Month: March 2024

Singer Kelly Clarkson and retired professional football player Peyton Manning announced on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon that they will host the opening ceremony at the Paris Summer Olympics with ‘Sunday Night Football’ announcer Mike Tirico. The opening ceremony will take place July 26 along the Seine river, with the Olympic games to run through Aug. 11.

Clarkson, 41, and Manning, 47, will  launch of NBC‘s 17 days of Olympics coverage alongside Tirico, with NBC ‘Today’ co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb reporting along the route of the parade of boats on the River Seine.   Clarkson also said of teaming up with Manning and Tirico: “Together, we are hosting the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympic Games. You will never see these three individuals do anything else together. This is the most random thing that they’ve done and I am down for the ride.”

Fallon will also be heading to Paris to host the 2024 Olympics Closing Ceremony. Fallon himself broke the news on his podcast channel in a YouTube clip: “It’s real, It’s happening, I’m gonna do it. I am heading to Paris. I am going to co-host the Olympics closing ceremony this summer. I had no idea that’s gonna happen…I am beyond excited, I am beyond honored!”

NBC’s live coverage of the ceremony kicks off July 26 on NBC and Peacock at noon ET.

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Vanessa Williams, 60, and the producers of the upcoming London musical adaptation of ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ announced that Williams  will play the iconic fictional Runway magazine editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly when the show begins performances in October.  Williams said per Variety: “Bringing Miranda Priestly to life in the West End is an absolute dream come true. Gird your loins, folks.”

Williams and the production’s Instagram account shared videos of her in character as Miranda to make the announcement.  Williams wrote in a caption to one post “Yes…it’s me ,”and another video she shared shows her entering the fictional magazine’s offices in character.  Williams says the video: “Don’t just sit there. Buy tickets, or something” adding in the caption of the post: “that’s All…now buy some tickets to @pradawestend #thehouseofmiranda.”

The Devil Wears Prada musical adaptation first opened in Chicago in 2022. The musical is based on the 2006 movie of the same name, which was based on author Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 novel. Tony Award-winner Beth Leavel played Miranda Priestly at the James M. Nederlander Theatre in London prior to the production’s move to the West End. The Devil Wears Prada musical will hold an exclusively preview engagement at Theatre Royal Plymouth in Plymouth, U.K., this July prior to its opening on the West End, as the production previously announced. The show opens at London’s Dominion Theatre in October.

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“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” a fantasy romance starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell, has been acquired by Sony Pictures to be distributed worldwide. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey will be directed by Kogonada, who also helmed the TV series “Pachinko” and the sci-fi drama “After Yang.” Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the film is described as “an imaginative tale of two strangers and the extraordinary emotional journey that connects them.” “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” marks Robbie’s follow-up role to “Barbie,” which she also produced. Production starts this spring in California.

Tom Rothman, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group, said in a statement: “Every once in a great while in this job you read a script so special and original, that you fly to the last page, inspired and uplifted. ‘A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,’ by Seth Reiss, is such a script and together with the superb director Kogonada, the perfect cast of Colin and Margot, and top flight producers Bradley Thomas, Dan Friedkin and Ryan Friedkin, it is a project from heaven. We believe the audience is desperate for originality and we feel honored and grateful to all involved to have won out for it.”

Added Imperative Entertainment, “We are thrilled to partner again with our good friend, Tom Rothman, and the great team at Sony. We are big believers in the theatrical experience, which is Sony’s specialty, and we’re excited Kogonada’s creation will be enjoyed on the big screen.”

Margot Robbie & Colin Farrell’s Next Movie ‘A Big Bold Beautiful Journey’ Sells Worldwide To Sony In First Major EFM Deal: Berlin Market Has Liftoff!

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Oprah Winfrey will host an ABC primetime special about weight loss drugs, airing on ABC. Oprah recorded the special, titled “An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution,” in front of a live studio audience, where she gathers medial experts to discuss weight loss drugs such as Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy. The medical experts featured in the primetime special are Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. W. Scott Butsch, ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News medical correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Dr. Amanda Velazquez.

Oprah in a statement: “It is a very personal topic for me and for the hundreds of millions of people impacted around the globe who have for years struggled with weight and obesity. This special will bring together medical experts, leaders in the space and people in the day-to-day struggle to talk about health equity and obesity with the intention to ultimately release the shame, judgment and stigma surrounding weight.”

Craig Erwich, president of Disney Television Group, in a statement: “We are thrilled to work with Oprah and the voices she has assembled to open a dialogue that destigmatizes and educates viewers on the important and polarizing topic of weight loss. I can think of no one better to lead this meaningful conversation about such a critical issue that touches all of our lives.”

Oprah recently announced she was stepping down from the board of WeightWatchers after almost 10 years. She had served on the company’s board since 2015, when she acquired a 10% stake in WeightWatchers. The news cam after Winfrey told People magazine last December that she decided to start taking a weight-loss medication: “The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for.”

“An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution” airs Monday, March 18 at 8pm ET on ABC and streams on Hulu the next day.

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Netflix has renewed Avatar: The Last Airbender for Season 2 and Season 3, with the show to end after its third season. Episode counts and release dates for Seasons 2 and 3 will be announced at a later date. Netflix posted: “The Avatar will return!! Seasons 2 & 3 of AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER are coming!” Netflix also shared a video of Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Fire Lord Ozai, sharing news of the renewal with the cast.

The show’s eight-episode first season premiered on Feb. 22 and recorded 41.1M views in its first 11 days, topping its TV list for the last two weeks and being on track to enter its top ten most-watched list over its first three months. It debuted ranking at No. 1 in 76 countries.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is based on the animated Nickelodeon series of the same name, which had a three-season run from 2005 to 2008. Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender stars Gordon Cormier as Aang, a powerful young warrior who must master the four elements (air, water, earth and fire — in that order!) to defeat the merciless Fire Nation and restore balance to a world threatened by the terrifying Fire Nation. Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Ken Leung and Daniel Dae Kim also star.

The show’s three season run will mirror the structure of the animated series, which featured three books across three seasons to Aang’s story that premiered on Nickelodeon in 2005, and became a hit on Netflix during the early stages of the pandemic. Netflix plans to film Seasons 2 and 3 in close succession in order to mitigate the fact that child actors tend to grow up quickly.

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