October 22, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Quibi is calling it quits. 

On Wednesday, the streaming service officially announced that it will be “winding down the business,” according to a press release obtained by Variety. The decision comes just over six months after the company, which was led by founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman, launched in April — during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Quibi started as a a strictly mobile streaming service that delivered content in small bite-sized episodes, typically around or less than 10 minutes each and came at a monthly cost of $4.99 with ads and $7.99 without ads.

The start-up attributed “the changed industry landscape and ongoing challenges” as a reasoning behind closing its doors and said, “It was clear that the business would not be able to continue operating for the long-term on a standalone basis.”

Approximately 200 employees will be out of work as a result and many projects will be left in “limbo,” as noted by the publication. Also, the company does plan to give what’s left of the $1.75 billion dollars they raised back to investors.

Katzenberg and Whitman further expressed their thoughts regarding Quibi’s demise in an open letter “to employees, investors, and partners” posted on Medium.

“Quibi was a big idea and there was no one who wanted to make a success of it more than we did. Our failure was not for lack of trying; we’ve considered and exhausted every option available to us,” the letter read. “All that is left now is to offer a profound apology for disappointing you and, ultimately, for letting you down. We cannot thank you enough for being there with us, and for us, every step of the way.”

By Danielle Long
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 22, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic(LOS ANGELES) — Jared Leto is returning to the DC Comics universe, reprising his role as the Joker from 2016’s Suicide Squad in Zack Snyder’s rejiggered version of Justice League.

The announcement is newsworthy, says The Hollywood Reporter, firstly because the character didn’t appear in the original 2017 film, which raises the question of how much new content will be added to the so-called Snyder Cut.

Leto’s addition will also tie together Snyder’s Justice League with Suicide Squad, which also featured a cameo from Ben Affleck’s Batman, who tried to take down Leto’s Joker and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn.

Sources close to then-studio executives Jon Berg and Geoff Johns, who oversaw the film and the reshoot by Joss Whedon tell THR that the duo is planning to remove their names from the Snyder Cut, since they did not work on this version and are no longer studio executives.

It’s not clear if the move by the duo has anything to do with Ray Fisher, who plays Cyborg, accusing Justice League director Joss Whedon of “abusive” behavior on the set of the movie, and that Berg and Johns enabled Whedon’s alleged behavior.

The Snyder Cut of Justice League will be released exclusively on HBO Max next year.

October 21, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Normal People breakout star Daisy Edgar-Jones is taking on the role of another beloved book character.

Variety reports that the British actress is set to play the lead in Where the Crawdads Sing, the Reese Witherspoon-produced film adaption of the best-selling novel by Delia Owens.

She’ll star as Kya, a girl abandoned by her family in the marshes of North Carolina who survives on her own using her knowledge of the nature around her. Treated as an outcast by the nearby townspeople, she later becomes a suspect in the murder of the town’s golden boy.

Olivia Newman, who wrote and directed Netflix’s First Match, is on board to direct, with Oscar-nominated Beasts of the Southern Wild writer Lucy Alibar penning the script.

Edgar-Jones previously starred as Marianne in Normal People, Hulu’s limited series adaptation of Sally Rooney’s 2018 novel.

By Andrea Tuccillo
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 21, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Chad Kirkland/Bravo(LOS ANGELES) — The Real Housewives franchise is expanding into red, white and rosé territory. 

In collaboration with Washington state wine brand Nocking Point Wines, the Bravo series has launched The Real House Wine Collection that features bottles of red, white and rosé. The new venture comes in celebration of the debut of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, premiering on November 11. 

According to People, the red combines flavors of plum and huckleberry with high cacao chocolate, while the rosé sits on the opposite end of the flavor palette, described as “summer in a glass” with its strawberry notes. Meanwhile, the white sits somewhere between the two with hints of oyster shell and passion fruit.

The wines are available for purchase now and are sold in bundles of two, three, six and 12 bottles. The two-bottle package for the white and rose wines are $48 while the red is $52 for a pair.

By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 21, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Barry King/WireImage(LOS ANGELES) — Carrie Fisher’s daughter, actress Billie Lourd, paid tribute to the late Star Wars star on what would have been her 64th birthday Wednesday.

Lourd, who announced the birth of her first child last month, shared a throwback photo of a pregnant Fisher along with a caption in her late mother’s signature style of emojis.

Fisher was 60 years old when she died in 2016 after suffering cardiac arrest.

Lourd, 28, posts about her late mother regularly on social media. Most recently, she shared a quote from the actress to mark World Mental Health Day. This past May, Lourd also shared a heartfelt note to others for whom Mother’s Day is difficult.

“Sending my love to anyone who has lost a mother and anyone who might just be having a complicated Mother’s Day this year,” she wrote. “This is my 4th Mother’s Day without my Momby and days like today are never easy, but I’ve found that doing things that make me feel more connected to her make it a little easier — watching her favorite movies, listening to music we listened to together, looking through old pictures and my personal favorite — eating + drinking things she loved.”

Mark Hamill also celebrated his Star Wars co-star Wednesday, sharing a photo of them giving each other an amicable smooch and writing on Twitter, “Happy Birthday Carrie Frances Fisher. The world will never stop missing you.”

By Good Morning America
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.