List of All Articles with Tag 'showbiz'

With the release of the Barbie movie and Oppenheimer on the same weekend this summer, everyone was feeling the 'Barbenheimer' fever - none more so than Barbara Oppenheimer. (Yes, that's her real name). Barbara's husband's father is third cousins to J. Robert Oppenheimer, hence her surname - not forgetting that Barbie's real name is Barbara. In a recent interview with Slate about how she has found the recent Barbenheimer summer as someone who inadvertently has an on-theme name. “I had college friends around the world texting me that weekend when [the movies] came out, with the whole schmear, you know… ‘the bomb and the bombshell’," she told the publication. “It’s pretty funny! It was a brilliant thing that they launched them together. It really brought people back into movie theaters.” Barbara recalled going to the cinema to watch Oppenheimer on the opening weekend to see "how they treated his [J.Robert] story," and also saw the Barbie movie two weeks after, noting how they loved both films "in different ways." When asked which film she liked better, Barbara replied: "I can’t choose. I’m glad I saw both." As a fan of both films, she going to watch the films again - and even sporting a t-shirt of the infamous meme. "I’m going next week with a group of women and we’ll all wear pink. I’ll wear my Barbenheimer T-shirt," she added. As well as the connection to Oppenheimer, Barbara also revealed she was a Barbie fan, and received the doll as a sixth birthday present, and also had a Ken, Skipper and Midge. Since Barbenheimer has been everywhere this summer, it seems others find Barbara's name hard to believe which makes checking into hotels an interesting experience. "I’m on vacation right now, and when I checked in at the hotel, I said, “Barbie Oppenheimer!” The guy said, “Are you pulling my leg?” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

A security guard who went viral for belting out Taylor Swift tracks alongside fans at Minneapolis claims he has been fired, after concert-goers took photos and filmed him in front of the singer. Calvin Denker admits he holds 'no grudges' though, as he got to work the 'coolest concert ever'. "My former security company said that they had a rule against taking photos with any of their performers...", he told his new fans on social media. "Every photo of me from that night was from behind the barricade, like any other photo from a fan would be." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

A heavy metal singer is being praised after stopping a concert to comfort a scared little girl in the front row. David Draiman, the lead singer of Disturbed, spotted the tot named Sophia singing along to all of their songs, before becoming overwhelmed and bursting into tears when Draiman invited her on stage. “It’s okay, baby, it’s okay. I didn’t mean to scare you", he comforted her. “I love, absolutely love that Disturbed concerts have become a family affair." Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland has announced that the first round of tickets for Fyre Festival II has sold out. Described by McFarland as the “adventure of a lifetime”, Fyre Festival II is an attempt to shift the narrative around McFarland and the original 2017 Fyre Festival that was riddled with scandals and resulted in McFarland spending four years in federal prison for wire fraud. McFarland took to social media to talk about Fyre Festival II after it was announced the first round of tickets sold out: “The first FYRE Festival II drop has sold out. Since 2016 FYRE has been the most talked about festival in the world. We now saw this convert to one of the highest priced GA pre-sales in the industry. FYRE is about people from around the world coming together to pull off the impossible. “This time we have incredible support. I’ll be doing what I love while working with the best logistical and infrastructure partners. In addition, all ticket sale revenue will be held in escrow until the final date is announced. We look forward to surprising the world alongside our partners as we build FYRE and FYRE Festival II into the island adventure of a lifetime,” he added. The initial tickets for Fyre Festival II went on sale for $499 (£390), with later releases set to cost up to $7,999 (£6,250). The original festival was promoted by multiple popular celebrities including Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and Hailey Bieber. Fyre Festival was promised to contain an array of musical performances, as well as other attractions. It was to be hosted on an island in the Bahamas that was claimed to have been previously owned by Pablo Escobar. Despite the hype surrounding the festival, it ultimately resulted in a disaster. So much so that both Netflix and Hulu released shows documenting the festival and how it concluded with McFarland in jail. In 2018, McFarland pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and admitted to lying to investors that funded the first Fyre Festival. He was released from prison early in March 2022, and required to return $26 million to investors of the event. Speaking in a YouTube video uploaded on Monday, McFarland spoke about Fyre Festivall II: “It has been the absolutely wildest journey to get here and it really all started during the seven-month stint in solitary confinement. I wrote out this 50-page plan of how it would take this overall interest and demand in Fyre and how it would take this overall interest and demand in Fyre and how it would take my ability to bring people from around the world together to make the impossible happen.” He added: “we decided that Fyre Festival is coming back to the Caribbean. We are targeting Fyre Festival II for the end of next year.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

KSI has been teaching the GMB hosts how to perform a boxing 'knock out' - and was left in shock by the power in Kate Garraway's right fist. Richard Madeley held the pads as Garraway gloved-up, and the YouTuber-turned-boxer explained how to throw a solid punch. "Geez Kate calm down!", KSI squealed in surprise at how hard she managed to hit. However, when asked if she was better than Tommy Fury, unfortunately he opted for the pro. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

With the release of Red, White & Royal Blue, fans have positively responded to the film and declared it is their "new personality." Based on the bestselling BookTok novel by American author Casey McQuiston, the story focuses on the relationship between Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Sakhar Perez), the first son of the United States, and Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine), a British prince. The romantic comedy - directed by Matthew Lopez - sees the pair transform their tension as rivals from across the pond into a blossoming romance, depicting the popular "enemies to lovers" trope. Since its release on Amazon Prime Video, the film has been widely discussed as critics and viewers give their verdicts. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has received a critical consensus of 79 per cent while the audience score gave a higher rating at 94 per cent. Meanwhile, Metacritic which similarly rounded up critic's opinions gave it 62 out of 100 with "generally favourable reviews," while the audience gave it 6.8 out of 10. It was a similar story on IMDB, where the movie was received positively and got a 7.2 out of 10. The film has also been a hot topic on social media, with fans sharing their love for the adaptation. One person said: "Red, white and royal blue is my new personality." "Red White and Royal Blue was excellent. It was pure fantasy. Completely ungrounded in every way. Like any good rom-com should be," another person said. Someone else added: "Red white and royal blue movie is probably the best book-to-movie adaptation I've ever seen." "No but seriously WHAT did they put in Red, White and Royal Blue that makes us rewatch it so much???" a fourth person commented. Here are some more of the best reactions: While many also praised the film - which is now in Prime Video's top 3 most-watched romantic comedies of all time - for its LGBT+ representation. Red, White & Royal Blue is now available to watch on Amazon Prime Video. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Russians are going to see bootleg viewings of the Barbie movie thanks to Hollywood pulling out of Russia. Warner Bros and other big Hollywood names like Disney and Netflix pulled out of the country after Putin invaded Ukraine last year. So, since then, copies of popular films have come into the country through other Russian-speaking markets, such as Kazakhstan, to work around the sanctions. To get around the system, some cinemas sell people tickets for a little-known Russian documentary or short film and then show a different film during the preview, to skirt American copyright laws and Russian laws that require distribution certificates from the Russian Ministry of Culture. But in June, the primary Kazakh-based distributor that had been illegally delivering Hollywood-licensed films to Russian cinemas announced it was pulling out of the business for financial reasons. This is how pirated viewings have started becoming popular. Nikita Zabolotskikh, 17, has spent an estimated Rbs300,000 — or more than $3,000 — bringing Barbie to the big screen in the city of Perm by acquiring a pirated copy, hiring a Russian dubbing company and rolling out an extensive marketing campaign. He told the Financial Times that he and a friend came up with the idea after reading news reports that the Kazakh company was ending its business — just as Barbie was about to hit cinemas worldwide. “The demand was unbelievable. People were losing their mind buying tickets . . . A huge number of people want to see Barbie,” he said. They now plan to show a higher-quality, re-dubbed version of the film at Kinomax, one of Russia’s biggest cinema chains — with plans to expand to 15-20 other Russian cities afterwards. “It’s the best-quality version on the [Russian] market,” he said. “And probably will be for the next two to three months.” Meanwhile, in Russia’s central city of Tyumen the Gorkiy cinema has already shown a pirated version of the film on its rooftop. Organisers noted that the quality might not suit “lovers of 4k resolution and ideal sound”. Some Moscow politicians don't like the liberal western values shown in the film. Maria Butina, a Russian lawmaker convicted in the US for operating as an unregistered foreign agent, has called for a ban on the sale of Barbie dolls and the new Mattel movie, which she labelled as an “advertisement” for the agenda of the US Democratic party. “What do we see [in the film]? Gays. Trans people. Women who have taken over the world. Nothing about the union between men and women, nothing about love,” she said in an appearance on the Russian Duma TV channel. But that is clearly not enough to stop Barbiemania. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

DJ Crazy Times' 'Planet Of The Bass' has taken over the internet...and now it's making its way into the mainstream too. While the Jonas Brothers were performing in Boston, comedian Kyle Gordon stormed the stage to perform the hit track during an intermission mid-show. Apparently Joe Jonas, whose birthday it was that day, is a huge fan of the song, and the announcer dubbed it a 'treat' for him. However, few fans in the crowd knew what was going on as the arena transformed into a 90s Eurodance club. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Spider-Man: Lotus is one of the most talked-about films of the year, but not necessarily for the right reasons. The fan film with a budget of $100,000 has proven to be hugely controversial in the months leading up to its release. The trailer generated a lot of buzz back in 2021, but it took until June 2022 for the first of the controversies to be unearthed. Back then, an anonymous twitter user shared screenshots of messages from Warden Wayne, the man cast to play Peter Parker in the movie, using racial slurs. Wayne was quick to post a lengthy apology to Twitter blaming his past behaviour on being “raised in a homeschool conservative environment in a small town in Arkansas.” Writer and director of the film Gavin J. Konop also came in for criticism after Twitter user @Berkmanboom shared screenshots of Konop using racial and homophobia slurs In a YouTube video that addressed the controversies facing the film titled “Addressing Everything”, Konop attempted to explain his past actions as well as claiming some of the screenshots were fake. “In my first couple years of high school, I’m gonna be honest I was pretty much a giant loser. I was online way too much, I was part of these group chats and communities where I very often said the most offensive things I could think of to get attention from people.” He also said that he takes “full responsibility” for his actions and admits that he knew “I was wrong, I wasn't raised knowing these things were not okay to say.” Spider-Man: Lotus (Fan-Film) www.youtube.com In the few days since it was made available to watch on YouTube it has been viewed more than 2 million times – but there are some who will have been put off by details behind the scenes clouding the film’s production. Lotus takes place in the aftermath of Gwen Stacy’s death and focuses on Peter Parker as he deals with the fallout. Many will be wondering how it stacks up - these are the biggest talking points about the film itself, aside from the controversy behind the scenes, and some of the biggest criticisms aimed at it over recent days. Overall length and long establishing shots One of the most common points made about the film is that it’s just too long. It’s close to an hour and 45 minutes in length and there is too much padding – a lot of it coming in the form of generic shots of New York. Turning Peter Parker into a completely unsympathetic character Parker deals with the death of Gwen Stacy by lashing out at others a lot of the time. That in itself wouldn’t be an issue, as many people might do the same in such a stark situation. However, some social media users have claimed that Parker in Lotus is a fundamentally unsympathetic character. Ultimately, any film would be close to unwatchable when the superhero himself is an insufferable character who continuously puts others down. This moment early on in the film which shows Mary Jane coming to check on him in a show of support, only for him to unload a character assassination her way, is one that shows exactly the point they’re making. Parker's conversation with a terminally ill child is all about himself There’s one extended sequence people have focused on in social media discourse, and that’s the moment Spider-Man “trauma dumps” on a young boy with terminal cancer. After receiving a letter explaining a super fan of his is unwell, Parker goes to see him twice. The first scene had the potential to be quite a sweet moment in the film, but instead, Peter Parker seems to reject the child’s love of Spider-Man and questions why the kid is a fan of his and not Captain America, before talking about Gwen Stacy’s death. “It’s my fault…” he says. “I can’t do anything about it, no matter how hard you try. I’m not the hero you think I am. All of this, it’s not me.” He then dismisses the young boy's feelings and tells him he doesn’t understand because he’s “just a kid”, before leaving. It feels a little strange tonally and again shows Parker's lack of self-awareness to consider the feelings of a terminally ill child before his own. He later returns and apologises, looking back at a load of his old adventures and sparking a series of flashbacks, giving him fresh determination to wear the suit, but the sequence has attracted some criticism online. Parker’s dress sense It’s a minor gripe one, for sure, but some people have pointed out that the fact Parker dresses like a trust fund kid at a yacht club dinner goes against the key principles of the character familiar to many from the comics. The CGI The opening few minutes feature some of the strongest moments of the entire film – and it’s pretty impressive to see this version of Spider-Man navigate New York. But while it’s unfair to criticise a fan film that costs relatively little to make for its CGI, it is true that some moments look great while others, less so. Even CGI in multi-million dollar films can look cheap at times, though, so it’s not surprising that fans used to the biggest productions would pick faults with some moments from Lotus. Others, however, did defend it. One viewer wrote: “No way people are complaining about the CGI in #SpiderManLotus. It’s literally a fan-made film. Hate all you want on it, but pointing out bad CGI in a fan-made film is just dumb.” A lack of action The film is very much a character piece, focusing on the personal relationships of Peter Parker, Mary Jane and Harry Osborne with lots of long, dialogue-heavy scenes, and some have pointed out that film is lacking in action sequences. The opening few minutes feature a short fight with the Shocker, and there’s a brief scuffle with the Green Goblin in a flashback sequence. However, some were left feeling that they expected more action from a Spider-Man film – even a fan-made one. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Bradley Cooper has sparked anti-Semitism claims after he appeared to wear a fake nose in a new film trailer about a Jewish man. The actor, who is playing musician Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, has been accused of 'playing into Jewish stereotypes' in the biopic. Cooper himself is not Jewish, prompting backlash that someone of the faith should've also landed the role, as well as British actor Carey Mulligan taking the role of his wife, despite not being half-Costa Rican. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Rachel Zegler has divided people over the comments she made about Disney's upcoming Snow White live-action remake, declaring the princess is "not going to be dreaming about true love". The 22-year-old actor who plays Snow White in the new adaptation set to be released next year has revealed what viewers can expect and how it will diverge from the original 1937 film. Rather than being a damsel in distress, Zegler described how her take on the character will portray her as "leader." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter "It's no longer 1937. We absolutely wrote a Snow White that is not gonna be saved by the prince," she told Variety in September last year alongside co-star Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen and also agreed with Zegler. "She’s not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love.” Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot on Bringing a New Modern Edge to 'Snow White' www.youtube.com "She’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be the leader that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave and true." She added: "So, it’s just a really incredible story for young people everywhere to see themselves in.” In another interview with Entertainment Weekly, Zegler admitted she had only watched the original film once as she discussed the remake. Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot on 'Snow White' | D23 2022 | Entertainment Weekly www.youtube.com "I was scared of the original version. I think I watched it once and never picked it up again. I'm being so serious," she said. "I watched it once, and then I went on the ride in Disney World, which was called Snow White's Scary Adventures. Doesn't sound like something a little kid would like. I was terrified of it, never revisited Snow White again." Zegler also conveyed this message in an interview with ExtraTV where she called the Prince a "stalker" and joked that scenes from the remake including the Prince (played by Andrew Burnap) may get cut. Rachel Zegler Teases Hunger Games Prequel and FANGIRLS Over Jennifer Lawrence (Exclusive) www.youtube.com "The original cartoon came out in 1937, and very evidently so. There's a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird! Weird! So we didn't do that this time," she said. "We have a different approach to what I'm sure a lot of people will assume is a love story just because we cast a guy in the movie," "All of Andrew's scenes could get cut, who knows? It's Hollywood, baby!" Since then Zegler's comments have prompted discussions online about the upcoming remake, with some criticising the actor's take that Snow White shouldn't dream about love. "It is not anti-feminist to want to fall in love, to want to get married, to want to stay at home, to be soft, to want to be a homemaker. None of these things makes you less valuable as a person or a woman," @cosywithangie said in a viral TikTok. "Criticising Disney princesses is not feminist. Not every woman is a leader. Not every woman wants to be a leader. Not every woman wants or craves power and that's ok." "You're right, it's no longer 1937, and you know what else women no longer have to do? Choose between a career or love, we can have both," @thechickflicksshow said. She then noted how other previous Snow White adaptations such as Snow White & The Huntsman (2012) and Mirror, Mirror (2012) allowed the princess to be her own saviour but she also found true love too. While @nuttybutter96 questioned why a remake was being made if Zegler "hated the original so much." "I don't think I've ever seen such a condescending, smug, Disney princess ever in my life," the TikToker said. "She made us sound like women only matter if they're hateful of love, hateful of any kind of romance, and we only exist to thrive and be a leader." However, some people have defended Zegler and believe the hate and criticism she's received is unwarranted. "Rachel Zegler is just another 22-year-old actor who has cameras in her face all the time and didn't give a perfect answer one time," @jstoobs said and called out those getting "weird" about the situation. “She made one comment about how Snow White has ambitions of her own that has nothing to do with romance, and suddenly everyone decided that women being damsels in distress is [feminist], actually," @waitforme_II tweeted. "But don't u guys remember Maleficent? That movie was good but she wasn't saved by the prince?" one commenter wrote, in reference to Maleficent (2014), the Disney live-action remake of Sleeping Beauty. "Robert Pattison is always hating on Twilight and Edward [Cullen] but everyone loves him for that," someone else noted. The live-action remake of Snow White is set to be released in March 2024. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

It’s been out for more than three weeks, and yet Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is still painting the movie industry pink after smashing several fresh box office records. The new movie, starring Margot Robbie as the iconic doll, has become the highest-grossing movie at the US box office by a female director, solo or otherwise - much to the chagrin of Ben Shapiro. The previous record was held by Jennifer Lee, the director of Frozen 2, after the Disney film banked $477.4m at US box offices. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter But this Barbie just keeps breaking records. The movie hit $492.6m on Thursday 10 August, and it now stands at $526.3m in the US. Barbie also became the highest-grossing live-action movie by a female director after the fourth weekend in cinemas. The pink sensation overtook Captain Marvel, which earned $1.13bn globally in 2019 and was co-directed by Anna Boden. Gerwig's movie has now taken $1.18bn to date. The records keep tumbling despite the fact that Robbie was not even first choice for the role, which she revealed last week. The actor, who was also a producer on the movie, recently told Vogue that both her and director Greta Gerwig initially wanted Gal Gadot for the role but scheduling conflicts got in the way. “Gal Gadot is Barbie energy. Gal Gadot is so impossibly beautiful, but you don’t hate her for being that beautiful because she’s so genuinely sincere, and she’s so enthusiastically kind, that it’s almost dorky. It’s like right before being a dork,” she said. Barbie was also banned in Kuwait recently, and now faces calls for a ban in Lebanon amid complaints in the Arab nations about the film’s social values. There are currently no plans in the works for a sequel. “At this moment it’s all I’ve got. I feel like that at the end of every movie, like I’ll never have another idea and everything I’ve ever wanted to do, I did," Gerwig said in a recent interview. “I wouldn't want to squash anybody else’s dream, but for me, at this moment, I’m at totally zero." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.