Marvel Studios(LOS ANGELES) — Marvel’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is ranked as the most watched series premiere ever on Disney+ during its opening weekend.
The streamer reports The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan respectively as the titular Avengers, was the most watched title overall Friday through Sunday, and for the same time period on a global basis, including in Disney+ Hotstar markets.
It joins the premieres of Marvel Studios’ first live-action series, WandaVision, and the season two premiere of The Mandalorian from Lucasfilm as the three most-watched Disney+ original series opening weekends to-date.
The series follows Sam Wilson/Falcon and Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier in the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame, which ended with a very old Steve Rogers passing his Captain America shield and mantel to Wilson, who doubts his worthiness. The duo pairs up on a global adventure that tests their abilities — and their patience.
Marvel and Lucasfilm are owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
ABCKelly Clarkson has tapped Kelsea Ballerini to fill in for her during the Battle Rounds on The Voice.
During Monday night’s episode of the show, it was revealed that Kelly was absent due to illness and had called up the country singer to temporarily take over her seat.
In a preview for the episode, Kelsea clearly makes herself comfortable in the rotating chair, teasing Blake Shelton that he looks like her dad and stealing one of the contestants over to Kelly’s team. “That was my first steal and it felt good,” she says proudly.
“When @kellyclarkson calls and asks you to keep her seat warm, you put all those years of being her super fan to work. thank you @johnlegend@nickjonas and ole pops @blakesheltonfor making me feel like part of the @NBCTheVoice family,” Kelsea wrote on Twitter.
“Team Kelly is in great hands with you @KelseaBallerini,” Kelly replied, with a heart emoji.
Additionally, Dan + Shay are set to serve as advisors for Blake’s team during the Battle Rounds that begin next week. The Voice airs on Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
Amazon Studios(LOS ANGELES) — A new trailer for Them, the new Amazon Prime anthology series from Lena Waithe, has been derided by viewers as a ripoff of Jordan Peele’s films, Get Out and Us.
Amazon’s official synopsis of the film, set in the 1950s, follows a Black family that “moves from North Carolina to an all-white Los Angeles neighborhood during the period known as The Great Migration.” Their “idyllic home becomes ground zero where malevolent forces, next door and otherworldly, threaten to taunt, ravage and destroy them.”
Following a trailer for the show, released on Monday, Twitter users jumped all over the series, writing it off as a knockoff of Peele’s hit films.
“How’d [Waithe] go from a solid film like Queen and Slim…to producing a Jordan Peele knockoff?” one commenter complained. “It’s giving Get Out themes with US’s approach and title.”
“Imagine being Barry Jenkins and Jordan Peele only having two films under your belt but already having all these copy cats wanting what you have,” wrote another.
“This feels like someone whos [sic] never seen a Jordan Peele movie describing what a Jordan Peele movie is like,” shared one.
“Jordan Peele has given us two black horror movies and now they’re copying him already,” still another suggested.
Finally, one Twitter user observed, “they even ripped off the ‘Us’ title and called it ‘THEM.’”
However, some people who have seen the show have a more positive review, like this fan who raved, “This is going to be THE series to watch. I was fortunate to screen during #sxsw and it is. Amazing writing, storytelling and can we get into this talented and beautiful starring cast?”
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy(LOS ANGELES) — Portia de Rossi, wife of Ellen Degeneres, was rushed to the hospital on Friday for emergency appendicitis surgery.
People reports that the 48-year-old actress is back home and “doing well” after the ordeal.
A source to the magazine explained, “Ellen rushed Portia to the hospital on Friday night, she was in a lot of pain… It was appendicitis and she had surgery.”
Adds the insider, de Rossi is “now resting at home and Ellen is taking care of her. It was a scare at first, but all good now.”
According to Mayo Clinic, appendicitis happens when a blockage causes the organ’s lining to become inflamed. The condition, while common, causes severe pain and requires immediate treatment, which typically involves removal of the organ. The condition can become life threatening as the appendix can burst if left untreated.
(NEW YORK) — When a gunman opened fire at a Boulder, Colorado, grocery store, Sarah Moonshadow, who was there shopping with her son, timed the gunfire to figure out when to flee to safety.
Ten people, including a police officer, were killed in the Monday afternoon shooting at a King Soopers grocery store. A suspect is in custody.
It was supposed to be a quick grocery run for Moonshadow and her son, but they ended up “stalling a bit, looking around,” Moonshadow told ABC News’ Good Morning America on Tuesday.
“And at first I was kind of kicking myself, like, if we had left a little bit sooner maybe we could have avoided things,” she said. “But then I realized that we probably could’ve been in a lot bigger trouble had we left any time sooner, because when we had gotten out of the store, there were people lying in the street.”
As gunfire erupted, Moonshadow said her focus was keeping her son close to her — and she worried about what would happen if he stood up too much.
“I just didn’t want him to be too tall and become, like, a moving target,” she said. “Because we couldn’t tell exactly where the shooter was — we knew he was getting closer to us.”
Moonshadow said she tried to focus on the sound and direction the gunfire and counted the seconds in between shots.
“I just looked at my son and I told him — by the fourth shot I started counting — and I told him, ‘We have three seconds. Stay low and don’t look. And just move fast,'” she recalled.
“And he almost hesitated,” she said. “And I just told him, ‘We don’t have another option. We don’t have any other chance to get out of here.'”
After escaping the store, they hid behind a stone, she said.
Moonshadow said she felt she was out of danger once she saw a police officer arrive on scene.
“I tried to flag him down,” she said. But “my son was really scared and he said, ‘No, please don’t go.'”
The officer pulled up to someone lying in the road, she said, and then she heard more gunfire.
“We just started running further back,” she said.
They weaved through several buildings until they found safety at a community member’s porch, she said.
The officer who died in the gunfire has been identified by police as 51-year-old Eric Talley. A member of the Boulder Police Department since 2010, Talley was the first officer to arrive on scene, a law enforcement source told ABC News. Talley leaves behind seven children.
The suspect’s name and a potential motive have not been released.
Marvel Studios(LOS ANGELES) — Marvel’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is ranked as the most watched series premiere ever on Disney+ during its opening weekend.
