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Actor Tim Matheson took a not-so-subtle swipe at former First Lady Melania Trump while praising her successor Dr. Jill Biden in a now-deleted tweet. Following the backlash that took place after members of the National Guard were sent out of the Capitol building and into a cold parking lot, the first lady appeared for a photo op with a group of them while carrying baskets of candy. The "National Lampoon's Animal House" star reacted to the gesture by complimenting Biden, which included an indirect jab at her predecessor. "So wonderful to have a First Lady with class and heart. And,...

Actor Ben Affleck once explained why he found it difficult to watch Republican actors on screen. "It's...hard," explained Affleck, "to get people to suspend disbelief. ... When I watch a guy I know is a big Republican, part of me thinks, I probably wouldn't like this person if I met him, or we would have different opinions. That (expletive) fogs the mind when you should be paying attention and be swept into the illusion." This likely explains why "Uncle Tom," the documentary on which I worked as executive producer, gets no love from the lists of best documentaries of 2020....

Monday's "Tonight Show" averaged the smallest TV audience ever for an original episode of the show, according to early ratings. Jimmy Fallon drew just 947,000 total viewers last night. Stephen Colbert's "Late Show" on CBS won the evening with 2.03 million viewers, according to Nielsen's Live + Same Day fast-national numbers. ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" came in second place among the late-night television programs with 1.67 million total viewers. Numbers for each of those shows are subject to adjustment when final figures are tallied. Those are expected to be available Wednesday. While this specific historical Nielsen data only dates back...

For the first time ever, China supplanted North America as the world's top moviegoing market. Yet no country was spared as global box office revenue likely tumbled more than 72 percent, including a 70 percent dip in the Middle Kingdom. It's official: North American box office revenue plummeted 80 percent in 2020 amid the novel coronavirus pandemic and unprecedented theater closures, while global revenue tumbled more than 70 percent.

This year's economic shutdowns have done little to reduce the world's carbon emissions. While pollution has dipped, greenhouse gases keep accumulating in the atmosphere, locking in future decades of climate disruption and extreme weather. A recent United Nations report says the so-called emissions gap - the "difference between where we are likely to be and where we need to be" on climate policy - is as big as ever. As for who's chiefly responsible for the gap, it's the global rich, the report says. Just 10% of the world's population emits nearly half of the world's carbon pollution. The top...

Matthew McConaughey recently had some very refreshing thoughts about politics in America. McConaughey sat down for an awesome interview with Russell Brand following the release of “Greenlights,” and it sounds like he’s not a fan of the elitist attitude found within his own industry. “There are a lot on that illiberal left that absolutely condescend, patronize and are arrogant towards the other 50%,” McConaughey explained. He added that people in Hollywood “were in denial” about President Donald Trump winning the 2016 election.

Netflix’s controversial movie Cuties has been shortlisted for the Oscars 2021 nominations despite backlash and accusations of ‘lewd’ content. It’s reported that France’s Oscar selection committee has submitted their choice of five films for the international feature film category at the Oscars next year. According to Deadline, the chosen films are: Cuties, Eté 85 (Summer Of 85), ADN (DNA), Two Of Us and Gagarine. However, Cuties’ entry will no doubt surprise many due to the steaming criticism it received outside of France.

Quibi, the app that staked its future on short videos, is shutting down just six months after it launched, the company announced Wednesday. "We started with the idea to create the next generation of storytelling and because of you, we were able to create and deliver the best version of what we imagined Quibi to be," co-founders Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman wrote in an open letter. "So it is with an incredibly heavy heart that today we are announcing that we are winding down the business and looking to sell its content and technology assets." The company, which struggled...

Hollywood actor Sam Elliott has lent his deep, resonant voice to the Joe Biden campaign, narrating a new campaign ad that calls for Americans to unite behind the Democratic presidential nominee. “There is only one America — no Democratic rivers, no Republican mountains,” Elliott says in the commercial. “Just this great land and all that’s possible on it, with a fresh start. Cures we can find, futures we can shape. Work to reward, dignity to protect. There is so much we can do if we choose to take on problems and not each other, and choose a president who brings...

COLUMBUS, OH—In response to growing concerns over celebrity election meddling, several states have introduced voting machines with new technology that will immediately discard your ballot if it determines you are voting because a celebrity told you to. "We are extremely concerned about celebrity influence in this election," said Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose. "According to several authoritative studies, celebrities are literally the worst. We can't allow our future to be determined by celebrities or anyone insane enough to listen to them." Polls have shown that there are actually a few people out there who rely on celebrities like Mark...

[snip] John Fithian, head of the National Association of Theatre Owners, believes that the main stumbling block preventing movie theaters from rebounding is Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to keep cinemas closed indefinitely. That’s robbing studios of a major market to show their films, Fithian argues, which may jeopardize the release of upcoming blockbusters such as “Wonder Woman 1984” and Pixar’s “Soul.” In an interview with Variety, the theater business’s top lobbyist urged studios to keep releasing movies during the pandemic and warned that the industry faces financial ruin without government assistance. “No Time to Die” has delayed its release until...

In his novel ‘’World War Z,’’ author Max Brooks has a telling plot development early on, where the global scourge of a zombie virus originated in China, with that nation covering up the outbreak. It serves as a telling precursor to this year’s Covid-19 global pandemic, but it is a prescient plot development that audiences who watched the film version of the story never saw. In the film adaptation, with Brad Pitt in the lead role, the zombie pandemic was originating in Russia. This was a conscious script alteration, one made specifically with appeasement of Chinese entertainment authorities.  Hollywood has...

Arrowverse maestro, and EP of Titans and Doom Patrol, Greg Berlanti recently discussed revamping characters to reflect the times we’re in. He participated in Variety’s Virtual TV Fest this week where he said heroes should look and feel like they come from today, not the 40s and 50s. Berlanti added there is a responsibility that comes with bringing “iconic characters into this generation.” “In the DC Universe especially, there’s been a focus on us recognizing that we want to create heroes that look and felt like today, not the 1940s or 1950s. They were all very well intentioned when they...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is implementing new diversity quotas that must be met for moviemakers to be considered for the Best Picture Academy Awards. “The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Tuesday laid out sweeping eligibility reforms to the best picture category intended to encourage diversity and equitable representation on screen and off, addressing gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity and disability,” ABC News reported on Wednesday. The Academy set four representation categories, which will go into effect in 2024: “On screen,” “among the crew,” “at the studio,” and “in opportunities for training and advancement...

The Golden Girls is being revived with an all-black cast, which includes Regina King and Tracee Ellis Ross. The iconic sitcom - which ran for seven season between 1985 and 1992 - revolved around the lives of four white women living together in Miami, but the new project will seek to 'reimagine' the situation from a black perspective. Fans should not get too excited about the beloved program returning to the airwaves, however, as the revival appears to be a one-night special set to be broadcast over Zoom.

More than 30,000 people have signed a petition asking Netflix to remove “Cuties,” a movie they claim sexualizes children.

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s long-awaited and much-speculated running mate is Sen. Kamala Harris(snip) Here’s a sampling of the high-profile reactions from Hollywood and beyond: Yes We Kam! — kerry washington (@kerrywashington) Was there ever more of an exciting day? For our entire country of course, but especially for my Black and Indian sisters, many of us who have gone our entire lives thinking that someone who looks like us may never hold high office? — Mindy Kaling THANK YOU GOD🙏🏻.WE ARE DANCING AROUND WITH JOY IN OUR ♥️’S‼️ THIS IS A GREAT DAY FOR AMERICA‼️ WE HAVE BRAINS,& BEAUTY🥰...

The pandemic that has ground the country and our economy to a near standstill has of course had a serious effect on the movie industry. Everything from theater closings and productions forced to halt has had a severe impact on the entertainment complex. As a nation we’ve also had to endure those out-of-work performers creating PSA videos like the ‘’Imagine’’ montage that compounded our suffering. Now studios are turning to the government for significant financial assistance, conflicting with prior positions they backed.  In the years I have been covering the business side of Hollywood’s show it has become apparent entertainment...

A controversial drug heralded by some as a coronavirus cure comes with symptoms of its own, Rita Wilson says. The actress, 63, says she was given chloroquine after she and husband Tom Hanks tested positive for COVID-19 while in Australia last month. The malaria treatment may or may not have helped her beat the virus, but it certainly gave her “extreme side effects,” she tells Gayle King on Tuesday’s “CBS This Morning.” After getting the chloroquine, Wilson became “completely nauseous” and experienced vertigo and weakened muscles, she warns. “We have to be very considerate about this drug,” she says. “We...

They may be used to getting glammed up for the red carpet, but just like the rest of the world, celebrities are currently staying home and practicing social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic. With no buzzy premieres or press events on their calendars for the time being, these stars are skipping makeup in favor of letting their natural beauty shine through — and they’re sharing it all on social media.