| | | | What's news: Barbie is creeping towards $600m in North America. Canadian telco Bell is set to cut financial ties with the Toronto Film Festival. MrBeast was the big winner at the 2023 Streamy Awards. Denis Villeneuve has publicly expressed his interest in making Dune Messiah. — Abid Rahman
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Bob Barker 1923 - 2023 ►"World’s Greatest MC." Bob Barker, the energetic game show legend who for more than 50 years made every day entertaining as host of Truth or Consequences and The Price Is Right, has died. He was 99. Barker, who also was celebrated for his animal-rights activism and for one hilarious brawl with Adam Sandler in the 1996 golf comedy Happy Gilmore, died Saturday morning of natural causes in his longtime Hollywood Hills home, his representative, Roger Neal, told THR. The obituary.
—"The man. The myth. The best." Hollywood took to social media to pay tribute to Bob Barker. The likes of Adam Sandler, Drew Carey, Rob Scnheider, Howie Mandel and more stars remembered Barker for his TV work but also his tireless support for animal rights. The reaction.
—The patron saint of sick days. THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reflects on the career of Bob Barker and his place in pop culture. Dan writes that for nearly 6,000 episodes of The Price Is Right, from 1972 to 2007, Barker guided generations of viewers through their mornings with empathy, wry exasperation and the chance to win a new car. The critic's notebook. |
'Gran Turismo' Finishes Ahead of 'Barbie' ►Sitting in pole position. Sony’s late-summer event pic Gran Turismo declared victory at the weekend box office race with a $17.3m domestic opening, a somewhat muted start for a movie based on a popular video game. The hope now is that an A CinemaScore from audiences will provide a turboboost in the days to come.
THR's Pamela McClintock writes that Neill Blomkamp's racing pic had been set to launch nationwide on Aug. 11 but switched gears because of the actors strike and the resulting prohibition on the cast — led by Orlando Bloom and David Harbour — doing any press. The studio instead hosted two weekends of sneaks and a handful of fan screenings to build buzz before opening Gran Turismo everywhere on Aug. 25.
The opening number includes a hefty $3.9m in grosses from those previous sneaks. It’s hardly the first time that a Hollywood studio has added such grosses to an opening weekend number, but the early Gran Turismo screenings were more robust than is the norm.
Put another way: Barbie — which has now earned an estimated $594.9m domestically — would have been assured of topping the weekend chart. Saturday estimates showed Barbie earning $15.7m from 3,736 locations in its sixth weekend, but Warner Bros. bumped up that number to $17.1m by Sunday morning. The box office report. |
Streamys: MrBeast Wins Creator of the Year ►🏆 Beast mode 🏆 Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, was the big winner at the 2023 Streamy Awards on Sunday night. MrBeast won two awards out of the five he was nominated for: creator of the year and collaboration for his rock, paper, scissors video with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Kai Cenat won streamer of the year, with show of the year going to Michelle Khare’s “Challenge Accepted” and the international prize going to Spain’s ibai. Chris Olsen was named as the short form winner. The winners.
—🏆 Tears of victory 🏆 Nintendo was the big winner of this year’s Gamescom, the international video game conference that wrapped up in Cologne, Germany, on Sunday. Nintendo Switch game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom picked up multiple awards, including for best gameplay, best audio and the honor of most epic title at this year’s event. The winners.
—🏆 LMGI champs 🏆 HBO/Max’s The Last of Us and Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 were among the winners at the 10th annual Location Managers Guild International Awards. The guild’s 20th anniversary was also celebrated Saturday evening at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica. The winners.
—"Leave him alone!" Adele stopped her own concert in Las Vegas on Saturday to stand up for a fan in the crowd who she said was being “bothered” by security. Multiple videos posted by attendees show the singer pausing the show in the middle of her performance “Water Under the Bridge” to ask security what was going on. The story.
—End of an era. Canadian telecom giant Bell is set to cut financial ties with the Toronto Film Festival after this year's edition. Bell has been a lead sponsor of TIFF since 1995 and lends its name to the event’s year-round home Bell Lightbox. The parting of ways between Bell and TIFF comes after the festival has increasingly embraced Netflix in recent years, with the U.S. streamer a big competitor to Bell's Crave service. The story. |
What It's Like to Miss Your Awards Season Moment ►"An intractable virus known as “AMPTP-23” has infected the global entertainment system." In a guest column for THR, comedian, writer and actor Travon Free writes about creatives not being able to promote their work or enjoy their success due to circumstances beyond their control. Free, who won an Academy Award during "the COVID-19 Oscars," writes that he understands what Emmy nominees are going through during a season disrupted by two strikes. The column.
—Adapt God Emperor of Dune, you cowards! As Denis Villeneuve returns to Arrakis for Dune: Part Two, he's hoping his involvement with the franchise doesn't end there. In a new interview, the Canadian filmmaker opened up about wanting to continue to explore the universe created by Frank Herbert in a third movie based on Dune Messiah if it were to be greenlit. The story.
—"Most of the people in my industry don’t have enough." Henry Winkler took a few moments away from Saturday night’s This is About Humanity’s 5th annual fundraising soirée to weigh in on the ongoing writers and actors strikes. Winkler, who was hosting the event at his Los Angeles home alongside daughter Zoe Winkler Reinis, spoke passionately about the plight of creatives working in Hollywood today. The story.
—"I can’t tell you how stressed I am talking about that film in particular." Paul Mescal has revealed how nervous he was during his first interaction with his Gladiator sequel co-star Pedro Pascal before filming began, and why the highly-anticipated film has left him “stressed” due to the success of the first film. In a new interview, the Aftersun actor said he actually saw Pascal at LAX airport just before his involvement in the movie was announced, but “was too afraid to go up to him.” The story.
—"I owe my whole career to being on that show." Stranger Things star Joe Keery says he has “very convoluted” feelings about his time in Hawkins coming to an end. In a new interview, the actor and musician, who has played the character Steve Harrington since season one debuted in 2016, said it "does feel like it’s time" to say goodbye but that “it won’t be easy for it to end.” The story. |
Meet the Man Betting Big on Fremantle's Scripted Strategy ►"Premium content and storytelling are at Fremantle’s core." THR's Scott Roxborough spoke to Thomas Rabe, CEO of Fremantle's parent company RTL Group. The exec discusses providing the capital that helped turn Fremantle into THR's 2023 International Producer of the Year and his goal for the company behind X Factor and American Idol and the indie movies The Hand of God and Bones and All to hit more than $3b in revenue by 2025. The interview.
—"It was a great love story." For THR, Ashley Foster spoke to The Last of Us composer Gustavo Santaolalla on earning an Emmy nomination for scoring the third episode of the HBO drama, titled "Long, Long Time." The Argentinian composer talks about how the acclaimed episode compares to Brokeback Mountain, for which he won an Oscar for best original score, and how he has accomplished so much in his career despite not reading or writing music. The interview.
—"Golda believed in the high court." THR's Mia Galuppo spoke to Golda director Guy Nattiv about the casting of non-Jewish actor Helen Mirren to play Golda Meir, Israel's first and only female prime minister. Nattiv also talks about releasing his film while Israelis are protesting the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to reform the judiciary. The interview. |
'Love Island USA' EP Goes Behind the Scenes of S5 ►"You want it to feel like the best summer vacation of all time." THR's Carly Thomas spoke to Love Island USA executive producer Simon Thomas (no relation) about season five of the reality series. Thomas discusses the creative process of picking the Islanders each season, how they handle intense moments, the anticipation of Casa Amor and teases the upcoming series spinoff Love Island Games. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
In other news...
—Colman Domingo delivers rousing portrait of the March on Washington’s architect in Rustin trailer
—Jessica St. Clair and June Diane Raphael’s podcast offshoot offers a subversive take on wellness
—Pete Davidson, John Mayer, Busta Rhymes help Dave Chappelle celebrate 50th birthday in NYC
—Gymnast Simone Biles makes history, winning record eighth U.S. Championship
What else we're reading...
—Miles Surrey considers the recent output of Liam Neeson, and wonders if the actor is incapable of signing up for a movie in which his character doesn’t find himself in mortal danger [Ringer]
—Crazy Dan Adler report on the recent death hoax surrounding Canadian teen rapper and internet celebrity Lil Tay [VF]
—Joshua Berlinger looks at why an unwanted kiss at the Women's World Cup final has rocked Spain to the core [CNN]
—Elaine McGee reports that the real life inspiration for Michelle in the hit comedy Derry Girls is returning to acting [BBC]
—Hannah Abraham looks at how India’s Chandrayaan-3 moon landing has boosted the country's self-image [Guardian]
Today...
Today's birthdays: David Fincher (61), Jack Black (54), Luis Guzmán (67), Jennifer Coolidge (62), Quvenzhané Wallis (20), Shania Twain (58), LeAnn Rimes (41), Lexi Underwood (20), Jason Priestley (54), Billy Boyd (55), David Soul (80), Daniel Stern (66), Rick Rossovich (66), Emma Samms (63), Brian Thompson (64), Carly Pope (43), Katie Findlay (33), Richard Cabral (39), Kelly Overton (45), Sarah Roemer (39), Steffiana De La Cruz (49), Max Collins (31), Eugene Byrd (48), Kristin Booth (49), Alfonso Herrera (40), Shalita Grant (35), Nick E. Tarabay (48), Esther Hall (53), Talia Jackson (22) |
| Arleen Sorkin, who portrayed Calliope Jones on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives and served as the original voice of the DC Comics character Harley Quinn, had died. She was 67. The obituary. |
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