Watching Jesus Revolution surge past $45 million in ticket sales for Lionsgate —matching or besting The Fabelmans , The Banshees Of Inisherin, Tár , Women Talking and Triangle Of Sadness, combined—it finally seems safe to say it. The faith-based audience is back. Between Covid and the culture wars, it’s been a rough few years for those who make, promote and/or enjoy what are loosely called inspirational films. Sometimes the pictures are overtly religious, as with Jesus Revolution , the real-life story of a pastor and his counter-cultural following in the 1970s. Others are simply aspirational—moralistic, values-laden tales, like Creed III or Respect , about individuals striving to be more and better than they already are. Either way, the uplift business was having tough time until Top Gun: Maverick broke through, at the strictly secular level, last year. The last explicitly religious film to top $40 million at the box office appears to have been … [Read more...] about With ‘Jesus Revolution,’ The Faithful Are Back In Their Movie Theater Pews
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Nick Carter Fires Back In Sexual Battery Lawsuit, Witnesses Say Accuser Is Lying
TMZ.com Nick Carter is bringing backup to the sexual battery lawsuit against him ... he says he has a dozen witnesses who claim his accuser is full of BS. According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the Backstreet Boys member says he has 12 people who have testified the alleged victim's version of events can't possibly be true. TMZ broke the story ... Nick is being sued by a woman named Shannon Ruth , who filed a lawsuit in December claiming he sexually assaulted her after a concert way back in 2001 when she was underage. But, Nick says not so fast ... he claims he has 12 witnesses from the concert -- fans, security personnel and a talent manager -- who say the accuser's story is "factually impossible." Remember ... Ruth, who says she is autistic and has cerebral palsy, claims she got in line to get Nick's autograph after the show, when he allegedly invited her back to his tour bus, plied her with alcohol and forced her to perform … [Read more...] about Nick Carter Fires Back In Sexual Battery Lawsuit, Witnesses Say Accuser Is Lying
Donald Trump Enjoys NCAA Tournament Amid Likely Arrest
Donald Trump is certainly not acting like a guy on the verge of being arrested ... He flew to Oklahoma Saturday night and enjoyed himself at a college sporting event. The former President showed up at the BOK Center in Tulsa for the NCAA Wrestling Tournament -- hours after he announced that he would be arrested Tuesday by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg over the Stormy Daniels hush-money case. AP Videos showed Trump smiling and waving at the crowd as he walked through the stadium with his entourage. Trump also shook hands with fans and took group photos with them. At one point, he raised his fist in the air -- apparently in defiance of his looming indictment. Trump was invited to the tournament by Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), who was seen standing next to 45 and posing for pictures with him. By early next week, Trump could be posing for a very different photo -- that of a mugshot. Bragg is reportedly getting ready … [Read more...] about Donald Trump Enjoys NCAA Tournament Amid Likely Arrest
Sam Neill Is In Remission From Cancer And Is Back Working, He Tells Upset Fans
Jurassic Park star Sam Neill has tried to calm alarmed fans via Instagram following revelations that he’s been battling stage 3 blood cancer. The struggle was detailed in his upcoming memoir, “Did I Ever Tell You This?” The 75-year-old Neill was undergoing chemotherapy until he switched to a new drug, one he will need to take monthly for the rest of his life. “I am alive and well and I have been in remission for 8 months, which feels really good,” he said in a video shared on Instagram Friday. “And I’m alive and kicking and I’m going to work.” Neill is back working alongside Annette Bening in the limited series, “Apples Never Fall.” Neill first noticed he had swollen glands while promoting Jurassic World Dominion last March. After consulting a physician, the actor was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare form of blood cancer . … [Read more...] about Sam Neill Is In Remission From Cancer And Is Back Working, He Tells Upset Fans
Jennifer Lopez Has Party for Shoe Line As She and Ben Affleck Scramble to Buy a House
TMZ.com Jennifer Lopez is doing a juggling act ... she celebrated the launch of her shoe collection in Bev Hills Saturday, as she and Ben Affleck are scrambling to buy a house before the end of the month because the financial consequences are HUGE. Gallery Launch Gallery Backgrid Lots of stars showed up to support JLo, including Tiffany Haddish , Hailey and Chloe Bailey . and others. The event was packed, and JLo mingled with them all ... with security, of course. Backgrid Ben was actually a no-show... he was at the premiere of his new flick, "AIR" at SXSW. Ben and Jen have been in and out of escrow on various houses, and now it's crunch time. There's a new law that takes effect in L.A. County April 1st, which imposes a tax on multi-million dollar estates, and the financial consequences are enormous. They're in escrow right now on a house in Pacific Palisades, but given their track … [Read more...] about Jennifer Lopez Has Party for Shoe Line As She and Ben Affleck Scramble to Buy a House
Elizabeth Banks — Good Genes Or Good Docs?!
Getty Elizabeth Banks ' looks over the years are aca-awesome! Here is a fresh 27-year-old version of the "Pitch Perfect" star gracing her natural beauty at a UNICEF For Fashion event in Los Angeles back in 2001 ( left ). This was just a couple of years before she played Marcela Howard in the film "Seabiscuit." And, 22 years later, the actress and filmmaker looked picture-perfect and dressed to the nines at this year's Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, California. She learned how to be quite critical during her "Pitch Perfect" days as Gail the commentator, so the imperative question here is ... Elizabeth Banks ... Something Went Wrong … [Read more...] about Elizabeth Banks — Good Genes Or Good Docs?!
Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin-Starring ‘Moving On’ Sees $800K Opening – Specialty Box Office
Roadside Attraction’s Moving On grossed an estimated $798k at about 800 theaters, about status quo this weekend for a specialty sector that’s better but still looking to break out. The audience for the Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin -toplined comedy was, not surprisingly, 63% female and 82% over 35. Some 64% were 50+. It played best on the coasts. Estimated per theater average for the Paul Weitz film that also features Malcolm McDowell and Richard Roundtree is just over $1k. Fonda and Tomlin play estranged friends who reunite to seek revenge against the husband of their recently deceased best friend. The film had trailer time before 80 For Brady where the duo played alongside Rita Moreno and Sally Field (and Tom Brady). That wide-release opening Paramount pic, now down to 168 screens in week 7, has grossed $39 million. Roadside Attractions co-president Howard Cohen called the opening number “positive” with word of mouth good and noted that midweek showings are … [Read more...] about Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin-Starring ‘Moving On’ Sees $800K Opening – Specialty Box Office
Michael Winterbottom Talks Blurring Of Lines Between Documentary & Fiction; Appeals For UK Film Funding Rethink – Qumra Masterclass
Michael Winterbottom has devoted much of his filmmaking career to revisiting real-life events through works blurring the boundaries between documentary and drama to various degrees. The filmmaker shed light on his approach in a recent Doha Film Institute (DFI) masterclass, going behind the scenes of Welcome To Sarajevo , 24 Hour Party People , In This World , The Road To Guantanamo , A Might Heart and Eleven Days In May . “It’s a continuum, even if you’re filming a fantasy film in a studio on a green screen there is an element of document to that. You’re recording that moment of the act of performance,” he said when quizzed on his attitude towards documentary versus fiction. “Equally, even in a documentary like Eleven Days … you’re trying to shape that story, so it a continuum,” he added, referring to the 2022 documentary commemorating 68 children killed in Israeli bombing raids over Gaza in May 2021. Winterbottom elaborated on this idea through his … [Read more...] about Michael Winterbottom Talks Blurring Of Lines Between Documentary & Fiction; Appeals For UK Film Funding Rethink – Qumra Masterclass
John Oliver Guts SVB & Signature Bank Collapses, & Yes, There’s Another Fox News Shiv Too
It looked like a good week for Fox News on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver today as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and uncertainty in the financial world replaced the searing revelations resulting from Dominion Voting’s lawsuit against the Rupert Murdoch-owned cable newser on the HBO series. Well, at least for a while. Promising “not to bore you with every little detail,” Oliver proceeded to rip and tear into the intricacies of investing in long term Treasury bonds and the losses piled up by the now failed Santa Clara, CA based bank as interest rates have risen over the past year or so. “It’s essentially a classic story of a bank doing a lousy job of judging and hedging against risk,” the multi-Emmy winner stated. And then, while that prickly lawsuit and embarrassing text chains by Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity weren’t in the spotlight, Oliver went right back to taking a whack at the Fox News piñata. “That is so stupid, I’m almost … [Read more...] about John Oliver Guts SVB & Signature Bank Collapses, & Yes, There’s Another Fox News Shiv Too