The Weeknd Donates $2.5 Million to Support Emergency Humanitarian Efforts in Gaza

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” opened to $80 million at the international box office, which isn’t all that super considering those ticket sales are on par with eventual big-budget superhero disappointments like “The Flash,” “The Marvels” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” The comic book sequel, starring Jason Momoa as the king of Atlantis and directed by James Wan, has generated $120 million globally to start, including a weak $40 million in North America. The Warner Bros.

The Vampire Diaries spawned a super popular, fan-favorite franchise of shows on The CW!

Oppenheimer”).During the simultaneous Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America strikes, the sagging box office was boosted, like NFL ratings and the economy of East Rutherford, New Jersey, by Taylor Swift.Marvel Studios, which used to be the surest thing in Hollywood, began to underperform (“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”) and then downright flop (“The Marvels”).And DC was revealed to actually stand for Dud Central, with all of the studio’s comic-book films of 2023 (“Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” “The Flash” and “Blue Beetle”) turning out to be financial failures.In a win for Gen Z, studio execs determined Zendaya’s star wattage is so huge now that two of her movies — “Dune: Part 2” and “Challengers” — were delayed a year due to the strikes, so she can promote them to her hoards of fans. And baby boomers were dinged by the big-time tanking of the nostalgic “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” starring a now 81-year-old Harrison Ford who schlepped around New York and Europe.Despite all the madness — and a sea of schlock — some excellent films hit theaters this year.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Timothée Chalamet’s fantasy musical “Wonka” hit a sweet box office milestone, surpassing $150 million globally. The song-and-dance movie about the early days of the eccentric chocolatier opened to No. 1 in North America with $39 million.

Glastonbury Festival donated a record-breaking £3.7million to good causes in 2023, organisers have revealed.Each year, the legendary Worthy Farm event raises funds for Oxfam, Greenpeace and WaterAid – which are its joint charity partners – as well as numerous other organisations and campaigns.For the 2023 edition, Glastonbury also made a donation towards the Red Cross’ Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory Appeal to provide immediate and urgent medical support for all those in need.Other beneficiaries this year included War Child, homeless charity Centrepoint, and organisations working to help communities living in poverty across the UK such as Fareshare, Foodcycle and Beauty Banks.Glastonbury supported refugees and asylum seekers too via Safe Passage UK, Refugee Council and more.In a new post on social media, festival co-organiser Emily Eavis announced: “It’s wonderful for us to be able to let you know that we have donated a record amount of over £3.7m to charitable causes & campaigns this year, helping those facing challenges in the UK and across the world.“It is thanks to your support for the Festival that this has been possible. You can read about the hundreds of organisations on our website now.”A post shared by Emily Eavis (@emily_eavis)She concluded: “Thank you to every one of you who comes and allows us to be able to make a bit of a difference to those that need it right now.” You can see Eavis’ post above.A separate post from the event’s official channels read: “Glastonbury Festival is thrilled to have supported some incredible causes in 2023.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large And so goes the most unusual TV awards season ever, where a delayed Primetime Emmys — with its June 1, 2022, to May 31, 2023, eligibility window — falls smack into a Globes, Critics’ Choice and guild awards season with a January to December, 2023 time frame. The Hollywood strikes also may have had an impact on the even more limited-than-usual showing for broadcast networks at the Globes.

Ethan Shanfeld The Weeknd is doing a Fortnite dance as you shred Queens of the Stone Age’s “Go With the Flow” on an Xbox controller. No, this is not a fever dream. It’s the very real Fortnite Festival, Epic’s new, free music video game built inside the world of Fortnite.

Are you watching, Meghan Markle? Because Princess Catherine appears to have a message after being publicly called out as one of the alleged “royal racists”!

The Killers have announced a handful of extra dates and their opening support act for their ‘Rebel Diamonds‘ greatest hits UK and Ireland arena tour.Ahead of the release of their ‘best of’ album, ‘Rebel Diamonds’, The Killers have added four extra dates in Dublin, Manchester, Glasgow and London to their celebratory 2024 tour due to exceptional demand during early ticket pre-sales.Brandon Flowers and Co. have also shared that the Glaswegian band Travis will be serving as opening support for the tour.The ‘Rebel Diamonds’ tour will mark the first time The Killers play arena shows in the UK since 2017’s ‘Wonderful Wonderful’ tour, and will see their return after the band’s most recent stadium tour, which saw them play to 400,000 fans at sold-out shows, and their acclaimed headline appearances at Reading & Leeds 2022.Tickets for the tour are set to go on sale tomorrow, December 8 at 9:30am local time.

A+E‘s survivalist format Alone is headed into Germany.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Summer With Carmen,” Zacharias Mavroeidis’ queer comedy, has been acquired in major territories since world premiering at the Venice Film Festival. The movie, which is represented by Be For Films and had its North American premiere at AFI, recently won three prizes at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. It will be released next year by Cinobo in Greece, Epicentre in France and Xenix Filmdistribution in Switzerland.

2023 is coming to a close, and we’re looking back at the highest-paid female athletes and how much money they brought in over the last 12 months.

Omid Scobie must not be happy right now…

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Something Special, the Seoul-based international format agency founded by format specialists Jin Woo Hwang (president and executive producer) and Kim In Soon (EVP & head of content) announce that ITV Studios has optioned the hit Korean celebrity format “Battle in the Box” for France, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. The deal was unveiled on Wednewday, the first full day of the Asia Television Forum and Market (ATF) in Singapore. “Battle in the Box,” created by Korea’s NMedia and represented globally by Something Special, has previously seen deals announced with Fremantle for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal.

Kate Middleton and Prince William have arrived at Buckingham Palace's annual reception to highlight the UK's diplomatic relations and the role of the monarchy within it, as they put on a united front after the ongoing "race row" as a result of Omid Scobie's Endgame book. The Prince and Princess of Wales, both 41, looked spectacularly regal as they posed side by side in photos for the event, which came days after they appeared at the Royal Variety Show at the Royal Albert Hall, with mum-of-three Kate donning a stunning blush pink Jenny Packham gown.

The second season of The Traitors is on its way, with a first look showing host Claudia Winkleman standing among fire, with two mysterious figures behind her. The popular BBC reality show will be back on our screens on Wednesday, 3 January at 9pm on BBC One.The following two episodes will be ready to watch on BBC iPlayer straight after the first episode next year.The show will then be aired on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.

Nick Holdsworth For the producers of an international co-production about Palestinian refugees in Athens the Hamas attack on Israel Oct. 7 and subsequent bombardment and invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces looked as if it might derail the project.

Fortnite has confirmed The Weeknd as the first headlining act for its new Festival game more.According to a press release, Fortnite Festival will be the first entirely music-focused mode to be introduced to the immensely popular battle royale game. While Fortnite itself is developed by Epic Games, the Festival game mode is being developed by Harmonix – the studio behind the Rock Band video game franchise.

How does a mistake like this happen?!?

One of Manchester Airport’s lounges has been named among the worst in the UK according to a study by consumer group Which?. The Manchester Terminal 1 Escape Lounge received a score of just one and a half stars based on secret inspections.