Month: April 2022

Billie Eilish will appear in a new Simpsons short coming to Disney+.  Eilish and her brother, singer and music producer Finneas, will appear in the short “When Billie Met Lisa.” The streaming service said in an Instagram post: @BillieEilish is coming to Springfield Start streaming the short, @TheSimpsons: When Billie Met Lisa April 22 only on #DisneyPlus”

“When Billie Met Lisa” will see Lisa Simpson get discovered by Eilish and Finneas while searching for a quiet place to practice her saxophone. Billie invites Lisa to her studio for a special jam session she’ll never forget.  The short will premiere April 22 on Disney+.

This will be the fourth Simpsons short created for Disney+. The streaming service previously released the Star Wars-themed “Maggie Simpson in ‘The Force Awakens from its Nap,’” the Marvel-inspired “The Good, The Bart, and the Loki,” and “The Simpsons in Plusaversary.”

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Marvel has shared a teaser trailer for the upcoming new film ‘Thor: Love and Thunder,’ featuring Chris Hemsworth as the superhero Thor.  Thor: Love and Thunder is written and directed by Taika Waititi, and is the sequel to Thor (2011) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017).

The trailer shows Thor (Hemsworth) leave his “superhero-ing days” behind him and attempt to choose his own path, and ends with a glimpse of Natalie Portman as Mighty Thor. Portman played Jane Foster, an astrophysicist and the love interest of Thor, in 2011’s Thor; and will return in the new sequel.

Also starring in the film are Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel as the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’  The film also will feature Christian Bale, Sean Gunn and Jeff Goldblum.

Thor: Love and Thunder opens in theaters July 8.  Take a look at the teaser trailer – here.

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CBS has renewed the daytime talk show “The Talk” for a 13th season, it was announced during Monday’s show. All five hosts — Akbar Gbajabiamila, Amanda Kloots, Jerry O’Connell, Natalie Morales and Sheryl Underwood — are slated to return.

The Talk has undergone a huge turnover of co-hosts over the past few years. Underwood is the longest-serving host on the panel, having joined the show in Season 2.  Morales, a long-time NBC News correspondent and anchor, and American Ninja Warrior alum Gbajabiamila joined the show this season after the departures of Carrie Ann Inaba and Elaine Welteroth. Kloots joined the show in early 2021 along with Welteroth, and O’Connell joined the show in July 2021, a few months after Sharon Osbourne was let go following an on-air argument with Underwood and allegations of racist comments from former co-hosts Holly Robinson Peete and Leah Remini.

Watch the co-hosts surprise at the announcement of “The Talk” Season 13 renewal – here.

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“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore”, the third installment in the “Harry Potter” spinoff series, opened to $43 million in North America. According to studio estimates Sunday it was enough to secure the film the top spot on the box-office charts, but it’s also a franchise-low. The first film in the “Fantastic Beasts” series had a $74.4 million debut in 2016, and the second film “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” opened to $62.2 million in 2018. “The Secrets of Dumbledore,” which opened in 4,208 locations in North America, cost approximately $200 million in production.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore stars Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller and Mikkelsen, who replaced Johnny Depp as Grindelwald.  As did the previous “Fantastic Beasts” films, “Dumbledore” will most likely earn more internationally. Both of the previous films made more than 70% of their global totals from international showings.

Also at the box office, in its second weekend “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” fell to second place with an estimated $30 million in earnings.  Rounding out the rest of the top five: Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum’s “The Lost City” came in at No. 3, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” took the No. 4 spot, and “Father Stu” starring Mark Wahlberg finished fifth, earning an estimated $8 million in its first five days in theaters.

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The Tribeca Film Festival will feature the Jennifer Lopez Netflix documentary Halftime on its opening night. The premiere is set to take place on Wednesday June 8 at the United Palace in Washington Heights.

Halftime, which will debut on Netflix on June 14, follows Lopez as she reflects on her milestones and evolution as an artist and navigates the second half of her career.  Directed by Tribeca alum Amanda Micheli, the documentary ‘focuses on Lopez’s hard work and creative and cultural contributions as an artist and performer as well as her evolution as a Latina, a mother and a woman taking more agency in her career and using her voice for a greater purpose.’  Micheli said in a statement:  “It’s an honor to be selected for the opening night of Tribeca, and so fitting to be celebrating this critical milestone in Jennifer’s life and career just miles from where she grew up! To have the opportunity to share this film on the big screen with a New York audience is a dream come true.”

Tribeca Festival co-founder Robert De Niro added, “Powerful storytelling — whether in music, film, or games — encourages us to fight for universal values that bind humanity together. Halftime, featuring Jennifer Lopez, reminds us of that. The Tribeca Festival is eager to bring audiences from all over the world together to honor the importance of purpose-driven creative expression.”

The Tribeca Film Festival is set to run from June 8-19 throughout New York City.

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