‘Ready Player One’ Author Ernest Cline Unveils Debut Children’s Novel ‘Bridge To Bat City’

Tributes have been paid to former Rochdale AFC defender, Wayne Evans, following his death aged 51. Known as 'Evo' to Dale fans, he played 297 times for the club between 1999 and 2005, scoring three goals.

EXCLUSIVE: Cineverse announced today that the Company has acquired all U.S. rights to the star-studded, modern-day bayou western The Dirty South. Cineverse is planning a Fall release, day and date in theaters and on VOD.

It’s time for one last adventure with Indiana Jones, and a few new faces are joining our favorite archaeologist — including Shaunette Renée Wilson‘s Agent Mason.

Simone Biles is heading back into competition for the first time in nearly two years.

Nicolas Coster, the British-American actor who played an evasive lawyer in All The President’s Men (“I’m not here,” he insisted to Robert Redford’s Bob Woodward as the two sat in a courtroom), a fiendish kidnapper in All My Children, zany businessman Lionel Lockridge on Santa Barbara, and the father of Lisa Whelchel’s Blair Warner in The Facts of Life, died Monday at a hospital in Florida. He was 89.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jennifer Lawrence sobbed in hot sauce-related pain during an interview on “Hot Ones,” in which she also expressed nerves over working with a Method actor. Lawrence has worked with such acting heavyweights as Leonardo DiCaprio (“Don’t Look Up”) and Christian Bale (“American Hustle”) throughout her career, but no one has gone full Method to the point that Lawrence felt uncomfortable approaching them for a conversation. “I would be nervous to work with somebody who is Method,” Lawrence said. “I would have no idea how to talk to them. Do I have to be in character? That would make me nervous. I haven’t seen another [acting] process that I’ve been curious about. You don’t know about them all the time.”

Katy Perry is raising her glass to sobriety.

Khloé Kardashian is a big fan of “365 Days” actor Michele Morrone.

EXCLUSIVE: Wild West, the genre-focused joint venture between French film companies Goodfellas (ex-Wild Bunch International) and Capricci, has unveiled a third slate of projects at a co-financing event in Nantes.

The Match Factory has posted fresh deals of for veteran Italian director Marco Bellocchio’s Cannes 2023 Palme d’Or contender Kidnapped about the true story of the kidnapping of a young Jewish boy.

Khloé Kardashian was honored that Kim Kardashian took the time to set her up on a date with Michele Morrone.

Paul Plunkett Texas offers vast, open spaces and is beefing up its industry infrastructure to attract production not only across the state but in several pockets that have become hubs for all types of media production. From the central regions in and around Austin and Waco to the western panhandle near Amarillo, the Lone Star State is positioning itself for a production boom, aided by the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive program, recently passed by the state legislature. “We were able to receive such great funding and have such support from the legislators across the board on both sides of the aisle, from rural areas to the cities,” says Mindy Raymond, communications director for the Texas Media Production Alliance, noting the leap in funding from the previous legislative session ($45 million) to this one ($200 million).

Andrew Barker Senior Features Writer Things have always been bigger in Texas. And thanks to some recently passed legislation, Texas film production is finally primed to take on a role befitting the state’s reputation. After years of watching productions opt for more incentive-rich states, Texas has been home to an immense amount of film and TV shooting over the past two years, with HBO’s “Love and Death,” Paramount’s “Yellowstone,” Apple TV+’s “The Last Thing He Told Me,” the CW’s “Walker,” Netflix’s “Hypnotic” and the Houston-set series “Mo” all setting up shop in the Lone Star state. And the floodgates look set to open even further with the recent legislative passage of $200 million in state shooting incentives, a sharp increase from the $45 million the state offered previously.

CNN is planning another Independence Day special, The Fourth In America, that will include performances from Post Malone, Demi Lovato, Zac Brown Band and Leon Bridges.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large We’ve all made the “Cop Rock” jokes. The Steven Bochco musical drama, which premiered in fall 1990, was a big swing: marrying original music with procedural storytelling. It was a colossal flop that we still talk about three decades later, and a reminder that musicals are hard. Music has been a part of the TV landscape going back to the 1950s and shows like “Your Hit Parade.” But few series have successfully integrated regular music performances into their storytelling: “The Monkees” and “The Partridge Family” worked in the 1960s and ’70s. “Fame” did it in the early ’80s. And then “Cop Rock” scared people off the concept.

Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has dismissed speculation he is trying to sign Jesse Lingard for current club DC United.

On the Friday after Tom Wambsgans became the new puppet CEO of the Waystar-Royco media empire, the actor who has spent the past five years essaying the character’s ups, downs, and withering one-liners is propping up the bar of a small boutique hotel in London’s Chelsea. Matthew Macfadyen is nursing a lime tonic and contemplating a rest after several months of hard work on Succession’s blockbusting fourth season. In some other world, one imagines his fictional alter-ego is already discovering the poison in the chalice of the job he has spent a lifetime coveting. Macfadyen, instead, is content simply to think ahead to a quiet family dinner, and to reflect on the adventure of his past half decade.

Kevin Spacey is feeling optimistic about making a career comeback if he’s cleared of the sexual assault allegations brought against him in London.

Here are your Wednesday morning Manchester United headlines.

Kim Kardashian is accepting responsibility for orchestrating Khloe Kardashian‘s viral date with Michele Morrone.