13 years after Avatar broke records, James Cameron is back and his franchise is bigger, bolder and wetter than ever. The director and his team break down their massive undertaking.

James Cameron, Jon Landau and Avatar 2 Crew

As soon as James Cameron finished work on the first Avatar movie in 2009, he gathered his department heads, told them they’d remain on the payroll for an additional two months and asked them to prepare a white paper on what they’d need if there was ever a sequel. “And then we went off to a resort for three days and sat at a big round table and worked out the problem of how to make this better,” Cameron said. The result, 13 years later, is Avatar: The Way of Water, which takes the spectacle of that first movie and kicks it to another level. 

That new level is both exterior, with vast new regions of the planet Pandora,

Read More

With help from the popularity of Netflix’s ”Wednesday,“ Tim Burton’s ”The Nightmare Before Christmas“ is the most in-demand of the Yuletide films

The demand for Christmas-related content is one of the best cases of seasonal demand in the U.S.

After staying unnoticed most of the year, there’s a revival of the demand for Christmas movies and shows in the last two months. Traditionally, the Christmas atmosphere begins to slowly take place after Thanksgiving in the U.S., when holidays become the main subject of conversations and people rush to do Christmas shopping.  

Become a member to read more.

Read More

Dax Tejera, the executive producer of the ABC News Sunday public affairs show “This Week,” has died.

Tejera died suddenly of a heart attack on Friday, Dec. 23, according to a memo sent to staff by ABC News president Kim Godwin on Saturday. He was only a few weeks shy of his 38th birthday.

Tejera was named executive producer of “This Week” at 35, just weeks before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The newscast quickly climbed to No. 1 among Adults 25-54. He joined ABC News as a senior producer in the Washington Bureau in 2017 and produced remote-anchored broadcasts from across the country along with specials from the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore and Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki.

Prior to overseeing the Sunday show as executive producer, Tejera managed newsmaking interviews and covered major breaking news, including the Covid pandemic, the 2020 presidential election and the January 6th riot

Read More

If the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an intricate puzzle in which each piece finds its perfect place, the DC Universe is a Gordian knot, complicated by aborted overarching storytelling plans and less continuity in more recent films. There is certainly a way to watch the DC movies in order, but you’ll find some films make more sense than others, while some feel completely disconnected from the DCEU at large. This is no fault of the filmmakers, of course, as Warner Bros. was playing catch-up with the MCU and trying to build to their own team-up movie “Justice League” as quickly as possible, resulting in a bit of a slapdash approach to universe-building.

And yet, largely thanks to Zack Snyder, there’s an overarching story that’s been told, and one you can follow if you watch the films in a specific order. Below, we run down how to watch the DC movies

Read More

“Emily in Paris” has returned for Season 3, and the story contains just as much if not more chaos. This season of the Paris-set dramedy series raises some stakes in serious ways, set to poppy songs that partner well with the loud fashion choices of Emily (Lily Collins) and others. The episode titles cleverly embody some of the song selections as well.

To refresh, Emily’s bestie au-pair-turned-singer Mindy Chen (Ashley Park) has joined a band to busk on the streets and sing for a living. Season 3 offers her a new opportunity to perform at Le Trompette Bleu, a famous nightclub that raised star singers. Her platform enables some great pop radio hit selections for the show.

Here are all the songs in “Emily in Paris” Season 3:

‘Emily in Paris’ Season 3 Review: Netflix Series Finds Its Sweet Spot in the Best Season Yet

Episode 1

  • “Reine De L’attitude (feat Lydia Képinski) by DOPAMOON
  • “J’ai deux amours” Sung by Mindy, By Madeleine Peyroux
  • “Whatever Happens/Tout Ira
Read More

While you probably know Nina Dobrev and Julianne Hough from their extensive acting and performing careers in “The Vampire Diaries” and “Dancing With the Stars,” respectively, the actresses took on a new role when they partnered up to create their own wine business — a career move Hough says is “not that far off” from their previous work.

“Entrepreneurs and leaders… don’t necessarily do every single job but they have vision and they find the people to execute it,” Hough said during the “UnWrapped” Podcast: From the Big Screen to Business Owners at TheWrap’s Power Women Summit hosted by TheWrap’s Emily Vogel and Andi Ortiz. “As far as us transitioning into a new category of profession, it’s not that far off, because we’re creators… I’ve pivoted many directions in my career, but there’s always a through line of belief, goal, intention and vision.”

For Dobrev and Hough, Fresh

Read More

Elon Musk has offered to step down as “Head of Twitter” pending the results of a user poll Sunday.

“Should I step down as head of Twitter?” the Twitter CEO wrote alongside the poll that offered users a simple “yes” or “no.” “I will abide by the results of this poll,” he said, later warning, “as the saying goes, be careful what you wish, as you might get it.”

One hour after the poll was posted, dethroning Musk as Twitter boss led by a 15-point margin.

Twitter Mocked for New Ban on Links to Rival Social Media Sites: ‘Holding Us Hostage Ain’t Gonna Work’

The poll comes just hours after Twitter announced a new policy prohibiting the “free promotion” of social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon and Post, among others, which was heavily mocked by media figures and users alike.

It is worth mentioning that in November, Musk said, “I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time.”

Read More

Shirley Eikhard, the Canadian songwriter who penned Bonnie Raitt’s Grammy-winning “Something to Talk About, has died, the AP reports. She was 67.

According to her publicist Eric Alper, Eikhard passed away Thursday in Orangeville, Ontario, due to complications from cancer.

In addition to Raitt’s 1991 hit, Eikhard wrote for a number of country and pop musicians, including Cher, Emmylou Harris, Chet Atkins and Anne Murray.

“I’m deeply saddened to hear of the passing of my friend Shirley Eikhard, the wonderful Canadian singer/songwriter who wrote my hit song, ‘Something to Talk About.’ My condolences go out to her family and friends,” Raitt wrote on Twitter. “Another one, gone too soon,” she continued in a follow-up message. “I will be forever grateful for our beautiful connection and friendship.”

Gary Friedkin, Actor in ‘Happy Days,’ ‘Return of the Jedi,’ Dies at 70

Eikhard, a singer and instrumentalist herself, released 18 full-length albums spanning 1972 to 2021. In October 2020, she was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters’

Read More

Disney+ is getting most of the seasonal action, though, with its ”Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special“

In a crowded field of top movies on streaming, two slots went to holiday-inspired movies.

“Spirited” on Apple TV+ ranked seventh overall for the weekend. The Christmas musical, starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, has been a holiday hit for Apple, with the film ranking among the 10 most-streamed movies each week since its release last month, per Whip Media’s viewership data, which is based on the responses of U.S. users of the TV Time app, its movie and TV show tracking app with more than 24 million global registered users.

Become a member to read more.

Read More

Eddie Izzard is a Pip in the new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations,” which opened Thursday at Off Broadway’s Greenwich House Theater. She’s also a Miss Havisham, a Magwich, an Estella and a dozen-plus other characters from the classic 1861 novel.

The actor-comedian, who recorded the entirety of “Great Expectations” several years ago for an Audible edition that clocked in at just over 20 hours, delivers a live stage version that runs a fleet two hours and 15 minutes (with an intermission). The adaptation, by Izzard’s older brother, Mark, captures the spirit of the original — jettisons subplots and condenses some of the more meandering Dickensian language for modern ears, to mostly good effect. (The best lines, including some of the best punchlines, remain Dickens’ own.)

Purists may balk at this CliffsNoted treatment of a beloved Dickens story, but the streamlined script serves its star, who proves adept

Read More