Emmy-winning Euphoria lead and Spider-Man franchise co-star Zendaya has gotten a big thumbs-up from the people who likely own that theater near you.
She’s been named this year’s recipient of the Star of the Year award from CinemaCon, the annual convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners.
The event’s managing director, Mitch Neuhauser, said in the announcement, “In just a few short years, Zendaya has captured audiences’ attention with her compassionate performance on the small screen as Rue in Euphoria and has drawn audiences in on the big screen with her performances in Spider-Man: Far From Home, The Greatest Showman and Dune.” He added, “We could not be more honored to present Zendaya with this year’s … award.”
On August 11, Zendaya will return to theaters in MGM’s romantic sports drama Challengers. On November 3, Zendaya again will be seen as Chani in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ Dune: Part Two.
Zendaya will receive her trophy at CinemaCon’s Big Screen Achievement Awards ceremony, held at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Thursday, April 27.
According to the event organizers, the annual expo attracts upward of 6,000 motion picture professionals – “from exhibition and distribution to the equipment and concession areas – all on hand to celebrate the movie-going experience and the cinema industry.”
(BALTIMORE) — A Maryland appeals court on Tuesday reinstated Adnan Syed’s murder conviction after finding that a lower court violated the victim’s family the right to attend a hearing on vacating the conviction.
Syed, the subject of the “Serial” podcast, had his conviction tossed out by a circuit court and the Baltimore County state attorney’s office dropped charges before he was set free last fall.
Syed, who is now 41, had been serving a life sentence for the past 23 years — more than half his life — since his arrest in 1999.
He was just 17 when he was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and imprisonment of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in 2000.
He has maintained his innocence and denied any involvement in Lee’s death.
An appellate court panel voted 2-1 to reinstate the conviction, according to a court filing.
“We vacate the circuit court’s order vacating Mr. Syed’s convictions, which results in the reinstatement of the original convictions and sentence,” the court filing said. “We remand for a new, legally compliant, and transparent hearing on the motion to vacate, where Mr. Lee is given notice of the hearing that is sufficient to allow him to attend in person, evidence supporting the motion to vacate is presented, and the court states its reasons in support of its decision.”
Judge Michelle Phinn ordered Syed’s release in October 2022, asking for his shackles to be removed after listening to the state and the defense make arguments.
She said that “in the interests of fairness and justice,” Syed should be released on his own recognizance after finding that prosecutors failed to turn over evidence that could have helped his trial in 2000 and after new evidence was discovered that could have affected the outcome of his case.
The appellate court said “the circuit court violated Mr. Lee’s right to notice of, and his right to attend, the hearing on the State’s motion to vacate.”
A spokesperson for the state attorney said in a statement the office is “conducting a review of the decision.” The office did not answer whether Syed has to return to prison.
“We must allow the appeals process to play itself out, Mr. Syed and his legal team may file for an appeal to the Maryland Supreme Court, and we must respect their rights to do so until those rights are either heard or that request is denied; we are in a holding pattern. Any further comment would be premature at this time,” said spokesman James E. Bentley II.
A lawyer for Syed did not return an ABC News request for comment.
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — Security video from inside Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, captured the suspect entering the main school building unabated by blasting through two sets of glass double doors and stalking the halls before killing six people, including three children.
The security footage, released by police Monday night, raises new concerns over whether schools should have fortified or metal entrance doors that could have deterred or delayed the suspect’s entry. In the wake of recent school shootings, access to campuses and the role entrance doors played in the massacres have often come into question.
Nashville police said officers arrived at Covenant School and killed the suspect 14 minutes after getting the first 911 calls. The suspect, identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, was fatally shot by police officers on the second floor of the building, next to a broken window where the suspect allegedly fired at the patrol cars as they arrived at the scene.
The security video from Covenant School, a preschool to sixth-grade institution run by the Presbyterian church, begins by showing the suspect driving into the campus parking lot. Other video clips released by authorities captured the suspect firing several times at the glass doors on the side of the building.
The footage showed gunshots from one of two assault-type weapons the suspect was armed with easily shattering both double glass doors with a single shot.
The suspect is then seen entering the school building through the shattered doors, the footage shows. The suspect was wearing a red ball cap turned backward, camouflage pants, sneakers, black gloves and wielding two assault-type rifles, one being held and the other slung over a shoulder.
Other security video clips showed the suspect walking by the church office before circling back and entering the apparently empty office through an unlocked door before emerging, pointing the barrel of a gun down the hallway and then going through a set of unlocked double doors.
More surveillance video showed the suspect walking down an empty hallway holding a rifle with two hands and briefly glancing at an area with a sign reading “Children’s ministry” and continuing down the hall.
Brink Fiddler, president of Defend System, an active shooter training company that performed drills with staff at Covenant School last year, told ABC News his team reviewed entrances and exits of the school with staff and administrators, going over floor plans, building materials and the surrounding neighborhood to determine “what choices are better than others.”
Fiddler said most schools his company is hired to do active shooter drills are “all unique.”
He noted that a lot of schools and businesses have glass doors like Covenant School.
“We know that the shooter was able to breach that door via shooting through glass, which is, tragically, the same thing that happened at Sandy Hook,” Fiddler said, referring to the 2012 mass shooting at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 26 people dead, including 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7.
He said the teachers and staff at the Covenant School appeared to follow their active shooter training.
“We take them through a very specific set of steps, depending on where the threat is, on when it’s best to evade and leave the building, or best to lock down and shelter in place,” Fiddler said. “From what I’ve been told, both of those things occurred based on where students and teachers were in relation to the threat.”
Police body camera footage released Tuesday, showed the first officer arriving at the school and being met outside by a school staff member who informed the officer, “The kids are all locked down, but we have two kids that we don’t know where they are.” The staffer also told the officer the location of where gunshots were heard inside the building and that “upstairs are a bunch of kids.”
The body camera video showed police searching classroom to classroom before going up to the second floor where officers fatally shot the suspect.
In recent school mass shootings, unlocked or unfortified doors have been a recurring problem.
Limiting entry points to school buildings, reinforcing main entrances and locking classroom doors have been among measures adopted by schools as part of safety measures taken in the years since the Columbine High School mass shooting in 1999.
During a shooting last month at Michigan State University, in which three students were killed and five were injured, the gunman entered the MSU Union building, home to a food court, through an unlocked door.
In the May 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed, the suspect entered the school through a door that failed to latch when a teacher attempted to close it.
In the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 students and staff were killed, the gates and doors the gunman entered were left “unlocked, open and unattended,” according to a 2019 report from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission.
But Brad Garrett — a retired FBI agent and an ABC News contributor, who has done security audits on schools — said fortifying entrance doors with material like bulletproof glass, is cost prohibitive for most schools, especially a small Christian school like Covenant. He said metal doors are a cheaper option, but they make schools feel dark and “prison-like.”
“The reality is that mass shooters are going to take enough time to figure out how to get in,” said Garrett, noting that police found maps and drawings of the school on the suspect.
Despite all of the precautions taken to prevent a school mass shooting, they are still bound to occur, Fiddler said.
“There’s 8 million solutions out there that people think will work,” Fiddler said. “I live in a realistic world. We’re never going to stop all these. But I focus on if we can mitigate 90% of the damage or more during these events. Why would we not focus on that piece? And the mitigation comes back to the training from people knowing what to do.”
Matthew Macfadyen, who won an Outstanding Supporting Actor Emmy in 2022 for his portrayal of Tom Wambsgans in HBO’s acclaimed Succession, has reportedly been tapped by producer and star Ryan Reynolds for Deadpool 3.
The anticipated movie, the first official Marvel Cinematic Universe entry for Reynolds’ motormouthed mercenary since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019, will also star with Ryan’s bestie Hugh Jackman, playing Wolverine for the first time since hanging up his adamantium claws with 2016’s Oscar-nominated Logan.
It’s not known who Macfadyen will play, according to The Wrap; the same goes for The Crown‘s Emma Corrin, save that she’s reportedly the heavy in the film.
Deadpool 3 is slated to hit theaters on November 8, 2024, helmed by Stranger Things vet and Reynolds’ Free Guy and The Adam Project director Shawn Levy.
Disney Channel’s upcoming movie Prom Pact may take place in the present, but it features an ’80s-themed prom, which means there’s a lot of ’80s music on the soundtrack.
Billboard reports the soundtrack features such classic tracks as David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock & Roll,” Billy Idol’s “Mony Mony,” Robert Palmer’s “Addicted To Love” and more.
“There are so many songs I wanted to include,” the film’s director and executive producer, Anya Adams,tells the mag. “There’s not enough movie for the songs we wanted to use, but I wanted to bring in a multitude of different ’80s music.”
Prom Pact debuts Thursday, March 30, on Disney and will then stream on Disney+.
Here’s the Prom Pact soundtrack:
“Believer” – Imagine Dragons
“Bad Guy” – Billie Eilish
“Addicted to Love” – Robert Palmer
“Old Time Rock & Roll” – Bob Seger
“What Makes You Beautiful” – One Direction
“Fall on Me” – Great Big World and Christina Aguilera
“Let’s Dance” – David Bowie
“The Promise” – When in Rome
“Mony Mony” – Billy Idol
“I Wanna Dance With Somebody” – Whitney Houston
“Only You” – Yazoo
“Coincidance” – Handsome Dancer
Theme from Ghostbusters
(NEW YORK) — A suspect armed with multiple legally purchased firearms killed three children and three adults at a Tennessee school Monday, authorities said.
The tragic incident marked yet another mass shooting in the United States where the suspected shooter legally bought firearms used in the attack and has sparked renewed calls for gun reform.
The suspect, identified by police as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, was shot and killed by police responding to The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville. Hale had purchased seven firearms from five local gun stores legally, three of which were used in the shooting, Nashville Police Chief John Drake said Tuesday.
Hale fired a number of rounds inside the Covenant Church/School building. She was armed with these 3 guns and significant ammunition. pic.twitter.com/3LYOU2r0sh
“What we need from congressional Republicans is courage,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told ABC News’ “GMA3” on Tuesday. “What do you say to those parents? What do you say to those families? You can’t say to them, ‘There’s nothing else that can be done.’ That’s not what their job is as legislators.”
The weapons used in all 10 of the deadliest mass shootings of the past decade in the U.S. were purchased legally, based on an ABC News analysis.
1. Oct. 1, 2017: Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada
60 deaths
Fifty-eight people were killed and hundreds injured after a gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, targeting concertgoers below at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival. Two victims additionally succumbed to injuries in the years following the massacre.
The shooter, Stephen Paddock — who had 23 guns, including high-powered rifles, on hand — killed himself in his hotel suite, authorities said. Multiple loaded high-capacity magazines and a modified bump stock rifle, which allows a gun to simulate rapid automatic gunfire, were discovered in the room, law enforcement sources said at the time. Authorities said that Paddock had been stockpiling firearms since 1982 and bought nearly 50 guns legally.
2. June 12, 2016: Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida
49 deaths
A gunman opened fire inside the crowded nightclub at around 2 a.m., killing 49 people and wounding dozens. Many of the victims were Latinx and part of the LGBTQ+ community. The shooter — Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old former security guard — was killed in a shootout by responding police.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that Mateen had a .223 caliber AR-type rifle and a Glock handgun on him at the time of the shooting, which the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said he bought legally. Mateen legally purchased the guns he had on him within a week of the shooting, despite being known to law enforcement for years, federal officials confirmed.
3. Nov. 5, 2017: First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas
25 deaths
Twenty-five people between the ages of 5 and 72 were killed after a gunman opened fire during a Sunday service. One of the shooting victims was pregnant. The shooter, Devin Kelley, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he was chased and shot by two men.
About 18 months before the massacre, Kelley purchased the rifle used in the shooting — an AR-556 model 8500 — in an Academy Sports + Outdoors store in San Antonio. Kelley was disqualified from purchasing the firearm because of domestic violence charges and a dishonorable discharge from the U.S. Air Force, but was able to make the purchase because that information had not been reported to the FBI and did not come up in a background check, Texas officials said. A civil court found the Air Force 60% responsible for the mass shooting for failing to alert the FBI that Kelley could not legally purchase a gun through its alert system.
4. Aug. 3, 2019: Walmart in El Paso, Texas
23 deaths
Patrick Crusius, 24, reportedly told investigators that he set out to kill as many Mexicans as he could in a mass shooting that ultimately claimed the lives of 23 people. He legally purchased the high-powered assault-style rifle used in the shooting, attorneys for his mother, who contacted police because she was concerned about her son owning the firearm, told ABC News.
Crusius pleaded guilty to dozens of federal charges in the shooting and also faces state charges that could carry the death penalty.
5. May 24, 2022: Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
21 deaths
Salvador Ramos, 18, shot his grandmother at their home in Uvalde, critically wounding her, before driving to Robb Elementary School and opening fire in a classroom with an AR-15-style rifle, killing 19 students and two teachers and wounding others, police said. He was shot and killed by a responding law enforcement officer. Ramos legally purchased two AR-style rifles on May 17 and May 20, 2022, just days after his 18th birthday, officials said.
6. Feb. 14, 2018: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida
17 deaths
Fourteen children and three staff members were killed after a gunman brought an AR-15 into the high school. The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, 23, a former student at the school, bought the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack legally a year before the incident, authorities said. Authorities believe he had access to 10 firearms, all long guns, seven of which he purchased legally, sources said at the time.
Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and was sentenced to life in prison last year.
7. Dec. 2, 2015: Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California
14 deaths
Fourteen people were killed and another 21 injured in a terrorist attack at the Inland Regional Center, a facility aimed at providing services for the developmentally disabled. The shooters — Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik — both died in a shootout with law enforcement that day, police said. They were armed with two assault-style weapons and two handguns, all of which were purchased legally, according to law enforcement.
8. Sept. 16, 2013: Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.
12 deaths
Aaron Alexis, a former Navy reservist, had a documented history of paranoia and mental instability before firing a shotgun at the Navy Yard, killing 12 and injuring several others before responding officers shot and killed him, police said. He passed a federal background check and legally purchased the shotgun from a Virginia gun shop two days before the shooting, officials said.
9. Nov. 7, 2018: Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California
12 deaths
A gunman killed 12 people, including a police officer, after opening fire in a packed bar, before taking his own life, authorities said. The suspect — former U.S. Marine Ian David Long — was armed with a legally purchased Glock 21 .45-caliber handgun that was equipped with an extended ammunition magazine, authorities said.
10. May 31, 2019: Virginia Beach Municipal Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia
12 deaths
The public utilities engineer who gunned down 12 people, including 11 colleagues, at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center before police shot and killed him committed the massacre with legally bought pistols and a gun suppressor, officials said. Investigators said DeWayne Craddock used two .45-caliber pistols, extended ammunition magazines and a gun suppressor — all of which he purchased legally.
Jewish organizations are not satisfied with Kanye West‘s change of heart toward their community. The rapper returned to social media and declared that he likes Jewish people again, but TMZ reports StopAntisemitism and the American Jewish Committee say more should be done.
The post in question marked Ye’s return to social media after he’d praised Adolf Hitler, hung out with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and said he’d go “death con 3” on Jewish people.
In his new post, he gives credit to Jonah Hill.
“Watching Jonah Hill in 21 Jump street made me like Jewish people again,” he wrote. “No one should take anger against one or two individuals and transform that into hatred towards millions of innocent people. No Christian can be labeled antisemite knowing Jesus is Jew… Thank you Jonah Hill I love you.”
In a statement to TMZ, SA’s executive director, Liora Rez, said, “Joking about a movie with Jonah Hill is not the apology that the Jewish people deserve from Kanye, particularly when his antisemitic tirades continue to have a dangerous trickle-down effect of hatred against Jews.” She suggested publicly denouncing Fuentes would be a good first step on the path toward forgiveness.
“It is a little odd that all it might take for Kanye to renounce his vile antisemitism is to watch and [sic] 11-year-old Jonah hill movie. Whether Kanye is sincere, only he knows,” AJC spokesperson Richard Hirschhaut adds.
They’re calling on him “to take a serious and detailed look at his constant doubling down on antisemitism over these past several months and renounce each of these repeated, threatening and vile expressions of antisemitism.”
Both leaders say they’re willing to meet with Kanye to discuss his efforts and ways to prove his sincerity.
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — Nashville Fire Chief William Swann spoke with GMA 3 Tuesday about the first responders who sped to The Covenant School after three students and three adult staff members were shot.
GMA 3: Joined now by director Swann from the Nashville Fire Department. And your men and women were some of the first to respond to the scene. Tell me what they encountered when they got here.
NASHVILLE FIRE CHIEF WILLIAM SWANN: Oh, absolutely. We responded along with the Metro Police Department. We have a rescue task force team. We train for these moments and we wish they never happened. But as you can see, it’s something that happens all around the nation. So once the call came in, our job is a little different. Once the threat is neutralized, then our teams go inside alongside P.D., and we try to find individuals that we can pull out and begin lifesaving measures and also transport them to our local ERs…for more advanced medical treatment.
So, again, yesterday, as I reflect on just what happened and we think about how horrific it was; we had three kids that lost their lives [and] what their families are going through; [we had] the three adults [and] what they, what their families are going through; we [had] our first responders [and] what they’ve seen, and then [we had] the survivors, the kids and the staff that was there. This forever will be with them, the residue of this day.
Also, the community, the city, the state and the whole nation can actually feel what happened yesterday and take it personally because all of us have kids and we think about sending our kids to school to get [an] education and return home. It didn’t happen yesterday.
We were just thankful that the rapid response and what was done by our local police department and then our fire department and Office of Emergency Management.
It could have been a lot worse. But if you lose one life, that’s way too many. And definitely, a heart [fills] up when we think about all the victims that lost their life yesterday and their family members.
GMA 3: When you pull up to a place like this… these are little kids, young kids, the victims, 9 years old. How does that change how you interact, how you respond?
SWANN: Well, when you think about the nature of what the fire department does, and then that includes our EMS division, this is unfortunately the nature of what we do. We deal with people who are in distress and we deal with people if there’s a shooting, stabbing or homicide, whatever it may be, we deal with this every day. But being in this field for 28 years, I will tell you there’s nothing more gut-wrenching than responding to a child. Nothing.
That moment changes everything for you because we all can relate to the innocence of it. So, again, yesterday, we really want to focus on now that this scene is over. Again, our prayers go out to those families. And then also making sure that our responders are taken care of in mental health and just trying to make sure that the healing process begins. But it’s just a scene in something that we never want to do. But it’s the nature of our job and, unfortunately, in this day and time is more frequent than we want.
GMA 3: Those images of the children from yesterday: holding hands, filing out single file — that the child with just the absolutely terrified-looking face on the school bus. You guys have to organize all of that. The logistics of safely getting them out of the school into a new, new safe place to be. How do you do that in that situation?
SWANN: Well, this is because of training. We realize that no matter what that scene is, there have to be things that take place. And all of this goes back to training. We realize that instantly, once the threat is taken care of, we have to set up a reunification center. We have to make sure that we set a place up where parents can be reconnected with their children. We have to make sure also that on the scene itself, we know we’re going to be there for a while.
So a lot of logistics have to take place in this part of training. But when you step away from that moment and you get to yourself and you go home, of course we are reflecting and it becomes more personal because all of us have children, all of us have kids. And it is truly something that the whole nation can relate to, whether it’s here in Nashville or it’s in some other state or some other country. Again, this is just a tragic reality of where we are at in this day and time.
GMA 3: When you come home from this yesterday and when you came home, what do you say to your family?
SWANN: Well, my youngest son is still in high school and I have a grandson that lives with me that is in first grade. Just like any other parent, I’m sure when I came home, I wanted to see him. I wanted to hug him and express love. I think there’s no better medicine than to hug your kids and you get a laugh and a smile for them. And unfortunately, there were individuals that were not able to do that. So alongside feeling appreciative of your family, a heart goes out to those who will not be able to do that.
GMA 3: What do you say to those parents? Because there are parents all across America watching who this is their greatest nightmare and we keep seeing it happening. How do you prepare your kids? How do you have a conversation with them about what do you do in this situation?
SWANN: I’m glad you mentioned that.
We try to teach our kids about stop, drop and roll and what to do, if you will, if you catch on fire or home safety, [it’s] same way, [for] school safety. And we’re very fortunate because that’s one of the things that we do. We do a lot of training with the schools and they prepare for these types of incidents. What’s striking here is when you look at schools, you think about the safety of, especially if it’s a disaster, strong line winds or something. We know that schools are the safest place for kids to be. But when it’s man-made, then it breaks our barriers.
So I think training and preparing are always essential because yesterday that training paid off. And I’m sure as this story develops, there’s going to be a lot of great heroic stories from within and within that tragedy that will come out. But it’s just right now, I think what is needed is just reflection on your own life and then just the thoughts that goes out to the family members of the kids and the adults that lost their life.
An elementary school in Waukesha, Wisconsin, has banned a performance of Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton‘s “Rainbowland” at its spring concert.
Heyer Elementary School teacher Melissa Tempel vented about the ban on Twitter, writing, “My first graders were so excited to sing Rainbowland for our spring concert but it has been vetoed by our administration. When will it end?”
She also included an image of the song’s lyrics, which include, “Living in a Rainbowland/ The skies are blue and things are grand/ Wouldn’t it be nice to live in paradise/ Where we’re free to be exactly who we are/ Let’s all dig down deep inside/ Brush the judgement and fear aside.”
Tempel added in another post that “no reason [was] given” for the ban.
WITI spoke with Superintendent Jim Sebert about the controversy. “It was determined that ‘Rainbowland’ could be perceived as controversial,” he told the outlet.
Miley released “Rainbowland” off her 2017 album, Younger Now. Neither she nor Dolly have reacted to the news.
Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett has teamed up with Gibson to recreate his signature “Greeny” guitar.
“I am very honored and grateful for this opportunity with Gibson,” Hammett says. “To be able to share some of that mojo which ‘Greeny’ has means a lot to me. It’s exciting to know that anyone can experience some of that ‘Greeny’ magic. I truly think these models are just as inspiring as the original and hope you do too!”
“Greeny” is a 1959 Les Paul Standard and is named after its original owner, late Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green. It also at one time belonged to late Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore.
The Gibson Custom Shop edition of “Greeny” goes for $19,999. If that’s something you can afford — or something you’d like to wistfully dream about affording — visit Gibson.com for more info.
In other Metallica guitar news, frontman James Hetfield‘s personal guitar collection is being detailed in a new book. Titled Messengers: The Guitars of James Hetfield, the 400-page tome features photos of the instruments alongside passages on what each one means to Hetfield. It’s due out October 17.
