Tag: HollywoodReporter

[This story contains spoilers for the season eight finale of Peacock‘s Love Island USA.]

After a season full of highs and lows and love and heartbreak, fans have crowned the winners of Peacock’s Love Island USA season eight.

Heading into Sunday night’s finale, viewers got to vote on which couple would take home the grand prize of $100,000 (split between the winning couple). The final couples were Trinity and Bryce, Aniya and Carl, Kayda and Zach, and Melanie and Sincere.

After couples went on their final Love Island USA dates during the finale, host Ariana Madix revealed the Islanders who received the most votes and captured America’s heart in the end were Trinity and Bryce. Aniya and Carl were the runners-up, with Melanie and Sincere coming in third place, and Zach and Kayda in fourth.

“I feel like I’m in a dream right now. I’m walking up here, I’m like, ‘Is this fucking real?’” an emotional Bryce said after winning. An overjoyed Trinity added, “I’m just so overwhelmed. I never would have expected in a million years I would be in this position right now.” The pair also told each other that they love them.

Peacock also announced Sunday that the Love Island USA reunion special will air on Aug. 31 at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET, with Madix and Andy Cohen returning as hosts. Additionally, Love Island: Beyond the Villa has been renewed for a third season and will premiere in 2027. The cast will be revealed later this year.

Though Trinity and Bryce seemed like an unlikely match at first, appearing to be more friends than lovers, their relationship actually became a slow burn, developing throughout the season. Once Casa Amor arrived, their true feelings finally came to the surface during the show’s ultimate relationship test. When they finally got reunited, they remained a power couple, eventually making it official as girlfriend and boyfriend before the show ended.

While their relationship didn’t face too many hurdles, plenty of other Islanders throughout season eight did. From Sincere’s ongoing lies to Melanie and Kenzie’s shady exploring to KC’s hurtful words about Aniya and Zach’s commitment issues with Kayda, the season was still filled with more than enough drama.

Heading into the new season, Madix chatted with The Hollywood Reporter about the success the Peacock series has seen in recent years. After Love Island USA became a cultural phenomenon over the last two seasons, the eighth installment reached new heights when the show’s first week topped the Nielsen streaming charts, recording the show’s biggest premiere numbers to date.

In addition to the show being “able to carve out a unique place” in the television space, Madix also praised the casting team for casting Islanders who draw viewers in. “These Islanders are never together. They don’t meet. There’s no interaction where they can chemistry test the way you would on a scripted show,” the host previously told THR. “So you don’t know until they’re all in a room together what kind of sparks are going to fly. And yet year after year, the casting team does such an incredible job of finding the secret sauce amongst the cast to really make those sparks fly and make the show exciting.”

The season was also met with a few scandals when Alannah Keyser and Vasana Montgomery were removed from the show when respective social media posts emerged of them using the N-word. They’ve both since apologized.

All episodes of Love Island USA season eight are currently streaming on Peacock. Check out all of THR‘s season eight coverage and interviews here.

Paramount is reportedly considering leaving California as the Golden State and others are said to be preparing a lawsuit over its planned $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.

On Sunday, Semafor reported that “friends and advisers” to Paramount chief David Ellison have been urging him to consider relocating his corporate headquarters out of the state. The news comes as California and other states are “preparing to file” a lawsuit to block the merger, according to The New York Times.

Citing “people familiar with the discussions,” Semafor reported that Ellison is being “pushed” to consider relocating out of state, which would also move $30 million in planned spending out of California, if Attorney General Rob Bonta sues to block the deal.

However, the news outlet noted that no decision has been made regarding a move. It’s worth noting that Paramount did buy space in New Jersey last year. The studio signed a 10-year lease to occupy more than 285,000 square feet of 1888 Studios’ production campus in Bayonne, which potentially makes Paramount eligible to receive a tax credit of up to 40 percent for movies and TV shows filmed in the state.

Meanwhile, California has reportedly “taken the lead” on a potential lawsuit to block the merger, with states including New York, Washington and Connecticut saying they will join in, according to NYT. According to a draft of the lawsuit, it reportedly claims that the merger would hamper competition for tentpole movies, among other concerns.

For its part, Paramount has argued that the deal will boost competition in Hollywood, saying it’s necessary to compete against tech giants including Netflix, Amazon and Apple.

Reuters reported July 8 that a lawsuit could be filed as early as this week. Paramount is aiming to close the deal in third-quarter 2026.

“We are confident the facts and the law support this transaction, and we will continue to defend it vigorously,” Paramount told NYT.

The studio echoed that sentiment to Semafor: “We continue to engage constructively with the remaining few regulators around the world still considering the merger, including State Attorneys General, and are prepared to address any legitimate antitrust issues. We are confident this transaction raises no such concerns, as demonstrated by the dozens of antitrust authorities around the world that have carefully reviewed the transaction.”

Last month, news surfaced that the European Commission is expected to approve the merger ahead of an upcoming deadline to open an in-depth probe. In addition, competition cops in China and South Africa have cleared the merger, along with antitrust enforcers in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Serbia and North Macedonia. Regulators probing foreign investments from Gulf sovereign wealth funds in Germany, Italy, France, Romani, Slovenia, Belgium, Czechia, New Zealand and have also approved the merger.

“We have been engaged with all regulatory and law enforcement bodies in a constructive and transparent manner and will continue to do so,” a Paramount spokesperson told THR last month.

Sacha Baron Cohen‘s alter ego Ali G is back, and this time he’s at the 2026 Wimbledon finals.

On Sunday, Ali G posted a video on a newly created Instagram account. “Iz here at the men’s singles in Wimbledon, which actually, despite its name, ain’t a party for Gaylords. It’s like the World Cup of something called tennis, which is like a crap version of ping pong. Them say that tennis is better played on grass, which is why I intend to sell as much of it while iz here. So if you want some herbal remedies, me got anything you want,” Cohen’s satirical character says in the clip, trying to sell marijuana.

He added in the post’s caption, “I iz BACK! And if u iz at dis borin wimbledore final lookin 2 get grand slammed, I iz here wif de hookup.”

Ali G’s return comes after it was recently announced that a new movie starring the iconic character reportedly secretly wrapped production. The surprise sequel, which doesn’t have a release date yet, comes more than two decades after Ali G was last seen on the big screen in 2002’s Ali G Indahouse.

The three-time Oscar nominee’s alter ego first debuted in 1998 during a segment on the British TV program The 11 O’Clock Show. Known for his signature hip-hop slang and bright yellow tracksuits, Ali G became a cultural phenomenon with his absurd interviews with unsuspecting high-profile figures, from Donald Trump to David and Victoria Beckham, among others.

The Borat star’s beloved character also has a TV series, Da Ali G Show, which ran for three seasons from 2000 to 2004.

The songs and scores behind 30 years of Wes Anderson films took the spotlight during the second of three scheduled shows at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday night, where a wide mix of recording artists from Beck to Rufus Wainwright, Jenny Lewis to Jackson Browne and many more joined the L.A. Phil in performances of fan favorites from across Anderson’s beloved filmography.

“We’re going to have music that makes you laugh, that makes you think, that makes you feel,” concert emcee Bill Murray, wearing a Steve Zissou-style red beanie, told the crowd at the beginning of the evening, before introducing longtime Anderson composer Mark Mothersbaugh and the rest of rock band Devo.

Before Devo played “Gut Feeling” (A Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou needle drop), Mothersbaugh opened up with a few words about Anderson, telling the crowd that “working with Wes was kind of the closest thing to working with this band here, where it was about ideas and concepts and making them come to life.”

The concert — music directed by Justin Meldal-Johnsen — was a healthy mix of needle drop covers along with orchestral numbers written by Mothersbaugh and fellow Anderson collaborator Alexandre Desplat, the whole night reflecting the vast draw of influences Anderson pulls from for his signature brand of quirky, whimsical films. On the instrumental side, Kaoru Wantanabe came out on taiko drums to play the percussive soundtrack of Isle of Dogs, while Ami Dang and Aakash Pujara played flute and sitar for the Darjeeling Limited tracks “Charu’s Theme” and “Arrival in Benares.”

My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James played a faithful cover of the Kinks’ “Strangers,” which was featured in The Darjeeling Limited, as well as Cat Stevens’ “The Wind,” one of the most moving musical moments in Rushmore. Karen Elson sang Françoise Hardy’s “Les Temps De L’amour” from Moonrise Kingdom and Jeff Goldblum showed off his prowess behind the keys alongside his jazz band as they played “Blinuet,” a Rushmore feature. Spoon frontman Britt Daniel also dipped into the Rushmore soundtrack with a performance of the raucous “Making Time.”

Lewis, Murray and Beck joined Roge for a high-energy performance of “Zorro Is Back” from the Bottle Rocket soundtrack.

Beck took one of the most iconic musical moments from the Anderson canon, playing Elliot Smith’s “Needle in the Hay,” along with Love’s “Alone Again Or.”

Jason Schwartzman, who took the stage several times throughout the night, recalled a story he’d similarly told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this week about going through the Rushmore soundtrack with Anderson after he was cast in the film, listening to the songs on a cassette as Anderson walked him through scenes. Schwartzman then pulled out what he claimed was that very same decades-old cassette and threw it into the crowd, though given that he pulled the same move during Friday’s show, it’s likely just a prop.

The overwhelming highlight of the night, though, was from Jackson Browne, who performed “The Fairest of the Seasons” and “These Days.” Browne had written that latter song as a 16-year-old, and the version recorded by German singer Nico inspired Anderson to make The Royal Tenenbaums in the first place, getting a prominent feature in the film in what remains arguably Anderson’s most iconic musical moment. Earlier this week, Anderson told THR it was “overwhelming” for Jackson to perform at the concert.

Anderson introduced Browne to the stage himself on Saturday, saying “These Days” “so directly reached out to me” as an artist, further noting that the track “was written impossibly by a 16-year-old boy.”

“Maybe it was a moment when I particularly needed some special artist, some voice, to reassure me of at least the illusion of a benevolent order in the universe,” Anderson said, thanking Browne before he performed. “I felt compelled for whatever reason, to make up a story that tried to expand the words and spirit of this song I loved into a movie that was more or less about regret. We called it The Royal Tenenbaums.”

Before he played, Browne told the crowd the story of how he’d forgotten he agreed for “These Days” to be in Royal Tenenbaums, discovering the song’s usage while he was in the theater watching for the first time.

“I’m indebted to Wes for having discovered this song and giving it this life,” Browne said.

The night finished with an ensemble performance of the Faces’ “Ooh La La,” the same track that concluded Rushmore.

The series is set to conclude with one more show at the Bowl on Sunday evening.

Wai Ching Ho, best known for her role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing crime boss Madame Gao in Daredevil, Iron Fist and The Defenders, has died. She was 82.

Ho’s death was confirmed by two of her former co-stars, Peter Shinkoda and Judy Lei. Her cause of death wasn’t immediately available.

Shinkoda, who played Nobu in Daredevil, took to his Instagram to pay tribute. “I won’t ever forget you. I learned every minute from you when we were together on and off set. I know wisdom – I’d hang on your every word. We will meet again, my friend. You were beautiful,” he wrote.

The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to her rep for more details on her death.

Born on Nov. 16, 1943, in Hong Kong, Ho found herself working across film, television and the stage. Her first onscreen credit was in the series One Life to Live in 1983.

She later landed the role of Madame Gao in the Marvel series Daredevil in 2015, before reprising the character in the spin-offs Iron Fist and The Defenders in 2017.

Ho has also had appearances in Swans Crossing, Wonderland, Deadline, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Children of Invention, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Blue Bloods, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Tracers, Orange Is the New Black, Fresh Off the Boat, New Amsterdam, Hustlers, The World’s Greatest, Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, Law & Order and Only Murders in the Building, among others.

Her voice could also be recognized for voicing Grandma Wu in the Pixar animated film Turning Red.

As for the stage, Ho starred in the Off-Broadway play Laowang: A Chinatown King Lear last year, as well as Snow in Midsummer in 2022 and Celine Song’s play Endlings in 2020.

Lei, who starred alongside Ho in 2022’s The World’s Greatest, which she also wrote and directed, wrote on Instagram that she’s “so sad to hear of her passing,” adding, “Wai Ching was super kind and generous when she played the Chinese School teacher in my first film back in 2019. We had lost our filming location close to midnight the night before and I broke the news to her in the morning. She came to the new location, all prepped and ready to play—she even brought her own outfit. I forgot to have her sign some paperwork and went to her home a few days later to have her sign it. She never displayed an ounce of disappointment in my lack of experience. That type of grace is something I’ll never forget.”

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Aniya and Carl, Trinity and Bryce, Melanie and Sincere and Kayda and Zach are the four remaining couples heading into Love Island USA‘s season eight finale. The July 12 conclusion — determining who will take home the $100,000 prize — airs at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET exclusively on Peacock, and while the service doesn’t offer a free trial directly, fans can enjoy free Peacock access through partner subscriptions, including DirecTV and Instacart+. More on each option below.

At a Glance: How to Watch Love Island USA Season Eight Finale

Where to Watch Love Island USA Season 8 Finale

The eighth season of Love Island USA concludes on Sunday, July 12, at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET, with a supersized two-hour finale on Peacock.

Will Love Island Aftersun Air on Finale Night?

No, Love Island Aftersun with Ciara Miller and Tefi Pessoa (Love Island‘s weekly after show) concluded on Saturday, July 11. The companion show’s episodes are currently available to stream on-demand on Peacock.

Where to Watch Love Island USA Season 8 Finale With Peacock Free Trial

While Peacock doesn’t offer a free trial directly through its site, there is a little-known workaround through partner subscription DirecTV. Customers who sign up for one of DirecTV’s signature packages — Entertainment, Choice, Ultimate or Premier — can get two months of the Movies Extra Pack + Peacock at no cost (a $19.98 value).

Plus, DirecTV offers a five-day free trial for any plan, meaning new members can stream Love Island USA (and everything else Peacock has to offer) at absolutely no cost during that period. Simply select your preferred signature package, then opt to add “Movies Extra Pack + Peacock Premium” where it instructs you to pick your add-ons.

For another savvy streaming hack, the ad-supported Peacock Premium plan (reg. $10.99 per month or $109.99 annually) is included for free with an Instacart+ membership. Following this membership’s 14-day free trial period, a subscription costs $9.99 per month or $99 per year with annual billing.

Who Is in Love Island USA Season 8 Finale?

Aniya and Carl, Trinity and Bryce, Melanie and Sincere and Kayda and Zach are the final four couples. See the full season eight cast list here.

I’ve got a text!

Prepare to recouple with Love Island USA for season eight — Peacock has revealed the initial group of Islanders who will be searching for love this summer as well as several bombshells.

Peacock’s hit reality dating series, which has become a cultural phenomenon over the last two years, centers on a group of single Islanders in search of love in a stunning Fijian villa. Throughout their stay, they will couple up, while also facing challenges, temptations and plenty of twists and turns, including new “bombshell” Islanders.

Last year, the show became the streamer’s most-watched original series, with season seven accounting for 18.4 billion minutes of watch time over its six-week run. At the end of the season, Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales were crowned the winners, in addition to Olandria Carthen and Nicolas Vansteenberghe, Huda Mustafa and Chris Seeley and Iris Kendall and Jose “Pepe” Garcia-Gonzalez also making it to the finale.

Ahead of season eight, Peacock also issued a reminder to fans, asking them to “keep it kind, keep it positive” on social media throughout the upcoming season.

Love Island USA season eight premiered June 2 at 6 p.m. PT / 9 p.m ET and saw Vanderpump Rules alum Ariana Madix return as host for the third time, as well as narrator Iain Stirling.

New episodes will drop every day during premiere week and then Thursdays through Tuesdays thereafter, with Love Island Aftersun (hosted by Ciara Miller and content creator Tefi Pessoa) also returning every Saturday starting June 13.

New episodes, hosted by Ariana Madix and narrated by Iain Stirling, drop Thursdays through Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, with Love Island Aftersun (hosted by Ciara Miller and Tefi Pessoa) airing every Saturday. Viewers will also again be able to vote for their favorite couples via the Love Island USA app.

See season eight’s castmembers below, and check out all of the Casa Amor Islanders here. The Hollywood Reporter will continue to update this list as more Islanders and bombshells enter the villa each week, and check out all the season eight coverage and interviews here.

Viewers first encountered Reese Witherspoon‘s Elle Woods in the 2001 movie Legally Blonde and its 2003 sequel Red, White and Blonde.

But when it came time to explore Elle’s high school years, specifically another outsider experience moving to Seattle, 25 years after the original film was released, the team behind Elle, the Prime Video Legally Blonde prequel that began streaming earlier this month, saw an opportunity to spend more time not only with the title character, now played by Lexi Minetree, but also with the characters around her in the form of an eight-episode series that has already been renewed for and completed production on season two.

“When you have hours and hours and hours, obviously you can get so much more in depth with the character and get to know her family so it’s a much more dynamic way to tell the story of this girl,” co-showrunner Caroline Dries told The Hollywood Reporter at Elle‘s New York premiere last month.

Jason Moore — who directed the first two episodes of Elle, serves as an executive producer on the first season and has a resume that includes helming the first Pitch Perfect movie — said the series in particular offered the opportunity to better flesh out Elle’s family.

“I think the key thing that a TV show offers is the depth of time,” Moore told THR at the premiere. “You can explore a character for four to five hours as opposed to only 90 minutes. There’s a depth to Reese’s performance [in Legally Blonde], no doubt about it. Most of the people around her are less deep. Her parents are drawn cartoon-y and the students only get a certain amount of airtime, so you see how she grows in that period. When you can really settle into longer scenes, conversations with her mom and seeing how we’re all shaped by our parents, that’s a slow process.”

Co-showrunner Laura Kittrell said she was particularly excited to have viewers “meet the characters that are formed from whole cloth for the show and the world that we’ve created for Elle that’s separate from the movie.”

Executive producer Lauren Neustadter, who executive produces Elle through her and Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, said that while Witherspoon’s Elle is confident going into Harvard Law, they wanted to see what the character was like during the psychologically challenging high school years, and as Tom Everett Scott, who plays Elle’s father, put it, “an age that’s even more fragile than finishing college.”

And Moore added that while Minetree’s Elle has the same “intrepid spirit” that came across through Witherspoon’s performance, the series focuses more on “how she began.”

“When you ask who is Elle Woods alone in a room wearing a T-shirt, that’s Elle in a nutshell,” Moore said.

The Elle castmembers, writers, director and producers all sang Minetree’s praises.

“Lexi is a dream come true to work with truly,” Dries said. “She’s so funny, she’s smart, she’s goofy, she’s kind, she’s inclusive, she’s all of the things you’d expect to find in Elle Woods. She’s also a great actor, which I don’t think we stress enough because we’re so glowing about her personality. She’s so pitch perfect that it’s almost an afterthought, her performance. We take it for granted.”

Beyond her pleasant disposition and acting ability, Moore was impressed by her attention to detail and preparation.

“You could just tell that this young woman thinks like Elle Woods or Reese or Tracy Flick or these characters, that she’s organized; she’s thoughtful; she’s determined; she’s vocal; she’s articulate; she’s funny; and that’s just who she is naturally,” he said. “Watching the amount of detail that she put in, I’ve rarely worked with actors who have that much forethought. She’s thinking about the whole arc of the series. I think she had all of the scripts memorized when she started shooting the first episode because she’s that kind of actor.”

According to Neustadter, Minetree nailed the assignment from her initial audition tape, famously inspired by Elle’s Harvard Law admissions video essay from Legally Blonde.

“We really saw from that how incredibly smart she was, how much she understood the character and what we were trying to do,” she said. “And then when she read the scenes, she just blew us away. I think she just really channels Reese without ever imitating her, and I think she just does an amazing job of becoming the character of Elle Woods.”

Neustadter hopes the series can provide a “shot of joy and optimism” at a time when the “world feels very heavy.” Meanwhile, Scott, who reconnects with his ’90s roots in the show, shared how he was proud to be part of a franchise that was so inspiring for his own daughter, who accompanied him to the premiere.

Recalling how he got the audition when he was visiting New York with her to help her find an apartment, they watched the original movie, “and my daughter told me how important it’s been to her, this character and how inspiring. And I thought, ‘No pressure, but I should probably book this.’”

The next day he auditioned and got the part and celebrated with her “over a slice of pizza.”

“For me, it’s been really fun and personal,” he said. “I’m glad that this character exists for young women and women of any age and anybody who’s been told they can’t do something that they know they can.”

Disney‘s live-action Moana, which stars Dwayne Johnson and Catherine Laga’aia, got off to a rocky start as the reimagining of the original 2016 animated feature opened at the box office.

Director Thomas Kail‘s new feature led the weekend in opening with $43 million from 3,900 North American screens, putting it well short of its targeted $60 million-plus figure after initial tracking suggested the film could even reach $75 million. Earning an A- CinemaScore from audiences, Moana carries a $250 million production budget and will need to draw families in the coming summer stretch as Christopher Nolan’s R-rated The Odyssey joins the fray next weekend from Universal. Moana added $52 million from overseas markets.

Moana’s audience was 66 percent female, a statistic that could bode well opposite next weekend’s more male-skewing The Odyssey. Meanwhile, 56 percent of viewers were parents with children, which is higher than most Disney live-action remakes. Moviegoers under 18 found Moana especially transportive, giving the film an A+ CinemaScore.

This start is reminiscent of the $42 million opening in March 2025 for Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot’s Snow White, a box office disappointment that earned a B+ CinemaScore and had a production budget of $270 million. Weeks after the subdued debut, Disney paused development on its planned live-action Tangled. The feature went back into development in the fall following the success of Lilo & Stitch, which opened in May 2025 to $146 million in North America, en route to hitting $1 billion globally. Tangled is currently in production in Spain, while a live-action sequel to Lilo & Stitch is on its way.

The original Moana becomes the most recent Disney animated property to be given the live-action treatment, with the first film having hit theaters less than a decade ago when it scored an $82 million five-day domestic opening over Thanksgiving in 2016, leading to a $643 million global cume. That 2016 film introduced Johnson as demigod Maui alongside Auli’i Cravalho as the titular girl with exceptional navigation skills, with the pair teaming up to stop a curse from targeting her island.

An even bigger hit when it debuted theatrically less than two years ago was Moana 2, the animated 2024 sequel that saw Johnson and Cravalho reprise their roles. Originally conceived as a Disney+ series, Moana 2 opened to $225 million domestically over the five-day Thanksgiving frame and ultimately surpassed $1 billion globally for its run. However, moving it to a theatrical release created a tricky timing situation for the live-action Moana, which began production in mid-2024 after a delay amid the strikes.

Disney’s live-action remakes of its popular animated properties have included such photorealistic versions as Alice in Wonderland (2010), Beauty and the Beast (2017) and The Lion King (2019), all of which opened to more than $100 million domestically. Those three had the benefit of a higher Rotten Tomatoes score than the live-action Moana’s current 34 percent critics rating, although The Hollywood Reporter’s review from chief film critic David Rooney noted that “this charming new iteration stands confidently on its own.”

In contrast to the critic score, the new Moana is “verified hot” with a 90 percent approval for audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. The franchise clearly has plenty of fans, as Disney touts that the property has amassed more than 1.5 billion hours streamed on Disney+, along with selling more than 22 million toys and surpassing 26 billion music streams. Additionally, the original 2016 movie remains Disney+’s most-watched feature.

Also opening in wide release is Warner Bros.‘ Evil Dead Burn, which kept the No. 4 spot warm with $13.7 million domestically. Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright and Hunter Doohan star in director Sébastien Vanicek’s movie that marks the sixth title in the Evil Dead horror franchise after it kicked off with Sam Raimi’s 1981 original.

In his review for THR, Rooney noted the latest film’s “orgiastic slaughter.” Earning a B CinemaScore, the new installment follows Evil Dead Rise, which opened to $24.5 million domestically in April 2023.

After kicking off its box office run last week, Universal’s Minions & Monsters provided family competition for Moana and landed in second place with a frame of $20.5 million, declining just 45 percent. This brings its domestic run to $108.2 million after notching the lowest opening weekend for a film in Illumination’s Despicable Me franchise that launched in 2010.

Taking third place is Disney’s Toy Story 5, featuring the returns of voice stars Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. The animated sequel scooped up $18.5 million to raise its global cume to $879.1 million.

Young Washington rounds out the top five, as the Angel Studios release collected $6.4 million in its sophomore frame. William Franklyn-Miller stars as a twentysomething George Washington in the film that now stands at $33.1 million after opening over the Fourth of July weekend.

A24 continued to expand director Olivia Wilde’s relationship comedy The Invite in its third weekend, as the standout from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival increased to 1,610 North American screens. With a cast that includes Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, the Annapurna-produced movie delivered $5.7 million, bringing its domestic total to $7.3 million.

Over the weekend, Michael crossed $1 billion globally, becoming the second 2026 title to reach the milestone after Universal’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Lionsgate released the Michael Jackson-centric feature in U.S. theaters April 24, and it has since become the highest-grossing biopic ever after passing Oppenheimer, not to mention the studio’s first title to hit the billion-dollar mark. Michael stars Jaafar Jackson, a nephew of the late music superstar.

“This historic milestone is a testament to the enduring power of cinema to bring us together, and it is a chapter in movie history I will never forget,” Michael director Antoine Fuqua said in a statement.

This story was first published on July 11 at 9:58 a.m.

On a textual level, MGM+’s The Westies is all about people who refuse to abide by the rules. Within the Irish and Italian criminal organizations of 1980s New York, low-level gangsters threaten rivals they’ve been explicitly instructed to leave alone. Mid-level ones deal drugs under the noses of bosses who’ve forbidden them. The best-laid plans are derailed by impulsive outbursts of anger or fear.

On a metatextual level, however, the entire season is an eight-hour exercise in coloring within the lines, without so much as a bit of snazzy shading to offer the illusion of depth. Despite a pair of decent lead turns from J.K. Simmons and Titus Welliver, the best that can be said of the latest gang drama from Chris Brancato and Michael Panes (Godfather of Harlem) is that it’s too competent to be unbearable, even if it’s also too unimaginative to be interesting.

The Alan Taylor-directed premiere begins at a moment of relative peace for the Irish American Westies (a real outfit that operated out of midcentury Manhattan, not that you need to know that to follow the series) and the Italian American Gambino crime family (also real, and more famous). After years of mutual violence, bosses Eamon Sweeney (Simmons) and Paul Castellano (Ron Lea) have called a truce, not out of any particular goodwill but out of a businessman’s understanding that both factions stand to make a ton of money off construction on the Javits Center in Hell’s Kitchen, if only they can stop getting in each other’s way.

Their followers, though, are less than thrilled with the détente, and less than conscientious about following its rules. The brutal efforts required to keep the men in line come at the cost of sowing discontent within the ranks — including in their increasingly disillusioned protégés, Jimmy Roarke (Tom Brittney) and John Gotti (Hamish Allan-Headly). Meanwhile, the feds have started circling, led by FBI agent Birdie Polk (Jessica Frances Dukes) with the reluctant help of dirty NYPD officer Glenn Keenan (Welliver).

With so much plot to get through, Brancato and Panes deserve credit for keeping the tone smooth and the pace even. The narrative beats move deliberately enough that a casual viewer won’t get lost in the weeds, but briskly enough that an attentive one will always have some new wrinkle to look forward to. The mood is resolutely straight-faced but not self-indulgent — this is not the kind of show that pretends to have big smart things to say about the false promise of the American Dream or the corrosive effects of revenge, but one that just thinks it’s neat when glowering tough guys point guns at each other.

All of it is set against a version of New York that appears admirably lived-in, from grimy streets to cramped apartments to bars that look run-down even before various thugs take guns and bats to them. As with the rest of the show, it’s nothing we haven’t seen in countless other gritty period dramas, but it speaks to the care and effort of production designer Rocco Mateo. If all you’re searching for is a generic crime drama to look pretty on your flatscreen while you cook dinner or answer emails, you could do worse than The Westies.

But you could probably do better, too. The Westies’ most glaring issue is its characters, or really the lack thereof: Nearly everyone onscreen comes off like a well-worn cliché rather than an individual with any distinctive personality or inner life.

Our hero, Jimmy, always does the right thing not because there’s any comprehensible reason he seems so much smarter and kinder than everyone else in his orbit, but because “good” and “smart” is just what heroes are. (“Hero” being a relative term in a milieu where everyone has at least a few murders under their belt.) He has a perfectly loving connection with his girlfriend, Bridget (a likable Sarah Bolger), not because there appears to be anything specific about their connection, but because that’s just what heroes deserve.

Bridget has her own subplot involving a secret history with the IRA, which is maybe the one element of The Westies that doesn’t feel straight out of a “how to write a gangster drama” checklist. But it’s so disconnected from the rest of the plot that I don’t know why I even brought it up in the first place, or more to the point, why the writers did.

Jimmy’s best friend is Mickey (Stanley Morgan), who’s practically a parody of the “hotheaded low-level gangster” stereotype. His contribution is being predictably unpredictable, by which I mean his ability to control himself waxes and wanes with the show’s need to throw a wrench into Jimmy’s careful plans or inject some tension into a high-stakes negotiation. Their other friends are interchangeably forgettable, and exist mainly to fill up screen space or get killed off.

Their most hated enemy is John Gotti, and if he feels familiar it’s less because Gotti, the actual historical figure, is so well-known and more because The Westies’ version of him is a sanded-down copy of every Italian mobster you’ve seen in every movie. You know that scene where a powerful gangster pretends to be extremely offended by something a less powerful guy has said, just to make him sweat a bit before bursting into raucous laughter? That’s how we’re introduced to him, because of course it is.

A few of the cast members do manage to suggest an interiority beyond what’s dictated in the scripts, and it won’t surprise you who they are. Sweeney might not be one of Simmons’ more interesting roles, but the actor brings enough snark or weariness to his line readings to make the character feel alive. And Welliver carries Keenan with a heaviness that hints at some profound private pain, though the precise cause of that sorrow becomes less interesting the more we learn about it.

Or perhaps it’s not that his backstory is insufficiently sad as much as the fact that, by the time we get the full scope of it, The Westies has given us so little reason to get invested in it — or anything else. There will be no complex emotions to process here, no grander themes to parse, not even any memorable quirks or zingy one-liners to remember. The best gangster dramas, from the works of Coppola to Scorsese to David Chase, offer vivid style, compelling characters and ambitious ideas in addition to the usual bag of body parts and revenge plots. The Westies settles for retracing the familiar tropes they’re built on.