August 3, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Lifetime(LOS ANGELES) — Lifetime has announced it will be debuting its first ever Christmas movie featuring an LGBTQ romance.

The movie — called The Christmas Set Up — will follow Hugo, a New York corporate lawyer who goes home to Milwaukee for the holidays and runs into his secret high school crush, Patrick.

The network’s annual slate of holiday films will also include A Sugar & Spice Holiday, which centers on a Chinese-American family; Christmas Ever After, starring Tony winner Ali Stroker; Christmas Unwrapped, produced by Tiffany Haddish; and Dear Christmas, starring Melissa Joan Hart and Jason Priestly.

The full “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” movie slate will be released in September.

Last month, Lifetime’s Christmas movie competitor, Hallmark Channel, announced part of its original holiday movie lineup and was criticized for its lack of LGBTQ representation. Following the criticism, Hallmark announced its commitment to diversity and promised upcoming films would contain LGBTQ storylines.

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

August 3, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Universal Pictures(LONDON) — It’s been a year since the movie hit theaters, but the claws are still out for the live-action version of CATS. 

Now, Andrew Lloyd Webber, the Tony-winning creator of the hit Broadway musical on which the movie is based is speaking up — and no, he didn’t like it either. 

“The problem with the film was that [director] Tom Hooper decided that he didn’t want anybody involved in it who was involved in the original show,” Webber told The Sunday Times of London in a new interview. “The whole thing was ridiculous.”

The live-action film that starred Taylor Swift, Judi Dench, Idris Elba, and Rebel Wilson was panned upon its trailer’s release, and became a pricey flop for Universal before it swept the Razzie Awards and became a punchline at the Oscars. 

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

August 3, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Adult Swim(LOS ANGELES) — We all have that TV show that we just don’t “get” in terms of popularity, and that led the website Reviews.org to poll Americans by state to see which popular shows they think are the most overrated. 

Long story short: eight states named Parks and Recreation as the most-overrated show, the most by state.

However, by population — because tiny Rhode Island doesn’t like Parks and Rec — the beloved animated show Rick and Morty, which was named most overrated by 7 states, including Maine, Wyoming, and Arizona, technically earned the “most overrated” title. 

Fifty-eight percent of those polled called the absurdist show overrated, the most overall.

For the record, they’re wrong. 

Other neat factoids the survey revealed: 

• 64% of women said Game of Thrones is overrated.
• 60% of men said Friends is overrated.
• On average, people over the age of 54 said every show on Reviews.org’s list is overrated 64% of the time.

Here’s the full listing by state: 

Alabama – The Walking Dead
Alaska – The Walking Dead
Arizona – Rick and Morty
Arkansas – Rick and Morty
California – The Walking Dead
Colorado – Parks and Recreation
Connecticut – The Walking Dead
Delaware – The Big Bang Theory
District of Columbia – Game of Thrones
Florida – Game of Thrones
Georgia – Friends
Hawaii – The Walking Dead
Idaho – The Simpsons
Illinois – The Walking Dead
Indiana – Friends
Iowa – The Big Bang Theory
Kansas – Parks and Recreation
Kentucky – Game of Thrones
Louisiana – The Office
Maine – Rick and Morty
Maryland – The Big Bang Theory
Massachusetts – Rick and Morty
Michigan – The Office
Minnesota – Parks and Recreation
Mississippi – The Simpsons
Missouri – Parks and Recreation
Montana – Rick and Morty
Nebraska – The Simpsons
Nevada – Rick and Morty
New Hampshire – The Big Bang Theory
New Jersey – The Big Bang Theory
New Mexico – Parks and Recreation
New York – Game of Thrones
North Carolina – Game of Thrones
North Dakota – The Simpsons
Ohio – Parks and Recreation
Oklahoma – The Simpsons
Oregon – Parks and Recreation
Pennsylvania – The Office
Rhode Island – Parks and Recreation
South Carolina – Breaking Bad
South Dakota – Friends
Tennessee – Game of Thrones
Texas – The Walking Dead
Utah – The Simpsons
Vermont – The Big Bang Theory
Virginia – The Office
Washington – Friends
West Virginia – The Simpsons
Wisconsin – The Big Bang Theory
Wyoming – Rick and Morty

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

August 3, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC/Randy Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — Add “league owner” to the growing list of job titles earned by former wrestler-turned movie star, TV producer, and spirits entrepreneur Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

The superstar, along with his ex-wife and production company partner Dany Garcia and the investment company Redbird Capital Partners have purchased the XFL football league. 

Originally created in 2001, the league, which was owned by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, restarted play earlier this year. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused games to be cancelled, and the league filed for bankruptcy.

In a statement, Johnson said, “The acquisition of the XFL with my talented partners, Dany Garcia and [Redbird’s] Gerry Cardinale, is an investment for me that’s rooted deeply in two things – my passion for the game and my desire to always take care of the fans. With pride and gratitude for all that I’ve built with my own two hands, I plan to apply these callouses to the XFL, and look forward to creating something special for the players, fans, and everyone involved for the love of football.”

Johnson himself played football in college, but lack of playing time and injuries prevented him from getting to the NFL, leading him to follow in his father’s footsteps in the family business of professional wrestling.

His Seven Bucks production company — named after the amount of money he had in his pocket when the Canadian Football League cut him in 1995 — has become a major Hollywood player, with hit TV and movie projects that have earned $10 billion worldwide at the box office.

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

August 3, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Marvel Studios(LOS ANGELES) — Production is ramping up on Marvel Studios’ mysterious Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, an Australian news crew has found. 

Aerial footage from 7 News Sydney shows several traditional Chinese buildings under construction, surrounded by a massive green screen backdrop. Crew members were seen scurrying about on and around the structures.

“It’s not Asia and it’s not Hollywood; it is Western Sydney, home to the newest addition of the Marvel movie franchise,” the news outlet tweeted, explaining that cast and crew have completed a two-week quarantine, and are days away from the start of shooting.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings stars newcomer Simu Liu as the titular character, a martial arts expert and assassin-turned-hero. Liu stars alongside Crazy Rich Asians‘ Awkwafina and Chinese actor Tony Leung in a cast of predominantly Asian performers. 

Back in March, the movie’s Hawaiian-born director, Destin Daniel Cretton, who is of Japanese ancestry, self-isolated on the recommendation of a doctor in Australia. Because Cretton had just become a new father, he quarantined himself just to be safe. While the film’s stunt crew kept at work, the movie’s production was shuttered soon after.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is currently slated for a May 7, 2021 release, however, considering how the pandemic bumped the May release of Marvel Studios’ Black Widow to November — so far — it’s likely that several releases down the line will change.

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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