In Brief: Nick at Nite to honor Matthew Perry with special, and more

In Brief: Nick at Nite to honor Matthew Perry with special, and more
In Brief: Nick at Nite to honor Matthew Perry with special, and more

Nick at Nite will honor the life and career of actor Matthew Perry with the special Matthew Perry: Thanks for Being a Friend on Sunday, October 29, according to Variety. The tribute special will feature never-before-seen interviews with Perry, behind-the-scenes moments from the Friends set and highlights of Perry on the hit NBC sitcom. Following the conclusion of the special, Nick at Nite will air fan-favorite episodes of Friends featuring Perry, which will continue all next week through Sunday, November 5. Perry died in his Pacific Palisades home Saturday, October 28, per law enforcement sources who spoke to ABC News. He was 54…

Timothée Chalamet will host the November 11 episode of NBC’s Saturday Night Live with Boygenius, the indie supergroup comprised of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, as the musical guest. Chalamet will next be seen in the movie Wonka, opening December 8. His other upcoming theatrical release, Dune 2, originally slated for a November 3 release, is moving to March 2024 due of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes…

Richard Moll, the actor best known for playing the imposing but kindhearted bailiff “Bull” Shannon on the NBC sitcom Night Court, died “peacefully” Thursday at his home in Big Bear Lake, California, a representative for Moll tells Entertainment Weekly He was 80. Moll’s other TV appearances included Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, Welcome Back, Kotter, The Rockford Files, Babylon 5, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, 7th Heaven, Smallville, Cold Case. On film, he played an abominable snowman opposite Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach in 1981’s Caveman, along with roles in But I’m a Cheerleader, The Flintsones, Jingle All the Way and Scary Movie 2

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‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ tops the office with scary good $78 million

‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ tops the office with scary good  million
‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ tops the office with scary good  million
Universal

Five Nights at Freddy‘s, the movie adaptation of the hit horror game, topped the domestic box office with an estimated 78 million — the biggest opening weekend for a horror title in 2023 and the second biggest for a movie based on a video game behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s $146.3 million. The film, starring Hunger Games vet Josh Hutcherson, pulled in an additional $52.6 million overseas, for a global haul of $130.6 million.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film took second place, grabbing an estimated $14 million at the North American box office, for a three-week total of $149.3 million. Worldwide, the film — which only plays on weekends — has racked up $203 million.

Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon — starring Leonardo DiCaprioRobert De NiroLily Gladstone, and Jesse Plemons — added an estimated $9 million at the domestic box office, for a two-week total of $40 million. The film has collected $88 million globally.

The faith-based documentary After Death, which explores the subject of life after death, opened with an estimated $5 million at the domestic box office.

Rounding out the top five was The Exorcist: Believer, delivering an estimated $3.1 million, for a four-week total of $59.3 million in North America and $61 million worldwide.

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‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry dies at 54

‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry dies at 54
‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry dies at 54
Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic

Friends star Matthew Perry died in his Pacific Palisades home Saturday afternoon, per law enforcement sources who spoke to ABC News. He was 54.

According to the LAPD, a call was received at 4:07 p.m. PT for a male in his 50’s who was unresponsive. The LAFD says after arriving on scene no ambulance transfer was required for a call to that street.

Los Angeles police said they are conducting a death investigation. There were no signs of foul play on scene, according to law enforcement sources. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner will determine cause of death.

The actor was known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit ensemble sitcom Friends, which ran from 1994 to 2004.

Perry also starred in the TV series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and was the co-creator and star of the sitcom Mr. Sunshine. His film career included the movies Fools Rush In, Almost Heroes and 17 Again.

He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for best actor in a miniseries or motion picture made for television for his portrayal of the titular educator in the 2006 TV film The Ron Clark Story.

Perry — the son of actor, singer, and model John Bennett Perry and Suzanne Langford, a press secretary for former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau — moved from Ottawa to Los Angeles as a teenager.

After graduating high school, he began booking roles on TV shows such as Growing Pains and 90210 before being cast at the age of 24 on Friends as the sarcastic, neurotic Chandler — skyrocketing to stardom.

In Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, a memoir published last year, Perry opened up about battling and overcoming years of drug and alcohol abuse behind the scenes.

In a 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer last year, Perry estimated that he went through detox 65 times and went to rehab 15 times and recounted nearly dying after he was hospitalized for a perforated bowel in 2018.

He said he made it his goal to help others who are struggling.

“Obviously, because I was on Friends, more people will listen to me. So I’ve got to take advantage of that, and I’ve got to help as many people as I can,” Perry said.

The Friends official Instagram account posted a tribute to Perry Saturday night, writing, “We are devastated to learn of Matthew Perry’s passing. He was a true gift to us all. Our heart goes out to his family, loved ones, and all of his fans.”

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Disney unveils first look at Rachel Zegler as Snow White, shifts film to 2025

Disney unveils first look at Rachel Zegler as Snow White, shifts film to 2025
Disney unveils first look at Rachel Zegler as Snow White, shifts film to 2025
Disney

Disney has unveiled a first look at Rachel Zegler as Snow White in the forthcoming live-action musical movie.

Along with the new image came a new release date: March 21, 2025.

The first-look photo shows the West Side Story actress in the iconic costume made famous by Disney’s classic 1937 animated film as she is surrounded by Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy and Sneezy in a picturesque cottage.

According to a synopsis from Disney, the film “invites audiences back into the magical world of Snow White with beloved songs and recognizable characters.”

Zegler previously called her casting as Snow White “a dream come true.”

The film, which is directed by Marc Webb and includes original songs from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, also stars Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.

Snow White will release in theaters March 21, 2025.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Richard Dreyfuss says ‘Jaws’ play ‘The Shark is Broken’ makes him look like “a big jerk

Richard Dreyfuss says ‘Jaws’ play ‘The Shark is Broken’ makes him look like “a big jerk
Richard Dreyfuss says ‘Jaws’ play ‘The Shark is Broken’ makes him look like “a big jerk
Dreyfuss with the cast of ‘The Shark is Broken’ – Bruce Glikas/WireImage

Broadway’s The Shark Is Broken is set behind the scenes of Jaws, but the sole surviving member of the main cast of the classic film isn’t applauding.

To Vanity Fair, Richard Dreyfuss laments that the play, written by and starring his Jaws co-star’s lookalike son Ian Shaw, “hurt.”

“I went to see it, to see if it really was gonna hurt,” the actor says. “And it did.”

Dreyfuss adds, “It was pretty awful.”

The actor explains, “Ian … never called me and said … ‘Give me your take on this and this.’ And they just decided to make my character a big jerk.”

The late Robert Shaw played the hard-drinking fisherman Quint to Dreyfuss’ biologist Matt Hooper in Steven Spielberg‘s killer shark movie. Dreyfuss maintains that unlike what the play portrays, he and Shaw had “a very incredible relationship.”

“Robert would take digs at me, and I would take a dig at him,” the actor tells the magazine. “We didn’t take any of that seriously.”

He said of the play, “The problem is that they made my character the fool. They didn’t do that to Roy [the late Roy Scheider], and they didn’t do that to Robert. And that hurt because it wasn’t true.”

Dreyfuss blames Spielberg and Jaws co-screenwriter Carl Gottlieb for the rumor. “Thirty years after the film is over, I start to hear this thing about a feud … I don’t think they just gave it any thought that it would hurt me, and it did,” says Dreyfuss.

The actor, who subsequently starred in Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, gripes, “I have enormous respect for Steven’s talent as a director. I guess I don’t have as much for his talent as a friend.”

The Shark is Broken‘s final performance is scheduled for November 19.

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Goldie Hawn says an alien reached out and touched her

Goldie Hawn says an alien reached out and touched her
Goldie Hawn says an alien reached out and touched her
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

In an installment of Apple Fitness’ Time to Walk, Goldie Hawn describes how she had a close encounter of the third kind.

According to Newsweek, the 77-year-old said when she was a dancer in her 20s in California, “That was a time when, you know, there was a lot of UFO sightings.”

She added, “I remember this so clearly: I went outside my door, and I sat on the little ledge, and I looked up at the dark sky. And I saw all these stars. And all I could think of was … ‘Are we the only planet in the whole wide universe that has life on it?'”

Goldie recalled calling out to any E.T.s out there, “I know you’re out there, I know we’re not alone, and I would like to meet you one day.”

According to the Death Becomes Her star, she got her chance one day while napping in her friend’s car. Goldie “got this high-pitched sound in my ear,” she recalled, then saw a trio of “triangular-shaped heads.”

Unable to move, Goldie claims, “They were silver in color, slash for a mouth, tiny little nose, no ears. They were pointing at me, pointing at me in the car as if they were discussing me like I was a subject. And they were droning.”

One reached out and touched her, the actress says. “And it felt like the finger of God. It was the most benevolent, loving feeling. This was powerful. It was filled with light,” she insists.

Incidentally, in 2017, her longtime partner, Kurt Russell, revealed that he was the formerly unidentified pilot who in 1997 radioed in the appearance of six uniform lights over Arizona — one of the most-witnessed UFO sightings in history.

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Sarah Paulson, John Hamm and dozens of other stars declare they’d rather stay on strike than “take a bad deal”

Sarah Paulson, John Hamm and dozens of other stars declare they’d rather stay on strike than “take a bad deal”
Sarah Paulson, John Hamm and dozens of other stars declare they’d rather stay on strike than “take a bad deal”
Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

In an open letter, dozens of stars said they’d rather see the SAG-AFTRA strike continue than “cave” to a “bad deal” from studios.

Emmy winners Sarah Paulson, Jon Hamm, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Christine Baranski, along with the latter’s fellow Tony winner Jason Alexander, signed the letter, which also featured the names of numerous other stars, including Justified‘s Timothy Olyphant, Star Trek movie veterans Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg, and Oscar winner Helen Hunt.

“Back in June, before we went on strike, a large group of members signed an open letter telling our leaders that we would rather go on strike than take a bad deal,” the letter begins.

“Now, more than 100 days into our strike, that is still true. As hard as this is, we would rather stay on strike than take a bad deal,” it continues.

The letter goes on to read in part, “We have not come all this way to cave now. We have not gone without work, without pay, and walked picket lines for months just to give up on everything we’ve been fighting for. We cannot and will not accept a contract that fails to address the vital and existential problems that we all need fixed.”

The letter comes as The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the group representing the major studios, and negotiators for SAG-AFTRA continued their deliberations on Friday.

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John Wick director Chad Stahelski taking Henry Cavill ‘Highlander’ to American Film Market

John Wick director Chad Stahelski taking Henry Cavill ‘Highlander’ to American Film Market
John Wick director Chad Stahelski taking Henry Cavill ‘Highlander’ to American Film Market
Good Morning America

A said to-be-$100 million-plus Highlander reboot starring Henry Cavill and directed by the John Wick franchise’s Chad Stahelski is getting closer to hitting the big screen.

Deadline reports the stuntman-turned filmmaker will be shopping the sought-after project at the American Film Market, the annual confab that helps studios — in this case Wick‘s Lionsgate — secure financing and theatrical distribution.

Cavill, the former star of The Witcher, will be succeeding Christopher Lambert and Adrian Paul in the lead as one of the sword-wielding immortals who hunt each other in an effort to take the other’s power.

The original 1986 film followed Lambert’s Connor MacLeod from the Scottish highlands of old to modern-day New York City as he’s hunted by one of his kind, the Kurgan, played by Avatar and John Wick: Chapter Four star Clancy Brown.

Before he goes off on his own, however, Connor is shown the ropes by Sean Connery‘s Scottish-sounding Spaniard Highlander named Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez.

Highlander, which featured a soundtrack by Queen, went on to spawn four follow-up films and three TV series starring Paul as one of MacLeod’s descendants.

This new iteration will be co-produced by Fast and Furious franchise’s Neal H. Moritz, according to the trade, which quoted Stahelski as describing the project as “John Wick with swords.”

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Reality Roundup: ‘Summer House’, ‘Teen Mom’, and more drama

Reality Roundup: ‘Summer House’, ‘Teen Mom’, and more drama
Reality Roundup: ‘Summer House’, ‘Teen Mom’, and more drama

Have no fear, your reality roundup is here! Here’s a look at what happened in the world of reality television this week.

Summer House (Bravo)
At the season 3 premiere party of Winter HouseLindsay Hubbard and Carl Radke, who recently ended their engagement, were spotted “openly avoiding each other.” Page Six sources confirmed their deliberate distance, with one insider revealing that Carl arrived first, followed by Lindsay an hour later, dispelling any hopes of reconciliation. Despite the strained atmosphere, Lindsay appeared in high spirits, sharing hugs and photos with the cast, while Carl’s presence exuded somberness. The night marked their first public appearance together since their engagement concluded in August, three months ahead of their wedding date. Lindsay reportedly left shortly after Carl’s arrival, seemingly unaware of his attendance.

Teen Mom (MTV)
Jenelle Evans has broken her silence after her husband, David Eason, was charged with a child abuse misdemeanor concerning her 14-year-old son, Jace. Taking to her Instagram Story, Jenelle expressed frustration stating, “You would think police wouldn’t make a one sided police investigation. They didn’t conduct interviews, didn’t ask any information from the parents. This seems like a very bias [sic] situation like everytime before.” The investigation reportedly began after Jace ran away from Jenelle’s North Carolina home two months ago. E! News has reached out for comments from relevant parties but has yet to receive a response.

Real Housewives of New York City (Bravo)
RHONY star Ubah Hassan proudly unveiled her boyfriend, Oliver Dachsel, at the American Ballet Theatre Fall Gala in New York City, marking their first public appearance together, per People. The identity of Ubah’s Connecticut beau had been shrouded in mystery but had sparked discussions during the RHONY season. Ubah disclosed that they met through mutual friends and have been dating for over a year.

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As SAG-AFTRA and the studios meet, fans adore SAG president Fran Drescher’s “heart”

As SAG-AFTRA and the studios meet, fans adore SAG president Fran Drescher’s “heart”
As SAG-AFTRA and the studios meet, fans adore SAG president Fran Drescher’s “heart”
Momodu Mansaray/Getty Images

With the studios and SAG-AFTRA representatives still around the negotiating table, the performer union’s plain-spoken president Fran Drescher has been center stage.

And the former Nanny star is not afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve — or, more accurately, carry it into those negotiations.

Drescher is making headlines for having a little plush heart toy join her at the high-level meetings, explaining to the Los Angeles Times that a fan gave her the doll during the strike, which began July 14, and the stuffed buddy has been with her ever since.

Specifically, the stuffed, cream-colored fuzzy smiling heart toy made by Jellycat — and retailing for around $15 — has become a big hit. In fact, it’s worked its way into the union’s messaging to its members.

According to Variety, the union announced Thursday that it planned to picket Amazon Studios on Friday, with the theme, “Plushie day in solidarity with Fran.” Those walking the picket lines were encouraged to “bring your heart-shaped plushies and stand with Fran!” the trade reports.

Drescher referred to her fuzzy friend on X, formerly known as Twitter, Wednesday, noting, “I’ve said it b4 & I’ll say it again, I don’t have 2 emulate a masculine energy 2B a good leader. I can be smart, have a keen ability 2C integral flaws in a business model AND put a tiny heart shaped plush toy btwn me & [Disney president Robert] Iger. In short, I can be me.”

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