| | | | | | What's news: Meet the first family of Christian content creators. Trump extends the TikTok ban, again. The great Playmate taco scandal. Rachel Zegler wins over London crowds — and passersby. A Pretty Little Liars reunion. Something else to be mad at Drake for. — Julian Sancton
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‘Superman’ Tracking for $135 Million U.S. Box Office Opening ►Gunn-ing for it. With three weeks left to go, James Gunn and DC Studios’ Superman is tracking to open in the $135 million range at the domestic box office, according to the National Research Group. If that forecast is right, Superman would land high up on the list of DC openings. Opinion, however, is sharply divided as to just how high Big Blue can fly. Insiders at DC Studios and Warners are being more conservative in suggesting $90 million to $125 million (although anything less than $100 million might be seen as a blemish). THR's box-office boffin Pamela McClintock has the story. |
The Creator’s Creators ►Meet the Schnackys. They're the first family of Christian content, with more than 30 million devout followers, a podcast, a Grammy-nominated album and much more. On and offline, the family is a full-service entertainment firm for Jesus — the D’Amelios or even the Kardashians in a Christian alternate universe. They hold conferences attended by thousands. They’re now developing a reality show with L.A.-based production-management firm Propagate Content. And they live in three neighboring houses in the same gated community in Clermont, Florida. Avery Stone reports.
—Playmate Taco Scandal! 🌮 👯♀️ Sugar Taco, founded in Los Angeles in 2018, aimed to be a vegan Mexican restaurant promoting sustainability, eco-conscious practices, animal rights, ethical sourcing, and feminism, led by women influencers and social media-savvy models — a surprising number of whom had spent time on the pages of Playboy. But what began as a glossy, girl-powered brand with rescue dogs and biodegradable forks had, by the end, devolved into a bitter social media melee, with Playmate pitted against Playmate and a restaurant that was anything but Instagrammable. John McDermott makes a meal of it. |
Chinese Studios Plan AI-Powered Remakes of Kung Fu Classics ►Everybody was Kung Fu Faking. Hollywood studios and craftspeople may be busy agonizing over the proper role of AI’s potential within the film industry, but Chinese studios aren’t slowing down. Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li and a legion of the all-time greats of martial cinema are about to get an AI makeover. In a sign-of-the-times announcement at the Shanghai International Film Festival on Thursday, a collection of Chinese studios revealed that they are turning to AI to re-imagine around 100 classics of the genre as part of the “Kung Fu Movie Heritage Project 100 Classics AI Revitalization Project.” The story.
—Keeps on Tik-ing. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to keep TikTok running in the U.S. for another 90 days to give his administration more time to broker a deal to bring the Chinese social media platform under American ownership. It is the third time Trump has extended the deadline. The first one was through an executive order on Jan. 20, his first day in office, after the platform went dark briefly when a national ban — approved by Congress and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court — took effect. It is not clear how many times Trump can — or will — keep extending the ban. The story. |
Why Rachel Zegler Has London Raving With Her ‘Evita’ Stage-to-Street Performance ►Don’t Cry for Her — but spare a tear for the ticket buyers. Rachel Zegler is starring in one of London’s hottest West End productions right now, as former first lady of Argentina Eva Perón in Evita. What has got the city buzzing is director Jamie Lloy'ds bold decision to have Zegler perform her showstopper — “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” — live to the street outside from the Palladium balcony every night. The audience inside — who have paid up to a whopping 250 pounds ($336) a ticket — are left with a livestream of the number. THR's Lily Ford has the story.
—Will Drake kill the diss track? It’s been a year since the Pop Out, and the reverberations from the Kendrick vs. Drake battle are still being felt like aftershocks. Like an earthquake, the tectonic plates connecting the culture and the industry have shifted — and hip-hop may never be the same. With Drake’s subsequent lawsuit over “Not Like Us,” the battle has metastasized into something that could damage hip-hop long-term. In a guest column, Touré explains how Drake’s lawsuit could ruin everything.
—Sweet fifteen. In honor of Pretty Little Liars' 15th anniversary, creator Marlene King and key castmembers spoke to THR about the most talked-about storylines and answered burning questions while reflecting on the most beloved — and most controversial — relationships. The group also talks about spinoffs, a potential reunion and a legacy that’s followed all these years since the series ended in June 2017. The story.
In other news...
—Chris Brown pleads not guilty to U.K. assault charge
—Carrie Coon on life after ‘Lotus’
—‘Golden Girls’ creatives reveal bitter feud between Betty White and Bea Arthur
—BTS Is back: K-pop supergroup’s anniversary ushers in long-awaited reunion
—‘The Daily Show’ keeps Desi Lydic on her toes
What else we're reading...
—Frank Landymore reports that the Internet is so polluted with AI slop that it’s hobbling future AI development. [Futurism]
—How Jaws changed Martha’s Vineyard forever. [Nat Geo]
—Sasa Braun, the “James Bond of the environment” says ‘Carbon trading has become an easy target for organized crime’ [El País English]
-As it plans for manned missions to Mars, NASA might finally need to hire real explorers, reports Erin Berger. [The Atlantic]
Today's birthdays: Nicole Kidman (58), Geraldine Viswanathan (30), John Goodman (73), Josh Lucas (54), Robert Rodriguez (57), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (36), Eve Harlow (36), Mike Birbiglia (47) |
| | Pioneering Hollywood movie marketing strategist Allan Freeman has died. He was 88. Freeman died on June 7 due to unspecified causes. Sid Ganis, a former president of Paramount, chairman of Columbia, Lucasfilm exec and president of the Motion Picture Academy, in a statement praised his former colleague and friend: “Allan Freeman was a pioneer. Someone had to invent research for movies and Allan was the one!” The obituary. |
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