With news of Disney’s theatrical release schedule being announced June 13, there was a particular note of interest to movie fans: The fifth and last Avatar adventure will reportedly hit theaters on December 19 … 2031.
The original Avatar movie came out in 2009, for some perspective.
The news — and the passage of time — wasn’t lost on the franchise’s Zoe Saldaña. The 44-year-old Marvel movie veteran had a laugh about it on Instagram.
To a headline about the 2031 date, Zoe said, “Great! I’m gonna be 53 when the last avatar movie comes out!” along with a “shocked” emoji.
The actress also noted, “I was 27 when I shot the very first avatar movie.”
No doubt in an industry that obsesses about youth James Cameron‘s franchise must be a pretty sweet gig: The same computer wizardry that turns the 5-foot-7-inch actress into her 9-foot-8-inch blue alien character, Neytiri, will ensure Zoe and her castmates don’t look radically different than when their Na’vi alter egos were first seen on Pandora in 2009.
Egos and Hollywood’s stigmas about “actresses of a certain age” aside, it makes sense canonically, as the alien race can live as long as 180 human years.
Madonna is back on the BillboardHot 100, which has landed her a new chart milestone.
The singer is featured on The Weeknd’s latest song, “Popular,” featuring Playboi Carti, which debuted at #43 on the chart this week. The new hit makes Madonna the only female artist other than Cher to have Hot 100 debuts in five separate decades. Brenda Lee has had Hot 100 hits over five decades — they just didn’t all debut on the chart.
“Popular,” which is from The Weeknd’s HBO drama The Idol, is Madonna’s highest chart appearance since February 2012, when her “Give Me All Your Luvin’,” a collaboration with Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., landed at 10.
“When we started @WheelofFortune who could have imagined we’d still be at it 41 seasons later?” she tweeted on June 13. “I couldn’t be happier to have shared the stage with you for all these years with one more to come.”
White, 66, ended her tweet with a toast to her longtime friend and co-worker, writing, “Cheers to you, @patsajak!”
Sajak, 76, shared a statement the day prior in which he told fans “the time has come” for him to step away from his hosting duties at the end of the upcoming 41st season, which begins in September.
“It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months,” he said. “Many thanks to you all.”
The show’s official Instagram account reposted Sajak’s statement, captioning it, “Thank you, Pat!”
Sajak has hosted Wheel of Fortune since 1981, with White joining the game show the following year.
White, the show’s resident letter-flipper, previously filled in for Sajak as host when he underwent emergency surgery in November 2019 for a blocked intestine.
(WASHINGTON) — Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday made his first public remarks on the historic indictment of former President Donald Trump on federal criminal charges.
Garland, taking questions at an event on combatting violent crime, said he couldn’t discuss particulars of the case but offered general praise for Smith and his team.
“As I said when I appointed Mr. Smith, I did so because it underscores the Justice Department’s commitment to both independence and accountability,” the attorney general said. “Mr. Smith is a veteran career prosecutor. He has assembled a group of experienced and talented prosecutors and agents who share his commitment to integrity. Any questions about this matter will have to be answered by their filings in court.”
Garland, when asked about his role in the indictment process, said he followed regulations set forth for an attorney general in special counsel investigation.
Pressed by ABC News Senior Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas on why an indictment was the “best and most appropriate step,” Garland repeated he was not going to get into particulars of the case.
The monochrome video features Ashley delivering the song in various spaces, such as a bedroom, a kitchen and a performance space with her band. Viewers also get a glimpse of Ashley’s childhood through personal footage.
The 3 1/2-minute clip then wraps with Ashley sharing a sweet moment with her mom at the kitchen table.
“Light On In The Kitchen” is the lead single off Ashley’s forthcoming album, The Devil I Know. The 11-track record, which drops September 8, will include the previously released title track and “Learned To Lie.”
John Mellencamp is giving folks a little insight into what went wrong in his relationship with Meg Ryan.
In an interview with Esquire, Mellencamp admits, “I love Meg Ryan. I went with her for ten years.” But, he says, “She doesn’t love me so much. She’s a great girl. I’m just a s***** boyfriend.”
He also recalls a time when they first started dating and tried to step outside their celebrity life, where things are often done for you.
“We were so f****** lost. We didn’t know how to do anything. I’ve never checked out of a hotel by myself,” he shares. “Her and I went to a grocery store, and they wanted our credit card, and we looked at each other and said, ‘Here it is,’ and they said, ‘No, you’ve got to put it in this thing,’ and we went, ‘Then what happens?’”
He adds, “We laughed at how stupid we are, so hard we cried. I think she’s learned how to do everything, and I’ve learned how to do nothing.”
Mellencamp and Ryan began dating in late 2010. They broke up and got back together several times before confirming their engagement in November 2018. They reportedly broke up for good in October 2019.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday he “cannot defend what is alleged” in the most recent indictment against former President Donald Trump, a seemingly tougher stance than he had previously taken regarding the Justice Department’s decision to charge his former running mate.
Still, Pence, who said he read the 49-page document over the weekend, reiterated his accusation that the Justice Department deployed a “two-tiered system of justice” against Trump and said he would hold off on giving his final judgment until the former president has had his day in court.
“This indictment contains serious charges, and I cannot defend what is alleged,” he told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Wednesday, personalizing the issue both with his family’s military service and his own experiences with security clearance. “The very prospect that what is alleged here took place — creating an opportunity where highly sensitive classified material could have fallen into the wrong hands, even inadvertently — that jeopardizes our national security [and] puts at risk the men and women of our Armed Forces.”
“I can’t defend what is alleged, but the former president has a right to his day in court,” Pence repeated. “I just can’t — I can’t believe that politics didn’t play some role here.”
The comments mirrored those the former vice president gave to the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board on Tuesday afternoon, just after Trump pleaded not guilty in a Miami federal court house to 37 counts brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith related to his handling of classified materials.
“As the father and father-in-law of two men that currently serve in the Armed Forces of the United States, I will never diminish concerns over the handling of classified materials,” Pence said. “The documents that were alleged to be in the president’s possession — describing defense capabilities of our country, potential vulnerabilities of the United States and our allies — if these materials had ever inadvertently made their way in the hands of foreign interests, it would jeopardize the security of our country as well as the safety and security of our Armed Forces.”
“President Trump is entitled to his day in court, and I’m going to listen with great interest to his defense and will render any judgment about this matter after the president has had the opportunity to make his case,” he continued. “But I will tell you … I’ve lived through years of politicization at the Department of Justice, and I share the concern of millions of Americans about the way politics has played a hand.”
“I want to emphasize that when we look at an indictment, it’s only one side of the story,” Pence added Tuesday. Trump has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
He said the indictment “argues for a fresh start in this country” and vowed in both interviews to “clean house” at the Department of Justice and FBI if elected president.
“One of the first things we’re going to do is clean house at the highest level of the Department of Justice and bring in men and women who are above reproach, who are respected on both sides of the aisle,” he told CNBC. “We’ve got to have respect for the rule of law in this country and for all those that enforce the laws.”
Asked then how he’s able to “square” his line that “no one’s above the law” with his echoing of Trump’s efforts to undermine the Justice Department, Pence said, “I don’t think there’s any circle to square.”
“I think two things are true today: Number one is no one’s above the law. This indictment includes serious charges. I can’t defend what’s alleged there. The handling of classified materials is vitally important to the country,” he said. “But look, we’ve gone through about — trying to do the math here — about out seven years where the American people have lost confidence in our Department of Justice.”
Asked on Friday while campaigning at MaryAnn’s Diner New Hampshire, as the indictment was unsealed, whether Trump should drop out of the race like some competitors say, Pence called that “premature.”
“I think the former president has a right to make his defense. And we’ll respect that right,” he said.
He also said at that time, before having had a chance to review the indictment, that he’d hoped the Department of Justice “would see its way clear to resolve these issues with the former president without moving forward with charges.”
“I would hope that the Department of Justice, however the case against the former president proceeds, will proceed on the inquiry of President Biden and also his family with equal vigor,” Pence said, referring to the ongoing investigation into Biden’s potential mishandling of classified documents.
Pence, who was cleared of all charged in his own classified materials case, testified earlier this year before a different federal grand jury investigating his former running mate on efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The indictment against Trump came just days after Pence launched his campaign for the Republican nomination for president. Trump holds a comfortable lead in the race for the nomination, and he even gained some ground in the primary in an ABC News poll conducted after Trump’s first indictment in New York. Trump pleaded not guilty to the felony charges he faced in New York City.
Deadline reports the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre is set to dim its marquee lights for one minute in honor of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame legend on Wednesday, June 21, at 7 p.m. ET. The theater is where the musical of her life, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical, ran on Broadway.
The show originally debuted in London’s West End before coming to Broadway. It ran from 2019 to 2022, closing August 14, 2022, after 27 previews and 482 productions. It was nominated for 12 Tony Awards, with Tina portrayer Adrienne Warren winning Best Lead Actress/Musical.
(SURFSIDE, Fla.) — Nearly two years after the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium complex collapsed, causing the deaths of 98 people in Surfside, Florida, plans were submitted Monday that call for another 12-story condominium building to be constructed on the oceanfront property where the catastrophe occurred.
DAMAC International, a company based in United Arab Emirates, said in a news release that the proposed “ultra-luxury boutique oceanfront development” would include 57 condominiums and two pools. The company released renderings of two possible designs for the building.
The Town of Surfside’s Planning Department confirmed to ABC News that the developer’s application was received Monday.
“DAMAC plans to commence construction sometime in 2024,” a spokesperson for the developer told ABC News.
The Surfside Planning Commission would need to approve the plans in order for DAMAC International to be allowed to proceed with the project. Surfside’s municipal government will first review the proposal and will eventually schedule a public hearing, but a meeting date has not yet been set.
“It’s a difficult issue because there’s the emotional aspect to it,” Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger told ABC News. “We can’t deny a plan unless there’s a legal reason.”
Champlain Towers South opened in 1981 just north of Miami Beach and included 136 condominiums. The collapse of roughly half of the building occurred around 1:22 a.m. on June 24, 2021, and caused first responders from around the world to travel to South Florida to assist with the search and rescue efforts.
“While no work of architecture can ever remove the pain of the past, nor should it, a truly ambitious work of architecture can respect such a significant site,” Chris Lepine of Zaha Hadid Architects said in the press release. “It’s a great responsibility to be providing this vision for Surfside.”
Just over a year after the collapse, East Oceanside Development, LLC, a firm associated with DAMAC International, bought the property for $120 million, according to Miami-Dade County property records.
“I think we’d have all liked to see a memorial there and it turned into some kind of park, but that ship sailed a long time ago,” Danzinger said, adding that part of nearby 88th Street is now expected to be converted to a memorial park in at least a year.
The news of the development proposal comes as an exact cause of the collapse has still not been determined.
Investigators from the National Institute of Standards and Technology are expected to provide an update on their research during a meeting on Friday, but according to a NIST spokesperson, their investigation will not be completed until spring of 2024 and the resulting report will not be published until a year after that.
Meanwhile, Surfside officials, survivors and relatives of the victims are preparing to mark two years since the collapse. A torch will be lit in a public remembrance service at a park across the street from the property at 1:22 a.m. on June 24 and the victims’ names will be read after.
“We don’t want to forget,” Danzinger said. “We want to keep their memories alive.”
(PHILADELPHIA) — Officials unveiled on Wednesday a plan to repair an elevated section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia that collapsed when a tanker truck caught fire in the underpass.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said the “most efficient” way to get the impacted lanes reopened will be to backfill and pave over the Cottman Avenue underpass and then work to build a new bridge.
“Once complete, cars and trucks can return to this stretch of 95 and then we will work together to build a permanent bridge, while making sure we keep six lanes of traffic open at all times,” Shapiro said at a press conference.
A 24/7 livestream feed that will allow the public to watch the reconstruction in real time will be set up over the weekend, according to the governor.
Shapiro didn’t give a timeline on when the repaving of the underpass will be complete, but he stressed that it will be done “as quickly as possible.” The materials to fill the underpass will arrive on Thursday, he said.
“This is our championship,” he added. “We are ready to go and I am proud as hell to be on the team with all of these guys and gals standing behind me here today.”
The governor had told reporters on Sunday evening that “the complete rebuild” is expected “to take some number of months.”
The bridge collapsed on Sunday morning as a tanker truck carrying 8,500 gallons of gasoline attempted to navigate a left-hand turn after exiting at the Cottman Avenue offramp of I-95 in Pennsylvania’s largest city, according to officials. Losing control through its turn, the truck fell on its side and ruptured its own tank. Once ignited, the fuel burned at a high enough heat to structurally compromise the concrete and steel I-beams of the overpass, officials said.
The northbound lanes of the affected segment collapsed, while the southbound lanes are compromised and will also need to be replaced. Crews have since removed most of the collapsed structure along with the tanker truck that was trapped beneath, officials said. They are now working to demolish the structurally unsound southbound portion of the roadway. The full demolition will be finished by Thursday, according to Shapiro.
The Pennsylvania State Police said Monday that a body was recovered from the wreckage and turned over to the Philadelphia County Medical Examiner and Coroner. While authorities have yet to identify the remains, the family of Nathaniel Moody told ABC News that he was the driver of the tanker truck and had died in the crash. Moody leaves behind a son and two daughters, his family said.
I-95 is one of the busiest travel corridors in the United States and serves as the main north-south highway on the East Coast. An average of more than 160,000 vehicles travel across the impacted section in Philadelphia every day, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
