April 08, 2019
'Shazam!' seems like a fun movie. And 'Shazam!' is just fun to say. Go ahead...say it...it's fun! 'Shazam!' See...
The superhero adventure Shazam! is the No. 1 movie in North America, earning $53.5 million in receipts this weekend, BoxOfficeMojo.com announced Sunday.
Coming in at No. 2 is Pet Sematary with $25 million, followed by Dumbo at No. 3 with $18.2 million, Us at No. 4 with $13.8 million and Captain Marvel at No. 5 with $12.7 million.
Rounding out the top tier are The Best of Enemies at No. 6 with $4.5 million, Five Feet Apart at No. 7 with $3.7 million, Unplanned at No. 8 with $3.2 million, Wonder Park at No. 9 with $2 million and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World at No. 10 with $1.96 million.
Adam Sandler to host 'Saturday Night Live' for first time in May
Adam Sandler is set to host Saturday Night Live on May 4 for the first time in his career.
Sandler, who joined SNL in 1990 as a writer before being featured on the sketch comedy series from 1991 to 1995, will be joined by musical guest Shawn Mendes, the official Twitter account for SNL announced on Friday.
"We are happy to welcome Adam back to SNL in what is sure to be a special night," SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels said in a statement.
Sandler announced in March a new North American comedy tour that is set to kick off on May 31 at the Treasure Island Amphitheatre in Minneapolis before wrapping up June 30 at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre in St. Augustine, Fla.
The tour comes after Sandler released on Netflix a new comedy special titled 100% Fresh. Sandler was featured doing stand-up, telling real-life stories, performing original songs and paying tribute to the late Chris Farley who also starred on SNL.
Game of Thrones star Kit Harington will be hosting SNL on Saturday.
Kacey Musgraves, Dan + Shay win big at ACM Awards
 It was a golden night for Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban and Dan + Shay Sunday who all took home new hardware from the 54th annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Hosted by Country music icon Reba McEntire, "Country Music's Party of the Year" saw Musgraves continue her winning streak from the Grammy Awards taking home Female Artist of the Year over a packed nomination pool that included Carrie Underwood and Ashley McBryde.
Her Golden Hour album also beat out Eric Church's Desperate Man, Chris Stapleton's From a Room: Volume 2 and Dan + Shay's eponymous album for Album of the Year.
Dan + Shay, who entered the night with six nominations, would get their turn at the lectern, however, as their song "Tequila" beat out Musgraves's "Space Cowboy" for Song of the Year.
The twosome's song also won Single of the Year while the pair took home Duo of the Year.
Keith Urban, who was accompanied by his actress wife Nicole Kidman, added a 10th ACM Award as he won Entertainer of the Year over Chris Stapleton, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and Kenny Chesney.
The New Zealand-Australian music sensation also performed his acclaimed "Burden" during the evening that also saw Thomas Rhett rock out with new single "Look What God Gave Her."
The Georgia native would take to the stage not only to perform but to accept the coveted Male Artist of the Year award, beating out Urban, Luke Combs and Stapleton, who tied with Dan + Shay for most nominations with six but failed to take home a single statue.
Aldean, who lost out on the Entertainer of the Year and Music Event of the Year awards, didn't go home empty handed as he was named the ACM Dick Clark Artist of the Decade award.
Brandon Ray also received the Aflac AMC Lifting Lives Honor from Carly Pearce during the event for his impact on healing others through his music.
"Receiving the Aflac ACM Lifting Lives Honor was a moment I'll never forget," he said in a tweet.
Other big winners include Dierks Bentley featuring Brothers Osborn for Music Event of the Year with "Burning Man," Old Dominion who won Group of the Year, Ashley McBryde who won New Female Artist of the Year and Combs who won New Male Artist of the Year.
LOOSE LIPS:
"I've been single for 10 years, it's not a long shot. Somebody just needs to grow a pair and step up. I'm shockingly available."
--Charlize Theron, on being ready to date but finding it challenging to meet someone, to Entertainment Tonight
??? Guess Who ???
Which 'Facts of Life' cast member says that her co-stars are like her sisters?
Will Ferrell, Adam McKay to end producing partnership
Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are closing their Sanchez Productions comedy company after more than a decade.
Deadline.com said the men remain close friends and will finish the projects they have in the works, but plan to go their separate ways professionally after that.
"Thank you to everyone who collaborated with us for 13 years. Proud of the stuff we got to work on and most of all, the amazing people we worked with. Also excited for new stuff to come...," McKay tweeted.
Among the company's classic comedies are Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers and The Other Guys, which McKay directed and in which Ferrell starred.
McKay, 50, recently wrote and directed the Oscar contenders The Big Short and Vice. He won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Big Short.
Ferrell, 51, launched in February The Ron Burgundy Podcast, which features him as his memorable character from the Anchorman movies, which are set in the 1970s.
He also has signed on to star in the Netflix movie, Eurovision.
Giancarlo Esposito, Adrienne Barbeau booked for 'Creepshow' episode
Giancarlo Esposito, Adrienne Barbeau and Tobin Bell have signed up to star in the first episode of the horror anthology series Creepshow.
The Walking Dead director Greg Nicotero will serve as Creepshow showrunner.
He also will direct the premiere episode, "Gray Matter," which is based on Stephen King's 1973 story of the same name. The tale earned widespread notoriety in 1978 when it was included in King's Night Shift collection of short works.
Creepshow is expected to air on Shudder, AMC's supernatural and horror streaming service.
"Between Salem's Lot, Pet Sematary and The Stand, I've always found his stories rich in relatable characters forced into supernatural situations beyond their control -- the everyday person's primal fears. To visualize 'Gray Matter' for Creepshow with the help of Adrienne, Giancarlo and Tobin was about as good as it gets for a horror fan from Pittsburgh!" Nicotero said in a news release.
Barbeau starred in the 1982 horror anthology movie Creepshow, which King wrote and George A Romero helmed. Sequels Creepshow 2 and Creepshow 3 followed in 1987 and 2007.
??? Guess Who ???
Which 'Facts of Life' cast member says that her co-stars are like her sisters?
Actress, singer and life coach Lisa Whelchel doesn't know if a Facts of Life reboot will happen, but she would love to share the screen with her former co-stars again.
Co-starring Mindy Cohn, Kim Fields and Nancy McKeon, the show ran for nine seasons, from 1979 to 1988. It started out following a quartet of students at an all-girls' high school in upstate New York and then depicted the young women as they transitioned to college and careers.
"We really are lifelong friends. We just all got on a conference call last week, just catching up," Whelchel told UPI in a recent phone interview.
"I think we all really appreciate the fact that our experience of working together is rare in that we all truly got along. We had fun," she added.
Whelchel said that the cast members were like sisters.
"Surely, there were sisterly fights and disagreements, but then we also made up and grew stronger because of it," she said.
Whelchel -- who also competed on Survivor: Philippines in 2012 -- has parlayed her status as a pop-culture icon into a hosting gig on the new unscripted series, Collector's Call.
Set to debut Sunday on the MeTV channel, the 13-episode program follows the 55-year-old actress and singer as she travels across the United States to showcase people's memorabilia collections that include everything from presidential artifacts and rare books to film and TV props.
"I'm very curious by nature. I love nothing more than to learn, and I like to learn when it's fun. What I did not anticipate was how much I would learn about not only cultures and subcultures, but about history," Whelchel said. "There are whole areas I knew nothing about."
Most collectors fall in love with an object or theme, frequently something from their childhood, and then continue to experience joy as they add pieces to their collections.
"They just want to water that and watch it grow," Whelchel said, likening collectors to gardeners.
"In some places, it's overgrown. One woman bought the house next door because her [primary] house was no longer big enough for all of her Winnie the Pooh items."
Collectors also often associate new acquisitions with specific loved ones.
"Every time they buy something or find something, it brings them back to that very first beautiful connection and feeling," Whelchel said, emphasizing that she admires people's bravery to risk having their passions judged or misunderstood instead of celebrated.
"There's a measure of vulnerability to it, too, because this is something that is so important and meaningful to them," she said.
With an entertainment landscape expanding so rapidly, and young people embracing and discarding trends so quickly, it's unclear if individuals still form the strong nostalgic attachments to what they read and watch that previous generations did.
"We had three TV channels. It was easier for all of us kids to be excited about the same things, and there was something about sharing it that makes it grow and also deepens the sentimentality of it," Whelchel said.
Collector's Call will premiere after a three-hour Facts of Life marathon that Whelchel curated and will host in honor of the sitcom's 40th anniversary.
The actress remains proud of the show and is glad people remember it fondly and enjoy it in reruns.
"It gave a whole generation of young people a beautiful vision of the power of friendship and connection and loyalty and love," she said, recalling how a middle-aged woman recently approached her at the gym and enthusiastically told her she felt like they were old friends.
"I really appreciate not only the impact [the show] had when it was airing, but also the impact I get to have meeting people and the joy that brings to them in that morning or that afternoon."
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