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beat: Jimmy Kimmel: Jimmy Kimmel has had a tough week, with Donald and Melania Trump demanding that ABC cancel his talk show after a “pregnant widow” joke in the wake of the WHCD shooting, and the FCC opening a suspiciously timed review of ABC’s broadcast licenses. One suspects that Disney’s new CEO, Josh D’Amaro, has had a more nerve-wracking week than Kimmel. Damaru has clearly decided to tie himself to the ship’s mast and weather this latest political storm.
Kimmel handled the situation really well. His defiant monologue on Monday had a boastful energy to it, and I’m not afraid of that shit. It deftly threads the needle amid the different sensibilities involved, all while still being funny. He was particularly clever: He retrospectively described his controversial joke as “light roast,” as if it were a Starbucks order. One wonders if the somewhat awkward “sorry what the WHCD audience went through” line was negotiated with network execs (as in, “Okay, I’ll say ‘sorry,’ but not because of the damn joke”). Kimmel won this week because he managed to maintain his show and his dignity.
What’s also true: Trump is determined to cancel Kimmel, has survived numerous assassination attempts, and Kimmel was suspended just seven months ago because he made a joke about assassinating another political figure. So making jokes about the death of right-wing leaders may not be wise from a tactical, if not a moral, perspective. “Trump does the same thing! Bad faith arguments! First Amendment!” certainly. But this isn’t exactly a crippling act of self-censorship on the part of a late-night Disney talk show host to avoid making “the president I hate is going to die soon” jokes, you know, about everything.
lost: Baby Yoda. For weeks, Disney The Mandalorian and Grogu It smelled like Dagobah at low tide. The first Star Wars film in seven years has struggled to generate excitement (somehow it never surpassed the low bar of Fandango’s annual poll of 6,000 moviegoers to determine the 10 most anticipated films of the summer). The studio released a clip on Kimmel Last week he was ridiculed for having an idiot Boba Fett book energy. The clip also suggests that the studio is – wisely – doing everything it can to target families and kids rather than elderly fans who frown if anything called “Star Wars” doesn’t make them feel like they’re 12 again (I mean, they’re as guilty as they’re accused of).
Early tracking for the film stands at $80 million for a four-day Memorial Day weekend release. There is a lot of controversy about this number and what it means (THRExpert analysis is basically: good?). The comparison that’s hard to avoid is that it’s less than the weakest of Disney’s previous Star Wars films – singlewhich was considered a failure and halted the franchise and sent Star Wars spinning, like Darth Vader in his crippled TIE fighter, to Disney+ — which in turn gave birth to The Mandalorian (The circle, as they say, is now complete.)
We expect Disney to point this out The Mandalorian and Grogu It cost less than her previous Star Wars effort, which grossed $165 million (oh? We swear we couldn’t tell!) The witcher), and that it stars lesser-known characters (as if Jyn Erso were a household name when Rogue one It opened to $155 million).
everyone Which It’s very likely the film will open above $80 million once Disney’s marketing department moves into hyperspace starting May 4, he said. And for three weeks, you won’t be able to watch TV, look at your phone, or go outside without seeing a wide-eyed angelic Baby Yoda staring back at you. The film’s final trailer is by far the best, filled with John Williams’ signature music from the original trilogy, as if to say, “Look, this… It really is Star Wars! You’re not allowed to compare it to Star Wars.
beat: Meryl Streep: Talking about Disney’s marketing, the studio’s press campaign The devil wears prada 2 It was a master class, and Streep was on top of it all. Her hairstylist is said to have created 25 different looks for her global publicity tour, an effort that even Miranda Priestly would envy. And there was that too Vogue magazine Cover with Anna Wintour, and now the revelation that Streep initially dismissed Prada 2 To survive for twice that amount of money. “It took me a long time to realize that I could do this,” the 76-year-old Oscar winner said. today. “I was ready to retire, but this was a lesson. I felt they needed me.” Damn right.
The film is looking to open to a solid $175 million worldwide, and is the first female-led film to open the box office in the summer, a release date that typically attracts superhero films. The reviews were a bit lukewarm, but fans won’t care.
lost: Summer house: Bravo suffered its first-ever leak from a reunion show, when unauthorized audio surfaced on TikTok from the highly anticipated show. Summer house Reunion Season 10. Bravo executive producer Andy Cohen described the upcoming #Scamanda showdown as one of the network’s most powerful of the network’s 200-plus reunions, and he was rightfully angry: “People emotionally laid down their lives for 10 hours yesterday, and it is disgusting and illegal that someone would leak or distribute this,” Cohen wrote. “It’s disrespectful to the work and it rips apart the cast they put in yesterday.” Bravo discovered that the leaker was someone on the production team and sources say that person was fired. Fans will still be watching the reunion in droves on May 26 to see the sparkling mascara.
lost: Cheryl Hines and RFK Jr.: It was a sad, riveting scene: Haynes staggering awkwardly across the stage in high heels in the middle of a fire emergency at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, trying to reach her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who had been whisked away in a giant bubble of Secret Service agents. The clip was subjected to intense scrutiny to the point that it became almost cold Curb your enthusiasm Zapruder film version. The consensus seems to be that RFK Jr. He may have had no choice but to move on, and his agents supposedly followed procedure in protecting the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services while ignoring his actress wife, leaving the star to fend for herself. But he certainly seemed heartless, and if we still believe such things, unchivalrous. One felt for Heinz, who might want to wait a few weeks, then casually ask over dinner: “So, if the ICBMs are coming… what exactly will happen to me?”
Last weekWhy Sidney Sweeney won and the critics lost Michael.
Ideas, advice, praise, suggestions and complaints: jhibberd@thr.com.
