Saturday, March 14, 2020

Negromancer News Bits and Bites from March 8th to 14th, 2020 - Update #25

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

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CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19 and Hollywood and Beyond:

From Deadline:  The news site "Deadline" has a dedicated page for news about coronavirus and the film, TV, and entertainment industries.

From TheNewYorker:  The venerable magazine has a dedicate COVID-19 page free to all readers.

From Variety:  Universal Pictures has stopped production on all its live-action films due to the coronavirus.

From YahooEntertainment:  Tom Hanks, who is quarantined in a hospital with his wife Rita Wilson, posted a positive message about have coronavirus COVID-19.  "There is no crying in baseball," he says in reference to his film, "A League of Their Own."

From YahooSports:  The IOC and Japan's Olympics minister insist that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is still happening, Friday, July 24th to Sunday, August 9th.

From Deadline:  The National Basketball Association (NBA) suspends its current 2019-2020 season during to coronavirus fears.

TOM HANKS - From Deadline:  Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks and producer Rita Wilson, who are also a Hollywood power couple, have tested positive for the coronavirus, COVID-19, while in Australia working on Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley biopic.

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DISNEY - From Variety:  Disney shuts down production on most of its live-action films, including Marvel's "Shang-Chi" and Ridley Scott's "The Last Duel."

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SPORTS-CRIME - From BET:  Back in July 1993, James Jordan, Jr. was murdered.  He was the father of NBA champion and pro basketball legend, Michael Jordan.  One of the two men who were sentenced to life for the crime, Larry Demery, is up for parole.

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MOVIES - From Deadline:  The horror film franchise, Scream, is getting a reboot, and the directors of the cult horror film, "Ready or Not" (2019), will helm the film.

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SCANDAL - From Deadline:  Former Hollywood mogul and Oscar-winning film producer ("Shakespeare in Love") Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison by New York Supreme Court Judge James Burke.  Judge Burke also ordered Weinstein to register as a sex offender.

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TELEVISION - From Deadline:  Shout! Factory has struck a distribution deal with Stephen J. Cannell Productions for its extensive catalog which is comprised of 900 hours of TV series and movies.  Shout! will distribute the library to broadcast and streaming platforms across territories.

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POLITICS - From TheWrap:  Actress Rosario Dawson says that she voted for Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary election the same day that her boyfriend, Senator Cory Booker, endorsed Sanders' rival, Vice-President Joe Biden.

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SCANDAL - From Variety:  Harvey Weinstein once emailed a reporter that "Jennifer Aniston should be killed" after a false report that Weinstein had sexually assaulted the actress.

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MOVIES - From BlackFilm:  Director Reginald Hudlin talks about celebrating the 30th anniversary of his classic film, "House Party," which his brother, Warrington Hudline, produced.

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MOVIES - From Deadline:  "Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway" is the latest film to have its release dates, domestic and international, altered due to fears of the coronavirus, "COVID-19."

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SPORTS - From Deadline:  Tom Brady enters the Hollywood content game by launching "199 Productions," a multi-platform content company.  Brady was the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft.

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BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficeMojo:  The winner of the 3/6 to 3/8/2020 weekend box office is Pixar's "Onward" with an estimated total of 40 million dollars.

From Variety:  The Oscar-winning South Korean film, "Parasite," is now the high-grossing foreign language film in the United Kingdom, grossing 11.5 million pounds since its release there.

From Deadline:  At the specialty (art house) box office, the film "First Cow" led the pack with an estimated take of $96,059.

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JAMES BOND - From THR:  MGM to take a loss of $30 million because it has moved the next Bond film, "No Time to Die," from an April release to November over coronavirus fears.

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STREAMING - From Variety:  Luke Evans and Josh Gad will return for a prequel series to Disney's live-action "Beauty and the Beast," which will stream on Disney+.

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MOVIES - From Variety:   Director James Wan ("Aquaman") is working on a movie "inspired" by Universal Pictures' "Universal Monsters" legacy.   Wan will produce, but there are few other details.

TRAILER:

From YouTube:  This is the first official trailer for Disney/Pixar's "Soul" (March 12, 2020), which is due in theaters, June 19th.

OBITS:

From Variety:  The actor R.D. Call has died at the age of 70, Tuesday, March 10, 2020.  Call appeared in several films that either starred Sean Penn or were directed by him, including "At Close Range" (1986) and "Colors" (1988) to "Into the Wild" (2007).  He also appeared in such TV series as "Walker, Texas Ranger," "The X-Files," and "Castle."

From Variety:  The Swedish-born actor, Max von Sydow, has died at the age of 90, Sunday, March 8, 2020.  Sydow is best known for the 11 films he made with legendary Swedish director, Ingmar Bergman, in particularly, "The Seventh Seal," in which von Sydow portrayed a knight playing chess against Death.  He also appeared in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."  Von Sydow received two Oscar nominations for his work in the films, "Pelle the Conqueror" (Best Actor) and "Extremely  Loud & Incredibly Close" (Best Supporting Actor).

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