Disney Tests ‘Monday Night Football’ Double Play

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Introducing the Manhattan Transfer’s final show at Walt Disney Concert Hall, writer Bruce Vilanch emphasized the multi-genre status the vocal ensemble built up and maintained over a 50-year-plus career that, from all indications, really was coming to a close Friday night. “I’m thrilled to be here for the final concert of the greatest pop-rock-jazz-soul-R&B-scat-vocalese-Brazilian group in the history of America,” Vilanch said. In keeping with that multi-hyphenate spirit, the group’s apparent swan song in downtown Los Angeles’ toniest venue was a happy-sad-ebullient-misty-eyed affair.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The 2nd annual Children’s & Family Emmys got underway on Saturday night, starting with the Children’s & Family Creative Arts Emmys at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. According to early results — pending final tallies — Disney+ and Netflix tied the lead with nine wins overall. The most honored program of the evening was actually Netflix’s “Lost Ollie,” which scored five trophies.

Playboi Carti has shared a new song and music video called "2024." The track, produced by Ojivolta, Earl on the Beat, and Kanye West, was uploaded to Carti's YouTube in the early hours of Friday, December 15. Watch it above.

Disney has formally responded to activist shareholder Trian Fund Management’s unsolicited nominations of Trian chief Nelson Peltz and former Disney CFO James Rasulo to the media giant’s board of directors.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Activist investor Nelson Peltz, who’s looking to shake up Disney‘s board, plans to nominate two directors as candidates for directors of the Mouse House’s board: Peltz himself, and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo. Peltz’s Trian Fund Management said Thursday it submitted a notice of its intention to nominate the two independent director candidates at Disney’s 2024 annual shareholders meeting, expected to be held next spring.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer A judge on Friday certified a class action lawsuit that alleges that Disney paid 9,000 women less than their male counterparts. The suit is the largest ever certified under California’s Equal Pay Act, which makes it illegal for workers to be paid less for substantially similar work based on their gender. Lori Andrus, the plaintiffs’ attorney, applauded the ruling outside the courtroom in downtown Los Angeles.

David McKnight, whose film resume included starring as the lead in the blaxploitation horror movie J.D.’s Revenge, as well as Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle and The Five Heartbeats, died Sunday at age 87.

is a Marvel star and was also one of the Kens in the hit “Barbie” movie, announced on his Instagram Story on Thursday that he had to drop out of a planned appearance in Disney World’s 2023 Candlelight Processional, due to unspecified “health scares.” “I’m so absolutely gutted to have to drop out,” he wrote. The Candlelight Processional retells the Christmas story with a celebrity narrator, orchestra and choir. It was scheduled to be narrated by Liu from Nov.

comes during the film’s climax, features the character Mark (played by Andrew Lincoln) arriving at the home of his best friend, Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor), to wordlessly declare his love for Peter’s wife, Juliet (Keira Knightley), using a boombox and handwritten notecards. “He actually turns up, to his best friend’s house, to say to his best friend’s wife, on the off chance that she answers the door, ‘I love you,'” Curtis, 67, told the Independent.

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with first-timer Alex Convery’s screenplay for the Ben Affleck-directed Air. 

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The returns of both CM Punk and Randy Orton saw the ratings for WWE‘s “Monday Night Raw” rise by nearly a third over last week. The Best in the World and the Apex Predator helped the “Raw” viewership rise to 1.88 million viewers, up 29% over last week and 13% over the comparable show a year ago. That is the highest viewership for a “Raw” episode since August 7.

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series, spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts, continues with Saltburn, the brutally dark satirical thriller written and directed by Emerald Fennell. The pic marks her sophomore feature, on the heels of the Best Original Screenplay Oscar winner Promising Young Woman. 

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney CEO Bob Iger focused on instilling employees with renewed optimism about the Mouse House’s “blessed” and “fortunate” state during a virtual company-wide town hall Tuesday, rather than making any proclamations about the company’s future. The event, moderated by ABC News’ David Muir, was held just over a week after the one-year anniversary of Iger’s return to the helm at Disney (Iger hosted a similar town hall exactly a year ago to the day, upon resuming his post last November) following the surprise ousting of Bob Chapek, and on the heels of Disney reporting its most recent quarterly and full-fiscal-year earnings and taking a stumble at the Thanksgiving holiday box office with new animated film “Wish.” When asked by Muir if coming back to the position of CEO has been more challenging than he had anticipated, Iger, who originally ran Disney for 15 years from 2005-2020, said yes. “I knew that there were myriad challenges that I would face coming back,” Iger said.

hint of a markdown, our ears perk up. And for the beauty buffs of the bunch, its blowout is finally here.

Love Actually today.In the 2003 rom-com, Knightley was 18 years old when she played the part of Juliet, who married Peter, played by a 26-year-old Chiwetel Ejiofor. Mark meanwhile, who is in love with Juliet, was played by a 30-year-old Andrew Lincoln.The film’s director has since addressed the controversial age gap in an interview with LADbible, where he admitted how it “didn’t seem too peculiar” at the time.“I’m really interested in whether or not I would think ‘don’t do that’ now, ” Curtis said.

Rolling Stone that the singer had passed away aged 80.“She was the first person we appointed on the board when we took it over and we had a long relationship with her and she was just fabulous,” Cyrus – who served as the executive director of the Louisiana Music Commission for two decades – told the outlet.“She was always willing to get involved with good causes and help out,” he added. “‘Mr.

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confirmed.Knights’ family noted the “indelible mark she left on the world” in a statement detailing her historic run in the music industry.“Jean Knight’s legacy is not just a musical one; it is a testament to the enduring love between an artist, her hometown, and the fans who adored her,” the family statement read. “As we bid farewell to this iconic soulstress, New Orleans and her global fan base join together in gratitude for the indelible mark she left on the world.”The New Orleans native began her career as a singer after graduating high school, singing with bands at her cousin’s bar in the early 1960s.Knight — born Jean Caliste before changing her last name — released her first song, “Stop Doggin’ Me Around,” in 1965, landing a recording contract with Jet Star/Tribe record labels while working as a baker.Her big break would begin to form when she linked with songwriter Ralph Williams and began working with record producer Wardell Quezergue in 1970.Still working as a baker, Knight would record her hit song “Mr.

Jean Knight, the voice behind Mr Big Stuff, one of the most recognizable songs of the 1970s funk era, has died aged 80. 

Jean Knight has passed away aged 80, with the American singer's PR firm confirming her death in a statement. Jean, who was best known for hit 70s tracks such as Mr. Big Stuff and Think It Over, passed away on 22 November in New Orleans, Louisiana.