Entertainment News

For the upcoming season, Jimmy Fallon is going to join his late night colleagues Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers by taking Fridays off. 

The Hollywood Reporter says The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon will move to a four-day-a-week schedule, as opposed to the five-day shooting schedule he's kept for years. 

Most late night shows have been airing repeats on Fridays, even Comedy Central's The Daily Show, but Fallon's show had resisted the trend. 

The trade suspects NBC's belt-tightening was behind the decision due to shifting viewer habits. As THR reported, that was behind the decision to clip Meyers' Late Show house band and CBS' move not to replace The Late Late Show with James Corden with another chat show, and instead air the cheaper-to-produce game show @Midnight in its place.

He may be a day short, but Fallon recently re-upped his contract through 2028. 

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Kelly Preston, the late wife of John Travolta and the mother of their children, Ella Bleu, Benjamin and the late Jett, is memorialized in a new single and music video from her daughter. 

According to Ella Bleu's reps, "Little bird" is a "deeply personal tribute" to the actress, who died of breast cancer at 57 in 2020.

Both the song and the video, which is made up of home video snippets and snapshots of Ella and her family over the years, "captures the tender bond she shared with her mother and honors the profound impact Kelly had on her life."

The 24-year-old's song, which is available for download on streaming platforms, is described as "a journey of finding yourself as a young person growing up in the public eye" and "a moving expression of love, loss, and remembrance."

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ABC Audio has confirmed that Patricia Arquette will star in a Hulu series based on the headline-grabbing Alex Murdaugh murders. 

The disgraced South Carolina attorney was found guilty in 2023 of brutally murdering his wife, Maggie, and younger son Paul on the Murdaugh family's property in 2021.

The as-yet-untitled project will have Arquette playing Maggie Murdaugh, and it reunites the actress with Nick Antosca, the producer behind the Hulu limited series The Act, for which Arquette won an Outstanding Supporting Actress Emmy.

The series is based on Maggie and Alex Murdaugh's "stranger-than-fiction family drama," according to the streamer, which says it will be "a riveting account drawing from countless hours of reporting by Mandy Matney – journalist and creator of the popular Murdaugh Murders Podcast – as well as exclusive, insider knowledge from years spent following the case."

Locke & Key veteran Michael D. Fuller will be the showrunner and is credited as the co-creator of the project, along with Britney vs. Spears alumna Erin Lee Carr.

It took a jury just three hours to convict Alex Murdaugh, who denied the murders but admitted to lying to investigators and cheating his clients.

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice officially opens Friday, Sept. 6, but it's already drawing crowds.

According to Deadline, the movie starring Michael Keaton, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe and Winona Ryder scared up $13 million in sneak previews on Thursday.

That's impressive by itself, but especially because Keaton's "Ghost with the most" hasn't haunted theaters since the 1988 original. 

While Warner Bros. is predicting the movie will do $90 million over the weekend, the trade suspects the studio is being conservative — some experts speculate the film could pull in as much as $110 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest September openings of all time. 

For the record, 2017's Stephen King adaptation It holds the September crown: It opened to $123 million.

That said, Tim Burton's Beetlejuice sequel's Thursday night sneaks were only half a million behind It's sneaks.

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Have no fear, your reality roundup is here! Here's a look at what happened in the world of reality television this week:

The Bachelorette (ABC)
Even though Jenn Tran was left heartbroken by her former fiancé Devin Strader on Tuesday's finale of The Bachelorette, she asked her fans not to cyberbully him. "I am so overwhelmed by the love you have all given me. With every message of love I want to say loud and clear I do NOT condone hate messages to anyone,” Tran wrote on her Instagram Story. “People can be held accountable for their own actions in their lives without cyberbullying. The universe will work it all out.”

Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Speaking of Tran, she is set to compete on season 33 of Dancing with the Stars. It turns out producers offered her the spot moments after she appeared on the live finale of The Bachelorette. “I got off stage, was crying in my dressing room and then they’re like, ‘Alright, 45 minutes, you gotta get on a flight. We’re doing it,’” Tran told US Weekly. As for whether she's open to a showmance, Tran told People she's still healing. "Right now, I hate men, so," Tran said.

Survivor (CBS)
Happy Survivor season to all who celebrate. The cast of season 47 of Survivor was announced on Wednesday, and it includes Pod Save America co-host and former Barack Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett. The podcast host "finds himself thrust into a world filled with a different kind of cutthroat politics” this season, according to a press release.

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In a chat on the Club Shay Shay podcast, Marlon Wayans went off on Harvey Weinstein and his "evil, ugly brother Bob," who were producers on the Wayans family's Scary Movie franchise via their Miramax company.

Further, he suggested to host Shannon Sharpe that Weinstein's downfall — and eventual imprisonment on sex charges — was "God's revenge."

The horror spoof franchise started with 2000's original Scary Movie, for which they were given a "crappy deal" by the company. 

"We opened at $42 million," noting it was the biggest opening for "any" comedy at the time, not just "for a Black director," which is how it was spun. 

He said his director brother Keenan Ivory Wayans said, "No, no, no, don't you try to marginalize me ... with that label ... there's no such a thing as 'Black success,' just success."

After the "huge" first film, "We got a good deal for the second one," but then "Miramax did what they did." 

What the studio did was "stole" the franchise from the Wayans family, he says.

"I always say they didn't just rape and molest women, they raped n***** too and molested us with them deals," Marlon said. "They were terrible people."

"They took it from us," he insisted, and they paid for it at the box office. "You can't do Wayans s*** without the Wayans. You can try, but ... [what] we do is special. We have 200 years of comedy between me, Shawn and Keenan. Damon, Kim. We have a lot of years of excellence of what we do."

Ultimately, Marlon adds, "God comes for you. All the toxic things you did to me and my family, you took the franchise from us. Vengeance is mine."

"Sometimes you ain't gotta do nothing because God's gonna do it all — God's revenge," Marlon says.

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Sure, Selena Gomez is a world-famous actress and singer, but it's her makeup line that has made her a billionaire.

Bloomberg reports that the star of Only Murders In the Building is one of the country's youngest self-made female billionaires. According to the publication's Billionaires Index, she's worth $1.3 billion, and most of that — $1.1 billion — comes from Rare Beauty Brands Inc., her 5-year-old makeup brand. 

Selena isn't the first pop star to become a billionaire based on a makeup line: Rihanna hit that milestone in 2021 thanks to her line, Fenty Beauty.

Selena's other income comes from brand partnerships, acting, music sales, streaming and her interest in her mental health start-up company, Wondermind, according to Bloomberg. Her past multimillion-dollar brand partnerships include Coach, Louis Vuitton and Puma SE. And she makes at least $6 million per season from Only Murders.

Stacy Jones, founder and CEO of LA-based branding company Hollywood Branded, tells Bloomberg Selena is "a multifaceted businesswoman with diverse income streams contributing to her impressive net worth.”

Brent Saunders, the CEO of Bausch + Lomb Corp, and an investor in Wondermind, tells Bloomberg that in Selena, "You’ve got a real role model of how a celebrity can use their influence and expertise to both do good and create good business."

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Netflix's new series The Perfect Couple is a dark tale indeed, but its title sequence sees its cast, including Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber and Dakota Fanning, in a flash mob-style dance, set to Meghan Trainor's "Criminals." 

It was the brainchild of director Susanne Bier, but Variety has discovered that most of the cast was so opposed to it they started a text chain on WhatsApp that Schreiber called a "mutiny."

The show centers on a wealthy family whose plans for a glamorous Nantucket wedding by the beach runs aground when a body washes up onshore, exposing the fam's dark secrets.

Kidman admitted to the trade that she was initially opposed to the opening, because she didn't think her matriarch character Greer would dance. "I felt like Greer would watch." 

That said, she was happy about it in the end. "I danced as Greer. I think it's great and I’m so glad they got us all to do it. 'Cause there's some joy in it."

Schreiber, who plays Kidman's husband, was all in. "I wasn't in that [text] chain. The entire cast had a mutiny about this idea except for me, I was already in my trailer practicing the dance moves."

He added, "I just like dancing and I was kinda disappointed when it came out that I'm not in it more because I thought I did it really well."

Bier explained she felt viewers needed a pick-me-up from the "gloomy" times we're living in. "I felt I wanted to do something which had a lot of life and a lot of fun. And I wanted to see all the characters having fun."

The Perfect Couple is now streaming on Netflix.

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Fox has announced exactly when Anthony Anderson, Taye Diggs, James Van Der Beek, Dancing with the Stars' Bruno Tonioli, Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs and Teen Wolf's Tyler Posey will be going The Full Monty: the evening of Monday, Dec. 9.

As reported in May, the sextet will be bearing it all on The Real Full Monty to raise awareness for prostate, testicular and colorectal cancer testing and research.

The network strips it all down: "During the two-hour special, Anderson will lead Diggs, Jones, Posey, Tonioli and Van Der Beek as they train and rehearse for the most revealing performance of their careers, culminating with a big strip-tease dance ... in front of a live audience."

The action will be choreographed by Mandy Moore, veteran of Fox's So You Think you Can Dance, the Oscar-winning La La Land and Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.

The network continues, "Leading up to the final disrobing, the men will expand their limits, test their modesty and strengthen their bond with a series of rehearsals and experiences, both private and public, designed to build confidence and remove them far from their comfort zone and forge a brotherhood."

"Along the way, each of the celebrities will share their personal stories of how cancer has impacted their lives," the producers concluded.

Back when the special was announced in May, Anderson noted, "Don't die of embarrassment. Get checked!"

He added, "I am honored to lead the charge of rallying these fearless men to bare it all, in order to provoke, inspire and in this case, beg you to get screened for cancer. That's our goal … so what are you waiting for!?"

The Real Full Monty will air Dec. 9 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET on Fox.

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Jenn Tran is reflecting on her time as the first Asian American Bachelorette.

The 26-year-old physician assistant, whose journey to finding love on the show ended with a heartbreaking finale, thanked fans for their support all season and shared how she is "still healing" from her experience.

"Thank you for opening your hearts to my story," she said in an Instagram post on Thursday. "Being the first Asian American bachelorette has been a healing experience for me and I couldn't be happier to watch my community come alive."

"No matter where you are in your search for your identity, please remember you are worthy and you are exactly who you need to be," she added.

During the After the Final Rose special on Tuesday, Tran revealed that Devin Strader, the man she'd proposed to on the Bachelorette finale back in May, had called off their engagement about a month ago.

Tran also came face-to-face with Strader in front of the live studio audience during the episode and confronted him about why after ending their engagement he went on to follow a former contestant on the previous season of The Bachelor, Maria Georgas, on Instagram.

In her post, which featured photos from the finale and her proposal to Strader, Tran said that her heart is "heavy grieving," but that she has to "make room for forgiveness."

"While emotions were high on stage, at the end of the day, I will always have love for the person I fell in love with and I am choosing to wish him the best in his journey of life and will always root for him," she said.

She also acknowledged the "universal experience" of heartbreak, adding, "It is easier to have loved and lost to have never loved at all."

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Variety is reporting that Prime Video is developing a spin-off of its hit Reacher series. The trade speculates it will center on Frances Neagley, who is played by Maria Sten in the hit adaptation of Lee Childs' Jack Reacher books ...

The 'Burbs, a new TV adaptation of the 1989 movie of the same name, has been given a straight-to-series order from Peacock. Keke Palmer is set to star and executive produce, with Brian Grazer and Seth MacFarlane also on board as executive producers. The show follows a young couple who encounter new next-door neighbors with dark secrets ... 

The sci-fi film The Assignment, starring Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Olsen, has been scooped up by Prime Video, Deadline is reporting. The movie centers on a resources-strapped future where the government decides who is allowed to have a baby — and the invasive, psychologically horrifying interview Olsen's character must endure to prove she's worthy. The film, which also stars Minnie Driver, will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, which is just getting underway ...

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In a summer of twisters, animated emotions and, of course, superheroes, the modestly budgeted film Blink Twice has performed well and gotten strong reviews.

Many have praised first-time director and writer Zoë Kravitz’s handling of the intriguing thriller about a couple of women who think they're on a dream vacation on a billionaire's private island, but soon find it's too good to be true. 

Kravitz's real-life boyfriend, Channing Tatum, plays Slater, the cad in question.

One of those praising Zoë is Adria Arjona (AH-dree-ah are-HO-nah), who tells ABC Audio, "This is a hard movie, I think, for any director to direct, let alone the first-time director." 

She says Zoë "just was a pro at nailing the tone and finding the satire and the comedy and the darkness and the excitement and the element of fun that this island ... embodies."

Adria plays Sarah, one of the beauties on the island competing for Slater's attention. "I mean, a woman competing with another woman — that's, like, so gross," Adria says.

"Like, there's nothing uglier than a woman competing with another woman. I read it and I was like, 'Oof.' But again, that was the part that kind of challenged me."

Arjona recently starred in the Netflix action-comedy Hit Man opposite Glen Powell; she's part of the cast of the acclaimed Disney+ Star Wars series Andor; and she has four other films in the works. "It's really exciting that I get to reach so many people, and people are excited to watch me," she says. 

That said, she adds, "I'm having really interesting conversations with strangers. Sometimes that can get scary. I'm not gonna lie. ... Yeah, it's really exciting." 

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Clive Owen and Melissa McCarthy will star as John Bennett and Patsy Ramsey, the parents of murdered child pageant contestant JonBenét Ramsey.

Paramount+ says the limited series tentatively titled JonBenét Ramsey will explore "the tragic unsolved murder of [the] six-year-old beauty queen," who was killed inside her home in 1996.

"It follows the Ramsey family, before and after the tragedy as they go through the painful loss of a child while facing intense public scrutiny caused by a media frenzy that caused this case to captivate an entire nation," the streamer continues.

"At the heart of the series, it is the story of Patsy and John Ramsey — exploring the unbreakable partnership of these two complex people — as husband and wife, as mother and father — who had committed themselves and their children to building the narrative of a perfect, privileged life only to have it destroyed one Christmas night in 1996."

The project has been in the works for some time. Paramount Global co-CEO Chris McCarthy is confident his just-announced stars are the perfect fit.

"Melissa McCarthy and Clive Owen are an extraordinary duo to delve into this tragic story that has cast a long, haunting shadow over American culture for nearly three decades," he said.

Jeff Grossman, executive vice president of programming at Paramount+, said of the titular victim, "The incredible talent of Melissa McCarthy, Clive Owen and the creative team led by Richard LaGravenese will illuminate her story with the acuity and nuance it deserves."

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Universal has dropped the most detailed look yet at its star-studded movie adaptation of the smash musical Wicked.

The movie from director Jon M. Chu stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo as, respectively, Glinda and Elphaba aka the Good and Wicked witches of Oz.

The trailer shows the pair meeting and green-skinned Elphaba's struggle to fit in — even as her "extraordinary" powers are cultivated by Michelle Yeoh's Madam Morrible. 

In the coming attraction, both young witches go off to see the Wizard — that is, Jeff Goldblum as the avatar behind a fearsome mechanical face — and yes, they follow the Yellow Brick Road to get there at his direction.

However, he's scheming an opportunity in splitting the pair apart. "The best way to bring folks together is to give 'em a real good enemy," he purrs. 

At this, Erivo is seen donning a pointy black hat and apparently breaking bad, flying through the window on a broom.

"It's the wizard who should be afraid of me!" she later says defiantly.

And while the show's celebrated music is heard throughout, both Erivo and Grande are heard — but not seen — at the close, blowing the doors off the climax of the production's showstopper "Defying Gravity."

The first part of the two-part epic opens in theaters Nov. 22; part two is slated for a Nov. 26, 2025, release.

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"I got a wild career, man," former Entourage star Jerry Ferrara tells ABC Audio. "I'm not even saying it's like the best career ever, but I think it's one of the more unique ones, that's for sure."

Indeed, the guy who got famous playing fast-talking dealmaker Turtle in Entourage has appeared opposite Robert De Niro and Morgan Freeman in Last Vegas, was directed by Clint Eastwood in Sully and recently appeared on the smash series Power.

He now has a new project: Throwbacks, a sports, entertainment and lifestyle podcast he's co-hosting with Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart.

Ferrara was early to the podcasting game, having started one with his wife back in 2012, but he explains the new project combines some of his great loves. "My side hustles ... have always been about, 'Hey, how can I figure out how to semi earn a living talking and doing things that I like do for fun,' which was always like video games, golf and talking sports, right?"

He and Leinart share interests in each other's respective careers, and with kids the same age, they're "becoming friends in real time."

Entourage turned 20 years old in July, and Ferrara describes how fondly he looks back at it. "It's a lot easier to appreciate it now because when it was going on, I remember just being ... always worried it was going to get taken away because it was too good to be true, you know?"

He adds, "So now knowing that, hey, look, there's nothing that could happen. No one can take it away. ... It's nice to look back on it. I have a 16-year-old nephew who's watching it now ... and it's so funny to see a young person nowadays watching it."

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Netflix has dropped a teaser for the second season of its acclaimed political drama The Diplomat.

There's no dialogue, but the snippet reveals Allison Janney, who joins the cast for the sophomore frame as Vice President Grace Penn.

As Keri Russell's character, U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Kate Wyler, poses on a red carpet with her husband, fellow career diplomat Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell), Janney turns around and stares icily at Russell, setting up an obviously antagonistic relationship between the pair to come.

Also of note, fans had been speculating about whether Hal had survived a cliff-hanger explosion at the end of season 1 — and while it seems he has, the streamer hints the blowback from the incident will continue to unfold.

Its synopsis reads: "A deadly explosion in the heart of London shatters US Ambassador Kate Wyler's world. Struggling to rebuild the lives that broke and the team that split apart, Kate's worst fears unfold: The attack that brought her to the UK didn't come from a rival nation, it came from inside the British government."

The new season drops on Oct. 31.

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While Deadpool & Wolverine brought back a host of heroes and villains from Marvel movie past, one actor who didn't get the call from Ryan Reynolds and company was Liev Schreiber. 

The former Ray Donovan star played Logan/Wolverine's ally-turned-enemy Sabretooth in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But when Sabretooth returned in the Deadpool film, his version was played by Tyler Mane, who originally played the baddie in 2000's X-Men. 

Still, before the film came out, fans were speculating Schreiber would turn up — and that's enough for him, he tells Collider. 

"It's amazing," he said. "I can't begin to tell you what it feels like when people are thinking about something you did and are so appreciative of it that they want you to do it again."

Schreiber related that to when "Showtime pulled the plug on" Ray Donovan. "I was just so overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from fans who watched."

He adds, "When you're making a television show, or you're making a film, I'm not in there with the audience, I don't know that anybody sees it. Of course, if you follow that sort of thing, you can see the numbers, that millions of people have seen it, but I generally don't follow."

That said, Liev said with a laugh, "I was so surprised that we had that many fans, and I was so surprised that people were campaigning for me to be in the new Deadpool movie."

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You know him as Michael Keaton, but the actor is planning to change his name in show business.

Born Michael Douglas — just like the two-time Wall Street Oscar winner — the Beetlejuice star opened up in a new interview about choosing his professional moniker when starting out in the '70s due to the Screen Actors Guild rule that prohibits two members from having the same name.

Keaton told People he doesn't recall if he found his chosen name in a phone book like the rumors suggest, but added, "I must've gone, 'I don't know, let me think of something here.' And I went, 'Oh, that sounds reasonable.'"

Despite making a name for himself — quite literally — throughout his decadeslong career, starring in movies like Birdman and even playing Batman, the actor said he'd like to go by a combination of his birth name and stage name: Michael Keaton Douglas.

In fact, Keaton said he intended to be credited with the hybrid name on Knox Goes Away, the film he directed and starred in that was released in theaters earlier this year, but simply "forgot."

"It totally got away from me," he said. "And I forgot to give them enough time to put it in and create that. But it will happen."

"Michael Keaton" can next be seen on the big screen in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the long-awaited sequel coming more than 35 years after the original, out Friday.

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To a shirtless photo of his Deadpool & Wolverine body that he posted to Instagram, Hugh Jackman voiced over a lengthy thank-you to a team of people who helped get him into superhero shape.

"Yeah, I had to turn up, and yeah, I had to do those deadlifts and I had to eat those meals," he allowed, but gave the flowers to eight people.

Those included Beth Lewis, who has been his trainer for five years, not just for the film but his performances on Broadway and for an arena tour. He called her the "quarterback for this whole thing."

Also getting thanks were Michael Ryan, who trained with Hugh since the actor was 20. Jackman also named the people who cooked and delivered his meals, which were tailored to his excessive training, for more than a year and a half.

Also getting a shout-out was a colleague named Whitney, whose job it was to "lube" up the star and make his skin glisten on set.

Co-star and producer Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy also got praise, as did the movie's assistant director, who made the final reveal of that body — during the movie's climax where Wolverine's shirt is conveniently blown off — go as smoothly as possible.

"I would not have achieved that result without them," a "grateful" Jackman expressed about them all.

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Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga's new movie, Joker: Folie à Deux, earned a lot of "Applause" at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 4, but the reviews are another story.

Variety reports that after the movie's world premiere, the audience gave director Todd Phillips' sequel, starring Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/Joker and Gaga as Harley Quinn, an 11-minute standing ovation. But over at RottenTomatoes.com, about half the reviews are "rotten."

The Hollywood Reporter's critic David Rooney called Gaga a "compelling live-wire presence," but complained that the overall movie is "often dour."

He adds, "Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver in the first Joker had the sturdy bones of not one but two Martin Scorsese films, Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, on which to hang their story and set their tone," but the sequel, "is built on more of a conceit than a solid story foundation."

Vanity Fair's reviewer Richard Lawson described the movie as "startlingly dull" and "a pointless procedural that seems to disdain its audience," while the BBC's Nicholas Barber called it a "dreary, underwhelming, unnecessary slog," but noted that it was a "welcome opportunity to hear Gaga belting out some of the most romantic standards in the American Songbook."

However, The Wrap's William Bibbiani called it "impressively odd," and although he dinged the film -- "even the title screams 'film student trying too hard'" -- the critic hailed the performances of Phoenix and Gaga, concluding of the sequel, "It's genuinely a little daring, genuinely a little challenging, and genuinely a little genuine."

Empire magazine's John Nugent called the film "a genuinely original narrative." Deadline's Pete Hammond praised it as a "brilliant musical return to a world of madness," adding, "With song, dance, comedy, darkness, animation, drama, violence and more, this is a musical — if it even is a musical — like no other."

We'll see which camp the audience agrees with when Joker: Folie à Deux opens in theaters on Oct. 4.

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