Entertainment

As both the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy for Marvel Studios and the new co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn has a unique perspective on the superhero universe.

Gunn spoke to Rolling Stone about his new gig with Warner Bros., which he’s also writing and directing Superman: Legacy for, versus his time with Disney-owned Marvel Studios.

“I learned so much from making these movies,” he says. “But it’s not like Superman is going to have exactly the same vibe as a Guardians movie. It’s actually quite different.”

He also disagrees with presumed competition between the two studios. “To be frank, I think the better Marvel movies do, it’s better for DC, and the better DC movies do, it’s better for Marvel,” he expresses.

Gunn is mounting promotion of Guardians Vol. 3 and a 10-year plan for DC Studios just as box office returns for both DC’s Shazam: Fury of the Gods and Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania suggest superhero fatigue.

Gunn agrees, to a point. “I think there is such a thing as superhero fatigue,” he says. “I think it doesn’t have anything to do with superheroes. It has to do with … if you lose your eye on the ball, which is character.”

He explains, “We love Superman. We love Batman. We love Iron Man. Because they’re these incredible characters … And if it becomes just a bunch of nonsense onscreen, it gets really boring. … It doesn’t have anything to do with whether they’re superhero movies or not. If [you’re] … just watching things bash each other, no matter how clever those bashing moments are … it just gets fatiguing, and I think that’s very, very real.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens May 5.

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

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In the new episode of his podcast Life is Short with Justin Long on Tuesday, the actor, known for his roles in the recent hit Barbarian and the classic Galaxy Quest, had a very special guest: his now-fiancée, Kate Bosworth.

He and his Straw Dogs star partner discussed why they decided to share the news about their engagement on the podcast.

“I think we’re both deciding to share this in this space because we’re probably gonna be asked about it and we thought, ‘Well, how can we talk about this in a way that makes us feel the best,'” Bosworth said. “And we thought, ‘Oh, I’d really like to just talk about it with you.'”

Long said he had unexpectedly popped the question before the special proposal that he had planned for Bosworth around her birthday. Bosworth explained that Long had talked about spending the rest of their lives together while speaking to a therapist after having gone through “this really hard thing” together.

“We were trying to move through things at the time and she gave us a really great piece of advice, which was: Make sure that you’re pretty consistently asking the other [for] what you need, or asking the other what they need,” Bosworth recalled.

She continued, “I remember, I smiled at you and I said, ‘What do you need?’ And he, like, really looked at me and said, ‘To spend my life with you.'”

“And I smiled and I said, ‘Well, yeah, you have that. Oh my gosh, you have that,'” Bosworth added. “And he said, ‘No, I mean I really want to spend my life with you.'”

When Long did officially pop the question, he described, “It was the easiest. The words just came out, like, so naturally.”

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On Tuesday, Sony Pictures Animation dropped the latest look at the sequel to 2018’s Oscar-winning smash hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

As reported, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will see Miles Morales/Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) meeting up with his multiversal mates Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) and his first web-slinging mentor, Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), who, it’s revealed, now has a Spider-baby.

However, Miles quickly learns that not only are they not the only Spider-People, the multiverse is just wall-to-wall with wall crawlers of all shapes and sizes. He also learns that sacrifice is key to the hero’s journey — but he apparently isn’t willing to lose any more family members after the heel turn of his uncle in the original film.

Facing off with him is Spider-Man 2099, a future version of the hero who is voiced by Oscar Isaac, reprising from an after-credits scene in the original. “You have a choice between saving one person and saving everyone,” he tells Miles, whose Spidey Sense sees his dad (Russell Richardson) in peril.

“Send me home!” he pleads.

“I can’t do that,” Isaac’s character replies flatly.

“Imma do my own thing!” Miles insists.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse premieres in theaters June 2.

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On Tuesday, riding on a wave of the success of John Wick: Chapter 4, Lionsgate announced its first universe spinoff, Ballerina, will dance into theaters June 7, 2024.

The movie will star Blonde Oscar nominee Ana de Armas and Gabriel Byrne, and will feature appearances from Wick mothership stars Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston and the late Lance Reddick, who passed away unexpectedly before the fourth Wick film opened.

The Walking Dead‘s Norman Reedus is also in the spinoff, in which de Armas will play the titular lethal assassin out for revenge.

Underworld series veteran director Len Wiseman is calling the shots on the spinoff, which will be produced by Reeves’ Thunder Road productions and Wick series director Chad Stahelski‘s 87eleven company.

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Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian‘s nuptials will be documented in an upcoming special titled Til Death Do Us Part, premiering April 13 on Hulu.

The Blink-182 drummer and the reality TV star famously held three weddings in 2022: in Las Vegas, Santa Barbara, California, and Italy. In the trailer for Til Death Do Us Part, Barker wonders which of the ceremonies was his favorite.

“It’s like choosing a child, I can’t pick the best one,” Barker says. “Vegas was, like, our wild rock star wedding. Santa Barbara was, like, as traditional as, like, everybody else’s wedding could have been.”

“And then Italy was just really romantic and classic,” Kardashian adds.

The special seems to focus mostly on the Italy wedding. The description reads, “Kourtney, Travis, and their guests enjoy a luxurious wedding weekend in Portofino, Italy. Private and personal footage reveal an intimate family event full of beautiful moments.”

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It looks like DreamWorks took Eddie Murphy up on that phone call: Just months after Murphy said he’d say yes to another Shrek film “in two seconds,” Variety reports new projects in that universe are moving ahead.

The trade chatted with Chris Meledandri, founder of the animation studio Illumination and a creative partner to DreamWorks Animation, and he says he’s pushing to bring back the original Shrek gang, including Murphy as Donkey, Mike Myers as Shrek and Cameron Diaz‘s Princess Fiona for a fifth film.

“We anticipate the cast coming back,” the exec noted. “Talks are starting now, and every indication that we’ve gotten is there’s tremendous enthusiasm on behalf of the actors to return.”

As reported, Murphy’s January comments to Etalk also included him expressing, “I love Donkey. They did Puss in Boots movies. I was like, ‘They should have done a Donkey movie.’ Donkey is funnier than Puss in Boots. I mean, I love Puss in Boots, but he ain’t funny as the Donkey.”

He went on to say, “DreamWorks, if y’all wanna do it, just call me, I’m ready.”

Turns out Meledandri saw that interview, too, and was “thrilled.” He tells Variety, “It’s evidence of his strong enthusiasm for a role that he so brilliantly inhabited and really created alongside the artists at DreamWorks. I found that comment to be very exciting.”

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Jennifer Lopez‘s brand includes perfume, beauty products, footwear and more … and now she’s branching out into booze.

She’s launching a brand of ready-to-drink cocktails called The House of Delola, after one of her nicknames, Lola. The brand offers gluten-free, lower calorie drinks that come in embossed glass bottles. The first product line, Delola Spritz, includes Bella Berry Spritz, Paloma Rosa Spritz and L’Orange Spritz, which are based around vodka, tequila and amaro, respectively. They all have 110 calories or less per serving.

Starting this month, the drinks will be available in grocery and liquor stores, as well as in restaurants and bars throughout the U.S. Visit DelolaLife.com for more details.

In a statement, JLo says she created the brand because she couldn’t find a cocktail that was right for her, so she decided to make one.

“My goals were better ingredients, better taste, fewer calories than traditional cocktails, and one simple pour. Something easy, fun, fresh and delicious,” she says. “I started this journey two years ago and I’m so excited to finally share Delola with the world.”

JLo tells People the design that’s embossed on the bottle includes two lions to represent her and husband Ben Affleck, because they’re both Leos. She shot the campaign for the product in Italy and says, “It evokes this aspirational kind of glamorous lifestyle, but also something very peaceful and relaxing and earthy to it as well.”

“It has this combination, which I think is very me, where it’s kind of down to earth … but also super glam,” she adds. “Jenny from the block meets the Italian coast.”

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On Tuesday, Warner Bros. Pictures released character posters for the stars of its upcoming Barbie film that has Margot Robbie playing the titular blond bombshell.

The studio teases, “To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken.”

While the movie’s exact plot is still being closely guarded, some of the character descriptions shed a tiny bit of light on things — except of course Ryan Gosling, who is “just Ken,” Simu Liu, “another Ken,” Ncuti Gatwa “Ken again!” and Kingsley Ben-Adir, who “is Ken, too.”

However, Michael Cera‘s photo reads, “There’s only one Allan.”

A little more varying are the descriptions of the various female characters in the movie: Bridgerton‘s Nicola Coughlan‘s Barbie “is a Diplomat”; Ritu Arya is depicted holding a microphone, with the legend, “This Barbie has a Pulitzer”; Issa Rae‘s Barbie “is President”; Kate McKinnon‘s punk rock looking picture notes her Barbie’s “always in the splits”; and Dua Lipa is depicted as Mermaid Barbie.

Will Ferrell, rumored to be a heartless CEO type, has a poster that says, “Please call me mother.”

America Ferrera‘s photo notes she is “a human,” and Helen Mirren‘s glamorous shot denotes she’s “the narrator.”

The Barbie film hits theaters July 21.

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To commemorate his 65th birthday Monday, Alec Baldwin is seen with all of his children and wife Hilaria, in a photo she shared to Instagram.

For the photo, Hilaria managed to wrangle the entire Baldwin brood: Carmen, 9, Rafael, 7, Leonardo, 6, Romeo, 4, Eduardo, 2, 1-year-old María, and their youngest, 5-month-old Ilaria.

“A photo of our wildness, just as we are,” she began her caption. “May this year bring you peace, health, and happiness. We feel lucky to be by your side…through all of it. Happy birthday, Alec—we love you.”

The actor is also the father to 27-year-old Ireland, his daughter with ex-wife Kim Basinger.

Baldwin is still facing involuntary manslaughter charges for the movie set shooting death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. He has pleaded not guilty.

A hearing is set for next month for Baldwin and the movie’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was also charged in the shooting, and it will decide if there’s enough evidence against them to go to trial.

Baldwin fired a live bullet at Hutchins during a rehearsal scene for the Western; a live round had been chambered into the weapon, which he claims was previously declared “cold,” or safe to handle.

Recently, that first movie’s assistant director David Halls was sentenced to sixth months of unsupervised probation in part of a plea deal related to his connection to the shooting; he reportedly handed Baldwin the weapon for which Gutierrez-Reed was responsible on set.

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Screen siren Raquel Welch died from cardiac arrest on February 15, according to her death certificate that was obtained by TMZ. 

The Fantastic Voyage star was 82, and according to the document, had also been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, which had not been disclosed to the public.

Welch was pronounced dead at 2:25 am, the document also revealed. 

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