Entertainment

(NOTE LANGUAGE) James Gunn is a “ride or die” guy with Chris Pratt.

On Monday, a Twitter user called @themeghanlodon_ posted a photo of Pratt next to Moonfall actor Patrick Wilson, snarking “Marvel. Hear me out. Just… replace him.”

Pratt has become a lighting rod for some online, mostly thanks to his openly Christian beliefs, and this Twitter user apparently thought they’d join the pile on. The initial comment even caught the attention of Newsweek.

However, Gunn, the writer-director of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, wasn’t having it, and shut the “replacing” comment right down.

“For what?” the filmmaker replied. “Because of your made-up, utterly-false beliefs about him? For something that someone else told you about him that’s not true?”

He added, “Chris Pratt would never be replaced as Star-Lord but, if he ever was, we would all be going with him.”

Gunn’s defense immediately drew support from fans, who turned up the heat on the troll. “Pratt is great at the role, not sure what’s wrong with you,” one offered.

Evidently, @themeghanlodon_ subsequently backpedaled, saying, “I just want to apologize because there is a looot of harmful and potentially triggering stuff being said in the comments of a joke I made…”

In response, another user replied, “…I don’t think you deserve to be harassed. But let’s not act like you weren’t also spreading hate in that same thread.” They also brought receipts to show she also called Pratt a “piece of s***.”

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At Monday night’s Cinemacon event in Las Vegas, the annual confab for movie theater owners, Sony Pictures announced there will be a fifth Ghostbusters movie, as well as a third Venom film, and — reaction to Mobius be damned — another Spider-Man adjacent spin-off film.

The Ghostbusters movie would be a follow-up to the hit Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which emerged from a pandemic delay to become a beloved addition to the franchise, with a 94% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes.

A third Venom film is a bit of a no-brainer, considering its predecessor, 2021’s Venom: There Will Be Carnage made a half-billion dollars worldwide.

However, the flip side of the coin was Sony Pictures’ announcement of another obscure Spider-Man spin-off following the stumble with Jared Leto‘s Morbius. El Muerto, about the Marvel Comics luchador superhero, will star Puerto Rican rapper Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio aka Bad Bunny. The star was also there to unveil some footage of Bullet Train, an action pic in which he appears with Brad Pitt.

Bullet Train will also star Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who, as reported, landed the title role of a better-known Spidey foil, Kraven the Hunter. Footage of that movie was shown in a Sony sizzle reel that also included peeks of the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody, the animated sequel Spider-Man: Across the Multiverse, Denzel Washington‘s third Equalizer movie, and Tom Hanks‘ A Man Called Otto.

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Ewan McGregor, star of the Star Wars prequels and of the forthcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series, apparently tied the knot over the weekend with his girlfriend, former Fargo co-star Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

People reports the pair tied the knot at their Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles home.

Just close friends and family were invited to the “intimate” ceremony, where 51-year-old McGregor, and 37-year-old Winstead, who also starred with him in Birds of Prey, made it official.

“It was lovely and joyful,” a source tells the magazine.

The pair met back on FX’s Fargo in 2016, and at the time they were both married. Winstead divorced her husband of seven years, Riley Stearns, while McGregor legally split from wife Eve Mavrakis that year as well.

McGregor and Winstead welcomed a son, Laurie, in June of 2021.

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Hulu on Tuesday released the first trailer for Fire Island, a new rom-com starring Saturday Night Live‘s Bowen Yang, Margaret Cho and comedian Joel Kim Booster, who also wrote and produced the feature film based on his own trips to the LBTQ-friendly New York resort. Fire Island, described as “an unapologetic, modern day rom-com inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, follows Yang’s character, who falls for a doctor, bringing him and his group of friends into a whole new social group. The movie premieres June 3 on Hulu… (Trailer contains censored profanity.)

Just 45 days after its theatrical release, during which time it collected $750 million worldwide, Matt Reeves‘ The Batman is putting up huge streaming numbers on HBO Max. Deadline reports the movie, starring Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight, was watched in 4.1 million households in just the first week alone, topping The Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman 1984, The Matrix Resurrections and Dune, all of which were released the same day on the streaming service as they were in theaters. The Batman‘s first week is also the second best for a theatrical movie on HBO Max after Mortal Kombat, according to the outlet. The Batman also stars Zoe Kravitz, Andy Serkis and Colin Farrell…

Illumination and Universal are pushing back the theatrical release of Super Mario Bros. from December 21, 2022 to April 7, 2023, the companies announced on Monday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The CGI-animated film, based on the popular video game series, features Chris Pratt as Mario. The voice cast also includes Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, Kevin Michael Richardson and Sebastian Maniscalco…

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The search for the next American Idol continued Monday night, with a surprising twist.

For the first time ever, the show had a judge’s song contest, which meant that Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, and Lionel Richie each chose one song for each individual contestant to sing. The contestant then performed one of the songs and guessed which judge picked it. The judge whose song got chosen the most would be declared the winner. Later in the show, it was revealed that this judge would also have the ability to save one contestant from elimination.

After everyone took the stage, the tally revealed that Luke and Katy tied as the winners of the judge’s song contest. When America’s votes left Lady K and Tristen Gressett in the bottom two, Katy and Luke used their powers to advance Lady K into the Top 10.

Here’s the official American Idol season 20 Top 10.

Nicolina: “Since U Been Gone” Kelly Clarkson 
Mike Parker: “Chasin’ You” Morgan Wallen
Fritz Hager: “Wonderwall” Oasis
Christian Guardino: “I’m Not The Only One” Sam Smith
Noah Thompson: “Heartbreak Warfare” John Mayer 
Lady K: “traitor” Olivia Rodrigo 
Huntergirl: “9 to 5” Dolly Parton
Leah Marlene: “Make You Feel My Love” Bob Dylan
Emyrson Flora: “lovely” Billie Eilish ft. Khalid 
Jay: “Lilac Wine” Jeff Buckley

Eliminated:
Tristen Gressett: “You Can’t Always Get What you Want” The Rolling Stones

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

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A big-screen adventure of the Hot Wheels you may have played with as a kid is coming to the big screen, and Star Wars sequel director J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot company are behind the wheel.

Teasing, “the iconic and timeless toy racing car” in a “high-throttle action film,” Warner Bros. Pictures and Mattel announced the collaboration that promises to, “bring to life this beloved, multi-generational franchise and showcase some of the world’s hottest and sleekest cars, monster trucks and motorcycles.”

In a press release, Hannah Minghella, Bad Robot’s President of Motion Pictures, said, “Before Hot Wheels became the global household name it is today, it was the dream of Elliot Handler, who was inventing and building toy cars at home in his Southern California garage. It’s that imagination, passion, and risk-taking spirit that we want to capture in this film.”

And if you think it might be a stretch to make a movie out of Hot Wheels, Mattel Films, the iconic toy brand’s big screen off-shoot, already has Barbie in the pipeline with Warner Bros., starring producer Margot Robbie.

Mattel Films is also developing films based on its other toys including Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, and, somehow, Magic 8 Ball, the card game UNO, and the View Master goggles.

Hey, people thought a LEGO movie was far-fetched at one point, and the series made over a billion bucks worldwide.

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Long Slow Exhale aired its cliffhanger season finale on Monday and star Ian Harding, who plays disgraced assistant coach Eddie Hagan, revealed how Pretty Little Liars prepared him for the sinister role.

Fans are made to question whether Eddie actually groomed and sexually abused the star player of the women’s college basketball team — but the dark truth comes out in the final episodes.

While Harding admitted to ABC Audio it was “painful” playing Eddie, he was given an edge thanks to the Freeform series Pretty Little Liars, where he played a similar role.  

“The abuse of power is abuse of power,” Harding said of playing Ezra Fitz, who dated a student in the series.  Harding noted the show, which ran from 2010 to 2017, didn’t explore “what actually happens when certain desires are acted upon” and that made starring in Long Slow Exhale “cathartic in a way.”

“I don’t think Pretty Little Liars can necessarily be made today,” he added, noting how characters like Ezra should have been accused of abuse and held accountable, just like Eddie.

The truth about Eddie wasn’t the only surprise Long Slow Exhale had in store.  Josh Lucas stars as the university’s athletic director, Hillman Ford, who is murdered amid the university’s sexual abuse scandal.  

Lucas found playing the character “thrilling” because of the many “bad, complicated” decisions he made to control the scandal that result in him “falling so badly from grace.” It’s revealed in the final episodes that Rose Rollins‘ character J.C. Abernathy, the basketball team’s head coach, killed him in self defense.

Lyric Bent, who plays J.C.’s husband, Garrett, and helps her cover up the murder, noted, “It was scary playing [him]… [but] that scare factor was also interesting and intriguing.”   

Long Slow Exhale is streaming now on SpectrumTV.

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Cary Elwes, veteran of the comedy classic The Princess Bride and the grisly Saw films, is recovering after reportedly suffering a rattlesnake bite in the yard of his Malibu, California home on Saturday.

TMZ reports the actor’s reaction to the venomous bite on his left ring finger was serious enough that he was airlifted from the location to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after the incident.

The actor showed off the gnarly looking, swollen, discolored digit, apparently from his hospital room, in an Instagram photo, and was in good enough spirits to make a Princess Bride joke about it.

“Bit not by a ROUS but a rattlesnake,” he said, referencing the Rodents of Unusual Size from the film.

“Grateful to the staff of Malibu Urgent Care, LA County Fire Dept. and the staff and medical professionals at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center for their great care,” Elwes continued, adding, “Am recovering well thanks to all these wonderful folks.”

Among those who wished the actor well were actress Joely Fisher, who commented, “OMG” adding prayer-hand emoji, and Sean Ono Lennon, who added, “Wow that is ugly man. Hope you recover soon.”

More than a few fans cheekily pointed out that his Princess Bride character boasted of a resistance to poison, but the movie’s iocane powder unfortunately isn’t the same as snake venom.

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Johnny Depp took the stand again Monday in his defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

His testimony began with Heard’s attorney J. Benjamin Rottenborn continuing to grill him, before Depp’s own lawyer, Camille Vasquez, let him tell his side of the story on redirect.

Last week, Rottenborn tried to contrast Depp’s living up to the “standards of a Southern gentleman” with his texts to actor Paul Bettany, in which Depp said, “Let’s burn Amber,” and another that followed, “Let’s drown her before we burn her.” Those resurfaced again in court Monday.

Rottenborn also read a slew of headlines about the state of Depp’s career, essentially trying to debunk Depp’s claims that Heard’s Washington Post op-ed, in which she obliquely accused him of domestic violence, hurt his career.

Rotttenborn even intimated Depp cut his own finger off, not the vodka bottle Heard allegedly threw at him, based on an apparently sarcastic text he made to his doctor.

Later in the morning, Depp told his own lawyer reading the op-ed, was, “A blinding hurt. It was like somebody hit me on the back of the head with a two-by four.”

The actor later admitted his texts to Bettany were “…never intended to be real,” though said he was “ashamed” the messages were made public. He explained the texts were references to Monty Python and the Holy Grail‘s “burn the witch” scene, as he and Bettany shared the same “dry, obtuse, abstract” humor.

Depp called Heard’s relationship with WandaVision star Bettany “abominable,” saying, “Ms. Heard despised Mr. Bettany, mainly because we had become such close friends…he had become a threat, and would take me away from her.”

Depp also testified he learned he was dropped from Disney’s Pirates franchise days after the op-ed was published.

“I put a lot of myself into the character. And also having worked on these films with these people,” Depp said, “…I didn’t understand after that long relationship, that successful relationship, all of a sudden I was guilty until proven innocent.”

Asked to explain other texts Heard’s lawyers had previously quizzed him on, regarding his state of mind at the time, Depp said Heard used the same psychological “abuse” his mother did when he was a child.

“When you’re being demeaned, berated, judged, and treated like a lesser animal….’I’m a bad father.’ These things were endless,” he said. “There was no call for them. It’s hard to understand how someone who’s supposed to love you could be that cruel.”

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Holy identity theft, Batman! The visual effects YouTubers known as the Corridor Crew have struck again, this time using their digital know-how to insert the late Adam West and the Rogues Gallery from the kitchy 1966 movie Batman into the trailer for Matt Reeves‘ hit The Batman.

The gang grabbed clips of West, his Penguin, Burgess Meredeth, and Frank Gorshin‘s classic Riddler, and digitally inserted them into the coming attraction. For good measure, Burt Ward‘s Robin also makes an appearance, as does the Batcopter, and the classic Batmobile, which has been swapped for the muscle car driven by Robert Pattinson in the hit reboot.

The results are both impressive and hysterical: A clip of West dancing in the old film, for example, was recycled to appear as if he’s taking down a hallway full of gunmen. Meanwhile, Colin Farrell‘s impressive turn as Penguin was swapped with footage of Burgess Meredith’s constant quacking as the same character.

The Corridor gang’s video went viral over the weekend, with nearly 775,000 views and counting as of late Monday morning. And Reeves himself weighed in Monday, saying, “HA! This is amazing!”

The Corridor Crew’s YouTube channel specializes in analyzing — and sometimes improving — visual effects as seen in classic, and sometimes not so classic, films.

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