Its pace may have been more brontosaurus than velociraptor, but the finish line was crossed nonetheless: Universal Pictures is celebrating because Jurassic World: Dominion crossed the $1 billion line at the global box office.
The film, which opened June 10, had the second-biggest debut of the year with a $145 million take, but it continued to slowly and steadily perform as the summer rolled on.
Variety points out that Dominion‘s bottom line was particularly padded by moviegoers in China, where the pandemic era’s only other $2 billion movies — Spider-Man: No Way Home and Top Gun: Maverick — weren’t permitted to screen.
Jurassic World: Dominion, which united Jurassic World cast members, including Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard with Jurassic Park‘s stars Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum, is now streaming an extended cut on Peacock.
Mariah Carey and Usher are among the stars headlining Saturday’s 2022 Global Citizen Festival. This year’s theme is “Take Action NOW.”
Mariah will take the stage in New York City’s Central Park, while Usher will perform in Accra, Ghana. Priyanka Chopra, who is a Global Citizen ambassador, is hosting this year’s event. Presenters include SNL star Chris Redd, ballet dancer Misty Copeland and Tamron Hall.
In Ghana, Usher will be joined by SZA and H.E.R. to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the nation’s independence.
This is the 10th anniversary of the Global Citizen Festival. This year, the focus is on ending extreme poverty across the world, which has been heightened by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Global Citizen is specifically calling upon world leaders attending the United National General Assembly to provide $500 million to help African farmers respond to the global food crisis.
The concert will be streamed via ABC News Live starting at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 24. The primetime special Global Citizen Festival: Take Action NOW will air Sunday, September 25 at 7 p.m. ET on ABC.
Dead & Company has come to the end of The Golden Road. The bandtook to Instagram on Friday to announce some good news and bad news: The Grateful Dead spinoff group is going to tour next summer, but that trek will be their last one.
“As we put the finishing touches on booking venues, and understanding that word travels fast, we wanted to be the first to let you know that Dead & Company will be hitting the road next summer for what will be our final tour,” reads the message on the band’s Instagram page.
“Stay tuned for a full list of dates for what will surely be an exciting, celebratory, and heartfelt last run of shows. With love and appreciation, Dead & Company.”
Dead & Company, formed in 2015, includes John Mayer, former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and bassist Otiel Burbridge. Their most recent tour was last year.
The band had previously announced plans for a 2023 edition of their Playing in the Sand destination festival, set for Moon Palace Cancún in Rivera Cancún, Mexico, from January 14 to January 17, 2023.
The marriage of Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin is apparently getting a reboot.
Just a month after the 54-year-old model and entrepreneur split from the 76-year-old Rocky icon,Page Six reports the couple has patched things up.
“They decided to meet back up at home, where they talked and were able to work out their differences,” a rep tells the publication.
The pair, who recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, agreed, “that is in the best interests of each of them individually, and more importantly collectively as a family, to resolve all issues attendant to the dissolution of their marriage in a dignified, amicable and private manner out-of-court,” according to the rep.
As reported a month ago, the split was already getting ugly, with Flavin accusing Stallone of cutting assets loose prior to a divorce.
Now, however, “they are both extremely happy,” the source tells the publication, which noted Flavin had legally filed an abatement — or an official pause — of the divorce proceedings.
On Monday, Sly posted a picture of the pair holding hands — as well as a throwback photo with their daughters Sophia, 26, Sistine, 24, and Scarlet, 20 — which the rep explains was a hint that things were on the rebound in their relationship.
Pink Floyd has had many iconic album covers — The Dark Side of The Moon and The Wall come to mind. But the cover of its 1977 album Animals is up there: it shows London’s Battersea Power Station, with a pink pig floating between the chimneys. Now, fans are convinced the band plans to recreate the album cover to promote its newest archival release: Animals (2018 Remix), which features a 5.1 surround sound mix created in 2018.
A message posted on the band’s social media pages Friday reads, “To mark the release of Pink Floyd’s Animals 2018 Remix, London’s Battersea Power Station will be an eminently suitable canvas next Wednesday and Thursday, between 8:30pm – 11pm, with a sneak preview on Tuesday night at the same time, as a test run.”
The message is accompanied by the artwork from the release, which shows Battersea Power Station as it is today, with the iconic pig, nicknamed “Algie,” floating above it.
There’s speculation that the band plans to float an inflatable pig above the station in real life on September 27, 28 and 29, or that Pink Floyd members will make an appearance there, or both.
The deluxe box set comes out October 7, but the CD and Blu-ray versions are available now.
(Note Language) Director Greg Mottola reveals that Jon Hamm wanted to make Fletch happen so badly, he opened up his wallet.
Mottola told the website Uproxx that the Mad Man Emmy winner dumped 60% of his salary from their new movie, Confess, Fletch, to secure financing for three extra days of filming for the new comedy.
The Superbad director noted the modestly budgeted movie is currently suffering from “zero marketing” in spite of a respectable 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The marketing budget was not the only place the movie’s producer, Miramax, came up short, Mottola says: They wouldn’t budge on a 27-day shoot.
They tried looking for a producing partner, Mottola said, but, “Everyone said, ‘I don’t know that this kind of comedy works in this day and age.’ They just had a kind of like, ‘Who’s Fletch? I don’t think anyone cares anymore [attitude].'”
“So, basically, what we did is Jon gave back 60% of his salary to the budget. I gave back some of my salary, not as much as Jon because he’s richer than me and I’ve got three kids,” the director joked.
“And we bought three more days of shooting … 30 days in Boston and one day in Rome. And we said, ‘F*** it, we’re insane, we’re dumb. We’re going to make this movie,'” Mottola said.
He added, “So, we finished it and Bill shopped it around to a lot of different people, studios and streamers … and nobody wanted it.” The director called that “depressing.”
Confess, Fletch, based on Gregory Mcdonald‘s 1976 novel of the same name, is in theaters and is available on demand.
Lewis Capaldi knows the dangers of having one too many and then reaching for the phone. Turns out, he sent Harry Styles a drunk video message a little too early in the morning.
Speaking to KISSFM UK, the “Someone You Loved” singer blithely explained, “I once sent Harry Styles a video at 5 o’clock in the morning. I didn’t know what it was!”
Lewis admitted through a laugh, “I was hammered.”
So, what did Harry say back? According to Lewis, it was, “This feels like a ‘you up?’ text.” The former One Direction singer also took a screenshot of the video, but to this day, Lewis attests, “I don’t know what it was that I sent him.”
The Grammy nominee joked he could have drunkenly asked Harry out on a date and quipped, “He didn’t say no” and seemed “agreeable to the proposition… I’m hoping that’s the case.”
In other Lewis news, he breathed new life into Olivia Rodrigo‘s debut single “drivers license.”
The Scottish hitmaker took over London’s Abbey Road Studios for another Spotify Singles moment. He made waves in 2019 when he put an indulgent spin on the Billie Eilish hit “When The Party’s Over.”
Before taking on Olivia’s hit single, Lewis performed his new song, “Forget Me,” to mark his official musical comeback. The track is his first new song in three years.
He then pivoted to Olivia and poured even more angst into the already emotional track. Capaldi also teased his new cover on Twitter, writing the lyrics in all capital letters, “I knew we weren’t perfect but I’ve never felt this waaaaayyyy for no oneeee.”
You can listen to the new Spotify Singles moment on the music screaming app.
(NEW YORK) — NASA said Friday it is planning its third launch attempt of Artemis I on Sept. 27 after scrubbing the initial endeavor earlier this month.
During a press conference, officials said the launch window will open at 11:37 a.m. ET, but Tropical Depression Nine could delay plans.
Currently, there is only a 20% chance of favorable weather on Tuesday as Tropical Depression Nine heads towards Florida and may make landfall as a major hurricane next week.
However, Tom Whitmeyer, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development, said the team is not assuming the launch will be canceled just yet.
“It’s still a tropical depression number nine, it’s not a named storm,” Whitmeyer told reporters. “We really want to continue to try to get as much information as we can so we can make the best possible decision for the hardware.”
The team said it will continue to monitor the weather and will decide on Saturday whether to continue with the Tuesday launch.
NASA had to scrub the first launch attempt on Aug. 29 because of a faulty temperature sensor and the second attempt on Sept. 3 due to a liquid hydrogen leak.
Since then, engineers and mission managers have been running tests to make sure the rocket is ready during its next attempt.
In a press release, NASA said the Artemis team encountered a hydrogen leak during a test run on Wednesday, but the issue was addressed and resolved.
The process of tanking, which includes filling the rocket’s core stage with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, was also successful.
“We had a very successful tanking test all of the tanks,” John Blevins, NASA’s Space Launch System chief engineer, said during the press conference. “We were able to do some things that we won’t have to do again, some things that we intended to do even on launch day that were left over from previous dress rehearsals. So, it was a very successful.”
If the launch is scrubbed on Sept. 27, the next launch attempt will occur on Sunday, Oct. 2.
If that Oct. 2 is also a no-go, the rocket will be taken back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center until the team decides on the next date.
Over the course of the Artemis missions, NASA plans to eventually send the first female astronaut and the first astronaut of color to the moon.
The federal space agency also plans to establish a moon base as a steppingstone to send astronauts to Mars by 2024 or 2025.
(NEW YORK) — At least 4.4 million Americans have received an updated bivalent COVID-19 booster since the shots were rolled out at the beginning of September, newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.
Nationally, a total of 109 million Americans have received their first booster dose — representing less than 50% of those who have been fully vaccinated. Just over a third — 35% — of the total U.S. population over the age of 5 has received their first booster.
In recent months, vaccination and booster uptake have slowed significantly, with fewer Americans willing to get their shots as pandemic and vaccination fatigue set in.
Following the federal green light of the new COVID-19 booster shots, data shows there was a significant uptick in the number of Americans getting vaccinated.
On average, approximately 390,000 shots are going into arms each day across the country.
On Thursday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky became the latest American to get the new bivalent COVID-19 booster shot.
Walensky urged others to join her in getting the vaccine, stressing that it is important to get vaccinated now, ahead of the fall and winter, in order to prevent severe disease.
“I’m here getting my updated fall vaccine because I think it’s critically important to do,” Walensky told ABC News. “We are really encouraging everybody to roll up their sleeves and get this updated bivalent vaccine.”
On Thursday, Moderna also announced that it has submitted an emergency use authorization request to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the use of the company’s omicron-targeting bivalent COVID-19 vaccine in children and adolescents.
The company has completed submission of its EUA requests in adolescents ages 12 to 17 years old as well as in children ages 6 to 11 years old.
The application for the youngest Americans, ages 6 months to under 6, is expected to be completed later this year, according to the company.
At this time, children over the age of 12 are eligible to receive Pfizer’s bivalent booster and adult Americans can receive an updated booster at least two months after their last shot.
Pfizer is expected to submit a request to add authorization for children ages 5 to 11 to its offerings of bivalent boosters by the end of month.
The FDA could authorize the updated booster shots for people as young as 5 in the coming weeks and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may recommend them for the younger age groups shortly after.
Swifties are sensing a disturbance in the world of sports and believe Taylor Swift will be the next Super Bowl halftime performer.
Varietyreports the rumors went into overdrive when Apple Music replaced Pepsi as the NFL’s new halftime sponsor. Why? That announcement was made at midnight, which fans believe aligns a little too perfectly with the title of Taylor’s forthcoming album.
Midnights comes out October 21 and Taylor has been casually revealing the track list via her TikTok segment “Midnights Mayhem With Me,” where she reveals one song title every night at midnight. So far, we know the names of the eighth and 13th tracks, “Vigilante S***” and “Mastermind.”
Variety notes that most artists who grace the halftime stage soon announce an upcoming tour, which is also perfectly timed with Taylor’s new album. Her Lover Fest, which she had planned to promote her seventh studio album, was canceled because of the pandemic — so fans believe she is long overdue for one.
It should also be noted that with Pepsi vacating the halftime stage, the Coca-Cola-sponsored Taylor can shake up the NFL without conflict.
Taylor has also repped for Apple Music, most iconically in a 2016 commercial where she fell off a treadmill while jamming to Drake.
Last but not least, the outlet claims it is very likely Taylor headlines the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show: “Three sources close to the situation tell Variety that it’s happening.”
Neither Taylor nor the NFL have reacted to Variety‘s report.
