Support independent journalism, free from the trades and other publications that are part of the tinsel town machine.
For 12 years, Showbiz411.com has been covering Hollywood, Broadway, the music business and the business of celebrity. Ads are our main source of funding, but contributions (not tax exempt) from readers who enjoy the scoops, exclusives, and fact based reports are always welcome and very appreciated. To inquire about ads, email us at showbiz411@gmail.com.
Taylor Swift will complete her domination of 2023 on December 13th.
That’s when she’ll release her “Eras Tour” concert movie to streaming. It will still be in theaters as well.
“Eras Tour” has made $250 worldwide. But here’s a chance for fans to cough up more dough in Taylor’s direction. She’s also sold the most number of albums in 2023 of any recording act, completely dwarfing everyone else. She’s probably sold the most merch, too.
Swift is also current Homecoming Queen at the NFL thanks to dating Travis Kelce, and she’s selling out stadiums on every continent.
Model Gigi Hadid certainly hates Israelis, and by extension, Jews.
She’s reposted a propaganda video on Instagram telling her followers that Israel harvests the organs of dead Palestinians “for years without their consent.”
Hadid is represented by IMG Models, which must drop her immediately.
Hadid has also been paid six figure sums for endorsing brands like Maybelline, Tommy Hilfiger, Stuart Weitzman, Messika, Moshino, BMW, Reebok, Michael Kors, Vogue Eyewear, etc. She is associated with many famous fashion labels as well. Let’s see if they stick with her now.
This role model model appeared in blackface on the cover of Italian Vogue in 2018. Why wasn’t she cancelled then?
The offending post can be found on Hadid’s Instagram stories, or at its original site marked
“Mr. Big Stuff” was a humongous radio smash in the summer of 1971. You couldn’t get away from it and you didn’t want to. Jean sang it with such personality, it was the kind of single you never get tired of hearing. It earned her a Grammy nomination, too. And to this day, “Mr. Big Stuff” is heard over and over again.
“Mr. Big Stuff” was part of the revitalized Stax Records of the early 70s. Interestingly, though, it was recorded at the nearby Jackson, Mississippi record label, Malaco. But as her bio says, they didn’t know what to do with it. (Right after losing “Mr. Big Stuff,” Malaco was smart to jump on the bandwagon for Denise LaSalle, and hits with her.) It was recorded in the same session as King Floyd’s hit, “Groove Me.”
Jean was paid once to record the song. But because she didn’t write it, she received no royalties beyond record sales– if she even got those. When you hear her voice over those bouncy New Orleans horns, remember that it’s coming to you for free.
So sorry to hear that Jean has passed at age 80. She’s part of R&B history. Condolences to her family and friends.
In our hearts we know Dolly Parton was number 1 last week.
According to hitsdailydouble, Dolly sold the most physical albums and downloads with 126,917. Her total with streaming was 138,348.
Technically, Drake finished at number 1 with 143,042. But he sold only 2,164 in CDs and downloads. The rest was all streaming.
Number 3 was Taylor Swift, and number 4 was Enhypen (?). In both cases they split sales and streaming with around 65,000 of each.
I don’t think Dolly has ever sold the amount she did in a debut week, at least not since the days of “9 to 5” and “Here I Come Again.” That’s about 40 years!
Drake needs an asterisk anyway. His album, “For All the Dogs,” increased sales by 100% with added bonus tracks. The original “For All the Dogs” had fallen to number 4 last week but bounced back with the added music.
Maybe Dolly should record her own version of “You Call Me On Your Cellphone” and add it to her album!
Below, she sings “Jolene” with Maneskin, the Italian group in a four way marriage. Dolly keeps up with changing times!
On Tuesday it will have been three weeks since Barbra Streisand’s autobiography was released.
The printed book in hardcover is 992 pages and weighs a ton. It went to number 4 on amazon but never got higher.
Today, “My Name is Barbra” is at number 60 on amazon and dropping fast. Was it too long? Yes. Did it have enough juice? Not really.
Ironically, a much better seller is the Audible version of “My Name is Barbra.” Coming in at a shocking 48 hours, the book is read by the famous Streisand voice. It’s number 6 on the audio book list, and really number 2 behind Britney Spears’s “The Woman in Me,” which is read by three time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams.
Streisand fans would simply rather hear the famous actress and singer’s voice than slog through those 992 pages. Also, there were PR mistakes with the Streisand book vs. Spears. In the latter, there were a lot of anecdotes planted everywhere before pub date. With Streisand, the publicity hit too late, including “CBS Sunday Mornings” on the Sunday after pub date — five days after. It should have come before.
Of all the stories in Streisand’s book, one that escaped becoming a gossip item was Barbra’s well written memory of “Funny Girl” co-star Omar Sharif’s pursuit and romance. Maybe no one cares now, but “Funny Girl” was a huge hit and Streisand received an Oscar.
What else isn’t selling? The “Evergreens” CD that was released a week before the book, of Barbra’s greatest hits. It’s only sold about 7,000 copies. “Evergreens” should have been called “My Name is Barbra” and included with the book. The tracks should have been rare demos of hits and actual hits. Instead, it’s a mishmash. No one’s buying a CD without “People” and “The Way We Were,” and “Stoney End.” That’s a missed opportunity!
“Napoleon” and “WIsh” were even bigger bombs than guestimated.
Sony’s “Napoleon” made just $32.5 from last Tuesday through today. It has a $200 million budget.
In the same time frame, Disney’s “Wish” took in just $31.7 million.
These receipts are about the same as a business lunch at some Hollywood restaurants. Ouch!
Quel domage! This means that Disney has two Thanksgiving turkeys. The other is “The Marvels,” which itself was DOA.
Disney has no other Christmas release. That’s it. And Sony’s big holiday movie, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” was moved to next March.
It’s hard to say which of this weekend’s movies was the biggest disappointment, although I’d say “Napoleon.” The whole thing went completely sideways. The strike certainly didn’t help, but neither did Joaquin Phoenix as a press-shy leading man. There was nothing they could do with him. He wouldn’t talk, even at the last minute.
“Wish,” meantime, could catch on if one of the songs suddenly pops out on radio. But so far Ariana DeBose hasn’t appeared anywhere obvious singing — not even on a Macys Parade float. If one of the songs gets an Oscar nomination that would help, but just for the streaming and DVD releases. By the end of January, “Wish” will be long gone from theaters.
Both “Napoleon” and “Wish” will have played in theaters for six days through Sunday. They each started on Tuesday, although the studios say it’s five days plus previews.
Neither film will cross the $40 million mark tomorrow. They are busts at the box office.
Last night they each hit $20 million, with “Napoleon” running ahead by $450,000.
Also a box office stiff: “Priscilla,” a movie audiences couldn’t warm to. Without any traction, “Priscilla” may hit $20 million before the weekend is over– although don’t count on it.
The big success among all this failure: the new “Hunger Games” movie, already up to $81 million in 8 days and it has no stars! Just a concept.
It’s hard to imagine a stranger situation. There are currently over 200 hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Only 13 were released yesterday. One of the hostages remaining is a 10 month old baby boy.
For some time now the tabloids have been tracking the romantic relationship between filmmaker and actor Bradley Cooper and model Gigi Hadid.
Cooper has just released his brilliant movie, “Maestro,” about composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein, an proud Jew and very public supporter of Israel. The movie, however, is about Bernstein’s love life, avoiding his politics and Zionism.
Hadid continues to post lies about Israel, all pro-Palestinian, on her social media. She’s being slammed today about newest posts, which accuse Israel of killing babies. She’s also posting interviews of her sister rewriting history.
Leonard Bernstein would be horrified about Hadid’s statements, lies, and her blatant antisemitism. You can read about his passion for Israel here on his website.https://leonardbernstein.com/
From the site: Back in April, 1947, within two days of his first arrival in what was then still Palestine, Bernstein had already felt a profound sense of having come at a crucial juncture in the history of the Jewish people. He was deeply affected by the Jews of Palestine and their longing – and determination – to have the independent Jewish state promised them by the British thirty years before in the Balfour Declaration. He wrote to [conductor] Serge Koussevitzky: “There is a strength and devotion in these people that is formidable. They will never let the land be taken from them; they will all die first. And the country is beautiful beyond description.”Â
Bernstein would be the first to say Hadid has conducted herself in the worst possible way. Meantime, the Instagram page of her sister, Bella Hadid, is no better. Her page is also full of anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian propaganda including the post below she shared with her sister. Bella Hadid recently dated Leonardo DiCaprio and has a child with ex-No Direction singer Zayn Malik. The latter has, smartly, remained silent.
Gigi Hadid is a blatant antisemite.
Any company that works with her going forward is complicit in her Jew hatred. pic.twitter.com/HMqTF4dJ2E
Thanks to the AP we now know why Daryl Hall is suing John Oates.
Oates want to sell his portion of the hit songs he wrote with Hall to Primary Wave Music Publishing. Hall is trying to stop him saying they have an agreement about all this stuff.
Hall is basically saying “I can’t go for that,” but Oates will likely prevail. He’s in his 70s and like other songwriters of his age and legacy he wants to cash in for estate purposes.
Why is Hall blocking him? Just to be difficult, probably.
Most of the case is under seal, so it may be some time before we get all the details. According to the AP, Primary Wave already has a sizeable interest in the Hall & Oates catalog. So what’s the difference?
It does seem like Hall & Oates are over, kaput, for good, which is no surprise. But there won’t be reunion tour, etc. They are done.
The duo had a lot of hits. Some were written by them together, some with Sara Allen, some just by Hall. Oates’s name is one the biggest ones, however, including “Sara Smile,” “She’s Gone,” “Maneater,” “Out of Touch,” “You Make My Dreams (Come True),” “I Can’t Go for That,” and a couple of my favorites like “Back Together Again” and “Is it a Star.”
Ironically, Hall wrote one of other early favorites, “It’s a Laugh.” He thinks he’s going to get the last laugh, but I don’t think so. John Oates put in a lifetime with Daryl Hall. Hasn’t he suffered enough? Let him enjoy himself now. He deserves it.
“Napoleon” will make between $22 million and $25 million in its opening 5 day run. That will be a financial bust for Sony Pictures. If only Spider Man could have led the charge for Napoleon’s army!
Historical note: Wikipedia says Napoleon was not so short — five foot six and a hald. Helpful reader Rebecca Black says “He wasn’t short. The mistake is that he was measured by the obsolete French inch & was 5’2″ by that, but in actuality was about 5’8″ in English inches, as the French inch was about 1.2″ in English measurements!”
See below: at least Sean Lennon appreciated the unintentional humor in the epic.
