Entertainment

Despite the pandemic, The Batman has so far made $258.3 million dollars domestically, exclusively from theatrical screenings.  But if you’ve been unable, or unwilling, to venture to your local multiplex to see it, you won’t have very long to wait.

A glitch on the HBO website has revealed that The Batman will debut on HBO Max on Tuesday, April 19.  Deadline and other outlets report the information was quickly taken down, but Deadline says it has since confirmed that the date is legit.  The Batman will also bow on the regular pay HBO on Saturday, April 23, according to the info.

As the pandemic continues, Warner Bros. has typically streamed its theatrical releases on HBO Max 45 days after their cinematic opening.  The Batman opened on March 4, making April 19 46 days after its domestic debut.

An HBO Max spinoff series starring Colin Farrell as the Penguin was recently given the green light.

The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight and Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, not only is the highest-grossing domestic release of 2020, but it just crossed the half-a-billion dollars earnings mark globally, grossing $505.8 million as of Wednesday.

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The season-one finale of Single Drunk Female airs tonight. The cast caught up with ABC Audio ahead of the episode’s premiere to tell fans what to expect. 

Sasha Compére, who plays Brit — main character Sam’s former best friend — predicted that the finale will have fans “tweeting about where Sam and Brit will go from here.”

Brit is set to wed the ex-boyfriend of Sam, played by Sofia Black-D’Elia, but a teaser of the episode shows she has cold feet.  

“I think people will be really interested to see how Sam is evolved and they’ll maybe talk about her choices in this finale and how she has an opportunity to step up,” Compére teased.  

Lily Mae Harrington, who plays Sam’s friend Felicia, added, “A lot of things come to a head in this finale… There are a couple of things that definitely end up coming full circle.” 

Struggling to avoid revealing too much, Harrington said this episode will attack the “underbelly” of the series, which she says is “[f]emale friendship and female relationships, whether that’s mother-daughter or best friends or former friends.”

Garrick Bernard, who plays Sam’s potential love interest James, praised how the show handles those elements, as well as the the themes of addiction and recovery. 

“I do love [series creator] Jenni Konner‘s writing,” he said. “The direction that it has is really beautiful in a weird way, where these are funny people doing comedic things at times, but there’s no quirky music behind it. It’s a silent, realistic take on what happens… [with] alcoholism and sobriety.”

Bernard added that the show is a must-watch for those “who are afraid of taking that first step,” noting, “It is just nice to watch someone’s journey through getting better.”  

Single Drunk Female airs tonight at 10 p.m. ET on Freeform.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) On her Instagram, The Boys‘ Karen Fukuhara reveals that she was hit in the head in what’s become a disturbing trend of anti-Asian attacks in this country. 

“Today I was struck in the head by a man,” the 30-year-old American actress began a series of messages, explaining that although she’s “physically fine,” after the “hate crime,” she’s fed up.

She added, “This s*** needs to stop. Us women, Asians and the elderly need your help.”

The actress, who plays the super-powered Kimiko on the Amazon series, said she was walking to a cafe when a male came up behind her and hit her in the head so hard her hat flew off.

“I thought about confronting him at first, but he started coming towards me and I didn’t think it was worth the risk,” she revealed.

After he yelled at her, the man walked away, Fukuhara noted, adding, “This is the first time I’ve been harmed physically, although racial slurs and hurtful actions have been directed to me in the past.”

She added that “multi-racial friends of mine…had no idea these hate crimes happen to [us] everyday, regular people…I felt it was important to raise awareness.”

She also vented, “Why is this something we as ‘victims’ have to think about? What satisfaction are these perpetrators getting from hitting women, Asians, the elderly? They need to be held accountable [for]…these horrible crimes.”

The actress’ post comes days after the arrest of a suspect caught on tape punching an elderly Asian woman more than 100 times in the lobby of her Yonkers, New York, building. According to WABC-TV, Tammel Esco, 42, was charged with attempted murder as a hate crime and assault as a hate crime — both violent felonies.

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The show must go on. With Broadway attendance picking up, and with more theater-goers expected to come as COVID-19 vaccine mandates for patrons are relaxed at the end of April, The Broadway League is resuming its reporting of shows’ ticket sales. 

Charlotte St. Martin, president The Broadway League, announced the change Thursday. She said in a statement, “With the optimism that comes as spring approaches and as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, 16 new Broadway productions are preparing to open in March and April and audiences from across the country and around the world are returning to New York.”

Martin continued, “As we move forward into this more ‘normal’ time, Broadway sales figures will be reported on a weekly basis beginning March 22, 2022.”

Even as recently as January of this year, with the surge of omicron cases, Broadway’s bottom line had been devastated because of the pandemic. Nine shows closed — some temporarily, like To Kill a Mockingbird, others permanently, like Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations  — as attendance plummeted.

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Wendy Williams is addressing months of reports and rumors about her mental and physical well-being after health struggles kept her from returning to her show for a 13th season. In an exclusive interview with Good Morning America, Williams said she is “comfortable” and “ready” to work again.

“Give me about three months,” she said in a phone interview. “There are private things that I have to deal with and then I’ll be ready to come back and be free and ready to do my thing.”

Just last month, producers of The Wendy Williams Show announced that Williams’ talk show would come to an  end after 14 seasons and will be replaced this fall by Sherri, a new series hosted by Sherri Shepherd. Shepherd had been one of the fan favorites filling in for Williams, who was said to be sidelined because of complications from her Graves’ disease, which is a thyroid condition.

Amid her various health struggles, Williams is in a legal battle with Wells Fargo Bank, which froze her accounts for two months. She said this has prevented her from fulfilling her financial obligations, including mortgage payments and employee payroll.

“They say that I need somebody to handle my account. And I don’t want that,” Williams said. “I want all my money. I want to see all my money that I’ve worked hard for my entire life. My entire life…I am an honest, hard-working person.”

In court documents, the bank said it has requested a conservatorship for the talk show host because it believes “she is the victim of undue influence and financial exploitation” — an allegation Wendy has denied.

“I want to spend more time with my family,” Williams said. “And you know, working out and waiting for the responses to my money situation and Wells Fargo. And they don’t like that. I’ve worked hard every single day, even on days when you know, I might have a little cold.”

Wells Fargo didn’t comment about Williams’ recent statements, but in February, the bank told People magazine, “We deny any allegations of improper actions with respect to Ms. Williams’ accounts and are fully participating in a court process to reach a resolution that is in her best interest. The financial well-being of our clients is at the heart of everything we do.”

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Forget one cover — Essence magazine just released not one, not two, not three, but four digital covers in honor of the milestone anniversary for their annual Black Women in Hollywood issue. 

This year’s honorees — Nia Long, Aunjanue Ellis, Quinta Brunson, and Chanté Adams — each have their own stunning digital cover for the special issue. The women, whose talents have contributed to the creation of a vast and dynamic Black cinematic universe, will also be honored at the 15th annual Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards taking place in Beverly Hills on March 24. 

In the issue, the honorees talk about a variety of meaningful topics like the importance of being heard. 

“To truly make an impact and to be true to the art, an artist needs to be heard,” Long said. “Because I come to the table having really studied what I’m doing, not just showing up.”

Brunson also shed some light on the importance of being one’s truest self.

“Going on a true self-worth and introspective journey before you go out into the real world, it’s lifesaving,” the actress shared. “I really want that for more young Black women. It’s a lot of stuff that’s thrown at us. And if we kind of do the work to know the ins and outs of who we are, it can provide a protective shield.”

The Essence Black Women in Hollywood issue is out now. 

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Instagram has placed Kanye West on a 24-hour suspension for violating the platform’s harassment policy.

The Yeezy founder, 44, has been restricted from posting, commenting and sending DMs, among other actions, for 24 hours, a spokesperson for parent company Meta confirmed to ABC News. They have also deleted posts that contain content that violates their policies on hate speech, bullying and harassment.

The spokesperson adds that repeated violations will result in further action. Representatives for Kanye had no comment to ABC News on the matter.

The 24-hour ban comes after Ye made several controversial posts aimed at his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian, and her boyfriend, Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson. The rapper has been very vocal on social media about his custody negotiations regarding the four children he shares with Kim, claiming he’s been prevented from seeing his them. He’s also posted about Pete and even dissed him in the “Eazy” song and video. 

A recent post about Davidson again referred to the SNL star, saying, “Im really concerned that SKETE will get my kids mom hooked on drugs He’s in rehab every 2 months.”

Ye also posted about Daily Show host Trevor Noah and comic D.L. Hughley, who have both publicly commented on the ongoing drama between Ye, Kim and Pete.

What [Kim is] going through is terrifying to watch, and it shines a spotlight on what so many women go through when they choose to leave,” Noah said, comparing West’s behavior to that of his abusive father, who nearly shot his mother to death. “As a society, we have to ask ourselves questions. Do we wish to stand by and watch a car crash when we thought we saw it coming?”

In response, West posted a now-deleted photo of Noah from Google that described him as a “South African comedian,” along with racist lyrics to the song “Kumbaya.”

West commented, “All in together now… K**n baya my lord k**n baya…”

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Euphoria and White Lotus star Sydney Sweeney will join Dakota Johnson in Sony’s Marvel movie Madame Web, according to Deadline. Johnson will play the titular character — a.k.a Cassandra Webb — a mutant with psychic and other abilities, whose incredibly powerful mind inhabits the body of a paralyzed, elderly woman confined to a hospital bed. Her physical form is kept alive thanks to a life support system that features a network of tubes resembling a spider’s web. Sweeney’s character has not been revealed…

Starz has dropped a new trailer for Gaslit, the anthology series from Mr. Robot writer and director Robbie Pickering, based on the award-winning Slate podcast Slow Burn. Julia Roberts and Sean Penn star as Martha and John Mitchell in the series, which focuses on “the untold stories and forgotten characters of Watergate, from [Richard] Nixon’s opportunistic subordinates to the deranged zealots aiding and abetting their crimes to the tragic whistleblowers who would eventually bring the whole rotten enterprise crashing down.” Gaslit premieres April 24 on Starz… (Trailer contains uncensored profanity.)

Variety reports that Dune stars Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa are in final talks to present all eight Oscar categories cut from being shown in real-time during the telecast on ABC on March 27. The categories include original score, makeup and hairstyling, documentary short, film editing, production design, animated short, live action short and sound. Highlights of the untelevised hour will be edited into the telecast. Momoa and Brolin will also make appearances during the live show…

HBO has released the teaser trailer for the third season of Barry, the acclaimed dark comedy created, executive-produced and starring Saturday Night Live alum Bill Hader. Hader plays the titular character, a depressed hitman from the Midwest who’s sent to Los Angeles to kill an aspiring actor, but decides instead to ditch his life of crime to become an actor himself. Henry Winkler co-stars, along with Stephen Root. Barry returns Sunday, April 24…

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Anne Hathaway tackles a complicated role in the new Apple TV+ series WeCrashed. The series, out Friday, chronicles the rise and fall of WeWork, its charismatic founder Adam Neumann, and his wife/WeWork Chief Branding Officer Rebekah Neumann.

Hathaway plays Rebekah and tells ABC Audio that while Rebekah may not seem like the most relatable person, we can certainly identify with “the very human experience of having a goal and falling short of it and what that must feel like.”

Rebekah is credited with coming up with the mission phrase of WeWork, which was “to elevate the world’s consciousness,” and Hathaway thinks Rebekah really believed in it.

“I think she wants to do good. I think she wants to make the world a better place. And I really do think she believed in the power of We,” says the Ocean’s Eight star.

A belief Hathaway doesn’t share with Neumann is the idea that one person can change the world.

“I believe that you can change yourself and you can be open about that process, but I don’t think that the world is going to be saved by one person doing good,” she explains. “I think it’s going to be saved by all of us doing good.”

Hathaway did benefit from picking up one of Rebekah’s habits.

“I do yoga now,” she shares. “Rebecca has much healthier habits than I do. So getting to live as her as for the better part of a year wound up being a very good thing for me.” 

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After less than a week behind bars, Jussie Smollett was released from jail Wednesday.

The release comes after an appeals court, in a two-one decision, agreed that the former Empire star should be released on bond pending the appeal of his conviction for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack.

Smollett’s attorneys had argued that he would have finished the sentence by the time the appeal process was completed and that Smollett could be in danger of physical harm if he remained locked up in Cook County Jail. 

Smollett was let out on a personal recognizant bond of $150,000, which did not require him to put any money down, but he agrees to attend court as required. 

The actor’s attorneys said the actor broke down when they gave him the news he’d be freed.

“He pushed his hands on the glass and he was, his eyes got teary and I’ve never seen that, because he’s been very strong in there,” said attorney Nenye Uche. “And he said, ‘I nearly lost hope in our constitutional system.'”

Last week, Smollett was sentenced to 30 months of probation for lying to police about staging a hate crime attack against himself in Chicago, with the first 150 days of the sentence in Cook County Jail. He spend a total of six nights in jail before his release. 

A jury convicted Smollett in December on five felony counts of disorderly conduct — the charge filed when a person lies to police. He was acquitted on a sixth count.

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