Lucy van Pelt and Snoopy in ‘It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown.’ (Apple TV)
Sony has announced plans to acquire control of the Peanuts franchise.
The franchise created by Charles M. Schulz that stars beloved characters like Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Linus will be majority owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) through a definitive agreement they’ve entered into with the media company WildBrain, Sony has confirmed to ABC Audio.
Sony will indirectly acquire the 41% stake held by WildBrain in Peanuts Holdings LLC. This, combined with Sony Music Entertainment (Japan)’s existing approximately 39% stake, comes to Sony owning 80% of Peanuts Holdings LLC, while Schulz’s family members will continue to own the remaining 20%.
Deadline reports Sony is set to pay roughly $457 million for WildBrain’s 41% stake. Its closing is subject to certain conditions, such as regulatory approvals.
Shunsuke Muramatsu, the president and group CEO of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), said in a statement that the company has been proud to partner with Peanuts since 2018.
“With this additional ownership stake, we are thrilled to be able to further elevate the value of the Peanuts brand by drawing on the Sony Group’s extensive global network and collective expertise. We are deeply committed to carrying forward the legacy of Charles Schulz and the Schulz family,” Muramatsu said.
Ravi Ahuja, the president and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said that “Peanuts is enduring and iconic. We value the deep collaboration we have with our SMEJ colleagues and look forward to building on their meaningful partnership with WildBrain and the Schulz family. With our combined strengths, we have the unique capability and extraordinary opportunity to protect and shape the future of these beloved characters for generations to come.”
Schulz’s first Peanuts comic strip debuted on Oct. 2, 1950. The franchise has grown in the decades that followed, now including TV specials, theme park attractions, cultural events and comic strips available in all formats.
Snoop Dogg is giving fans a tease of what to expect on Netflix’s Holiday Halftime Party, his halftime performance during the Vikings vs. Lions game on Christmas Day. While he’ll be bringing his signature hip-hop vibes, he’s announced the Christmas celebration will also cater to fans of country music and KPop Demon Hunters.
Snoop will be joined by Lainey Wilson, as well as EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, whose voices were made popular through the Netflix movie. Additional guests will be revealed as surprises on game day.
“You’ll have to wait until Christmas to see who else joins Uncle Snoop,” Snoop says in a statement. “But trust — it’s gonna be a holiday to remember.”
As previously reported, Snoop has taken the reins from Beyoncé and will headline Netflix’s NFL Christmas Gameday during when the Minnesota Vikings host the Detroit Lions at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
NFL Christmas Gameday returns to Netflix with pregame coverage beginning at 11 a.m. ET. The Washington Commanders vs. Dallas Cowboys game kicks off at 1 p.m. ET, followed by the Vikings vs. Lions game at 3:30 p.m. CT. Kelly Clarkson is set to open the broadcast with a performance of her holiday hit “Underneath the Tree.”
A new Hulu series based on Miranda Lambert‘s music is in the works, according to Deadline.
Described as “Big Little Lies gone honky-tonk,” the show focuses on a friend who helps another escape an abusive marriage. Their past threatens to catch up with them, however, when they start over in a tiny Texas town.
Miranda is one of the executive producers, along with her manager, Marion Kraft. Judalina Neira, who previously worked on Daisy Jones & The Six, The Boys and The Morning Show, would run the production.
So far, we don’t know what the show will be called or when it might arrive.
Miranda heads into 2026 with four nominations at the February Grammys and a top-20 hit with “A Song to Sing” with Chris Stapleton.
‘Life’s Been Good: Joe Walsh’ auction artwork (Courtesy of Julien’s Auctions)
Joe Walsh’s personal items, including his guitars, brought in big bucks at the Life’s Been Good: Joe Walsh auction, put on by Julien’s Auctions.
The auction took place Dec. 16-17 at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, with bids coming in from over 22 countries around the world.
More than 800 of the rocker’s personal items were up for grabs, including over 400 guitars; several of the pieces sold well past the initial estimates. Among the highlights: a stage-played Mark Whitebook dreadnought acoustic guitar, which sold for $44,800, and a stage-played Epiphone Zakk Wylde Les Paul custom bullseye guitar, which sold for $22,500, almost 20 times over the initial estimate.
Other hot items included Walsh’s 2007 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, which sold for $102,400; a Bad Company-signed Squier electric guitar, which for $32,000, 40 times over the estimate;Les Paul’s 1955 Steinway Model B grand piano, which went for $57,600; and a stage-played Duesenberg Starplayer TV-TO guitar in transparent orange, which sold for $35,200, over 10 times the estimate.
“Life’s been good for Joe Walsh, whose music has shaped decades of rock history. This historic auction was a true celebration of that incredible journey,” said Martin Nolan, co-founder and executive director of Julien’s Auctions. “Julien’s are honored to have worked with Joe who wished to share pieces of his story with fans, collectors and investors who truly appreciate his artistry and also support the important work of Vet Aid.”
A portion of the proceeds from the auction will benefit Walsh’s charity VetsAid, which raises money for veteran-related causes.
Police officers remain on the scene of a shooting that killed two and wounded at least eight at Brown University on December 13, 2025 in Providence, Rhode Island. (Libby O’Neill/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Two elite Northeast institutions of higher education have been rocked by horrific acts of gun violence, just days apart.
In the first incident, two people were killed and nine were injured in a mass shooting at Brown University, when a gunman opened fire on the Rhode Island campus, officials said.
Two days later, some 50 miles away in neighboring Massachusetts, an esteemed professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was killed in a shooting at his home, officials said.
Following a dayslong manhunt, authorities identified the suspect in both shootings as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old former Brown graduate student, who attended the school some 25 years ago. Valente, a Portuguese national, and the slain MIT professor both attended the same physics engineering program at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, the school confirmed to ABC News.
Officials have not yet provided a motive for the back-to-back shootings that left residents of parts of New England on edge for days.
Here’s how the tragic shootings unfolded.
Nov. 26-Nov. 30
Valente, who is believed to have lived in Florida, rents a hotel room in Boston, according to federal officials.
Dec. 1
Valente rents a gray Nissan Sentra with Florida plates from a car rental agency in Boston and then drives to the vicinity of Brown University in Providence, where the vehicle is seen “intermittently” through Dec. 12, according to federal officials.
Dec. 13
A person of interest in the Brown shooting — subsequently believed to be the suspect, Valente — is seen in surveillance footage walking through a residential neighborhood near the campus, beginning around 2 p.m., in images and footage released by the FBI. But police have said they believe he had been around the Brown campus as early as 10 a.m. that day “casing out the area.” The individual is seen dressed from head to toe in dark clothing, including wearing a surgical mask over his face.
Around 2:16 p.m., an unknown person — later identified as a man who introduced himself as John — is seen interacting with the person of interest, according to the arrest warrant affidavit for Valente.
The shooting at Brown occurs at 4:03 p.m. in a lecture hall in the school’s Barus & Holley Engineering building during a final exam review, according to authorities and school officials.
Just after the shooting, a security video captures the person of interest emerging onto Hope Street from what investigators described as “lot 42” on the Brown campus.
The last video in the FBI’s timeline shows the individual walking north on Hope Street at 4:07 p.m.
Valente returns to Massachusetts over the next day, where at some point he switches the plates on his rental car to an unregistered plate out of Maine, according to federal officials.
Dec. 14
A man initially thought to be a person of interest in the Brown shooting is detained at about 3:45 a.m. at a Hampton Inn in Coventry, Providence, according to law enforcement sources and police, though that individual is released hours later without being charged.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha says during a late-night press conference that there had been evidence pointing to this individual, but that evidence “now points in a different direction.”
Dec. 15
Authorities release new images and video of the person of interest in the mass shooting at Brown and the FBI announces it is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the individual responsible.
That night, authorities respond to a residence in Brookline, Massachusetts, after receiving a report of a man shot at his home, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
The victim is identified by the office as 47-year-old Nuno Loureiro, a Portugal native who is a faculty member in MIT’s departments of Nuclear Science & Engineering and Physics and the director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
Video surveillance captured Valente in the area of the professor’s apartment that evening, according to federal officials.
Following the shooting, Valente drives to a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, which he had rented in November, according to federal officials.
Dec. 16
Loureiro is pronounced dead at an area hospital in the morning, according to the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office.
Authorities release a new image and enhanced video of the person of interest sought in the Brown shooting.
Police received an anonymous tip in the investigation into the Brown shooting referencing a Reddit post in which the poster — later identified as John — called for police to “look into a grey Nissan with Florida plates,” according to the affidavit.
Dec. 17
A Brown University faculty member reports to state police seeing a suspicious vehicle in the area of the campus the morning of Dec. 11, describing it as a gray sedan with Florida plates, according to the affidavit.
Providence police announce they are seeking the public’s help in identifying and speaking to the unknown individual — later identified as John — “who was in proximity of the person of interest” in the Brown shooting.
John approaches Providence police officers at Brown University to report his interaction with the person of interest, according to the affidavit. He tells detectives that he saw the man approach a gray or silver sedan with a Florida license plate the afternoon of Dec. 13 at a location near Brown’s campus, according to the affidavit.
“John informed detectives that he recognized one of the images released to the press as the person he encountered that day, which prompted him to post on Reddit,” the affidavit states.
Detectives trace the vehicle to the one rented by Valente in Boston, according to the affidavit.
Dec. 18
A Rhode Island state court issues a state arrest warrant for Valente, charging him with two counts of murder and 23 felony counts of assault and felony firearms offenses in the Brown shooting.
While executing search warrants on the Salem storage unit facility shortly before 9 p.m., Valente is found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a storage unit, authorities said.
During a late-night news conference, authorities identify the suspect in the Brown mass shooting as Valente and confirm he is believed to be the same man who gunned down Loureiro, saying the professor was the intended target.
Officials say investigators linked the Brown and MIT shootings through the vehicle, financial records and video footage.
ABC News’ Josh Margolin, Aaron Katersky, Jon Haworth and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is taking his message and vision on the economy directly to voters — but he faces an American public that, recent polling shows, feels largely negative toward how the president has handled economic issues.
“Here at home, we’re bringing our economy back from the brink of ruin,” Trump said during a primetime address to the nation on Wednesday night.
Vice President JD Vance also travelled to Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday to talk about the White House’s economic vision — just one week after Trump paid his own visit to the Keystone State for remarks on the economy.
But a Quinnipiac University poll published on Wednesday found that almost 6 in 10 registered voters disapprove of how Trump has handled the economy, while 65% say the state of the American economy is “not so good” or “poor.”
Quinnipiac University’s poll also found that 57% of registered voters think Trump is more responsible for the economy’s state right now, and 34% of voters think former President Joe Biden is.
Last week, Reuters and Ipsos published a poll that found that only 31% of Americans approve of how Trump has handled the cost of living — up from 26% in their late November polling.
Dan Schnur, a political communications and strategy expert who teaches at the University of Southern California, told ABC News that part of that comes from Republican voters, including working-class young men, feeling the impact of high costs.
“A lot of voters, particularly working-class young men, voted for him last year because they were angry about the inflation under Biden and they believed Trump would make things better,” he said. “That hasn’t happened yet, and so we’re beginning to see their disappointment.”
Ryan Mahoney, a Republican strategist and former communications director for the Georgia Republican Party, told ABC News he thinks this low approval may be because of a “disconnect from the White House to the American people, about the president acknowledging and empathizing with the cost crunch that the American people are feeling.”
Asked on Tuesday if he was worried about recent polling and whether affordability would be a political liability, Vance brushed off concerns — instead shifting blame to Biden.
“When we go out there and we tell our story, that gasoline and energy got way too high under Joe Biden’s administration, but we’ve lowered the cost of energy — the American people will understand that … They know what Joe Biden broke is not going to be fixed in a week,” Vance said.
ABC News has reached out to Biden’s office for comment on Vance’s remarks.
Inflation rose during Biden’s term (while slowing toward its end). At the time, Biden and his White House defended the administration’s performance on the economy by pointing to measures they took to bolster the economy, particularly as it struggled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Economists have also said rising prices during Biden’s presidency did not occur in a vacuum, but emerged in part from factors such as the supply shortage imposed by the pandemic.
Despite the economic woes during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. economy significantly outperformed other major industrialized nations as it emerged from the pandemic, according to an October 2024 report by the Brookings Institution.
Schnur said that while discussing Biden could be “part of, potentially, an effective message. The problem is that blaming your predecessor — for any president — has diminishing returns the longer they’ve been in office.”
From a tactical perspective, Mahoney said, “It’s OK to blame what happened for the four years before you got into office, that you’re having to wade through that … I think all of that is fair game,” Mahoney said. “I do think, though, you have to then present what your plan is.”
Trump is set to once again speak about the economy in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Friday — so will his administration’s focus on the issue and travels help Americans feel better about how they’re handling the economy?
“I love the idea of getting on the road … but at the end of the day, the script, the teleprompter, the remarks to folks, the interviews with press, have to acknowledge the problem and then provide the solutions,” Mahoney said.
Doug Heye, another GOP strategist and a former spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, told ABC News, “In a normal political world, this is what you do, and this helps. But we just saw in Pennsylvania, where Trump was supposed to talk about the economy, and brings up all this other stuff, and all he does is get in the way of himself, and there’s no reason to think that that’s going to change.”
Schnur, meanwhile, cautioned that local visits may help Trump’s standing on the economy with older voters, but may have less impact on younger voters who get their news more through digital platforms — a challenge facing both major political parties.
David McIntosh, the president of the conservative political group Club for Growth, said Republicans should “take their message directly to the people this Christmas and in 2026” and explain that the way to reduce prices is “to have price transparency, reduce regulations, and allow free markets to bring back affordability.”
A White House spokesperson, in response to the recent polling and concerns raised by some in the GOP, pointed to how Trump was elected because of economic concerns and to Thursday’s better-than-expected inflation numbers as a sign of the administration’s success.
“President Trump was resoundingly re-elected one year ago precisely because he, unlike Democrats, understood and acknowledged Joe Biden’s economic disaster,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement to ABC News.
Kendrick Lamar and SZA perform at the 12th Annual TDE Christmas Concert and Toy Drive on December 18, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Top Dawg Entertainment)
Residents of Los Angeles were treated to a live performance of one of the biggest songs of the year on Thursday. While at Top Dawg Entertainment’s 12th annual Christmas Concert and Toy Drive, SZA brought out surprise guest Kendrick Lamar to join her for “Luther,” a record and song of the year Grammy nominee that also appeared on Barack Obama‘s list of his favorite music of 2025. The pair also performed “30 for 30,” with Kendrick fitting in his own “Squabble Up.”
Following the performance, Kendrick gave SZA a huge hug before addressing the crowd. “TDE, Watts, California, I go by the name of K. Dot, Kenny Lamar,” he said. “I love y’all. Make some noise for yourself!”
The charity concert also featured a stacked lineup of TDE artists, including Ab-Soul, Doechii, Schoolboy Q, SiR, Jay Rock, Lance Skiiiwalker, Isaiah Rashad, Ray Vaughn and Zacari.
People walk bundled up in winter clothing in Manhattan on December 08, 2025 in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Traveling for the holidays Friday may be turbulent, as gusts and widespread rain move into the Northeast, fire warnings persist in the West and storms linger on the West Coast until the end of the year.
Here is a look at the weather forecast for Friday.
Rain and wind in the Northeast
As a large cross-country storm moves east, the system is moving through over the northern Great Lakes region and stretching down to the Southeast where wind gusts could reach 60 mph in some areas.
Areas across Appalachia, New England and coastal Maine will be affected by the strongest gusts, while rain and wind will persist from D.C. to Boston until the evening.
In the Northeast, airport delays are possible due to the inclement weather, as lake-effect snow will begin in the region before things start drying out in the evening.
The weekend will be milder with the exception of some lingering gusts and snow around the Great Lakes region.
Fire danger out West
Parts of Colorado and Wyoming are experiencing extreme and dangerous fire weather Friday, as dry and windy conditions persist across the Rockies.
In particular, the area around Denver is under a rare “Particularly Dangerous Situation” Red Flag Warning for winds between 45-55 mph and gusts up to 80-110 mph, making conditions extremely favorable for rapid fire spread.
Parts of the Texas panhandle, west-central Nebraska and other parts of Colorado and Wyoming are also under Red Flag Warnings for fire, as wind gusts may reach up to 50 mph with the dry conditions out West.
Rain, wind and some snow will rock the Northwest Friday, as a lingering system on the West Coast starts to shift south, dropping an additional 1 to 4 inches of rain across western Oregon, southwest Washington and northwest California.
A Flood Watch remains in effect across coastal Oregon and Washington until 4 a.m. Saturday, as rivers and streams will continue to rise to potentially record levels.
Some mountain resorts in California, such as Boreal Mountain and Soda Springs Mountain Resort, have paused operations into next week due to the weather and will reopen when weather permits.
“While it’s never easy to pause early in the season, this storm is expected to help build our snowpack and set us up for an exciting stretch of winter riding ahead,” the Boreal Mountain resort wrote in a Facebook post. “Our teams will be working throughout the storm to protect terrain and prepare for reopening as soon as conditions allow.”
Over the weekend, 2 to 6 more inches of rain will hit Washington down to California, and a coastal storm will gift nearly all of the West Coast with rain and wind for Christmas.
The holiday week will be much mild and warmer for the rest of the country.
Taylor Swift, ‘The End of an Era’ docuseries (Courtesy Disney+)
Taylor Swift proved she could do it with a broken heart on The Eras Tour, and she opens up about it in a new episode of her Disney+ docuseries The End of an Era.
In episode four, which is now streaming, Taylor reveals, “There were points in this tour when the tour was really the only thing that was really keeping me going in my life. … I went through two breakups on the first half of this tour, and that’s a lot of breakups, actually.”
All that left her feeling, she says, like, “I’m not a person, I’m just this, like, big conglomerate that no one sees as a real human being, especially not men that I date.”
That is, until her mother, Andrea Swift, happened to see a headline about a Kansas City Chiefs player complaining that he brought a friendship bracelet to the Eras Tour but didn’t get to meet Taylor.
“So I call up my resident expert on the Kansas City Chiefs, my cousin Robin, and I go, ‘Tell me about this guy named Travis Kelce,'” Andrea says in the episode. “She goes, ‘Oh my God, he is the nicest guy! And he really loves his mom.’ And I went, ‘Ding, ding, ding, ding.'”
Taylor then picks up the story from her mom: “So you call me with this tone of, ‘Hey, so, I know you’re not gonna react well to this, but there’s a guy.’ … You said something to the effect of, ‘You gotta start doing something different.’”
Taylor notes, “If you ever would have ever told me that the most meaningful relationship I would ever have would start with a man saying he was ‘butt hurt’ that I didn’t want to meet him — unbelievable.”
Gem Archer of Oasis performs onstage during the Oasis Live ’25 World Tour at Rose Bowl Stadium on September 06, 2025 in Pasadena, California. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
The Oasis reunion was one of the biggest rock tours of 2025, and guitarist Gem Archer had a feeling it might be massive after getting his first look at the set list.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Archer tells Guitar World. “I was like, ‘Wow – and we haven’t even gotten to “Supersonic” yet!’ It was just ridiculous from there.”
“The boys had been sorting it out for ages,” he adds. “It got amended; we’d started with, I think, 27 songs, and it ended up being 23.”
The set list stayed consistent throughout the whole tour and included classics such as “Wonderwall,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Champagne Supernova.”
“Those songs, played in that order, are just unbeatable,” Archer says.
The tour also marked the first Oasis lineup to feature both Archer and guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs.
“Playing with him, it’s like he’s the bedrock – he’s the glue that makes everything else sound great,” Archer says of Arthurs. “He’s overlooked as a rhythm guitarist in a way ’cause he has this feel.”
As for whether the Oasis reunion will continue to tour beyond 2025, that remains unknown. After the tour concluded in November, Oasis stated, “There will now be a pause for a period of reflection.”
