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Peacock has announced the lineup of movies, TV shows, and live sports that will be available on the streaming service in April. The Peacock April 2025 schedule includes the Original documentary WrestleMania IX: Becoming a Spectacle, offering a behind-the-scenes look and featuring never-before-seen footage of the 1993 Las Vegas extravaganza that promised fans a WWE event unlike any other.

Plus, don’t miss WrestleMania 41 on Saturday, April 19, and Sunday, April 20, at 7 Et/4 Pt, streaming Live on Peacock. The action doesn’t stop there; April 17 marks the highly anticipated return of Detective Elliot Stabler in Peacock’s Original Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5.

Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5

For a dose of nostalgia, come and knock on our door – Three’s Company is coming to Peacock on March 31! Stream all eight seasons of the beloved ’70s sitcom and relive the hilarious hijinks of Jack, Janet, and Chrissy. Speaking of TV neighbors that we love,...

Marking the first-ever recasting for the daytime drama series, actor Maurice Johnson is exiting the role of Dr. Ted Richardson on “Beyond the Gates” with daytime newcomer Keith D. Robinson taking over the contract role beginning with episodes set to air in May.

On the series, Ted Richardson is the husband of Dr. Nicole Dupree Richardson (Daphnée Duplaix), the eldest daughter of Vernon (Clifton Davis) and Anita (Tamara Tunie), and father to Martin (Brandon Claybon) and Kat (Colby Muhammad).

Maurice Johnson

Quantrell Colbert/CBS

Ted is a brilliant plastic surgeon with an ultra-exclusive private practice and women clamor to put their faces and bodies in what they call his blessed hands. Ted has created an impeccable life with his wife – whom he loves passionately – and sleeps well at night, secure that his past will never disrupt his perfect world. However, in recent episodes, that perfect world has in fact been...

Exclusive: Keith D. Robinson has joined the cast of CBS daytime soap Beyond the Gates as a series regular in a recasting.

Robinson is taking over the role of Dr. Ted Richardson, currently played by Maurice Johnson. His first episodes are scheduled to air in May. Recastings are not uncommon in daytime soaps. Richardson is a brilliant plastic surgeon, married to Dr. Nicole Richardson (Daphnee Duplaix).

Beyond the Gates is set in a leafy Maryland suburb just outside Washington, D.C., and one of the most affluent African American counties in the United States. Here you’ll find a posh gated community with winding tree-lined streets and luxurious mansions to call home.

The drama stars Tamara Tunie, Clifton Davis, Karla Mosley, Alex Alegria, Lauren Buglioli, Brandon Claybon, Timon Kyle Durrett, Sean Freeman, Ben Gavin, Marquita Goings, Jibre Hordges, Jen Jacob, Trisha Mann-Grant, Mike Manning, RhonniRose Mantilla, Ambyr Michelle, Colby Muhammad and Arielle Prepetit.

Exclusive: Fox’s The Cleaning Lady has added Patricia De Leon, Robert Cicchini (Dreamgirls) and Lea Salonga for Season 4. The series returns on Tuesday, March 25 at 8-9 Pm Et/Pt.

The series follows Thony De La Rosa (Élodie Yung), a Cambodian-Filipino former surgeon who makes a living as a cleaning service worker alongside her sister-in-law, Fiona (Martha Millan). After witnessing a murder, Thony is offered a job both as a cleaner and a doctor within a criminal organization that could pay well enough to help her son and her family.

Cicchini will appear as a recurring guest star as Assistant District Attorney ‘Joel Herman,’ a thorough investigator with a disarming, easy-going personality. He catches Thony off-guard at the hospital, but Joel insists that he is here to help, believing her to be under pressure from the cartel.

De Leon will appear as...

Is there a kernel of truth to the notion that "popcorn stars" don't win Oscars? It certainly felt that way to fans hoping to see Demi Moore pull off a Best Actress victory at the 2025 Oscars. Her daring performance as Elisabeth Sparkle in The Substance had earned her a Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and SAG Award, putting her in frontrunner position as she arrived at the 97th Academy Awards on March 2. But suddenly, those hopes were dashed when Emma Stone read out the winner: Mikey Madison in Anora.

It wasn't unfamiliar to see one of the biggest box-office draws from decades past lose the big one. Perhaps the Academy couldn't see past what Moore had once been told she was — a popcorn actress. She addressed the demeaning title in her Golden Globes acceptance speech nearly two months prior, stating that a producer called her a “popcorn actress” 30 years ago, which...

Zoe Saldaña is now a first-time Oscar winner. The Emilia Pérez star won Best Supporting Actress at the 97th annual Academy Awards on Sunday night, capping off a dominant awards season run despite massive controversy around her film. Saldaña previously won Best Supporting Actress honors from the Golden Globe, Critics Choice, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

During her emotional speech, Saldaña noted how she made history with the victory. “My grandmother came to this country in 1961 — I am a proud child of immigrant parents,” she said. “With dreams and dignity and hard-working hands, and I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last. I hope. The fact that I’m getting an award for a role where I got to sing and speak in Spanish — my grandmother, if she were here, she would be so delighted,...

Visionary costume designer Paul Tazewell triumphed on Sunday night, winning his first Academy Award for his nature-inspired “Wicked” wardrobe. He can add his shiny new Oscar to the crowded shelf where he keeps his Tony, his Emmy, his BAFTA, his multiple Costume Designer Guild awards and the many other honors he has won over the years.

Tazewell’s “Wicked” victory makes him the first Black man to win for costume and only the second Black person to do so since Ruth E. Carter‘s 2023 victory for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” which followed her history-making 2019 win for “Black Panther.” The only other Black person to be Oscar-nominated for costume design is Sharen Davis, who earned nods in 2005 for “Ray” and in 2007 for “Dreamgirls.”

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in “Wicked” (Credit: Universal Pictures)

Over his celebrated career, Tazewell has earned nine Tony Award nominations for “Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk,...

As we prepare for the 97th Academy Awards this weekend, here’s a reminder of the Oscars Cheer Moment, and the weirdest year in the body’s history.

On Valentine’s Day 2022, the American Academy of Motion Pictures unveiled a pair of awards so prestigious they could only be accurately communicated via hashtag.

#OscarsFanFavorite and #OscarsCheerMoment were the latest in a string of attempts from the world’s most famous awards body to stay popular and relevant. The last was in 2018 when, in an attempt to reverse the ratings freefall the ceremony had found itself in over the last decade, Film Academy president John Bailey proposed an official Popular Film category – the first new competition since Best Animated Film in 2001.

Months later, the award was slipped quietly into the organisation’s back pocket, after Academy members and the public at large united to declare the idea a silly one. Making a popular film,...

The movie musical has morphed drastically over a century. When the musical genre first came to prominence in the sound era of Hollywood, it was a space for revues with little care or thought as to a storyline connecting musical numbers. Eventually, just as the stage musical changed with "Oklahoma!" and "South Pacific," Hollywood morphed in the same way. But it wasn't just that films such as "An American in Paris" or "The Band Wagon" told full stories with song-and-dance numbers; Hollywood went straight to the source to take stage musicals and adapt them into features. Although we're not in a Golden Age of movie musicals the way that things were in the 1960s, there are plenty of big-budget musical adaptations that burst onto the scene, as well as more low-key affairs meant to match their source material, everything from the mid-2000s adaptation of "Dreamgirls" to "Dear Evan Hansen.

"Sooner or later, you're certain to meet, in the bedroom, the parlor or even the street... There's no place on earth, you're likely to miss her kiss." The moment this film ended I knew this performance was one of the best of the festival. But now that I'm finally writing this review after having seen a grand total of 54 films at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival line-up, I feel confident in saying - Tonatiuh gives the best performance in any film at the festival. This 2025 update on Kiss of the Spider Woman is a modern re-imaginging of this iconic story from South America, which was turned into a big Broadway musical in the early 1990s. It is the second film adaption of the 1976 novel Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig, following the 1985 Brazilian film adaptation. Director Bill Condon, who's no stranger to big musicals having made Dreamgirls before, gives...

Beyoncé is the most honored artist of all time at the Grammy Awards. In 2023, she set that record, which had previously been held by conductor Georg Solti, when she prevailed four times for her dance album Renaissance. In 2025, she extended that record with her country collection Cowboy Carter.

Beyoncé received a remarkable 11 nominations for Cowboy Carter, which itself was historic. That was the most nominations ever for a single album, the most nominations for a woman in a single year, and it gave Beyoncé the all-time record as the most nominated artist in history with 99 career bids. Most of the top categories have eluded her, but she finally won Album of the Year for this latest effort. That made her the first Black woman since Lauryn Hill (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill) to claim the award. Beyoncé previously earned noms in that category for I Am… Sasha Fierce, Beyoncé, Lemonade,...

Plot: During the last months of The Dirty War in Argentina, a political prisoner, Valentin (Diego Luna), and a trans prisoner, Molina (Tonatiuh), are forced to share a cell. Despite their differences, the two become friends. However, unbeknownst to Valentin, the warden is forcing Molina to spy on his cellmate, a fact complicated by their growing intimacy.

Review: Kiss of the Spider Woman has a fascinating legacy that spans literature, cinema, and the stage. Originally written as a novel by Manual Puig, it was turned into a taboo-bursting 1985 film, which won star William Hurt an Oscar. Considered boundary-pushing in its frank depiction of homosexuality, it was later turned into a Tony-award-winning musical. Now it’s getting a lavish movie musical directed by Bill Condon. In addition to movies like Gods and Monsters, Condon also directed one of the better stage-to-screen adaptations, Dreamgirls, and does an excellent job with a film...

Good morning angels! Cameron Diaz is back on-screen kicking butt, but no, not in a new “Charlie’s Angels” film. This one is “Back in Action.”

Now streaming on Netflix, the film centers on Emily and Matt, two spies who learn during a mission that they’re having a baby. When that mission gets compromised, they have the opportunity to fake their deaths, and they promptly take it, so that they can raise their family outside a dangerous life.

“Back in Action” marks Cameron Diaz’s first on-screen role in more than 10 years, and also a reunion for her and Jamie Foxx, after they starred together in her last film, “Annie.”

But you’ll recognize more than just this duo. Here are the major players in “Back in Action.”

Netflix Emily (Cameron Diaz)

Emily is played by Cameron Diaz, taking on her first role in more than 10 years. Her last role was as Ms.

Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein in ‘Frankenstein’ (Photo Credit: Ken Woroner / Netflix)

Netflix’s 2025 film slate is loaded with sequels, animated offerings, and documentaries. Adam Sandler returns for Happy Gilmore 2, Charlize Theron’s back in action for The Old Guard 2, and Daniel Craig slips back into the role of detective Benoit Blanc for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. The streamer’s documentary lineup includes films on Eddie Murphy, the Air Force’s Thunderbirds, Charles Manson, and the Titan submersible. Animated offerings include a Witcher project, a K-Pop-themed film, the much-anticipated The Twits, and Simu Liu and Craig Robinson voicing the leads in In Your Dreams.

“We’re not just one thing. We’re the best of film, TV, documentaries, stand-up, animation and live events — and we’re doing it in 50 languages. We’re not afraid to make big bets on compelling voices and new ideas...

As the films of 2024 alone have demonstrated, there's still a good amount of confusion about how a movie musical should function in our modern age. Even 2016's "La La Land," the film that ended up bringing back the popularity of the movie musical in a big way, wasn't interested in fully leaning into its ode to the movie musicals of classic Hollywood, using it instead as a jumping off point, a wry commentary on the subgenre and cinema itself. Since then, it's felt like each new movie musical has had to find some offbeat justification for its existence: this one is a multi-part blockbuster event ("Wicked"), this one is an anti-musical musical ("Emilia Pérez"), this one has a monkey in it ("Better Man"), and so on. Even "Chicago" director Rob Marshall, who for many years seemed to willfully bear the torch of keeping the more traditional movie musical alive, has...

Prepare for some captivating documentaries and docuseries from Netflix this year. The streamer announced during its Next on Netflix event that it will be premiering new projects about the Manson murders, Osama Bin Laden, the Titan submarine implosion and Hurricane Katrina, just to name a few of its upcoming buzzy docs.

The first major new documentary release is a big one. The documentary film “Chaos: The Manson Murders” will premiere on March 7. From legendary filmmaker Errol Morris, who previously released “The Thin Blue Line” and “The Fog of War,” little is known about this project other than its subject matter. The film is likely based on Tom O’Neill’s “Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties.” Morris, Robert Fernandez and Steven Hathaway serve as producers.

That will then be followed by “American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden,” which will premiere on March 10. The upcoming docuseries offers...

Jamie Foxx once admitted being concerned about how Jay-Z would react to his and Beyoncé’s kissing scene in the 2006 musical drama Dreamgirls. The film follows the journey of three aspiring singers who catch the attention of a music executive who exploits both their careers and personal lives.

Jamie Foxx in Dreamgirls | Credit: Paramount Pictures

Foxx portrayed the role of the music executive, Curtis Taylor Jr., while the Single Ladies singer took on the role of Deena Jones, one of the singers in the group alongside Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose. However, Foxx later revealed that he feared his co-star’s husband might retaliate over their kissing scene.

Jamie Foxx feared Jay-Z’s reaction to his kissing scene with Beyoncé in Dreamgirls

The Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx had the opportunity to share the screen with the Grammy-winning singer Beyoncé in the 2006 musical drama, Dreamgirls. Foxx took on the role of a music executive,...

Considering that Jennifer Lopez has proven for decades that she’s a bonafide triple threat as an actress, singer, and dancer, it’s truly shocking that she has never starred in a musical. Sure, she’s played singers before in movies, but Lopez has never been a part of a bombastic, old-school Hollywood-type musical that allows her to flex her talents simultaneously. She finally gets her chance with the latest adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman, directed by Bill Condon—a man who knows his way around a musical, considering he directed Dreamgirls, as well as wrote Chicago and The Greatest Showman. Naturally, Lopez becomes the shining star in a musical that's a mixed bag when it pivots away from her.

Jennifer Lopez has never gotten a lot of love from fans or critics when it comes to her acting career, but all that seems to be changing thanks to her most recent performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman, which is getting rave reviews coming out of Sundance this past weekend. Lopez has been nominated for more Golden Raspberry Awards than she has Golden Globes in her 30-year career in Hollywood, but next year's Oscar buzz has already started thanks to director Bill Condon's musical thriller, in which Lopez stars as Ingrid Luna.

Fans and critics have been singing the praises of Lopez since Kiss of the Spider Woman's debut on Jan. 26, with Pete Hammond from Deadline calling it "the role she was born to play," while at the same time mentioning that the movie itself is "a master class in how to find the cinematic soul of...

Oscar-winning Sundance Film Festival veteran Bill Condon returned to Park City to present the world premiere of his new movie musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman, at Eccles Center Theatre on Sunday night. When it was over and all the credits had rolled, his star Jennifer Lopez was moved to tears, the capacity crowd delivered two standing ovations and a star was born thanks to a revelatory turn from Tonatiuh.

Considering the pedigree of its filmmaker — Condon previously directed musicals Dreamgirls and Beauty and the Beast and wrote the Oscar-winning Chicago — and its global superstar who plays dual roles including the title character, Spider Woman was the most anticipated debut of Sundance this year. In his review, The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief film critic David Rooney calls it one of Lopez’s best roles of her decades-long career.

Lopez, who skipped snow boots and sweaters for her festival debut, hit...

Jennifer Lopez, outfitted in a sparkling, webbed-up gown and sky-high black heels, fought back tears as “Kiss of the Spider Woman” was embraced at Sundance Film Festival with a standing ovation. She told the audience at Park City’s Eccles Theatre that starring in the musical adaptation fulfilled a lifelong dream.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” she said. “The reason I even wanted to be in this business is because my mom would sit me in front of the TV and [‘West Side Story’] would come on once a year. I was mesmerized and was like, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ This is the first time I actually got to do it. This man made my dream come true.”

She’s referring to director Bill Condon, who has become a preeminent filmmaker for movie musicals, having worked on “Chicago,” “Dreamgirls,” Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast...

Jennifer Lopez is not one of those actresses who disappears into a role. For one, she’s too famous to allow the audience to separate artist from character entirely. Often, those characters, whether Selena or in last year’s “Unstoppable” as a sports mom, are extensions of her persona, astral projections of her stature as a global pop superstar into a fantasy movie world that depends on her song-and-dance gifts. For another, a Jennifer Lopez joint is always more about her presence — her name on the marquee, her face under the big bright lights — than her skills in vanishing inside a character.

Writer/director Bill Condon’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” a new screen version of the John Kander and Fred Ebb Broadway musical itself inspired by Manuel Puig’s novel and Héctor Babenco’s 1985 Oscar winner, could do no better casting than Lopez as Ingrid Luna, a fictional...

Boundaries are constantly blurring in “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” the revolutionary mid-’80s film that became a Kander and Ebb musical, and that cunningly (and stunningly) morphs back to the big screen, courtesy of “Dreamgirls” director Bill Condon. Confined mostly to an Argentine detention facility in 1983, at the height of the country’s Dirty War, the show is the flip side of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Evita,” focusing on the brutal military regime that came decades after first lady Eva Péron’s death. Bleak as that may sound, the musical finds rare shards of light — and an unlikely connection — in the most despairing of places.

In every incarnation of Manuel Puig’s novel, cinema offers much-needed escapism from not only political injustice, but also the kind of biological prisons that oppress us. Sitting in the dark, transfixed the dreams unfolding on screen, filmgoers leave their bodies for a time,...

Jennifer Lopez brought major star power to the Variety Studio presented by Audible at Sundance ahead of the world premiere of her new musical, “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” She was joined in the interview by the film’s director, Bill Condon, best known for writing the Oscar-winning “Chicago” and for directing “Dreamgirls,” and co-star Tonatiuh. Lopez was exuberant in saying she’s waited her whole life for a film role like this.

“I was waiting my whole life to be able to do a real big MGM Hollywood musical, and I finally got to do it,” Lopez told Variety’s Matt Donnelly. “It was more [than I hoped]. Me and Diego [Luna] were on set and we’re dancing around and we’re singing and looking at each other and it’s like we don’t want to do anything else but musicals. Diego said that! Me too. I don’t want to do anything else.

Jennifer Lopez is unstoppable. After the recent success of the Amazon MGM Studios sports biopic Unstoppable, a role for which she received critical acclaim, she's ready to prove her worth in another challenging role.

On Jan. 25, Lopez shared the first look at her upcoming film, Kiss of the Spider Woman, on Instagram. The project is a feature adaptation of the 1992 stage musical of the same name, which was based on Manuel Puig's 1976 novel. Set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 26, 2025, Lopez shared two stills from the musical drama.

View this post on InstagramA post shared by Jennifer Lopez (@jlo)

Related Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's Infamous 22-Year-Old Flop Returns on Streaming for Valentine's Day

Because nothing says "I love you" like one of the worst flops in history starring a now-divorced couple.

The first of them shows her in a white jacket and matching hat,...

Jamie Foxx has had a very storied career in Hollywood, and while there have been plenty of heroes that have been accredited to the actor’s filmography, the Amazing Spider-Man 2 alum has also played his fair share of villains.

Jamie Foxx | Credit: What Had Happened Was / Netflix

Jamie Foxx has played his fair share of villains, whether it be Electro in Andrew Garfield’s sophomore Spider-Man film or in the musical Dreamgirls as Curtis Taylor Jr. However, Oprah has made it very clear that while Jamie might be a great actor, she does not like seeing him play bad guys.

Jamie Foxx playing villains really grinds Oprah Winfrey’s bones Oprah Winfrey on This Morning | Credits: CBS

Jamie Foxx sat down with Vanity Fair to talk about his career, and the first film that was shown was Dreamgirls, where Foxx played the sleazy yet charismatic antagonist Curtis Taylor Jr. Foxx...

Hollywood is heading up the mountain for what’s possibly one of the final Sundance Film Festivals to be held in the posh ski-resort town of Park City. It’s a place that’s hosted its fair share of all-night bidding wars, where films ranging from “Reservoir Dogs” and “Napoleon Dynamite” to “Brooklyn” and “The Big Sick” landed massive deals before going on to box office, and in some cases, Oscar glory. But it’s also been the setting of some frenzied sales that didn’t always pay off, like “Happy, Texas”or “Blinded by the Light.”

Sundance has already announced the festival is considering decamping Utah for Ohio or Colorado in 2027. Even if it does stay in the state, the focus of the festival will shift to Salt Lake City, which is better positioned than Park City to host the crowds that the celebration of movies attracts. So will...

Paramount has announced the lineup of movies, TV shows and live sports coming to the Paramount+ streaming service in February. The Paramount Plus February 2025 schedule includes the season three premiere of Yellowjackets and the second season of Taylor Sheridan’s 1923.

Audiences will also be able to dive into refreshed and expertly curated collections, including the expanded Black Voices collection in celebration of Black History Month and the Peak Romance collection, featuring an assortment of romance-themed movies and seasonal episodes just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Yellowjackets Season 3

Following a jaw-dropping conclusion to season two, members of the Yellowjackets past and present are left to pick up the pieces in season three of the critically acclaimed series, premiering on February 14. In the ’90s, summer arrives and the team celebrates surviving a harsh winter while the present-day characters reel from a death.

For the Yellowjackets in the ’90s, the team has...

Warning: This article contains Major Spoilers for Xo, Kitty season 2!

Netflix’s Xo, Kitty season 2 includes a fantastic soundtrack that blends together K-pop and American pop music, blending the cultures that Kitty has experienced. In 2023, Netflix released the first season of their To All the Boys spinoff starring Anna Cathcart as Kitty Song-Covey. Continuing the story of season 1, Xo, Kitty deep friendships, teen romances, and family drama take center stage in season 2 as she returns to the Korean Independent School of Seoul.

While Xo, Kitty’s Korean setting was important to the first season, it becomes even more integral to the second season. Kitty learns about her secret family who lives in Korea, and she tries to bring them together. At the same time, the whole school is preparing for a talent showcase where most of the students will sing K-pop. With such a heavy focus on the Korean aspect of Xo,...

This claim, included in Universal’s thorough and impressive list of box office achievements for 2024, is technically true: “Domestically ‘Wicked‘ is now … the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation of all-time at the domestic office ahead of ‘Grease’ ($188.62M).”

Also technically true is that “The Grinch” is bigger than “Gone with the Wind,” “Sing” is bigger than “Jaws,” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s” is bigger than “The Godfather.” Also, the 1977 first “Star Wars” is only the third biggest success of that franchise.

Presenting grosses without adjusting skews the real picture of how they compare. It is a prime case of film history erasure, an all-too common occurrence these days. The somewhat (but not impossible in most cases) effort to sort out the true success of films through history starts with adjusting box office takes to current ticket prices. Normally, that is fairly simple, since we know the costs by year and can do the math.

Sutton Foster, known for her impressive stage presence, is once again in the spotlight – but this time, it’s not for her acting. Recently, rumors of her relationship with fellow Broadway star Hugh Jackman have been confirmed, making headlines across the entertainment world. However, it’s an old video resurfacing from over a decade ago that has sparked fresh controversy.

Sutton Foster via @suttonlenore/Instagram

In the clip, Foster gives an over-the-top performance of a well-known song, and some viewers have raised concerns about her portrayal, accusing her of crossing a line with her interpretation.

Why is Sutton Foster’s Dreamgirls performance causing a stir again?

Sutton Foster, the celebrated Broadway actress known for her roles on stage and television, has recently found herself under intense scrutiny once again. This time, it’s due to a resurfaced video via TikTok that has reignited a controversy from her past. Amid recent...

Before "La La Land" was causing chaos at the Oscars, musicals were putting the ceremony in another mini-crisis back in 2008. That was the year that saw the box office hit "Enchanted" (a Disney kids film starring Amy Adams) nominated for three songs: "Happy Working Song," "So Close," and "That's How You Know." Those tunes lost to a ditty from the lesser-known Irish film "Once," titled "Falling Slowly."

The year before, another popular musical in the form of "Dreamgirls" (which is about a 1960s music trio and stars Beyoncé) was also nominated for three songs, all of which also lost to a movie with only one nomination. That time the winner was "I Need to Wake Up" from Davis Guggenheim and Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." This was the first time a documentary had ever won the award.

Both outcomes were somewhat controversial at the time, mainly because they were...

Barry Jenkins' highly-anticipated prequel Mufasa: The Lion King explores the backstory of the lion cub who would grow into the regal and powerful Mufasa, and in doing so retconned some previously-established information about his parents. The prequel set straight some unanswered questions about Mufasa's family tree, most specifically regarding Mufasa's relationship with his brother Scar. The movie also provided new information about how exactly Mufasa became the king of the Pride Lands seen in the original The Lion King, some of which relates to his parents.

Mufasa: The Lion King occurs as an extended flashback, relayed through the lens of a story that Rafiki tells to Simba's daughter Kiara, Timon, and Pumbaa. The narrative begins with Mufasa as a very young cub, which is when the audience is introduced to Mufasa's parents. The two lions are only in the story for a matter of minutes, but in that time their personality is fully communicated,...

In 2023, the world collectively held its breath as news broke about Jamie Foxx fighting for his life in a hospital bed. No one was sure what was going on, and people speculated what happened to the beloved actor/comedian, with some theories taking fans down the rabbit hole into conspiracy territory. Now, more than a year later, we finally have the truth straight from Foxx himself, who revealed in his new Netflix special exactly what happened.

Titled What Had Happened Was, an emotional Foxx took the stage to detail the events surrounding his hospitalization in April 2023. "April 11, I was having a bad headache, and I asked my boy for Aspirin," he said before joking, "I realized quickly that when you’re in a medical emergency, your boys don’t know what the f**k to do." Anyone who’s a parent knows truer words have never been spoken.

Related Best Jamie Foxx Movies,...

In his new Netflix comedy special “What Had Happened Was,” Jamie Foxx finally told the story behind the mysterious and harrowing medical emergency that left him hospitalized and fighting for his life in 2023.

Emerging on stage and proclaiming “I’m back!” as he danced and hyped up the crowd, Foxx said his life was saved just 400 yards from the Atlanta theater, at Piedmont Hospital.

The Oscar and Grammy winner held back tears as he discussed his “mystery illness,” saying, “Please, Lord, let me get through this.”

“April 11, I was having a bad headache, and I asked my boy for Aspirin. I realized quickly that when you’re in a medical emergency, your boys don’t know what the fuck to do,” Foxx joked.

He said before he could even take the Aspirin, he blacked out and remained unconscious for weeks. “I don’t remember 20 days,” Foxx said. He was told...

Usher and Diddy’s relationship may never be viewed the same again, however, there was a time, when the popular singer-songwriter lamented his decision to overlook an opportunity to form a group with the music mogul, Jay-Z and the renowned musician Pharrell Williams.

Usher | Credit: David Berkowitz/Cca 2.0/Wikimedia Commons

During his appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay, the Superstar singer described it as one of the biggest regrets of his career while revealing how the discussions surrounding the idea ultimately failed to materialize.

Usher Was Almost in a Mega Music Group With Jay-Z, Diddy And Pharrell Williams

Earlier this year, Usher joined Shannon Sharpe on his show to share an insight into Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, his life, and some of the biggest regrets of his career in the industry.

Usher | Credit: Club Shay Shay via YouTube

When asked about a collaboration that he initially passed...

The incomparable Eddie Murphy has been a staple on both the big and small screen since skyrocketing to superstardom on Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s, with the talented comedian and actor going on to star in a slew of fan-favorite hits like Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, and the beloved Shrek franchise. The recipient of numerous accolades like a Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy, Murphy is one of Hollywood's most respected and illustrious performers, but there is one award he hasn't nabbed: an Oscar.

Though Murphy was nominated for the award for his impressive work in the musical Dreamgirls, he has yet to take home the prestigious statuette, a fact that Ryan Reynolds believes is downright shameful. In fact, the Deadpool star feels that Murphy's side-splitting performances in the '90s sci-fi comedy The Nutty Professor was worthy of winning the coveted Oscar, as he...

The final scene of “Wicked” is a cinematic triumph. A defiant Cynthia Erivo soars through the skies, circling above Oz and belting “Defying Gravity” as her enemies look on in awe. It inspires tears and applause, even sending audiences jumping from their theater seats as Erivo nails those high notes.

But you don’t have to buy a ticket to witness it now. The full four-minute conclusion to the first part of Universal’s smash hit is currently available on social platforms like X and TikTok for free.

That’s because fans can’t seem to stop taking photos and recording full, minutes-long clips of Erivo and her co-star Ariana Grande going toe-to-toe in the Emerald City. Some of this piracy serves to document the feverish embrace of all things “Wicked.” Others are meant to convey other forms of adoration.

There is grainy footage of a moviegoer trying to belt...

Jon M. Chu appears to have pulled off a rare feat. He’s shepherded a beloved Broadway stage musical to the screen in an adaptation that actually lives up to its predecessor. Judging by critical and public reaction on opening weekend, at least, “Wicked” is now on a short list of movies including “Chicago,” “Dreamgirls,” “Hedwig and the Angry Itch” and the recent remake of “West Side Story” that have successfully made that transition this century.

Continue reading Jon M. Chu On The Surprising Cameos That Are More Than Cameos In ‘Wicked’ [Interview] at The Playlist.

The long-awaited Wicked adaptation is finally here - half of it, anyway - and it is poised to light up the box office and break into the awards race in a major way. Early signs point to massive success for the John M. Chu directed pic, which stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda. Wicked's box office could very well hit the billion dollar mark by the end of its run and the film is also earning raves from critics and audiences.

Box office magic and positive critical reception is just what Wicked needs to make an impact and Universal Pictures is launching a robust campaign that will see the film compete in a slew of below-the-line categories, the place where it could find the most success. However, with Grande being campaigned in the Supporting Actress category despite the fact that she's arguably a co-lead, Wicked...

Years ago, Elric Kane, film director and co-host of the Colors of the Dark podcast, was on a podcast talking about his at-the-time film students' feelings about movie lengths when one of his students said something that I've been thinking about for the better part of a decade: "The first 90 minutes are free, but you gotta earn every minute after that." The idea is that the average moviegoer has the attention span and dedication for an hour-and-a-half-long movie, but if you stretch beyond those 90 minutes, you have to make them count.

For the most part ... I tend to agree with that sentiment. I love a long movie (shout out to "Rrr"), but there's nothing worse than a bloated movie that feels like it's overstaying its welcome. "Dune Part Two" director Denis Villeneuve fired back at people who critiqued his sci-fi epic's two-hour and 46-minute runtime, but "Dune Part Two" is...

As of recent years, there has been a correlation with musical performances being recognized in the Best Supporting Actress category at the Oscars, with eight nominated since 2002, and half emerging victorious. This year, we have potentially three actresses from two movie musicals competing for the five slots: Ariana Grande for Universal Pictures’ “Wicked,” and Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez for Netflix’s “Emilia Pérez.” Let’s take a look back at the many scenarios where song-and-dance performers were cited for Best Supporting Actress and what that could mean for this year’s contenders.

There have been a myriad of supporting actresses recognized for film musicals at the Oscars predominantly during the inception of the genre, which include Jean Hagen for “Singin’ In The Rain” (1952), Peggy Wood for “The Sound of Music” (1965), and Kay Medford for “Funny Girl” (1968). But the first victory came for Rita Moreno for “West Side Story” (1961), who...

It’s Musicals Week at IndieWire. With “Wicked” about to sparkle over theaters, we’re celebrating the best of the movie-musical genre.

It was the fall of 2018, and for a week or so, my co-writers, producers, and I were on a pitch tour, taking our idea for an original film musical around to every major studio in Los Angeles. As part of our pitch, we played a few sample compositions to give backers an idea of the vibe of music featured in the film and even sang a bit of one of the songs we planned on incorporating into the script.

For my collaborators and I, this was always a crucial element in getting our story across — this was a Musical, guided by song and informed by our characters’ taste and appreciation of the form. And every time my co-writers would burst into a duet as I narrated the circumstance,...

Sometime in the 2000s, comedian Eddie Murphy began experiencing a career slump that, quite sadly, would remain with him for years. Ron Underwood's 2002 sci-fi comedy "The Adventures of Pluto Nash" was a notorious bomb, making only $7.1 million on a $100 million budget. Murphy's cinematic update of "I Spy" from the same year also lost money, and Murphy turned to making mediocre but popular kiddie flicks like "The Haunted Mansion" and "Daddy Day Care" to make ends meet.

In 2006, Murphy received an Academy Award nomination for his performance in "Dreamgirls," but he immediately chased it with the universally hated "Norbit" only months later. "Norbit" made money, but no one seemed to like it. Some have even said that the presence of "Norbit" in theaters harmed Murphy's chance of winning an Oscar that year. He lost to Alan Arkin in "Little Miss Sunshine."

Murphy's next few films were all panned by critics,...

With its ’70s-era production details and sprawling age-spanning ensemble, Saturday Night has high hopes for the Oscars this year. But if the Jason Reitman period piece manages to win one, it will achieve something that the cast it depicts never could.

Though Saturday Night Live has racked up a record-breaking 103 Emmys and churned out generational talent with regularity over its 50 seasons, only six among its more than 150 castmembers have ever been nominated for an Oscar (five if you don’t include one-episode-and-done player Laurie Metcalf).

Its only winner? Robert Downey Jr., just this past March for Oppenheimer. And his 1985-86 SNL stint is a career footnote.

“I don’t think it’s conscious,” says Turner Classic Movies host Dave Karger, an Oscar prognosticator and author of 50 Oscar Nights, “but there might be something going on. There’s obviously a disconnect between SNL and [film] awards.”

Comedy stars can struggle with the Academy,...

In 1949, Alec Guinness dazzled critics and paying audiences alike by playing eight members, male and female, of the D'Ascoyne family in the deliciously dark comedy "Kind Hearts and Coronets." There weren't many actors alive cocky enough to attempt such a thing, let alone pull it off, so you'd think the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would go gaga for the actor's brazen feat and hand him the Best Actor Oscar before the ceremony began. Amazingly, he didn't even receive a nomination (though John Wayne snared his first for basically playing John Wayne in "Sands of Iwo Jima").

How did Guinness not even earn the honor of an Oscar nod? He made one critical mistake: he gave his bravura performance in a comedy.

Of the 96 films that have won the Academy Award for Best Picture, only 15 could be called comedies (and I'm being super charitable with movies like "Green Book...

Tonight on “The Voice,” the Knockouts continued with coaches Michael Buble, Snoop Dogg, Reba McEntire and Gwen Stefani organizing their teams of nine artists into three groups for the three-way knockouts. Joining the teams for this round as mega mentors are former coach Jennifer Hudson assisting Michael and Reba and music legend Sting assisting Gwen and Snoop. In this round of the competition, each of the three artists will perform a song of their choosing in a head-to-head-to-head matchup and then their coach will decide on one winner to advance. For the artists not chosen as the winner of their knockout, their coach has one save available to keep an eliminated artist and the other coaches have one steal to bring an eliminated artist over to their team.

In “The Knockouts Premiere” on Nov. 11, Snoop used his save on Christina Eagle, Gwen stole Jake Tankersley from Team Snoop, and Michael...

In this week's installment of "What people choose to watch on streamers will never make sense," the aughts comedy "Norbit" is somehow one of the most-watched movies on Amazon's Prime Video. This exceedingly random news comes courtesy of viewership data site FlixPatrol, which as of publication time has the widely panned Eddie Murphy vehicle hovering at number five on its list of the 10 most-watched Prime Video movies in North America. Sure, why not?

To be fair to "Norbit," subscribers seem to be having an odd week in general, with Adam Sandler's "The Longest Yard" also making the list and two Christmas films, "Almost Christmas" and "The Holiday," already entering Prime Video's upper echelons. Still, it's remarkable to see that more people are reportedly watching "Norbit" than are watching newer Prime Video originals, like the Peter Dinklage and Josh Brolin-led action comedy "Brothers" (currently number seven on the streaming...

The 25-year-old star of “Anora” is about to add a Breakthrough Performance Award to her mantel.

Mikey Madison will accept the coveted prize during this year’s Palm Springs International Film Festival — specifically at their awards show on Jan. 3, 2025, at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The film festival itself runs from Jan. 2-13.

Sean Baker‘s “Anora” stars Madison as a Brooklyn stripper who gets married to a Russian oligarch (Mark Eydelshteyn) in what’s being dubbed a “modern-day Cinderella story.” The film is currently Gold Derby’s Best Picture frontrunner at the 2025 Oscars, and it received a major boost earlier this year when it claimed the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Prior to “Anora,” Madison appeared in popular projects like “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” (2019), “Scream” (2022), and “Better Things” (2016-22). She currently leads Gold Derby’s Best Actress Oscar odds, where her co-nominees are likely...

10 Reality Show Stars Who Became Hollywood A-Listers - Main Image

Reality TV can be a powerful launchpad for aspiring celebrities looking to break into Hollywood.

From competitive singing shows like American Idol to various reality series, these platforms have become stepping stones for many artists aiming to succeed in the entertainment industry.

Every star has to start somewhere, and numerous celebrities have proven that reality shows can help them reach the pinnacle of fame.

So, take a look at these 10 reality show stars who transitioned from the small screen to become Hollywood A-listers thanks to their early exposure to reality television.

1. Emma Stone

Many may not know that before Emma Stone captivated audiences with her remarkable performances in La La Land, Poor Things, and Easy A, she began her journey in the entertainment industry on VH1’s In Search of the Partridge Family.

At just 16 years old, she showcased her...