Free Republic

Among the many lasting cultural changes this pandemic is poised to bring about will be serious shifts in the entertainment industry. China started reopening its dormant movie theaters just as the U.S. box office “hit zero for the first time� last weekend. The lights were back on at only 5 percent of the country’s cinemas, and ticket sales were paltry. Now they’re dark again. As of Wednesday, more than 26,000 AMC employees were laid off or furloughed, including all 600 members of the China-owned theater chain’s corporate staff.Among the many lasting cultural changes this pandemic is poised to bring about...

America is in crisis, but the celebrities are thriving. They are beaming into our homes, reminding us to stay indoors and “stay positive,” as “we’re all in this together.” When I watch their selfie public service announcements, I find my attention drifting to the edges of the frame: to the understated wall molding visible behind Robert DeNiro’s shoulder; to the Craftsman beams on Priyanka Chopra’s balcony; to the equine wallpaper framing Zoë Kravitz’s crackling fireplace. “Staying home is my superpower,” the “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot reported from her walk-in closet. Ryan Reynolds urged his fans to “work together to...

Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, have returned to America after contracting the coronavirus and locking themselves in quarantine while visiting Australia. Hanks announced the couple's safe arrival in a statement on social media. "Hey, Folks… We're home now and, like the rest of America, we carry on with sheltering in place and social distancing. Many, many thanks to everyone in Australia who looked after us. Their care and guidance made possible our return to the USA. And many thanks to all of you who reached out with well wishes. Rita and I so appreciate it." After the two...

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.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have moved permanently to Los Angeles, having fled Canada before the borders between the countries were closed, in a bombshell move that will throw the royal family into fresh turmoil. U.K. paper the Sun reported Thursday night that the couple took a private flight with their 10-month-old baby Archie to the L.A. area and plan to set up a new, permanent home in Hollywood; the paper also helpfully supplied a list of new neighbors who are also friends, like Victoria and David Beckham and James Corden.

Actor and rare Hollywood conservative Nick Searcy came up with the perfect response to the hopeless heathens of Tinseltown. His version of Imagine is one for the ages, lambasting the left’s virtue signaling and supporting President Trump in these trying times.

I never realized exactly how much attention celebrities craved until they were locked up.

“Mulan” star Tzi Ma is frequently recognized for his many film and television roles, including in last year’s indie hit “The Farewell” and the “Rush Hour” films. But it was an encounter weeks ago that has stayed with him. Ma had visited a Whole Foods grocery store in Pasadena, Calif., when a car approached him as he made his way to the entrance. “He rolls down the window and goes, ‘You should be quarantined,’ and then he took off,” Ma told Variety. He said he stood, speechless, before unleashing screams at the verbal assaulter, who was by then long gone....

Brenna Coogle frequented the Paramount Drive-In as a child growing up in Lakewood but hadn’t been there in about 30 years. On Tuesday night, however, she visited it for the first time in decades to take in a showing of Pixar Animation Studios’ “Onward” with her 9-year-old son and friends. Moments before previews began, Coogle stood near her car under a darkening sky and considered how the coronavirus had upended daily life. She said the widening pandemic made her feel she couldn’t go most places — including a conventional movie theater — and she yearned for a distraction. “So, Day...

Just call her Blunder Woman. Gal Gadot’s attempt to cheer up coronavirus isolationists with a celeb-studded cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” backfired after Twitter users wondered why they couldn’t send money instead. “We’re all in this together,” says the “Wonder Woman” star, 34, at the start of the viral video posted Wednesday to her 38.6-million-fan Instagram page. The 3-minute clip then cuts to a montage of Gadot, Mark Ruffalo, Will Ferrell and other Hollywood elites singing different lyrics to the late Beatle star’s opus, which envisions a world without strife. “Imagine there’s no heaven,” croons Gadot, seemingly wearing little or...

Debra Messing shared a video criticizing Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and questioned whether or not the president’s supporters will turn on him as the death toll rises. Messing has been very vocal on social media about her criticism of Trump and his administration in the past. On Tuesday, she took to Twitter to share a video of recent interviews in which Trump seemed to downplay the threat of the coronavirus. The president’s words are juxtaposed with a graph that seemingly depicts the rapid rise of cases in the United States. “LIAR-IN-CHIEF,” Messing began her tweet. “#Maga have...

Oprah Winfrey waded deeper into political waters two years ago by promoting the “Shout Your Abortion” movement and its attempts to normalize the killing of unborn babies. The “Inspiration” section of entertainment celebrity Oprah Winfrey’s magazine, “O,” promotes the founder of a movement to publicly celebrate abortion and her “Shout Your Abortion” book. She angered many conservatives in our country with her liberal policies. She is trending again today with conservatives and liberals on Twitter. This morning news surfaced that appeared to spark the rumor claimed Winfrey’s house in Boca Raton, Florida, had been raided by the authorities and she...

On Tuesday, Hollywood actress, Trump-hater and now apparent vicious anti-Semite Rosanna Arquette issued a tweet (later deleted) insinuating a Jewish conspiracy behind the ravaging of the world by the coronavirus, ranting, “I’m still confused, so Israel has been working on a corona virus vaccine for a year already ? (so they knew )Vaccines take a long time to know if they are safe and KUSHNER OSCAR is the major investor in the new vaccine that is supposedly coming here. lives at risk for profit.” Arquette’s vicious anti-Semitism drew immediate condemnation: Esoteric Jeff ✔@EsotericCD Great, we're now at the "Hollywood celebrities are...

He auditioned for 'Batman,' posed as the first centerfold for 'Playgirl' and launched a successful business catering to Hollywood behind the scenes. Lyle Waggoner, the actor with the leading man looks who spent seven seasons on The Carol Burnett Show before portraying versions of Steve Trevor a generation apart on Wonder Woman, has died. He was 84. Waggoner died Tuesday in Westlake, California, after a long illness, his son Jason told The Hollywood Reporter. The hunky Kansas native famously screen-tested in 1965 to play the Caped Crusader on the 20th Century Fox-ABC series Batman, but the job, of course, went...

Stuart Whitman, the rugged actor who starred on TV's Cimarron Strip, has died. He was 92. Whitman died Monday of natural causes at his home in Montecito, California, his son Justin told The Hollywood Reporter.

Thanks to blaring headlines and the 24-hour news cycle, avoiding news of the coronavirus is difficult. That is, unless you’re silently meditating in the desert far from civilization. That is, unless you’re Jared Leto. The actor was self-isolating, before it was recommended by governments and health experts. Leto had taken a break from the world and retreated to the desert for some quiet time only to emerge 12 days later to a wildly changed world facing the pandemic. He took to Instagram to express his feelings. “Wow. Twelve days ago I began a silent meditation in the desert,” Leto wrote...

With movie theaters closing or reducing seating capacity due to coronavirus, Universal Pictures will make its movies available on home entertainment on the same day as the films’ global theatrical releases. The initiative will kick off with DreamWorks Animation’s “Trolls World Tour,” which is scheduled to debut on April 10 in the U.S. The company will also make films that are currently in theaters available on-demand starting as early as Friday, March 20. These films include the horror movies “The Hunt” and “The Invisible Man,” as well as “Emma,” an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel from Focus, Universal’s specialty label....

Things change fast in the time of coronavirus. But as public spaces closed down this week across the country over fears of the viral pandemic, moviegoers were still buying tickets to see the latest new releases, albeit at softer numbers than expected. Going into the Friday the 13th weekend, audiences will keep last week's box office winner "Onward" at #1 as three new wide-release challengers enter a precarious frame. The well-reviewed animated adventure will handily win the top slot in its second week according to early industry projections following Friday matinees. Still, the Disney and Pixar title is estimated to...

On March 12, the London premiere of Mulan had just wrapped when the film’s director Niki Caro received the call everyone was anticipating. Executives in Los Angeles had made the decision to pull the Disney tentpole and were about to make the announcement, scuttling plans for a European junket that was had just kicked off. The move didn’t come as a surprise. After all, less than a day before, President Donald Trump announced a new ban on most travel from Europe, aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus. That travel ban torpedoed any plans to promote the $200 million...

I got some pretty negative comments when I asserted this. It is true. It is accurate. Trump haters want people to die in order to stop Trump from being reelected. MSNBC Hopes Americans Dying From Coronavirus Will “Take Down Trump’s Presidency” WALLACE: We gave them a proof point that we were indeed, incompetent. And also people died. I mean this has the makings structurally of the same kind of moment. GLAUDE: If there was any moment that would shake that 40%, the folks who would allow him to shoot someone down someone on fifth — if theres any a moment,...