Joe Lo Truglio and His Wife Beth Dover Play Fast Money - Celebrity Family Feud - ABC

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8 awesome images from day three of Lollapalooza 2022 - OnMilwaukee.com

Saturday of Lollapalooza 2022 was a dream for rap fans, as artists like J. Cole, Big Sean, YG and Lil Durk all blessed the stage throughout the day. But even if hip-hop isn’t your go-to genre, fans were still able to enjoy amazing sets from names like Gracie Abrams, Wallows, COIN and more. 

We spent yet another day in the Windy City to see what the third day of Lolla had to offer and captured some of the most memorable moments from the entire day. 

Check out some of our favorite images from day three of Lollapalooza 2022:

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Rapper J. Cole brought massive crowds to the T-Mobile Stage as he headlined Saturday night of Lollapalooza. Performing tracks from his latest LP, “The Off-Season," as well as some of his biggest hits, J. Cole was a perfect headliner for Lolla’s rap fans.

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Closing his set with his biggest singles, “I Don’t F*** With You” and “Bounce Back," Big Sean had an entertaining performance complete with a couple surprise guests: rapper YG and singer Jhene Aiko, who is currently expecting her first child with the Detroit rapper – a "Little Sean," if you will. 

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Gracie Abrams blew fans away at The Rave just a few months ago while opening for Olivia Rodrigo’s "Sour" tour. The Los Angeles pop singer is a natural talent and is one of the top emerging performers in her genre. Yesterday was Abrams’ first Lolla, but when she returns, you can expect to see her later in the day – and on a much bigger stage. 

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After bringing their headlining tour to The Riverside earlier this summer, Wallows returned to the Midwest for a festival performance just 90 miles south. Led by “13 Reasons Why” star Dylan Minnette – who was rocking an amazing vintage NSYNC tee – Wallows are one of the best new emerging bands today. 

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Lil Durk was a late addition to Lollapalooza after another artist was forced to drop out. Luckily for fans, the addition of the Chicago native was certainly an upgrade. Durk sold out the United Center just months ago, and clearly he left his hometown fans wanting more because it was tough to find anyone at the festival who wasn’t at his performance Saturday afternoon. 

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A Cutler in a Bears jersey is usually a red flag, but Packers fans who made the trip to Lollapalooza were able to make an exception for Chelsea Cutler. Despite her Saturday night wardrobe, there was much to enjoy about her great performance closing out the Coinbase Stage. 

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YG, aka “YG, 4Hunnid," brought all the heat to his performance last night. YG brought the West Coast to the Midwest on Saturday night.

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COIN – which is comprised of Chase Lawrence, Ryan Winnen and Joe Memmel – blessed the Tito’s Stage early into the performances on Saturday. The pop rock band performed a bit of everything, including tracks from their self-titled debut as well as a number of songs from their 2022 album, "Uncanny Valley."

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Amazon Prime Video Announces First Southeast Asian Originals And Local User Experience - Deadline

Amazon Prime Video has announced its first slate of Southeast Asian local-language originals, including a trio of situational comedy improv shows, Comedy Island, across Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, and projects from local talents including Joko Anwar, Kamila Andini and Banjong Pisanthanakun.

The trio of comedy shows – Comedy Island: Indonesia, Comedy Island: Thailand and Comedy Island: Philippines – all involve famous comedians and other celebrities being stranded on a paradise island and are expected to start streaming in 2023.

In Thailand, the comedians must escape from a mysterious scientist who is trying to reprogram them; in Indonesia, they’re forced to take part in bizarre, role-playing games to amuse the local inhabitants; and in the Philippines, they’re trapped on a lost island that has reappeared and are competing for a life-changing prize. Indonesia’s Base Entertainment is producing the Indonesian and Filipino versions, while Liminal Productions is producing the Thai version.

Amazon has also started developing a slate of other local-language originals, including two Indonesian films – Siege At Thorn High, directed by Anwar (Satan’s Slaves) and produced by Come & See Pictures, and 4 Seasons In Java, produced by Four Colour Films and written by Andini (Before, Now & Then).

Thai projects in development include Three Idiots And A Ghost, a film based on the novel by Sal Kim and published by Wattpad with Jungka Bangkok producing; scripted series Metal Casket from writer/director Banjong (Pee Mak), as well as How To Fake It In Bangkok, from Halo Productions with Ananda Everingham executive producing.

The originals will be supported by local-language licensed content including Perfect Strangers, the Indonesian version of the Italian hit, which launches October 17; Ashiap Man, directed by Atta Halilintar (November 14) and horror movie Kuntilanak 3, directed by Rizal Mantovani and starring Julie Estelle (October 10).

The Thai slate includes pandemic thriller The 100 (December 12), coming-of-age thriller The Up Rank, starring Krit Jeerapattananuwong (November 14), and action drama My True Friends: The Beginning, starring Ryu Vachirawich and Nak Charlie Trairat, which starts streaming today (August 1).

Content from the Philippines includes comedy drama Big Night, starring Christian Bables and directed by Jun Lana, which also streams from today; romance How To Love Mr. Heartless, starring Sue Ramirez (August 15), and surreal drama Whether The Weather Is Fine, starring Daniel Padilla (October 10).

Amazon is also launching local pricing and marketing campaigns across the three territories, backed by stars including Iqbaal Ramadhan, Chicco Kurniawan and Kiky Saputri in Indonesia, Mario Maurer in Thailand and Anne Curtis in the Philippines. Local pricing is around $4 a month in Indonesia and Thailand (IDR59,000 and THB149) and $3 a month in the Philippines (PHP149), following a seven-day free trial.

The local offering will also include Korean, Japanese and English-language films and series, including Korean romantic film Nothing Serious and hit Japanese animation Demon Slayer, which both stream from today, and Ron Howard’s Thai cave rescue film, Thirteen Lives, which streams from August 5.

“We’re delighted to be increasing our investment in Prime Video for customers in Southeast Asia, making it a truly localized experience – from local content specifically sourced for our customers, to a localized user experience, and the first full-scale local marketing campaign,” said Josh McIvor, director of International Expansion, Prime Video.

Erika North, head of Asia-Pacific Originals, Prime Video, said: “Southeast Asia is a tapestry of cultures, languages, and histories, and there has truly never been a better time to be a content creator or a content consumer in this part of the world. We are thrilled to be bringing our first three local Amazon Originals, the hilarious world of Comedy Island to customers in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and worldwide.”

Amazon Prime Video has been available across Southeast Asia since 2016, but this is the first time the service has had a localized user experience and offered local-language shows. North announced plans to ramp up investment in Southeast Asia at Singapore’s Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) last December, since when the streamer has been building out a local production and marketing team in Singapore.

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Stray Kids Drop Surprise Song ‘Mixtape : Time Out’ to End Fan Week: Listen - Billboard

Stray Kids have been showing thanks to their dedicated fans all week with a new song to cap off the celebrations.

On Aug. 1, 2018, the K-pop boy band revealed the official name of their fandom — affectionately called Stay — and takes time every year to honor the moment. Stay’s fourth anniversary in 2022, Stray Kids announced ‘STAYweeK’ for daily drops of behind-the-scenes videos, unseen photos, vlogs, live streams and more “special gifts.” Now, for the final day, SKZ revealed their new song “Mixtape : Time Out” as the last gift for fans.

Opening with the sound of beach waves, “Time Out” quickly jumps into an energetic punk-rock vibe to pair nicely with the fun message of the track: “Let the stress fly away/ Don’t worry ’bout tomorrow,” the Kids sing. “We’ll just have some fun right now.” According to a track description, the song reflects an actual vacation the band went on together with the beach sounds recorded by the group.

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“Time Out” is the latest “mixtape” track from Stray Kids that the group tends to drop as off-cycle, typically surprise tracks. Their last tape, “Mixtape: Oh,” was released in June 2021 at No. 1 on the World Digital Song Sales chart, giving the band their first-ever chart-topper on the tally.

It won’t be long before Stray Kids get a chance to see their U.S. Stays as the group will soon be one of the leading performers at KCON 2022 in Los Angeles next month.

Watch the music video for “Mixtape : Time Out” below.

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Bayley, IYO SKY and Dakota Kai address SummerSlam return: SummerSlam Exclusive, July 30, 2022 - WWE

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2022 WWE SummerSlam results: live updates, recap, grades, matches, card, start time, highlights - CBS Sports

The 35th edition of SummerSlam goes down on Saturday night when the WWE lands in Nashville. The card is loaded with big matches, as it is every summer, though no match will be bigger than the main event Last Man Standing clash between undisputed champion Roman Reigns and bitter rival Brock Lesnar.

In total, the card features five championship bouts, including both women's titles and the undisputed tag titles. Logan Paul will also take part in his first singles match when he faces off with former WrestleMania tag partner The Miz.

WWE SummerSlam will be presented live Saturday night from Nissan Stadium in Nashville. It will begin at 8 p.m. ET with a kickoff show starting one hour earlier at 7 p.m. on Peacock. CBS Sports will be with you the whole way through the event, providing updates and highlights as the action goes down in the live blog below.

2022 SummerSlam match card

• Undisputed WWE Universal Championship -- Roman Reigns (c) vs. Brock Lesnar (Last Man Standing)
• Raw Women's Championship -- Bianca Belair (c) vs. Becky Lynch
• SmackDown Women's Championship -- Liv Morgan (c) vs. Ronda Rousey
• Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship -- The Usos (c) vs. The Street Profits (special guest referee Jeff Jarrett)
• United States Championship -- Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Theory
• Logan Paul vs. The Miz
• Pat McAfee vs. Happy Corbin
• The Mysterios vs. The Judgement Day (No Disqualification)

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Forever young, beautiful and scandal-free: The rise of South Korea's virtual influencers - CNN

She's got more than 130,000 followers on Instagram, where she posts photos of her globetrotting adventures. Her makeup is always impeccable, her clothes look straight off the runway. She sings, dances and models -- and none of it is real.

Rozy is a South Korean "virtual influencer," a digitally rendered human so realistic she is often mistaken for flesh and blood.

"Are you a real person?" one of her Instagram fans asks. "Are you an AI? Or a robot?"

According to the Seoul-based company that created her, Rozy is a blend of all three who straddles the real and virtual worlds.

She is "able to do everything that humans cannot ... in the most human-like form," Sidus Studio X says on its website.

That includes raking in profits for the company in the multibillion-dollar advertising and entertainment worlds.

Since her launch in 2020, Rozy has landed brand deals and sponsorships, strutted the runway in virtual fashion shows and even released two singles.

And she's not alone.

The "virtual human" industry is booming, and with it a whole new economy in which the influencers of the future are never-aging, scandal-free and digitally flawless -- sparking alarm among some in a country already obsessed with unobtainable beauty standards.

How virtual influencers work

The CGI (computer-generated imagery) technology behind Rozy isn't new. It is ubiquitous in today's entertainment industry, where artists use it to craft realistic nonhuman characters in movies, computer games and music videos.

But it has only recently been used to make influencers.

Sometimes, Sidus Studio X creates an image of Rozy from head to toe using the technology, an approach that works well for her Instagram images. Other times it superimposes her head onto the body of a human model -- when she models clothing, for instance.

An image of Lucy, the Korean virtual human used by Lotte Home Shopping. Credit: Courtesy Lotte Home Shopping

South Korean retail brand Lotte Home Shopping created its virtual influencer -- Lucy, who has 78,000 Instagram followers -- with software usually used for video games.

Like their real-life counterparts, virtual influencers build a following through social media, where they post snapshots of their "lives" and interact with their fans. Rozy's account shows her "traveling" to Singapore and enjoying a glass of wine on a rooftop while her fans compliment her outfits.

Older generations might consider interacting with an artificial person somewhat odd. But experts say virtual influencers have struck a chord with younger Koreans, digital natives who spend much of their lives online.

Lee Na-kyoung, a 23-year-old living in Incheon, began following Rozy about two years ago thinking she was a real person.

Rozy followed her back, sometimes commenting on her posts, and a virtual friendship blossomed -- one that has endured even after Lee found out the truth.

"We communicated like friends and I felt comfortable with her -- so I don't think of her as an AI but a real friend," Lee said.

"I love Rozy's content," Lee added. "She's so pretty that I can't believe she's an AI."

A profitable business

Social media doesn't just enable virtual influencers to build a fanbase -- it's where the money rolls in.

Rozy's Instagram, for instance, is dotted with sponsored content where she advertises skincare and fashion products.

"Many big companies in Korea want to use Rozy as a model," said Baik Seung-yup, the CEO of Sidus Studio X. "This year, we expect to easily reach over two billion Korean won (about $1.52 million) in profit, just with Rozy."

He added that as Rozy grew more popular, the company landed more sponsorships from luxury brands such as Chanel and Hermes, as well as magazines and other media companies. Her ads have now appeared on television, and even in offline spaces like billboards and the sides of buses.

Lotte expects similar profits this year from Lucy, who has brought in advertising offers from financial and construction companies, according to Lee Bo-hyun, the director of Lotte Home Shopping's media business division.

The models are in high demand because they help brands reach younger consumers, experts say. Rozy's clients include a life insurance firm and a bank -- companies typically seen as old-fashioned. "But they say their image has become very young after working with Rozy," Baik said.

It also helps that, compared to some of their real-life counterparts, these new stars are low-maintainance.

It takes Lotte and Sidus Studio X between a few hours and a couple of days to create an image of their stars, and from two days to a few weeks for a video commercial. That's far less time and labor than is required to produce a commercial featuring real humans -- where weeks or months can be spent location scouting and preparing logistics such as lighting, hair and makeup, styling, catering and post-production editing.

And, perhaps just as important: virtual influencers never age, tire or invite controversy.

Lotte decided on a virtual influencer when considering how to maximize its "show hosts," said Lee.

Lotte Home Shopping hires human hosts to advertise products on TV -- but they "cost quite a lot," and "there will be changes when they age," Lee said. So, they came up with Lucy, who is "forever 29 years old."

"Lucy is not limited to time or space," he added. "She can appear anywhere. And there are no moral issues."

A question about beauty

South Korea isn't the only place to have embraced virtual influencers.

Among the world's most famous virtual influencers are Lil Miquela, created by the co-founders of an American tech startup, who has endorsed brands including Calvin Klein and Prada and has more than 3 million Instagram followers; Lu of Magalu, created by a Brazilian retail company, with nearly 6 million Instagram followers; and FNMeka, a rapper created by music company Factory New, with more than 10 million TikTok followers.

But there's one major difference, according to Lee Eun-hee, a professor at Inha University's Department of Consumer Science: virtual influencers in other countries tend to reflect a diversity of ethnic backgrounds and beauty ideals.

Virtual humans elsewhere have a "uniqueness," while "those in Korea are always made beautiful and pretty ... (reflecting) the values of each country," she added.

An image of Rozy, the virtual influencer developed by Sidus Studio X in South Korea. Credit: Sidus Studio X

And in South Korea -- often dubbed the "plastic surgery capital of the world" for its booming $10.7 billion industry -- there are concerns that virtual influencers could further fuel unrealistic beauty standards.

Younger Koreans have begun pushing back against these ideals in recent years, sparking a movement in 2018 dubbed "escaping the corset."

But ideas of what is popularly considered beautiful in the country remain narrow; for women, this usually means a petite figure with large eyes, a small face and pale, clear skin.

And these features are shared by most of the country's virtual influencers; Lucy has perfect skin, long glossy hair, a slender jaw and a perky nose. Rozy has full lips, long legs and a flat stomach peeking out under her crop tops.

Lee Eun-hee warned that virtual influencers like Rozy and Lucy could be making Korea's already demanding beauty standards even more unattainable -- and heightening the demand for plastic surgery or cosmetic products among women seeking to emulate them.

"Real women want to become like them, and men want to date people of the same appearance," she said.

An image of Lucy, the Korean virtual human used by Lotte Home Shopping. Credit: Courtesy Lotte Home Shopping

The creators of Rozy and Lucy reject such criticism.

Lotte representative Lee Bo-hyun said they had tried to make Lucy more than just a "pretty image" by crafting an elaborate back story and personality. She studied industrial design, and works in car design. She posts about her job and interests, such as her love for animals and kimbap -- rice rolls wrapped in seaweed. In this way, "Lucy is striving to have a good influence in society," Lee said, adding: "She's giving a message to the public to 'do what you want to do according to your beliefs.'"

Baik, the Sidus Studio X CEO, said Rozy isn't what "anyone would call beautiful" and that the firm had deliberately tried to make her appearance unique and veer away from traditional Korean norms. He pointed to the freckles on her cheeks and her wide-set eyes.

"Rozy shows people the importance of inner confidence," he added. "There are other virtual humans that are so pretty ... but I made Rozy to show that you can still be beautiful (even without a conventionally attractive face)."

'Digital blackface'

But concerns go beyond Korean beauty standards. Elsewhere in the world there is debate over the ethics of marketing products to consumers who don't realize the models aren't human, as well as the risk of cultural appropriation when creating influencers of different ethnicities -- labeled by some as "digital blackface."

Facebook and Instagram's parent company Meta, which has more than 200 virtual influencers on its platforms, has acknowledged the risks.

"Like any disruptive technology, synthetic media has the potential for both good and harm. Issues of representation, cultural appropriation and expressive liberty are already a growing concern," the company said in a blog post.

"To help brands navigate the ethical quandaries of this emerging medium and avoid potential hazards, (Meta) is working with partners to develop an ethical framework to guide the use of (virtual influencers)."

But one thing appears clear: the industry is here to stay. As interest in the digital world booms -- ranging from the metaverse and virtual reality technologies to digital currencies -- companies say virtual influencers are the next frontier.

An image of Rozy, the virtual influencer developed by Sidus Studio X in South Korea. Credit: Sidus Studio X

Lotte is hoping Lucy will move from advertising to entertainment, perhaps by appearing in a television drama. The firm is also working on a virtual human that will appeal to shoppers in their 40s to 60s.

Sidus Studio X has big ambitions, too; Rozy will launch her own cosmetics brand in August, as well as an NFT (non-fungible token), and the firm hopes to create a virtual pop trio to take on the music charts.

Baik points out that most fans don't meet real celebrities in person, only seeing them on screens. So "there is no big difference between virtual humans and the real-life celebrities they like," he said.

"We want to change perceptions of how people think of virtual humans," Baik added. "What we do isn't to take away people's jobs, but to do things that humans can't do, such as work 24 hours or make unique content like walking in the sky.

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Drake Gathers GOATs of Canadian Hip-Hop, Duets With Nelly Furtado in Historic OVO Concert - Variety

For Torontonians attending Drake’s History venue on Friday night, OVO — for October’s Very Own, the superstar’s enduring Canada-based brand — may as well have stood for Our Very Own.

You could even say Drake made history with what he dubbed the “All Canadian North Stars,” a mind-blowing assembly of homegrown hip-hop and R&B artists who, as he wrote in his Instagram announcement of the lineup, “paved the way for all of us.”

Some of the artists launched hip-hop in Canada long before the city was called TheSix or even the T-dot. And while it was never mentioned, it was hard not to notice the night was being filmed, possibly for a documentary.

Drake has singlehandedly helped the careers of more than 100 Canadian producers, beatmakers and songwriters by using them on his albums (according to a count by music publisher Michael McCarty citing the performing rights organization SOCAN) — the majority from the Greater Toronto Area/Southern Ontario, in fact — and the All Canadian North Stars show was Drizzy’s chance to give flowers to many of the artists who helped him along the way.

The three-and-a-half hour concert, which wrapped after 2 a.m., was the kick-off to Drake’s annual OVO weekend, which typically coincides with the end of the month-long Toronto Caribbean Carnival. This year, he’s calling it October World Weekend: Road To OVO Fest Tour, as he plans to take his long-running OVO Fest international in 2023 for the 10th anniversary.

Announced earlier in the week, Friday’s bill featured rapper Choclair; R&B artist and Drake’s “first girlfriend” Keshia Chanté; R&B singer Glenn Lewis; R&B group In Essence (and Dru solo); Canada’s “Queen of R&B” powerhouse Jully Black; Canada’s hip hop ambassador Kardinal Offishall (a.k.a. Kardi); singer/rapper k-os; “the Godfather of Canadian Hip Hop” Maestro Fresh Wes; Vancouver rap group Rascalz; Drake’s mentor Saukrates; R&B-pop singer Shawn Desman; and the only American act, rappers Frank-N-Dank (with major associations to Toronto).

That lineup in and of itself is a who’s who, but it’s the who else that knocked it out of the park, the mystery “+ special guests” as it read on the show poster, brought out for their own mini-sets throughout the night: Grammy-winning pop star Nelly Furtado; “Canada’s First Lady of Hip-Hop” Michie Mee; R&B singer Melanie Durrant; and rappers Solitaire (with Kardi), Ro Dolla, Jelleestone, and Infinite.  Hosting and DJing before the show and keeping the flow going between each act were Agile and Kid Kut.

“This is bigger to me than any American act, any show, I could ever see,” Drake said off the top of the night during a five-minute speech in which he name-checked people and places integral to Toronto hip-hop. Several times through the show Drake expressed, “This is one of the best nights I’ve ever had in my life.”

“This is the reason the city is the way it is, all these individuals here tonight,” Drake continued. “For real. I’m very grateful and I’m very thankful because if I was somewhere else, I might’ve been doing something completely different, but because of each and every one of these individuals that performed tonight, I am where I am.”

To put it in perspective on what some of these artists achieved, the barriers they broke, and what they mean to Canada, here are just a few of their accomplishments:

Maestro Fresh-Wes was the first Canadian hip hop artist to have a gold single, 1989’s “Let Your Backbone Slide” and first Black artist to receive a platinum album (1989’s Symphony In Effect). Kardi is also a judge on “Canada’s Got Talent” and, until recently, was an executive at Universal Music Canada; and Rascalz went down in history when they refused to accept the best rap Juno Award in 1998 because it wasn’t televised, but got CARAS to reassess and invite them to perform “Northern Touch” on the broadcast the following year with The Circle (Rascalz, Kardi, Checkmate, Thrust and Choclair); for the 20th anniversary, the single was remixed and “The Northern Touch All Stars” hijacked two mins of the Junos with an impromptu rendition, but made a point to mention Canadian rappers “still struggle for exposure at home,” despite the No. 1 popularity of the genre.

Tickets for All Canadian North Stars were just $20 (USD $15), a wonderful give-back for such an epic lineup, considering the inflated cost for the Young Money Reunion, which spiked into the thousands due to Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing.

And while the new 35,000 sq. ft. 2,553-capacity History — which opened last November in partnership with Live Nation — has permanent metal detectors at the door, security was extremely tight (perhaps due to the previous night’s incident at Dua Lipa’s Scotiabank Arena concert at which someone set off fireworks into the crowd); not even reasonable-sized bags were allowed in and security even confiscated this journalist’s pen.

Inside though, the sold-out show was a roomy lovefest.

While there were some grumblings about those missing from the lineup — Ghetto Concept, Dream Warriors, Snow, and others — it’s unclear if that was an oversight or just unavailability given the short notice. The show was curated by renown deejays Starting From Scratch and Charlie B, along with Drake.

During his speech, or as Maestro called it Drake’s “Shakespeare soliloquy,” he had explained “This is probably one of if not the most important event that we’ve ever done for OVO Weekend, October World Weekend,” and reminisced about seeing Jay-Z at Caribana when he was 17 years old and Toronto’s very own Kardinal Offishall was pulled out onstage. “For me, that was really a moment that unlocked something in my mind. It made me realize that all this is possible.”

Kardi, during his set, said of Drake, when they first met: “The only thing that was on his heart and his mind was that he wanted to become the greatest in the world. Everybody has the opportunity to become No. 1, but when they have work ethic and they have drive, when they have passion, when they have a team and they make some good fucking music, that’s how you become the best in the world.”

And it wasn’t just Drake thanking everyone. Other artists were also giving flowers. As Jully Black said: “This night is about collaboration and celebration, not competition.”

Among the highlights: Drake singing “I’m Like A Bird” with Nelly Furtado and saying her music “changed my life so much;” watching his bro hugs with Saukrates and Rascalz’ red-1 and sidestage/onstage fandom and grooving; Drake calling k’os “one of my biggest influences in my life” and performing “Headlines” spur of the moment; and the grand finale of  “Northern Touch,” featuring a good 50 people hanging onstage and the night’s performers joining in on the song that Drizzy called “our real national anthem.”

Drake’s marquee OVO concert is Monday (Aug. 1) at Budweiser Stage, a Young Money reunion with Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne. Hopefully, in keeping with OVO Fest tradition, they’ll be numerous surprise guests and some of the “North Stars.” Even better if Friday’s concert inspires an OVO lineup to introduce the world to the pioneers who didn’t have the infrastructure and power of the Internet back then to make them household names beyond Canada.

“I’m excited to share this weekend with you,” Drake said at the end. “I will see you on Monday for the Young Money reunion. I hope you’ll be there. I have not seen my family in a long time so I will try and give you the best show I possibly can but for now and for tonight, this is, like I said, one of the best moments of my entire life. Thank you for sharing it with us.

“I hope we can do this again one day. I wish we could do this every night to be honest. … But thank you for everything that you gave me, all the love, all the memories, all the times that it wasn’t shit and we were all just trying to figure it out, grind it. Music is not easy; don’t ever get it twisted; it is not an easy life. So to have these great records, to have these great voices, to have these people still come on stage and shut shit down, right now, we should truly be grateful because a lot of places in the world do not have this.”

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Hanin Dhiya – Love Language, Don't Wait For Me, Kembalilah Padanya | MTV Jammin' - MTV ASIA

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Singapore’s Art Market Is Capitalizing on the Hong Kong Exodus - ARTnews

One fifth the size of Rhode Island, Singapore is an island city-state, off the peninsula of Malaysia, in the middle of Southeast Asia, that wields immense power in the global financial and trade industries, like its traditional rival Hong Kong in the north. Also like Hong Kong, Singapore’s government has been harboring larger-than-life ambitions to position the country as a top contender in the global art market since the late ’90s. But, after several previous missteps, it has only recently begun to be a major player in the art world, as Hong Kong’s primacy begins to wane.

The tide seems to be turning in the city’s favor, in part, due to a general migration across the region to Singapore because of the country’s relaxed Covid restrictions. Reportedly, thousands of families and small- and medium-sized business, are leaving Hong Kong this year and a large number of them are heading south. Even major companies such as L’Oréal, LVMH, and VF Corporation, which owns Timberland and North Face, are moving to the city. Hong Kong’s financial community are also relocating staff to Singapore to make up for decreased activity due to the former’s zero Covid policy over the past two years.

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Under the tightening grip of Mainland China, Hong Kong is perceived by international businesses to be losing its competitive edge, with its current travel restrictions a far cry from trading hubs such as Singapore. Comprising majority Chinese, minority ethnic communities of Malays, Indians, Eurasians, and more, Singapore has also seen an increase in its typically affluent Indonesian community as well as a major influx of wealthy Chinese since the beginning of the pandemic.

These shifts have begun to draw the attention of major international art world players, even as other cities like Seoul, which has seen several Western galleries announce forthcoming outposts and will launch a new iteration of Frieze there in September. Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo will also get new art fairs in the coming years.

The possibility of Singapore as a counterpart on the rise to Hong Kong had been bubbling since even before the pandemic. Despite the last minute cancellation of Singapore’s biggest art fair Art Stage due to financial troubles in January 2019, the city was to get its latest international art fair, ART SG, in November 2019. MCH Group, the fair conglomerate behind Art Basel, was looking to expand its portfolio with ART SG, but dropped out as a shareholder just months after the fair was announced.

That shuffle and the pandemic forced the inaugural edition’s postponement four times, before confirming its exhibitor list for January 2023 last month. In an even bigger sign of the changing tide, MCH Group bought back a 15-percent minority stake in ART SG in January, while Art Basel partnered with local boutique art fair S.E.A Focus for the first time this year.  And, just last week, Sotheby’s announced that after a 15-year hiatus, it would host its first live auction in Singapore in August.

“Singapore is increasingly the destination of choice for global companies to be their base of pan-Asia operations and Singapore,” Magnus Renfrew, a cofounder of ART SG, told ARTnews. “This is particularly evident within the tech sector with major western companies basing themselves there. It is also the location of choice outside of China for major Chinese tech companies.”

ART SG’s future home, the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Singapore. Courtesy MCH Group

Just last year, Chinese art dealer Liu Ying Mei, opened an art gallery, 39+ Art Space, at the recently revived arts cluster at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, a warehouse space by the city’s iconic port. The gallerist, who showcases Chinese artists such as Lin Ke and Zhang Yunyao, has also observed trends in movement from China and Hong Kong to Singapore among her client base.

“I’ve been seeing a number of experienced collectors moving to Singapore lately and know of a few more who are considering a move here for the long term, with plans to move their entire art collection with them too,” she said. “These are positive signs for the growth of the Singapore art scene and market.”

Liu added, “It goes without saying that Singapore’s highly developed business infrastructure, family-friendly lifestyle, and travel mobility all amplify its merits for those who are surveying the art market here, with an overall momentum building toward ART SG’s big fair next January.”

Nonetheless, there are still concerns that this influx of wealth, and even art collectors, may not automatically translate into increased art buying in a country where the level of patronage is definitely not on par with Europe, the United States, and South Korea. According to Singapore’s National Arts Council’s Our SG Arts Plan (2018 – 2022), the local art market is still “nascent,” making up only 1 percent of all global art export and import.

But there is hope that the rise of family offices, which manage the wealth of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, could change this status. The city-state’s position as the private wealth management capital of Asia has accelerated with interest in setting up family offices in Singapore doubling in the last 12 months, with that number expected to continue to grow. Reportedly, new family offices have increased from 27 in 2018 to 453 in 2021, the last year in which data is available.

Earlier this year, Ning Chong, a Singaporean art consultant, set up Family Office for Art (FOFA) with her father, Chong Huai Seng, a former investment banker and art collector. Since its launch in June, FOFA has received interest from private banks and their clients to share more about their experiences in buying and investing in art, as well as harnessing one’s passion to initiate new business ideas and legacy-building.

Ning Chong observed that Singapore has been dubbed Asia’s “Silicon Valley” as there are many tech entrepreneurs launching new ventures and multi-generational family business owners based in the city-state. “We decided to set up FOFA as we see a gap in the market for a full-service concierge that can look after all your art collection needs and more,” she said.

Michael Tay, a long-time Singaporean arts patron and the group managing director of The Hour Glass, a homegrown luxury watch retailer, agrees that family offices can play a “very important part in (patronage) and apart from straight out philanthropy, their contributions can also be shaped and directed through public policy.”

With proliferation of galleries requiring BOGO (buy one, give one) agreements from potential clients and promised bequests for contemporary art to institutions, Tay envisions that Singapore’s national collection will soon propel the country in the global art market: “My hope is that the Singapore government tweaks its national collections policy to include and emphasize international, non-Southeast Asian art and artists,” he said. “While we believe in the importance of Southeast Asian art, and our institutions do very important curatorial work in this domain, the rest of the global contemporary art market players doesn’t necessarily care much for it.”

Tay added that the upcoming ART SG would be an opportunity for the global contemporary art world to discover that there is a vibrancy among collectors residing in Southeast Asia and that “while it has been a region that has been overshadowed by our North East Asian cousins, the time now is ripe for its cultivation.”

Nonetheless, the general consensus is that the influx of individuals and businesses from across the region into Singapore could help fill the gaps in the local art market. However, there is always the risk that both people and money will merely transition in and out of the country with very little impact, as can be the inherent nature of port cities and frontier towns.

According to Singaporean curator Khairuddin Hori, who is also the vice president of Art Galleries Association Singapore, “For visibly impactful change in the arts, Singapore needs direct investments from committed, homegrown, corporate entities, and visionary individuals who are genuinely passionate, care for long-term cultural development, and are mature enough to facilitate a diversity of perspectives.”

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Sundance Film Festival: Asia will take place as an offline event in Jakarta in August - NME

The Sundance Institute and XRM Media have announced that Sundance Film Festival: Asia will be hosting its first offline edition from August 25 to 28 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Asian leg of the prolific film festival was announced last year and made its debut in September as an online-only event due to the coronavirus pandemic. This August’s film festival in Jakarta will mark its first in-person event.

The festival will offer multiple programming pillars over the course of its three day run: ‘Festival Chat’, ‘Film Screenings’, ‘Meet & Greet Day’ and a ‘Short Film Competition’. Audiences can expect a curated selection of invited guests in entertainment and culture to speak during the ‘Festival Chat’, which will take place on Thursday (25 August) and Friday (26 August).

Four feature films and three documentaries will be screened throughout the three days. The documentary films are Fire of Love, Midwives and Riotsville, USA. As for the feature films, they are Leonor Will Never Die, Brian and Charles, Maika and Blood.

‘Meet & Greet Day’, which falls on Saturday (27 August) will see Kim Yutani (Director of Programming, Sundance Film Festival), Heidi Zwicker (Senior Programmer, Sundance Film Festival), Sara Dosa (Director, Fire of Love), Jim Archer (Director, Brian and Charles), Bradley Rust Gray (Director, Blood), Martika Ramirez Escobar (Director, Leonor Will Never Die), Ham Tran (Director, Maika) and others as they speak about everything that has to do with filmmaking and the Sundance festival.

The winners of the ‘Short Film Competition’ will also be announced during the festival. Film directors with a valid Indonesian passport were given a stipulated window of April 18 to May 31 to submit their films. The requirements were that the films had to run between three to 20 minutes, production dates of the films had to be completed on or after January 1, 2020 and any exact entries for last year’s competition could not be resubmitted.

All programmes will be free, barring the film screenings, which are priced at IDR75,000 per ticket. In order to be of attendance during the ‘Meet & Greet Day’, register here.

The first Sundance Film Festival: Asia took place virtually in 2021, and featured eight films that could only be viewed in Indonesia through the purchase of digital screening passes, along with panels by industrial experts and a short film competition.

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Christopher Nolan Reveals Fiery 'Oppenheimer' Trailer - CNET

The countdown is on until Christopher Nolan's next film detonates. The first trailer just arrived for Oppenheimer, the Dark Knight and Tenet director's biopic of the man who developed the first atomic bomb. 

In a hypnotically looping YouTube livestream, Cillian Murphy is glimpsed in the trailer as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the real-life scientist who led the Manhattan Project to build a bomb for the US during World War II. Over images of roiling fire and flame (and a hat), various people offer their opinions of Oppenheimer: "The most important man who ever lived" and "The man who moved the earth" -- but another voice asks, "how could a man who saw so much be so blind?"

The all-star cast includes Florence Pugh, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr, Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman, Rami Malek, Olivia Thirlby, Dane DeHaan, Jason Clarke, David Dastmalchian, Alden Ehrenreich, Casey Affleck, James Remar and Tom Conti as Albert Einstein.

Like many of the cast, Murphy previously worked with Nolan in Batman Begins and the Dark Knight movies, as well as Inception and Dunkirk. Murphy recently starred in A Quiet Place Part 2 and the latest season of TV hit Peaky Blinders, which will also be followed by a movie in 2023.

Nolan's film is based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin's Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction book, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. It's being released by Universal Pictures after Nolan's long-standing relationship with Warner Bros seems to have been torpedoed when Warner released his time-twisting blockbuster Tenet on streaming service HBO Max.

Movies Coming in 2022 From Marvel, Netflix, DC and More

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SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS–Trailer (Zachary Levi, Jack Dylan Grazer, Helen Mirren) | AMC Theatres 2022 - AMC Theatres

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Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever - Official Teaser Trailer (Lupita Nyong'o) | Comic Con 2022 - IGN

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Marvel Studios' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Official Teaser - Moviefone

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She-Hulk: Attorney at Law - Official Trailer (Tatiana Maslany, Mark Ruffalo) | Comic Con 2022 - IGN

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Zachary Levi on Returning for the Shazam! Sequel | MTV News - MTV News

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Shazam! Fury of the Gods - Official Trailer (Zachary Levi, Helen Mirren) | Comic Con 2022 - IGN

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Dwayne Johnson Storms Comic-Con With New ‘Black Adam’ Trailer - Variety

Dwayne Johnson brought Black Adam’s might to Comic-Con.

Johnson made a grand entrance to San Diego Comic-Con’s Hall H, rising from the stage floor in his full Black Adam costume. As he emerged, lightning bolts appeared on the screen behind him and smoke billowed out on the floor. Audience members had been given lightning bolt lanyards before the panel, and every single one lit up brightly in the darkened hall for a grand display.

The movie star also unveiled the newest trailer for his upcoming superhero adventure as part of the Warner Bros. presentation.

Black Adam may not be as recognizable to comic book newbies, but his biggest rival should be a familiar face due to the 2019 hit film “Shazam!” starring Zachary Levi. Black Adam, similar to the character of Shazam, is bestowed with magical powers from the wizard Shazam. Unlike Shazam, though, Black Adam calls upon the Egyptian gods for his powers (Shazam traditionally calls upon the Greek gods).

The new movie is set to follow the antihero nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the powers of the Egyptian gods. Now freed from his tomb, Black Adam is ready to unleash his form of justice on the modern world.

With Johnson’s title character as well as a host of new additions, “Black Adam” is bringing the Justice Society of America to the DC Universe. The Justice Society, including Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone and Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate, is a superhero team that predates the Justice League in the DC comics.

The cast members and director Jaume Collet-Serra joined Johnson on stage, where they teased that “Black Adam” will forever change the DC Universe. Fans from the audience also got to ask the panelists questions, including whether Black Adam or Superman would win in a fight.

“It depends on who’s playing Superman,” Johnson answered. Another young fan asked the actor whether Kevin Hart got jealous of him playing a superhero (he did, at least according to Johnson).

“Black Adam” hits theaters on Oct. 21. Warner Bros. has several DC properties on deck in 2022, including the animated “DC League of Super-Pets” on July 29. “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is currently slated to continue the Shazam storyline on Dec. 22. The studio’s latest superhero adventure, “The Batman,” starring Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader, became a commercial smash, grossing $750 million globally.

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NewJeans look for 'Attention' in performance music video - UPI News

THE BOYZ announces return with seventh mini album; Details inside - PINKVILLA

THE BOYZ is officially coming back! The boy group’s agency IST Entertainment officially announced the news on July 22, sharing the date and other details about the upcoming music release. The agency shared, “On August 16, THE BOYZ will release their seventh mini album and begin [their comeback] promotions.”

Further, THE BOYZ will be kicking off their comeback promotions with a trailer film, releasing as soon as July 25 at midnight KST (July 24 at 8:30 pm IST)! The boy group’s agency elaborated on this, saying, “Starting with a trailer film on July 25 at midnight [KST], we will be gradually releasing a variety of teaser content bit by bit. IST Entertainment continued,  “Please show lots of interest and anticipation.”

Following THE BOYZ’s previous release, ‘MAVERICK’, their upcoming album will signify their first Korean comeback in nine months. Their third single album, ‘MAVERICK’ consisted of three tracks, with the inclusion of the title track of the same name. The other two songs on the record are ‘Hypnotized’ and ‘Russian Roulette’. 

At present, THE BOYZ is busy gearing up for their upcoming encore concert in Seoul, ‘THE B-ZONE’. The sold-out concert is scheduled for three nights, and will see THE BOYZ playing at the KSPO Dome from August 5 to August 7, less than two weeks ahead of their upcoming comeback with their seventh mini album.

Debuting in December 2017, THE BOYZ presently includes 11 members: Sangyeon, Jacob, Younghoon, Hyunjae, Juyeon, Kevin, New, Q, Ju Haknyeon, Sunwoo and Eric. After finishing in first place in Mnet’s competition ‘Road to Kingdom’, the group secured a spot for themselves in Mnet’s ‘Kingdom: Legendary War’.

Join the biggest community of K-Pop fans live on Pinkvilla Rooms to get one step closer to your favourite K-Celebs! Click here to join. 

ALSO READ: Kep1er crosses 100 million streams with ‘WA DA DA’ on Spotify

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"It looks like a K-pop Chart," Multiple K-pop artists top the list of most-sold albums in the U.S. in the first half of 2022 - allkpop

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1. "It looks like a K-pop Chart," Multiple K-pop artists top the list of most-sold albums in the U.S. in the first half of 2022  allkpop
2. Know the top 10 K-pop groups this 2022  Gulf News
3. View Full coverage on Google News

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Shark Week to Reveal Exclusive New Look at HBO's House of the Dragon - ComicBook.com

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1. Shark Week to Reveal Exclusive New Look at HBO's House of the Dragon  ComicBook.com
2. Shark Fest | Morning Blend  ABC Action News
3. Shark Week 2022 to Include Footage of a Shark in Papua New Guinea Walking on Land — Watch  PEOPLE
4. Discovery's 'Shark Week' hopes to enchant and thrill viewers  The Independent
5. ‘Shark Week’ to highlight Cape Cod’s shark-infested waters: ‘One of the most thrilling things’  Boston Herald
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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ITZY (있지) - 'SNEAKERS' | MTV Fresh Out Live! | MTV Asia - MTV ASIA

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NCT U enjoy rain and shine in 'Rain Day' music video - UPI News

July 19 (UPI) -- South Korean boy band NCT U is back with a new music video.

The K-pop group released a video for the song "Rain Day" on Tuesday.

The "Rain Day" video shows the members of NCT U enjoy both rain and shine.

"Rain Day" is a new single for SM Station: NCT Lab, an SM Entertainment project featuring the NCT members' solo tracks and more.

NCT U is a subunit of NCT whose members change based on the project's concept. "Rain Day" features NCT members Taeil, Kun and Yangyang.

As a full group, NCT has 23 members and last released the album Universe in December.

NCT also has the subunits NCT 127, NCT Dream and WayV.

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Watch NCT U Revivify Monsoon Mornings in Their Latest Music Video, 'Rain Day' - Rolling Stone India

Press play on NCT U’s latest release “Rain Day”, which promises to be your new monsoon 2022 favorite. Featuring NCT/NCT 127’s Taeil and NCT/WayV’s Kun and YangYang, the smooth single is an addition to previous SM Station: NCT lab releases, “Child” by Mark and NCT U’s (Doyoung, Mark and Haechan) “Conextion”. 

Produced and co-written by WayV’s leader Kun alongside singer-songwriter Junny and Squar, “Rain Day” has a pleasant R&B composition, underlining Kun and Taeil’s euphonious vocals. The contrast between the track’s smooth, medium-tempo production and YangYang’s deep, chill, melodic rap rustles up a gorgeous listening experience. Through the inclusion of rain sounds, finger clicks, rhythmic percussion beats and refreshing bass synth, “Rain Day” weaves an easy-to-listen, tranquil soundscape – perfect to brush away your monsoon blues. 

Kun, the track’s chief producer, took to Weibo earlier today to share his thoughts on the release. According to the 26-year-old producer-songwriter, the single is a product of two years’ worth of work and draws inspiration from the singer’s feelings towards the rainy season. Through the post, Kun also expressed a fair share of excitement and nervousness stemming from seeing his name credited as a songwriter. Though Kun has proven his knack for production and composition through his unofficial releases such as the serene instrumental must-listen “Gu Ren Gui” or the a-cappella cover of WayV’s “Dream Launch,” “Rain Day” is the first official track where Kun has helmed a project to completion. 

Lyrically, “Rain Day” stirs in a dizzying sense of nostalgia and memories, taking you back to a time when everything around you was rosy. Warm, heartfelt and comforting – with lines like “Fallin’ down all night/ On my way to you ’cause/ I’m needing you right in my eyes, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah)/ On a rainy day I got you, babe” and “I can feel the drip drop, we falling like a rain show/ Listen up, so I can be the one to/ Yeah, show you how to love” – the single will remind you of a fond relationship from your past. According to Kun’s Weibo post, the track “[talks] about the story of a protagonist driving a car on a rainy night, turning on the radio, and hearing a familiar melody from the past [that brings] back old stories of memories.” He concludes the post by hoping that fans will “take a time machine” to relive the memories they shared with the group. 

The music video sees the trio enjoy a summer day alongside two companions and an endearing Corgi enamored by Taeil’s presence. From lounging beside a lake, cycling and splashing water at each other, to Taeil’s adorable antics, the day concludes with a spell-binding fireworks display.

Acting as an extension to SM Station (a digital music project curated by SM Entertainment in 2016), NCT announced NCT Lab on January 28th, 2021, promising fans a deeper look into the group’s musicality. NCT Lab aims to release self-composed tracks either as solo or unit songs through SM Station. The tracks released under the project are ones you’d not find on a regular NCT album, giving the artists an alternative avenue to creatively challenge and express themselves. The first track released under this project was “Child” – a self-composed alt-rock single by rapper, songwriter and NCT Dream’s leader Mark. This was shortly followed by the NCT U release “Conextion” on March 20th.  

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Sony Boss Says Studio Deserves Some Credit for ‘Top: Gun Maverick’ Box Office: ‘Venom’ Paved the Way - Variety

Tom Cruise’s “Top: Gun Maverick” is the box winner of the year so far, and it’s not even close. The long-awaited sequel has earned $617 million and counting at the domestic box office and $1.2 billion so far worldwide. Outside of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and its $1.9 billion gross, “Top: Gun Maverick” has been hailed by many in the press as reigniting the box office after the pandemic woes. But not so fast, say Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group co-presidents Sanford Panitch and Josh Greenstein. The duo recently told Vulture that Sony deserves some credit for “Top Gun: Maverick’s” box office dominance.

As Panitch and Greenstein see it, Sony Pictures was one of the first studios to bring audiences back to the theater in mass during the pandemic. The studio opened “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” in October 2021 to a $90 million debut ($10 million more than the original “Venom” opened to in non-pandemic times) and a $506 million total worldwide (far below the original “Venom,” but a strong pandemic success nonetheless). Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” followed in November with $204.4 million worldwide, and then “Spider-Man: No Way Home” earned $1.9 billion globally to become the third-highest-grossing film in history, unadjusted for inflation.

“When we first started releasing movies last October, there were really no other big movies,” Greenstein said. “Everyone had pushed their big movies to this year, to this summer. We took a big gamble putting ‘Venom’ in theaters. Then we doubled down with ‘Ghostbusters.’ Then our biggest bet was when every other tentpole had fled, we tripled down with ‘Spider-Man’ — our biggest, most important piece of IP.”

Sony had a fourth win earlier this year with the February launch of “Uncharted,” the video game adaptation starring Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland. The adventure tentpole earned $401 million worldwide. Panitch and Greenstein said all of Sony’s box office wins, starting with “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” paved the way for “Top Gun: Maverick” to blast off.

“There’s so much press about ‘Top Gun’ right now. It’s like, ‘The movie business is back!'” Panitch said. “In a weird way, I would say ‘Top Gun’ is benefitting from us taking our shot. ‘Venom’ is the start of that story that allows ‘Top Gun’ to do the kind of business it did. These things don’t happen overnight. It’s a seeding.”

Next up for Sony is “Bullet Train,” from “Deadpool 2” and “Atomic Blonde” filmmaker David Leitch. The pic, starring Brad Pritt, is the only major studio action tentpole on the calendar for August. “Bullet Train” takes off Aug. 5.

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See Vin Diesel Celebrate His Birthday On The Fast X Set: 'I Can't Believe How Grateful I Am' - CinemaBlend

When The Fast and the Furious filmed, Vin Diesel was 33 years old and best known at the time for his role as Private Adrian Caparzo in Saving Private Ryan and voicing The Iron Giant’s eponymous protagonist. Over two decades later, Diesel has gone on to appear in all of the main Fast & Furious movies aside from 2 Fast 2 Furious, and as of today, he’s now 55 years old. Taking to social media, the actor expressed his gratitude to all the people who helped ring in the big day on the Fast X set.

Fast X has been shooting since late April, and while production got off to a rocky start when director Justin Lin departed just a week after cameras started rolling, things seem to have gone relatively smoothly since Louis Letterier took over helming duties. At the end of the production’s 13th week, the cast and crew took some time out of the day to celebrate Vin Diesel’s 55th birthday, and you can get a taste of how that early celebration looked courtesy of a video the man who brings Dominic Toretto to life shared on Instagram:

As is often the case with commemorating someone reaching another year on this Earth, a cake was prepared for Vin Diesel on the Fast X set, and appropriately, it was Fast & Furious themed. As Vin Diesel showed, not only did the cake (which was surrounded by cupcakes) tie into the Fast & Furious franchise’s love of family by saying “Happy birthday from your familia,” but the X in the Fast X logo was represented through Dominic Toretto’s cross necklace, and there was also a cool car adorning the top lefthand corner. Diesel also joked about getting to bring a nearby car home with him to mark turning the big 5-5… or was it a joke?

It’s fitting that Vin Diesel celebrated his 55th birthday among people who work on Fast X considering how much the Fast & Furious franchise means to him. Sure, Diesel also has blockbuster cred from the MCU and the XXX and Riddick franchises, among his other performing work, but Fast & Furious might as well be his cinematic child, as he not only leads these movies, but also produces them. While the end of this particular ride is coming soon since the main film series will end with Fast & Furious 11 (or Fast X: Part 2, if you prefer), at least Diesel got to be around friendly faces for this special occasion.

Along with Vin Diesel being accompanied by familiar faces like Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, John Cena, Charlize Theron and Scott Eastwood, the Fast X cast also features newcomers like Jason Momoa, Brie Larson, Daniela Melchior, Alan Ritchson and Rita Moreno. No plot details have been revealed yet, although Gibson did say back in June that the movie would go back to the Fast & Furious franchise’s “roots,” indicating that street racing may be more prominent this time around. Roughly half a year before Fast X’s release, Diesel will be seen in Avatar: The Way of Water playing a yet-to-be-identified character. 

Fast X races into theaters on May 19, 2023, and as we wait for more updates on its progress, find out what other movies will arrive next year by looking through our 2023 release schedule.

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