by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:
STREAMING - From Deadline: Netflix is closing in on a 400-million dollar deal to mak two sequels to the hit 2019 film, "Knives Out."
TELEVISION - From Variety: Actor Donald Faison will play "Professor Utonium" in "Powerpuff," The CW's live-action version of "The Powerpuff Girls."
MOVIES - From Vulture: The second unit director and stunt coordinator on Brad Pitt's upcoming thriller, "Bullet Train," says that Pitt did 95 percent of his own stunts on the film.
BOX OFFICE - From Deadline: The winner at the 3/26 to 3/28/2021 weekend box office is "Nobody" with an estimated take of 6.7 million dollars.
From Forbes: Are movie theaters around the world going broke.
From Deadline: "Godzilla Vs Kong" storms the international box office on its opening weekend with an estimated take of 121.8 million dollars at 38 overseas market.
From Deadline: "Godzilla Vs. Kong" looks at having the biggest domestic opening since the pandemic began.
AWARDS-NAACP - From Deadline: Here is a list of winners at the 2021 / 52nd NAACP Image Awards, which wrapped up Sat., March 27th after a week of honors.
MOVIES - From YahooEntertainment: Eliza Hittman talks about her groundbreaking film about a teen seeking an abortion, "Never Rarely Sometimes Always," and how one Oscar voter rejected it.
From Variety: This article details the disagreement between director Eliza Hittman and Oscar winner and voter, Keith Merrill ("The Great American Cowboy"), over her film, "Never Rarely Sometimes Always."
TELEVISION - From Deadline: George R.R. Martin's book series, "A Song of Fire and Ice," is the basis for HBO's Emmy-winning TV series, "Game of Thrones" and for a planned slew of spinoffs. Now, Martin has signed a five-year overall development deal with HBO and its streaming sister, HBO Max.
TELEVISION - From Variety: Embattled co-host, Sharon Osbourne, has left the CBS daytime talk show, "The Talk," in the wake of recent controversies regarding her defending her racist pal, Piers Morgan, and allegations of racist behavior to past co-hosts. Osbourne was the last original co-host that launched the show 11 years ago.
MOVIES - From YahooEntertainment: Director Fraser Heston speaks about his famous father, legendary Hollywood actor, Charlton Heston, on the 65th anniversary of his most famous film, "The Ten Commandments" (1956). Fraser also speaks about his father's controversial support of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
TRAILER - From THN: There is a trailer for the animated family film, "Felix and the Hidden Treasure" (June 4th, with previews on the weekend before May 31st).
SPORTS-TELEVISION - From NFL: The NFL has announced its new broadcast deals that will begin in 2023 and through 2033.
TELEVISION - From Deadline: Actor Bo Burnham has reportedly joined HBO's drama series about the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s. Burnham will reportedly play Boston Celtics great, Larry Bird. About 20 roles have been cast, including the roles of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Coach Pat Riley, to name a few.
TELEVISION - From Deadline: Warner Bros. Television has fired Greg Spottiswood, from his job as executive producer and co-showrunner of the CBS legal drama, "All Rise," which he created. Spottiswood has been accused of unprofessional behavior in the series' writers room.
MOVIES - From Deadline: Disney's "Black Widow" has given up the May 7-9, 2021 weekend. So the Jason Statham action movie, "Wrath of Man," directed by Guy Ritchie, moving from its April 23rd spot to take the May 7th weekend spot.
AWARDS - From Deadline: "Nomadland" wins the top prize at the 2021/ 32nd Annual Producers Guild Awards. 22 of the 32 winners of the top prize have won the "Best Picture" Oscar. Last year's PGA winner, "1917" lost to Parasite at the Oscars.
TELEVISION - From Deadline: Disney has greenlit a 10-episode TV series that is a reboot of the "National Treasure" film series (2004, 2007). The TV lead will be a Latina, a DREAMer. The third film in the original series is still being developed.
MOVIES - From Deadline: Sony Pictures is developing a film based on the classic TV series, "Bewitched" (ABC, 1964-72). It will reportedly be closer to the series than Sony's 2005 "Bewitched" film.
MOVIES - From Variety: Disney changes its film release schedule, postponing the release of several film, including the much-anticipated Marvel Studios movie, "Black Widow."
STREAMING - From Variety: Halle Berry joins Mark Wahlberg in the Netflix spy movie, "Our Man from Jersey."
STREAMING - From Deadline: Tyler Perry's next film for Netflix is "A Jazzman's Blues," Joshua Boone and Solea Pfeiffer.
MOVIES - From Variety: Actress Sean Young talks about the shitty men, mostly directors and actors, that she has had to deal with in Hollywood. The list includes Ridley Scott and James Woods.
AWARDS - From Deadline: "Promising Young Woman" and "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" take top honors at the 2021 Writers Guild Awards.
MOVIES - From Deadline: The "Resident Evil" film franchise reboot will be entitled "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City." The film is scheduled for movie theaters Sept. 3rd.
BOX OFFICE - From Variety: The winner of the 3/19 to 3/21/21 weekend box office is Disney's "Raya and the Last Dragon" with an estimated take of 5.5 million dollars. This is the film's third consecutive week at #1.
MOVIES - From BleedingCool: The character, Sally Hardesty, was the lone survivor ("final girl") in the 1974 film, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," will be in the upcoming new "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" film. A new actress will play the character, as the originator of the role, actress Marilyn Burns, died in 2014.
TELEVISION - From THR: CBS is rebooting the 1994 film, "True Lies," as a TV series. They are pushing it back to give the reboot's producers, including James Cameron, the writer-director of the film, more time to develop the project.
MOVIES - From Variety: Director Chris Columbus confirms that his 1994 smash hit, "Mrs. Doubtfire," which starred the late Robin Williams, does have a R-rated cut. This rumor all started with a viral tweet that said that there were G, PG. PG-13, R, and NC-17 cuts of the film.
OBITS:
From Deadline: The actor and poet, Craig "muMs" Grant, has died at the age of 52, Wednesday, March 24, 2021. A prolific actor, Grant had numerous film, TV, and stage credits. He is best known for playing "Arnold 'Poet' Jackson" in HBO's "Oz" (1997-2003) for the entirety of its run. Grant also participated in many slam-poetry events.
From Deadline: The novelist and screenwriter, Larry McMurtry, has died at the age of 84, Thursday, March 25, 2021. McMurtry was a prolific novelist, and his 1985 novel, "Lonesome Dove," won the "Pulitzer Prize for Fiction" in 1986, and was adapted into a beloved 1989 television miniseries. Many of his novels were adapted into film, including "The Last Picture Show" (book-1966; film-1971) and "Terms of Endearment" (book-1975; film 1983), which won the Academy Award for "Best Picture." In 2006, he won an Oscar for co-writing the screenplay for the 2005 film, "Brokeback Mountain," an adaptation of E. Annie Proulx.
From Deadline: The actress, Jessica Walter, has died at the age of 80, Wednesday, March 24, 2021. Walter had a five decade career in film and television, but she was best known for her recent roles. She was Lucille Bluth on the sitcom, "Arrested Development," which was originally broadcast on Fox and later streamed on Netflix. Walter also provided the voice for "Malory Archer" on FXX's long running animated series, "Archer." In 1975, she won an Primetime Emmy Award for her work on the limited series, "Amy Prentiss." She was also nominated three other times for an Emmy.
From Deadline: Television and film actor, George Segal, has died at the age of 87, Tuesday, March 23, 2021. Segal stared in two long-running TV series, NBC's former sitcom, "Just Shoot Me" (1997-2003), and ABC's current sitcom, "The Goldbergs" (2013-). Segal recently filmed Episode 16, his last, of the current season, and it is scheduled to air April 7th. Segal also earned an Oscar nomination for "Best Supporting Actor" for his role in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).
From NBA: Legendary NBA player and executive, Elgin Baylor, has died at the age of 86, Monday, March 22, 2021. Playing the position of forward, Baylor is considered one of the NBA's greatest players. He played 14 seasons for the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers from 1958-71, and he was the vice president of basketball operations for the hapless Los Angeles Clippers for 22 years. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1977.
