 by dimming their lights for one minute at 7:45 p.m. ET., The Broadway League announced on Tuesday. Rivera passed away January 30 at the age of 91.

A star of the stage and screen, Rivera racked up a total of 10 Tony nominations during her seven decades on Broadway. She won her first Tony for her role as Anna in The Rink in 1984; she earned her second Best Actress Tony in 1993 for Kiss of the Spider Woman. She was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2018.

Her other credits included originating the role of Anita in West Side Story and Velma Kelly in Chicago, as well playing Rose opposite Dick Van Dyke in Bye Bye Birdie. Her last role on Broadway was Claire in 2018’s The Visit.

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