Month: April 2022

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Entertainment Daypop

Jason Momoa to star in ‘Minecraft’ live-action movie for Warner Bros.

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Jason Momoa is set to star in Warner Bros. Studios’ upcoming live-action ‘Minecraft’ movie.  Momoa is in final negotiations to star in the live-action film based on the massively popular video game.

Minecraft is a first-person survival game developed and published by Sweden’s Mojang Studios. The first installment in the franchise debuted in November 2011, with the latest, ‘Minecraft Dungeons,’ being released in May 2020. Minecraft allows players to mine materials and use blocks to create structures and virtual worlds. It is the best-selling video game of all time, with more than 238 million copies sold.

Warner Bros. has been developing a project based on the video game for years, at one point, Steve Carell was expected to star in Minecraft’s movie adaptation.  Napoleon Dynamite filmmaker Jared Hess will direct the Minecraft film, from a script by Chris Bowman and Hubbell Palmer; and Jill Messick will receive a posthumous producing credit for developing the movie before her death in 2018.

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Billie Eilish to appear in ‘The Simpsons’ short for Disney+

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Billie Eilish will appear in a new Simpsons short coming to Disney+.  Eilish and her brother, singer and music producer Finneas, will appear in the short “When Billie Met Lisa.” The streaming service said in an Instagram post: @BillieEilish is coming to Springfield ‼ Start streaming the short, @TheSimpsons: When Billie Met Lisa April 22 only on #DisneyPlus”

“When Billie Met Lisa” will see Lisa Simpson get discovered by Eilish and Finneas while searching for a quiet place to practice her saxophone. Billie invites Lisa to her studio for a special jam session she’ll never forget.  The short will premiere April 22 on Disney+.

This will be the fourth Simpsons short created for Disney+. The streaming service previously released the Star Wars-themed “Maggie Simpson in ‘The Force Awakens from its Nap,’” the Marvel-inspired “The Good, The Bart, and the Loki,” and “The Simpsons in Plusaversary.”

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NASA’s SLS moon rocket headed back to vehicle assembly building after testing delays

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Official said on Monday that the launch of NASA’s new moon rocket has been pushed back by nearly a month after the Space Launch System failed to complete necessary prelaunch testing.

NASA’s SLS moon rocket had been estimated to blast off sometime between June 6 through 16, however, NASA said that launching during that window would now be challenging after issues during the SLS’s wet dress rehearsal prevented teams from finishing their system tests. Tom Whitmeyer, deputy associate administrator for common exploration systems development at NASA, said: “I think that at this point, making the June launch window will be a bit of a challenge, with all the work we have to do. The next launch opportunity runs from June 29 to July 9.”

NASA said its teams will roll the SLS back to the Vehicle Assembly Building to troubleshoot hardware issues that thwarted planned prelaunch testing.  The behemoth will begin its roll back to the VAB next week, on April 26. NASA plans to return to the moon with the help of SLS, a heavy-lift rocket that’s been in development for more than a decade and so far has cost the agency $30 billion. The rocket is currently preparing for its maiden flight, called Artemis-1, which will see it fly around the moon.

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Florida judge overturns CDC mask mandate for planes and other travel

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A federal judge in Florida overturned the national mask mandate covering airlines and other public transportation ‘as exceeding the authority of U.S. health officials in their response to the coronavirus pandemic.’

The mask mandate was recently extended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and covered transportation including airplanes, trains, city subways and even ride-sharing vehicles, such as Uber. The decision by U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa said the CDC improperly failed to justify its decision and did not follow proper rule making procedures that left it fatally flawed. In her 59-page ruling, Mizelle said the only remedy was to vacate the rule entirely across the country because it would be impossible to end it for the limited group of people who objected in the lawsuit.

The Justice Department declined to comment Monday when asked if the government planned to appeal the ruling. The CDC also declined to comment. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that federal agencies were still assessing the court decision Monday afternoon. Said Psaki: “This is obviously a disappointing decision. The CDC is recommending wearing a mask on public transit.”

The CDC recently extended the mask mandate, which was set to expire Monday, until May 3 to allow more time to study the BA.2 omicron sub-variant of the coronavirus that is now responsible for the vast majority of cases in the U.S. The mandate covered all types of transportation in the U.S. as well as requiring masks in any transportation hub, such as an airport, seaport or bus terminal. It wasn’t immediately clear Monday whether or not some of these entities would continue to require masks on their own.

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Take a look at the new teaser trailer for Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

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Marvel has shared a teaser trailer for the upcoming new film ‘Thor: Love and Thunder,’ featuring Chris Hemsworth as the superhero Thor.  Thor: Love and Thunder is written and directed by Taika Waititi, and is the sequel to Thor (2011) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017).

The trailer shows Thor (Hemsworth) leave his “superhero-ing days” behind him and attempt to choose his own path, and ends with a glimpse of Natalie Portman as Mighty Thor. Portman played Jane Foster, an astrophysicist and the love interest of Thor, in 2011’s Thor; and will return in the new sequel.

Also starring in the film are Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel as the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’  The film also will feature Christian Bale, Sean Gunn and Jeff Goldblum.

Thor: Love and Thunder opens in theaters July 8.  Take a look at the teaser trailer – here.

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CBS renews ‘The Talk’ for its 13th season

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CBS has renewed the daytime talk show “The Talk” for a 13th season, it was announced during Monday’s show. All five hosts — Akbar Gbajabiamila, Amanda Kloots, Jerry O’Connell, Natalie Morales and Sheryl Underwood — are slated to return.

The Talk has undergone a huge turnover of co-hosts over the past few years. Underwood is the longest-serving host on the panel, having joined the show in Season 2.  Morales, a long-time NBC News correspondent and anchor, and American Ninja Warrior alum Gbajabiamila joined the show this season after the departures of Carrie Ann Inaba and Elaine Welteroth. Kloots joined the show in early 2021 along with Welteroth, and O’Connell joined the show in July 2021, a few months after Sharon Osbourne was let go following an on-air argument with Underwood and allegations of racist comments from former co-hosts Holly Robinson Peete and Leah Remini.

Watch the co-hosts surprise at the announcement of “The Talk” Season 13 renewal – here.

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2 youths killed, 8 others injured in shooting at Pittsburgh house party

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Two youths were killed and at least eight others were injured during a shooting a party at a short-term rental property in Pittsburgh early Sunday morning.  Sunday’s shooting occurred in Pittsburgh’s East Allegheny neighborhood, also known as Deutschtown, on the city’s North Side.  Pittsburgh police said that more than 200 people, many underage, were inside the Airbnb rental when the shooting occurred around 12:30 a.m.  Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said Sunday during a press conference that at least one of the gunshot victims was as young as 14 years old; however, he did not identify the two deceased victims.

No arrests were immediately reported, but Police Chief Schubert said “it is our top priority to find out who did this and get them off the street,” adding that they believe there were multiple shooters.

The Pittsburgh shooting was one of three high-profile shootings over Easter weekend. In Hampton County, South Carolina at least nine people were injured in a shooting at a club; and 14 people were hurt when gunfire erupted at a crowded Columbia, South Carolina, mall on Saturday.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey released a statement following the shooting Sunday: “At least 10 gunshot victims, two lives lost, and hundreds of lives forever changed, because we have yet to pass meaningful legislation to lessen the amount of guns in our streets or provide the much-needed resources to communities desperately in need. The time is now for us to move with a sense of urgency to bring justice to the victims and peace to our city.” 

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Authorities confirm shooting at South Carolina club leaving 9 injured

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Authorities in South Carolina have confirmed a shooting early Sunday morning at a club in Hampton County that left at least nine people injured.  The State Law Enforcement Division said there were no reported fatalities in the Easter morning shooting at the club in Hampton County, and as of press time no information was immediately available on the severity of the injuries. South Carolina’s State Law Enforcement Division is investigating the early Sunday shooting at Cara’s Lounge in Hampton County, which is roughly 80 miles west of Charleston. A phone call to the nightclub was not answered.

It was the second mass shooting in the state in as many days. A day earlier, gunfire erupted at a busy mall in the state capital of Columbia, where nine people were shot and five people were injured while trying to flee the scene at Columbiana Centre. The victims in that shooting ranged in age from 15 to 73.

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‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ is No. 1 at weekend box office with a franchise-low $43M in earnings

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“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore”, the third installment in the “Harry Potter” spinoff series, opened to $43 million in North America. According to studio estimates Sunday it was enough to secure the film the top spot on the box-office charts, but it’s also a franchise-low. The first film in the “Fantastic Beasts” series had a $74.4 million debut in 2016, and the second film “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” opened to $62.2 million in 2018. “The Secrets of Dumbledore,” which opened in 4,208 locations in North America, cost approximately $200 million in production.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore stars Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller and Mikkelsen, who replaced Johnny Depp as Grindelwald.  As did the previous “Fantastic Beasts” films, “Dumbledore” will most likely earn more internationally. Both of the previous films made more than 70% of their global totals from international showings.

Also at the box office, in its second weekend “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” fell to second place with an estimated $30 million in earnings.  Rounding out the rest of the top five: Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum’s “The Lost City” came in at No. 3, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” took the No. 4 spot, and “Father Stu” starring Mark Wahlberg finished fifth, earning an estimated $8 million in its first five days in theaters.

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Netflix’s Jennifer Lopez documentary ‘Halftime’ to premiere opening night at the Tribeca Film Festival

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The Tribeca Film Festival will feature the Jennifer Lopez Netflix documentary Halftime on its opening night. The premiere is set to take place on Wednesday June 8 at the United Palace in Washington Heights.

Halftime, which will debut on Netflix on June 14, follows Lopez as she reflects on her milestones and evolution as an artist and navigates the second half of her career.  Directed by Tribeca alum Amanda Micheli, the documentary ‘focuses on Lopez’s hard work and creative and cultural contributions as an artist and performer as well as her evolution as a Latina, a mother and a woman taking more agency in her career and using her voice for a greater purpose.’  Micheli said in a statement:  “It’s an honor to be selected for the opening night of Tribeca, and so fitting to be celebrating this critical milestone in Jennifer’s life and career just miles from where she grew up! To have the opportunity to share this film on the big screen with a New York audience is a dream come true.”

Tribeca Festival co-founder Robert De Niro added, “Powerful storytelling — whether in music, film, or games — encourages us to fight for universal values that bind humanity together. Halftime, featuring Jennifer Lopez, reminds us of that. The Tribeca Festival is eager to bring audiences from all over the world together to honor the importance of purpose-driven creative expression.”

The Tribeca Film Festival is set to run from June 8-19 throughout New York City.

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