1. Amber Heard is barely in the first 'Aquaman 2' trailer
Don't blink during the first trailer for "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" or you'll miss Amber Heard. Warner Bros. has finally dropped a look at the upcoming "Aquaman" sequel, which came up during Heard's 2022 defamation trial with Johnny Depp. She testified that her role in the DC film was drastically reduced, and the trailer seemingly backs that up. Although Heard's Mera, the love interest of Jason Momoa's Aquaman, was a major character in the 2018 film, she shows up in the new trailer for barely a second and has no lines. Director James Wan recently told Entertainment Weekly he always intended for the sequel to focus on Aquaman's relationship with his half-brother Orm, played by Patrick Wilson. "The first was a romance action-adventure movie, the second one is a bromance action-adventure movie," Wan said. "We'll leave it at that." The movie, which will be the final installment of the troubled DC Extended Universe, opens on Dec. 20. Warner Bros. Pictures
2. NSYNC to release first new song in over 20 years after VMAs reunion
Hi, hi, hi. During NSYNC's reunion at Tuesday's MTV Video Music Awards, an ecstatic Taylor Swift asked the boy band, "Are you doing something? What's gonna happen now? They're gonna do something, and I need to know what it is." Well, she now has her answer. A trailer for the animated movie "Trolls Band Together" released on Thursday revealed the film will feature an original song by NSYNC called "Better Place." This will be the band's first new song in over 20 years. Justin Timberlake also voices a character in the "Trolls" movies, and his song "Can't Stop the Feeling" was created for the original film. The NSYNC single could be a potential candidate for Best Original Song at the 2024 Oscars, so now all we need is for the Backstreet Boys to drop a banger on the "Killers of the Flower Moon" soundtrack. Universal Pictures
3. Bill Maher is bringing back 'Real Time' without 'writers or writing'
New rule: Bringing back your TV show during a pair of Hollywood strikes is totally fine, according to Bill Maher. The comedian has announced his HBO show "Real Time" will be returning "sans writers or writing" as the Hollywood writers strike continues. "It has been five months, and it is time to bring people back to work," Maher posted on X, formerly Twitter. He claimed he will "honor the spirit of the strike" by removing written segments, such as a monologue or desk piece, and "I'll say it upfront to the audience: the show I will be doing without my writers will not be as good as our normal show, full stop." This comes after Drew Barrymore also announced she will bring back her show without her WGA writers. The Writers Guild of America slammed Maher's decision as "disappointing," adding that it's "difficult to imagine" how the show can go forward "without a violation of WGA strike rules taking place." X
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4. Jonathan Majors filmed breaking up a high school fight
The devil works hard, but Jonathan Majors' publicists work harder. The embattled actor recently broke up a fight between two high school students, reports TMZ, which has also conveniently obtained video of the entire incident. According to the outlet, two female students got into a fight at Hollywood High School on Monday, and Majors just happened to be getting lunch across the street at In-N-Out. So he "decided to rush into the middle of the melee to rip the girls apart, urging them to calm down and telling them it isn't worth it to fight," TMZ wrote, also declaring that Majors was "playing the hero in real life." This comes, of course, as Majors is still facing charges for allegedly assaulting a woman. To some, the episode seemed suspiciously manufactured as a way of getting Majors back in the public's good graces, so much so that the phrase "his PR" began trending on X. TMZ
5. Donald Glover's Lando Calrissian 'Star Wars' show is apparently a movie now
What have we here? It's been nearly three years since Lucasfilm announced a Disney+ "Star Wars" show called "Lando," which was expected to bring back Donald Glover as a young Lando Calrissian. But the studio is now apparently shifting gears and developing the project as a film instead. Glover's brother Stephen, who's working on "Lando," revealed on the "Pablo Torre Finds Out" podcast "it's not even a show," as "the idea right now is to do a movie." Variety and Entertainment Weekly subsequently confirmed the news. This was a bit surprising considering the Han Solo prequel "Solo: A Star Wars Story," which introduced Glover's Lando, famously bombed at the box office in 2018. Lucasfilm also laid out its plans for several upcoming "Star Wars" films in April, none of which had anything to do with Lando. But perhaps the studio realized the cape budget alone was simply too pricey for TV. Pablo Torre Finds Out
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