Entertainment

Captain Marvel‘s Brie Larson has been tapped for a role in Fast & Furious 10, the penultimate film in the Fast and Furious saga. “Yeah yeah yeah… you see this angel over my shoulder cracking me up, you say to your self ‘that’s captain Marvel,'” Vin Diesel shared Sunday on Instagram, next to a photo of of the two sharing a laugh. “Clearly there is love and laughter in this image. What you don’t see however, is the character you will be introduced to in Fast10. You have no idea how timeless and amazing she will be in our mythology,” he added. F10 is slated for May 29, 2023 release. Prior to that, Larson will appear in The Marvels, a sequel to Captain Marvel, slated for a February 2023 opening. Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News…

Kathryn Hays, the actress best known for playing the trouble-making home-wrecker Kim Sullivan for nearly four decades on the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns until the soap’s cancellation in 2010, died March 25 in Fairfield, Connecticut, according to the funeral home. She was 87. In addition to her long-running role on ATWT, Hays is remembered by fans of the original Star Trek for her memorable guest portrayal as Gem, the beautiful alien who rescued an injured Captain Kirk by briefly absorbing his injuries, in the 1968 episode “The Empath.” Her other TV appearances include The High Chaparral, Mannix, Here Come the Brides, Marcus Welby, M.D., Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law and Night Gallery…

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Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the live action-CGI animated sequel to 2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog, opened in first place at the box office with an estimated $71 million — a bigger three-day debut than its predecessor and a new record opening for a video game adaptation.

Overseas, where the film starring Jim Carrey, James Marsden and Ben Schwartz as the voice of its titular character, opened a week earlier in some markets, it pulled in an estimated $70 million so far, bringing its current worldwide tally to $141 million.

Sonic also knocked last week’s number-one, Morbius, into distant second with an estimated $10.2 million. That brings its two-week domestic total to $57.1 million. Internationally, Morbius has earned an estimated $69.3 million, bringing its total global haul to $126.4 million.

The Channing Tatum/Sandra Bullock rom-com The Lost City took in an estimated $9.2 million in its third week of release. The film, which has only opened in a few foreign markets, has taken in $9.7 million to date, bringing its three-week worldwide tally to $78.6 million.

The Jake Gyllenhaal-led thriller Ambulance disappointed with an estimated $8.7 million, good for just fourth place. The film, from director Michael Bay, did slightly better overseas, where it delivered an estimated $22.5 million, bringing its worldwide box office total to $3.2 million.

Rounding out the top five was The Batman, grabbing a little under $6.6 million. The film has raked in $359.1 million in North America after six weeks and $376.1 million overseas, bringing its global tally to $735.2 million.

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Jake Gyllenhaal hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time this weekend, and used his opening monologue to reminisce about his first appearance, back in 2007.

“That was like 400 Marvel movies ago,” the Ambulance star joked.

“To give you an idea of what it was like in 2007, in the show I hosted, there was a George W. Bush sketch, there were jokes about the first iPhone, and this is a photo of me from my monologue,” he continued, as a photo of Gyllenhaal in “full drag” flashed on the screen.

“There I am…singing a song from Dreamgirls, to promote a movie where I played a gay cowboy,” Gyllenhaal noted. “That was actually the least problematic thing in that episode, but looking back, I feel like I was a totally different person.”

Gyllenhaal may have ditched the dress and wig for Saturday’s monologue, but he once again closed with a musical number — Céline Dion‘s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” with SNL‘s Chloe Fineman, Ego Nwodim and Cecily Strong as backup singers.

Gyllenhaal’s sketches included one involving a couple’s therapy session, opposite Melissa Villaseñor, Punkie Johnson and Nwodim, and one where he was a spring flower that drew the affections of a horny bee, played by Bowen Yang.

Saturday’s musical guest was Camila Cabello, who performed “Bam Bam” and “Psychofreak” — the latter with the help of Willow Smith — from her new album, Familia.

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Now that the Top 24 has been decided, it’s America’s turn to take the reigns on American Idol.

Sunday’s episode saw half of the contestants being mentored by country star Jimmie Allen, who was a pervious contestant on the show, making it to the Top 40 during season 10, the year Scotty McCreery won. Not only did he serve as mentor, he also treated everyone to a performance of his new song “Down Home.”

Here’s are the contestants who performed and their song selections:

Jay: “I Want You Back” The Jackson 5 
Elli Rowe: “Everywhere” Fleetwood Mac
Tristen Gressett: “With A Little Help From My Firends” The Beatles/Joe Cocker 
Scarlet: “Levitating” Dua Lipa
Sage: “Jolene” Dolly Parton
Danielle Finn: “Your Song” Elton John
Mike Parker: “Best Shot” Jimmie Allen 
Emyrson Flora: “Angels Like You” Miley Cyrus 
Dan Marshall: “Heaven” Bryan Adams
Jacob Moran: “In My Blood” Shawn Mendes
HunterGirl: “Banjo” Rascal Flatts
Nicolina: “Elastic Heart” Sia 

Tonight, the remaining contestants, mentored by pop superstar Bebe Rexha, will take the stage for a chance to win America’s votes.

American Idol returns Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Now that the Top 24 have been decided, it’s America’s turn to take the reins on American Idol.

Sunday’s episode saw half of the contestants being mentored by country star Jimmie Allen, who was a previous contestant on the show, making it to the Top 40 during season 10, the year Scotty McCreery won. Not only did he serve as mentor, he also treated everyone to a performance of his new song, “Down Home.”

Here are the contestants who performed and their song selections:

Jay: “I Want You Back,” The Jackson 5 
Elli Rowe: “Everywhere,” Fleetwood Mac
Tristen Gressett: “With a Little Help from My Friends,” The Beatles/Joe Cocker
Scarlet: “Levitating,” Dua Lipa
Sage: “Jolene,” Dolly Parton
Danielle Finn: “Your Song,” Elton John
Mike Parker: “Best Shot,” Jimmie Allen 
Emyrson Flora: “Angels Like You,” Miley Cyrus 
Dan Marshall: “Heaven,” Bryan Adams
Jacob Moran: “In My Blood,” Shawn Mendes
HunterGirl: “Banjo,” Rascal Flatts
Nicolina: “Elastic Heart,” Sia 

Tonight, the remaining contestants, mentored by pop superstar Bebe Rexha, will take the stage for a chance to win America’s votes.

American Idol returns Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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It seems as though the speculation that Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck had gotten engaged — again — isn’t speculation at all: It’s true.

ABC News has confirmed that the couple, who originally broke off their first engagement in 2004, are once again set to wed. People was the first to report the news, citing a rep for Jennifer.  The Marry Me star also added a diamond ring emoji to her Twitter handle, and tweeted a video teasing “a really exciting and special story to share.” 

She directed her fans to her online community OntheJlo, where People reported that she posted a clip of herself admiring a huge green diamond ring. The clip was shared on her sister Lynda Lopez‘s Instagram, with the caption, “So this happened.”

Jennifer and Affleck, aka “Bennifer,” rekindled their romance last summer after Jennifer broke up with Alex Rodriguez. If the couple makes it to the altar, it’ll be the Jennifer’s fourth marriage, and Affleck’s second. Jennifer shares twins Max and Emme, 14, with her ex-husband Marc Anthony, while Affleck has three kids with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner.

Speaking about her reunion with Affleck, Jennifer told People earlier, “It’s a beautiful outcome that this has happened in this way at this time in our lives where we can really appreciate and celebrate each other and respect each other.”

Bennifer’s first engagement ended, in part, due to the media attention surrounding their relationship.

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The Disney+ Star Wars series Ahsoka has reportedly snagged a director from the Marvel universe.

Peter Ramsay, who along with Bob Persichetti and Rodney Rothman won an Oscar for the animated hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, will direct at least one episode of the upcoming series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

As previously reported, the series stars Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano, the one-time Jedi who has appeared in both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

Not much else is known about the hush-hush project, except that it will likely tie into the close of the animated series Star Wars: Rebels, and the hunt for the Empire’s fearsome Grand Admiral Thrawn. That series’ finale showed the military genius vanishing into hyperspace during a climactic clash with young Jedi Ezra Bridger.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Australian actor Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Ukrainian actress Ivanna Sakhno and Hayden Christensen also will star in Ahsoka, the latter reprising his role as Ahsoka’s former master, Anakin Skywalker, who also will be seen in Lucasfilm’s upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series.

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

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Horror and comedy collide in the Starz series Shining Vale, airing Sundays. Courteney Cox and Greg Kinnear star as Patricia “Pat” Phelps and her husband Terry — a couple that moves their whole family into an old home that turns out to be haunted.

Judith Light plays Pat’s mother, Joan and tells ABC Audio she loves how the show combines genres.

“I think what [show creators] Jeff Astrof and Sharon Horgan have done has this really combination of comedy and drama and horror that is so deftly connected and complicated and funny,” she shares.

Not only did she love the combination of genres, when it comes to her role, Light says she was drawn to it because she found it “compelling” how Astrof and Horgan packed so many topics into the character.

“I saw with his character… I wanted to talk about women as they age and women and mental illness and the paranormal and relationships with your spouse and relationships with your children, it has everything,” the actress explains. “I don’t know how they did it. So I found it very I found it very compelling.”

At the end of the day, Shining Vale is a completely fictional series, however Light shares that she does believe in the paranormal.

“I do believe that there is something else, and I don’t know how it manifests itself, but I know that there are people that hear those things, see those things,” she says. “I do believe that there is paranormal activity that we are not necessarily prone to see or know.”

“I know that there is paranormal beyond what we know in this body, this tactile connection, that there is something else,” Light adds.

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has determined that Will Smith will be banned from attending any of its events — including the Academy Awards — for a decade.

In a statement, the Academy noted Friday, “The 94th Oscars were meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who did incredible work this past year; however, those moments were overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behavior we saw Mr. Smith exhibit on stage.”

It continued, “During our telecast, we did not adequately address the situation in the room. For this, we are sorry. This was an opportunity for us to set an example for our guests, viewers and our Academy family around the world, and we fell short — unprepared for the unprecedented.”

“Today, the Board of Governors convened a meeting to discuss how best to respond to Will Smith’s actions at the Oscars, in addition to accepting his resignation. The Board has decided, for a period of 10 years from April 8, 2022, Mr. Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards.”

The statement also expressed its, “deep gratitude to Chris [Rock] for maintaining his composure under extraordinary circumstances,” and thanked “our hosts, nominees, presenters and winners for their poise and grace during our telecast.”

Smith resigned from the Academy last week, prior to the decision, saying, “I will fully accept any and all consequences for my conduct. My actions…were shocking, painful, and inexcusable.”

A “heartbroken” Smith, who also posted an apology to the Academy and Rock the Monday after the Oscars, apologized to the “long list” of “those I have hurt,” including Rock…”his family, many of my dear friends and loved ones, all those in attendance, and global audiences at home.”

Smith added, “Change takes time and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason.”

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The long-running ABC reality competition series Dancing with the Stars is sashaying to Disney+.

“Dancing with the Stars has entertained fans for 16 years on ABC, and we are excited to bring this beloved show exclusively to Disney+ as the platform’s first-ever live series, noted Kareem Daniel, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution chairman, in a surprise announcement.

Season 31 and 32 will run live on the streaming service starting this fall.

“The show’s broad appeal, as well as the overwhelming popularity of its Disney-themed competition nights, make Disney+ the perfect home for DWTS,” Daniel added.

An Instagram post announcing the move was liked by tens of thousands of fans, and earned “praise hands” from dancer Witney Carson, who said, “Huge!” Other dancing pros also replied with their support.

Over the show’s 30 seasons on ABC, the BBC Studios-produced show earned multiple Emmys, and its fall 2021 run, hosted by co-executive producer Tyra Banks, ranked among the top five unscripted series in the 18-49 demographic.

Network execs are reportedly aiming to fill DWTS‘ traditional Monday night slot with NFL football.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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