November 6, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Amazon Studios(LOS ANGELES) — Although it was just released on October 23, the sequel to Sacha Baron Cohen’s hit Borat has become the second most-watched on-demand movie of the year.

According to numbers crunched by marketing research firm ScreenEngine/ASI and quoted by Variety, Amazon Prime’s Borat 2: Subsequent Moviefilm was bested only by this summer’s Disney+ release of Hamilton. 

The election likely had something to do with the boost in Borat‘s viewership: the movie contained a much-hyped scene of President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani appearing to get in a compromising position with actress Maria Bakalova, who played Borat’s daughter.  In the movie, she posed as a journalist who was interviewing the former New York City mayor.

ScreenEngine/ASI’s data came from weekly surveys of 1,200 U.S. SVOD — streaming video on demand — viewers aged 13-64.

The top five films for the year so far also included Amazon Prime’s kid comedy My Spy with Dave Bautista, the Netflix action film Extraction starring Chris Hemsworth, and Phineas & Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe, from Disney+.

 1. Hamilton: The Movie (Disney+)
 2. Borat 2: Subsequent Moviefilm (Prime Video)
 3. My Spy (Prime Video)
 4. Extraction (Netflix)
 5. Phineas & Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe (Disney+)
 6. Mulan (Disney+)
 7. The Old Guard 10 (Netflix)
 8. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
 9. Roald Dahl’s The Witches (2020) (HBO Max)
10. The Lovebirds (Netflix)

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. 

November 6, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Melinda Sue Gordon; ©2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.(LOS ANGELES) — If you didn’t get a chance to see Christopher Nolan’s Tenet when it opened in limited release over Labor Day weekend, you’re in luck. 

Warner Bros. has announced that the film — which opened in some U.S. theaters but not in major markets like New York, California, and New Jersey thanks to COVID-19 theater closings — will arrive on 4K, Blu-ray, DVD and digital on December 15.

The time-bending thriller, starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Kenneth Branagh and Elizabeth Debicki, performed well overseas, where more theaters were opened; to date, the film has earned nearly $350 million worldwide.

Tenet was initially slated to arrive in theaters on July 17 but was later postponed until July 31, then August 12, and finally to an overseas bow on August 28.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. 

November 6, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

William Gray/SHOWTIME(NEW YORK) — Orlando Jones says he was given the rare opportunity to cultivate his character of The Rail Man in the Ethan Hawke-led Showtime series The Good Lord Bird.

“Ethan was like, ‘Listen, anything you want to take from the book to curve into the show, just let me know,'” Jones tells ABC Audio. “So they were open about how I was going to render the character. And suddenly I was on set one day and here we were doing it.”

Based on James McBride’s novel of the same, the series follows Hawke as abolitionist and radical John Brown and centers on his various encounters with other historical figures. Jones, whose character is a literal conductor of the underground railroad, says he enjoyed playing The Rail Man because he didn’t conform to the stereotypical characters of that period.

“[He was] a fun character to do… because you don’t think of Black men as running the most sophisticated technology in the world during that period of time,” he says. “You don’t think of them as fathers that are free, that have relationships with the mayor… You [don’t] think of our contribution.”

“Those are the things that often get overlooked,” he continues. “Or rather, we are purely seen during this period of time, [for] our only contribution to human history — in the form of indentured servitude.”

Jones says it was for those exact reasons why he was “excited” about his role where he didn’t have to play a “victimized” figure in history.

“And you can tell they’re based on some real figures, but just to see our history in that particular way where we’re not purely victims… is always exciting to me,” he adds. 

The Good Lord Bird airs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.

November 6, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Liu Yifei as Mulan/© 2019 Disney All Rights Reserved.(NEW YORK) — Mulan, the live-action re-imagining of Disney’s 1998 animated classic, is coming to 4K Ultra HD, DVD and Blu-ray on November 10.

What’s more, on the same day, the 1998 animated original is being released for the first time for download on 4K Ultra HD.  The films will also be available in a two-movie collection that will include the Blu-ray DVD and digital of both films.

The recent live-action film, starring Liu Yifei as the titular heroine, saw its release date moved repeatedly throughout the summer, as the COVID-19 pandemic kept theaters shuttered.  Initially supposed to hit theaters in March of 2020, the movie was released in some overseas markets over the summer, and came to Disney+ for a premium price on September 4.

Mulan is based on a 2,000-year-old Chinese legend of a woman who disguises herself as a man to fight for her land and her family’s honor. The animated original featured the voices of Ming-Na Wen as Hua Mulan, and Eddie Murphy as the wise-cracking dragon, Mushu, the latter of whom’s absent from the live-action remake.  Wen, recently seen in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Mandalorian, makes a cameo in the live-action version.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

November 6, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

© 2018 WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.(LOS ANGELES) — The ramifications of Johnny Depp’s ugly libel case against the U.K. tabloid The Sun, which labeled him a “wife beater” during his rocky marriage to Amber Heard, has cost him a major job.

“I wish to let you know that I have been asked to resign by Warner Bros. from my role as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and I have respected and agreed to that request,” Depp posted to Instagram Friday. 

Depp’s libel claims were dismissed by a London judge last week. During the trial, both celebrities leveled accusations of abuse against each other, with Depp denying Heard’s claims.

In the Instagram message, Depp thanked fans who have “gifted me with their support and loyalty.” He said, “I have been humbled and moved by your many messages of love and concern particularly over the last few days.” 

He also vowed that “the surreal judgment of the court and the UK will not change my fight to tell the truth and I confirm that I plan to appeal. My resolve remained strong and I intend to prove that the allegations against me are false.”

Depp closed the message by adding, “My life and career will not be defined by this moment in time.”

Warner Bros. released its own statement in response, thanking Depp for his work in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise, and highlighting that “the role of Gellert Grindelwald will be recast.”

Currently in production, the third movie in the franchise is set for a summer, 2022 release, the studio says.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.