August 26, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Disney+/Lucasfilm(LOS ANGELES) — For those jonesing for the second-season debut of the Emmy nominated Disney+ hit The Mandalorian this October, some retail therapy might help. 

Ashley Eckstein, founder of female fan fashion retailer Her Universe — and voice of Star Wars heroine Ahsoka Tano herself — has teamed up with Allison Cimino, CEO and Designer of RockLove Jewelry, for a new joint collaboration of Star Wars bling that celebrates some of the fierce females that will be seen in Season 2.

Among the female characters honored with necklaces, bangles and rings includes fan favorite, former Jedi Ahsoka, who will be portrayed in live action for the first time by actress Rosario Dawson in Mandalorian Season 2, as well as the series’ mysterious and powerful character known only as The Armorer.

The Armorer’s distinctive Mandalorian helmet has been crafted into a ring by RockLove.

First seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Ahsoka Tano literally grew into one of the most complex and heralded female characters in that galaxy far, far away. Her character’s distinctive Togrutan head markings have been replicated in blue and white enamel on a silver bangle from Her Universe, as well as a necklace pendant, and a ring, the latter of which sold out in minutes. 

Other Star Wars items from the collaboration include a necklace that emulates the medals Princess Leia bestowed upon Han Solo and Luke Skywalker — but famously, not Chewie — following the Battle of Yavin at the end of 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope.

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

August 26, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

iStock/Sitade(NEW YORK) — Federal prosecutors in New York announced criminal charges Wednesday against an international piracy ring that managed to steal and upload “nearly every movie released by major production studios” between 2011 and 2020.

According to the indictment, the “sophisticated and widespread” operation allegedly conducted by the Sparks Group caused “tens of millions of dollars in losses to film production studios.”

Three men were indicted as a result of the operation, ABC News has learned. Umar Ahmad, George Bridi and Jonatan Correa were charged with copyright infringement, while Bridi faced an additional charge of wire fraud.

Bridi was arrested Sunday in Cyprus, Correa was arrested Tuesday in Olathe, KS., and Ahmad, a Norwegian, remains at large.

Dozens of the Sparks Group’s servers were shut down, cutting off user access to the pirated material. 

Prosecutors say the company fraudulently obtained DVD and Blu-ray discs from wholesale distributors before the titles’ release dates, and managed to crack the discs’ copyright protections before the Sparks Group copied and uploaded the shows and movies to its servers. 

“This investigation shows — in high definition — that despite the online platform and international nature of this scheme, we are committed to stop those who use the cyber world for illicit gain,” said Peter Fitzhugh of Homeland Security Investigations.

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

August 26, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Netflix(LOS ANGELES) — Natalia Dyer plays Finn Wolfhard’s on-screen big sister Nancy on Stranger Things, but that doesn’t stop her from acting as the protective older sister for the series’ younger stars once the cameras stop rolling.

In a new interview with The Independent, Dyer, 25, opened up about why she feels a need to protect her teenage costars.

When the first season dropped on Netflix in 2016, most of the younger cast were entering their early teen or preteen years and, at the time, were relatively unknown actors.

“No one had any idea how successful the show would be,” noted Dyer, in reference to how Stranger Things exploded into popularity and catapulted the entire cast into a new tier of stardom. 

“There was no preparation — there couldn’t have been, even if we’d known,” Dyer said of how everyone’s lives changed basically overnight. “It was a surprising and overwhelming shock.”

However, once the cast settled to their new norm, Dyer said she noticed one thing that really had her worried — how the show’s fanbase and the media was treating her younger costars as adults.

“I generally feel like, to me, it’s oversexualizing them,” The Yes, God, Yes actress pointed out. “I feel protective over the younger kids even though they’re not kids anymore, they’re teens.”

She says the kids were sexualized very early on, such as Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) being highlighted by W magazine for making TV “sexier than ever” when she was just 13 or when Wolfhard (Mike) went public about the explicit messages older fans were sending him when he was 14-years-old.

“I just feel like, leave people alone – unless you’re talking about their work or what they want to talk about,” Dyer declared. “Just let people be the people that they are, without any judgement.”

By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 26, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

“Bring It On” – Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — The pop culture phenomenon Bring It On recently celebrated its 20th anniversary and the movie’s original stars, Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union, feel that it’s time for a sequel.

While many beloved tv series and movies are being rebooted or getting the sequel treatment, the two leading ladies believe that, in order to continue Bring It On‘s story, it has to be just right and make sense.

Speaking with the movie’s director Peyton Reed and writer Jessica Bendinger in a virtual reunion of sorts hosted by the Oscars via Zoom on Tuesday, Dunst and Union began pitching ideas about what a potential future installment could look like.

“Maybe we’re like co-heads of the PTA. I don’t know,” offered Gabrielle, who also noted how amazed she is that Bring It On still has a cultural impact despite being two decades old.

Maintaining the franchise’s pop culture status in a possible sequel was a must, the two actresses agreed.

While Dunst enjoyed Union’s suggestion, she felt that the movie could also draw inspiration from another major cheerleading phenomenon and pitched, “Or we run a cheer school like Cheer,” in reference to the smash hit Emmy-nominated Netflix docuseries.

The 38-year-old actress added that, while they won’t be the in uniform or competing in the sequel, their characters would still be on the mat calling the shots like Cheer‘s head coach Monica Aldama.

“I feel like it’d be fun if we…I mean, it has to be a competition against somebody now,” expanded Dunst.

It’s unknown if a possible Bring It On sequel has been given the green light as the crew remained tight-lipped if something was in the works.  However, as seen by Dunst and Union’s little brainstorming session, it seems the team is very excited about the possibility.

By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 26, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Melinda Sue Gordon; ©2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.(LONDON) — Tom Cruise, who is currently in London presumably to get back to work on Mission: Impossible 7, which was shut down in March amid the COVID-19 pandemic, did his part to coax people back into movies theaters by taking in a movie himself. Cruise’s pick: Christopher Nolan’s Tenet.  The verdict?

“Loved it,” he is heard telling a fellow moviegoer in a 34-second video posted to the actor’s Twitter page.

Cruise also enjoyed being able to catch a movie in a real theater on a big screen for the first time in a long while.

“Here we are, back to the movies,” a masked Cruise says in the clip, while being driven through rainy London en route to the theater.

“Great to be back in the theater, everyone,” he tells the crowd as he’s leaving.

Tenet, which opened overseas this past weekend, is due in U.S. theaters on September 3.

Incidentally, Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson had the opposite declaration about Tenet — though it referred to the dangers of spreading COVID-19, not a review of Nolan’s film. “Don’t go see Tenet or any other movie in a theater,” Derrickson posted. “There, I said it.” 

He later clarified he was speaking to moviegoers in the States, not overseas, where theaters in many regions have been open for business.

Cruise’s Mission: Impossible 7 isn’t due out until 2021.

The superstar’s other major release, Top Gun: Maverick, which had already been bumped from its June 26th release date to December 23, will now fly into theaters on July 2, 2021.