Box office weekend… Jonathan Majors & Meagan Good are engaged… Who will sing the next James Bond theme song?… Beyoncé to perform at the NFL Halftime Show… and Netflix reveals 60 MILLION viewers

 

We have to wait until Friday to see the new Gladiator II, but it’s already debuted in the overseas market and a lot of critics here in the US have already gotten to see it. The movie earned $87M after debuting in 63 international markets, including the UK, France, Spain and Australia. RottenTomatoes critics have given it 76% positive reviews, as of right now. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman said the movie is a “serviceable, bur far from great sequel.” Gladiator II picks up two decades after the original as Lucius — played by Paul Mescal — the nephew of emperor Commodus — played Joaquin Phoenix —enters the Colosseum and seeks to return the glory of Rome to its people. But this weekend was the debut of Red One — the Christmas action comedy starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans. Like Gladiator II, this one also carried a $250M production budget, as well as a global marketing budget of around $100M. So while Red One debuted in first place with $34.1M, the movie studio isn’t exactly doing a happy dance this morning. Venom: The Last Dance fell to second with $7.3M, followed by The Best Christmas Pageant Ever with $5.4M.

Back in March of 2023, Jonathan Majors was arrested for the assault and harassment of his ex-girlfriend. Two months later, Jonathan met Meagan Good in the unisex bathroom at the Ebony Power 100 Gala in LA and it was pretty much love at first sight. Meagan stood by Jonathan’s side throughout his trial, but in December, the jury found him guilty of assault in the third degree and harassment. In April, he was sentenced to one year of domestic violence counseling and his ex-girlfriend was granted a permanent order of protection. That’s a lot for a couple to endure during their first year of dating, but it only made Jonathan and Meagan’s bond grow stronger. And yesterday while walking the red carpet at this year’s Ebony Power 100 Gala, the couple announced their engagement. They thought it was fitting since that’s where they met in the bathroom.

While we all assume Aaron Taylor-Johnson is going to be the next James Bond, the next question is, who will sing the next James Bond theme? A supercomputer was fed ages and genders of previous 007 theme song singers, plus the years the movies were released. Based on those calculations, the supercomputer says Dua Lipa is the most likely choice to sing the next James Bond them song, followed by Sabrina Carpenter, Sam Fender, Raye and Harry Styles. However, bookies don’t agree. According to BetIdeas.com, Chappell Roan is the most likely candidate, followed by Lana Del Ray, Dua Lipa, Raye and Lady Gaga.

Netflix will stream two NFL games on Christmas Day. The first will be the Chiefs vs. the Steelers in Pittsburgh, followed by the Texans vs. the Ravens in Houston. And yesterday Beyoncé announced that she will be performing the halftime show during that second game in her hometown. This will be the first time she’s performed songs from her Cowboy Carter album live. According to Netflix, Beyonce will be joined by some special guests who contributed to her album. They won’t say who, but some of the contributors include Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone and Shaboozey.

Despite buffering issues, Netflix says the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight peaked at 65M concurrent streams. And with over 6K bars and restaurants in the US streaming the match, it also set the record for the biggest commercial distribution of a combat sports event in Netflix history. Just some of the big names sitting ring-side included boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Irvin, Rob Gronkowski, Charlize Theron, Joe Manganiello, Simu Liu, Joe Jonas, Joey Fatone, Daddy Yankee, Tori Kelly, Cedric the Entertainer, and Cobra Kai stars Ralph Macchio and Billy Zabka. It was a unanimous decision. Jake easily won all 8 of the 2-minute rounds, throwing 278 punches compared to Mike’s 97. At the press conference afterward, Jake said he wanted to put on a good show, but he also “didn’t want to hurt someone that didn’t need to be hurt.” Jake said, “I tried to give the fight the best fight I possibly could, but when someone’s just surviving in the ring, basically, it’s hard to make it exciting. So I couldn’t really get him to engage me, or slip shots, and, you know, do something super cool or whatever. But I don’t care about what people have to say. They’re always going to have something to say, and it is what it is.” The next day, Jake hosted an afterparty at a $9M mansion in Dallas. Guests were treated to an open bar and food from Dog Haus — a company that recently announced their partnership with Jake. A DJ played hip-hop and EDM hits for the guests, which included Jake’s 5’11”, Olympic speed skating, Dutch girlfriend, Jutta Leerdam, his brother Logan Paul and his fiancée Nina Agdal, Amber Rose, Tyler Cameron, former Cowboys star Dez Bryant and the Hawk Tuah girl, Haliey Welch.

 

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