What's news: Despite meh reviews Jurassic World Dominion opened big. Spider-Man: No Way Home is heading back to cinemas in September. Justin Bieber reveals he is suffering from Ramsay Hunt syndrome. Apple renews Schmigadoon. Amazon renews The Boys. A Duke Nukem movie is in the works. Uma Thurman and Henry Gold join The Old Guard 2 — Abid Rahman
'Jurassic World Dominion' Opens to Stellar $142M
►Clever girl. Jurassic World Dominion devoured $59.6 million at the Friday box office for a projected domestic debut of $142 million. At this pace, the third an installment in the Jurassic World trilogy will finish Sunday with a global total of $386 million. The Universal and Amblin movie will easily win the weekend as box office sensation Top Gun: Maverick falls to No. 2 in its third weekend. Top Gun 2 continues to over perform and should earn a rousing $50 million this weekend as it approaches the $400 million mark domestically. The box office report.
—"This is pretty serious." Justin Bieber is sharing with fans the serious reason why he recently paused his Justice World tour. The pop star explained in a video on Friday that he has been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a disorder that has left him with facial nerve paralysis. The story.
—"You wanted more Spidey and you got it!"Spider-Man: No Way Home will be making its way back to theaters, just in time for Labor Day weekend. Sony announced Friday that a fan cut of the recent box-office smash will screen in theaters beginning Sept. 2. Entitled Spider-Man: No Way Home – The More Fun Stuff Version, viewers can look forward to added and extended scenes not part of the original version that debuted back on Dec. 17. The story.
—Back in town. Amazon Prime Video has renewed The Boys for a fourth season. The pickup comes just a week after the show’s third season premiered on June 3. It will continue with weekly episodes through July 8. Amazon says the global audience for The Boys over the three days after season three debuted grew by 17 percent over the second-season premiere. The story.
—Schmecond schmeason. Apple TV+ has handed out a second-season renewal for Schmigadoon, the comedy starring Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key from exec producer Lorne Michaels. Season two of the series will be set in “Schmicago” in the world of musicals from the ’60s and ’70s. Strong and Key will both return alongside Ariana DeBose, Dove Cameron, Jaime Camil, Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Ann Harada, Jane Krakowski, Martin Short and Aaron Tveit. The story.
ICYMI: THR's Drama Actor Roundtable
►"You went to therapy for that?" It's been a busy week, so if you happened to miss our Emmy Drama Actor Roundtable with Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, Oscar Isaac, Tom Hiddleston, Brian Cox and Quincy Isaiah, here it is once more! The sparkling chat whipped from deeply funny to deadly serious, as the sextet doled out a mix of stories and advice. The roundtable and more.
—New recruits. Uma Thurman and Henry Golding have joined Charlize Theron in The Old Guard 2, Netflix’s sequel to its hit 2020 action movie. On top of Theron, the new installment is bringing back original cast members KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Veronica Ngo and Chiwetel Ejiofor as it adapts the comic book by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez. The story.
—IP mining. Netflix is looking to popular original series like The Queen’s Gambit and Money Heist for a slew of new mobile games coming to the streaming platform. The company is expected to launch nine new games later this year, with a Queen’s Gambit chess and puzzle game slated to launch this summer. The story.
—Worth a shot. THR's Borys Kit has the scoop on 1990s classic video game Duke Nukem getting the feature film treatment. Legendary Entertainment, the company behind Dune and the Godzilla franchise, has picked up the movie rights, with Cobra Kai creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg on board to produce. Duke Nukem was a first-person shooter game that helped popularize the genre. The story.
—"We have homophobia, racism and transphobia right within our very own community." In a rallying call for the LGBTQ community, Queer Eye star Karamo Brown Calls on straight allies to speak up against the recent rise of anti-gay laws like Florida's "Don't Say Gay" legislation. Brown also looked inward, and called on the LGBTQ community to protect all rights and speak in a "unified voice." The story.
'The Janes' Directors on Releasing Abortion Doc With Roe v. Wade In Peril
►"We hope that people remember that these are real women that are going to die and be injured." THR's Hilary Lewis spoke to Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes, the filmmakers behind the HBO's abortion doc The Janes, which puts the spotlight on the underground network operating when abortion was illegal in the '60s and early '70s. The duo talk about the challenges of capturing the voices of the women involved with Jane, how they hope their film highlights the humanity behind a controversial issue, and why the film is mostly free of the current political arguments around abortion. The interview.
—"A great dame in every sense of the word." After a two-year pandemic delay, Julie Andrews was finally honored with AFI’s Life Achievement Award on Thursday night, in a star-studded celebration that included Carol Burnett, Steve Carell, Gwen Stefani and Cynthia Erivo. The 86-year-old star of The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and The Princess Diaries made a rare public appearance at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood to receive the honor. The story.
—"I can’t wait to see the artistry that the contestants bring to the stage." Leah Remini is the new So You Think You Can Dance judge. She takes over for Matthew Morrison, who exited the show on May 27 after violating its competition production protocols, and joins fellow judges Stephen “Twitch” Boss and Jojo Siwa. Remini will make her first appearance on the June 15 episode, which is also the long-running show’s 300th installment. The story.
—Overall deal news. Warren Littlefield is solidifying his future with Disney. The former entertainment president at NBC, who steered development of hits including Friends and Seinfeld, has inked a new multiple-year overall deal with Disney that covers his production company, Littlefield Co., through 2026. The story.
Making of 'Pachinko': How the Best-Selling Novel Was Brought to TV
►"There definitely was an audacity to think we could even get something like this made." THR's Rebecca Sun goes behind the scenes of Apple TV+’s ambitious, sprawling epic Pachinko, based on Min Jin Lee’s best-selling book, and finds out how showrunner Soo Hugh wrangled a multilingual and multinational cast and crew to create the critically acclaimed series. The story.
—Stacked cast. Jason Bateman, Viola Davis, Chris Tucker and Marlon Wayans will join Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in Amazon Prime Video’s untitled Nike sports marketing film. The ensemble cast also includes Matthew Maher, Chris Messina, Tom Papa and Julius Tennon in a movie centered around Nike’s long-shot effort to sign Michael Jordan to its shoe company. Affleck will also direct the pic. The story.
—Three more. Peacock’s Mrs. Davis, the drama series from creators Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez, is adding to its cast. Andy McQueen, Ben Chaplin and Margo Martindale have joined the series. They’ll star alongside the previously cast Betty Gilpin and Jake McDorman. The story.
—Cited. David Koechner was recently cited for suspected DUI in Lawrence County, Ohio, according to courthouse records obtained by THR. The Anchorman star was pulled over early in the morning of June 4 and refused a DUI test. He was issued a ticket for OVI (meaning “operating a vehicle impaired,” as Ohio does not use the DUI/DWI terminology), and a hearing is set for July 8. The story.
TV Review: 'Dark Winds'
►"Not always a gripping mystery, but a promising prelude for an ongoing series." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews AMC's Dark Winds. Zahn McClarnon and Kiowa Gordon star as Tony Hillerman's Navajo police partners in this 1970s-set drama, directed by Chris Eyre and featuring Robert Redford and George R. R. Martin among producers. The review.
—"A primer for those not already attuned to America's racial anxieties." THR critic Lovia Gyarkye reviews Tommy Walker and Ross Hockrow's Kaepernick & America. The documentary tries to make sense of the aftermath of and reactions to Colin Kaepernick’s protests. The review.
—"Finds the Everywoman in a singular and singularly divisive intellectual."THR film critic Sheri Linden reviews Pratibha Parmar's My Name Is Andrea. A documentary portrait of Andrea Dworkin, a major figure in second-wave feminism, takes a hybrid approach, combining archival material and performances by actors including Ashley Judd and Andrea Riseborough. The review.
—"Shoots and scores." Sheri reviews Ray Romano's Somewhere in Queens. The actor's first feature as a director is an ensemble comic drama about a family man who becomes too invested in his basketball-playing son’s hoop dreams. The review.
—Angelina Chapin on why the Johnny Depp playbook won’t work for most men and why defamation cases remain a tool for the rich and famous [The Cut]
—Kevin Clark pays tribute to Peaky Blinders, TV’s swaggering crowd-pleaser [Ringer]
—Chris Molanphy on why it took more than Stranger Things to make Kate Bush’s first U.S. top 10 hit [Slate]
—Deepa Seetharaman and Emily Glazer have the scoop on Meta scrutinizing Sheryl Sandberg’s use of Facebook resources over several years [WSJ]
—Adam Nagourney has a wonderful interview with John Waters, and they talk about the Academy Museum's planned exhibition of his life and work [NYT]
Today...
...in 1993, Steven Spielberg ushered in a new franchise with the launch of Jurassic Park. The 126-minute film, which set fire to the summer box office that year, would spawn a series of tentpole films for Universal over the course of the next two decades. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Peter Dinklage (53), Joshua Jackson (44), Hugh Laurie (63), Charlie Tahan (24), Adrienne Barbeau (77), Ivana Baquero (28), Claire Holt (34), Anna Sawai (30), Lenny Jacobson (48), Jane Goldman (52), Stephen Schnetzer (74), Jelly Howie (35), Amir Mokri (66), Dana Brunetti (49)
Julee Cruise, the alluring pop singer best known for her collaborations with avant-garde film director David Lynch, has died. She was 65. The obituary.
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