Entertainment

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.

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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.

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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 Lasso Emmy 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.

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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.

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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 games centers 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.

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With the Writers Guild and SAG strikes still going, many networks are relying on reality shows to fill anticipated gaps in their fall schedules, and a veteran of one of the most popular reality shows is taking note.

In a lengthy Instagram video string, Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel floated the idea of reality stars somehow unionizing so they get a cut of the endlessly rerun hits on Bravo and other networks.

SAG-AFTRA actors are striking in part over diminishing residuals from streaming, meaning they get paid less than they used to when a show is rerun. Reality show stars don’t get any residuals.

“Should the Kardashians keep earning residuals even though they’re billionaires? Yeah. You don’t get to count their money. It’s supply and demand … if you keep watching their content … They should keep getting paid until the end of time,” said Frankel, who said she got just $7,250 for the entire first season of the show.

The entrepreneur also took issue with the so-called “Bethenny Clause,” which is unique to reality show contracts. It states a portion of the money any reality star earns in a separate business goes back to the network “because every nickel needs to goes to the man, even if [reality stars] earn it themselves,” she vented.

Frankel says that although SAG-AFTRA contracts are different, the striking actors got her thinking about how unfairly reality stars are treated.

“The streamers and the networks that have the shows that are filming right now are … thinking, ‘Oh no, now this b**** is going to going corrupt all these donkeys and mules and … morons that we’re going to work to the bone to fill in the blanks while this strike goes [on],” Frankel vented. “Reality stars are ready for something … There’s a reckoning coming.”

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With the Writers Guild of America and The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) on strike, workers on Broadway could be the next to grab their picket signs.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) announced a strike authorization vote “for members working under the Broadway League and Buena Vista Theatrical [also known as] Disney Theatrical” on Wednesday, July 19, according to the union.

If an agreement is not reached, thousands of stagehands, makeup artists and wardrobe artists working on the Great White Way as well as on tour in New York and Canada could strike as early as the morning of Friday, July 20.

The decision for a strike authorization vote “was unanimously made by the contract’s bargaining committee, which is comprised of International Leadership and rank-and-file theater workers, after negotiations with The Broadway League and Disney Theatrical Productions failed to meet key worker demands,” IATSE noted in a press release.

The latter subsidiary produces hits like The Lion King on Broadway.

IATSE International President Matthew D. Loeb said, “We need to show strength and unity to ensure
we win the wages, benefits, and rights that all members at IATSE have earned and deserve.”

The union noted “notable strides have been made in these negotiations so far,” but “several workers’ top priorities have still not been sufficiently addressed,” including, “increasing salaries for Broadway crews and establishing reasonable weekly and daily rest periods.”

Loeb commented, “This strike vote will send a strong message that we will not accept substandard contracts that fail to acknowledge our workers’ contributions. We will not leave anyone stranded, and we will not back down unless we have a deal the members can accept by the end of the week.”

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Apparently, a lot of people out there are thinking pink. 

The hashtag #barbieoutfits has surpassed 246 million views on TikTok. The online retailer Boohoo says Pinterest searches for “Barbie outfits” have increased by 614% worldwide over the past year, while searches for “pink outfit” jumped 194% worldwide.

Pinterest has more than 900 ideas for how to incorporate some of the iconic doll’s fashion into your own wardrobe.

On Google, “Barbie inspired outfits” is also a top trending search, with users in Texas, Florida, and of course, the Malibu icon’s home state of California leading the charge. “Barbie Fashion” was most searched by users in Utah, with Tennessee, Arkansas, Oregon and New York rounding out the top five.

Searches for “Barbie Cosplay” also hit a fever pitch, likely for movie-bound fans looking for some fashion inspo, led by Google searchers in California, with Florida a close second. 

Meanwhile, Aqua‘s 1997 hit “Barbie Girl” has just gone triple platinum — not bad considering the song doesn’t appear on the movie’s soundtrack.

Greta Gerwig‘s Barbie, starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Issa Rae, Will Ferrell and more, opens Friday, July 21, from Warner Bros. Pictures.

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The SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes have put a major crimp in the major networks’ fall schedule plans, with ABC and CBS leaning on reality shows — and the latter also calling up content like Yellowstone from its sister streaming network Paramount+ — to fill the gaps. But NBC has other plans, according to Deadline. The network will shift already-shot shows that were supposed to run in the winter mid-season period ahead to the fall. Included are 10 episodes of Magnum: P.I., to close its fifth and final season, as well as new episodes of its hit Quantum Leap reboot, as well as the missing persons drama Found, starring Shanola Hampton, and The Irrational, a procedural drama starring former Law & Order lead Jesse L. Martin…

On Wednesday, Amazon unveiled the captivating trailer for the highly-anticipated second season of its epic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time. Adapted from Robert Jordan‘s best-selling novels, the show delves into the journey of Rand al’Thor, portrayed by Josha Stradowski, a seemingly ordinary farm boy who learns “he is The Dragon Reborn—a dangerous figure from history destined to save the world … or break it.” The streamer teases, “Desperate to protect him from the Dark One, an army of powerful women must reckon with his burgeoning power and encroaching madness.” The series, which also stars Rosamund Pike, returns on September 1, exclusively on Prime Video…

Hulu dropped new artwork for the upcoming third season of Only Murders in the Building, giving fans a peak into the upcoming episodes. The synopsis reveals that Charles, Oliver, and Mabel — portrayed respectively by Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez — will be entangled in a murder mystery behind the scenes of a Broadway production. The victim is none other than Hollywood action star Ben Glenroy, played by Paul Rudd, whose Broadway dreams meet a tragic end. Assisted by co-star Loretta Durkin, portrayed by Meryl Streep, the trio faces their toughest case yet, while director Oliver battles to salvage the show. Only Murders in the Building season 3 premieres August 8…

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The countdown for Christopher Nolan’s atomic bomb biopic, Oppenheimer, is quickly winding down, as the film releases in theaters and IMAX screens everywhere on Friday, July 21.

In anticipation of its release, the main cast spoke to ABC Audio ahead of the SAG-AFTRA strike about the three-hour epic.

Cillian Murphy is no stranger to working with Nolan — though this was his first time taking on a leading role in one of his films. That role is J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.

“Chris calls me up, and whatever he asks me to do, I’m there for him. That’s how much I love his work and that’s how much respect I have for him,” Murphy said. “We’ve done six movies now, but I did not expect this one to be the lead. So, it was a great — a very pleasant shock.”

And while the film follows true events, Murphy says Oppenheimer isn’t your average biographical movie.

“The film is not your conventional biopic,” Murphy said. “It does make you think. And people can choose to think about the nuclear age that we live in, or they could choose not to. And I think this film might affect that choice.”

His co-stars Matt Damon and Emily Blunt wholeheartedly agree on the film’s importance. “It is the biggest story, I think, of the last hundred years, if not in the history of humanity, right?” Damon said.

“It’s knowing you’re going to be a part of something so important. It is so exciting,” Blunt added.

“Yeah,” Damon agreed. Of the film’s director, Damon noted, “A story of that scale deserves a director of that ability.”

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