Entertainment

Jeff Goldblum, who famously played mathematician and chaos theorist Dr. Ian Malcolm in several Jurassic Park movies, will be passing the torch to Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey, who will play paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis in the franchise’s upcoming seventh film, Jurassic World: Rebirth — and Goldblum couldn’t be happier.

Goldblum tells Variety, “The hope of the world resides, and I can think of no better baton receiver to carry on the ‘da da da da da,’” referencing John Williams‘ classic Jurassic Park theme. “It’s Jonathan Bailey! It’s like no other!”

“I had the invitation to join the ‘Jurassic’ world, to join the conga line led by Jeff,” adds Bailey, sharing that he and Goldblum discussed the role on the way to CinemaCon earlier this year. “The original film was a seminal cinematic moment, purely because of Jeff, but also, I went with my family, and the multi-sensory experience of going to see a film so perfectly realized.”

“There’s so much that I am so proud to join. But obviously … there is a sense of responsibility,” says Bailey. “And if I can match half of what Jeff and Sam Neill and Laura Dern achieved, I’ll be very lucky.”

Jurassic World: Rebirth takes place five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, per Universal Pictures. “The planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived.”

However, “The three most colossal creatures within that tropical biosphere hold the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.”

Bailey stars opposite Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Homeland alum Rupert Friend and The Lincoln Lawyer‘s Manuel Garcia-Rulfo.

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Paul Mescal will be making his New York stage debut.

The London revival of Tennessee Williams‘ A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Mescal, Patsy Ferran and Anjana Vasan, is making the transfer across the pond to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York.

Its limited engagement off-Broadway run starts on Feb. 28 and will continue through April 6. Rebecca Frecknall directs the production, which will play at BAM’s Harvey Theater after a return engagement in London that starts on Feb. 3.

The London run was acclaimed, with several Olivier Award wins, including Mescal for Best Actor, Vasan for Supporting Actress and the production-winning Best Revival. Ferran also won a London’s Critics Circle Award for her performance.

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Some people would metaphorically give their teeth to launch a hit TV show, but for Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, it was literal. 

He clarified to the BBC that he was under so much stress making the original series, which became a global phenomenon, that he lost “eight or nine” teeth. He’d previously said six of his teeth fell out. 

In preparation for the anticipated follow-up to the show, which is due on Netflix on Dec. 25, Hwang said, “The stress I feel now is much greater,” adding of his chompers that he’ll “probably have to pull out a few more very soon.”

That said, the Emmy-winning show’s creator said much like his show’s contestants, he pursued a second season for the jackpot. 

“Even though the first series was such a huge global success, honestly I didn’t make much,” he tells the outlet. “So doing the second series will help compensate me for the success of the first one too.”

That said, he explained he “didn’t fully finish the story” of the first season’s winner, Lee Jung-jae‘s Seong Gi-hun aka Player 456. For the forthcoming go-round, Gi-hun takes on the life-or-death game once again, with vengeance on his mind for the people behind it. 

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Tom Cruise is ready for one last adventure in the action-packed teaser for the aptly titled Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

Our first look at the forthcoming film, the eighth in the popular franchise, features Cruise’s Ethan Hunt exploring the wreckage of a submarine, hanging off the side of a biplane for dear life and, of course, lots of running.

“Our lives are the sum of our choices,” Ving Rhames‘ Luther says in the clip.

There are also flashbacks to the 1999 original Mission: Impossible and that iconic scene that saw Hunt suspended over an alarm-rigged floor.

Plot details are thin at this point, but Ethan is reminded in the teaser that “the fate of every living soul on earth is your responsibility” as he races against villain Gabriel (Esai Morales) in the hunt for a dangerous AI program known as The Entity.

The film stars returning Mission: Impossible cast members Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Angela Bassett, Henry Czerny and Shea Whigham.

Newcomers include Hannah Waddingham, Nick Offerman, Janet McTeer and Holt McCallany.

Cruise also co-produces alongside director Christopher McQuarrie, a frequent collaborator and director of three previous Mission: Impossible films.

When he started working on Final Reckoning, Offerman joked to ABC Audio about his character and Cruise’s, “I kill him, I kill his character.”

On a serious note, he called the project “astonishing,” adding, “Chris McQuarrie … said, ‘The way we make these movies is we jump out of a plane and then we start sewing a parachute as we fall and hope that we’ll land on our feet.’ And it really has that feeling; like, it’s really intense.”  

The film hits theaters May 23.

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Yellowstone wasted no time revealing the fate of Kevin Costner‘s character, John Dutton, as season 5 continued Sunday night.

During the premiere episode for the back half of the show’s fifth season — the first new episode in nearly two years — it was confirmed early on that Costner’s John Dutton, the central patriarch figure of the show, was dead.

How did John die? A gun was found next to his blood-splattered body at his Montana ranch. While initially believed to have been a suicide, it was later revealed via a flashback that John was murdered.

Turns out Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) orchestrated a hit on John and for it to be staged as a suicide, a plan she and Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) had previously cooked up.

Jamie — who had been going hard against his father in the first half of season 5 — was tearful about John’s death before Sarah told him it was her doing, and he seemed shocked that she’d gone through with it.

John’s death and how it happened have drawn a line in the sand between Jamie and his siblings, Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) and Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly), who have their sights set on him moving forward.

Following some behind-the-scenes drama on the series, Costner revealed in a social media post in June that he wouldn’t be returning to Yellowstone for “season 5B or into the future.”

“It was something that really changed me. I loved it and I know you loved it,” Costner said of the show. “I just want to let you know that I won’t be returning. I love the relationship we’ve been able to develop, and I’ll see you at the movies.”

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Critics and audiences alike will eventually weigh in on Moana 2 — but for Dwayne Johnson, the opinions that matter most are those of his daughters.

The self-proclaimed “proud girl dad” stopped by Good Morning America on Monday to tease the upcoming sequel, in which he plays the demigod Maui, and shared what the title character means to his girls.

“I think for these girls, my daughters, who see themselves in Moana because they are girls of color, really one of the beauties of Moana is little boys, little girls of all colors around the world can see themselves in these characters,” Johnson said.

The actor said his two youngest, Jasmine, 8, and Tiana, 6, gave the film’s trailer their nod of approval at D23 earlier this year but said they wanted to wait and see the movie at its premiere in Hawaii.

“This one is special to them, so I can’t wait to show it to them,” he gushed.

Johnson also opened up more about his character’s new song in the highly anticipated sequel, “Can I Get a Chee Hoo?,” which follows Maui’s iconic “You’re Welcome” tune from the first film.

“When Lin-Manuel [Miranda] wrote the first song, he thought, ‘Oh, it’s perfect for this character, Maui, to say, ‘You’re welcome. You’re welcome,'” he explained. “But in this case, our female writers [Abigail] Barlow and [Emily] Bear … took this idea of female empowerment and what that means and how important that is for Maui, the demigod Maui himself, to not sing about himself but more so take Moana and tell her, ‘You can do this.'”

Johnson said the song is “crazy” and “there’s a lot of different places it goes to.”

Moana 2 sets sail in theaters on Nov. 27.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Good Morning America.

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A special look at Thunderbolts* has arrived.

The new teaser, featuring Florence Pugh‘s Yelena Belova leading a ragtag crew of superheroes, was first shown at D23 Brazil in São Paulo on Saturday, where David Harbour debuted the new look.

The clip begins with a humorous scene of Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian driving Pugh and the team of heroes around in a low-speed chase where they are threatened by a convoy. The crew is eventually saved by Sebastian Stan‘s Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier before Stan fires at the group himself.

After Stan’s heroics, the clip shows the group convening with Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the shadowy CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who assembles the team for a contentious meeting. The group spends the duration of the action-packed special look completing high-intensity tasks like blowing up glass skyscrapers.

The gang of former baddies from various MCU projects includes Hannah John-Kamen‘s Ava Starr/Ghost, Olga Kurylenko‘s Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster and Wyatt Russell‘s John Walker/U.S. Agent.

The special look comes after Marvel Studios released an action-packed teaser for Thunderbolts* in September, showing how the group comes together at the behest of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.

Pugh shared a behind-the-scenes video from the film’s set in March.

“We’re having an amazing time, and I can’t wait for you to see what we’ve made!” she said in the clip.

Thunderbolts* is slated to release in theaters on May 2.

Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News and Good Morning America.

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The official trailer for Captain America: Brave New World is here.

The trailer — the latest look at Anthony Mackie‘s first film outing as the new Captain America — was first shown at D23 Brazil in São Paulo on Saturday, where Mackie and Danny Ramirez, who plays Falcon, greeted fans.

The brand-new trailer gives a preview of Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America and his dealings with Harrison Ford‘s President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross.

When America comes under terrorist attack, Ford looks to use Mackie as Captain America to his advantage before the pair butts heads in their approach.

The trailer hits a climax when Mackie discovers the plot against the country is not what it seems and he is placed under arrest. “Someone’s been pulling the strings on everything,” Mackie says.

At the conclusion of the trailer, Ford, now fully transformed into the Red Hulk, battles Captain America in a flaming fight commenced by Mackie screaming, “You want me? Come and get me!”

The teaser trailer for Captain America: Brave New World was released in July, showing a tense dynamic between Mackie’s star-spangled hero and Ford’s President Ross, the former Hulk-hunting general played by the late William Hurt.

In addition to featuring returning MCU figures like Carl Lumbly‘s Isaiah Bradley and Tim Blake‘s Samuel Sterns, it also introduced a baddie played by Giancarlo Esposito and the newest Falcon, Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres.

The teaser also gave a blink-and-you-miss-it first look at Ross’ alter ego, Red Hulk, tossing Captain America’s adamantium shield with ease.

Captain America: Brave New World is directed by Julius Onah and opens in theaters on Feb. 14.

Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News and Good Morning America.

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Broadway Wicked is meeting present-day film Wicked.

Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth — stars from the original Broadway cast — joined Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande at the Los Angeles premiere of Wicked on Saturday.

The group of four posed together on the carpet, locking arms with the present stars tucked in between the stars of the 2003 Broadway musical. The Wicked film stars Grande and Erivo in the lead roles of Glinda and Elphaba, respectively.

“I watched it with our ‘Wicked’ family and I bawled the entire time,” Chenoweth, who played Glinda in the original Broadway production, said in a clip posted on the Wicked account’s Instagram Story.

“I was so proud of her. She killed it,” Chenoweth said of Grande. “And Cynthia, we knew she was going to be powerful but the warmth and heart she brings to it. Just like Idina, it was perfect.”

Along with Grande and Erivo, Wicked stars Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Ethan Slater as Boq, Marissa Bode as Nessarose and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz.

Wicked: Part One hits theaters on Nov. 22. Wicked: Part Two is slated to arrive in theaters on Nov. 21, 2025.

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Disney+ has set April 22 as the premiere date for season 2 of its Star Wars series spinoff Andor, according to Variety. The series follows Diego Luna‘s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story character Cassian Andor, and his early days with the Rebellion against the evil Galactic Empire. Genevieve O’Reilly, Stellan Skarsgård, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, Fiona Shaw, Forest Whitaker and Andy Serkis also star. The 12-episode second season will take place over four years split into three-episode pods, with each pod covering a few consecutive days in each successive year before the events of Rogue One, per the outlet. Disney is the parent company of ABC News …

Actress/singer Andra Day has been tapped to play Athena in season 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, according to Variety. Season 2 is based on The Sea of Monsters, the second installment in Rick Riordan‘s acclaimed book series. Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, is one of the most important Olympian characters in the Percy Jackson books. Day joins fellow newcomer Tamara Smart, and series regulars Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri, Charlie Bushnell, Dior Goodjohn and Daniel Diemer. Disney is the parent company of ABC News …

Tony Todd, the actor best known for starring in the Candyman and Final Destination horror franchises, died peacefully at his home in Marina Del Rey on November 6, his rep Jeffrey Goldberg tells ABC News affiliate KABC-TV. He was 69. A cause of death was not given. Todd’s other credits include Night of the Living Dead, The Rock and The Crow. He also played Kurn in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Alpha Hirogen in Star Trek: Voyager …

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