Entertainment

It was a fourth straight week at #1 at the box office for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which pulled in an estimated $40 million. That brings its domestic gross to $490 million, and boosts its global tally to just over $1.2 billion — the first film of the year to pass that milestone.

Supernatural horror sequel The Evil Dead Rise took second place with an estimated $12.2 million, bringing its two-week total to $44.4 million in North America.

It was an estimated $6.8 million third-place debut for Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, the adaptation of Judy Bloom‘s beloved book, starring Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams and Benny Safdie.

John Wick: Chapter 4 landed in fourth place, delivering an estimated $5 million in its sixth week of release. The film has earned $176 million domestically and $375 million globally to date, making it the franchise’s highest-grossing film, passing John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum‘s $328 million gross in 2019.

Rounding out the top five was the 40th-anniversary rerelease of 1883’s Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, grabbing an estimated $4.7 million from just 475 theaters. The film has grossed $311 million in North America and $475 million worldwide.

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The sequel to Ridley Scott‘s Oscar-winning epic Gladiator could feature Hawkins, Indiana’s resident metalhead.

The Hollywood Reporter says Joseph Quinn — who became a viral sensation for his rendition of Metallica‘s “Master of Puppets” in the most recent season of Stranger Things — is in talks to join the anticipated follow-up.

As reported, the new movie will have Oscar nominee Paul Mescal playing a grown-up Lucius, the son of returning star Connie Nielsen‘s Lucilla, the sister of Joaquin Phoenix‘s evil Emperor Commodus in the original. Oscar winner Denzel Washington and Banshees of Inisherin‘s Academy Award-nominated scene-stealer Barry Keoghan also star, notes the trade.

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Like a Jedi who’s become one with the Force, one minute Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof was writing a Star Wars movie and the next, poof, he was gone.

The Emmy winner was able to laugh about the experience with Esquire, in one of the magazine’s “Explain This” videos. The segment has Lindelof scrolling through headlines and questions found online.

“‘You were in talks to join the Star Wars universe, can you see yourself revisiting it,’ he asks, quoting a query. “I was in more than talks to join the Star Wars universe. I joined the Star Wars universe and was asked to leave the Star Wars universe.”

He adds, “Will I get back in line outside the club and try to get back in again? Absolutely,” he said, calling the Star Wars movies the “alpha and the omega, it’s the first movie I saw in the theater.” He added, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Or ‘Again, again try,’ as Yoda would say.”

Damon and Justin Britt-Gibson apparently submitted their script for an upcoming project that will be directed by Oscar-winning documentarian and Ms. Marvel veteran Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

However, shortly before it was revealed at the recent Star Wars Celebration expo that the film would again star Daisy Ridley as the so-called sequel trilogy’s divisive heroine Rey, it was announced Peaky Blinders‘ Steven Knight had replaced the writers.

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The upcoming long-in-the-works Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet may have found its Joan Baez.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Monica Barbaro, who appeared in the blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, is in talks to play the legendary folk singer in the James Mangold-directed film A Complete Unknown. 

The flick is set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where Dylan infamously divided folk fans by going electric. Baez joined Dylan at the festival to perform “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

Movie and music fans have been waiting a long time for this Dylan film to finally be made. Earlier this month Mangold revealed that production is expected to begin in August, with Chalamet doing all his own singing.

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The series adaptation of the Oscar-nominated 1987 Glenn Close/Michael Douglas thriller Fatal Attraction hits Paramount+ on Sunday, April 30, with a three-episode premiere.

The framework of the show is similar: Joshua Jackson plays Dan Gallagher, here a married district attorney who has an affair with a colleague, played by Lizzy Caplan.

Like the movie, Alex Forrest becomes obsessed with Dan, but that’s where some of the similarities stop, Caplan tells ABC Audio.

“That was sort of the point of reopening this book. It felt like while [Alex] is one of the ‘all-time greatest villains in cinematic history,’ there’s room to ask more questions about her mental health, and her upbringing and all of these decisions that she makes.”

She adds, “I think audiences have become more savvy … everything has an element of a character study now. And our show was always intended to be more of that, as opposed to, I think, the characters in the film.” She says, “Even though Glenn Close … did all of the nuanced, layered work … the film didn’t require it.”

Things are different for Dan, too, versus Douglas’ portrayal. For one thing, the series begins with him in prison for Alex’s death, with Dan insisting he didn’t kill her.

The movie sees Alex killed while invading Dan’s home, but he otherwise gets off scot-free for the affair.

Jackson laughed about that. “I mean, there is a part of me that when I was watching the movie, I was like, ‘You can’t play that guy anymore.’ Right? Like, I just, I was looking at it just like, ‘Wow, I would love to just do that one time where you … can’t make a wrong choice. Everybody supports you in everything that you do all of the time.’ It’s amazing.”

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On Friday, Peacock revved up fans of the bestselling Twisted Metal Sony PlayStation game series with a sneak peek of Anthony Mackie as the star of the series adaptation of the same name.

Mackie’s amnesiac milkman John Doe is shown grabbing your standard essentials for any post-apocalyptic road trip: shotgun shells for his rifle and a “Road Mix” CD.

“Ladies and gentlemen: Start your engines,” he says to camera.

As Len‘s “Steal Your Sunshine” spins up, and the star grooves to it, he drives off into the wasteland, guns blazing.

The games center on tricked-out vehicles and burned-out drivers going at each other in a post-apocalyptic world — though the half-hour, live-action series from Sony Pictures Television will have Mackie’s John Doe scorching across the country to deliver an important package.

“With no memory of his past, John gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make his wish of finding community come true, but only if he can survive an onslaught of savage vehicular combat,” Peacock teases.

The network adds, “With the help of a trigger-happy car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck,” referring to the character that gamers know as the maniacal marauder Sweet Tooth.

To that end, the teaser ends with a glimpse of the baddie, laughing in his trademark vehicle.

As previously reported, the project is being executive produced by Deadpool and Zombieland screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and written by co-executive producer and Cobra Kai writer Michael Jonathan Smith.

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The Hacker has returned — and Christopher Lloyd says it’s time to start cleaning up our act.

Cyberchase, the PBS Kids animated series that follows the adventures of Matt, Jackie and Inez and their battles with Lloyd’s Hacker in cyberspace, is back for its latest season, featuring new adventures and new messages when it comes to taking care of our planet.

“It’s a wonderful indoctrination,” Lloyd tells ABC Audio about the show’s mission to get kids onboard with things like sustainability, recycling and reducing our carbon footprint. “It’s necessary for where we are going to end up if we don’t make changes in the way we live to accommodate the warming of the planet and all that. We’re in big trouble coming up. I’m glad to be a part of the cause.”

He’s voiced the character since Cyberchase started in 2002; part of the show’s longevity, he says, is its ability to solve problems using something the bad guys never see coming: math. “Every time [Hacker’s] ambitions are foiled by a mathematical formula, they’re learning mathematics, the reasoning behind it,” he says. “I think that’s kinda unique.”

It’s something Doc Emmett Brown from the Back to the Future films constantly used when it came to solving time-travel paradoxes. And it’s a role never far away from Lloyd’s heart. Same goes for his BTTF co-star and close friend Michael J. Fox, whose public struggle with Parkinson’s disease is something Lloyd thinks we can all learn from in solving our own struggles. “He has such a spirit. And he thrives all the time, just being Michael without, ‘Oh, I can’t do this,'” Lloyd says. “He is not a defeated person. And it’s just wonderful to be around him.” 

New episodes of Cyberchase air on PBS Kids. Check local listings.

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In case you’re not one of those suffering from so-called superhero fatigue, April 28 has been designated National Superhero Day.

So, why not spend the day either saving the world from some extraterrestrial menace or, more realistically, bingeing some superhero movies?

To that end, Rotten Tomatoes has ranked the Best Superhero Movies of All Time, based not on box office success — though many of them were blockbusters — but their scores from the ratings aggregator. Here’s a look at the list’s first six entries and where you can stream them.

97% – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018 – Prime Video): This Oscar-winning Sony Animation film saw several Spider-people before No Way Home brought the multiverse concept to the big screen.

97% – The Incredibles (2004 – Disney+): Another Oscar winner, from Simpsons and Mission: Impossible franchise veteran Brad Bird.

96% – Black Panther (2018 – Disney+): The Oscar-winning first stand-alone adventure of the late, great Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, the vibranium-clad king of Wakanda.

94% – Avengers: Endgame (2019 – Disney+): Joe and Anthony Russo‘s final Marvel movie to date capped off the Infinity Stones saga and became the second-highest-grossing film of all time.

94% – Logan (2017 – Disney+): This Oscar-nominated film was supposed to be Hugh Jackman‘s last turn as the fan-favorite Wolverine, until he was lured back into his razor claws and into the Marvel Cinematic Universe by pal Ryan Reynolds for Deadpool 3.

94% – The Dark Knight (2008 – Max): Christopher Nolan‘s second Dark Knight movie was more of a top-notch crime drama featuring Batman than a traditional superhero movie, but the late Heath Ledger‘s posthumous Oscar-winning performance made it an instant classic.

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The gang from Paddy’s is back. FXX has released a celebratory snippet to announce that its long-running sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is coming back for its 16th season on June 7.

Co-creators Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton — as well as McElhenney’s wife, Kaitlin Olson, and Danny DeVito — are shown celebrating throughout the clip, with Day’s Charlie asking at the outset, “You wanna start some kinda cheer or something?”

What follows are a series of quick clips of the upcoming season, including Olson’s Dee getting choked off her feet, Charlie victoriously brandishing a sword atop a pile of junk, the boys in a wrestling ring wearing eagle costumes and lots of screaming.

It also ends with everybody at Paddy’s Bar laughing at Dee’s expense, in an apparent gag called “The Joke’s On You.”

The series also streams on Hulu.

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Lionsgate has released a tense trailer to the prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Based on bestselling author Suzanne Collins‘ 2020 novel of the same name, the film takes place years before the trilogy that starred Jennifer Lawrence as heroine Katniss Everdeen.

Here, Tom Blyth stars as an 18-year-old Cornelius Snow — the man who became Donald Sutherland‘s evil President Snow in the original films — and his mentoring of Lucy Gray Baird, a tribute played by West Side Story‘s Rachel Zegler.

EGOT winner Viola Davis plays the diabolical Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul. She says of the Games, “What happens in there — fueled with the terror of becoming prey — see how quickly we become predator? See how quickly civilization disappears?”

Gaul shapes Snow into the tyrant he becomes.

For now, Snow has to contend with Game of Thrones Emmy winner Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom, the powerful creator of the Hunger Games. “Do you hear that, Coriolanus? It’s the sound of Snow falling,” he taunts his eventual successor.

The studio teases of Zegler’s Lucy Gray, “[A]fter she grabs Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to ‘turn the odds in their favor.'”

The synopsis continues, “Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy Gray’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.”

Lucy Gray shows off her moral compass, too, saying in the clip, “There’s natural goodness built into us all. We can step across that line into evil, or not.”

The trailer also shows Jason Schwartzman preening as “Lucky” Flickerman, the predecessor of Stanley Tucci‘s flamboyant host Caesar Flickerman.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes debuts in theaters worldwide on November 17, 2023.

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