Entertainment

James Cameron has been just about everywhere promoting his upcoming Avatar: The Way of Water, and it seems it caught up with him: The Oscar-winning director has COVID.

The filmmaker first revealed his status on Saturday night, when he appeared virtually — instead of in person — at the opening for his Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County attraction Pressure: James Cameron into the Abyss.

The Hollywood Reporter noted Cameron’s COVID status will have him miss Monday night’s Hollywood premiere of the sequel, as well. A rep for Disney, ABC News’ parent company, which also owns Avatar-producer 20th Century Studios, noted, “Jim has COVID but is feeling fine” and said the filmmaker “tested positive as part of a routine testing cadence.”

The rest of the promotional tour will see Cameron checking in virtually, according to the rep.

Cameron appeared at the premiere of the film last week, along with its cast, in Tokyo and Seoul, and at its world premiere in London.

Avatar: The Way of Water splashes into theaters December 16.

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One of the most popular things to do this time of year is gather with friends and family and binge holiday movies — and with that in mind, the educational research company Scholaroo wanted to see which movies were each state’s favorites. 

While mainstays like Jon Favreau‘s 2004 classic Elf and Jim Carrey‘s How The Grinch Stole Christmas made the list, as one might expect, there were some surprises. 

For one thing, no state picked Die Hard. 

For another, Lindsay Lohan‘s new Netflix movie, Falling for Christmas, was ranked as the favorite holiday movie in eight states, including California, Florida and Colorado.

The Grinch — the 2018 animated one, not the original animated version — was the most popular title overall, named the favorite film in 23 states, including Alabama, Montana and Texas.

Home Alone was the champ in 18 states, including New York, Nevada and Massachusetts.

And while they weren’t the #1 movie, other movies ranked in the top five.

The Nightmare Before Christmas ranked fifth in Arkansas and Florida, 4th in Colorado and had its highest ranking in Hawaii at #3.

Elf was a top-five finisher in many states, including #4 ranks in Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire and New Jersey, to name a few, and ranked third in South Dakota.

Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.

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Comedians often plumb pain to find the funny, and in Jay Leno‘s case he’s doing that literally following the fiery garage accident that left him severely burned.

As reported, gearhead Leno suffered severe burns to his face, neck and hand exactly a month ago, when he was sprayed with gasoline while working on an antique steam car; the gas ignited, and the actor was rushed to a Los Angeles burn unit.

He underwent skin graft surgery and other therapies during a 10-day stay at the Grossman Burn Center, but an interview with The Wall Street Journal shows his sense of humor wasn’t affected.

“Eight days later, I had a brand new face. And it’s better than what was there before,” he joked.

The host of Jay Leno’s Garage added, “But really, it was an accident, that’s all. Anybody who works with their hands on a regular basis is going to have an accident at some point. If you play football, you get a concussion or a broken leg. Anything you do, there’s a risk factor.”

Jay got back on stage on November 27, shortly after he was released, to a sold-out crowd at Comedy Magic Club in California’s Hermosa Beach. He joked outside the club to reporters at the time, “We’ve got two shows tonight – regular and extra crispy.”

To WSJ, the former Tonight Show host said, “You have to joke about it. There’s nothing worse than whiny celebrities. If you joke about it, people laugh along with you.”

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“It’s good to be home, it’s good to see your faces,” a smiling and mustachioed Al Roker reported to his Today colleagues Monday morning in a virtual appearance from home.

“It’s been a tough slog, I’m not gonna deny this,” Roker said of his battle with blood clots that saw him hospitalized twice in less than two months. “It’s been the hardest one yet, and you know I’ve had my share of surgeries.”

Al said the well wishes from friends and fans “gives you a profound sense of gratitude for this outpouring of prayers and thanks. I’m a very fortunate person.”

Roker explained he’s doing physical and occupational therapy to get his strength back following four weeks in New York Presbyterian Hospital. “There’s just a certain amount of weakness … I’ve just got to get my strength back.” He allowed “he’s feeling better and getting stronger every day,” saying he is looking forward to spending the holidays with his family.

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After the holidays, Kevin Hart is going back on the road. The comedian just announced nine new dates to start the new year as his Reality Check tour continues.

Kev will kick things off on January 1 with an already announced gig at Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas. On Friday, February 10, he’ll hit Phoenix’s Arizona Financial Theatre, before heading up north to Rogers Place in Edmonton, Canada, on April 11.

April 12 he’ll hit up the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, then stay in Canada for two more dates — Winnipeg’s Canada Life Centre on April 13 and Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Center venue on April 14 — before heading to London.

On Saturday, April 15, he’ll play Budweiser Gardens in London and the following night will play Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, before heading back to Canada for a gig at the Avenir Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Tickets go on sale Friday, December 16, at KevinHartNation.com.

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The nominations for the 2023 Golden Globes were announced Monday morning, and the film The Banshees of Inisherin topped the movie category with eight nominations, followed by Everything Everywhere all at Once with six.

On the TV side, Abbott Elementary led the pack with five nominations, followed by a string of shows tied with four: The Crown, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Only Murders in the Building, Pam & Tommy, and The White Lotus.

The nominees were supposed to be revealed by father-daughter duo George Lopez and Mayan Lopez, but the comic was sidelined with COVID-19. In his place was their Lopez vs. Lopez co-star, Selenis Levya.

It was announced in September that the Golden Globes would be returning to television in 2023 after being sidelined this year due to allegations of racism within the HFPA.

The 2022 ceremony was held as a private event in January after NBC refused to air the awards show following a 2021 report from the Los Angeles Times that found there were no Black members in the HFPA, an 87-person group of international journalists who decide the nominees and the winners.

The HFPA subsequently promised “transformational changes” to the organization in the wake of the controversy, vowing to boost minority membership and representation and to have more transparency within the organization.

Hosted by Emmy-winning comedian Jerrod Carmichael, the 80th annual Golden Globes will take place January 10 beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, airing live on NBC and streaming live on Peacock.

Here are the nominees:

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang is the latest addition to the star-studded cast of Jon M. Chu’s two-part film adaptation of the Broadway hit Wicked, opposite Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. Yang will play Elphaba and Glinda’s classmate, Pfannee. Chu announced the news on Friday, tweeting, “Welcome #BowenYang to Shiz University in Oz. Please cause lots of trouble on campus for us.” Yang confirmed the news on his Instagram, sharing a photo of a pink heart with the name “Galinda” — the real first name of Grande’s character — captioned, “What the f*** is a ‘hoi polloi’????” Yang joins previously announced castmembers Bronwyn James, Marissa Bode, Bridgerton‘s Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, and Michelle Yeoh. The Wicked movies are set for release Christmas 2024 and 2025…

It was a tie between Tár and Everything Everywhere All at Once at the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards. Todd Field won both director and screenplay prizes for the former film, while its star, Cate Blanchett, shared best lead performance honors with Bill Nighy for his work in Oliver Hermanus’ Living. The best supporting performance prizes went to Dolly de Leon for her turn as toiler manager Abigail in Triangle of Sadness and Ke Huy Quan for his portrayal of the lovable husband Waymond in Everything Everywhere All at Once. The LAFCA switched to gender-neutral acting categories for the first time this year. The complete winners list is available at LAFC.net…

A third installment of The Princess Diaries is in the works at Disney, though at least one original castmember may not be on board. “I think we know that it’s probably not going to be possible,” Julie Andrews — who played Clarisse Renaldi, the Queen regent of Genovia — recently told Access Hollywood. “It was talked about very shortly after [the second sequel] came out, but it’s now how many years since then? And I am that much older and Annie the princess, or queen, is so much older. And I am not sure where it would float or run.” Anne Hathaway, who played Mia Thermopolis, a teenager from San Francisco who discovers she’s the heir apparent to the throne of Genovia, has expressed interest in returning, though a deal hasn’t been set. The first Princess Diaries movie was released in 2001, followed by The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement three years later in 2004. Disney is the parent company of ABC News…

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In an otherwise dismal box office weekend, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever earned an estimated $11.1 million and spent its fifth consecutive week at #1 — the first film to accomplish that since 2018’s Black Panther. That brings the Marvel Studios movie’s domestic take to $409 million.

Violent Night took second place with an estimated $8.7 million. Its two-week global tally currently stands at $41.8 million

Third place went to Strange World, bringing in an estimated $3.6 million in its third week of release. That brings its North America total $30.5 million and its worldwide gross to $53.5 million.

The Menu landed in fourth place, grabbing an estimated $2.7 million in its fourth weekend. The film has earned a total of $29 million in North America and $57.7 million globally.

Rounding out the top five was Devotion, collecting $2 million in its third weekend. Its domestic total now stands at $17 million.

Elsewhere, The Whale, starring Brendan Fraser, set a new record for the year’s highest theater average, earning $60K from just six theaters and beating the previous record of $50,000 set by Everything Everywhere All at Once.

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Guillermo Del Toro‘s Pinocchio is not the family friendly animated film you grew up on. His stop-motion take, out now on Netflix, explores a lot of adult themes in unique ways, including the relationship between fathers and sons and fascism.

He thinks it makes perfect sense, telling ABC Audio, “I think we understood from the beginning that there was a tale told about paternity and different forms of father and son stories. It was religious, partially because of the relationship of Pinocchio to an image of Jesus, and the story of Jesus and his father, the story of Geppetto and Pinocchio, different fathers in the film with different sons. And the most pernicious, caustic form of paternalism, if you would, is the totalitarianism of fascism.”

Del Toro sees a lot of parallels between the WWII Italian fascism of the film, and today.

“One of the things that we wanted to say is disobedience is a virtue in times like this. And for disobedience to have risks, then you have to place it in a historical time where it has consequences,” he explains. “You know, Pinocchio is tempted by the sort of pageantry of show business and by the fear of totalitarian thought.”

The Oscar-winning director says there are a lot of parallels to his own life, particularly, “My relationship with my father and my relationship as a father, both, you know? And the things where you fail or were failed to.”

He goes on to say that “there is no movie worth making where something doesn’t hurt.”

“It doesn’t matter if is this film or Nightmare Alley or Pan’s Labyrinth or Shape of Water, you have to talk about things that are somewhat painful for you or somewhat urgent.”

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The Broadway musical adaptation of the 2004 hit Mean Girls is being adapted into a movie musical, and its main cast is now set.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Angourie Rice has been tapped to fill the role Lindsay Lohan originated: Cady Heron, the daughter of a pair of anthropologists who finds herself transplanted from the wilds of Africa into the social jungle of a typically cliquey Chicago high school.

Reneé Rapp, who on Broadway played Rachel McAdams‘ role of Regina George, the head of the clique The Plastics, will reprise for the movie.

The cast also will star Moana‘s Auli’i Cravalho as Janis — played by Lizzy Caplan in the movie — while another Mean Girls on Broadway vet, Jaquel Spivey, will reprise as Damien. Damien, Janis’ bestie, was played by Daniel Franzese in the film.

Speaking of the original film, its writer, Tina Fey, is penning the script for the movie musical.

Mean Girls opened on Broadway in April 2018 at the August Wilson Theatre and ran for 833 performances before the curtain finally fell on March 11, 2020 — the day before the COVID pandemic officially shuttered the Great White Way.

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