TV/Film
Box Office: ‘Avatar 2’ Rocks New Year’s Weekend, Crosses $1.4B Globally
Avatar: The Way of Water will ring in 2023 in style. James Cameron’s tentpole is expected to finish the long New Year’s weekend with an estimated $440 million-plus domestically, well ahead of the first Avatar, which came out of the year-end holidays with $352 million on its way to earning north of $750 million domestically (that includes rereleases). The 2009 film still ranks as the top-grossing movie of all time globally with $2.92 billion in ticket sales. Avatar: The Way of Water will cross $1.4 billion in worldwide ticket sales sometime on Monday after sprinting past the $1.37 billion mark on Sunday (Imax accounts for a huge $152.2 million, the fourth-best showing of all time.) That puts it among the 15 biggest films of all time. Overseas, the sequel grossed a sizeable $186.7 million fo...
2022 Kennedy Center Honors: How to Watch & Stream for Free
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. The 45th annual Kennedy Center Honorswill air on Wednesday (Dec. 28) at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and stream on Paramount+. The list of esteemed honorees include Gladys Knight, Amy Grant, U2, George Clooney and Tania León, a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, conductor and educator. The 2022 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony was held at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 4. Read on for on ways to watch and stream for free. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news How to Watch the 45th Annual Kennedy Cen...
‘Yellowstone’ Season 5: How to Watch & Stream the Hit Series for Free
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Yellowstone is getting good! The mid-season finale premieres on the Paramount Network on Sunday (Jan. 1). Season 5 of the hit series about the Duttons — a fictitious (and dysfunctional) family who owns and operates the largest cattle ranch in the country — premiered on the Paramount Network on Nov. 13. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the premiere drew a series high of 12.1 million viewers. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In the two-hour premiere episode, John Dutton (Kevin Costner) gets sworn in as g...
Sia Gives Her Favorite ‘Survivor’ Season 43 Players Major Cash Prizes
Turns out Survivor contestants don’t necessarily have to outwit, outplay or outlast in order to win a big cash prize. That’s because Sia has once again given away huge spoils of her own to her favorite season 43 contestants. In a video shared by Entertainment Weekly on Friday (Dec. 23), the pop star doled out $200,000 to three players who fell short of the CBS competition’s $1 million grand prize when the Sole Survivor was announced on Dec. 14. “Hi, Jesse! It’s your biggest fan, Sia!” she begins during a video chat with Jesse Lopez, who finished in fourth place. “I really think that you deserved to win, and I think you just played the most epic, sneaky, wonderful game in the whole world. … So I wanted to give you $100,000.” “Oh my god!” a shocked Lopez exclaimed. The pop star then went on ...
‘The Best Man: The Final Chapters’: How to Stream the Limited Series for Free
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. “Just like old times, only better.” Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Regina Hall, Sanaa Lathan, Melissa De Sousa, Terrence Howard and Harold Perrineau reunite in The Best Man: The Final Chapters. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The limited series, based on the film franchise written and directed by Malcolm D. Lee, will premiere on Peacock on Thursday (Dec. 22). Fans of The Best Man will get a chance to catch up with the lives of Harper (Diggs), Robyn (Lathan), Jordan (Long), Lance (Chestnut), Quenti...
Cecily Strong Leaving ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Says Goodbye in Character on ‘Weekend Update’ Segment
Cecily Strong is the latest castmember to depart NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Strong’s final show was Saturday night’s edition on Dec. 17. She appeared as Kimberly Guilfoyle in the cold open and other segments, including one about “Jewish Elvis” as well as “Weekend Update.” In the latter, she played recurring character Cathy Anne, who was saying “goodbye” because she was going to prison. She joked that she’d be fine because she had “friends on the inside, they seem to be doing OK” as a photo of recently departed castmembers Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant were shown onscreen in prison garb. “Everybody has to go to jail at some point, right? It’s my time now,” she added. Breaking character a bit toward the end, she said: “I had a lot of fun here. And I feel really lucky that I have had so many ...
Austin Butler Can’t Help Falling in Love With Sarah Sherman’s ‘Jewish Elvis’ on ‘SNL’
Austin Butler brought his “casual” version of Elvis to Saturday Night Live, and SNL cast member Sarah Sherman graced the stage as “Jewish Elvis.” Sherman’s “Jewish Elvis” was the star of Butler, Cecily Strong, and Ego Nwodim’s retirement home in a sketch Saturday night. Butler dressed like a grandma and appeared to be the performer’s biggest fan in the theater — even revealing a T-shirt under her blouse with her catch phrase, “This is a zizzaster!” “The first night of Hanukkah, they really kick things off with a bang,” Strong says in the clip below. “Oh my god, I’m so horny I’m gonna friggin’ explode,” exclaims Butler, who was the host of SNL for the night in an episode that featured Lizzo as musical guest. “Oh! I’m like Niagara Falls over here,” adds Butler later in the sketch. “My chair ...
How Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon Changed a ‘George & Tammy‘ Scene That Initially ‘Disturbed’ Her
Jessica Chastain says a scene was altered in George & Tammy with the help of co-star Michael Shannon to give country icon Tammy Wynette more agency in the Showtime limited series. In the first episode of the series, based on Wynette’s personal and professional relationship with fellow musician George Jones, the duo is confronted with their future while Wynette is still married to her soon-to-be ex-husband Don Chapel. In an interview with Marie Claire, the actress and producer on the Golden Globe-nominated show shared that, in an early outline of the scene, Jones gets Wynette alone by distracting Don with an escort. For Chastain, the sequence around this moment was upsetting. “I read it, and I was deeply disturbed,” Chastain recalled. “[...
Austin Butler Finds Jimmy Fallon’s ‘Elvis on the Shelvis’ Ahead of ‘SNL’
Austin Butler tried to make a quick visit with Jimmy Fallon to get some advice before his SNL hosting gig this weekend. Instead of finding Fallon, he found an Elvis on the Shelvis in a skit for The Tonight Show. “Who is this?” Butler — who starred in a biopic about rock ‘n’ roll icon Elvis Presley — asks in the skit, picking up the doll off the mantle. Elvis on the Shelvis, played by Fallon, then comes to life for a musical performance. “Well, I move around the house when I’m a-home alone/ You did what you did/ You done what you done/ Elvis on the Shelvis never tell no one,” Fallon’s Elvis sings. “You’re going on the top of my tree,” Butler says after the Elvis on the Shelvis show. Butler’s SNL episode with musical guest Lizzo airs Saturday (Dec. 17) on NBC. Watch his clip with Fallon...
‘Mamma Mia!’ Sequel Director Ol Parker Teases Future for Film Franchise
It sounds like Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again director Ol Parker might be ready to take a chance on pursuing another film in the musical franchise. Parker, who helmed Universal Pictures’ 2018 follow-up to director Phyllida Lloyd’s 2008 hit Mamma Mia!, told Screen Rant in an interview published online Saturday (Dec. 17) that producer Judy Craymer has always intended to make a film trilogy. Craymer has credits on both films and also the ABBA-centric jukebox musical of the same name, which was the basis for the first movie and has had runs on the West End and Broadway. “Judy Craymer, the genius producer behind the musical and the first two films, always plans for it to be a trilogy,” Parker teased. “That’s all I can say. The first one made an eno...
Donald Glover to Star In & Produce Spider-Man Movie Based on Hypno-Hustler Villain
Donald Glover is finally getting a Spider-Man movie. It’s just not quite what you think. Glover is attached to star and produce a feature set in Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man universe of Marvel Comics characters, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. Myles Murphy, the son of actor and comedian Eddie Murphy, is on board to write the project, which has no title but is said to revolve on the Hypno-Hustler, one of the more obscure Spider-Man villains. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Created by Bill Mantlo, the writer who also created Rocket Racoon, and artist Frank Springer, Hypno-Hustler was very much a product of the disco music scene when he first appeared in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man No. 24 in 1978. His re...
Lizzo to Replace Yeah Yeah Yeahs as Final ‘Saturday Night Live’ Musical Guest of 2022
NBC announced Saturday (Dec. 10) that Lizzo will step in for previously announced performers Yeah Yeah Yeahs on next weekend’s Saturday Night Live as the final musical guest of 2022. When she joins host Austin Butler on the Dec. 17 episode, it will mark the third time the pop-rap star has performed on the show. Yeah Yeah Yeahs announced on their socials that they had to cancel because guitarist Nick Zinner is still recovering after contracting pneumonia last month. In addition to SNL, the band also pulled out of KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas festival in Los Angeles on Saturday. “As many of our fans know Nick has had pneumonia over the past month and it’s been an up and down recovery process,” the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ statement reads. “The band’s top priority is supporting Nick through a ful...
