Entertainment

20th Century Studios has released the teaser for Avatar: The Way of Water, the sequel to James Cameron‘s 2009 sci-fi film, which remains the highest-grossing movie globally of all time.

The sneak peek, which is currently playing in theaters ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, is filled with breathtaking imagery of Pandora, the home to the series’ blue-skinned Na’vi people. However, things look a bit different, at least according to the trailer. Some of the humans, who invaded the planet in the 2009 film, are apparently working alongside their alien hosts. However, an unseen threat calls the Na’Vi to arms once again.

The footage is devoid of dialog, except for Sam Worthington‘s Jake uttering a line to Zoe Saldana‘s Neytiri: “This family is our fortress.”

According to the studio, Avatar: The Way of Water is set a decade after the original, and “begins to tell the story of returning heroes Jake and Neytiri and their children, the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.”

The movie, which also stars returning performers Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang, as well as newcomers CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement and Kate Winslet, opens December 16.

The third film, which recently finished shooting, will arrive in 2024, while the fourth and fifth are respectively scheduled for 2026 and 2028.

20th Century Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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While Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was conjuring up box office magic all over the world, writer-director James Gunn called a wrap on another Marvel Studios project. With a picture of the movie’s “clapper,” Gunn said the threequel wrapped on Saturday.

“After over 100 days of shooting & over 3000 shots, this is the slate for the final shot of #GotGVol3, presented to me by the camera crew,” he began a lengthy post on social media.

“It was an easy shot of Rocket seated…& took everything in me not to break down sobbing on the spot,” Gunn explained.

The Peacemaker creator added, “The majority of the last ten years of my life have been spent working on & thinking about the Guardians. I still have a long road ahead of me with VFX [visual effects] & editing, but it was still momentous to me.”

“It is somewhat simple to explain to others how much I love this cast & crew. It is more difficult to explain how much I love these characters – that I see them as parts of myself & parts of those I love, & filming them, & writing their words, is a way of expressing that love,” Gunn expressed.

He added, “…shooting that last shot was a reminder of the warm impermanence of life & love, & how that impermanence makes it so precious, so valuable, & is a good reason to be grateful for what I have right now.”

Gunn also posted a photo of his celebrating with his cast, including Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Sean Gunn, and Karen Gillan. He added, “and Zoe [Saldana] was with us, too!”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is slated to hit theaters May 5, 2023.

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The release of Will Smith‘s upcoming film for Apple, Emancipation, expected to premiere at this year’s fall film festivals, has been delayed to 2023, according to Variety. The movie, directed by Training Day helmer Antoine Fuqua, would have been Smith’s first release since his assault on comedian Chris Rock during the 94th Oscars. As a result, Smith was banned from attending the Oscars and other Academy-related events for 10 years. Emancipation, written by Bill Collage, also stars The Survivor‘s Ben Foster and follows a runaway slave who tries to escape his owners…

Mindy Kaling‘s coming-of-age dramedy, Never Have I Ever, will return for season three on August 12, Netflix announced Sunday at its Netflix Is a Joke Fest, according to Entertainment Weekly. The series, which follows the life of an Indian American teen, stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Poorna Jagannathan, Richa Moorjani, Jaren Lewison, Darren Barnet, Lee Rodriguez and Ramona Young, with narration from John McEnroe…

The BBC announced Rwandan-born Scottish actor Ncuti Gatwa [SHOO-tee GAT-wah] will succeed Jodie Whittaker as the next Doctor in Doctor Who. Whittaker made history in 2017, when she was cast as the first female doctor in the series’ then-54-year run. Gatwa will be the first Black actor to play the Doctor, aside from a one-off appearance by actress Jo Martin, who played Fugitive Doctor Ruth Clayton in a 2020 episode. Gatwa stars in the Netflix comedy Sex Education, where he plays Eric Effiong, best friend to Asa Butterfield’s Otis…

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Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness scored an estimated $185 million in its domestic debut, marking the biggest opening weekend of the year, the second-biggest pandemic opening — after Spider-Man: No Way Home — and the 11th-biggest North American opening of all time. The film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen, did even better overseas, where it delivered an estimated $265 million, helping Doctor Strange 2‘s global debut soar to $450 million.

Coming in second was The Bad Guys with an estimated $9 million in its third week of release. The animated film has collected $57.6 million in North America to go along with $90.6 million overseas for a worldwide total of $148.1 million.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 finished in third place, grabbing an estimated $6.2 million. It’s five-week domestic total now stands at $169.9, to go along with $179 million internationally for a $349.4 million total global haul.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore pulled up in fourth place, earning just south of $4 million. The Harry Potter spinoff has earned a modest $86 million after four weeks, but has fared much better overseas, where it collected $277.7 million. It’s worldwide total currently stands at $363.7 million.

Rounding out the top five was the indie film Everything Everywhere All at Once, which delivered $3.3 million in its seventh week of release. Domestically, the Michelle Yeoh dark comedy has raked in $41.6 million in its first seven weeks of release and $3.9 million internationally, for a global tally of $45.4 million.

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The Top seven pulled double-duty on Sunday night’s episode of American Idol.

With help from mentor will.i.am, the contestants were tasked with singing two songs. The first challenge was to pick a song that’s gone viral on TikTok and the second was a song in honor of Mother’s Day.

Not everyone hit the stage live on Sunday, though. At the beginning of the show, Ryan Seacrest announced that both Fritz Hager and Noah Thompson tested positive for COVID-19 and were quarantined in their hotel rooms. However, as the saying goes “the show must go on,” so Fritz’s practice performances were used for Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie to judge, while Noah performed from his room.

Ryan also had the honor of surprising Christian Guardino with a video message from Michael Bublé, who invited the Idol contestant to sing with him during the finale show.

The host also revealed that whoever makes it into the Top five, will be whisked off to Resorts World Las Vegas to be mentored by Grammy-award winner and Idol alum Carrie Underwood.

After the night’s performances, here’s who made the Top five and who was eliminated.

Top Five:
Noah Thompson: “Painted Blue” Sundy Best and “Landslide” Fleetwood Mac
Nicolina: “Alone” Heart and “Light In The Hallway” Pentatonix
Huntergirl: “you broke me first” Tate McRae and “Like My Mother Does” Lauren Alaina
Leah Marlene: “Electric Love” Børns and “Sanctuary” Nashville Cast feat.Charles Esten, Lennon & Maisy
Fritz Hager: “All My Friends” Fritz Hager and “The Ocean” Fritz Hager

Eliminated:
Jay: “I Have Nothing” Whitney Houston and “A Song For Mama” Boys II Men
Christian Guardino: “Lonely” Justin Bieber and “Dear God” Smokie Norful 

American Idol returns Monday, May 9 at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.

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Call it box office magic: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness scored some $36 million from sneak peek screenings in the U.S. alone on Thursday.

The film from Marvel Studios officially opened Friday.

The sequel, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the one-time Sorcerer Supreme, and also featuring Marvel movie veterans Benedict Wong, Elizabeth Olsen and Rachel McAdams, as well as newcomer Xochitl [SOH-chee] Gomez, previously opened overseas, and has already earned more than $85 million from those foreign markets, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The trade notes that Multiverse’s Thursday performance represents the eighth-largest sneak preview haul in history.

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Season two of the Apple TV+ spy thriller Tehran debuts today, with Glenn Close joining the cast as a Western woman Western woman living in Iran who has “a lot of secrets,” which she tells ABC Audio is what attracted her to the character.

Says Close, “I love characters that have a lot of secrets, that not all of them are revealed. And I love characters like that.”

Another reason was the show’s multiculturalism, which she applauds Apple TV+ for giving a global platform.

“Well I think this show is really…pioneering the platform that Apple TV+ has created for shows that are not English speaking, coming from various countries, telling stories that only they can tell.”

Close says the most challenging part of the role was learning to speak Iran’s primary language, Farsi

“I wanted to be an American speaking perfect Farsi…And it’s a very tricky language,” she explains. “And because of the time I had in studying it, I never could think in Farsi, which is, I think, the final step. So it still was just a series of sounds. I started to be able to understand each word more. But then you have to get the intonation right and you have to get the tempo right.”

Series regular Niv Sultan plays Tamar Rabinyan, a Mossad hacker-agent whose failed mission to help destroy Iran’s nuclear reactor forces her to plan an operation that will place everyone dear to her in jeopardy. She tells ABC Audio that she felt more pressure heading into the show’s second season.

“After first season, we had expectations, we felt like the audience has expectations,” she says. “We had Glenn Close on board. So everything I can say, everything was much more stressful but exciting as well.”

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Twenty-three-year-old Isiah Lee, the man cops say tackled Dave Chappelle onstage at The Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday, has pleaded not guilty to the four misdemeanor charges against him.

Lee is being held on $30,000 bail, and a judge on Friday also ordered the suspect not to come within 100 yards of Chappelle or the famed venue.

A bail review hearing scheduled for early next week.

On Thursday, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer issued a video statement announcing that he has filed four charges against Lee, including battery, promising the incident will be prosecuted “vigorously.” He noted, “this alleged attack must have consequences.”

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This Is Us star Chris Sullivan and his wife, Rachel Sullivan, are expecting their second child.

“We have wrapped my final scenes for #thisisus. What an incredible 6 years these have been,” the 41-year-old actor shared Thursday on Instagram, adding, “With every end, there is a new beginning…so here is a trailer of what’s to come.”

However, what appeared to be a post dedicated to the beloved NBC series turned out to be a setup for a bigger surprise, as an attached video showed the couple’s 21-month-old son, Bear, sporting a shirt with the words “only child” crossed out and “big brother” written below it. Bear then hands his father a sonogram photo.

“It’s a…girl!!!” read a caption at the end of the video, followed by “Arriving Nov 1…ish.”

Chris’ This Is Us cast mates shared their joy over the news in the comments.

Mandy Moore replied with five red heart emojis, while his on-screen wife Chrissy Metz responded with a party hat and heart emoji.

Jennifer Garner chimed in with “So much is happening — congratulations, you guys!!!” while Home Town’s Erin Napier added, “I can’t wait to squeeze this precious baby!!” followed by two hearts.

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Mike Hagerty, a veteran performer who appeared in dozens of movies, and on TV shows like Friends, Seinfeld and many others, has died. He was 67.

Hagerty’s might not have been a household name, but he was instantly recognizable for playing, among others, Mr. Treeger, Monica’s irascible building’s super, on Friends.

Hagerty can currently be seen in HBO Max dramedy Somebody Somewhere, playing the father to star Bridget Everett’s character. The actress posted to social media a message from Haggerty’s family, which noted the passing of “beloved character actor,” noting “his love of his hometown of Chicago and his family were the cornerstones of his life.”

“I loved Mike the instant i met him,” Everett said on Instagram. “We are devastated he has passed. Mike was adored by the entire cast and crew of Somebody Somewhere.”

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