According to Variety, Emma Watson is set to join Greta Gerwig’s star-studded remake of “Little Women.” Sources say Watson is playing the part originally intended for Emma Stone, who was unable to join the project because of promotional obligations for the Fox Searchlight film and award season contender “The Favourite.” With production expected to start next month, Sony moved quickly to approach Watson. Roles are still being worked out and it is unknown which sister Watson would be playing. Gerwig is writing and directing, with Meryl Streep, Laura Dern, Saoirse Ronan, Timothee Chalamet, and Florence Pugh in negotiations to star in Sony’s retelling of the American classic. The project had been set up at Columbia Pictures for some time, with Amy Pascal set to produce with Denise Di Novi and Robin Swicord. Andrea Giannetti will oversee the production for Sony. The novel by Louisa May Alcott, which follows the March sisters in Civil War-era America, has been adapted multiple times for film and television, including the 1994 Winona Ryder version. The BBC’s “Little Women” miniseries aired late last year. Many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Tribeca TV Festival has unveiled the lineup for its second edition, set to take place Sept. 20-23 in New York. The festival will feature premiere screenings of and panels with the people behind the latest seasons of various small-screen series. It will also screen the premiere of the latest season of Tracey Ullman’s Show, followed by a discussion between the HBO show’s eponymous star and executive producer and Meryl Streep. “TV reaches audiences anywhere – in their homes, on their tablets, on their phones — but it’s also special to experience them on the big screen with others at the Tribeca TV Festival,” said Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Robert De Niro. Tribeca co-founder and executive chair Jane Rosenthal added, “Tribeca has created a platform that lets episodic storytellers experience their stories directly with their audiences. We’re excited to celebrate these cultural icons and new voices with the second annual TV Festival.”
Filming for season two of Big Little Lies wrapped earlier this week and the star-studded cast took to Instagram to celebrate. In honour of the momentous occasion, Nicole Kidman wrote: “That’s a wrap on #BigLittleLies Season 2 filming! What a beautiful journey this has been with my Monterey 5 sisters and our passionate dedicated crew. Thank you HBO for the amazing opportunity and thank you Andrea Arnold for being our fearless leader, and of course the one and only Meryl Streep for believing in us. I love you all. xx” Meanwhile, Reese Witherspoon – who plays the role of Madeline Mackenzie – teased fans of the HBO series with a series of behind-the-scenes snaps. Below the throwback collage, Witherspoon paid tribute to her fellow cast members in a touching caption which read: “Feeling so grateful to my #BigLittleLies family on our last day of shooting Season 2! You have all inspired me, supported me, made me laugh & cry. Making the second season even more exciting than the last (I can’t wait for y’all to see it!!) Thank you @HBO and our amazing Director Andrea Arnold! Big love to my sisters.” Arnold took the artistic helm after Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée – who directed season one – was tied up with other work commitments. It has yet to be confirmed when season two of the Golden Globe-winning series will grace our screens but it is estimated to land in 2019. However, HBO’s president of programming, Casey Bloys, told Vulture that “it wouldn’t be impossible to get on in 2018.”
The sequel to the hit 2008 musical has successfully surpassed a $100 million gross at the US box office, Screen Daily reports. Another $5.8 million was added to its cumulative total this weekend, bringing it to a lively $103.8 million in the US alone. Its global haul is now thought to be north of $280 million. The first movie made around $144.1 million in the US upon its release in 2008 – and while it seems unlikely now that this follow-up will match it, it’s still done very impressively indeed. It’s also still doing well in the UK, after reigning at No1 for three consecutive weekends – beating even Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Ant-Man and the Wasp for a hat-trick of Friday-to-Sunday victories. Whether or not it managed a fourth weekend at the top won’t be announced until tomorrow. Mamma Mia’s success is continuing on the UK album chart too: on Friday it was confirmed that it is at the top of the charts for a third straight week in the UK. The album contains the cast recordings of all the tracks heard in the movie, plus Lily James singing I Wonder (Departure) and Meryl Streep’s take on The Day Before You Came. The soundtrack to the first Mamma Mia movie is also still in the Top 10, as is the country’s second best-selling album of all time: ABBA’s Gold greatest hits collection. Whether or not the film will be followed by a Mamma Mia 3 remains to be seen, but Amanda Seyfried has said she doubts it could happen without seeming like an obvious money-grab. Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.
“Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again” is holding up at the box office at the second spot – adding $4.8 million to its haul – after this week’s release of the new “Mission Impossible” took the predicted first place with moviegoers. But “Mamma Mia” has another market to score – as long as Tom Cruise doesn’t start singing on “MI” – the film’s soundtrack is doing great numbers in various markets, including a No. 1 spot in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. After initially debuting inside the top 10 last week, the soundtrack that accompanies the second Mamma Mia! musical film has bolted to the top of the album chart in the U.K. According to the Official Charts Company, the upbeat collection shifted 35,000 equivalent units this frame, which was enough to land it on the throne. Judy Craymer told OfficialCharts.com: “It is fantastic news that the soundtrack to Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again has gone to Number 1. It’s the celebration of our wonderful cast featuring Christine Baranski, Pierce Brosnan, Dominic Cooper, Colin Firth, Andy Garcia, Lily James, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters and Meryl Streep – and of course Cher, singing Fernando.” Many thanks to Glenn for collecting all these information. Much appreciated!
Over the weekend, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” grossed an estimated $34.4 million. The numbers could shift when final weekend earnings are tallied on Monday. Overseas, the female-fueled pic debuted to $42.4 million from its first 43 markets for a global bow of $76.8 million. The U.K. led with $13.1 million. The female-fueled Mamma Mia 2 is by no means a disappointment in North America and opened in line with expectations. As it turned out, Equalizer 2 beat projections, thanks to an ethnically diverse audience and keen interest among men. (Rival studios show the movie coming in closer to $35 million, but Sony is counting on a strong Sunday.) Internationally, it only debuted in 11 markets, earning $3.3 million. Mamma Mia 2’s domestic opening came in 22 percent head of the first Mamma Mia!, which opened to $27.7 million in summer 2008, not adjusted for inflation. A big curiosity factor is Cher, who along with Lily James, are among the newcomers to the Mamma Mia! brand. Returning stars included Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep Julie Walters, Christine Baranski, Dominic Cooper, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan and Stellan Skarsgard. The story traverses time to when Streep’s character (Donna) is pregnant. Mamma Mia 2 is one of the few 2018 summer event films targeting females, who made up more than 80 percent of Friday’s audience, according to comScore.
With “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again” hitting theaters around the world these days, two new magazines scans have been added to the photo gallery that mention Meryl in their coverage – Empire Magazine has a nice experts ranking of her film, while The Mail on Sunday’s Event has put the cast on their cover and on six pages inside. Edit: Lots of additional newspaper clippings on the film’s release, as well as a two-page article from Closer Magazine, have been added as well. Many thanks to Alvaro for sending in all those scans. Enjoy!
This evening, the cast and crew of “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again” – including Meryl Streep, Cher, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Christine Baranski – have all graced the blue carpet for the film’s big London premiere in London.People spoke to Cher on playing Meryl’s mother. The music icon is 72, while Streep is 69, but the age spread hardly bothers the “Believe” singer, who appears in the new Mamma Mia movie as the grandmother to Amanda Seyfried’s character. “That doesn’t make any difference,” Cher said in their exclusive Facebook live talk with the cast, moderated by PEOPLE deputy editor Dan Wakeford, about the small age gap. “I was thrilled to death, and it was so silly. It was great fun, and I love her [Meryl], so it was perfect.” Cher continued, “It was great, and she was hiding watching me sing, and I was so excited. I didn’t find out until afterwards—I would have been more nervous.” Though Cher and Streep mostly filmed on different days, they did get to spend time together on the set of the Mamma Mia sequel when Streep visited and when the duo filmed “Super Trouper.” Cher and Streep previously appeared together in the 1983 movie Silkwood. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is out Friday. Lots of pictures from the premiere have been added to the photo gallery.
Universal Pictures eyes its promotional finale for next week’s theatrical release of “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again” and they have saved the best nuggets for last. The newly-released b-roll gives us more Meryl, both behind the scenes and on stage with the complete cast. There’s also an official interview that has been used for the promotional clips we have seen so far. Also, the video archive has been updated with all the latest featurettes on the film – wishing that any of these would run for longer than a minute ;-) Screencaptures of the new material have been added as well, so head over to the video archive and the photo gallery, in that or in reverse order. Enjoy!
The official soundtrack for “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again” will be released tomorrow in the United States and can be ordered through Amazon or any other online retailer. For those still worrying about how much Meryl Streep will participate in the film, the soundtrack list should bring some relief – Streep is featured on three songs – including “My Love, My Life” with Amanda Seyfried and Lily James, the solo “The Day Before You Came” and an ensemble performance of “Super Trouper” with Cher, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Andy Garcia, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Lily James, Jessica Keenan Wynn, Alexa Davies, Josh Dylan, Jeremy Irvine and Hugh Skinner. The complete tracklist is below with many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up!
1. When I Kissed The Teacher (Lily James, Jessica Keenan Wynn, Alexa Davies, Celia Imrie) 3:01
2. I Wonder (Lily James, Jessica Keenan Wynn, Alexa Davies)
3. One Of Us (Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper
4. Waterloo (Hugh Skinner, Lily James) 2:48
5. Why Did It Have To Be Me? (Josh Dylan & Lily James, Hugh Skinner)