Entertainment

A new trailer for Disney+’s upcoming The Book of Boba Fett series hints at an important chapter: How he cheated death after the events of 1983’s Return of the Jedi.

As most Star Wars fans can tell you, Fett ended up in the belly of a sandpit-dwelling creature known as a sarlacc, as the heroes escaped the clutches of Jabba the Hutt in that film. But The Mandalorian brought Boba back from the dead, and Star Wars prequel star Temuera Morrison to fill his spike-tipped boots.

Some glimpses in the new trailer shows we might get to see how he escaped. Morrison is shown submerged in a healing fluid filled bath known as a bacta tank — the same therapy Luke Skywalker used after his run-in with a wampa in The Empire Strikes Back — and the new clip hints the desert planet’s natives, the Sand People, might have scooped him up when he was “left for dead in the sands of Tatooine.”

As previously reported, The Book of Boba Fett will track Boba’s rebirth from bounty hunter to crime lord, taking over Jabba’s empire.

Incidentally, Star Wars creator George Lucas has admitted regret in unceremoniously “killing off” Boba, not knowing at the time the character would become a fan favorite — despite having just four lines of dialog between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

The Book of Boba Fett debuts on Disney+ December 29. Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Describing what seems like a scene from a movie, Bradley Cooper reveals he was held at gunpoint on a New York City subway. 

During Monday’s episode of the Armchair Expert podcast, the 46-year-old actor and filmmaker recounted the terrifying incident. 

“I used to walk around New York City all the time with these [headphones] on — this was pre-pandemic — I was on the subway [at] 11:45 to pick up [his daughter] Lea downtown at Russian school and I got held up at knifepoint. It was pretty insane,” Cooper began.

Cooper said that he was “all the way at the end of the subway” when he felt someone’s presence.

“I thought, Oh, they want to take a photo or something,” he continued. “As I turned, I’m up against the post like it’s the French Connection or some s***, and I turned. I looked down and I see a knife.”

The five-time Academy Award nominee shared that he couldn’t “hear anything” because he had headphones but recalled being taken by how “young” the person looked.

Explaining how he got out of the situation, Cooper recalled, “I just started booking, just started running. I jumped over the turnstile, hid around the white, tiled entrance to the subway [and] took my phone out. He jumped over, running away. I took a photo of him. Then I chased him up the stairs. He started running up 7th Avenue. I took two more photographs of him.”

Eventually, Cooper was able to flag down two officers, who told him to check to make sure he hadn’t been  stabbed.

“What happens is people get stabbed and they’re in shock. I looked to see if he was right,” he said. “And then I got back on the subway and picked up my daughter.”

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Another Hollywood couple has reportedly decided to part ways: Tiffany Haddish and Common.

Although neither actor has publicly addressed their relationship, an insider told People, “They are never in the same city together and both of them are just too busy for a serious relationship.” 

Haddish, 41, first confirmed her relationship with Common, 49, in August 2020 during an episode of Steve-O’s Wild Ride! podcast.

“I am in a relationship,” she told Steve-O, showing off her freshly shaved head to match Common’s bald dome. “We’re twins now.” 

According to Haddish, the couple met when Common played her love interest in her 2019 film The Kitchen and they bonded over a few occasional spades games.

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The heirs of Aldo Gucci, chairman of the Gucci fashion house from 1953-1986, have issued a statement decrying their “ignorant and insensitive” portrayal in the Ridley Scott film, House of Gucci.

“The production of the film did not bother to consult the heirs before describing Aldo Gucci — [played in the film by Al Pacino]…and the members of the Gucci family as thugs, ignorant and insensitive to the world around them,” they say in a statement first published by Italian news agency ANSA and obtained by Variety.

The statement goes on to claim the film attributes “a tone and and an attitude to the protagonists of the well-known events that never belonged to them.”

The statement further claims the depiction of Patrizia Reggiani — played by Lady Gaga — who was convicted in 1998 of facilitating the murder of Maurizio Gucci — played by Adam Driver — “as a victim trying to survive in a male and male chauvinist corporate culture…couldn’t be further from the truth,” noting that that during the 70-year time span in which the Gucci company was a family business, it was “an inclusive company” and “there were several women who held top positions.”

“Gucci is a family that lives honoring the work of its ancestors, whose memory does not deserve to be disturbed to stage a spectacle that is untrue and which does not do justice to its protagonists,” the statement concluded, adding that “the members of the Gucci family reserve the right to take action to protect the name, image and dignity of themselves and their loved ones.”

Despite the accusations, no legal action is being taken at this time by the Gucci family against Scott’s Scott Free shingle and Universal, a source tells Variety.

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After a fundraiser to name a theater after Dave Chappelle at the Duke Ellington School for the Arts in Washington, D.C. was rescheduled, the controversial comedian is now asking his critics to donate money to the school.

“If you object to my receiving this honor, I urge you to donate to the school, noting your objection. If you are in favor of the theater being named ‘Chappelle,’ I urge you to donate to the school, noting your approval,” he wrote on Instagram.

The high school theater was originally set to be named after alumnus Chappelle on November 23. Following objections about the comedian’s LGBTQ+ comments in his Netflix special, The Closer, the ceremony was moved to April 22, 2022.

Chappelle says he will act according to whichever opinion raises the most donations by the time of the renaming ceremony.

“If by April, those against the ‘Chappelle’ theater exceed the donations of those who are neutral or in favor of the theater named ‘Chappelle,’ I will gladly step aside. If not, I will happily attend the naming ceremony,” he wrote.

In other news, Steve Harvey has added another show to his long resume. The Family Feud host will now head Judge Steve Harvey, an unscripted courtroom comedy series premiering Tuesday, January 4 at 8 p.m. on ABC.

“Viewers tuning into Judge Steve Harvey will watch as I tackle tough and, at times, entertaining issues while also providing much-needed advice and good old-fashioned common sense to the litigants in my court.” Harvey said in a statement.

Finally, The Black Pack: We Three Kings starring Taye Diggs, Ne-Yo and Eric Bellinger airs Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on CW. They will be joined by Tank and Sevyn Streeter for an evening of music, comedy and dance.

 

 

 

 

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While he’s still maintaining his innocence, former Empire star Jussie Smollett‘s trial over faking a hate crime attack against himself got underway in Chicago Monday morning. 

The actor is facing multiple charges stemming from the February, 2019 incident, in which he claimed two white Trump supporters jumped him, threw bleach on him, and tied a noose around his neck. 

His story later fell apart, and two Nigerian bodybuilder brothers, who were extras on Empire, told authorities they were hired by the actor to stage the attack. 

According to Chicago ABC affiliate WLS-TV, potential jurors were asked questions by Judge James Linn, including whether or not they watched Empire or TMZ coverage of the situation, or if they were ever a victim of a hate crime. 

The judge says he expects the long-awaited trial to last a week.

Smollett faces six counts of disorderly conduct, which is a class 4 felony and carries a potential sentence of up to three years in prison. 

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For fans of Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man who were worried by recent comments he made to GQ about envisioning a life “without the lycra,” rest easy.

Amy Pascal, who produced Sony Pictures’ Spidey movies, including the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home says Holland is here to stay. 

In lycra, no less. 

“This is not the last movie that we are going to make with Marvel [Studios],” she tells Fandango of Far From Home.“

Pascal elaborated, “We are getting ready to make the next Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland and Marvel. We’re thinking of this as three films, and now we’re going to go onto the next three. This is not the last of our MCU movies,” she noted. 

“Yes, Marvel and Sony are going to keep going together as partners.”

Sony retains the rights to Spider-Man. But under a unique partnership, Sony Pictures shared Holland’s web-slinger with Disney-owned Marvel Studios, starting with his first Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.

Since then, Holland’s movies have been co-productions between Sony and Marvel Studios, but there were headlines in 2019 that that partnership could be in jeopardy. 

Meanwhile, Sony had seen success with non-Disney affiliated Marvel movies like Spider-Verse, Venom, and has Mobius on deck, but until a post-credits scene in the recent sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage, these existed outside of Disney and without Holland.

The post-credit scene hinted that Tom Hardy‘s shape-shifting anti-hero might soon share the screen with Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man in a future, MCU-linked film. 

What a tangled web, to quote The Bard.

No Way Home swings into theaters December 17. 

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On social media this morning, Channing Tatum announced that a third Magic Mike film is a go. 

“Well, world, looks like Mike Lane’s tapping back in,” the Free Guy co-star posted, referring to his exotic dancer character. 

“Let’s go!!” he enthused.

The film is bound exclusively for HBO Max.

The picture of the script Tatum posted also revealed the title: Magic Mike’s Last Dance, and its director, Traffic Oscar winner and Magic Mike series helmer Steven Soderbergh. 

The writer of both 2012’s Magic Mike and its 2015 sequel, Magic Mike XXL, Reid Carolin, also returned to the keyboard to complete the trilogy. 

The modestly-budgeted series has grossed more than $285 million in theaters worldwide, and spawned a global Chippendale’s-like stage show called Magic Mike Live.

 

 

 

 

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In a new video posted to YouTube and social media, Disney Parks has given fans a new look at its upcoming interactive hotel experience called Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. 

With the help of The Goldbergs‘ Sean Giambrone, the nearly 3-minute video gives a taste of what patrons can expect when the hotel — created to look like the intergalactic cruise ship Halcyon — opens in March. 

Ann Morrow Johnson, an executive producer at Walt Disney Imagineering, tells Giambrone the centerpiece of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at the Walt Disney World park in Orlando, is “a first of its kind vacation experience where you get to spend two days and two nights living out your very own Star Wars story.”

To that end, Johnson shows him points of interest inside the “ship” that has been modeled to appear as if it came from that galaxy far, far away.

Included on her tour for future guests is a lightsaber training room, the hotel’s “bridge,” and other refinements — though at one point, Giambrone sneaks off and takes in a show at a cantina, similar to the one seen in 1977’s Star Wars. Performing for the patrons is a Twi’lek torch singer — the alien race with tendril-like head-tails frequently seen in the Star Wars universe.

The Star Wars decor is also carried through from the rooms to the menus. And rest easy, its booking website notes: “While itineraries do occasionally experience some disruptions due to the unrest in certain parts of the galaxy, Chandrila Star Line starcruisers are well-equipped with the latest shield and turbolaser technology to defend themselves in the unlikely event of dire circumstances — which are never an issue. Well, almost never.”

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Hot in Cleveland alum and current Food Network star Valerie Bertinelli has filed for legal separation from her husband of 10 years, Tom Vitale, according to documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight.

Bertinelli filed the paperwork in the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Wednesday. The documents list the date of separation as “TBD” and “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the legal separation. The filing also notes a premarital agreement dated Dec. 21, 2010 that is “fully binding on the parties.”

The 61-year-old TV personality and Vitale tied the knot in 2011 and have no minor children. Bertinelli wants to terminate the court’s ability to award support to both of them.

Bertinelli was previously married to rocker Eddie Van Halen from 1981-2007, with whom she had her now-29-year-old son, Wolfgang, in 1991. Eddie died in October 2020 from lung cancer at age 65.

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