Franchise Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from the series finale of The CW’s Gotham Knights.

Chris Hemsworth took over Netflix for the week of June 19 to June 25.

Elizabeth Wagmeister Chief Correspondent “The Bachelorette” launched its 20th season Monday night, marking the first season to air without franchise creator Mike Fleiss on board — except Fleiss’ name still appeared when the credits rolled. During the ending credits at the conclusion of the episode, the very last name to appear on-screen was Fleiss’ accompanied by the words “created by.” Unlike past seasons, Fleiss was not credited as an “executive producer” and his production company, Next Entertainment, was not listed. In former seasons, Fleiss’ name appeared first on the credits, instead of last.

Elizabeth Wagmeister Chief Correspondent When “The Bachelorette” returns on Monday night with its milestone 20th season, the franchise will continue to make history with leading lady Charity Lawson. Lawson is the fourth woman of color on the long-running dating series, following Rachel Lindsay (who starred in Season 13 in 2017), Tayshia Adams (Season 16, 2020) and Michelle Young (Season 18, 2021). Over the years, “The Bachelor” has faced criticism for its lack of diversity but has pledged to increase its efforts, which have been seen on-screen in recent seasons. As the star of a primetime network show whose love story will be broadcast to millions, Lawson doesn’t take her role lightly.

Michael Shannon recently reprised his role as General Zod in the new “Flash” film for DC Studios. This marks the first time the actor has had a starring role in a huge franchise film since the original time we saw Zod in 2013’s “Man of Steel.” And according to Shannon, that’s not by mistake, as the actor doesn’t really have any interest in acting in franchise films, not even a “Star Wars” feature.

cinematic universe, no character is ever gone for good!Fans of the high-octane franchise have learned that lesson time and again as our favorite heroes return — the #JusticeForHan hashtag was avenged when Sun Kang's character returned in  and our favorite villains switch sides to join the good guys. (Remember when Dwayne Johnson's Luke Hobbs was the antagonist of )Fast X, the latest installment, directed by Louis Leterrier, brought back not one, but two thrilling characters to the franchise, with Hobbs appearing in a post-credits scene — launching a Johnson-led standalone film that will fit into the timeline between and But the biggest shocker of all came in the film's final moments.

Tyler Rake is coming back!

Chris Hemsworth — who stars as Tyler in the franchise — attended the Netflix Tudum global fan event from Brazil. On stage, Hemsworth and director, Sam Hargrave, shared the news that a third film in the franchise is already in the works. Hemsworth and Hargrave kicked-off the event by taking the stage to the roars of the crowd.

Charna Flam When developing her on-screen friendship with co-star Christa Miller, “Shrinking” star Jessica Williams said she positioned it as if they were hanging out “like a ‘Real Housewife of Pasadena.’” In other words, she approached the relationship between her character, Gaby, and and Miller’s character, Liz, through the lens of her fascination with reality TV and obsession with the “Real Housewives” franchise. In this episode of Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast, Williams and Miller share how that TV friendship has developed into a real-life, off-screen one as well. In separate interviews, Williams and Miller discussed the dynamic of their characters’ evolving personalities and what they hope for the second season. Listen below!

Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s original Avengers are opening up about their future within the expansive universe.

Jessica Liese “The Walking Dead” ended last year to little fanfare, tempered as the finale was by news of at least three additional series on the horizon (in addition to the three already in existence). At first glance, it’s difficult to comprehend what additional zombie stories could possibly remain to be told. But for those who haven’t yet succumbed to zombie-apocalypse fatigue, the first of this new batch of spinoffs may suggest a spark of life remaining in the franchise. The first season of “The Walking Dead: Dead City” is a well-told, self-contained story that retains many of its predecessor’s best qualities while deepening two of its most beloved characters. The series, which premieres on AMC on June 18, is less of a spin-off of the flagship, and more of a sequel featuring only Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as they navigate new challenges several years after the events of “The Walking Dead” series’ finale.

Samuel L. Jackson has his eyes set on more Marvel.

Harrison Ford has some strong feelings about bringing his time as Indiana Jones to a close. The actor is opening up about how he feels to see the fifth film in the iconic franchise hit theaters.Ford walked the red carpet at the star-studded premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Wednesday, and he spoke with ET's Cassie DiLaura about the experience.«I'm so proud,» Ford said of the film and the support it received from fans at the event.That being said, the actor admitted that his feelings were «complicated» with regards to how he felt about having played the iconic character of Indiana Jones — which he first portrayed in 1981's -- for his last time.«I'm very grateful that we get to do this and that we've rounded the corner and brought the character full circle,» Ford shared.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor “Ozi, Voice of the Forest” premiered at the Annecy Festival on June 13, kicking off a series of films that seek to highlight dangers to the environment.  The film tells the story of a young orangutan Ozi, voiced by Amandla Stenberg (“The Hunger Games”), who becomes separated from her parents when her rain forest home is devastated by a company producing palm oil.  With the additional voice talents of Laura Dern, Djimon Hounsou and Donald Sutherland, the film also boasts a broad array of talent behind the camera including Keith Chapman, creator of “PAW Patrol” and Madrid-based Rodrigo Blaas, behind the “Sith” episode in “Star Wars Visions,” as part of the creative team. Leonardo DiCaprio and legendary producer and former studio head Mike Medavoy are credited as producers.

Samuel L. Jackson has his eyes set on more Marvel.ET's Ash Crossan spoke to Jackson at the premiere of his new Disney+ series, , where he revealed which Marvel franchise he wants to be cast in next.«I don't know, it's kind of up and down for me in an interesting sort of way,» Jackson said of his character, Nick Fury, who first came onto the scene 15 years ago in 2008's . «Because, if I had it my way, I would've been in every Marvel movie 'cause I mean he is Nick Fury, he knows everything that's going on.

EXCLUSIVE: After the Transformers was gearing down, filmmaker Steven Caple Jr. was able to put gas back into the tank of the storied Paramount Hasbro movie franchise with Rise of the Beasts this weekend which opened to $171M worldwide, stealing the crown from Sony Animation’s strong Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. On today’s episode of Crew Call, Caple Jr. tells us he’s in talks for another Transformers sequel — and much of that involves that cliffhanger scene between Anthony Ramos and Michael Kelly.

The cast of NCIS: Sydney has officially been announced!

family is reportedly approaching the end of the road — but not before a few more high-octane adventures!Following the release of the most recent installment, — which has grossed over $652 million to date worldwide — fans have plenty of questions about what's to come. Will Vin Diesel's Dom Toretto make it out of this epic saga alive? Will the crew lose even more of their own as they attempt to finish off Jason Momoa's vengeful villain? What does Dwayne Johnson's return to the franchise mean — and will he share a scene with Diesel? Plus, whatever happened to the sequel? Read on to find out everything we currently know about the future of the fam.Diesel officially announced the release date of on June 12, sharing a photo of himself with 's main antagonist, Momoa — who plays Dante Reyes, the son of the drug lord that Dom and the crew stole from and killed in «April 4th 2025… is less than 22 months away,» Diesel captioned the pic.

There’s no doubt that the success of “The Hunger Games” franchise led to the meteoric rise of Jennifer Lawrence’s career years ago. Sure, she was nominated for all sorts of awards for “Winter’s Bone,” but it wasn’t until she took on the role of Katniss in “The Hunger Games” that her career was firmly cemented in A-list territory.

EXCLUSIVE: Ramsey Naito, President, Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, has a big remit, overseeing all of the groups’ operations from development through release. The respected veteran also has big hopes for an upcoming slate of franchise installments as well as original features. 

Does Disney want Johnny Depp back for more Pirates of the Caribbean movies — and is he the one saying NO???

Hayden Christensen and Diego Luna have never met, but as Christensen puts it, they’ve occupied the “same galaxy” for years. Christensen rocketed from teenage obscurity in Canada when George Lucas cast him as Anakin Skywalker for 2002’s “Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones” and 2005’s “Revenge of the Sith,” which chronicled the young Jedi’s transformation into the iconic villain Darth Vader. The Mexican-born Luna — who rose to prominence in Alfonso Cuarón’s 2001 coming-of-age masterpiece “Y tu mamá también” — joined “Star Wars” for 2016’s “Rogue One,” a prequel about the band of rebel spies, led by Luna’s Cassian Andor, that steal the plans for the Death Star.

As I watched the new trailer for the fourth “Expendables” film, I couldn’t help but wonder who this film is actually for? Originally, the “Expendables” franchise was this fun experiment, where some of the best action stars from the ‘80s and ‘90s came together for another adventure. Now, four films deep, it’s morphed into… a starring vehicle for 50 Cent and Megan Fox? What? READ MORE: ‘The Flash’ Review: Barry Allen Is Barely The Lead In A Hollow Movie Overfilled With Fan Service As seen in the new trailer, “Expendables 4” (I refuse to call it “Expend4bles”) follows a group of mercenaries as they combine forces for another job.

William Earl Over five low-budget box office hits and a two-season TV series, “The Purge” saga — which portrays a not-too-distant-future America where all crimes, including murder, are legal for one night a year in order to satiate a bloodthirsty public — swelled into a $450 million franchise. But the first chapter was almost never made. While the film became the defining hit of writer and director James DeMonaco’s career, he says the script was passed over “40-50 times” for being seen as “too anti-American.” “I had this little, strange, dark indictment of American gun culture,” he said. “I hate guns. To me, the scariest thing in the world would be a night where everyone was armed and it was legal to use these firearms. To me, there was nothing scarier than that notion.”

EXCLUSIVE: A holiday movie franchise that got its start at Hallmark is moving to Great American Family.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Spidey’s still got it. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” a sequel to Sony’s 2018 Oscar-winning “Into the Spider-Verse,” collected $120 million in its box office debut — a towering figure that’s more than triple the original’s opening weekend. The first film, one of the intial cinematic introductions to the multiverse, started with a softer $34.4 million but turned into a word-of-mouth sensation during its theatrical run, which ended with $190 million in North America and $384 million globally. Now, thanks to the goodwill from “Into the Spider-Verse” and quality to match the hype, the follow-up film has managed to become a blockbuster from the jump. Already, “Across the Spider-Verse” has generated $208 million worldwide, including $88.1 million at the international box office. It cost $100 million.

A cold open introducing how a Transformer ends up on earth. An extended introduction to a nifty, somewhat nerdy girl into gizmos and gadgets.

Jon Burlingame “Star Trek” fans are still buzzing about the music of the final season of “Picard.” That’s because the lavish symphonic score by Stephen Barton and Frederik Wiedmann references multiple themes from throughout the 57-year history of “Trek” movies and TV shows. Barton, who scored seven of the 10 episodes and collaborated with Wiedmann on the finale, says that the idea belonged to showrunner Terry Matalas. “From the very beginning, we chatted a lot about the ‘Star Trek’ we grew up with. This was a moment in the franchise to take a step back, look at the whole picture, and say, how can we honor this?” Matalas has “an amazing, vast knowledge” of “Trek” music, Wiedmann says. “He’s as enthusiastic about film scores as we are – which, in the end, was extremely helpful for us because Terry had such a clear idea on where to go with the music.”

, Sean Bailey, President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production confirmed that is in the works. While the Disney executive didn't confirm any further details, he made the reveal during the interview while discussing the success of the live-action,, and while confirming the live-action versions of,, and .  found success last year after it was released on Disney+.

The return of Jack Sparrow isn’t out of the question.