Paramount Global Sees Tough Q2 In Film (‘Transformers’ Vs ‘Top Gun’), Muted DTC Growth But Otherwise Bests Forecasts; Streaming Losses Narrow, Stock Pops

The new Barbie movie's popularity has now soared past last year's biggest film. Box office takings in the UK and Ireland have surged past the total for Top Gun: Maverick, new figures have revealed. The fantasy comedy, which stars Margot Robbie as the world-famous Mattel fashion doll, has grossed a mammoth £84.8 million in its first five weeks of release.

This Wednesday, Warner Bros.’ Barbie will become the highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office year to date with north of $574.2M, overtaking Universal/Illumination Entertainment’s Super Mario Bros Movie which finaled its stateside run at that amount.

Michaela Zee Paramount Global has decided to no longer sell a majority stake in its BET Media Group. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company announced Wednesday that it would end the bidding process for the unit — which includes VH1 and BET Studios, streamer BET+ and the BET channel —because “a sale wouldn’t result in any meaningful deleveraging of its balance sheet, the people said.” Paramount Global had received bids ranging from approximately $2 billion to $3 billion.

Chances are you’ve seen a “Star Wars” movie. Still, even if you haven’t, you know such basics things like the tagline, “in a galaxy far, far away…” (which actually has four ellipsis points in it, despite the incorrect grammar), you’ll know who George Lucas is, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and probably Yoda.

Kaia Gerber, Austin Butler, and Karlie Kloss were spotted out for dinner over the weekend and they definitely had something in common to talk about: attending the Eras Tour!

Austin Butler made a special stop during a recent trip to Malibu.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director With the long “Elvis” awards season behind him, Austin Butler is gearing up for two major upcoming releases: Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part 2” and the Apple TV+ miniseries “Masters of the Air.” The latter comes from executive producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks and serves as the third installment in their long-running World War II saga that also includes the acclaimed “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific.” In a recent interview with The Times of London, Butler revealed that he nabbed a starring role in “Masters of the Air” after Hanks grew concerned about his mental health on “Elvis.” According to Butler, Hanks told him: “You have immersed yourself so deeply in ‘Elvis’ that, for your mental health, it would be wise to go straight into something else. If you just jump off the train, you might have emotional whiplash… and, you know, I’ve got this thing I’m producing.'” Butler said “Elvis” forced him “to go to the very edge of what is possible, and not every experience will be like that.

Elvis co-star Tom Hanks to save him from “emotional whiplash”.The actor, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance as Elvis Presley in the biopic, said Hanks expressed concern after he was consumed “so deeply” by the role for two years.Hanks’ concern led him to offer Butler a part in upcoming Apple TV+ series Masters Of The Air, which he’s co-producing with Steven Spielberg, to help him detach from Elvis.Speaking to The Sunday Times, Butler said that Hanks told him: “[Hanks] said, ‘You have immersed yourself so deeply in Elvis that, for your mental health, it would be wise to go straight into something else. If you just jump off the train, you might have emotional whiplash…“And, you know,’ Hanks continued.

Austin Butler is opening up about the sage advice Tom Hanks gave to him.

IFC Films is beefing up its depleted leadership ranks, naming Nicole Weis VP of Distribution. Judy Woloshen also joins as VP of Public Relations, managing national publicity efforts across IFC’s three film brands (IFC, RJLE Films, Shudder).

Austin Butler and David Beckham earned their Good Samaritan badge over the weekend and showed off their muscles in the process.

David Beckham and Austin Butler are A-list celebrities – but they’re still willing to get their hands dirty when it comes to acts of kindness.

David Beckham and Austin Butler teamed up to help out some drivers. On Sunday, Victoria Beckham shared a video of her husband working with their son, Cruz Beckham, and Butler to hold a tree out of the way of drivers in Canada.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Tom Cruise helped Paramount Global’s operations do good business last year, but he wasn’t able to lend a similar boost in the second quarter of 2023. The New York owner of CBS, Nickelodeon and the Paramount movie studio posted a second-quarter loss after ad revenue at its various TV networks sunk 10% and the company proved unable to devise a movie hit a movie hit on the order of last year’s “Top Gun: Maverick.” The tough results on the company’s linear side came even as it saw robust performance from streaming.

Paramount Global is close to announcing a sale of its publisher Simon & Schuster to private investment giant KKR, according to a person familiar with the situation. Timing is always fluid but a deal could be announced as early as today. Paramount will report second-quarter earnings this afternoon.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Paramount Global is near a deal to sell its Simon & Schuster publishing operations to investment giant KKR for as much as $1.62 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. Paramount Global, the owner of CBS, Paramount+ and Nickelodeon, is expected to report its second-quarter earnings Monday afternoon.

David Beckham and Austin Butler randomly teamed up to help remove a tree from the road in Muskoka, Canada over the weekend.

Austin Butler landed a Best Actor nomination at the 2023 Oscars for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann‘s Elvis. However, he wasn’t guaranteed the role.

Diane Kruger To Be Feted At Zurich 

JFK filmmaker Oliver Stone posted a series of tweets Tuesday praising Christopher Nolan’s latest film Oppenheimer during which he revealed he once turned down a project based around J. Robert Oppenheimer’s life because he couldn’t crack the narrative.