Here's the Scoop...

I guess most people were too busy to get to the movies over the weekend. How's to blame... Game of Thrones? The Mayweather-McGregor fight? Farmer's Market? Who knows?!

The Hitman's Bodyguard is the No. 1 movie in North America for a second weekend, earning $10 million in receipts, BoxOfficeMojo.com announced Sunday.

Coming in at No. 2 is Annabelle: Creation with $7.4 million, Leap! at No. 3 with $5 million, Wind River at No. 4 with $4.4 million and Logan Lucky at No. 5 with $4.4 million.

Rounding out the top tier are Dunkirk at No. 6 with $ 4 million, Spider-Man: Homecoming at No. 7 with

$2.7 million, Mayweather vs. McGregor at No. 8 with $2.6 million, Birth of the Dragon at No. 9 with $2.5 million and The Emoji Movie at No. 10 with $2.4 million.

I didn't get to the movies over the weekend, but I did see a few at home. I saw Kong: Skull Island, Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), and Kingsman: The Secret Service. Not a bad weekend.

Be Well,
Steve

Comments? Questions? Nooz? Email Steve



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'Texas Chain Saw Massacre,' 'Poltergeist' director Tobe Hooper dead at 74
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Poltergeist director Tobe Hooper has died at the age of 74.

The Los Angeles County Coroner confirmed Hooper's Saturday death to Variety, but did not disclose details regarding the circumstances.

The Texas native and father of two sons also helmed the 1979 TV miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot and 1986's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Additional credits include Lifeforce and Invaders from Mars, as well as the music video for Billy Idol's "Dancing With Myself."

Deadline.com said the last film Hooper directed was 2013's Djinn.


Taylor Swift releases video for 'Look What You Made Me Do' during MTV VMAs
Taylor Swift debuted her music video for new single "Look What You Made Me Do" Sunday during the MTV Video Music Awards.

The clip, which was also uploaded to YouTube, begins with the pop star as a zombie inside a cemetery before Swift is seen in a number of different scenarios including a car crash and bathtub full of diamonds.

Notably, the video features a number of Swift's old personas such as the nerdy girl from the "You Belong With Me" video as they fight to reach the new Swift.

The video ends with the various personas talking amongst themselves in front of an airplane as a version of Swift from the 2009 VMAs proclaims, "I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative," a reference to her feud with Kanye West which started at that year's VMA ceremony.

Swift used the same line in July 2016 in response to Kim Kardashian releasing a SnapChat video of the pop star speaking with West on the phone about his song "Famous" which features the choice lyrics, "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/ Why? I made that bitch famous."

The SnapChat video featured the pop star approving of the recording but not the use of the word bitch, leading to Swift to denounce the song. "You don't get to control someone's emotional response to being called 'that bitch' in front of the entire world," Swift said in response to "Famous."

"Look What You Made Me Do" became the No. 1 song on iTunes Thursday within 30 minutes of release and went on to set the new global first day streaming record on Spotify with over 8 million streams, Variety reported.

The lyric video for the track was viewed 19 million times on YouTube in its first 24 hours of release making it the site's most-viewed lyric video debut over The Chainsmokers' "Something Just Like This," notes Entertainment Tonight.

After teasing the music video, director Joseph Kahn defended the project after comparisons were made to Beyonce's "Formation" video due to Swift being featured in a black leotard alongside male backup dancers.

"I've worked with Beyoncé a few times. She's an amazing person. The #LWYMMDvideo is not in her art space. Love and respect to Bey," he wrote on Twitter.


LOOSE LIPS:
"This will act as nothing but material for your boy."
--Kevin Hart, responding to ex Torrei Hart's cheating claims, on Instagram



??? Guess Who ???
Which actor took a vow of silence for his role in the new film 'Pilgrimage'?


Russell Brand marries Laura Gallacher in England
Actor and comedian Russell Brand married fiancée Laura Gallacher in England over the weekend.

The 42-year-old British star tied the knot with Gallacher at an intimate wedding Saturday in Henley-on-Thames, Oxon, according to The Sun.

Brand and Gallacher said their "I dos" at Remenham Church before ferrying their guests back to an India-themed reception. Sources said the couple's 9-month-old daughter, Mabel, was the "guest of honor."

"They wanted a very small, personal affair with their daughter Mabel, family and close friends rather than a circus," an insider said.

The Henley Standard reported Jason Segel, Noel Gallagher and Jonathan Ross were among the 100 guests in attendance. Brand and Segel co-starred in the 2008 movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Brand confirmed his marriage on Sunday's episode of his Radio X podcast, telling fans, "I'm living a married life now... I'm domestic." The actor was previously married to Katy Perry, but split from the singer in December 2011 after 14 months of marriage.


Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran take top awards at politics-fueled MTV VMAs
The 2017 MTV Video Music Awards Sunday was a mix of music and politics.

The show, hosted by Katy Perry, began with a performance by Kendrick Lamar, who went into the awards show with eight nominations, the most of any performer this year.

But it didn't take long for political statements to be part of the show. Soon after Lamar's performance, Paris Jackson took the stage to announce the winner for Best Pop Video. But before Jackson announced the winner, she referenced the violent protests in Charlottesville, Va. this month.

"We must show these nazi, white supremacist jerks in Charlottesville and all over the country that as a nation with liberty as our slogan, we have zero tolerance for their violence, their hatred and their discrimination," Jackson said. "We must resist."

Later, MTV rebuked President Donald Trump's recent comments about potentially prohibiting transgender people from serving in the military by inviting active duty transgender military service members to the stage.

"Any patriot who is putting their own life at risk to fight for our freedom and stands for equality is a hero at MTV, and to young people everywhere," MTV president Chris McCarthy said to CNN in a statement.

Aside from political statements, music was still the focus of the night. Lamar and Ed Sheeran were the big winners of the night, with the rapper winning Best Video of the Year for "Humble" and the Irish singer-songwriter taking home Best Artist of the Year honors.

"This is only my second-ever VMA," Sheeran said in his acceptance speech. "Thank you to all the fans. Thank you to my record label. Jason Koenig, who made my videos on this album. Yeah, cheers!"

"Humble" also won several technical awards, including Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction.

Khalid beat out several bright, young stars, including Kodak Black, to win Best New Artist.

And Pink was presented with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award for her 17-year career that has earned several VMA award nominations.


??? Guess Who ???
Which actor took a vow of silence for his role in the new film 'Pilgrimage'?

Jon Bernthal says he took a vow of silence to prepare to play a mute in Brendan Muldowney's Irish medieval drama, Pilgrimage.

The Walking Dead alum and The Punisher star told UPI when he first showed up to play his part in Pilgrimage, he and Muldowney decided he shouldn't speak for the first few weeks on and off set so they could figure out exactly who this man was.

"And I did that and I learned a lot about myself and I think I really learned a lot about the character," Bernthal said. "The first thing I noticed, when you stop talking is, obviously, you hear a lot more, you see a lot more. But, 2, I think you really have to forego your wants and your needs. We use our voice so much to ask for things -- a glass of water, a banana -- especially on a set when you have to stay in your place. I need to be excused for the bathroom. When you quit talking, any time you really want something, you go through this process of saying: 'Do I really want that? Do I really need that?' And, then, for this character, who has taken his vow of silence, in my interpretation, from the shame and the sort of inner torment of everything he has been through and everything he has done in the Crusades, you start asking yourself: 'Do I deserve it? Do I deserve this thing that I want? And maybe I'll just stay quiet and be penitent.' And there is something there for me that was really sort of the kernel of the character."

The actor admitted it was difficult to abstain from talking to his co-stars when the cameras stopped rolling in those early days of production.

"We were living in a place in western Ireland, on the coast, 30 miles from any town," the only American cast member recalled. "We lived all under the same roof. We ate all our meals together. So, for me, committing to this silence off-set meant I was around everyone, but I couldn't just turn it off and go into a pub and have a conversation or a meal. I was with these guys, so I had to remain silent. So, I think, in the beginning there was a real sense of mystery. A lot of these guys had never heard my voice and I was spending all day, every day with them. They were always unbelievably respectful and kind, but I could tell, also, that was probably a little annoying because there is a guy sitting there at the dinner table every night, they're all having a beer and I'm sitting there silent the whole time."

Once he found his voice, however, he and the other actors bonded quickly.

"I remember it was probably a week or maybe 10 days in on a Friday when we wrapped and I decided to introduce myself to some of the members of the cast who I'd been spending hours and hours and hours with and it was funny," he said. "We got to know each other really well and after I made the decision to say, 'OK, I've learned what I've learned from that and now it's time to start talking,' they all joked with me that they liked me a lot better when I was quiet. They were joking! But we all became enormously close and there are unbelievable bonds from this movie. It happens on some movies, it doesn't on others. But, I mean, really, really, really deep relationships were forged on this. Guys that I am enormously close with now, I consider them part of my family. We stay in touch and we see each other all the time."

Co-starring Tom Holland, Richard Armitage, Stanley Weber, Hugh O'Conor, John Lynch and Rory Conroy, Pilgrimage is now in select theaters and streaming via various video-on-demand platforms. It is set for DVD and Blu-ray release on Oct. 10.