What to know
Taylor Swift asks fans to be kind ahead of Speak Now re-release… She basically told fans not to bully her alleged exes. “I’m 33 years old. I don’t care about anything that happened to me when I was 19, except the songs I wrote … I’m not putting this album out so that you can go … defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about 14 million years ago.” It’s about time she started discouraging this behavior and hopefully her very devoted fans listen. Maybe next she can tell her fans not to doxx, threaten, and harass a critic who gave her tour a slightly negative review. 🎸
Elemental holds on, The Flash plummets, No Hard Feelings barely exceeds expectations… It turned out to be a very interesting weekend at the box office. Spider-Verse returned to #1 with $19.3M just beating out Elemental’s $18.5M. The Pixar movie dropped just 37%, a good sign for its longevity, but it still has an uphill battle to profitability. Speaking of uphill battles to profitability, The Flash fell a massive 73% and could end up losing $200M. Time to press the panic button at WB/DC. No Hard Feelings made $15M, which was better than its $10M projections, but still not good. The big comeback for R-rated comedies will have to wait. Oh and Asteroid City gave Wes Anderson his best wide opening ever with $9M. Will it top Grand Budapest Hotel’s $173M total? 💵
Jon Hamm on Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis script: “I don’t know how he’s going to make this movie”… Hamm revealed that he was part of a table read of the project and that it’s wildly ambitious. Ambition usually isn’t an issue, if you have a big studio behind you, but if you’re not aware, Coppola is funding it himself. He’s said he spent more than $120M of his own money to make the movie. And the budget apparently grew beyond that amid reports of an “unstable filming environment.” The man made The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, so he deserves some benefit of a doubt — but there are more than a few question marks here. Production wrapped in March, so I guess he was able to shoot it, we’ll see what happens when it’s released. 👀
Andrew Niccol has an idea for a Truman Show spinoff series… Screenwriter Niccol tells ScreenRant that a musical and a follow-up series have been batted around. His series idea would follow a network with multiple channels airing different “Trumans,” but they’re all set in different neighborhoods of the same fake city. They’re never intended to meet, but eventually they do and two of them fall in love. The network then tries to kill their romance. That definitely echoes the story of Truman Show, in which Truman was pursuing true love. Truman is my favorite movie of all time — so I’d love a spinoff such as this, especially from Niccol. It’s a nice extension and reinvention of the original without directly remaking it or undoing its events. ☀️
James Gunn sounds off on “lazy” superhero movies and bad third acts… This is actually really promising. As DC co-chair, Gunn is one of a handful of people who can actually do something to improve comic book movies as a whole. The fact that he sees what’s broken suggests he could do something to fix it. This makes me optimistic that the creative decline we’re seeing now (from Marvel and DC) could just be temporary. But then again, I thought Flash would be a success, so what do I know. 👍
Adam Sandler congratulates college golf player Happy Gilmore… Yes, this kid’s name is Happy Gilmore (sort of) and he’s a golfer. His actual name is Landon Gilmore, but he got the nickname “Happy” after getting good at golf. Hopefully he won’t be going up against any Shooter McGavins. ⛳️
Disney might have lost $900M on its last 8 studio releases… Oof. As if Bob Iger doesn’t have enough challenges on his plate. I thought the movies were back. 😰
Nicolas Winding Refn is making an adaptation of a children’s book for the BBC… I hope the kids have long attention spans and an appetite for neon. 🤨
Broadway musical adaptation of Imitation of Life with music and lyrics by John Legend, book by Lynn Nottage in development… Oh, nice! 🎭
Variety: “Top Chef is overdue for an Emmy win”… Amen. From your pages to voters’ ears. 🔪
The owner of the shop that inspired The Bear hasn’t seen the show: “Somebody’s still got to make beef”… Legend. 🥩
Angela Bassett and Mel Brooks are getting honorary Oscars… Legends. 🏆
John Goodman says The Conners might end with season 6… Even reboots have to end eventually. 📺
Titanic is returning to Netflix soon… Well that’s some convenient timing. 🚢
TCM host: “We’re not going anywhere”… That’s a good sign.
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What’s new
Hijack — June 28 | Apple TV+ thriller series | 🍅 93%
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — June 30 | Adventure film in theaters | 🍅 63%
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken — June 30 | Animated film in theaters | 🍅 75%
Returning: The Witcher s3, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan s4, Is It Cake s2
What to watch
For all past ‘what to watch’ recommendations, see the full list here!