Entertainment

Keanu Reeves Hit With Backlash From Chinese Nationalists Over Tibet Benefit Concert

Keanu Reeves Hit With Backlash From Chinese Nationalists Over Tibet Benefit Concert

BY PATRICK BRZESKI | HollywoodReporter.ComTroy Warren for CNT #EntertainmentSocial media users in China have called for a boycott of the actor's films, including the recently released 'The Matrix: Resurrections.'Keanu Reeves has incurred the wrath of nationalists in China after it emerged earlier this week that he will be performing at an upcoming benefit concert for Tibet.Some jingoistic Chinese social media users, known locally as “little pinks,” have gone so far as to suggest that Reeve’s recently released The Matrix: Resurrections should be boycotted in retaliation.The latest Matrix movie had already flopped in China prior to the revelations about Reeve’s involvement…
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Bob Iger: COVID Dealt Movie Theaters a “Severe Injury That Maybe Doesn’t Heal”

Bob Iger: COVID Dealt Movie Theaters a “Severe Injury That Maybe Doesn’t Heal”

BY ALEX WEPRIN | HollywoodReporter.ComTroy Warren for CNT #Entertainment  #Business  #NFTIn his first post-Disney interview, Iger also discussed the rise of streaming, his thoughts on the "metaverse" and why data should never be the deciding factor in create decision-making.Former Disney CEO Bob Iger, in his first interview since stepping away as executive chairman of the company, discussed the fate of movie theaters, competing with Netflix and yes, the metaverse, in a conversation with The New York Times’ Kara Swisher.“Because I am not working for Disney I am liberated, I can say anything about anybody,” Iger joked during the conversation, adding…
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Will Hollywood’s Streaming Ambition Lead to Big Gaming Buys?

Will Hollywood’s Streaming Ambition Lead to Big Gaming Buys?

BY GEORG SZALAI | HollywoodReporter.Com Troy Warren for CNT #Entertainment  #Business  #Gaming  #NFT As Microsoft snaps up Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion to shore up its streaming platform, and Netflix also enters the sector, Sony — or even Disney — may be next to strike a deal. In May 2016, Disney sent shock waves through the video game sector when it ended its stint as a publisher of console titles to, it said, “transition exclusively to a licensing model.” It later replicated that move in the mobile games space and let outside studios create projects built on its intellectual property…
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TV News Joins Streaming’s Nostalgia Programming Play

TV News Joins Streaming’s Nostalgia Programming Play

BY ALEX WEPRIN | HollywoodReporter.ComTroy Warren for CNT #Entertainment  #DigitalNetworks like CBS and CNN are leaning on "iconic franchises" and "old-school" reporters in a bid to transition linear audiences to digital viewers.A TV viewer in the early 1990s looking for the latest news would likely turn on CNN, where Wolf Blitzer delivered up-to-the-minute reporting from the Middle East and Washington D.C. If it was Sunday, perhaps they would turn the dial to NBC and watch Meet the Press.As daytime turned into primetime, they might flip to Fox, where the reality TV show Cops introduced a new format to the airwaves.…
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Emma Thompson in ‘Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’: Film Review | Sundance 2022

Emma Thompson in ‘Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’: Film Review | Sundance 2022

BY LESLIE FELPERIN | HollywoodReporter.ComTroy Warren for CNT #EntertainmentThe actress stars as a repressed widow who hires a sex worker to help her discover what all the fuss over orgasms is about in director Sophie Hyde's comedy-drama.Intimate in every sense, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande represents an affirming, immensely likable British comedy-drama. Admittedly, it’s more issue- than character-driven, like a hip advice-column story but with tracking shots. But that didacticism works given that it features Emma Thompson as a prim, widowed, high-school religious studies teacher who hires Daryl McCormack’s sex worker for a date, hoping to have an orgasm…
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Meat Loaf, ‘Bat Out of Hell’ Singer and ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ ‘Fight Club’ Actor, Dies at 74

Meat Loaf, ‘Bat Out of Hell’ Singer and ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ ‘Fight Club’ Actor, Dies at 74

BY ABID RAHMAN | HollywoodReporter.ComTroy Warren for CNT #EntertainmentThe rock star sold over 100 million records worldwide and appeared in over 50 movies and television series.Meat Loaf, the rock star behind the monster-selling Bat Out of Hell trilogy of albums who was famed for his booming voice and theatrical stage presence and also made memorable appearances in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Fight Club, has died. He was 74.The singer died Thursday night with wife Deborah and daughters Pearl and Amanda at his side, his agent Michael Greene confirmed in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “We know how…
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Why Hollywood Is Private Equity’s New Money Machine

Why Hollywood Is Private Equity’s New Money Machine

BY ALEX WEPRIN | HollywoodReporter.ComTroy Warren for CNT #Entertainment  #BusinessThe Wall Street logic with the studio buys is that the real estate will appreciate in value, while the non-stop demand in film and TV productions provide steady and stable cashflow.Private equity is doubling down on Hollywood.After dipping their toes in the water through the talent agencies (TPG owns a majority stake in CAA, while Silver Lake is the largest external shareholder in Endeavor), investment firms have been on a spending spree, snapping up stakes in production entities, or financing new vehicles like Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media to…
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Each World in ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Will Have Its Own Art Style

Each World in ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Will Have Its Own Art Style

BY ABBEY WHITE | HollywoodReporter.ComTroy Warren for CNT #Entertainment"The idea that we'd be going to different dimensions really opened up an opportunity artistically," co-writer and producer Chris Miller said.Miles Morales will be swinging yet again into some groundbreaking visual territory when he returns to the big screen in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One).In a recent interview with Collider, filmmaking duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller spoke about their ambitious approach to Sony’s Into the Spider-Verse follow-up. The writers teased that fans who loved the first film’s groundbreaking visuals will be in for yet another “ambitious” effort, according to Lord,…
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Rob Liefeld Launching Comic ‘The Defiants’ as NFT

Rob Liefeld Launching Comic ‘The Defiants’ as NFT

BY AARON COUCH | HollywoodReporter.ComTroy Warren for CNT #Entertainment  #NFTThe 'Deadpool' writer and artist plans the book to be one of four titles in a new universe.Thirty years ago, Rob Liefeld was among the comic book creators who left mainstream publishing to form Image Comics, an upstart company that grew to become the third biggest publisher in North America.Once again, the comics industry is in flux, and a number of creators are dabbling in a new medium, non-fungible tokens. On Jan. 20, Liefeld will become the latest creator to dive into the world of NFTs with the launch of the…
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‘Sing 2,’ ‘Turning Red’ Hit Home Viewing Early Amid Fragile Family Box Office

‘Sing 2,’ ‘Turning Red’ Hit Home Viewing Early Amid Fragile Family Box Office

BY PAMELA MCCLINTOCK | HollywoodReporter.ComTroy Warren for CNT #Entertainment'Sing 2' was made available on premium VOD just 17 days after its theatrical release as COVID-19 cases surge again due to the omicron variant.While Illumination’s Sing 2 did solid business at the year-end holiday box office — including becoming the first animated film of the pandemic era to cross $100 million domestically — families still haven’t returned to the multiplex in full force. And what momentum there has been is now endangered by the highly infectious omicron variant.The struggling family marketplace prompted Universal to make Sing 2 available on premium video…
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