If you’re a Star Wars fan with very deep pockets, you’ll have a chance on Saturday, July 22, to own an action figure called the “Holy Grail” of collectibles.
U.K.-based Excalibur Auctions is putting on the block an unopened, vintage Star Wars Jawa figure from the company Palitoy that’s expected to fetch as much as $20,000.
The item would be rare enough because it hasn’t been opened in all these years, but for collectors, what makes it so unique is the little figure was given a vinyl cape when it was packaged.
Jonathan Torode, Excalibur’s auctioneer commented, “This figure is one of the rarest carded Star Wars figures known to exist, with approximately 10-15 examples documented – the vinyl cape on the Jawa, was substituted with a cloth cape not long into production, and the UK Palitoy carded variation is even rarer than the USA Kenner version. It’s a privilege to handle such a piece of Star Wars toy history.”
So, if you won the Powerball or Mega Millions — or just wish you did — check out Excalibur’s Toys & Model Railways Collectors Sale, where you’ll see the coveted little critter and other rare figures that are up for auction.
Legendary crooner Tony Bennett, who made teenyboppers scream in the 1950s and toured with Lady Gaga in the 2000s, has died at age 96.
Bennett, who passed away in his hometown of New York City on Friday, July 21, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, but he didn’t reveal it until February 2021.
Born Dominick Benedetto in Queens, New York, Bennett was blessed with the ability to sing pop hits, jazz tunes and the Great American Songbook. After serving in World War II, he got his big break in 1949 when Bob Hope took him on tour. He signed with Columbia Records and scored a string of hits through the ’50s, including “Because of You,” “Cold, Cold Heart,” “Rags to Riches” and “Stranger in Paradise.”
In 1962, Bennett released what would become his signature song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” Though it only reached #19 on the charts, it won him two Grammys, including Record of the Year.
With the onset of the British Invasion, Bennett’s hits declined, and by the end of the ’70s he had two failed marriages, a drug problem, no manager, no record label and was in trouble with the IRS. In desperation, he turned to his children for help. Taking over as his manager, his son Danny Bennett then engineered one of the greatest comebacks in musical history.
Danny made a concerted effort to insert Bennett into pop culture, with appearances on SCTV, Late Night with Letterman, The Simpsons and MTV, the latter including a stylish video for his 1993 song “Steppin’ Out with My Baby.”
The culmination of this campaign was the 1994 album Tony Bennett: MTV Unplugged, featuring appearances by Elvis Costello and k.d. lang.It was named Album of the Year at the 1995 Grammy Awards.
Since then, Bennett has retained his cool, appearing at the U.K.’s Glastonbury festival, mentoring on American Idol, playing himself in movies like Analyze This and singing with the likes of Christina Aguilera, Michael Bublé, Bono, George Michael and Billy Joel on his 2006 album, Duets: An American Classic — one of several star-studded duets albums he released.
Bennett first sang with Lady Gaga on his 2011 album, Duets II, which debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 chart. That led to a close friendship and, eventually, their 2014 duets album, Cheek to Cheek, which also debuted at number one and won a Grammy. A tour followed in 2015. In August 2021, Bennett celebrated his 95th birthday onstage at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall with Lady Gaga; their second duets album, Love for Sale, was release in October 2021.
In addition to numerous Grammys and two Emmys, Bennett’s accolades include a Kennedy Center Honor, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award, Grammy and ASCAP lifetime achievement awards and an 8-foot-tall statue of his likeness in front of San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel.
A noted civil rights activist, humanitarian and philanthropist, Bennett was nicknamed “Tony Benefit” for his many charity appearances. He was also an acclaimed painter, with works exhibited in galleries around the world. He and his wife, Susan Benedetto, founded the charity Exploring the Arts, as well as the Frank Sinatra School of Arts, a public performing arts high school in Queens.
Bennett is survived by his wife, Susan; his two sons, Danny and Dae Bennett; his daughters, Johanna Bennett and Antonia Bennett; and nine grandchildren.
When Minx returns with its sophomore season on July 21, it’s bringing a bunch of changes along with it.
The series, which was initially an HBO Max original, now airs exclusively on Starz. In an interview held before the SAG-AFTRA strike, star and producer Jake Johnson told ABC Audio that the former HBO Max made a “corporate decision and a financial decision to move on from a lot of shows.”
In fact, Minx was in the middle of production on season 2 when it was retroactively canceled in December 2022.
“We were kind of holding our breath to see if there would be a reaction from the people when the news broke. Because if that didn’t happen, and if people didn’t seem to care or if the response was lukewarm, then, you know, you’re just put in kind of an ugly spot,” Johnson said.
Luckily, fans responded in a major way.
“People were genuinely mad,” Johnson said. “Part of the reason we’re all here right now is that people demanded it. And that makes it really exciting to make a show when people care about it.”
It’s not only the network that’s changed for the show. Ophelia Lovibond, who stars as Joyce Prigger, says the characters feel brand new.
“You think you know them from season 1, and then season 2, it brings out whole different sides to them, which is exciting,” Lovibond said. “There’s so much more scope to explore them.”
Johnson concurs, saying his Doug Renetti “is now a different person.”
“As actors, we were challenged a lot to catch up to the story. They didn’t just repeat season 1,” Johnson said. “It’s fundamentally changing these characters and these relationships. And what’s fun as an actor is then you try to make it feel honest.”
Amid strike-dampened plans for a star-studded announcement at San Diego Comic-Con, Amazon Prime Video has announced that Gen V, a college-set spin-off from its skewed superhero series The Boys, will debut with three episodes on September 29. Subsequently, a new episode will roll out weekly until its finale November 3. As fans await a debut date for The Boys‘ fourth season, Amazon teases Gen V centers on “the training of the first generation of superheroes to know about Compound V, and that their powers were injected into them, rather than God-given.” The streamer adds, “When the university’s dark secrets come to light, the students must come to grips with what type of heroes they are going to become.”…
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is making its way back to Nickelodeon, it was announced Thursday, July 20 at San Diego Comic-Con during Paramount Pictures’ Hall H presentation. All 193 episodes of the original animated series, which follows the action-packed escapades of Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo, will be available to watch on Nickelodeon-owned and operated channels on YouTube, Pluto TV and other platforms later this month…
The sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Dune could be shifting its release to 2024, Varietyreports. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that Warner Bros. Film Group is seriously contemplating pushing the highly-anticipated Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya epic from its original November 3 slot, amidst the backdrop of the two Hollywood labor strikes. Both Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment spokespersons declined to comment on the matter…
If you’re thinking of hitting that “Barbenheimer” double feature over the weekend, you can’t go wrong, at least according to the ratings aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
That’s because Greta Gerwig‘s cotton candy-colored Margot Robbie film Barbie and Christopher Nolan‘s star-studded nuclear drama Oppenheimer have both been “Certified Fresh” by the website.
As of Thursday evening, July 20, Barbie, which also stars Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu, has an 89% Critics Score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 91% Audience Score.
Oppenheimer, which stars Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Matt Damon, has a Critics Score of 93%. An audience score for the film is still forthcoming, but positive word of mouth from those lucky enough to have seen it — not to mention the hype surrounding the unlikely double-shot hitting theaters Friday, July 21 — predicts moviegoers will be as kind as critics have been.
Meanwhile, the stars of Oppenheimer are sounding off on the mashup. Murphy told ABC Audio before the SAG-AFTRA strike that the Barbenheimer trend is “great for cinema,” adding he’s “definitely going to go and see Barbie.”
“Love Margot Robbie, love Greta Gerwig. Definitely want to see it,” he says.
Emily Blunt suggested seeing “Oppenheimer first, and then if you’re feeling destroyed, you can sort of get a little boost” with Barbie, a strategy Damon agreed with.
Just hours after the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, or IATSE, announced it was voting on a strike authorization, it looks like the show will go on.
According to a press release from the union representing more than 1,500 set dressers, wardrobe workers and makeup artists working on Broadway and in touring productions, the IATSE announced a tentative deal has been reached between its reps, The Broadway League and Disney-owned Buena Vista Theatrical, producers of such Tony winners as The Lion King on Broadway.
The Broadway League is the national trade association for the Broadway industry.
The deal for the so-called Pink Contract was reached Thursday afternoon, ahead of a deadline that could have seen workers start striking as early as Friday morning.
The agreement is “pending ratification by the bargaining unit” of the union, which represents 168,000 technicians, artisans and craftspeople throughout the entire entertainment industry.
Lee in ‘Enter the Dragon’ – Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Bruce Lee‘s family is reflecting on his legacy on the 50th anniversary of his death.
Shannon Lee, daughter of the late actor and accomplished martial artist, shared a video to Instagram in which she and her daughter, Wren, pay tribute to the life of their “Baba and Gung Gung,” or dad and grandpa.
Bruce, the founder of the martial arts style of Jeet Kune Do, died on July 20, 1973, at the young age of 32 — but not before he left a lasting impact on Hollywood for Asian actors.
“To help us celebrate, we’ve been asking everybody: What is Bruce Lee’s legacy to you?” Shannon says in the clip. “So we thought we’d kick it off.”
Wren answered first, saying, “To me it is unity.”
“Unity. I like that,” Shannon said in part. “He was truly an artist, and the way in which he just moved everything forward and just created so much impact and meaningfulness in this life has helped me.”
Shannon’s video also had the caption, “July 20, 2023! 50 YEARS OF LEGACY!!! Take a moment to smile, bow, punch, kick, connect, laugh, or WATAAH!!!!”
Co-signing the message with Wren, they added, “We lost a vibrant being 50 years ago today but we gained an ICON in Mind, Body, and Soul! We love and miss you…But we celebrate all you’ve given us!”
Enter the Dragon, Bruce’s biggest film in the U.S., was released a month after his death.
He starred as Kato in TV’s The Green Hornet, as well as Hong Kong films like The Big Boss and Fist of Fury.
Bruce and wife Linda Lee, whom he married in 1964, had two children, Shannon and Brandon. Brandon died in 1993 at the age of 28 after he was accidentally shot on the set of The Crow.
Fox has released a new trailer to its upcoming new show from Rick and Morty and Community co-creator Dan Harmon, Krapopolis. The new show, which viewers can check out on Fox in a special preview event on Sunday, July 24, will have its debut Thursday evening at San Diego Comic-Con.
Set in ancient Greece, the show stars the voices of Ted LassoEmmy winner Hannah Waddingham, What We Do in the Shadows’ Matt Berry and Richard Ayoade from The IT Crowd. It “tells the story of a dysfunctional family of humans, gods and monsters trying to run one of the world’s first cities, while also trying their best to not kill each other in the process.”
Ayoade voices Tyrannis, the self-involved mortal son of the goddess Deliria, played by Waddingham, and the ruler of the titular city.
The new snippet riffs on common tropes in Greek myths, like a hybrid centaur who yells “Yahh!” to get himself to giddy up. There’s also a gag about something we take for granted that we can thank the Romans, not the Greeks for. “Guess what today is!” a character excitedly asks Ayoade’s character. “Everyone guesses what every day is, we don’t have a calendar,” he answers.
The show, billed as Fox’s first wholly owned animated series, was renewed for a second and third season in 2022 — before it even premiered.
FX released a teaser to American Horror Story: Delicate, the next installment of the acclaimed horror anthology — and the first to star Kim Kardashian — on Thursday.
The creepy teaser is set to a version of “Rock A-Bye Baby” and opens with an almost Busby Berkeley kaleidoscopic image of a spinning circle of dancers in white wigs. The dancers are intercut with creepy images of in vitro fertilization, baby crib mobiles and a bird’s nest dropping an egg.
Also shown in turn, wearing matching white wigs and mirrored sunglasses, are Emma Roberts, Cara Delevingne and Kim, who is shown at the teaser’s close with a baby swaddled in her arms.
Delicate is being compared to the thriller classic Rosemary’s Baby, and centers on a woman in the public eye who is convinced darker forces are sabotaging her pregnancy journey. The title is a reference to its apparent source material, Danielle Valentine‘s thriller novel Delicate Condition.
Cast members also include Pose‘s Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Hellraiser‘s Odessa A’zion and The Resident veteran Matt Czuchry.
No debut date for season 12 of American Horror Story was shown on the teaser.
Lionsgate revealed on Thursday that Borderlands, the action movie based on the bestselling video game series, is hitting theaters August 9, 2024.
Kevin Hart, and Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis star in the movie as the flesh-and-blood version of the game’s characters: Hart plays mercenary Roland; Blanchett the Siren, Lillith; and Curtis the archeologist, Dr. Patricia Tannis.
Jack Black has also signed on to the picture as the voice of Claptrap, a wheeled, robotic sidekick from the games.
The plot of the three Borderlands gamescenters on the planet Pandora — no, not the Avatar one — where players hunt for a mysterious Vault, and its jackpot of alien tech and other assorted treasures.
Horror director Eli Roth is helming the movie, which also stars comedian and actor Bobby Lee, actor Édgar Ramirez,actresses Gina Gershon and Ariana Greenblatt, and Creed II and III baddie Florian Munteanu.
The Borderlands games have sold more than 66 million units worldwide, according to co-producer Gearbox Software.
