Entertainment News Archives

Romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians” was No. 1 at the weekend box office in North America, raking in an estimated $34 million in ticket sales since Wednesday’s opening. The movie is being celebrated as a turning point for Asian-Americans; and it’s been a quarter century since the last time a nearly all-Asian cast starred in a Hollywood studio film, which was 1993’s “The Joy Luck Club.”  Crazy Rich Asians beat out The Meg and Mile 22. The Jon Chu-directed picture is also the first romantic comedy to rake in more than $20 million in its opening weekend in three years, and it was the best performing PG-13 rom-com since Think Like A Man, released in 2012. The film is an adaptation of the best-selling book of the same name and stars Fresh Off the Boat star Constance Wu and newcomer Henry Golding.

The New York Times reported Sunday that months after publicly accusing Harvey Weinstein of rape, actress and filmmaker Asia Argento made a deal with a young actor who accused her of sexual assault. Argento was among the first women to accuse movie mogul Weinstein of sexual misconduct, and has been a leading figure in the #MeToo movement. The New York Times claimed it has lawyers’ documents showing that actor and musician Jimmy Bennett alleged Argento sexually assaulted him in 2013 when he was 17 and she was 37. Bennett said the assault took place at a hotel in California, where the age of consent is 18. Bennett played Argento’s son in the 2004 movie “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.” The Times reported they received the documents “through encrypted email by an unidentified party,” and that they included “a selfie dated May 9, 2013, of the two lying in bed.” “As part of the agreement, Mr. Bennett, who is now 22, gave the photograph and its copyright to Ms. Argento, now 42,” the story said. “Three people familiar with the case said the documents were authentic.” Bennett reportedly asked Argento for $3.5 million in damages, a month after she spoke out about Weinstein last October. Argento later arranged to pay Bennett $380,000; the first installment was made in April 2018.

Netflix announced they have canceled The Break With Michelle Wolf and The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale; neither of the talk shows will make it to a second season. The company ended Chelsea Handler’s weekly talk show last October after two seasons. Chelsea initially aired three nights each week before moving to a once-weekly schedule. Each of The Break with Michelle Wolf’s 10 episodes debuted weekly. The show began streaming in May, not long after Wolf’s controversial and profile-raising performance as host of the 2018 White House Correspondents Dinner. McHale, the former longtime host of E’s The Soup (which his Netflix show closely resembled) also fell flat with his “The Joel McHale Show.”  Both cancelations are the result of underwhelming viewership numbers. In the talk show genre, Netflix still has Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, and My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman. Netflix will attempt some new talk shows this year when it launches Norm Macdonald Has A Show, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, and panel-style talk show The Fix starring Jimmy Carr, Katherine Ryan, and D.L. Hughley.

After months of silence, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas confirmed their engagement. In the couple’s first public acknowledgment of their upcoming marriage, Chopra posted a photo on Instagram with the caption, “Taken.. With all my heart and soul.” Jonas replied in the comments with, “Wow congrats… He’s the luckiest guy in the world.” He later reposted the same photo with the caption, “Future Mrs. Jonas. My Heart. My Love.”  Jonas’ parents, Denise Miller-Jonas and Paul Jonas Sr., flew to Mumbai on Thursday to meet Chopra’s family for the first time. The roka, a Hindu pre-wedding ritual symbolizing the engagement and new relationship between the couple’s families, was performed at a private event on Saturday morning. Jonas, 25, and Chopra, 36, got engaged in London in July while the actress celebrated her birthday. Chopra’s engagement ring was first revealed by an Instagram post from Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon three days ago. Jonas and Chopra are said to have first met at last year’s Met Gala, but only started dating two months before their engagement.

Paul Walker was taking a break from filming “Furious 7” when he tragically died in a car wreck in 2013. When production of the blockbuster film resumed, the late-actor’s brothers, Caleb and Cody Walker, stepped in to physically act out his role and Paul’s face was superimposed onto his brothers’ bodies to help wrap up the film. Now, “Fast & Furious” fans may once again see his F&F character, Brian O’Conner, back on the big screen. His family is holding out hope that they can somehow bring him back into the hit franchise. The Walker brothers – who will open up about Paul’s legacy in the upcoming documentary “I Am Paul Walker” – hope that Brian O’Conner’s return could help reunite the broken “Fast & Furious” family.  “I think there could potentially be a way to do it. But it would take a lot of thought and it’d have to be tasteful,” Cody said. “[Paul] was the real deal, the real car guy. And in his absence, I — you know — I think it’s lost its way in a big way.” “Fast 9” is currently set to debut in theaters on April 10, 2020.