Amazon Studios has announced that the first season of its anticipated The Lord of the Rings series will debut on Friday, September 2, 2022.
According to the studio, the series, which just wrapped production for its freshman season in New Zealand, takes place “thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books,” and “follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-Earth.”
Amazon also revealed a first image from the production. It’s not clear what character is depicted, however — it shows a caped person at a distance, from behind, standing in a field gazing a city in the far distance as the sun rises behind it.
In a statement, Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios enthused, “I can’t express enough just how excited we all are to take our global audience on a new and epic journey through Middle-Earth! Our talented producers, cast, creative, and production teams have worked tirelessly in New Zealand to bring this untold and awe-inspiring vision to life.”
The Lord of the Rings series stars an international cast, including Robert Aramayo, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, and Nazanin Boniadi.
Billie Eilish may have become famous by singing “duh,” but when it comes to her song lyrics overall, her use of language trumps many artists two and three times her age, a new study finds.
Word.Tips, which conducted the study, Eilish is the modern pop star with the biggest vocabulary, based on the number of unique words she uses in her songs per thousand: 169. The only musicians who have a wider vocabulary were late Doors frontman Jim Morrison, with 177; Bjork, with 197; legendary singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell, with 199; and the number-one wordsmith of all: punk godmother Patti Smith, with 217.
Artists whose vocabularies are in the same territory as Eilish include Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke, with 151; Lizzo, with 153; Harry Styles, with 159; and the late Johnny Cash, with 158.
Here’s how a few other artists compare:
Lorde: 149
Kurt Cobain: 141
Iggy Pop: 142
David Bowie: 130
Axl Rose: 124
Lana Del Rey: 100
Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds: 89
Paul McCartney: 83
For an explanation of the methodology used in the study, visit Word.Tips, which has broken down the data in a number of different ways.
Spin Master Entertainment/Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies
Alessia Cara is contributing an uplifting tune to the upcoming animated film PAW Patrol: The Movie.
The original song, “The Use in Trying,” was written by Alessia and Jon Levine, and will be played during a pivotal scene in the flick.
“I wrote ‘The Use in Trying’ for a specific scene in the movie, with the understanding that it was a big turning point in the story, emphasizing the importance of courage,” Alessia says in a statement. “I wanted to write something that could not only teach kids that they’re not always going to win, but that there’s real value in trying anyways because of the lessons you find on the other side.”
She adds, “That’s a sentiment we can all understand, the further into life we go. Navigating life is never easy, but it is always worth the shot.”
The song will be released on August 10, and the film will hit theaters and Paramount+ on August 20.
Adam Levine also has a song in PAW Patrol: The Movie, called “Good Mood.”
Lena Waithe had some pretty big news to share during her after-show for the season four finale of The Chi. The series creator revealed to fans that Showtime had officially picked up her Chicago-set drama for a fifth season.
“#TheChi is coming back for Season 5!,” Waithe wrote, captioning a video of her chat with some of The Chi stars, including Luke James, Shamon Brown Jr. and Yolanda Ross. “Thank you to all the special guests for joining me on the Season 4 Finale After Show!” Deadline reports that the renewal “comes amid strong ratings for the series, which is averaging 4.2 million weekly viewers and is on pace to become the most-streamed Showtime series ever.” Season five of The Chi is set to premiere in 2022.
In other news, The Chi star Jacob Latimore has found his next major role. Deadline has learned that Latimore will replace Jorge Lendeborg Jr. in New Line’s reimagining of the 1990 cult comedy House Party. Sources tell Deadline that Lendeborg Jr. recently left the project to focus on his mental well-being, which was supported by the studio and filmmakers. As previously reported, the original 1990 movie, written and directed by Reginald Hudlin, starred Kid ‘n Play‘s Christopher “Kid” Reid and Christopher “Play” Martin as two high school students who decide to throw an epic house party. A release date for the new House Party has not been disclosed.
Finally, Insecure showrunner Prentice Penny has inked a multi-year overall deal with Disney General Entertainment’s Onyx Collective. Under the new pact, Penny’s A Penny for Your Thoughts Entertainment company will develop and produce projects for all Disney platforms, including Hulu, which serves as the hub to Onyx projects.
(WASHINGTON) — Some Democratic lawmakers are calling on House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy to resign after he said over the weekend it would be “hard not to hit” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with the speaker’s gavel he hopes to win if Republicans take back the House chamber in next year’s midterm elections.
“I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel. It will be hard not to hit her with it,” McCarthy said at a GOP fundraiser in Nashville Saturday, after Tennessee’s Republican members of Congress gifted him with an oversized gavel.
McCarthy’s comment was met by laughter among the audience of 1,400, according to audio posted to Twitter by a Main Street Nashville reporter and not disputed by McCarthy’s office.
It comes nearly seven months after the attack on Jan 6. when a pro-Trump mob invaded the Capitol with some rioters taunting, “Where’s Nancy?” while they scouted her out, and one man, armed with a taser, kicked up his feet on a desk in her office.
Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill responded on Twitter Saturday, saying “a threat of violence to someone who was a target of a #January6th assassination attempt from your fellow Trump supporters is irresponsible and disgusting.”
While McCarthy’s office hasn’t commented publicly on the growing backlash to his comments, an aide to McCarthy said “he was obviously joking” without commenting further.
The speaker herself has not weighed in.
But some of her Democratic colleagues have rushed to her defense with California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Ted Lieu calling on McCarthy to resign.
“America has suffered enough violence around politics. @GOPLeader McCarthy is now a would-be assailant of @SpeakerPelosi,” Swalwell wrote on Twitter.
Lieu posed a question to McCarthy: “Don’t you think America has had enough political violence?”
“You should never be encouraging or threatening or joking about causing violence to anyone, including the Speaker of the House. You need to apologize for your statement, or resign,” he said.
Other Democrats have put pressure on McCarthy to apologize. Republicans have largely stayed silent.
“Violence against women is no laughing matter,” New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the No. 5 House Democrat, said on Twitter.
Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., a former police chief who is challenging GOP Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for his Senate seat, also weighed in.
“Speaker Pelosi used her courage and moral compass to lead us to pass the Violence Against Woman Act. Kevin McCarthy thinks joking about hitting a woman is funny. When someone shows you who they are, believe them,” she said.
Some activists on Twitter — amplifying the hashtag “#ResignMcCarthy” over the weekend — raised how the GOP leader voted against the reapproval of the Violence Against Women Act in April 2019.
His comment and its backlash come after weeks of growing bitterness between lawmakers in Washington on issues such as mask mandates order by the Capitol physician and how to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the building they work inside.
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
BTS’ “Butter” continues to be on a roll as it logs its ninth week at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
According to Billboard, it’s now officially the longest-running number-one single of 2021, beating the eight-week reign of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License.”
BTS also managed to keep Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow at bay; their collab “Industry Baby” landed at number two on the chart this week.
“Industry Baby” may have settled for a second place debut on the Hot 100, but it’s number one on the Streaming Songs chart, as well as the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts.
After the back-to-back cancellations of DaBaby‘s scheduled performances at Lollapalooza and New York’s Governors Ball, the rapper took to Instagram Monday to share a second apology for his controversial remarks about people with HIV/AIDS, which he made at a Miami show last week.
“Social media moves so fast the people want to demolish you before you even have the opportunity to grow, educate and learn from your mistakes,” the statement reads. “As a man who has had to make his own way from very difficult circumstances, having people I know publicly working against me — Knowing that what I needed was education on these topics and guidance — has been challenging.”
The post, which is closed to comments, adds that DaBaby is grateful to those who kindly reached out to him “privately to offer wisdom, education, and resources.”
“That’s what I need, and it was received,” he continues. “I want to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made. Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/Aids, and I know education on this is important. Love to all. God bless. DaBaby.”
DaBaby initially tweeted an apology for the “insensitive” comments he made during his Rolling Loud performance, during which he said onstage, “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two or three weeks, put your cellphone light in the air.”
Despite his second apology, DaBaby has also been replacedby Roddy Ricch on the Day N Vegas festival lineup, which takes place this November.
Sammy Hagar has spoke previously about how he and Eddie Van Halen made peace with each other prior to Eddie’s death in October 2020. But now, in a new interview, Hagar says his former Van Halen band mate told him that he wanted the two to “make some noise” together.
Speaking to The Washington Post a few days ago, Hagar said that when he reconnected with Eddie “four or five months before he died,” the late guitar legend “had elevated his whole thing.”
Hagar explains, “He had come to peace with everything. He knew he was sick. And it was so great to contact the guy when he was in that state of mind…And man, I’m so glad that that happened at that time, because if it wouldn’t have, if we had never made peace and he would have passed the way he did, I would feel terrible.”
Hagar goes on to say that in that conversation, Eddie told him that he’d been fighting cancer for 15 years and that he had to get “this big thing on my neck and my throat…all straightened out.” Then, Hagar says Eddie told him, “Next year, you and I have gotta make some noise. We made some great music together, and I wanna do it again.’ I was just, like, ‘Yes.'”
Hagar adds, “Hearing those things really made me able to handle his death. ‘Cause it’s still tough as hell. I miss the guy.”
Hagar joined Van Halen in 1985, replacing original frontman David Lee Roth, and recorded four number-one albums with the group. The band’s “Van Hagar” lineup — Hagar, Eddie, bassist Michael Anthony and drummer Alex Van Halen — last toured together in 2004.
The country superstar has joined the lineup for the upcoming ACM Party for a Cause event. Keith is one of the many acts who will take the stage at Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville on August 24 in benefit of ACM Lifting Lives.
“I can’t wait to play live and I’ll see you there,” Keith shares in a video announcing his performance, adding in the caption, “I am soooo looking forward to it!”
Sam Hunt, Old Dominion, Mickey Guyton, Lee Brice, Brett Eldredge, Trisha Yearwood and Tenille Townes are also slated to appear at the event.
Party for a Cause precedes the 14th annual ACM Honors that will be hosted on August 25 at the Ryman Auditorium. Honorees include Luke Combs, Dan + Shay, Lady A, Rascal Flatts, Loretta Lynn and more.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — Fire conditions in the West are worsening this week, increasing the possibility of more blazes.
Currently, 90 large wildfires are burning in 12 states in the West — at least 35 of which ignited over the weekend due to lightning strikes.
Another heat wave is blanketing the region as moisture from the monsoons in the Southwest move away, leaving behind a dry atmosphere and tinderbox conditions. Heat advisories and excessive heat watches have been issued from Oregon to Arizona, with temperatures expected to surpass 100 degrees again.
The McFarland Fire in Wildwood, California, has prompted evacuations in the area after it grew to more than 2,100 acres and remains just 5% contained.
The Dixie Fire near the Feather River Canyon in Northern California, the largest in the state so far this year, is now at 248,000 acres. Firefighters were able to halt the blaze’s progression, which is now 33% contained, but some evacuation orders remain in place.
Firefighters in Oregon have made progress against the Bootleg Fire, the largest in the country, with 84% containment after it grew to nearly 414,000 acres, the third-largest wildfire in state history.
However, red flag warnings have been issued in Southern Oregon over the possibility that more fires will spark due to dry lightning. Hot, breezy conditions are expected to persist this week.
Above-normal significant fire potential is expected to continue in the Northwest, northern Rockies and northern portions of the Great Basin, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center’s National Fire Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook for August through November.
Despite monsoon conditions in the Southwest last week, “exceptional drought” conditions are persisting across Northern California and the Northwest, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
ABC News’ Melissa Griffin and Max Golembo contributed to this report.
