The box office is going through its customary late April slowdown prior to the start of the summer box office in May, though the lack of a major release on the level of pre-COVID hits like “Shazam!” or “The Fate of the Furious” at the start of the month has caused overall grosses to sink lower. That has allowed Amazon MGM’s “Challengers” to take the No. 1 spot as the only film with more than $10 million grossed this weekend, earning $6.1 million on Friday from 3,477 theaters as industry estimates have it making $15.2 million this weekend, consistent with pre-release projections Directed by Luc ..read more

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have, in less than 15 years, established themselves as the most exciting composers working in contemporary film. Their first score was David Fincher’s masterpiece “The Social Network.” The score was a haunting, atmospheric triumph, and it won them Oscars, an even more impressive feat given the Academy’s historic anti-rock band bias. (Reznor created and fronts Nine Inch Nails; Ross officially joined the group in 2016, although they had been close creative partners since 2002.) And what began as an exclusive collaboration with Fincher soon blossomed outward – they h ..read more

There are few shows on television quite like “Baby Reindeer.” The fact that Richard Gadd’s dramatic miniseries dropped on Netflix with little to no promotion makes it feel even more distinct. Based on Gadd’s autobiographical one-man show of the same name, the seven-episode series follows Donny Dunn, an aspiring standup comedian and current bartender who makes the grave mistake of offering a woman a cup of tea on the house. That nice gesture upends his world, as “Baby Reindeer” chronicles one woman’s growing obsession with him, the complexities of both having a stalker and being flattered by he ..read more

Bill Maher probably isn’t making any friends among opponents of America’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza after Friday’s episode of “Real Time,” when he used the “New Rules” segment to compare them to Donald Trump. Maher’s argument was that the protests have largely consisted of ineffective actions that anger possible allies while not advancing the cause. Maher also criticized that he said is support for oppressive regimes that happen to oppose Israel, and said that a lot of people involved in the anti-Gaza war protests seem more interested in self promotion than in their cause. Which, so the ..read more

On Friday’s episode of “All In,” Chris Hayes zeroed in on “one of the most galling” things about the Supreme Court hearing over Donald Trump’s disturbing claim of ‘presidential immunity.’ Trump of course wants the Supreme Court to declare that presidents have full legal immunity for any crimes committed in office, even if they assassinate their political rivals. Literally. But as Hayes reminded viewers on Friday, in 2021, when after several weeks of inexplicable dithering congress attempted to impeach Trump trying to overthrow the U.S. government on Jan. 6, Trump’s attorneys defended him by ex ..read more

Ariel Investments is calling on Paramount Global to provide more transparency into its recent board changes and ongoing merger talks with Skydance Media. The firm, which owned a 1.8% stake in Paramount as of the end of 2023, recently expressed concerns about the exclusive discussions with David Ellison, arguing that sidestepping competitive bidding would be “averse to fair market value.” It also warned that any transaction that benefits controlling shareholder Shari Redstone at the expense of the rest of Paramount’s investors is “unacceptable.” In a letter to clients on Friday, Ariel Inve ..read more

Kanye West has been sued by yet another ex-employee: Benjamin Deshon Provo, formerly of fashion brand Yeezy and Donda Academy, said he was fired after blowing the whistle about labor code violations. In a lawsuit filed Friday morning in Los Angeles, Provo claims that he “suffered severe discrimination, harassment and retaliation by Kanye West” during the time he served as a security guard at the now-closed Donda Academy. In the document, which was obtained by TheWrap, Provo states, “Kanye frequently screamed at and berated Black employees, while in contrast, he never so much as raised his tone ..read more

With over 15 years of experience producing reality TV, INE Entertainment comanaging partners Mark Koops and Eric Day have learned to start looking beyond the Hollywood bubble for promising talent. “We’re out there listening [and] consuming content … and you start to recognize that there are changes afoot. There are new voices that want to see themselves on screen and talk about their lived experiences in different ways,” Day told TheWrap for this week’s Office With a View. “When you’re listening to that, your filter then is authentic people that have a passion for doing something, and the ..read more

Episodes 4 and 5 of “A Gentleman in Moscow” mark a turning point for Ewan McGregor’s Count Alexander Rostov as he gets to put his paternal nature to the true test. In the Paramount+ and Showtime series, adapted from Amor Towles’ best-selling novel, the count becomes confined to the Metropol Hotel after the Russian Revolution due to his class and title. The penalty for his leaving the hotel is death, so he makes the most of his situation by befriending those who frequent the building. One friendship he makes in the beginning with Nina Kulikova (first portrayed by A ..read more

Britney Spears and her father Jamie Spears have settled a dispute over legal fees more than two years after the pop star won her case to end her 13-year conservatorship. The New York Times reported on Friday that the settlement over payment of his legal fees and his management of her finances was reached in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday. The specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Alex M. Weingarten, who represented Britney’s father, further confirmed that the two parties had resolved all outstanding issues. Additionally, one of the filings stated that his client ..read more