LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL 2026 REVIEW! Andrew Acedo’s The Sharp Point of Time follows a mother and son who are completely at odds with one another — she’s trying to save him from himself, he’s trying to get away from her. The story sits at the crossroads of sacrifice and expectation in an immigrant family.
Forty years ago in the Philippines, Eileen (Pinky Albea) was a director. She had a camera and dreams that actually felt possible. Now she lives in Chino Hills, and her dream has faded to family life. Eileen watches her son Joe (Julian Bataclan) smoke weed with his dealer on the street. When she catches him, he doesn’t listen. Neither does the drug dealer who books it out of there and tells her—flat out—to back off and quit controlling the kid.
“Eileen watches her son Joe smoke weed with his dealer on the street.”
Joe sees his mother as controlling, and Eileen sees him as a disappointment, a slacker throwing his life away. She has another son, Matthew (Matthew Acedo), who has Down syndrome and gives her zero problems—nothing like Joe’s troubles. She dotes on him, loves him. Joe’s different. He’s been shadowing the cinematographer on set and hopes his former director mother will acknowledge it. They barely talk anymore. He’s got his own thing going with his dealer, his own arguments, his own life that has nothing to do with her expectations.
Andrew Acedo’s The Sharp Point of Time is the personal story of Acedo’s family and upbringing. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. It hits on a common theme among Asian immigrants. Parents who sacrifice everything to move to the United States to give their children a better life…in this case, it was for Matthew. Eileen wonders if that sacrifice was worth it, seeing Joe addicted to weed. Acedo incredibly conveys this sentiment in the life of Joe and Eileen. No one is the villain; our two leads let pride stand in the way of the bond between mother and son. The performances of Bataclan and Albea are special. My only criticism is you need to work on lighting, paticularly indoor. When it comes to telling stories of ordinary people, Acedo is a master, as seen not only in The Sharp Point of Time but in his other short film, Good Filipino Kids. It’s hard not to fall in love with something that is relatable and authentic.
Of course, until this is voted on by some 160,000 members of the actors’ guild, everything will remain tentative for the time being. Yet, with AI protections, a four-year agreement and a bumping up of the guild pension fund now semi-written-in-stone, this agreement with undoubtedly follow getting an approval just like the recent WGA one did.
In a statement, the guild noted the deal is now heading to its national board for review, which will meet in the coming days to go over terms. Per procedure, specific details will not be revealed in advance of the review.
“SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP have reached a tentative agreement on terms for a successor contract to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical Contracts covering motion pictures, scripted primetime dramatic television, streaming content and new media,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement posted to its website.
As we reported earlier, labor sources told us SAG-AFTRA has received a “sizable” contribution to its pension fund from the AMPTP. This follows the WGA, which similarly agreed to an extended-length contract with the studios and streamers last month in its own negotiations, accepting a multi-million contribution to its ailing healthcare plan. As with the WGA, there were a series of AI “guardrail” measures put in place between the SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP parties.
The news comes after last week’s resumption of talks between SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, after the guild had previously paused negotiations to make way for the WGA in March. Both guild and union sources had told Deadline that they were not far off from a deal, but a few key issues — including regarding AI measures — still needed to be ironed out.
Next up, it’ll be the DGA’s turn, as the Christopher Nolan-led organization is planning to sit down with the AMPTP May 11.
Beau Starr, the Halloween franchise actor, has died. He was 81.
Starr’s brother, Mike, told TMZ he died Friday, April 24 in Vancouver, Canada, due to natural causes.
Before delving into the entertainment industry, he was a professional football player for the New York Jets, the Montreal Alouettes and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In 1980, he starred in a play at the American Theater of Actors, and earned his first television credit in 1979 on Bizarre.
From there, Starr pursued work in both TV and film, appearing in a 1983 episode of Three’s Company; the Steve Martin-starring comedy The Lonely Guy; The A-Team (1983-1985); The Fall Guy (1983-1986); Fletch (1985); and an episode of Highway to Heaven in 1988.
Starr joined the Halloween film universe in 1988’s Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, where he portrayed Sheriff Ben Meeker. He returned for the franchise’s fifth entry, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, where he reprised his earlier role.
In 1990, he also acted in Goodfellas, playing the father to Ray Liotta’s character Henry Hill. Christopher Serrone, who portrayed the younger version of Henry in the Oscar-winning film, penned a tribute on Instagram in honor of Starr on Saturday.
“It is with a heavy heart Im here to inform everyone of the very sad passing of Beau Starr. [Mike Starr] asked me to make the announcement,” he wrote. “Beau enjoyed a rich a meaningful life. He was a son, brother, father, grandfather, actor and NFL/CFL player. Please take a moment to help me remember a great guy. RIP.”
Starr appeared in a plethora of other projects, including a starring turn in NBC’s crime drama series True Blue through its 12-episode run. His additional credits include 2000 Malibu Road, Bad Blood, Speed, NYPD Blue, Leap Years, Doc, Final Days on Planet Earth and Psych.
There’s something deeply counterintuitive about the idea that we would go to a pop concert — the most communal-seeming of all gathering places, outside of a football game or church — in order to stop cheering, forget about everyone around us and just go deep into someone’s personal headspace. That is the stuff of live theater, at its best, and not so much Live Nation. But of course Lily Allen is out to blur those lines with her tour of “West End Girl,” the narrative concept record she put out last year. As every fan learned pretty quickly into the run, she is doing the album, the whole album and nothing but the album, adding plenty of acting out and visualization but nothing so much as a “Hello, Cleveland!” to break the fourth wall. It could not be any more of a theater piece if she’d booked the Walter Kerr for six weeks.
And… it works. Those were the two words every Allen fan was waiting to hear, whether they were in suspense looking to hear how opening night went in London in March or, like me, attending one of the last shows in “West End Girl’s” west coast engagements this past week. With this initial tour of theaters completed, she will give it a rest before returning in September to do a limited run in U.S. arenas, and we will see how that works. But so far, so unassailable.
That Allen pulls this gambit off so well is anything but a complete surprise to some of us. My belief that “West End Girl” is one of the best albums of the 2020s has only grown through re-listens across the six months since it came out. I did say in my initial review that “listening to the album one fell swoop at a time is like immersing yourself in a terrific one-woman show, where she’s running through the demise of a dream marriage in something that feels like real time.” Having said that, though, even I wouldn’t have guessed that she would tour a show in which she doesn’t include any prior material, sings to tracks for 55 minutes and acknowledges the audience only with a curtsy. I had a slight lapse of faith about how that would go over, even leading up to seeing the show at L.A.’s Orpheum last weekend, after hearing so many pond-crossing raves. I needn’t have: The live show is to 2026 what the album was to 2025 — a captivating, even thrilling, exercise in emotional world-building.
Lily Allen at the Orpheum in Los Angeles, April 25, 2026
Chris Willman/Variety
Fans could spend a lot of time debating whether Allen would have been well-served to add an encore segment revisiting at least a couple of her golden oldies. I myself might have argued for that, as a crowd-pleasing bonus. But after actually seeing the show, I appreciated the integrity of sticking to the promised arc, and leaving the stage upon the close of the album’s final number, “Fruityloop.” A story is a story, and I like how Allen ended the “West End Album” with the very barest of epiphanies, rather than trying to contrive a more patronizingly triumphant exit song for the album — which is effectively what an older tune like “Fuck You” would have felt like, if she’d pasted in on for a curtain-call finish, without any real relation to the previous hour. Allen trusted her audience at these shows to feel that the telling of her breakdown of her marriage would be its own catharsis, without a rah-rah exit line. It feels good, upon leaving, to have been handed that trust.
But the “opening act” is where she really ingeniously solved the problem of the audience not feeling like it got enough of her career as well as the new album. As fans learned quickly enough, the support act is a female cello threesome, dubbed the Dallas Minor Trio (a takeoff on “Dallas Major,” a nom de plume that is one of the song titles on “West End Girl”). Over the course of about 40 minutes, these string players ripped though a veritable Allen greatest-hits set — “The Fear,” “Smile,” “Fuck You,” “LDN” and five more — with the lyrics popping up on an overhead screen, in the style of “sing along with Mitch” or taking us out to the ballgame. On the first night at the Orpheum in L.A., it seemed as if the audience had not gotten the memo that this would be a singalong, and there was a lot of tentativeness and holding back before the braver voices in the crowd started piping up. (That, or this really was just a crowd full of newbies who didn’t know “Alfie” very well.) When I first heard about the gambit of having a string section provide the only oldies of the evening, the idea sounded more clever than it did fulfilling. But the arrangements were so strong, and the effect of having the words on screen so powerful, that it actually like… well, is there such a thing as a purgative apertif?
The proper headlining set began with Allen under a neon sign bearing the album title and a proscenium of lights, underscoring the obvious theatricality about to follow. In a canary-yellow jacket, perky skirt to match and black bow, Allen looked like the very picture of sophisticated schoolgirl charm, starting the show off with the only two cheerful minutes in it — the bossa nova first half of the title track. Two minutes in, she took a landline call, replicating the passage in the opening where the bomb is dropped as we hear only her end of a convo in which the husband on the other end gives new meaning to the phrase stranger things. He wants an open marriage, and/or permission to have affairs, and the rest of the narrative has Allen trying to convince herself that’s OK until finally it isn’t.
The biggest question across this song cycle is Why She Didn’t Leave Sooner. One answer is that, if she did, we wouldn’t have 12 or 13 of these 14 great tunes. But the real answer as to why Avid Shmarbour is indulged for so very long is that, as we’re reminded in always-surprising regular intervals, she’s in love with the boy. And while grappling with the propriety of an open marriage is not an everyday situation for most of those in the audience, what it all comes down to is the jolting realization that Lily Allen, known tart and cynic, is as much a sap for love as any of us. That’s a big reason why “West End Girl” is as constantly heartbreaking as it is dryly hilarious. The joke is on anybody who’s lived for fairy-tale romance in the face of a partner who can’t stop confessing he did it for the nookie.
When “West End Girl” came out, I couldn’t stop trying to imagine how a sequential run-through of the album would work live, if she were to try it. Part of the Blue May-produced record’s brilliance is how wildly different the music is from track to track, while never losing the plot thread or feeling instrumentally inconsistent. Some of the tracks evoke anxious EDM or dubstep; some feel like traditional ’50s-style romantic balladry; there’s a totally rocking ska number. No band could possibly pull off these changes without some kind of subterfuge. It didn’t occur to me that the solution would be no band at all. People sometimes feel like they’re getting less value for money if there aren’t players on-stage, and it’s a slippery slope toward musician-lessness in modern pop. But in the telling of “West End Girl,” at least, you don’t want the distractions of other humans on stage. (I did think of Justin Bieber at Coachella, as one does, and this is a different, more justified animal, although I enjoyed his just-knockin-around intimacy too.) The only time anyone saw live people during Allen’s performances on this tour were when a shadowy crew came out to transport the bed from her boudoir across the stage to serve as a prop in her wayward spouse’s “pussy palace.” It makes sense, in this milieu, that the only men worth a damn, or worth even catching a glimpse of, would be the damn movers.
Lily Allen at the Orpheum in Los Angeles, April 25, 2026
Chris Willman/Variety
A few props go a long way in this trip to the bottom of Allen’s post-romantic psyche. She puts on her reading glasses for “Tennis,” the song that is about taking too good a look at the phone her husband was overly eager to snatch back from her. A bejeweled arm pops out from under her bed; a pair of legs emerge from the refrigerator and have to be shoved back. There is her purse, full of outdated pharmaceuticals that she empties out onto the floor and considers taking up again in “Relapse.” The most legendary prop, as many fans will know from videos even if they can’t catch the show, is a long sheet of receipts from dalliances that she stretches across the stage and wraps herself up in. (An $11,000 Chanel receipt? Now we know how the cheating 1% live, if we’re eagle-eyed enough.) Of course the most important prop of all is the Duane Reade bag made famous in “Pussy Palace” as the bearer of her husband’s sex toys. (Imagine being the guy who makes dozens of trips to the drugstore just for bags and finally has to tell the clerk he is the Lily Allen tour’s propmaster.)
All of these visuals are used sparingly because it’s clear the audience wants to see Allen’s face more than they want to see her interface with the artifacts of an affair. When she takes this show to arenas, it’ll be interesting to see how it works out with big screens conveying her acting job, presumably. But it was a pleasure to see it sans screens in the size of theater that Allen has actually worked in as a stage actress in London. Her most affecting moments come in “Relapse,” a song that uses the refrain “I want a drink / I want a Valium” as a sort of talisman to try to ward off those temptations. The number ends with her sitting in her slip and undergarments on a lonesome bed, tears on her forlorn face. Whether she does the actual crying or has a cheat to get moist isn’t the issue. It’s seeing a pop star get that honestly bereft before our eyes, with the suggestion that wrecking her recovery really could be a matter of life and death, however cheeky other parts of the show are.
It is a show that also gives good comedic moments, although the winking rarely gets very broad. The high point in this regard, as anyone might guess just from the title, is “Nonmonogamummy,” the return to her pop-ska roots, in which Allen dips her toes back into the dating world, at her husband’s own behest, and finds it less than satisfying. There is a whole arm-movement dance she does to the chorus that is sort of like the older woman’s version of Chappell Roan’s “Hot 2 Go” routine; Allen makes a baby-rocking motion when she is articulating the “mummy” part of the title, then spreads her legs a little when she pleads, “I’m just trying to be open.” Comic relief feels good in a place like this.
But maybe the most memorable image to take away from a night at the theater with Allen isn’t any of those especially dramatic or funny moments. It is the sight of her near the end of the show, poured into what looks like a shiny maroon-chocolate dress, leaning against a post in her faux home, looking sultry until she gradually starts sinking down into a resigned squat. The temptation to just give up couldn’t be visualized any more subtly or any better.
Lily Allen at the Orpheum in Los Angeles, April 25, 2026
Chris Willman/Variety
There are some paradoxes in a show like this. How does a concert this admittedly compact feel like such a full meal, for starters? How is it we can be so sated we’re glad there’s not an encore? The fact is, “West End Girl” is such a rich experience, on record or live, that hearing “Smile” afterward wouldn’t just be gilding the lily; it’d be a comedown. Perhaps when Allen comes back this fall and is playing Madison Square Garden or the Kia Forum, she’ll be compelled to pad things out a bit for the larger audience that may bring a different set of expectations. But I hope she continues to treat it as the singular musical tragicomedy that it is. Her head is a nice place to visit and you kind of want to live there — and there alone — for every minute she can convince us we’ve entered her disillusioned inner sanctum. “I hate it here,” she keeps reiterating in “Dallas Major,” her salute to the banality of nightclub life… and the more she laments how much she’s not enjoying what she’s being put through, the more we can’t help but love it.
Lily Allen’s U.S. shows resume Sept. 3 at Madison Square Garden in New York. See the itinerary here.
Lily Allen at the Orpheum in Los Angeles, April 25, 2026
Undekhi 4 Review: If you’ve followed the series for the past three seasons, then checking out the finale might be the closure you need, but if not, then you may want to skip it.
Surya Sharma stands out in an otherwise lackluster finale. (Photo: Instagram)
Starring: Harsh Chhaya, Surya Sharma, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Anchal Singh, Ankur Rathee, Varun Badola, Gautam RodeDirector: Ashish R. ShuklaPlatform: Sony LIV
Undekhi Season 4 Review: It’s been five years since the infamous Papaji (Harsh Chhaya) was imprisoned, and his release awaits a trial. Meanwhile, Rinku (Surya Sharma) has revenge in his eyes following the death of his wife, Muskaan (Shivangi Singh). Daman (Ankur Rathee) is trying to raise his daughter by himself and hopes to run the business on his own, sans any illegal activities, much like what Teji (Anchal Singh) wanted all this time. Meanwhile, DSP Ghosh (Dibyendu Bhattacharya) is nowhere near the Atwals until he’s back to catch them red-handed. As Rinku plans to take over the empire, he grows impatient and tries to take down Papaji, who makes a grandiose return after being behind bars.
The fourth installment of the show begins with many of the same gunshots that the show has made itself familiar with. There’s no secret about how gore goes hand in hand with the Applause Entertainment production, and this time is no different. There are more gunshots than there are profanities, and that’s saying a lot, considering the show’s heavy reliance on every foul-mouthed vocabulary they could think of.
Shruthy Menon’s Deepika catches the heat early on, presenting an interesting front, a change from the male-centered portrayal that one may expect it to be. However, her run is short-lived and rather abruptly ended. A clear miss if we’re to be honest. Natasha (ShivJyoti), who enters rather mild turns into a key character later on, providing an element of surprise to the production.
However, not all is well in the paradise. An ill-timed Squid Game replica of the VIPs plays out, coming forth as a sour taste rather than anything enjoyable. It is not a clear showcase of all that’s still wrong with the society that the series has attempted to portray in the past, but instead sheds light on what the problem is with some content.
Eventually, there’s infighting, an interesting arc throughout, and carrying much of the show’s climax as the gang members take charge in the storyline. Without giving too much away, Vikram (Gautam Rode) and Rajveer Malhotra (Varun Badola) come out with more than what meets the eye and turn super important to the storyline as the finale approaches.
The end is not nearly as satisfying as the makers try their best to present a question and the possibility of a revival open without there ever being a need for it. Should you watch it? If you’ve followed the series for the past three seasons, then checking out the finale might be the closure you need, but if not, then you may want to skip it for practically any other crime drama on air right now.
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Extracting intelligence from PDF reports traditionally requires manual reading to identify threat data. This process consumes valuable analyst time and leads to inconsistent data extraction.
With PDFs in Feedly, you can:
View the PDF’s visual elements for quick insights (Available for all Feedly plans).
Automatically extract and process indicators and TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures).
Prompt Ask AI to extract data and structure intelligence faster.
Synthesize intelligence across multiple PDFs to identify trends or emerging threats.
Shift analysts’ focus from tedious data extraction to higher-value threat analysis and defensive strategy development.
Overview
PDFs often contain valid threat intelligence data and trends produced by trusted parties. However, processing these documents is often tedious and error-prone.
Feedly now supports open-source PDFs from two sources:
Those captured by your AI Feeds.
Those you manually add to a Feedly Board via an open-source URL.
You can view and read PDFs directly within Feedly, but the bigger value comes from automatic threat intelligence extraction. Feedly processes PDF content like any other intelligence source, converting them to STIX-formatted JSON for seamless import into your existing tools. Additionally, you can prompt Ask AI to process and synthesize intelligence from multiple PDFs simultaneously, saving time structuring and analyzing threat data.
View the PDF’s visual elements for quick insights
You can now view PDFs directly in the Feedly web application (desktop), including the charts, graphs, and images that often convey information effectively. This is available for all Feedly plans, including free.
Automatically extract and process indicators and TTPs
Feedly AI reads PDFs like other articles such as blogs, social media posts, and threat intel reports. It uses AI Models to identify and extract key intelligence like IoCs (Indicators of Compromise), threat actors, malware, TTPs, CVEs, and more. Feedly then organizes the extracted AI insights, giving you an immediate overview of what matters without digging through the entire PDF.
Like other articles in Feedly, the PDFs are translated to JSON in a rich STIX 2.1 format, so they are easily ingested into other tools via the Feedly API or through no-code integrations.
PDFs can be brought in via an AI Feed or manually to your Feedly Board with a URL. Simply:
Copy the URL that carries the PDF (It has to be an open URL, not behind a login, or registration).
Go to your Feedly Board and click on the “+” sign.
Paste it in the URL.
Prompt Ask AI to extract and structure intelligence faster
Ask AI can help extract and process intelligence into structured formats, making analysis or uploading into other tools easier. For instance, suppose you want to search through a PDF to pull out the TTPs mentioned in the PDF with their MITRE technique. You can prompt Ask AI to create a table listing the tactic, technique, and related data in each row.
Ask AI Prompt
Map out the TTPs along with their corresponding MITRE technique in a table format.
Ask AI Response
Synthesize intelligence across multiple PDFs to identify trends and emerging threats
Ask AI can help summarize long PDFs, capture key themes, identify relevant threats, or summarize key takeaways. You can run Ask AI Prompts across a single PDF, or up to 25 content pieces, including PDFs and other articles. This can give you a broader and more balanced view of cyberattacks or threats discussed in multiple media.
Ask AI Prompt
I am a CTI analyst who is writing a report on new malware. Can you build a report with the sections below. Use concise and analytical intelligence language:
- title of report
- priority level
- Intelligence Requirement
- adversary name(s)
- associated threat actors (if present)
- TTPs with MITRE ID codes (if present)
- technical details (including MITRE attack sequence where present)
- actionable info for threat detection analytics (if present)
- remediation recommendation (if present)
- URLs of sources selected for response
Ask AI Response
Conclusion
By integrating PDF analysis capabilities, Feedly eliminates a critical intelligence bottleneck in CTI workflows. Analysts can now incorporate PDF-based intelligence alongside other sources without manual extraction burdens, creating a unified threat picture with greater efficiency and consistency. The ability to process intelligence efficiently from all sources—including PDFs—is essential for maintaining a balanced and comprehensive view of threats.
For more details and limitations, we encourage you to check out our pdf documentation.
Extract key insights from PDFs with Feedly AI
All Feedly plans, including Free, allow you to view PDFs. But if you want to go further by automatically extracting key threat data, analyzing attack details, and uncovering trends with AI-powered insights—try Feedly Threat Intelligence.
Canadian-born reporter and editor Adam Symchuk has been writing on the topic of film, TV, and literature for over a decade. Starting with an emphasis on Asian film, literature and manga, his love of interntional cinema set the groundwork for decades of obsession with film.
May marks a quieter month over at HBO Max, though it’s the perfect month to go through your backlog and stream some bingeable miniseries. While there is not much on offer for the month, the additions to the platform are a pretty solid selection, including some stand-out musical biopics, a classic story made steamy and modern, superhero action, and a new samurai-themed TV series.
To ensure you don’t miss out on the best releases coming to HBO Max in May, we have hand-selected a few stand-outs. Below that, you will find a complete list of every movie and TV show landing on the streaming platform, along with when they will be available.
MovieWeb Staff Picks for What’s New to HBO Max in May 2026
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) May 1: Fan favorite Spidey Miles Morales is pulled into a multiverse-spanning adventure, meeting with various versions of the iconic web slinger. The Sony animated film is a sharp visual wonder, and one that many fans have come back to time and time again.
Wuthering Heights (2026) May 1: Margot Robbie stars as Cathy, and Jacob Elordi is Heathcliff in director Emerald Fennell’s modern adaptation of the classic Emily Brontë, including an amazing soundtrack by Charli XCX. A highly entertaining and provocative vision of romance, delivered with style.
Walk the Line (2005) May 1: Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon flex their singing abilities in the biopic that follows Johnny Cash through his childhood, early success, stardom, and complicated relationship with June Carter. One of the best music biopics ever made, thanks to strong performances, a well-constructed life-spanning story, and (of course) the music of the country icon.
Song of the Samurai (Season One) May 9: PristineSamurai TV has had quite a resurgence, and Song of the Samurai delivers a live-action adaptation of the beloved manga Chiruran: Shinsengumi Requiem. Set in Kyoto, the period action drama is the standout new series on HBO Max in May.
A Complete Unknown (2024) May 27: Timothee Chalamet gives a defining performance of his career, stepping into the shoes of Bob Dylan, exploring his early years in New York, his arrival in Greenwich Village, and his controversial yet genre-defining choice to go electric at the 1965 folk festival. Elle Fanning gives an equally engaging performance as Dylan’s girlfriend, named Sylvie Russo, in the film.
Full HBO Max May 2026 Calendar
Every Movie Coming to HBO Max in May
May 1
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
The Florida Project (2017)
Love, Simon (2018)
Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)
Saltburn (2023)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
Walk the Line (2005)
Wuthering Heights (2026)
May 8
Greenland 2: Migration (2026)
May 15
May 24
May 26
May 27
A Complete Unknown (2024)
May 29
Miss You, Love You (2026) – HBO Original
The Moment (2026)
Every TV Show Coming to HBO Max in May
May 9
Song of the Samurai (season 1)
May 14
On the Roam (season 2) – Max Original
May 21
Slaves of Faith: Heralds of the Gospel – HBO Original
May 22
Josh Johnson: Symphony (stand-up special) – HBO Original
Resident Evil 6 didn’t go over very well with players when it was released in 2012, but director Zach Cregger and production designer Tom Hammock apparently saw something in the game worth revisiting while creating the upcoming Resident Evil reboot film.
During a set visit attended by GamesRadar, Hammock noted that creatures from Resident Evil 6 will appear in the film. He also added that the team pulled some inspiration from Resident Evil 4 as well.
“You’ll see a lot of Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 6,” said Hammock. “Zach and I went through and pulled specific creature elements that we like from the games, whether it’s tentacles, the teeth integration, and then tried to take that language and move it over to these creatures.”
If you’re looking to light a small or DIY project, but don’t want to invest in serious lighting gear, then these Lume Cube LED light options might be the perfect option. The best part, too, is that these LED light options are on sale and highly affordable. They’re also quite capable and should be able to handle all sorts of DIY needs.
For our newest “Deals of the Week” roundup, we’re looking at three LED light options from Lume Cube that could be great ones to consider for your small, DIY projects. Check them out below.
In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times published Saturday, the former Fox News host opened up about his break with Trump over the Iran war, explained why he believes the president casts a “spell” on those around him, clarified past comments about previously suggesting Trump could be the “Antichrist,” shared his theory that Trump could legalize ca to lower testosterone levels and reflected on Erika Kirk and his regrets over interviewing far-right commentator Nick Fuentes.
Carlson was a prominent player in cable news for decades, hosting shows on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News before he was abruptly ousted from Fox in 2023 shortly after the network settled its defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems, though Fox said the decision was unrelated.
Since his exit, Carlson has forged a new life in digital media, capitalizing on fractured audiences while expanding his brand into other ventures, including a book imprint announced last month.
Here are some of his most eyebrow-raising comments from the interview.
Addressing why he previously said he was “sorry for misleading people,” Carlson pointed to Trump’s decisions in Iran.
“The ticket of admission to the conversation is admitting when you are wrong,” Carlson said. “I spent 10 years defending Trump on Fox News. I’d probably do it again, because on the issues I agree with him… I told people this guy will keep us out of the next Iraq, specifically will keep us out of a regime-change war with Iran… And here we are in the middle of a regime-change war in Iran… so I’m sorry.”
When asked about previously invoking the “Antichrist” in relation to Trump, Carlson denied ever directly calling him that, saying “”I have not said that,” despite The New York Times pointing to past footage in which he asked: “Could this be the Antichrist?”
“I don’t know where that comes from, but I know that those words never left my lips because I’m not sure I fully understand what the Antichrist is, if there’s just one,” Carlson responded. “I actually tried to understand it. I may have said some are asking that. I am not weighing in on that because I don’t understand it, just to be totally clear.”
Carlson also described Trump as having a “spellbinding” presence.
“There is a kind of quality that he has that’s spellbinding,” he said. “And I think it probably literally is a spell… You spend a day with Trump and you’re in this kind of dreamland.”
He went on to speculate that Trump could legalize cannabis as a way to “lower testosterone levels” and make people “more passive,” adding, “Have some more benzos, it’s fine. Because it’s not fine, is the truth.”
He also expressed his own theories about the damage he believes has come to many people in Trump’s orbit.
“One thing that has bothered me for many years is the fact that a lot of people in Trump’s immediate orbit have been hurt,” Carlson said. “Gone to prison, become unemployable, publicly shamed, have gotten cancer. And I am a believer in big-picture assessments of things. So you’re trying to think, Is Trump good or bad? He’s saying things I really agree with. But then people around him are getting hurt. Is the country actually getting better? I don’t know.”
Reflecting on his October interview with Fuentes, Carlson admitted, “I wish I hadn’t done the Fuentes interview.”
“It was totally not worth it,” he said, adding that it distracted from pressing conversations about Iran. “I added to the distraction. What I really wanted to talk about was where we were going in this war with Iran. And I spent like a month getting calls from people being like, ‘You’re a Nazi!’ And I wish I hadn’t done that. It didn’t imperil my soul.”
He added: “The only person I’ve really been impolite with is Ted Cruz, because I have limited self-control and he’s just so repulsive. I couldn’t control myself. And I was a jerk, and I tried to apologize.”
Carlson also addressed his relationship with Turning Point USA following Charlie Kirk’s murder in September, saying he still cares deeply for Erika Kirk and remains concerned about the investigation.
“I have always loved Erika Kirk,” Carlson said. “my concern more broadly is about the investigation into Charlie’s murder, which was short-circuited by the F.B.I. And I’d like to know why.”
Top of the Ticker: Thursday’s edition of CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip featured a contentious exchange between two of its regular panelists, CNN’s senior political commentator Scott Jennings and MeidasTouch Network commentator Adam Mockler.
During a debate about the war in Iran, Mockler pressed Jennings on the conflict’s progress and conclusion. This led to Jennings using disparaging and profane language towards Mockler. Phillip quickly interjected to diffuse the situation and let Jennings respond to Mockler’s assertions before wrapping up the topic.
TVNewser reached out to CNN regarding the incident, with the network declining to comment on the situation.
Wow Scott Jennings blows up at Adam Mockler: “Get your fucking hand out of my face”
Mockler: We all know that Scott Jennings is more than happy to defend a war with a country that starts with letters Ira that we are currently failing that is going to put us trillions and… pic.twitter.com/NjYu6Ij5z1
Audio bound: Add Greta Van Susteren to the growing list of cable personalities launching podcasts. Newsmax announced on Monday that she will be hosting a weekly podcast, Greta Wire. Now available on leading platforms, Greta Wire will feature interviews with notable figures from politics, business, sports, and entertainment.
Revolving Door: Marc Stewart has left CNN. The former Beijing correspondent and co-host of Marketplace Asia told TVNewser that he left the network “on great terms” and said his Beijing assignment “was the adventure of many lifetimes.” Stewart had been with CNN since Sept. 2022.
Also departing CNN is Stephanie Elam, who served two stints at the network, totaling more than 20 years. The Los Angeles-based correspondent was treated to a goodbye party by her now-former colleagues, which featured a surprise appearance by CNN anchor Sara Sidner.
Warning! Major spoilers ahead for Season 8, Episode 17 of The Rookie, “Dead Ringer,” streaming now with a Hulu subscription or Disney+ subscription.
Season 8 of The Rookie is winding down on the 2026 TV schedule, and the drama is not done throwing out surprises. Monday’s episode ended on quite a heartbreaking note when Bridget Regan’s manipulative lawyer, Monica Stevens, was shot and killed by a faux rideshare driver after trying to make an escape from some dangerous criminals. Now, the actress has revealed why she’s sad about it, but it’s not the reason I assumed.
Since Season 5, Monica had been causing trouble for our favorite characters. She was also Elijah Stone’s defense attorney and had some ties to some pretty dangerous people. However, her storyline for Season 8 kicked off in Prague, and she helped out every once in a while. But, even though it seemed like her life of crime was finally behind her and she was getting the protection she needed from some very bad people, fate told her otherwise.
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It was definitely a surprise when Monica found out she was not in fact going to LAX and was on her way to her death, but she took it like a champ. Despite the fact that she was a pretty intense character, The Rookie will be feeling the impact of losing her for a while. While fans and the characters might have been surprised, Regan admitted to TV Insider she wasn’t. She also explained that she was sad for the life that Monica was so close to getting:
I was thrilled that she lasted as long as she did. If you play with fire as long as she has, eventually you’re going to get burned. And as I said to Alexi and everybody, I was like, ‘She’s not on her ninth life. She’s on her 37th. She’s escaped multiple assassinations and prison time and being thrown in a wood chipper. But what I was surprised by was just how incredibly sad I was for her. Not that she died, but that she never truly flipped, that she actually succumbed to the dark side and couldn’t find her way back. And I felt like there was this version of Monica that could have been something else, but she just could never get there. So to me, that was the real heartbreak of it all.
Sure, Monica has done some pretty horrible stuff, both personally and professionally, even leading the LAPD to Prague at the beginning of the season. But Regan makes a good point. Every once in a while, Monica would help out, but she didn’t stay good for very long.
(Image credit: ABC)
The fact that Regan is sadder about her character never flipping than her dying says a lot. And who knows what could have happened in Season 9 had they never killed off Monica? Unfortunately, fans will never know, and creator and showrunner Alexi Hawley explained his reason for killing off a character fans love to hate:
It felt like it was time. Ultimately, it felt like she’d escaped a lot of things. And I never like to just tread water or feel like we’re telling the same story over and over. So I think it just felt like it was a natural end. And yeah, it felt like we needed to give her a really powerful ending.
It’s always sad whenever a character dies on a show, especially one as memorable as Moncia Stevens, regardless of their actions. At the very least, Hawley knew when to say goodbye and didn’t want to keep her on an endless loop. Plus, Regan isn’t too torn up about her death; she’s sadder about the way her character’s life turned out.
Your Daily Blend of Entertainment News
With The Rookie’s Season 8 finale airing on Monday, it’s hard to predict what exactly will happen and what kind of impact Monica’s death will have on everyone. So fans will just have to tune in at 10 p.m. ET on ABC to see how it all turns out.
First, the BAIT: a weird genre pick, and why we’re exploring its specific niche right now. Then, the BITE: a spoiler-filled answer to the all-important question, “Is this old cult film actually worth recommending?”
The Bait: “Before Sunrise” Meets David Lynch in the Creepiest First Date Movie Ever Made
If you’re in New York City now through June 14, you can see Dill Harcourt in “Girls” (aka Corey Stoll) and an “SNL” MVP from 2012-2022 (aka Cecily Strong, in a brilliant, full-throated dramatic performance) onstage Off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre in “What Happened Was…”
It’s based on a 1994 play and Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning movie directed by and starring the late, great Tom Noonan (RIP). If you can’t make it to attend this addictive and seriously warped stage adaptation, you can very easily find this underseen indie on YouTube for a skin-crawly night in. (It’s a favorite of Charlie Kaufman, who would later cast Noonan in “Synecdoche, New York,” and fans of Kaufman’s two-hander “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” will find much to love in “What Happened Was.”)
The play, and the film, revolve around paralegal Michael and executive legal assistant Jackie, co-workers at the same firm who meet for a first date at Jackie’s apartment, the same way nervous neighbors meet over a tall fence: How much damage and ruin await on the other side of the parapet if you look too closely? Over the course of an eventually boozy evening, both reveal acid-spiked truths to one another while swapping wounded badinage — one being that Jackie is the writer of truly twisted short stories that might be based on her own real trauma, and the other being that Michael is a phony and a play actor in his own life.
“What Happened Was” (1994)
Shot luridly in neo-noir-streaked honest-to-god celluloid the way only indies in the ‘90s were — and perhaps with Martin Scorsese’s all-nighter “After Hours” as a touchstone — “What Happened Was” is one of those great one-night movies. Think of it as “Before Sunrise” directed by David Lynch, and a romance fueled by self-consciousness and insecurity. Vulnerability risks emotional exposure, but Michael and Jackie use a fear of intimacy as firewood to possibly spark something real, maybe the first real thing they’ve felt in their lives.
Noonan plays Michael in the film with a quiet watchfulness that contrasts Jackie’s nervy, open wound of a woman played with emotive genius by Karen Sillas. “What Happened Was” the movie plays up the creep factor by filling Jackie’s apartment with watchful porcelain dolls, positioned like voyeurs to a long-winded and eventually perverse conversation between broken people.
The centerpiece of this movie — and what blew me away in the play, as read by Strong — is the absolutely unhinged monologue Jackie delivers, reading from her short stories. (It turns out she’s a published author!) In a terrifying oner punctuated only by visualizations of it that Michael projects onto the TV, Jackie tells the story of a woman sexually abused by everyone around her, including her own parents, in a Southern Gothic-tinged Florida where she eventually “topless-danced her way West” to ward off trauma. “End of part one,” the story concludes, and our jaws are on the floor.
“What Happened Was” made a minor indie splash at the time, and reportedly, Noonan planned a schedule that he pitched to various streamers in the last years of his life. I would’ve loved to see where these two ended up — which, after that speech, is unlikely to be in each other’s arms. For now, Ian Rickson’s stage version gives an approximation of what another version of this story might look like — one where drunkenly singing along to Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You” is fodder for a painful first date.
There’s no worse nightmare than dating in 2026, making 1994’s “What Happened Was” feel oh so — that dreaded word — prescient. —RL
“What Happened Was” (1994)
The Bite: Speak for Yourself, I Love Trauma Dumping
Look. Any woman in a movie who gets introduced listening to ’Til Tuesday’s “Voices Carry,” running around her silk-draped apartment half-naked, is going to have my allegiance, full stop. And sorry, but there’s just no denying that Karen Sillas looks absolutely stunning in that little burgundy dress. Hell, even watching Tom Noonan visibly shake as Michael struggled to process the passive-aggressive complexities of the batshit woman’s home he was in, nothing — nothing!! — could make me hate Jackie.
Blending the unease of something like 1979’s “When a Stranger Calls” with the everyday misery of a more grounded relationship drama, “What Happened Was” frames its main characters like potential players in a would-be horror movie from the jump. But those archetypes are hard to pin down at first. Michael isn’t an obvious predator so much as he is socially off, faintly alien, and hard to read. That ambiguity clashes with Jackie’s cool, home-field advantage in a way that feels fun… until that very chemistry sours into a poison that’s one part “Sliver,” two parts “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
“What Happened Was” (1994)
Drenched in purple hues and shifting candlelight, Jackie’s apartment does a lot of the unsettling. The set feels less like a ’90s living room than a cozy villain’s lair, warm but volatile (and easily set ablaze). Every detail on screen feels both meaningful and intentionally unstable, from the light-up goose we see glaring at us from Jackie’s feet, to the strange mix of posters featuring Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” and a black-and-white photograph of Martin Luther King Jr.
The room suggests a personality that has been carefully curated and is still intensely personal, but coming from an occupant who’s obviously unwell. That shift in Michael’s understanding is subtle but arrives early on, when his casual, “I guess this is a lull,” quip turns an awkward beat into an excruciating disconnect. With more than half the film to go, that’s the second you feel truly “stuck” with them.
‘What Happened Was’
From there, “What Happened Was” settles into a rhythm that feels painfully recognizable and yet rarely predictable. Anchored in the universal psychological tensions that underlie not just bad dates but most bad dynamics, Jackie and Michael’s thorny sense of instant codependence eventually prompts each person to deliver their own unhinged monologue. But Ryan was right to warn me about Jackie’s feverish description of an abusive Southern Gothic childhood — if only, because both Michael and my reaction to that reveal fundamentally changed how I saw the rest of the night.
Critically, Michael doesn’t recoil when Jackie shares her horrific story. He lights up, and for most women I know, that’s scarier. Once offered, vulnerability isn’t always met with care by the people we date, and instead, it can be absorbed or even fetishized with reckless cruelty. When Michael pivots from his sweaty-lipped, almost horny fascination with Jackie’s trauma to clumsily suggesting she publish her book professionally, the tone suggests her weakness has made him somehow ravenous.
‘What Happened Was’
I’ve dated several writers, and broadly speaking, it’s a fast track to mutual emotional cannibalism. If someone’s job is to mine reality for meaning, intimacy can feel like raw material. And when two artists date each other, one of them almost always has to shrink. Watching Jackie read her profoundly scary tale, my reaction moved from curiosity to revulsion to fear… not of her, but of Michael. Too many women know the feeling of watching a man lean in too close when the subject turns to her pain, and “What Happened Was” dares to ask a question that still stings years later: What do you disclose, and why?
By the end, Noonan’s film stops feeling like a first date and starts to resemble the makings of a crime scene as his mood lurches toward something dangerous. Every frame tightens with dread, to the point that even a corked champagne bottle feels like a weapon, and Jackie’s birthday cake becomes a test Michael was never going to pass. And yet, even as the world’s worst renter spiraled out of control, I stayed on her side. If only because these two colleagues’ brush with real connection crystallizes what it’s truly like when one person insists something was “important” — while the other retreats.
When Michael asks if this was “a date,” it’s not clarifying so much as strategic, and what’s striking about Noonan’s meditation on misery is how much dating hasn’t changed since 1994. Decades on, “What happened was…” is still how many of us soften our most difficult romantic stories, subtly blurring sharp memories into an arc that’s more survivable. But like Jackie washing dishes, and turning off that (very cool?!) lamp, you have to wonder if we rewrite our experiences primarily because, then, we don’t have to admit to ourselves that we already knew how those relationships would end. When Jackie says, “We all are where we are because we want to be there, right?” it lands like a threat with no weight behind it. And when Michael asks, “What do I do now?” the suggestion to go home isn’t a comfort so much as a guilty verdict. —AF
Read more installments of After Dark, IndieWire’s midnight movie club:
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Hot off the release of her new single “Drop Dread,” an upcoming album, and a newly announced tour, Olivia Rodrigo is picking up another major gig: pulling double duty as both host and musical guest for the May 2 episode of Saturday Night Live.
The Grammy Award winner joins an elite group of performers who’ve handled both hosting and musical duties — like Ariana Grande and Harry Styles. If you’re planning to tune in, you can stream the episode live without cable (and for free) through services like DirecTV or Fubo.
At a Glance: How to Watch Olivia Rodrigo on SNL for Free
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Olivia Rodrigo first rose to fame in 2021 with her breakout hit “Drivers License.” While she initially gained attention as a Disney Channel star (making her first appearance in 2016), it was the release of her debut album SOUR that cemented her global success. Her upcoming Unraveled Tour is set to run from 2026 through 2027, with presale tickets going on sale starting Tuesday (more details on that below).
Where to Watch Olivia Rodrigo on SNL Without Cable for Free
Rodrigo has appeared on SNL before as a musical guest, but this marks her first time taking on both roles in one night, performing some of her biggest hits while also hosting. If you want to watch Olivia Rodrigo on Saturday Night Live, here are the best ways to stream it using editor-favorite services like DirecTV and Fubo.
Editor’s Pick
DirecTV
➤ $39.99/month ➤ Five-day free trial ➤ Up to 185+ channels
DirecTV is our top pick for streamingSaturday Night Live online. The service includes NBC in several packages, like the budget-friendly MyNews plan at $39.99 per month, and offers a five-day free trial to get started. DirecTV is a great option for viewers who want to watch without a long-term commitment. And if you decide to keep it, you’ll get access to a solid lineup of channels.
Free trial
Fubo
➤ $84.99/month ➤ Five-day free trial ➤ Up to 400+ channels
Fubo is another solid option for streaming Saturday Night Live live, with NBC included in its Pro plan or higher. The Pro plan starts at $84.99 per month, and new users can take advantage of a five-day free trial plus $10 off their first month. Fubo makes it easy to cancel after the free trial, so you won’t have to worry about getting charged after watching Rodrigo’s episode.
most affordable
Peacock
➤ $10.99/month ➤ On-demand and live content
Fans can also watch Saturday Night Live on Peacock. It’s a more affordable option at $10.99 per month for the Premium plan (required for live NBC), though it doesn’t offer a free trial. And while Peacock is a paid option, we like it for its value; you’ll also get access to popular shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation with your subscription.
best for long-term
Sling
➤ $45.99/month ➤ Up to 46 channels
Sling is another option for those who want to stream Saturday Night Live. You’ll need the Sling Blue plan to access NBC, with pricing starting at $45.99 per month. Sling doesn’t currently offer a free trial. However, if you’re a soccer fan, Sling Blue is worth considering, especially with events like the FIFA World Cup, where your subscription can also be used to stream matches.
SNL Season 51 Cast Members
Some big cast changes have been made for SNL Season 51. Five cast members were replaced, with Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, and Emil Wakim all leaving ahead of the new season. New faces include Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska.
Adam Scott once attempted an unlikely return to the “Hellraiser” franchise, even after his character was killed off.
During a recent appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, where he was promoting his latest project “Hokum,” Scott reflected on auditioning for 2002’s “Hellraiser: Hellseeker,” years after making his film debut in “Hellraiser: Bloodline.” In the earlier installment, Scott played Jacques, a servant who helps summon a demon before meeting a violent end.
At the time, Scott said, he was largely unfamiliar with the long-running horror series and simply eager for the opportunity. But when an audition for the sixth film came through, he was initially confused by the prospect of rejoining a franchise in which his character had already died.
“My agent sent me an audition for ‘Hellraiser 6,’ and I thought, ‘Wait a second… I was in ‘Hellraiser 4,’” Scott said. Still, needing the work, he decided to go ahead with the audition, thinking “screw it” and “maybe they won’t notice that I was in Hellraiser 4.”
That proved difficult in practice. Scott recalled sitting in the waiting room and spotting a producer from the earlier film nearby, prompting him to try to avoid being recognized. “I was kind of holding my papers up, thinking, ‘If he doesn’t see me and they think I’m good, maybe I’ll get it,’” he said.
He ultimately did not land the role.
Looking back, Scott has described his role in “Hellraiser: Bloodline” as a significant early break, even if the experience had its quirks — including arriving on set to find his chair labeled with the wrong name. Though the film itself underwent delays and extensive reshoots before its release, he said he was simply grateful to be working at the time.
“I remember just being excited because it was a real movie, and I didn’t care if it was shitty,” Scott said. “And it did end up being very, very shitty, but I was just happy to have a job.”
GENEVA – Canada’s Kadriana and Colton Lott are world championship medallists.
The married duo from Gimli, Man., earned a dominant 11-3 victory over Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner on Saturday to win bronze at the world mixed doubles curling championship.
The win marked Canada’s first medal at the world championship since 2019. It also marked Colton Lott’s second international medal of the 2025-26 season, after winning silver last month playing third for Team Matt Dunstone at the men’s worlds.
“To share this together, to go on world stages to different parts of the world, it’s something we want to continue, and we’ll cherish these moments forever throughout our lives,” said Kadriana Lott, who earned her first career world medal. “Just super proud of us, and I’m happy to have that medal around our necks and happy to be standing at the podium at the end of this week.”
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Canada, which fell to Sweden in the semifinals, capitalized on its scoring opportunities, notching two four-enders and one three-ender.
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Canada’s 89 per cent shooting accuracy outpaced Italy’s 65 per cent. A costly miscue from the opposition in the first end allowed Canada to jump ahead, as Italy came up light on a draw and Canada got a tap around a guard to score four.
“It gives us all the momentum going forward, right from the get-go,” Colton Lott said. “Especially after that first end, we could really tell that they weren’t quite on their game, and as long as we kept applying pressure, tried to make them make really precise shots, we were going to get mistakes, and for the most part, we capitalized on that and just kept bending all the way through.”
The decisive moment came in the sixth end when Canada used its power play to draw for four and the Italians conceded the final two ends of the contest.
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Australia’s Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt defeated Sweden’s Therese Westman and Robin Ahlberg 8-4 in the gold-medal game.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2026.
Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter just pulled off one of the year’s most unexpected power moves. Their collaborative track ‘Bring Your Love’ hit number one on US iTunes, and yo, nobody saw this crossover coming.
Chartdata broke the news that’s got the music world buzzing. The track jumped straight to the summit, proving that when legends link up with the new school, magic happens. This isn’t just another feature – this is a full-blown statement piece.
Madonna‘s been the Queen of Pop for decades, but she’s never been one to play it safe. At 67, she’s still out here making moves that catch everyone off guard. Linking with Sabrina Carpenter? That’s some next-level strategic thinking. The Material Girl knows how to stay relevant, and this collaboration is proof she’s still got her finger on the pulse.
Carpenter’s been building serious momentum since breaking away from her Disney roots. The ‘Nonsense’ singer’s been climbing the charts steadily, but landing a number one with Madonna? That’s a whole different level of validation. This move positions her right in the mainstream spotlight where she belongs.
The track itself brings together two completely different eras of pop music. Madonna’s decades of experience mixing with Carpenter’s fresh energy creates something that hits different. It’s got that classic pop sophistication Madonna’s known for, but with the modern edge that Carpenter brings to everything she touches.
What makes this collaboration even more impressive is the timing. The music industry’s been all about unexpected pairings lately, but this one actually delivers. It’s not just a publicity stunt – the song’s got real substance behind it.
For Madonna, this marks another chapter in her never-ending reinvention story. She’s proven time and again that she can adapt to any era, any sound, any trend. Working with Carpenter shows she’s not just keeping up with today’s music – she’s helping shape it.
Carpenter’s side of this equation is equally impressive. She’s been putting in work for years, building her sound and her fanbase. Landing a collaboration with someone of Madonna’s caliber shows the industry is taking notice. This isn’t just about chart positions – it’s about respect.
The iTunes number one position speaks volumes about both artists’ drawing power. Streaming might dominate the conversation, but iTunes sales still matter for measuring real fan engagement. When people actually spend money on a track, that’s when you know it’s hitting different.
Industry watchers are calling this collaboration a masterclass in cross-generational appeal. Madonna brings the nostalgia factor and proven hitmaking ability. Carpenter delivers the contemporary edge and younger demographic reach. Together, they’ve created something that works for multiple audiences.
The success of ‘Bring Your Love’ also highlights how smart collaborations can benefit everyone involved. Madonna gets to tap into Carpenter’s rising momentum. Carpenter gets the credibility boost that comes with working alongside a living legend. It’s a win-win situation that actually produces good music.
This chart-topping moment might just be the beginning. Both artists have shown they’re willing to take creative risks, and this collaboration proves those risks can pay off big time. The music industry better take notes because this is how you do intergenerational teamwork right.
With ‘Bring Your Love’ sitting pretty at number one, both Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter are exactly where they need to be – on top and making the kind of moves that keep everyone else trying to catch up.
When the messenger Pheidippides ran from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over the Persians in the 5th century B.C., he did it without shoes. His time was not officially tracked.
Millenniums later, at the London Marathon on Sunday, Sabastian Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha became the first to break the two-hour barrier in an official marathon, and Tigist Assefa set a women’s world record. All three did it in featherweight footwear.
The shoe, the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, weighs 97 grams, or about 3.4 ounces, depending on the shoe size. It’s the lightest running sneaker approved for competition. It sold out on Monday.
The race to near-weightlessness has been a driving force of innovation in running sneakers in the 25 centuries since shoeless Pheidippides’s run.
Heavier shoes are slower, a 2016 study showed, although that analysis was only for three-kilometer time trials. The study’s authors hid lead pellets in some Nike racing shoes and didn’t tell the subjects.
“When we added 100 grams per shoe, they ran about 1 percent slower, and when we added 300 grams, they ran about 3 percent slower,” said Rodger Kram, an emeritus professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He called the 1 percent per 100 grams “a rule of toe.”
But it took many steps before running shoes evolved to the blistering pace they now allow.
‘The Platonic ideal’
Shoes once relied on leather, wood or metal reinforcements that were heavy and stiff. The rise of the rubber sole added flexibility and waterproofing. Better durability and grip were bonuses.
People could also run or walk in rubber soles without being heard. That’s why they’re called sneakers.
The first flat-soled rubber and canvas shoe was developed in 1868, almost 30 years after Charles Goodyear discovered the process of curing rubber called vulcanization. Converse and Keds made them popular in the 1920s.
“Converse All Stars are the Platonic ideal of the sneaker,” said Nicholas Smith, the author of “Kicks: The Great American Story of Sneakers.”
He noted they have not changed much.
“Canvas on top, rubber at the bottom.”
‘Chariots of Fire’
Competitive runners soon faced a trade-off: a heavier shoe with better traction or a lighter flat sole.
The heavier option, which transferred maximum force from the runner’s foot to the ground for acceleration, came from J.W. Foster of Bolton, England, who had the insight that led to the first metal spikes in shoes in the 1890s. Top British runners, including those competing in the 1924 Paris Olympics, wore these new spikes to notch their fastest times. Their story is told in “Chariots of Fire,” the Oscar-winning 1981 film.
It was at another Olympics, in Berlin, that Jesse Owens wore six-spiked shoes created by Adidas to become the most successful runner of the 1936 Games. His shoes, made of specially tanned calf leather and cowhide, weighed 201 grams.
A broken waffle iron
Running tracks made of urethane, a rubber compound, began to emerge in the 1960s. When one was installed in 1969 at the University of Oregon, the track coach, Bill Bowerman, found that runners’ spikes dug in too deep while flat shoes offered too little traction.
Having breakfast one morning in 1971, he noticed that the grid pattern on the waffle iron his wife was using might just be what his runners needed to get a grip on the track.
He tried pouring liquid urethane into the waffle iron, but only managed to seal it shut. He kept trying other waffle irons until he had the mold he wanted, according to Nike archivists.
But Bowerman wanted more than grippier sneakers.
“He was also devoted to making the lightest running shoe possible,” said Elizabeth Semmelhack, the author of “Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture.”
Bowerman’s shoe, which Nike called the Waffle Trainer, “stands out because it had an extremely thin rubber sole but with a high tread, and then the upper of the shoe was made out of nylon.”
The light weight also helped bring running to the masses.
“You can bet there wouldn’t be so many people running today if they had to carry all the extra baggage we had back then,” Bowerman, a Nike co-founder, said in 1979.
The waffle-pattern nubs on the soles compressed under weight and helped bring spring to a runner’s step. But they only hinted at how sneakers could be cushioned. For many runners, it was not enough.
In the 1970s, companies like Brooks began using ethylene-vinyl acetate, better known as EVA foam.
EVA offered a thicker, air-infused layer of separation from the road and absorbed more of the shock. The age of adding thick slabs of rubber for cushioning was over.
That led to a new quest that continues today: How much cushioning can you build into a shoe?
Lighter than foam
Sneaker makers next turned to a gas and a semisolid to help spread the energy of a foot’s impact with the ground.
In 1979, the Nike Air Tailwind began the airbag era, in which pressurized gas is stored in a flexible urethane bag within the sole.
Asics pioneered gel cushioning technology in 1986 with its silicone-based shock absorption. Nike countered in 1987 with the Air Max 1, which had a “window” in the sole designed to show off the air pocket. “At the time that was the cutting edge,” Mr. Smith said.
Though air is lighter than foam, it had to be kept in a rubber vessel, which added weight. So did adding silicone gel packets to the heel and forefoot.
While air bubbles felt more springy, and gel more dampening, they both were able to absorb shocks longer than the standard foam.
An icon of the 1990s tackled a different problem: how laces become loosened during a run. Reebok, building upon its wildly successful Pump basketball sneakers, which could be inflated with the press of a button on the tongue, introduced the Instapump Fury, a colorful, open-paneled, split-soled running sneaker.
“The Instapump used an air bladder that could fit your particular foot, the nuances of your own foot, very, very closely,” Ms. Semmelhack said. “Then you didn’t have to adjust any lacing throughout your run or at any time. So it was very innovative.”
Rise of the super shoes
But as new technologies made foam lighter, shoemakers soon couldn’t get enough of it.
One brand, Hoka, wedged so much cushy foam into its soles, beginning in 2009, that the shoes looked swollen. Runners could hardly “feel the ground anymore,” Smith said. The company’s designs helped push amateur runners to chunkier shoes.
But it was the thick-soled Nike Vaporflys that captured the most attention. They came with a carbon-fiber plate in the midsole that was very light and gave stability to all the squishy foam. The plate stores and releases energy with each stride, and is meant to spring runners forward.
The Vaporflys also use polyether block amide, or PEBA, a bouncier, lighter foam. The twin technologies led to the nickname “super shoes.”
“There was concern that this additional innovation in the running shoe was the equivalent of doping,” Semmelhack said. The shoes cushioned the feet of all three medalists in the men’s marathon at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The New York Times found in 2019 that the shoes gave a significant advantage, but they were never banned.
Adidas used its lightest foam in the sole of the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, which were worn by Sunday’s record-breaking marathoners. It also said that the shoe has carbon fiber rods to mimic the human foot’s bone structure.
In other words, closer to the bare feet in Pheidippides’s run.
In the beginning, platforms like Fiverr were places where people could hire freelancers to do specialized creative labor using skills that took years to develop. In the age of generative AI, though, many of these gig workers have embraced the technology in order to meet clients’ demands. These workers’ profiles emphasize that they can quickly (and cheaply) whip up images and videos of just about anything. But often, what their clients are looking for are dramatic animations inspired by the Christian Bible.
On TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook it is very easy to stumble across AI-generated clips that retell stories from the Bible. Like most AI slop, these videos tend to have an inconsistent aesthetic to them, and they’re narrated by mechanical-sounding voices. Rather than focusing on getting details from the Bible right, these videos cartoonishly emphasize emotions like fear and anger that are central to their simplified narratives.
Some of the videos — whose visuals appear to be borrowed from Pixar projects — are clearly aimed at children, while others — which are more photorealistic — feel like they’re meant for older viewers. You can tell from the view counts that people are actually watching these things. But the creators rarely mention the fact that they outsource the videos’ production labor instead of making the content themselves.
It’s the opposite on Fiverr, where gig-seekers are open about their history of working on projects for other people’s social accounts. The platform — which committed to becoming an “AI-first” company last fall when it laid off 250 employees — allows people to upload clips of their previous work, and clients can provide comments about their satisfaction. And each of the Fiverr workers that I spoke with for this story said that, as much as some people might abhor AI video slop, the gigs keep rolling in. When you scroll through Fiverr, there are people all over the world looking for these jobs, but some of the highest-rated freelancers are based in Africa and South Asia. To a certain extent, that pattern mirrors the way that AI firms have historically outsourced their model training and data labeling labor abroad to keep costs down. But the freelancers I talked to all said that they see this kind of work as far less extractive on a personal level.
Dave, a Nigerian freelancer with a background in web development and UI / UX design, told me that he first got into video production a few years back as AI tools became more widely available to the public. Dave said that he’s always had a deep love for visually driven narratives, and tools like ChatGPT, Grok, and Leonardo AI gave him an easy way to become a professional storyteller. Fiverr, Dave said, gave him a way to turn his newly acquired skills into cash.
“I saw an opportunity in [using AI tools] because learning traditional animation would have taken too long and the resources were not really there for me,” Dave explained. “With Al, the learning curve was not as steep, so I was able to play around and figure things out as I went, and eventually I came to Fiverr to start selling the skill.”
Though Dave gets hired for other kinds of AI video projects, he said that he takes on Bible-focused gigs because “the demand is quite high” and there are a lot of people who “are trying to build YouTube channels in this niche.” The niche is relatively new with solid traffic, and Dave feels like some of his clients hire him because they “do not want to be left behind” as AI takes off. I heard similar things from Sherry, a Pakistani video editor who has generated religious videos for YouTubers and TikTok accounts in a variety of different styles.
To my eye, Sherry’s AI videos did not seem all that distinct from what other Fiverr freelancers are offering because all of this content usually has That Look™ that’s become synonymous with slop. But when I asked Sherry why clients keep hiring them rather than just prompting up videos themselves, they insisted that doing this work requires a certain kind of expertise.
“I’ve developed strong prompt writing skills, along with an understanding of storytelling, timing, and visual composition, which helps me produce more polished and engaging videos,” Sherry told me. “I also handle the full process from concept to final edit, saving clients time and ensuring the content is professional, unique, and aligned with their goals. That combination of creativity, technical skill, and reliability is what sets my work apart.”
Workers like Sherry and Dave have given content brands like AI Bible a way of sourcing relatively cheap and fast labor that can be easily monetized online. Across different social media platforms, these pages have cultivated massive followings of people who engage with their content in earnest. You might think that more viewers would see this kind of treatment of the Bible as being somewhat sacrilegious. It definitely feels odd seeing biblical figures depicted as Instagram influencers recording videos of themselves with iPhones. But the comments sections are filled with people insisting that “Jesus would laugh at [these videos] too,” and praising the channels for spreading Christ’s message.
The overall visual similarity of these kinds of videos has a lot to do with the specific tools that people are using to make them. Ruaf, another Pakistani freelancer I spoke with via Zoom, walked me through his entire production workflow, which began with asking ChatGPT for ideas that could be turned into dialogue between characters from the Bible. He then used ChatGPT to turn that dialogue into a script broken into scenes. That script was sent over to ElevenLabs in order to generate an audio narration track and accompanying captions. And after asking ChatGPT to include things like camera directions and shot descriptions in the script, Ruaf fed each scene into Grok in order to generate visuals that could be edited together with the AI narration in CapCut.
Ruaf told me that there are many other freelancers using similar workflows for projects of their own. People in the AI community often share tips about how to deal with roadblocks like different platforms’ limits on how many generations users can make in a day. But when you look at the videos, you get the sense that their general uniformity is a byproduct of people taking the same general approach to making them.
The videos’ slop-y visuals don’t really seem to be an issue for the people commissioning them or the viewers — some of whom could very well be bots. And while this style of content comes across as at least a little bit blasphemous, the people cranking these things out aren’t concerned about that because there’s money to be made.
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One of Andy Cohen‘s former flings has opened up about his ‘mad, passionate lust affair’ with the Watch What Happens Live host.
Broadway star Sydney James Harcourt dished all the details of his steamy sex life with Cohen, 57, in an interview with the Dads and Daddies podcast.
Stressing that their tryst was more than just a one night stand, Harcourt revealed that the pair saw each other on and off for ‘at least a year and a half’ after initially meeting on Craigslist.
He also confirmed that their romance took place when Cohen was still working as a behind-the-scenes producer at Bravo, long before he became famous.
‘It was a Craigslist thing and it was a really good one,’ Harcourt said.
‘He came to my apartment the first time, and then the vibe was fun. He’s different than his TV persona,’ he continued.
One of Andy Cohen’s former flings has opened up about his ‘mad, passionate lust affair’ with the Watch What Happens Live host
‘I just knew that he was hot and man, the sex was really, really great.’
Cohen confirmed the fling with Harcourt on his SiriusXM show Radio Andy in 2024, shortly after Harcourt appeared on Watch What Happens Live as a guest bartender.
‘I met him many years ago and we had a mad passionate love affair — lust affair,’ he said.
‘I met him on Craigslist. Now, he, all these years later, winds up bartending on Watch What Happens Live last week. It was the episode that I kind of stroked out on.’
In a surprising twist, Cohen’s ex-boyfriend and Radio Andy co-host John Hill confirmed that he too had hooked up with Harcourt.
‘I know him in the Biblical sense,’ Hill said, to which Cohen replied, ‘I do too, girl.’
The TV personality is known for dating around and previously bragged, ‘I date people half my age all of the time!’
Broadway star Sydney James Harcourt dished all the details on his steamy sex life with Cohen and revealed that they had ‘really great sex’ together
Harcourt is pictured delivering a raunchy performance in a Cats revival on Broadway
Last year, during an interview on Call Her Daddy, Cohen said that he uses dating apps to find people to date and sleep with.
‘I’m on every app. Grindr, Scruff, Raya, Hinge… Craigslist used to be the place where we hooked up,’ he told host Alex Cooper.
‘Craigslist was Grindr before there was Grindr!’ he added.
‘I meet two kinds of people: People that I want to sleep with and people that I want to date.’
He also clarified that he wasn’t looking for a ‘slurpy twink’ and that his dating priorities have changed since becoming father.
Describing his type, Cohen said that he dates all different races of men and is attracted to guys that are ‘strong, independent, smart, handsome.’
Cohen is known for dating around and has been open about using apps to find men to sleep with and date
In a 2023 interview on Isaac Mizrahi‘s iHeartPodcast podcast Hello Isaac, Cohen confirmed that he likes to take on a dominant role in the bedroom.
‘I’m a top,’ he said. ‘I wish that I could… I need to loosen up as they say.’
However, he gave a more nuanced response on the subject in a 2018 interview with Attitude magazine.
‘The truth about today is that everybody’s topped and everybody’s bottomed at one point in life; it’s more of an open playing field,’ he said.
Cohen has generally kept his romantic relationships out of the spotlight.
In addition to his three-year relationship with John Hill in the early 2000s, the only other serious romance that Cohen has made public is with his ex-boyfriend Clifton Dassuncao.
Cohen dated the handsome Harvard graduate, who was 19 years his junior, from 2016 to 2018.
During the appearance on The Great Indian Kapil Show, Samay Raina revealed that Kapil Sharma had called him before his show, India’s Got Latent, was pulled down from YouTube.
Samay Raina Reveals Kapil Sharma Called Him A Day Before India’s Got Latent Controversy
More than a year after the controversy surrounding India’s Got Latent, Samay Raina and Ranveer Allahbadia have come together once again, marking a notable reunion on The Great Indian Kapil Show, hosted by Kapil Sharma. Their appearance on the popular Netflix comedy platform has sparked attention, as the duo shared the stage after a long gap following the controversy. The reunion not only brought them back into the spotlight but also added fresh buzz to the latest season, with fans eager to see their camaraderie on display once again. During the appearance, Samay revealed that Kapil had called him before his show, India’s Got Latent, was pulled down from YouTube.
Samay Raina and Ranveer Allahbadia openly addressed the controversy during their appearance on The Great Indian Kapil Show, while host Kapil Sharma kept the tone light with his signature humour. In his introduction, Kapil playfully joked that Samay and Ranveer had become two of the most-searched personalities of 2025. He further added a tongue-in-cheek remark that not just the internet, but even police teams from different states were “searching” for them, taking a humorous dig at India’s Got Latent controversy.
During the conversation, the stand-up comedian even heaped praise on Kapil and called him a “legend.” Amid the praise, Ranveer asked Kapil if he used to watch Samay’s show. To this, the comedian-actor replied, “Maine bahut episodes dekhe. Maine Samay ko phone bhi kiya tha. Maine isko bola phone karke, ‘Tere pe abhi tak case kyu nahi hua?'” Samay then revealed, “Kasam se jab mera show band hua, uske ek din pehle mujhe sir (Kapil Sharma) ka call aaya tha, ki tere saath kuch bura hone wala hai. Sach me.”
Kapil agreed to him and added, “Maine kaha tha, ‘Dekh tu nazaro me aagaya hai, thodha sambhal ke chalna. Toh main apne experience se bata raha tha, main koi antaryami nahi hu. Aap kuch bhi bolke famous hojaao, lekin jab aap famous hogaye toh aap fir kuch bhi nahi bol sakte.”
Kapil Sharma jokingly told Samay Raina and Ranveer Allahbadia that since everyone on the show is now married with children, they should be extra careful with their words and humour. Samay quipped, “Maine toh sambhal ke hi kiya tha sir,” while glancing at Ranveer, leaving Kapil, Archana Puran Singh, and Navjot Singh Sidhu in splits. Ranveer then added, “Nahi, nahi, aaj family-friendly banke rahenge,” keeping the mood light and playful.
The episode of The Great Indian Kapil Show featuring Ranveer and Samay is now airing on Netflix.
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The singer is accused of grooming, sexually assaulting and impregnating 16-year-old Julia Misley in the 1970s. The suit, first filed in 2022 in Torrance, claims he “used his role, status, and power as a well-known musician and rock star” to exploit Misley. The complaint also argues Tyler admitted to the alleged crimes in his own memoir, “Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?,” where he refers to her as his “teen bride.”
Earlier this week, a judge dismissed most of the case, citing the statute of limitations in Massachusetts, where the pair lived during their three-year relationship. But they allegedly crossed state lines while Tyler toured the country with his band, including to California, according to the complaint. Because of California’s Child Victims Act — a 2020 statute that allowed a “lookback window” where alleged victims can file lawsuits regardless of a statute of limitations — a portion of the case will still be tried.
“This is a massive win for Steven Tyler. Today, the Court has dismissed with prejudice 99.9% of the claims against Mr. Tyler in this case,” Tyler’s lawyer, David Long-Daniels, said in a statement to The Times. “The court has decided that only one night, 50-plus years ago, out of a three-year relationship is allowed to remain.”
New York has a similar statute that was recently employed by singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura in her case against Sean Combs. She filed a sex-trafficking and sexual assault lawsuit against the music mogul in 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, just days before the expiration of a lookback window.
The lawsuit against Tyler, who previously appeared as a judge on “American Idol,” claims he and Misley first met at an Aerosmith concert in 1973. According to the document, he “performed various acts of criminal sexual conduct upon Plaintiff that night.” At the time, Tyler was in his mid-20s and Julia was 16.
The alleged encounter was the first of many, the lawsuit claims. In 1974, Tyler was named Misley’s legal guardian and took her on tour with the band.
According to the complaint, he described the nature of the relationship in his 2011 memoir, writing, “She was 16, she knew how to nasty … with my bad self being twenty-six and she barely old enough to drive and sexy as hell, I just fell madly in love with her. … She was my heart’s desire, my partner in crimes of passion. … I was so in love I almost took a teen bride. I went and slept at her parent’s house for a couple of nights and her parent’s fell in love with me, signed paper over for me to have custody, so I wouldn’t get arrested if I took her out of state. I took her on tour with me.”
The lawsuit also describes Misley’s alleged pregnancy with Tyler’s child, which ended in a “pressured” abortion.
“This reflects years of resilience and courage by Ms. Misley, driven by an unwavering pursuit of truth and justice. It is time for justice and for Tyler to be held accountable by a jury,” Misley’s attorney, Jeff Anderson, said in a statement.
Feedly AI Feeds are already powerful, but what if you could fine-tune them even further? Introducing Natural Language Filters—a new way to refine your feeds with precise, natural language queries on top of our AI Models.
With Natural Language Filters, you can:
Zero in on highly specific niche topics.
Filter by dollar amounts, percentages, and other numerical data.
Focus on directional relationships (e.g., which company acquired whom).
Ensure entities are truly connected in context, not just mentioned together.
Cut through the noise like never before—Feedly’s AI Feeds are now sharper, smarter, and more tailored to your research needs.
Introducing Natural Language Filters
Finding the right information in a sea of data is challenging. That’s why we’re introducing Natural Language Filters—a new way to fine-tune your Feedly AI Feeds with precise, natural language queries. Whether you need to track highly specific niche topics, filter by numerical values, or pinpoint directional relationships, Natural Language Filters give you unparalleled control over your results. Now, you can ensure the articles you surface are not just relevant but highly precise—helping you cut through the noise and focus on what truly matters.
Zero in on highly specific and niche topics
Researching niche topics can be challenging, even for the most well-crafted AI Feeds. While combining AI Models can help focus your query, the results can still be noisy. By adding a Natural Language Filter to an AI Feed, you can narrow in on articles about niche topics that are not currently supported by the AI Model library. For instance, you can create an LLM filter to surface results about specific products or models of a specific product.
You can also exclude topics from the feed by adding a “NOT” Natural Language Filter to remove unrelated content that could be cluttering your feed. For instance, you can exclude products you don’t compete against from an AI Feed that tracks competitor’s moves.
Filter by dollar amount, percentage or numerical data
While Feedly’s AI Models help analysts identify complex topics like industries, strategic moves, and companies, they were not designed to identify specific numbers or figures. However, with the new Natural Language Filters, analysts can now search for numbers as well as specify greater than and less than, percentages, or date ranges.
Focus on directional relationships
Specify the direction of transaction you care about and only surface articles that meet that criteria. For instance, you can narrow your trade search to only goods being exported from the United States into Mexico and Canada.
Ensure entities are truly connected in context, not just mentioned together
Specify the exact relationship you want to see between entities in you AI Feed. Often, multiple strategic events are listed in a single article, and both entities you care about may be mentioned throughout the article but not in relation to each other. With a Natural Language Filter, you can specify exactly how you wish the entities to be connected.
Final Thoughts
Natural Language Filters complement rather than replace AI Models, helping to refine your AI Feeds. While AI Models typically deliver superior results, Natural Language Filters provide a precise final adjustment to sharpen your focus, particularly when an AI Model returns broader results than your specific intelligence requirements demand.
Fine-tune your Feedly AI Feeds with Natural Language Filters
Pair AI Models with Natural Language Filters to zero in on the precise insights you need, even for the most niche topics.
As we’ve said before, we haven’t covered Survivor too much on Nerdist in the past. But are Survivor fans not truly some of the nerdiest fans of all? In many ways, Survivor is actually one of my personal earliest fandoms. And getting to rewalk those paths around Survivor 50 has been a truly wonderful (and very nerdy) experience. So I say, there’s no time like the present. Plus, we cheer for Ozzy in this house. And so, we’re temporarily expanding our coverage to let you all know that if you’re in NYC on May 6, you can have a Survivor 50 watch party in style—with our fav, Ozzy. As part of Brice And Wen Present’s Survivor 50 watch party series, there will be an “Ozzy NYC Pop Up!” in NYC. We love it.
If you’re not in NYC, fear not, because Brice And Wen Present are having Survivor watch parties in basically every corner of the United States. It’s kind of amazing. But, NYC deserves some fun too, so we’re excited that on Wednesday, May 6, Ozzy will be heading to The Ainsworth, New York, for what seems like it’s going to be a hell of a night.
If you’ve been keeping up with Survivor 50, you know that everything is heating up. The prize money has doubled. The “honor and integrity” alliance has steadily fallen to the queer people, weirdos, and nerds team-up, and everyone is on their own journey of growth, change, redemption, or whatever they’re looking for. Some of our favorites have gone home, RIP Christian and Survivor Spirk. But at Nerdist, we’re fully in on the Cirizard of Oz alliance, which has fav Ozzy and fav Cirie being fabulous together. We literally could not have asked for a better duo. (And Rizo, we like him too!)
CBS
But, of course, ever since Ozzy went on Twitter, said f*ck you to all terrible people out there and came out as a true bicon, no one else could even come close to claiming the title of my favorite Survivor player of all time. And so, I’m pumped he’ll be coming through town right at the height of my Survivor excitement. Here’s to you, Jungle Man.
If you’re like me, snag your ticket to the Ozzy Pop-Up today and get ready to cheer in real time during NYC’s most fun-ever Survivor watch party. And if you’re really feeling excited, make it a truly incredible queer Survivor double feature with Parv and a drag show!
Exclusive video games remain the top reason players opt to play on consoles.
That’s according to Circana’s Q1 Future of Video Games consumer survey, which notes that, while exclusive games remain the top factor, motivation has dropped year-on-year (-8pts).
The No.2 reason people choose to play on a console is that friends and family also play on it (38%), according to the survey, followed by consoles being perceived as easier to play with friends on (37%), and those surveyed preferring to play in a more casual setting (36%).
The Circana survey was highlighted by The Game Business this week, which explored the changing role of console exclusives at a time when both PlayStation and Xbox appear to be reviewing their strategies.
TGB editor Christopher Dring commented that it makes sense for both companies to review their strategies, six years into the current console generation.
“Releasing single-player PS5 games on PC appears relatively low-risk right now,” he said. “But with the rise of PC-based handhelds and consoles (including the next Xbox and the upcoming Steam Machine), the availability of PlayStation games on these devices might weaken the appeal of Sony’s hardware.
“So, the question becomes, is it worth it? And the data suggests, for a lot of its games, it isn’t. PS5 games on Steam, outside of live-service shooters, simply aren’t selling in high numbers. There may be games in the future where it is worth it.”
The situation for Xbox, Dring said, is different due to its console sales collapsing.
“What’s more, the profit margins on Xbox’s first-party games are impacted by their inclusion in the Game Pass subscription service. Putting its games on PlayStation not only widens the audience considerably, it’s also an audience that will buy the games at a premium price point.”
He added: “Xbox says its ‘North Star’ is daily active players, and releasing games on PlayStation will help it grow that number. But it will come at the expense of its platform and services.
“In its memo to staff, Xbox says it ‘will build a global platform that connects players and creators everywhere.’ And the best way to get players to use that global platform is by putting games on it that they can’t get anywhere else.”
If Desert Warrior was one of Saudi Arabia’s big cinema swings, then it looks to have been a swing and a miss, based on the movie’s early box office takings. Starring Captain America’s Anthony Mackie and Oscar winner Ben Kingsley, Desert Warrior endured a troubled five-year trek to the screen, but finally debuted in theaters last weekend across the U.S. and Middle East.
Vertical’s marketing has unsurprisingly spotlighted Mackie, Kingsley, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt’s spectacular shots of Saudi sands, but cinemagoers have ultimately not responded to Desert Warrior’s rallying cry, and it looks unlikely to recoup its $150M budget.
Not that expectations were ever that high. Those close to Desert Warrior were realistic about the movie’s appeal, particularly at a time when war is raging in the Middle East. There had been hopes Desert Warrior could crack $1M in America, but even so, it’s far from a disaster for Vertical.
Industry sources said it is unlikely that Vertical broke the bank for Desert Warrior, meaning a path to profit is entirely plausible for the distributor once all theatrical and home entertainment revenue is counted. Vertical is said to be particularly focused on premium video on demand, where it will hero Mackie in artwork following similar tactics with films like Elevation.
MBC did not respond to a request for comment. Vertical declined to comment.
Middle East Box Office
The box office picture is not much brighter in Middle Eastern markets, according to figures seen by Deadline. Desert Warrior grossed $87,000 from 6,100 admissions in Saudi Arabia over its opening weekend, making it the eighth-biggest title in the country.
Some of Saudi’s biggest hits in recent years performed more than ten times better than Desert Warrior. This includes Shabab Al Bomb, which grossed $1.24M in its opening weekend but benefited from being based on one of the most popular TV franchises in the Arab world.
Empire Entertainment, the Saudi distributor that handled Desert Warrior for MBC and looks after Sony releases in the territory, has had bigger hits this year, not least Project Hail Mary, which grossed $700,000 in its opening weekend.
As of Thursday in Saudi Arabia, Desert Warrior’s ticket sales totalled $110,000, per Comscore. In the UAE, this figure was $37,000, while across the Middle East, Desert Warrior has clocked up sales of just $225,000, though local sources said the film has not been heavily marketed.
Why Was ‘Desert Warrior’ Deserted?
MBC will surely have hoped for better from a project that was announced in a blaze of ambition, but did not have an easy journey to the screen amid creative differences with director Wyatt (who left the project and later returned), and a budget that grew with delays and a pick-up shoot in Saudi.
Timing has worked against the MBC. Cinemagoers don’t have the appetite for a film about a desert war in the middle of a literal desert war, one observer noted. MBC considered pushing Desert Warrior after Donald Trump bombed Iran, but the company was reluctant to delay again after years of false dawns.
Aiysha Hart in ‘Desert Warrior’
Others point to more fundamental creative issues with the film. A distribution source in the Middle East told Deadline that Desert Warrior has fallen between stalls, appealing to neither Arab nor Western audiences. “I’m not sure who it is targeting,” this person said. “It looks like another big-budget Hollywood film that just happens to have been filmed in Saudi.”
These questions were echoed after an unfinished version of Desert Warrior, which was not edited by Wyatt, underwent audience testing in July 2023, producing negative results. Sources told Deadline that the research led people on the film to question whether there was any demand for a Western interpretation of an Arab story. Lacklustre reviews (the title has a “rotten” 29% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes) only further compound these concerns.
For others, that Desert Warrior has even been released is a cause for celebration. There were times, between when the film was shot in 2021 and its period of post-production limbo, when crew members were openly speculating about it never seeing the light of day.
“There was definitely a fear among the filmmakers and talent that the thing had become such a white elephant that MBC would just bury it,” a source said. “It would have been easier for them to go straight to streaming, so MBC deserves credit for going the distance. They believed in what was good about the film, and it does some of the things they intended in showcasing what can be achieved on screen in the region.”
Deadline has reported that Desert Warrior’s box office return will not be the only measure of its success. We revealed that MBC executives discussed the importance of Mohammed bin Salman’s verdict and how this could impact the company’s future funding. Will the Saudi Crown Prince continue to sanction big swings, or will the regime retreat from movies, as it has done with sport?
Crew members will tell you: Desert Warrior‘s $150M didn’t just buy a movie, it bought a filmmaking infrastructure for Saudi Arabia. As the nation restructures its economy away from fossil fuels, there are those who believe that valuable lessons can be learned from Desert Warrior to support filmmaking endeavors in the future.
The Celebrity Traitors, the highest-rated show on British TV last year, is back for a second season.
Hosted by Claudia Winkleman, the BBC reality series has assembled another impressive cast as filming gets underway at Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands over the summer.
The Celebrity Traitors cast also boasts Industry star Myha’la, Barbie actress Sharon Rooney, Love Island host Maya Jama, Broadchurch’s Julie Hesmondhalgh, and Jerry Hall, the model and actress who was married to Mick Jagger. Below is the full cast:
Amol Rajan
Bella Ramsey
James Acaster
James Blunt
Jerry Hall
Joanne McNally
Joe Lycett
Julie Hesmondhalgh
King Kenny
Leigh-Anne Pinnock
Maya Jama
Michael Sheen
Miranda Hart
Myha’la
Professor Hannah Fry
Richard E. Grant
Rob Beckett
Romesh Ranganathan
Ross Kemp
Sebastian Croft
Sharon Rooney
Season 1 of The Celebrity Traitors debuted on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in October 2025 and was watched by an average audience of 14.9M, with a peak of 15.4M for the finale. Comedian Alan Carr emerged victorious in a game that featured Stephen Fry and Celia Imrie.
Season 2 will debut later this year. The Celebrity Traitors will be produced by Studio Lambert Scotland for BBC One and iPlayer and has been commissioned by Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment Commissioning for the BBC.
The Executive Producers for All3Media-backed Studio Lambert are Mike Cotton, Sarah Fay, Lewis Thurlow and Katy Fox with Production Executives, Lynette Woods-Reynolds, Gemma Scholes and Faye Donaldson. The Commissioning Editors for the BBC are Neil McCallum and Michael Jochnowitz.
The Traitors (Dutch title: De Verraders) was created and developed by IDTV in cooperation with RTL Creative Unit. All3Media International is global partner for The Traitors and handles format and tape sales worldwide.
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission.
Twenty horses and jockeys are gearing up for the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby. The first leg of the 2026 Triple Crown takes place on Saturday, May 2, with a scheduled start time of 6:57 p.m. ET/3:57 p.m. PT, and event coverage beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT. Both the race and pre-race coverage are broadcast on NBC, which can be streamed live on any streaming service that carries the network, including DirecTV (with a five-day free trial), Sling and Hulu + Live TV.
The 2026 Kentucky Derby will also livestream on Peacock, however the streamer does not offer a free trial. Learn more about each streaming option (and their free trials and new subscriber discounts) below.
The 152nd Kentucky Derby takes place at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, May 2, with a scheduled start time of 6:57 p.m. ET/3:57 p.m. PT. Pre-race coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT.
Where to Watch Kentucky Derby 2026
The horse racing event (and pre-race coverage) airs on NBC, which can be streamed live via DirecTV (with a five-day free trial), Sling or Hulu + Live TV. It will also livestream on Peacock, however the streamer does not offer a trial period. More on each streaming option below.
DirecTV
Five-day free trial; packages from $19.99 per month
NBC is included in any of DirecTV’s signature packages: Entertainment, Choice, Ultimate or Premier. Plus, DirecTV is offering a five-day free trial for its streaming service, meaning new subscribers can catch the race at no cost.
Learn more about each plan option, including how to build your own channel lineup (starting at just $19.99 per month), at directv.com.
NBCUniversal
Peacock
Starting at $10.99 per month
Not a Peacock subscriber? The streamer has an ad-supported Peacock Premium package for $10.99 monthly (or $109.99 yearly). Otherwise, the ad-free Peacock Premium Plus plan is $16.99 monthly (or $169.99 yearly).
While the streaming service doesn’t offer a free trial directly, deal-savvy streamers can enjoy free Peacock access through partner subscriptions, including Instacart+ and Walmart+, which both include Peacock Premium in their membership. Plus, since both Instacart+ and Walmart+ offer free trials — 14 days for Instacart+ and 30 days for Walmart+ — members can stream Peacock at no cost during the trial period.
NBC is included in Sling’s Blue Plan, starting at $45.99 per month.
For the best bang for your buck, opt for Sling’s Orange & Blue plan, which provides everything both the Orange and Blue plans have to offer, starting at $60.99 monthly.
Hulu + Live TV
Three-day free trial; packages from $89.99 per month
Watch NBC for free with a three-day trial to Hulu + Live TV, which comes bundled with Disney+ and ESPN+, starting at $89.99 per month.
Kentucky Derby 2026 Horses, Odds
The 20 horses in this year’s Derby (and their odds, according to the official Kentucky Derby website) include:
Renegade, 4-1
Albus, 30-1
Intrepido, 50-1
Litmus Test, 50-1
Commandment, 6-1
Danon Bourbon, 20-1
So Happy, 15-1
The Puma, 10-1
Wonder Dean, 30-1
Incredibolt, 20-1
Chief Wallabee, 8-1
Potente, 20-1
Emerging Market, 15-1
Pavlovian, 30-1
Six Speed, 50-1
Further Ado, 6-1
Golden Tempo, 30-1
Great White, 50-1
Ocelli, 50-1
Robusta, 50-1
Three horses scratched: Right to Party (Post No. 5), Silent Tactic (Post No. 13) and Fulleffort (Post No. 20). This allows Great White (Post No. 21), Ocelli (Post No. 22) and Robusta (Post No. 23) to enter Saturday’s race.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, led by Henry Cavilland Alan Ritchson, has found a new home on streaming with a confirmed release date on Peacock. Directed by Guy Ritchie, the film will be available on the platform starting next month. The film’s move to Peacock is expected to expand its reach to a wider audience.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare to stream on Peacock in May
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, the 2024 action war film led by Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson, is set to arrive on Peacock next month. According to CBR, the film will be available for streaming starting May 18, 2026, on the platform.
Directed by Guy Ritchie, the film was originally released in the United States on April 19, 2024. The movie’s story is set during World War II and follows the creation of a small, highly skilled British unit assigned to operate beyond conventional battle zones. Working under the direction of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and involving figures such as Ian Fleming, the team is tasked with carrying out missions that traditional forces cannot undertake.
The group uses unconventional tactics to weaken enemy operations rather than relying on traditional military strategy. Their methods ultimately contribute to the development of the British SAS and influence modern black ops warfare.
The film’s cast includes Henry Cavill as Gustavus Henry March-Phillipps, Alan Ritchson as Anders Lassen, Alex Pettyfer as Geoffrey Appleyard, Eiza González as Marjorie Stewart, and Babs Olusanmokun as Richard Heron.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a critics’ score of 68 percent based on 169 reviews. Meanwhile, the audience rating has been much stronger at 91 percent on Popcornmeter. Empire Online reported, “So, it is far from perfect, careless not only with its history and its characters but its structure (at two hours, it feels sloppy). This is a perfectly undemanding watch. Just don’t watch it with a historian.”
Despite this, the film was a flop at the box office. It earned around $30 million worldwide against an estimated production budget of $60 million.
Spencer Pratt — the 2000s reality TV star turned 2010s online influencer turned 2020s populist firebrand — is now a formidable candidate in the L.A. mayoral race, gauged by fundraising totals, poll numbers and incoming criticism from chief rivals. This ascent is a shock for the city’s liberal establishment, which considers him an unqualified clown. It shouldn’t be.
His reactionary run, a revivalist pitch to make the city “once again ‘camera-ready’ for all its citizens” by cracking down on crime and corruption, has gained traction with his rollout of a slick and mischievous digital strategy. It culminated in a recent campaign ad rollout riffing on Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” to knock his competitors, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and progressive L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman. The button on the spot was a callback to his own Act I inciting incident — how his house burnt down in last year’s Pacific Palisades wildfire as a result, he insists, of government incompetence.
Pratt posted his most revealing meme three days earlier, on April 26: Himself embodying Michael Douglas’ put-upon worker on the poster of Falling Down. That’s Joel Schumacher’s 1993 revenge thriller about a fed-up white Angeleno who embarks on a violent odyssey across an alienating urban hellscape to reunite with his daughter. Pratt reproduced the tagline — “The adventure of an ordinary man at war with the everyday world” — but edited out the character’s wielding of a pump-action shotgun. (Douglas’ protagonist is a laid-off contractor in the then-collapsing local defense sector; as it happens, Pratt’s grandfather was employed as a military engineer for a Southern California defense firm.)
Pratt’s channeling of Falling Down is apt. After all, the film is a straightforward parable about the attempt to reassert authority amid chaos. It was released the last time L.A. was at its nadir, battered by natural disasters, economic woes and the widespread civic unrest that followed the verdict in Rodney King’s police beating.
For generations, and with few exceptions, the city has been defined by liberal ethos and Democratic Party machine politics. Even brand-name billionaire developer Rick Caruso’s $100 million-plus campaign war chest and spin on latter-day Rockefeller Republicanism couldn’t win him the mayoralty last go-around. Yet within this sprawling bubble, L.A. has long cultivated consequential strains of backlash, from Howard Jarvis’ tax revolt to the xenophobia of Stephen Miller, who currently oversees the White House’s anti-immigration policies.
Now there’s Pratt, a figure whose candidacy has been embraced by a broad swath of right-oriented media spanning the Murdochs’ key outlets to the biggest online influencers (both Joe Rogan and Adam Carolla have endorsed him). Pratt first made his name as a villain on MTV for, among other gambits, rumormongering about an alleged sex tape involving his co-star. He was still cashing in on his notoriety as recently as January when he published a tell-all memoir that reads like the ultimate oppo file, full of character self-assassinating disclosures about his personal and professional life.
None of this appears to matter much to Pratt’s supporters, who like President Donald Trump’s MAGA base see him as an improbable savior and imperfect vessel whose shock-value messaging — on fraud, waste, bureaucracy and other municipal ills — is validating. Exhibit A: Other candidates speak of various humanizing technocratic approaches to help the “homeless,” and some opt for the euphemized term “unhoused.” Meanwhile Pratt, believing improperly treated drug addiction to be the core problem, often refers to them as “zombies” when making his case that enforcement against street encampments has been bungled.
The prominent L.A.-based culture critic Meghan Daum, whose work often targets liberal pieties, announced on Apr. 26 that she’s voting for Pratt, citing his directness about the encampments. “We want to be in a place of reality,” she said. “People are ready for a no-bullshit era and Spencer Pratt may be the one to usher it in.”
Pratt’s campaign donors range from law firm partners, mid-level studio executives and small business owners to aestheticians, police officers and retirees. According to city disclosure filings, they also include former Lakers leader Jeanie Buss, actress turned anti-vaccine activist Jenny McCarthy, realtor-to-the-stars Kurt Rappaport, reality TV producer Jeff Jenkins (Keeping Up with the Kardashians) and OANN host Ginger Gaetz — wife of controversial former GOP House Rep. Matt Gaetz and sister of Southern California arms-manufacturing billionaire Palmer Luckey.
An insider industry set has increasingly embraced Pratt. On April 27, film producer Hilary Shor posted on Threads about a lunch that Larry David’s wife Ashley hosted at her house for the candidate. “Miracles do happen I am voting for him,” Shor wrote, adding that actress turned philanthropist Irena Medavoy “and many others were transfixed by the power of his message which hopefully will help save our town.”
Pratt shares with Trump, his fellow reality TV alum, a telegenic charisma that can swerve between anger and affability. Still, his outlook and shtick are perhaps most legible through a distinctly Angeleno lens. (Anyone who’s spent much time along the coast is familiar with the brah-litics of men with sunglasses perched atop their heads who profess their love for burritos, crystals, guns, flip-flops and their favorite blue-eyed blonde.) Pratt descends from Sam Yorty, L.A.’s 1960s populist mayor with a major law-and-order bent, and Wally George, the 1980s local TV host known for his combative critiques of what he perceived to be leftist excesses, fueled by an insult-driven humor.
The mayoral primary is a month away. A runoff election, held Nov. 3, is all but certain. Whether or not Pratt wins, the grievance politics and spectacle style of his candidacy is likely to define the remainder of the race.
People ask how to become successful. How to get representation. How to get into festivals. Or how to get financing. But beneath all of those questions is another one the industry rarely says out loud:
How does a filmmaker become hot?
Because once heat exists, doors begin opening differently. Emails get answered faster. Actors suddenly become available. Producers start “checking in.” Festivals pay closer attention. Meetings appear from nowhere. The industry begins projecting possibility onto you.
And the strange part?
Heat is not purely about talent.
It is about momentum, identity, timing, perception, and the dangerous feeling that something important might be happening around your work before everyone else notices.
1. A recognisable voice
A hot filmmaker does not necessarily feel polished. They feel distinct. You can sense their identity within minutes. The framing, the rhythm, the emotional temperature, the way characters speak — something feels authored instead of assembled. That is what separated early Christopher Nolan from countless technically competent directors making forgettable films in the late 1990s. It is what made Sean Baker stand out in The Florida Project. The industry is saturated with people who know how to make films. Very few know how to make work that feels unmistakably theirs.
2. Momentum beats perfection
Hot filmmakers are usually in motion. One project leads visibly into another. A short film hits a festival. A teaser circulates online. A producer mentions their name. A cinematographer posts behind-the-scenes images. Momentum creates the perception that something is building. The industry responds to movement because movement suggests inevitability. Many filmmakers disappear for years trying to perfect one project. Heat rarely survives silence. Imperfect momentum often creates more opportunity than isolated brilliance.
3. They understand attention
Many filmmakers still believe talent alone should attract audiences. That fantasy is collapsing. Hot filmmakers understand that attention is part of the craft now. The work matters, but so does the mythology around the work. Interviews, visual identity, opinions, process, online presence, collaborations, even the way they speak about cinema all contribute to their heat. Early Quentin Tarantino did not become culturally explosive through filmmaking alone. People were drawn to the energy surrounding him. The personality amplified the films. In the modern era, filmmakers who ignore attention mechanics often become invisible regardless of talent.
4. Festivals still matter, but only if they create traction
A strong screening at Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, or Raindance Film Festival can still create enormous heat around a filmmaker. But the festival itself is not the career. It is the ignition point. The filmmakers who survive are the ones who convert attention into infrastructure: collaborators, financing relationships, audience ownership, future projects, representation, distribution pathways. Too many filmmakers mistake applause for momentum. One successful screening means very little if nothing follows it.
5. Hot filmmakers make people money
This is the uncomfortable truth beneath much industry enthusiasm. If financiers, distributors, producers, or sales agents believe a filmmaker can generate strong returns relative to risk, that filmmaker becomes attractive very quickly. Right now, filmmakers who can produce compelling work at controlled budgets are especially valuable. A filmmaker who can make a powerful $300,000 genre film with international sales potential may be more attractive than someone trying to raise $8 million for an unfocused drama. Heat often follows perceived economic intelligence as much as artistic talent.
6. They build ecosystems instead of isolated films
The old model was built around singular projects. Make a film. Hope people find it. That world is fading. Hot filmmakers increasingly build ecosystems around their work. They cultivate audiences directly. They maintain mailing lists, communities, recurring collaborators, recognisable themes, and a consistent identity across platforms. Their work feels connected rather than accidental. The filmmaker starts becoming larger than any individual project. That creates loyalty. It creates anticipation. It creates cultural gravity.
7. Timing changes everything
Sometimes the culture suddenly aligns with what a filmmaker already represents. Jordan Peele emerged with Get Out at the exact moment horror, social commentary, and commercial accessibility collided in mainstream culture. The same thing is happening now with AI-native creators, vertical storytellers, and filmmakers who instinctively understand internet-era pacing and audience behaviour. Often the filmmaker who looks strange or irrelevant today becomes the filmmaker everyone imitates tomorrow. Timing does not replace talent, but it can amplify it explosively.
Fade Out
The final truth is this: Hot filmmakers create gravity.
People talk about them after meetings end. Actors mention them to other actors. Producers forward their trailers late at night. Festival programmers remember their names months later. Audiences feel like they discovered something before the rest of the culture catches up.
That is what heat really is.
Not fame.
Not followers.
Not even success.
Heat is collective anticipation. The feeling that a hot filmmaker is becoming inevitable.
And in independent cinema, inevitability is often the closest thing power has to magic.
A Nova Scotia community is gathering Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of two young siblings in an effort to show that Lilly and Jack Sullivan are never far from their minds.
Lilly and Jack, aged six and four at the time, were reported missing from their home in Lansdowne Station in Pictou County, N.S., on May 2, 2025.
It was reported to police at the time that the children had wandered away from their family property.
Despite weeks and months of extensive searches and an ongoing police investigation involving multiple agencies, there has been no sign of the brother and sister.
A public gathering, which organizers are calling a Rally for Justice, is scheduled for 2 p.m. outside the RCMP detachment in Stellarton, N.S.
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Kent Corbett is organizing the event with Belynda Gray, the children’s paternal grandmother.
Corbett said the event will include speeches and a renewed call for answers because the community feels lost without them.
“The two vigils that were previously held were great at those points,” he said.
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“But at this time, we figured that we have no answers from the RCMP and so we wanted to make sure that the RCMP know that the public’s not going to forget about it and we need more answers as to what happened.”
For their part, RCMP say they want answers too.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, the officer in charge of major crimes stressed that investigators have not given up and that “we want answers as much as everybody else.”
“Ever since this began, the RCMP has been actively engaged in pursuing the answers as to what happened with Jack and Lilly. This is a critical question for our community when two young children go missing and we have no answers,” Staff Sgt. Rob McCamon said.
“We’ve not let up the steam and we won’t.”
Ontario-based charity leads latest effort to find 2 missing children in Nova Scotia
RCMP said investigators have formally interviewed 106 people, administered polygraphs, reviewed 8,132 video files and executed warrants for “materials and digital devices of those closest to the children.” That material has included phone and banking records.
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As well, police report evaluating and prioritizing 1,191 tips.
This week, they made an appeal to the public for “fact-based tips” as they try to determine what happened to the children.
Jim Hoskins, a retired Halifax Regional Police staff sergeant who has been watching the case unfold, says he’s not surprised it’s been a year and there are still few to no public answers as to what might have happened.
“That doesn’t mean [police] don’t have some hypothesis as to what has happened,” Hoskins said.
“If they don’t have one now, I’d be surprised they don’t have some ideas what happened.”
RCMP maintain there’s no evidence the Sullivan children were abducted. Currently, it’s still considered a missing persons case but McCamon admitted it’s unlikely they are alive.
“I think the chances that Jack and Lilly are alive are very slim,” he said.
Pete Davidson and his girlfriend, Elsie Hewitt, managed to keep their relationship largely out of the spotlight until March 2025, when the Daily Mail published photos of the couple enjoying a beach day in Palm Beach, Florida. Just a few months later, in July, Elsie, 30, revealed that she and Pete, 32, were expecting their first child together. That December, she gave birth to their daughter, Scottie Rose Hewitt Davidson.
“our perfect angel girl arrived 12/12/2025 scottie rose hewitt davidson,” Elsie captioned an Instagram post that month. “My best work yet, i am absolutely overflowing with love and gratitude and disbelief. – elsie wu tang forever. – pete.”
Since welcoming their daughter, the couple has remained relatively private, though recent reports suggest they have been working through relationship challenges while adjusting to new parenthood. Despite the added attention, Pete has previously spoken about how difficult it can be navigating such a personal milestone in the public eye, noting that his partner prefers to stay out of the spotlight. “I feel bad for my girl because I bring a lot of s**t,” he admitted during his August 13, 2025, interview on The Breakfast Club. “She’s a very private person and she’s the one doing all the work. It’s supposed to be a beautiful experience.”
Outside of her relationship with Pete, the London native is already well-known as a model and actress, with over 1 million Instagram followers and a growing career in entertainment.
Hollywood Life has rounded up five facts about Elsie below.
Elsie Hewitt Is a Model & Actress
Elsie, who is now 30 years old, has several acting and modeling credits under her belt. According to her IMDb, Elsie’s most well-known acting credits were in the TV series Dave and Industry and in the movie Billy Knight. She also starred in the short film Bitchy.
Previously, Elsie was a Playboy Playmate.
Elsie Hewitt Worked on a Benny Blanco Music Video
One of Elsie’s IMDb credits listed her as part of the cast for Benny Blanco‘s music video titled “Benny Blanco & Juice WRLD: Graduation.”
Elsie Hewitt Is From London
Elsie hails from London but moved to Los Angeles when she was just 10 years old, according to her IMDb page. However, she didn’t officially begin working in the entertainment industry until she was 18.
Elsie Hewitt Runs a Foodie Instagram Account
At the time of publication, Elsie’s separate Instagram account @elsieeats has almost 50,000 followers. She frequently posts fun moments snacking on some of the best dishes.
On her verified Instagram page, Elsie shares updates about her acting roles, but she also shares the occasional foodie post. For her 29th birthday in March 2025, the model posted a carousel featuring a shot of her enjoying a burger-designed cake.
Elsie Hewitt Shares a Daughter With Pete Davidson
In July 2025, Elsie announced that she and Pete were expecting their first child together in a cheeky Instagram caption, which read, “Welp, now everyone knows we had sex.”
That December, Elsie gave birth to their daughter, Scottie Rose Hewitt Davidson.
Multiple outlets reported that Elsie has been romantically linked to a few A-listers. Before she started seeing Pete, the British actress dated Jason Sudeikis, per Page Six. Before that, she was in a relationship with Ryan Phillippe, whom she filed a lawsuit against in 2017 over an alleged domestic violence incident. Ryan denied the abuse allegations, and he and Elsie reached a settlement in October 2019 before the case was set to go to trial, per People.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
– Show is renewed for its fifth and final season – Filming is currently underway as of May 2026 – Jeremy Renner and Edie Falco are among those confirmed to reprise their roles – Will have eight episodes, no release date or trailer as of yet – Brief series synopsis has been confirmed
The show follows Jeremy Renner as Mike McLusky, an ex-con navigating the dangerous line between law enforcement and the city’s criminal underworld. The crime thriller “plunges viewers into the ruthless power struggles and violence that defines Kingstown, Michigan,” as Paramount puts it.
Season 4 only ended in December 2025, but with news of a final renewal breaking in January 2026, all eyes are on how the hit series wraps up its drama once and for all.
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While details are still in the early stages, we do know some things for certain when it comes to Mayor of Kingstown season 5… so let’s break them down.
Mayor of Kingstown season 5 release date predictions
‘MAYOR OF KINGSTOWN’ will end with Season 5 pic.twitter.com/lxXHPVX68lJanuary 5, 2026
Sadly yet unsurprisingly, Mayor of Kingstown season 5 doesn’t have a confirmed release date as of yet.
However, we can try to work out when the eight episodes will drop based on when previous seasons have been released:
Season 1: November 14, 2021
Season 2: January 15, 2023
Season 3: June 2, 2024
Season 4: June 2, 2025
If I were to put money on it, I’d guess that season 5 will have a June 2027 release date slot, but Paramount could easily surprise us.
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Mayor of Kingstown season 5 trailer: is there one?
Not yet. Season 5 filming is underway in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, so we’ll likely be waiting a while for an update here.
Mayor of Kingstown season 5 possible cast
Jeremy Renner in season 3. (Image credit: Paramount Plus)
Paramount has confirmed the return of the below Mayor of Kingstown season 5 core cast:
Jeremy Renner as Mike McLusky
Edie Falco as Nina Hobbs
David Morse as Russell Hardy
Laura Benanti as Cindy Stephens
Hugh Dillon as Ian Ferguson
Taylor Handley as Kyle McLusky
Tobi Bamtefa as Deverin “Bunny” Washington
Derek Webster as Stevie
Necar Zadegan as Eveyln Foley
Nichole Galicia as Rebecca
Lennie James as Frank Moses
David Morse (House, John Adams) joins the cast as FBI agent Russell Hardy. Series co-creator Hugh Dillon continues his role as police detective Ian Ferguson.
Mayor of Kingstown season 5 potential plot
Maybe some more of this? (Image credit: Paramount Plus)
According to Paramount, here’s a brief synopsis on the season 5 plot: “In Mayor of Kingstown Season 5, FBI agent Russell Hardy (new series regular David Morse) arrives in Kingstown following the murder of Mike’s sister-in-law, Tracy McLusky (Nishi Munshi).
“A dedicated lawman, Agent Hardy threatens to disrupt the tenuous balance of power in Kingstown.”
Previously, co-creators Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon hinted that the show could run as long as seven seasons, suggesting narrative plans were already in the works.
“Whether it goes that far or that’s where we get [who knows], but he has an ending, and everyone knows about it,” Dillon told Screen Rant. “And when you talk to him, he will tell you in detail. So, our goal is to get to that season 7, because that’s as far as we can get, because that’s where he’s always had it. 15 years ago, he had it. 15 years ago, ‘So, here’s how it’s starting, Mitch is going to get killed off in the first 10 pages, and season 7, episode 10, this is where Mike’s going to be.’ I’m like, ‘Holy f—, I’m in. Okay.'”
It’s officially been a decade since Taylor Swift attended the Met Gala, but that might change on May 4, 2026.
Taylor Swift’s history with the Met Gala runs deep, having attended the event five times before serving as cochair for her final appearance in 2016. That evening not only marked her first red-carpet appearance with her Vogue-curated platinum blonde, but it’s also rumored to be the night she met both ex-boyfriends Tom Hiddleston and Joe Alwyn, potentially marking May 2, 2016, as one of the most pivotal dates in Swift’s lore. Don’t believe me? Check out the lyrics to “Dress” and then come back here.
Since that date, Swift released seven studio albums, rerecorded nearly her entire discography, regained ownership over her masters, and fell in love with her fiancé, Travis Kelce. With so much changing in the past decade, now would be the perfect time for her to reclaim her position as a Met Gala mainstay.
This year’s “Costume Art” theme is particularly well-suited for the 36-year-old pop star, as guests are invited to “express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form and celebrate the countless depictions of the dressed body throughout art history.” Considering how much thought Swift puts into her own tour costumes—as well as planting Easter eggs in her day-to-day looks—this would be the perfect opportunity to wrap up her Life of a Showgirl era before her upcoming wedding.
And while we’re not the keepers of Taylor Swift’s schedule, she was last seen in New York City on April 27, making her appearance at the event all the more likely.
Taylor Swift is seen leaving The Jane Hotel on April 27, 2026.
MEGA
The other remaining question is whether or not Swift would walk the Met steps with Travis Kelce. While the Kansas City Chiefs kicked off training camp on April 20, we know the man loves a white-tie moment. Still, Swift may see this as another opportunity for a highly photogenic girls night out.
After all, this wouldn’t be the first time Swift has hit the red carpet to support Met Gala 2026 co-chair Beyoncé, nor is she likely to pass up a night out with this particular host committee, which includes longtime friend Lena Dunham and Sabrina Carpenter. One thing is for sure, the Met bathroom photos would be epic.
When Miranda saunters through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan’s stunning historic shopping arcade, the lights shimmer off the colored crystals and black sequins on her Armani overcoat, turning her into a human disco ball.
“When I read the script, I was like, ‘That needs to dazzle,’” Rogers said of the statement piece from Giorgio Armani’s Privé spring 2025 couture collection, which she layered over a tie-neck Lurex Oud blouse and black trousers.
It was a choice she initially had some trepidation about.
“I was afraid of the pussy-bow blouse on Miranda Priestly,” she said. “Because that feels soft to me. But it was such a cacophony of colors and textures, and I felt like it was strong enough.”
Miranda’s black cat-eye Prada glasses are striking, of course, but Rogers said the boldest accessory was her side-swept white hair.
“I think that there was great resistance to that,” Rogers said. “People didn’t understand that.”
The look was drawn from that of the fashion editor Polly Mellen and the model Carmen Dell’Orefice.
“Meryl and Pat insisted on it,” Rogers said.
Power Gloves
Emily’s gala dress — a strapless Dior gown with a nude tulle and black lace corset top, matching opera gloves and a slinky black satin skirt with a double side bow — was Rogers’s favorite look from the film. Alas, it ended up on the cutting-room floor.
Still, she said, she loved getting the chance to bring an edge to a very un-Emily-like shape.
“When I think of Dior and bows, I think of Charlotte,” Rogers said of the preppy “Sex and the City” character. “So to take a Dior bow and make it look — there’s a bit of a goth idea there. And I thought that was really appropriate for her character.”
During California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s last appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher” in 2025, the titular host took pains to grill his governor on what he felt were the many needless layers of bureaucracy in the Golden State — namely, that he was forced to pay for two roof inspections on his home following the wildfires that ravaged the Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
“Why do I need two inspections, which I have to pay for?!” exclaimed the comedian. “You were here last time. We talked about regulations. You said, ‘Oh, it’s a completely new day… You said you were working on it.”
That’s about as testy as things got. Maher is a big fan of Newsom’s overall, having repeatedly urged him to run for president in 2028 and cheering on his social media trolling of President Trump. Plus, they have the exact same hairstyle.
On Friday night, Newsom returned to the late-night HBO show to promote his memoir “Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery.” Maher was a bit tougher on his pal than he’s been in the past.
Maher kicked off their sit-down chat by asking Newsom about how high the temperature’s been raised in American politics given the recent assassination attempt on President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“What did [Trump] do the day after [the assassination attempt]? He talked about the beach photo and the indictment of one of his enemies,” Newsom replied, referencing Trump going after former FBI director James Comey over an innocuous photo of arranged seashells he posted. “He’s not doing anything to try to unite this country in any way, shape, or form. To me, that’s the biggest reflection of this moment — just the sewer we’re now living in because of Donald Trump.”
Then Maher dug his heels in: “But many people would say that you are imitating him… You are the one who kind of imitates his style with the trolling. You’re suing Fox now, I understand.”
“Fox better look to settle right now or apologize for defamation,” Newsom shot back.
“OK but that sounds exactly like what he does,” offered Maher. “Suing media?” Trump since 2024 has forced big media companies, including Disney and Paramount, into rich settlements over frivolous lawsuits.
Newsom was undeterred: “Well, don’t defame, don’t lie,” he said of his suit against Fox News.
So, this production has obviously had its challenges. The music is still the Moana soundtrack, though.
Photo: Disney
I don’t feel as confident about this one as I should, but I’d be surprised if it bombs.
Will this version of Moana make another billion? I’m struggling to get there.
Disney
That fact should worry Disney, as I’ve been one of the brand’s most passionate advocates.
The marketing seems to be, “Look, kids, it’s Moana!” Is that enough? I have concerns.
‘Super Troopers 3’ – August 7th
Here’s something you may not know about me: I’m a Broken Lizard fanatic.
I’ve seen Super Troopers and Super Troopers 2 in theaters, as well as Club Dread and Beerfest.
Photo: Fox
We also watched every episode of Tacoma FD, which is really good comfort TV.
So, I’m enthusiastic about this film, even though it will make very little box office.
Super Trooper 3
Still, I’m going to recommend the film to you, as the trailer is hysterical.
Also, dirty. I’m not going to link it for that reason, but you can find it on YouTube.
‘The Dog Stars’ – August 28th
Last week, Disney unveiled the trailer for Ridley Scott’s next movie.
As someone who has rewatched The Martian and Prometheus more times than I can count, I’m there.
However, we’re far past the saturation point with post-apocalyptic stories.
Thanos as a doomsday prepper is really good casting, though.
Photo: The Hollywood Reporter
Disney is taking a big swing here by giving this one a $110 million budget.
Historically, Ridley Scott fans do support his projects, but this one’s a risk.
The Dog Stars
The last time Disney tried something like this, well…do you remember The Creator? Exactly.
I hope this one does well, though, as Ridley Scott is one of my all-time faves.
‘Avengers: Endgame’ – September 25th
Yes, Disney will re-release Avengers: Endgame as part of the build to its sequel.
In 2019, Marvel reached the pinnacle of its power, and Disney hopes to remind you of that.
Photo: Marvel
Sure, the 2020s have been tough, but remember when Captain America wielded Mjolnir?
This is my go-to movie when flying because it’s three hours of pure joy.
Marvel: Avengers: Endgame
Fan service gets a bad name. When done right, it’s the best form of storytelling.
‘Whalefall’ – October 16th
Speaking of Thanos, Josh Brolin also co-stars in this film with a great premise.
A SCUBA diver gets swallowed by a whale. That’s it. That’s the movie.
Whalefall
The diver has one hour to escape before he becomes a permanent part of said whale.
This is another book whose theatrical rights Disney acquired before it was even released.
Whalefall
Disney only spent $49 million on this one and got a $10.4 million tax break.
So, the investment here is modest for a title that could surprise in theaters.
Photo: Hello! Magazine
Sometimes, these paranoid underwater survival films do quite well.
47 Meters Down and The Meg both earned sequels. This one’s a risk but a worthwhile attempt.
‘Wild Horse Nine’ – November 6th
Director Martin McDonagh helmed one of my favorite films ever, In Bruges.
I’m not sure any story has ever been better at encapsulating the concept of redemption.
Photo: Fox
Somehow, McDonagh did so during a story with a body count in the dozens.
His films have earned 17 Academy Awards to date, with two victories. And he has won as well.
Photo: Fox
So, you can understand why Disney is betting on McDonagh’s latest film.
Wild Horse Nine is a period piece set in the early 1970s.
CIA operatives travel to the tropical paradise of Chile, where everything predictably goes sideways.
Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich star in the film, but I’m fascinated by another role.
Photo: Fox
Legendary singer Tom Waits will reunite with McDonagh.
They’d previously worked together on Seven Psychopaths. McDonagh’s movies are all bloodthirsty.
‘Hexed’ – November 25th
Here it is, Disney fans. This is the next theatrical release from Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Hexed follows on the heels of Zootopia 2, but let’s be honest.
Photo: Disney
This one feels like the (quick) spiritual successor to Encanto.
The conclusion is inescapable based on the names of the two films.
Photo: Disney
Both evoke magical settings and celebrate the family dynamic.
In this case, a teen discovers her magical abilities, forcing her to go on a journey.
Photo: Variety
Her mother joins her along the way, a rare inversion of most Disney films.
Well, for starters, a parent is alive, which is a nice change of pace.
Photo: Disney
Disney changed the story, as it originally focused on a teen boy.
The internet is convinced that Disney made the change after Elio bombed.
D23
Whether that’s true or not, a teen girl learning the witchy ropes from her mom is a good concept.
Is it an original concept? Not really. Then again, the original version wasn’t either.
Photo: YouLoveIt.com
I mean, a teen learning how to be a witch from an elder is the plot of Agatha All Along.
So, I suspect that factored heavily into the decision as well.
Photo: D23 Expo
Will this change work? We’ll have to stay tuned, but Disney really needs an original IP hit.
‘Avengers: Doomsday’ – December 18th
Then, we have the title that will ultimately decide Disney’s 2026 box office fate.
Don’t get me wrong. The studio is poised to have a great year no matter what.
Marvel
However, should 2026 end with another Marvel movie disappointing, it’ll be ugly.
For this reason, Disney has stacked the deck with Avengers: Doomsday.
Photo: Marvel
I feel like 30 percent of Hollywood will appear in this film.
At a minimum, anyone who has ever worn a super-suit appears to have signed on.
Photo: Marvel
Most importantly, Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU.
What’s changed is his identity. He’ll play Doom now since Tony Stark is dead.
Photo: Getty Images for Disney
Fans were initially icy to the announcement, one I consider a masterstroke.
So, we’ll find out who is right and who is wrong during the holiday season.
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ – July 31st
Finally, since I know some people will ask about it, I’ll toss in this Sony release.
As a reminder, that studio owns the rights to the Spider-Man license.
Photo: Marvel
This fact has gotten Sony in trouble as it failed to expand the brand.
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man films have excelled, and Venom has done well, too.
Photo: Marvel
Everything else has been a disaster. Not coincidentally, Sony rushed another Spider-Man film.
The early buzz was awful, but the situation has changed dramatically.
Photo: Marvel
Sony hired Destin Daniel Cretton of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Since he came onboard, the Spidey news has been glowing.
Photo: Marvel
I fully expect this one to be the top film of the summer and possibly even the year.
The primary competitors are Toy Story 5 and Avengers: Doomsday.
Photo: Marvel
Remember that Disney gets a 25 percent cut on Brand New Day’s profits.
So, Disney appears to be in great shape to earn a ton of money this year.
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Though having largely started with a fresh slate, James Gunn confirms he will clear the air on the DC Universe‘s canon connections with the previous franchise, better known as the Snyderverse.
Gunn memorably joined the previous franchise, dubbed the DC Extended Universe, with 2021’s The Suicide Squad, before later taking over as DC Studios co-CEO in late 2023 and aiming to do a soft reboot of the franchise. Though this new era technically began with HBO Max’s Creature Commandos as part of its first chapter, “Gods and Monsters,” Gunn indicated that Xolo Maridueña’s Blue Beetle would return from his 2023 film, while Peacemaker season 2’s opening offered some better clarification on what was still considered canon in the DCU.
In response to a recent question on Threads about the lingering Snyderverse and DCU canon connections from the original Suicide Squad, his standalone sequel and Blue Beetle after sharing further insight on the Peacemaker season 2 podcast, Gunn acknowledged that he’s “been thinking about this a lot” in regard to the latter two movies. The DC Studios boss expressed that he’s “been meaning to rewatch both with an eye” directed toward any unspecified canonical ties, particularly “knowing what I know now almost three years” into the new franchise, along with the “couple more years of scripts being actively filmed or created.”
As such, Gunn shared that, after finishing production on his Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, and getting it out in July 2027, he may reunite with his stars and frequent collaborators, Jennifer Holland and Steve Agee, for “a special couple podcasts to discuss” any unspecified canon connections. He further opened the floor to questions from fans about what they “think is potentially or definitely NOT canon” from The Suicide Squad and Blue Beetle.
Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg in Zack Snyder’s Justice Leaguevia MovieStillsDB
In addition to a variety of sequels and planned individual projects, the Snyderverse’s early ending memorably led to the scrapping of Zack Snyder’s two Justice League sequels to round out his trilogy story plans. While the years since have seen Gunn affirm a variety of conversations with Snyder, he’s also largely confirmed that the prior franchise is dead, while new projects, like the animated Mister Miracle, have recast key previous characters such as Darkseid.
Peacemaker season 2 had seemingly gone a long way to helping better clear up some of the unanswered canonical connections between the DCU and Snyderverse with its “Previously in the DCU” recap montage. The season 1 finale’s Justice League cameos were instead swapped to the Justice Gang, with only Nathan Fillion and Isabela Merced actually being visible as the Guy Gardner version of Green Lantern and Hawkgirl. Additionally, the other silhouettes were swapped to David Corenswet’s Superman, Edi Gathegi’s Mister Terrific and Milly Alcock’s Supergirl.
That being said, there are definitely a number of lingering questions from both The Suicide Squad and Blue Beetle tying the DCU to the Snyderverse that either a project will have to directly address, or Gunn himself. Idris Elba’s Bloodsport was memorably imprisoned due to shooting Superman with a Kryptonite bullet, though is still unknown if this was in reference to Corenswet’s or Henry Cavill’s.
Though a campaign for Zack Snyder’s DC film series to revive on Netflix has caught on, the idea faces some difficult truths in execution.
Additionally, Blue Beetle‘s infamous “Batman is a fascist” joke doesn’t have a clear indication as to which Batman the movie refers to, and a shot of the LexCorp building instead of LutherCorp, as shown in Superman and the rest of the DCU, has created a few inconsistencies. While the latter is easily resolvable through CGI touch-ups, much like the opening montage of Peacemaker season 2, there is also still the unknown fate of the original Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, which may very well be answered in the upcoming animated series.
Gunn’s indication that he’ll offer some definitive answers on the canonical connections between the DCU and Snyderverse is sure to come as a mixed update for fans of the prior franchise. On the one hand, should he confirm that a few elements from previous films are still remaining part of his new franchise plans, it may keep the ongoing hope alive for Gunn and Snyder to team together for either an Elseworlds continuation of the DCEU, or something more closely part of the current plan.
However, there is also the possibility that in the special podcast episodes, Gunn will officially shut down any further canonical connections between the DCU and Snyderverse. It would go a long way to help further set the new franchise apart from the previous one to fully write off any lingering ties between them. Given he indicates he wouldn’t have time to record said episodes until after Man of Tomorrow‘s release, it does seem likely that the answers won’t come until at least Fall 2027.
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, The Joker, Shazam, Darkseid, Amanda Waller, Lex Luthor, Doomsday, Deadshot, Deathstroke, Black Canary, Black Adam
Movie(s)
Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Aquaman, Shazam!, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, The Suicide Squad, Black Adam, Shazam! The Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, Superman, The Brave and the Bold
The DC Universe is one of the biggest comic book franchises and often competes with Marvel. DC Comics started as National Allied Publications, founded by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson in 1935. Since then, the franchise has exploded with thousands of comic books, movies, TV shows, and video games. 2013 marked the beginning of the most recent iteration of the superheroes, with Zack Snyder introducing Henry Cavill as Superman. After several movies with mixed reviews, DC underwent a soft reboot under the helm of James Gunn and Peter Safran.
Last month, SNK revealed that Kenshiro, star of Fist of the North Star, would be the final Season 2 DLC character for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves in June. However, that left May unspoken for, and fans were wondering who would fill the void.
Today, during a special presentation at Evo Japan, SNK unveiled the next DLC character would be another crossover character, but this time from a franchise in SNK’s portfolio: Mr. Karate, the mask-wearing martial artist from Art of Fighting, is next up–but this Mr. Karate is different from the one we’ve seen before.
In previous SNK fighting games, Mr. Karate has been an alter ego for Takuma Sakazaki, the father of Art of Fighting protagonist Ryo Sakazaki and the final boss of the first game. However, while this version of Mr. Karate sports the well-known Tengu mask, the man underneath is donning the long ponytail, suit, and gold chain of Robert Garcia, Ryo’s best friend and co-protagonist of Art of Fighting.
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In a title bout for the undisputed super bantamweight (junior featherweight) championship, Japanese fighter Naoya Inoue takes on fellow Japanese boxer Junto Nakatani in a 12-round match. What’s on the line? Inoue’s IBF, WBC and WBO World Super Bantam title belts. At the end of the contest, one of these fighters will have both titles — or it will end with a draw.
On Saturday, May 2, Inoue (32-0-0) vs. Nakatani (32-0-0) takes place at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan with a start time of 3 a.m. ET/12 a.m. PT. Ringwalk for the main event is expected around 8 a.m. ET/5 a.m. PT.
Not a DAZN subscriber? Right now, you can purchase access to the event starting at $20.99/month. Additionally, DAZN’s “Ultimate Tier” plan goes for just $49.99/month to get access to this PPV event, as well as 11 other PPV events throughout the year at no extra cost. It’s just a flat monthly subscription price. The plan also have access to more than 100 live fights all year long, as well as fight replays, highlights and documentaries.
The fights during the Inoue vs. Nakatani event are free to watch for subscribers.
Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani Odds & Predictions
For the main event, Inoue is the favorite to heavy win against Nakatani. Oddsmakers give Naoya Inoue a -450 moneyline (bet $450 to win $100), while Junto Nakatani received a line of +310 (bet $100 to win $310), as the underdog. Want more odds? Check out the complete odds and wagers at BetMGM.com online here.
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Post Malone‘s “Big Ass Stadium Tour Part 2” just got smaller. The artist took to social media Friday night to announce that he was canceling the first few weeks of his outing in stadiums with Jelly Roll, saying that he wants to get his forthcoming album finished before hitting the road in earnest.
The cancellation affects the first six regularly scheduled dates on the Live Nation-produced joint tour, or almost a third of the North American dates altogether. The tour was to officially kick off May 13 at El Paso’s Sun Bowl Stadium, with the other scotched dates were to have taken place at stadiums in Waco, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Tampa and Oxford, Miss.. Not counting three festival dates that the star plans to fulfill in the interim, the tour with Malone and Jelly Roll will now kick off three and a half weeks later than planned in Charlotte, NC on June 9.
Despite reports of slower-than-expected ticket sales, Malone was adamant in his message that a focus on getting through an epic album-in-progress was the reason for putting this first batch of dates on ice.
“Looking at the upcoming schedule after Stagecoach,” Malone wrote fans, “I came to the realization that what we’re trying to do, and what’s possible, isn’t really lining up. The truth is, I promised y’all beautiful people new music, and I don’t have the time to finish it before tour starts. We ain’t ready for tour just yet, so I’m making the decision to push the tour back about 3 weeks to get this music done.”
Malone has been touting a 40-track album on the way, to be titled “The Eternal Buzz.” No release date has been announced, nor have any other details beyond the title. Malone’s announcement indicates it still has a way to go to the finish line. (In an interview with Billboard at Stagecoach last weekend, Malone said he’d recorded “probably 35 songs” for the project but had only gotten as far as scratch vocals.)
“That being said,” Malone’s announcement continued, “I’m so sorry to the folks who were planing on coming to the few canceled shows. I was looking forward to going nuts with y’all. That THAT being said, we been making some badass shit for this double album… and I can’t wait to perform for y’all again.”
The pushing back of the start of the tour comes on the heels of widespread reports that ticket sales have been soft for many dates on the tour, in contrast to last summer’s initial “Big Ass Stadium Tour” by Malone and Jelly Roll, which sold out every date and grossed a reported $170 million. The disparity between last year’s sales and this year’s was the subject of a Lefsetz Report newsletter that went out to music industry readers shortly before Malone made his announcement.
Neither Malone nor Jelly Roll has had an album out since 2024. The thinking may be that if Malone can get “The Eternal Buzz” and/or a hit single into the marketplace sooner rather than later, it could goose ticket sales for the remaining dates, in the same way that the popularity of “F-1 Trillion” a year and a half ago undoubtedly spurred a rush on the sold-out 2025 tour.
Industry observers have engaged in debate about why this year’s tour has so far not seemed as hot as the red-hot outing last summer. Most of this year’s shows are not in the same cities as last year’s, so in most instances it isn’t a case of revisiting the same market too soon. Some have put it down to speculation or confusion over whether Malone will emphasize his country side or his hip-hop/rock side on the tour — and in the comments, it’s not hard to find fans who are hoping the concerts will veer more one way or the other — although, again, this did not seem to be a hindrance in 2025.
Malone may be aware of the guessing game going on about whether the forthcoming album and tour will lean one musical direction or another. He’s indicated “The Eternal Buzz” will have its 40 songs divided up into a two-part format (spread evenly across two CDs, in the physical realm), leaving some to wonder if he might be planning to divide it up among genres, as opposed to the strict country focus of “F-1 Trillion.”
The rapper-turned-rocker-turned-country-star may have hinted at a resolution that could mark at least a partial return to his roots, with a slightly cryptic comment tagged on to the end of Friday’s social media post.
“And to a lot of little stinkers that think I’ve forgotten about old Stoney, I haven’t,” he wrote. (“Stoney” was the title of his debut album in 2016.) “I love you, and can’t wait to see you crazy motherfuckers soon,” he concluded.
Once the Malone/Jelly Roll belatedly starts up in June, it will run through 13 shows in North America, with Carter Faith as opener (stepping in for last year’s support act, Sierra Ferrell). After a month and a half off, starting in mid-September, Malone will move his “Big Ass” tour to Asian territories, with hip-hop star Don Toliver taking Jelly Roll’s place on the bill overseas.
Malone nixing about a third of his U.S. stadium shows is actually on the less severe side of a recent rash of tour cancellations, just about all of which have been officially ascribed to personal circumstances and not headwinds in the concert economy. Earlier Friday, Zayn canceled his entire U.S. arena tour, although he is going on with the overseas portions, citing unspecified health issues. In mid-April, Meghan Trainor also called off her entire arena tour, citing a desire to spend time with her young children.
Gwen Farrell Adair, the actress known for playing various nurses on M*A*S*H, has died. She was 94.
Adair’s son announced that she died of natural causes on Thursday in Sherman Oaks.
Born in Austin, Texas, Farrell made her onscreen debut in the second episode of M*A*S*H in 1972, appearing on the CBS war comedy drama as various nurses throughout the show’s 11-season run that concluded in 1983.
During her time on the show, she played Nurses Gwen, Wilson, Butler and Able, as well as an anesthesiologist.
Farrell, who was married to LAPD Detective Frank Adair, also appeared in a 1975 episode of Starsky & Hutch, as well as movies like Black Gunn (1972), Soylent Green (1973), Coffy (1973), Earthquake (1974), Towering Inferno (1974) and Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977).
In addition to acting, Farrell began managing Los Angeles boxers in the 1970s and became the first female licensed referee in ’79. She also owned and operated a Fatburger, which her mother Lovie Yancey founded in 1947.
“But beyond her accomplishments, Gwen was so much more to her family,” Farrell’s family wrote in a GoFundMe created for her funeral expenses. “She was a grandmother, a guiding light, and a steady source of love and wisdom. She had a way of making those around her feel supported, understood, and cared for without needing recognition.”
The family added, “Her passing leaves a deep void in our hearts, one that cannot be filled. We will miss her voice, her strength, and the quiet comfort she brought into our lives. While we are heartbroken, we are also incredibly grateful for the life she lived and the legacy she leaves behind.”
Hot Docs, the major nonfiction film festival in Toronto, has announced award winners for the event’s 33rd edition.
Earning Best International Feature Documentary was House of Hope, directed by Marjolein Busstra, a film set in the occupied West Bank that focuses on an elementary school run by a couple who teach their young Palestinian students non-violent resistance, “offering a refuge from the escalating uncertainty that surrounds them.”
The award comes with a $10,000 cash prize (courtesy of Donner Canadian Foundation) and automatically qualifies the film for Oscar consideration.
‘House of Hope’
First Hand Films
“A powerful and unsentimental film that bears witness to a family-run Waldorf school in the West Bank and its profound commitment to nurturing the humanity of children,” writes the jury comprised of Robyn Citizen, Daniela Michel, and Lina Rodriguez. “For its clear-eyed portrait of educators whose quiet everyday resilience stubbornly insists on hope under the shadow of occupation and genocide, the jury enthusiastically presents Marjolein Busstra with the Hot Docs Best International Feature Documentary award for House of Hope.”
Best Canadian Feature Documentary went to Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom, directed by Kim Nguyen. The film reveals “the elusive connection between two families and photojournalist Eddie Adams’s iconic photo, ‘Saigon Execution,’ confronting family secrets left in the wake of the Vietnam War, exposing the resilience of survivors and blurred legacy of wartime memory.”
The award is accompanied by a $10,000 cash prize (courtesy of Telefilm Canada). Hot Docs hosted the world premiere for Saigon Story.
The jury, comprised of Avril Benoît, Jason Gorber, and Yiqian Zhang, writes, “For this film’s illuminating look at the story behind an iconic image and the city where it was captured, its compelling analysis of the lasting effects of a conflict from more than a half century ago, and its deep dive into the complex historical, political and emotional aspects that expand well beyond the frame of one of the most haunting moments ever captured on film, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Best Canadian Feature Documentary award to Kim Nguyen’s Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom.”
Coincidentally, a short documentary about the legacy of the Eddie Adams “Saigon Execution” photo — On Healing Land, Birds Perch, directed by Naja Phạm Lockwood – made the Oscar shortlist this past year.
Courtesy of Hot Docs
The Hot Docs 2026 Awards Presentation was held Friday at El Mocambo in Toronto. The festival continues through Sunday. The Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary will be announced on Sunday – with the winner receiving a $50,000 cash prize, courtesy of Rogers. Winners of the Hot Docs Audience Award for feature and short documentary will be announced on Monday (May 4).
Scroll for the winners of awards in competition announced on Friday.
The festival’s Best International Short Documentary was presented to Replikka, directed by Piratá Waurá. “The short film offers an unforgettable look at Waura culture and their efforts to protect Indigenous land, traditions, and stories,” writes the jury, comprised of Fazila Amiri, Martin Edralin, and Shonna Foster. “Its beautiful cinematography and rhythmic sound design made a strong impression on the jury, in addition to its urgent call against the erasure of Indigenous culture and memory, and its unique perspective from within the Waura community.”
Best Canadian Short Documentary went to My Body Goes to Work, directed by Fernanda Molina. “In just 12 minutes, Fernanda Molina Perez Diez crafts an intimate and humanizing portrait of a Toronto sex worker, revealing the complexity behind job titles and underscoring the nature of care work in all its forms,” write jurors Amiri, Edralin, and Foster. “Raw and observant, the film left the jury in reflection on the everyday realities of sex work, reframing a life too often reduced to a label.”
Both Replikka and My Body Goes to Work earned $3,000 cash prizes and by virtue of winning at Hot Docs they automatically qualify for Oscar consideration.
Along with the above-mentioned films, these are the Hot Docs awards winners announced on Friday:
The Lindalee Tracey Award, which honors an emerging Canadian filmmaker with a passionate point of view, a strong sense of social justice and a sense of humor, was presented to Özgün Gündüz. The Lindalee Tracey award includes a $5000 cash prize from the Lindalee Tracey Fund, $5000 in-kind voucher from the Picture Shop and a beautifully glass blown sculpture by Andrew Kuntz.
Hot Docs Docs for Schools Student Choice Award is awarded to the documentary that receives the highest rating in the student audience poll was presented to Nekai Walks (D: Rico King | P: David Mcilvride | Canada | 2026 | 90 min). At 16, Nekai Foster was shot while walking home in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighborhood. His journey of survival and recovery—defying all medical odds as he relearns to walk—exposes how gun violence shapes bodies, families and communities.
The winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize.
Hot DocsEarl A. Glick Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award is given to a Canadian filmmaker whose film in competition is their first or second feature-length film. The award, which includes a $3,000 cash prize courtesy of the Earl A. Glick Family, was presented to Sébastien Trahan, the director of Code of Misconduct (D: Sébastien Trahan | P: Annie Bourdeau | Canada | 2026 | 88 min). An investigative journalist’s duty to follow the facts leads to the trial of five Canadian professional hockey players charged with sexual assault, unravelling our national pastime and questioning the institutions that hold the sport accountable.
Jury Statement: “For its journalistically rich examination of accountability and power and privilege within Canadian hockey, as well as the film’s amplification of voices calling for justice, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Earl A. Glick Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award to Sébastien Trahan for Code of Misconduct.”
Hot DocsBill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary, sponsored by the Bill Nemtin Legacy Fund, which recognizes the producers of a Hot Docs 2026 official selection film who find and tell compelling stories that inspire social or political change, and encourage their audiences to change their attitudes or behaviours or strive for policy change, went to directors Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim, and producers Sona Jo and Shin Wan Kim of The Seoul Guardians (D: Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim | P: Sona Jo, Shin Wan Kim | South Korea | 2026 | 71 min).
[Film description]: When martial law was shockingly declared in 2024, the people of Seoul took to the streets to protect their democracy. Driven by memories of past dictatorships, this urgent reportage-style film captures a night of chaos and powerful, collective citizen resistance.
A $10,000 cash prize accompanies the award, supported by the Bill Nemtin Legacy Fund.
Jury Statement: “For a film of great urgency that speaks to the vagaries of political upheaval, the power of protest, and the foundational need for any free society to have an engaged press ready to pursue the truth in all of its messiness and meaningfulness, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary to the film team behind The Seoul Guardians, the directors Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim, and producers Sona Jo and Shin Wan Kim.”
Hot DocsEmerging International Filmmaker Award, supported by the R&M Lang Foundation, was awarded to Dawood Hilmandi, director of Paikar (D: Dawood Hilmandi | P: Frank Hoeve, Katja Draaijer | Netherlands | 2025 | 97 min). From exile in Amsterdam, filmmaker Dawood Hilmandi reflects on his family nickname, Paikar, the Persian word for warrior. Returning to Iran to reconcile with his authoritarian father, their journey to Afghanistan during a pandemic transforms a lifetime of displacement into a story of survival.
The award is given to an international filmmaker whose film in competition is their first or second feature-length film, and includes a $3,000 cash prize, courtesy of the R&M Lang Foundation.
Jury statement: For its poetic meditation on transgenerational trauma that evocatively navigates the entanglement of memory, war and exile from a deeply personal perspective—initiating a moving dialogue across a lifetime of displacement, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Emerging International Filmmaker Award to Dawood Hilmandi for Paikar.”
Hot Docs DGC Special Jury Prize-Canadian Feature Documentary, sponsored by DGC National and DGC Ontario, is awarded to a feature-length documentary in the Canadian Spectrum Competition program that the jury feels is deserving of special recognition and was presented to Ceremony (D: Banchi Hanuse | P: Banchi Hanuse | Canada | 2026 | 84 min). At Nuxalk Radio, a ramshackled station on the edge of the world, an inquiry into the vanished ooligan fish uncovers a chilling history rooted in the attempted erasure of the Nuxalk people and their enduring resilience.
The award comes with a $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of DGC National and DGC Ontario.
Jury Statement: “For this film’s poignant look at Indigenous resistance and reclamation of past-traditions, illustrating a community grappling to resuscitate unceded lands, all while showing how the actions of a Nation foster healing by respecting what came before while working towards a better future, the Hot Docs DGC Special Jury Prize for Canadian Feature goes to Banchi Hanuse’s Ceremony.”
Hot Docs Joan VanDuzer Special Jury Prize-International Feature Documentary, in memory of long time Hot Docs supporter Joan VanDuzer, is awarded to a feature-length documentary in the International Spectrum Competition program that the jury feels is deserving of special recognition and was given to The 49th Year (D: Heidrun Holzfeind | P: Heidrun Holzfeind | Austria, Germany, Japan | 2026 | 88 min). Through thoughtful letters from prison, an anarchist incarcerated since 1980 reflects on his radical past. This meditative portrait pairs humane narration with contemporary Japanese landscapes, exploring the quiet tensions between aging, political militancy and time itself.
Hot Docs is pleased to present the winner with a $5,000 cash prize, in memory of Joan VanDuzer.
Jury statement: “For its astute view on political ideologies and its meditative exploration of the true costs of radical action beyond isolated moments of protest and conventional electoral politics—and the ways in which periods of dissent can fade into enforced consensus, the jury recognizes Heidrun Holzfeind’s elegiac yet piercing attention to one man and the echoes of his resistance with the Hot Docs Joan VanDuzer Special Jury Prize-International Feature Documentary.”
Canadian producer Jennifer Holness received the Hot Docs Don Haig Award, announced earlier in the Festival. The Award is given to an outstanding independent Canadian producer with a film in the Festival in recognition of their creative vision, entrepreneurship and track record for nurturing emerging talent, and comes with a $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of the Don Haig Foundation.
Britney Spears was charged on Thursday with driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, a misdemeanor, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said.
The criminal complaint did not specify the type of drug that prosecutors say Ms. Spears had taken, and a spokesman for the district attorney’s office would not provide details.
Ms. Spears is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday in Ventura County Superior Court. In a news release, officials said she is not required to attend the arraignment because she faces only a misdemeanor charge.
A representative for Ms. Spears did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ms. Spears was arrested on suspicion of D.U.I. on the evening of March 4, after officers observed her driving fast and erratically, according to Officer Ryan Ayers, a California Highway Patrol spokesman.
At the time, a representative for the pop star called the situation “an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable,” adding that “Britney is going to take the right steps and comply with the law, and hopefully this can be the first step in long-overdue change that needs to occur in Britney’s life.”
In the news release, prosecutors noted that Ms. Spears will have the opportunity to reach a plea deal that allows her to avoid jail time.
Prosecutors said that in cases that involve a low blood alcohol level and no crash or injury, defendants often reach such a resolution, especially when they also voluntarily enter a drug and alcohol treatment program. That sort of arrangement would involve probation, a D.U.I. class and a fine.
About a month after Ms. Spears’s arrest, a representative said she had voluntarily checked herself into a treatment facility. He declined to specify the type of program she had entered. The singer’s drug use has long been the subject of speculation during her years in the spotlight.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ms. Spears became one of the world’s biggest pop stars with chart-topping hits like “… Baby One More Time.” She also became a favorite target of tabloids and gossip publications, especially when falling out of line with the girl-next-door image that was once central to her brand. In 2007, for instance, she was seen with a shaved head, hitting a photographer’s car with an umbrella.
The next year, when she was 26, she was placed in a conservatorship that gave her father, Jamie Spears, control over her life and finances, even as she continued to make music and tour. After 13 years, she objected to the conservatorship in an impassioned speech to a judge, saying she had been drugged, compelled to work against her will and pushed into involuntary medical evaluations and rehab.
In Ms. Spears’s 2023 memoir, “The Woman in Me,” she disputed the idea that she had a persistent substance abuse problem. She wrote that her drinking had never been “out of control” and that her “drug of choice” had been Adderall, which is prescribed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
In recent months, Ms. Spears’s posts on Instagram, where she regularly shared videos of herself dancing alone, raised alarm. She appeared disheveled or with bandages around her hands and wrists in some of the posts.
After her arrest in March, her representatives said her “loved ones are going to come up with an overdue needed plan to set her up for success for well-being.” She later posted videos of her spending time with her young-adult sons, with whom she has at times been estranged.
A Quiet Storm follows a family in suburban Tokyo where a mother’s attention is spread across two sons with vastly different needs. The film centers on one teenager’s internal battle to find himself within that imbalance of needs.
Maïto is a Japanese teen and a prodigy at krumping, the freestyle dance form built on explosive, exaggerated movement—stomps, chest pops, arm swings. In suburban Tokyo, he competes in freestyle dance battles. His mother coaches him. He’s been dancing seriously since childhood, and krumping is his way of expressing things he can’t articulate anywhere else.
His younger brother Ayumu has developmental challenges and requires most of their mother’s attention. She homeschools both boys and tries to raise them as normally as possible in this tenuous balance. Maïto learned early in life to need less, to be independent, and not to demand much. This apparent imbalance weighs heavily on Ayumu’s mother. She supports him, worries about him, and splits her attention between two sons in a way that never quite equals enough.
“He’s been dancing seriously since childhood, and krumping is his way of expressing things he can’t articulate anywhere else.”
One could argue that Maïto struggles to be seen at home, and krumping is a way for him to stand out in front of the crowd and on his own terms. Dance is all on Maïto. This is his passion, and this is how he chooses to express himself. He’s invested so much of his life into it that the young Maïto finds himself able to compete amongst the best in Japan.
Benjamin Nicolas found the film’s story in his own daughter’s need to move and express what she couldn’t say—raw, unfiltered, and through krumping. That led him to an eight-year-old Maïto on YouTube, dancing with the same urgency, but against a backdrop where Japan values order and silence above all else. What really got him, though, was a Zoom call with Maïto’s mother, Itsuka, that hit him emotionally. He realized the story was never really about krumping—it was about the silent dialogue between mother and son, where every sacrifice and glance holds pages of unsaid things.
I can only imagine what it’s like to raise a developmentally challenged child as a single parent. What we see in A Quiet Storm is a mother who so desperately wants to do right by both her children and is stretched to her limits to make that happen. On the other hand, Maïto understands the pressure his mother is under and, by necessity, chooses to become an independent adult way too soon.
That’s just it. We need to hear stories of individuals and families who refuse to be defined by their adversity, but instead overcome adversity as a way to define their character. A Quiet Storm does exactly that and needs to be seen. Plus, the krumping is exceptional, and be sure to stay to the end.
As the province prepares to close the Luugat single-room occupancy (SRO) building on Vancouver’s Granville Street by the end of June, it appears BC Housing doesn’t want the public to see inside the former hotel that taxpayers paid millions of dollars to convert to supportive housing during COVID.
“I’m happy to get out of there,” Luugat resident Stewart Holcombe said with a chuckle Friday.
Holcombe told Global News he and about a dozen other residents were moving to new homes on May 1, after they were told in September that the province would be finding them places equal to or better than 1176 Granville Street.
Holcombe said the bathroom roof in his fourth-floor unit at the SRO had caved in due to flooding from all the fires over the years, and his new accommodation in East Vancouver is way better.
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“It’s three times the size, it’s cheaper and I have, like, a full fridge, full stove,” he told Global News ahead of the planned move. “It’s a complete bachelor suite instead of just a little box.”
The Luugat had approximately 80 residents in the fall of 2025.
Granville cleanup concerns
As of April 27, 36 residents remained and all had been offered alternative housing, according to B.C.’s Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs.
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Although Holcombe disputes that claim and said some residents haven’t been offered any housing yet, the ministry said 18 residents have accepted offers and are waiting to move, while the remainder are “evaluating which housing option will work best for them”.
Another flood at Aura nightclub on the ground floor of the former Howard Johnson hotel on Fri. April 24 offered a glimpse of the living conditions in the supportive housing above.
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With the help of a plumber, bar owner Alan Goodall said he tracked the water to an overflowing toilet in a first-floor unit, which was piled with two to four feet of garbage – and no bed.
Global News wanted to give the public a clearer look inside after the building’s nearly six-year tenure as an SRO.
“It was destroyed in less than a year and a half,” Holcombe said in an interview. “Pretty sad.”
BC Housing denied Global News’ request to film the Luugat’s common areas and unoccupied rooms, stating it has an obligation to respect the privacy of current residents.
“For that reason, we will not be able to accommodate any media tour of the building,” the Crown corporation said in an email.
B.C. government closing one of three Granville SROs
In Oct. 2020, Global News was welcomed inside the building for a tour, just months after the province purchased the former hotel for $55 million to house people from encampments.
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Our cameras photographed a safer supply dispensing machine, the overdose prevention site above the lobby, and various residents in the elevators and hallways.
Atira, the housing operator at the time, spoke about the supports available for residents, including health care support workers.
“It was beautiful in the beginning,” recalled Holcombe.
BC Housing said it was happy to be able to accommodate Global News previously. There also appeared to be no privacy issues with residents at that time.
More than five years later and following multiple fires, floods and at least $1.87 million spent on building repairs and remediation, it appears BC Housing does not want taxpayers to see what’s left of the Luugat.
“All the stuff in the hallways, pictures were taken off the wall, the TVs were all taken and sold – like, it was destroyed in less than a year,” Holcombe said, adding he believes the public should be able to see the conditions. “Absolutely, yeah, it’s been destroyed like, it’s absolutely decimated in there, like there’s flood damage on every floor, there (are) multiple rooms you can’t even go in, the roofs are caving in.”
When pressed on access and what had changed since 2020, BC Housing said people in the building are in the process of having to move out.
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“This is a destabilizing and stressful moment in people’s lives and our focus is on supporting the move-out process for residents and the community,” the Crown corporation responded in an email.
Closer look at redevelopment plans for Granville Island
Holcombe, who survived a bizarre incident which saw him stuck in the building’s ventilation shaft for more than 24 hours in August 2024, said he’s optimistic for the next chapter of housing.
