Entertainment

The producers behind 'Winnie The Pooh' horror flick prepping 'Avengers'-like "Poohniverse" team-up

Jagged Edge Productions/ITN Films

The producers behind the horror pic Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey aren't letting leading this year's Razzie Awards get them down.

Instead, ABC Audio has confirmed Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Films are doubling down, creating a shared "Poohniverse" a la Marvel Studios' MCU, which will focus on the now-public domain characters from Pooh creator A.A. Milne and other works including J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and Disney's Bambi.

A sequel to Blood and Honey is already on the way on March 26, as is Bambi: The Reckoning in the fall and Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare around Halloween.

After those, beloved children's book characters including Pooh, Tigger, Owl, Rabbit and Piglet will break bad along with Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Bambi and the Mad Hatter in the team-up Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble, which is slated for release in 2025.

"Some of the villains also will not see eye to eye which will allow for some carnage within the group in some epic sequence of monster vs monster," producer Scott Chambers, who also plays Christopher Robin in the films, says in a statement.

"It will be complete carnage," Jagged Edge producer and Monsters Assemble director Rhys Frake-Waterfield teases. "We are heavily influenced by Freddy Vs Jason and The Avengers. We would love to see a horror movie where the villains group together and are going after their survivors."

He adds, "We have some incredible set pieces in mind and some sequences I think will truly shock people."

Moviegoers catching Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 in theaters the weekend of March 26 will get a sneak peek.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Netflix drops trailer to 'Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver'

Netflix

On Monday, Netflix dropped an action-packed trailer to the second chapter of director Zack Snyder's sci-fi epic Rebel Moon

Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver continues where the original film's cliffhanger left off: Sofia Boutella's Kora and her band of rebels have fought off an occupying force on the peaceful planet Veldt. 

However, all is not well: "As the full force of the Realm bears down on the burgeoning rebellion, unbreakable bonds are forged, heroes emerge, and legends are made," Netflix teases.

With the exposition handled by the first film, Snyder gets down to the action in the second trailer: Kora is seen battling enemies with her pistol and disarming and running through a baddie with his own lightsaber-like energy sword. 

"Their nightmare is you and I fighting together," she tries to convince Jimmy, an ancient robot knight who is voiced by Anthony Hopkins.

"You must know you cannot win," he warns her as a fleet of attack crafts are shown swooping down. 

Djimon Hounsou's General Titus tries to even the odds by recruiting more allies. "You're all here because there is nothing to return to," he tells them.

Meanwhile, Ed Skrein's ironically named baddie Admiral Noble has apparently been cloned after his death in the original and is on the warpath. 

It's enough to get Jimmy back in the game. "I have no choice but to fight," he declares, and while Audioslave's "Cochise" blares, Jimmy is then shown easily dispatching enemy soldiers as their shots bounce harmlessly off of him. 

The film debuts April 19 on Netflix.

 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Lucasfilm reveals Star Wars series 'The Acolyte' premiering June 4; trailer drops Tuesday

Lucasfilm

On Monday, Lucasfilm revealed that its anticipated Star Wars series The Acolyte will debut June 4 on Disney+.

A trailer will drop Tuesday, the company also noted.

A poster marking the release date shows a lightsaber hilt, but with a streak of blood emerging where its glowing blade should be, teasing the darker nature of the show, which stars The Matrix's Carrie-Anne Moss, Logan's Dafne Keen and Bodies, Bodies, Bodies' Amandla Stenberg.

A legend on the poster reads, "In an age of light, a darkness rises," hinting the series takes place during the galaxy far, far away's relatively peaceful time known as the High Republic era.

The show centers on the "investigation into a shocking crime spree that pits a respected Jedi Master (Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Stenberg)."

"As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems," Lucasfilm teases of the show from Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland.

Lucasfilm is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


All eight 'Spider-Man' movies headed back to theaters

Holland in 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'

On Monday, Sony Pictures announced it is bringing every single live-action Spider-Man movie back to theaters, beginning with 2002's Spider-Man, starting April 15.

That means fans can watch Tobey Maguire in his original turn as Peter Parker/Ol' Webhead, as well as 2004's Spider-Man 2 and 2007's Spider-Man 3 -- yes, even with that dance scene.

Also on tap is Andrew Garfield's turn as the web-slinger in 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man and its less successful 2014 sequel, as well as Tom Holland's 2017 effort Spider-Man: Homecoming, his Spider-Man: Far from Home from 2019 and then 2021's blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home, which united all three actors thanks to a little tinkering with the Multiverse from Benedict Cumberbatch's Dr. Strange.

And just like that, much like a spell from the former Sorcerer Supreme himself, fans might just forget about Sony's Spidey-adjacent flop Madame Web.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


With call to support his favorite charities, Lance Reddick's widow marks year since star's death

Lionsgate

John Wick star Lance Reddick passed away unexpectedly at 60 years old on March 17, 2023, and his widow, Stephanie, has taken to social media to mark the somber anniversary for a good cause.

To a smiling photo of the star and one of his beloved dogs -- both wearing sunglasses -- Stephanie posted, "To mark the one year passing of Lance, I'd like to encourage his fans to give back."

She then listed the Instagram handles of "two of Lance's favorite charities," MomCares.org and The Walden School.

The former provides "compassionate care to historically under-supported mothers with previous NICU experience," while the latter is a New Hampshire-based organization that runs summer music education programs.

Stephanie closed by thanking fans "for all your love and support."

The couple married in 2011 and had two children, Yvonne Nicole and Christopher Reddick.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Kelly Reilly on shifting gears from 'Yellowstone' to new film 'Little Wing'

Paramount+/Alysson Riggs

The coming-of-age film Little Wing is now on Paramount+.

In it, Yellowstone fans will see a different side of that hit show's resident firecracker Kelly Reilly: She plays a detective and single mom, Maddie, whose daughter, Brooklynn Prince's Kaitlyn, is on the wrong track.

Kaitlyn and her best friend hope to solve her mother's financial woes by stealing a valuable racing pigeon, but instead she forms an unlikely bond with its owner Jaan, played by Succession Emmy winner Brian Cox.

"I knew I had one day with him and that was enough for me to get on board," the English actress tells ABC Audio.

"I grew up watching his work and he was very warm and playful in the scene we had," she enthuses.

She added, "We both are used to being driving forces in other roles, and to come together to essentially support this young, brilliant talent that is Brooklynn was lovely."

Reilly added she and Cox "both got to lean into something a lot gentler" than fans are used to seeing them play.

She said "powerhouse" Prince was "honestly just very easy to love," adding they tried to "be with each other fully in the scenes and ... a delicate bond was formed authentically."

As for her character's "practical" wardrobe in the film versus that of Yellowstone's Beth Dutton, Reilly says, "I just wanted her to look real, and like a woman who had no interest in clothes, no time. What was happening in her life, trying to hold her family together was all that mattered."

She continues, "She is a cop and is always either coming home from work or going. I wanted nothing form fitting or self-aware."

"You could say [it was] a relief," Reilly admits.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Tom Holland and Zendaya get their Whitney fix during break in tennis match

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Whenever famously private couple Tom Holland and Zendaya get spotted being cute together it becomes a thing, and such was the case at Sunday's BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California.

It was there during a break in the tennis action that cameras caught them grooving in their box seats and singing along when Whitney Houston's 1987 smash "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" played over the stadium's speakers. 

Coincidentally, as Dune Part Two continues to rake it in at the box office, Z's next film happens to be the tennis-themed love triangle film Challengers, due out April 26. 

After the match, which saw Iga Swiatek winning her second Open trophy, she got some face time with Zendaya -- to the athlete's apparent shock. According to video that The Open posted to X, formerly Twitter, the pair chatted and hugged, and the star posed with Swiatek and her new trophy.

"What just happened?" the tennis pro captioned the video.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Photos surface of Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan

Disney/Randy Holmes

The public is getting its first look at Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan.

People has shared photos of the actor on the New York City set of the upcoming Dylan flick A Complete Unknown. In the pictures he’s seen in a green jacket with a yellow backpack, hat and brown scarf, carrying a guitar.  

A Complete Unknown, directed by James Mangold, has been in the works for more than four years. It is expected to cover the early '60s in New York, when a 17-year-old Dylan comes to the Big Apple and meets artists like Woody GuthriePete Seeger and Joan Baez, and follows him through his famed 1965 performance at the Newport Folk Festival, when he shocks the crowd by plugging in an electric guitar.

In addition to Chalamet, the film stars Edward Norton as Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Baez, Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash and Nick Offerman as Alan Lomax.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


In Brief: Anne Hathaway's 'The Idea of You' breaks trailer records, and more

Michael Showalter's new rom-com The Idea of You, starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine, is already making waves ahead of its May 2 release on Prime Video. Deadline reports the film's trailer has broken the record for the most watched trailer for any original streaming movie, registering 125 million global views across social media. The Idea of You follows a 40-year-old single mom who begins an unexpected romance with a 24-year-old boy band singer, played respectively by Hathaway and Galitzine ...

Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney is hinting the Emmy-winning HBO series may start filming soon. When asked if she planned on taking time off after the South by Southwest premiere of her new horror movie Immaculate, Sweeney told MTV, "I go into Euphoria." When pressed for further details, the Anyone but You actress was evasive, except to say returning to the hit show felt "like home" ...

David Seidler, the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind 2010’s The King’s Speech, died Saturday during a fly-fishing trip in New Zealand, his manager, Jeff Aghassi, tells The Hollywood Reporter. He was 86. The King's Speech, per IMDB, followed King George VI's "unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer." Seidler's other notable work includes Francis Ford Coppola’s Tucker: The Man and his Dream, animated children's features Madeline: Lost in Paris and Quest for Camelot ...

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'Kung Fu Panda 4' repeats at No.1 at the box office with $30 million weekend

Universal Pictures

Kung Fu Panda 4 topped the domestic box office for the second time in as many weeks, with an estimated $30 million weekend. The animated sequel, once again featuring Jack Black as the voice of the titular character, has collected $107.7 million in North America and $176.5 million worldwide.

Second place went to Dune: Part Two, which grabbed an estimated $29 million. Its three-week domestic tally now stands at $205 million and over $400 million globally. The Dune sequel -- starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Austin Butler -- is expected to surpass the $433 million earned by its predecessor.

The Mark Wahlberg-led Arthur the King debuted on the lower end of expectations, finishing in third place with an estimated $7.5 million in North America.

The thriller Imaginary finished in fourth place, collecting an estimated $5.5 million in its second week of release, bringing its domestic tally to $19 million.

Rounding out the top five was the faith-based biographical drama Cabrini, delivering an estimated $2.9 million, bringing its two week total to $13 million.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


"My heart is broken today": Cara Delevingne posts about house fire

Mike Marsland/WireImage via Getty Images

The Studio City, California, home that is believed to belong to actress and model Cara Delevingne and is registered to her band burned down overnight.

Firefighters arrived to find the home with heavy fire in the rear as flames consumed one room in the back before developing into an attic fire that led to the roof's collapse, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

It took 94 firefighters more than two hours to access, confine and put out the fire.

The LAFD said one firefighter was injured and is in fair condition while one occupant, a house sitter, had minor smoke inhalation. The LAFD said the injured firefighter fell off a ladder.

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

Delevingne has posted multiple Instagram Stories about the incident.

"My heart is broken today... I cannot believe it," the first Instagram Story, which features a photo of her two cats, reads. "Life can change in a blink of an eye. So cherish what you have," following that with a broken heart emoji.

The second featured a video of the scene of the fire.

The third Instagram Story was a statement posted to an orange background which read, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the firefighters and people that have showed up to help." A fourth Story confirmed her cats are safe, thanks to firefighters.

ABC News has reached out to Delevingne for comment.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Fiasco Willy Wonka experience being turned into parody musical

Getty Images

A veritable who's who of musical comedy talent is coming together to roast one of the biggest social media fiascos of the year, that "Willy’s Chocolate Experience" in Glasgow, Scotland. 

Hoping to steal some of the shine from Warner Bros. smash Wonka, organizers promised to immerse patrons in a wonderland of candy-covered delights. In reality, people shelled out around $60 a ticket to stand in a partially decorated warehouse that some on social media said looked more like a meth lab than anything from the movie.

Due out in late 2024, WillyFest – A Musical Parody intends to add some fuel to the Fyre Fest-like disaster.

"It takes a special kind of magic to devastate children and adults alike – and it feels like the only way to find meaning in this chocolate-less catastrophe ... is to sing about it," say songwriters Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner. The Broadway veterans and alumni of ABC's Once Upon a Time are among those lending their talents to the staged production. 

Songwriting team Tova Litvin and Doug Rockwell added, "When the inspiration for a parody has a con artist, ChatGPT, a mysterious wedding and crying children, it's hard to resist." They added, "Who wouldn’t want to write a musical about an experience that goes from joy, to fear, to 'Why the f*** am I here?'"

Other talent attached to the parody are Garfunkel & Oates and Another Period's Riki Lindhome, and Daniel Mertzlufft, who created Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical

Kraft-Engel Productions, veterans of ABC's The Little Mermaid Live, among other productions, is producing. 

 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


'Doctor Who' returns on Disney+ May 10

L-R: Gatwa, Gibson -- James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios

On Friday, Disney Branded Television and BBC jointly announced that beloved British sci-fi show Doctor Who will return Friday, May 10, at 7 p.m. ET on Disney+.

It will be the first-ever installment to be released on the streaming service and worldwide -- except fans in the U.K. will have to wait one extra day.

The first season to feature Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor will kick off with a revisit of December's episode "The Church on Ruby Road" and segue into two new installments.

At the side of the time- and space-spanning titular hero will be his companion Ruby Sunday, portrayed by Millie Gibson.

According to the joint announcement, the pair's "infinite adventures" championing the forces of good will take them from "the Regency era in England to war-torn futures ... while encountering incredible friends and dangerous foes."

Showrunner, executive producer and writer Russell T. Davies teases, "Monsters! Chases! Villains! Mysteries! And a terrifying secret that's been spanning time and space for decades. Don't miss a second!"

A trailer for the new season will drop Friday, March 22.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Elijah Wood, Yvette Nicole Brown and more added to CBS Studios' animated 'Among Us'

Innerslot

Among Us, the animated adaptation of the hit video game, has attracted some colorful Hollywood names, CBS Studios announced Friday.

Among Us, which at one point had some 500 million monthly active users and more than 4 billion views on YouTube, has groups of small, colorful space-suited characters trying to fix a damaged ship called the Skeld — and avoiding a murderous imposter among them who wants to sabotage their craft.

The Lord of the Rings' Elijah Wood has joined the cast as Green; Community and Avengers: Endgame actress Yvette Nicole Brown will play Orange; WandaVision co-star Randall Park will voice Red; and Ashley Johnson, a veteran voice-over actress who guested in another game adaptation, HBO's The Last of Us, will play Purple.

According to the game's producer and the forthcoming show's co-producer Innersloth, Red is the Skeld's captain, known as a "blowhard" and a "people-pleaser." Purple is the sarcastic, suspicious chief of security; Green is the "just happy to be there" intern; and Orange is the "spineless corporate shill" and head of HR on the ship.

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'Squid Game' star Oh Yeong-su convicted of sexual misconduct

Netflix/Noh Juhan

Oh Yeong-su, the 79-year-old star of Netflix's phenomenon Squid Game, is vowing to appeal the verdict after he was convicted of sexual misconduct in his native South Korea.

According to the Korea Herald, Oh was given an eight-month prison sentence, which was suspended for two years, for a 2017 incident of sexually harassing an actress.

The actor was found guilty of inappropriately touching an actress — including hugging her, kissing her cheek, and holding her hand — according to the publication. She filed charges against him four years later, when he became a global star thanks to the success of the series.

The Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Court ruled, "The content of the victim's journal, and the content of her counseling after the incident is consistent with what happened, and her testimonies could not have been given unless she actually experienced it."

The elderly actor, who won an Outstanding Supporting Actor Golden Globe for playing Oh Il-nam in the series, has an otherwise clean criminal record, so it was decided he won't receive any time behind bars. Instead, he was ordered to complete 40 hours of sexual violence treatment.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


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