Month: October 2021

Damian Lewis will exit Showtime’s drama Billions after five seasons. Lewis tweeted  Monday: “Thank you @SHO_Billions thank you @briankoppelman @DavidLevien. A pleasure and a privilege to play Axe for 5 seasons with some of the smartest, funniest most talented cast and crew I’ve worked with. I’ll miss the Billions family. Yep, some jobs are more than just a job…. Love,” 

Showtime said Season 6 of Billions is scheduled to debut in January. The cable television network tweeted:  “Chuck Rhoades and Mike Prince can’t wait to sink their teeth into each other, and we won’t keep you waiting long either.”  The post included a minute-long trailer showing U.S. Attorney General Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) vowing to continue his war against the “criminally rich.”

Lewis’ wife, Peaky Blinders and Harry Potter actress Helen McCory, died of cancer in April at the age of 52. The couple share two children.

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The producers of the Broadway musical Aladdin have announced performances of the show will be canceled through Oct. 10 because of breakthrough cases of COVID-19 among the show’s vaccinated cast and crew. The next planned performance is Oct. 12.

A post on the Aladdin Twitter feed said: “We will continue to provide support to the affected Aladdin company members as they recover. We apologize for the disappointment and inconvenience this causes ticket holders, but we trust that audiences will agree that safety must be at the forefront of our return to Broadway.”

Aladdin resumed performances just last Tuesday, after Broadway recently reopened after being shut down for more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The cast, crew and adult members of the audience have to be fully vaccinated to take part of the show, and audience members also must wear masks in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. Children too young to be vaccinated must show proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test.

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The original ‘Law & Order’ series is being revived by NBC, returning to the network for Season 21. Law & Order first launched in 1990 and ran for 20 seasons on NBC before it was canceled in 2010. The franchise, from Dick Wolf, spawned spinoffs including the long-running Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and the newer Law & Order: Organized Crime. “There are very few things in life that are literally dreams come true. This is mine,” Wolf in a statement.  Season 21 will continue where the original series left off as it follows police and district attorneys.

Studio Wolf Entertainment also uploaded to Twitter a video featuring Law & Order’s signature logo and theme song with the caption: “Eleven years later. The stories continue.”  No premiere date or cast has been announced. Law & Order featured different stars throughout its run including Sam Waterson, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Jesse L. Martin, Steven Hill, Leslie Hendrix, Fred Thompson, Chris Noth, Angie Harmon and many more.

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Sony Pictures’ Marvel sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage, starring Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams, was the No. 1 movie in North America; earning $90.1 million it its debut weekend and making it the best film opening since the pandemic. Before Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the top pandemic openings had been the Walt Disney’s “Black Widow” ($80 million), “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” ($75 million) and Universal Pictures’ “Fast and Furious” sequel “F9” ($70 million).

Coming in at No. 2 is The Addams Family 2 with $18 million, followed by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings at No. 3 with $6 million, The Many Saints of Newark at No. 4 with $5 million and Dear Evan Hansen at No. 5 with $2.5 million.

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The NFL, Pepsi and Roc Nation announced Thursday that Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar will perform for the first time on stage together at the 2022 Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show, scheduled to be held on Feb. 13 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Lamar are Southern California natives.

Dre said in a statement: “The opportunity to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime show, and to do it in my own backyard, will be one of the biggest thrills of my career,” adding that their halftime performance will be an “unforgettable cultural moment.”

The Super Bowl returns to the Los Angeles area for the first time since 1993. It’s the third year of collaboration between the NFL, Pepsi and Roc Nation. Roc Nation and Emmy-nominated producer Jesse Collins will serve as co-producers of the halftime show, which will air live on NBC.

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The latest Star Wars series The Book of Boba Fett will be coming to Disney+ on Dec. 29. The official Star Wars Twitter page made the announcement alongside a new poster featuring the titular bounty hunter sitting on a throne with a blaster in his hand.

The Book of Boba Fett was teased during an after-credits scene that appeared at the end of The Mandalorian Season 2 in December 2020. Fett, portrayed by Temuera Morrison, returned to Jabba the Hutt’s palace and shot up the place before taking Jabba’s throne during the after-credits scene. Mercenary Fennec Shand, portrayed by Ming-Na Wen, will be joining Fett in the new series.

Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson will executive produce, with Karen Gilchrist and Carrie Beck named co-executive producers.

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