The daily gossip: December 9, 2019
The Golden Globe nominations arrive, Kanye West covers himself in silver for his second opera, and more
1. The Golden Globe nominations have arrived
In a flurry of announcements that sent heads across Hollywood spinning, this year's list of Golden Globes nominees finally arrived. Top nominees include Todd Phillips' Joker, which is up for Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Drama, as well as Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, which is up for Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Comedy or Musical — because nothing says "hilarious and/or musical" like the Manson murders.
2. Kanye West covered himself in silver for his next opera
When it premiered in Los Angeles last month, Nebuchadnezzar — Kanye West's first opera — was met with reviews that were lukewarm at best. Undaunted, West is pushing forward with his second opera, Mary, which is apparently based on the Nativity story. Photos taken during rehearsals show West himself covered head-to-toe in shiny silver paint, so maybe he's playing an angel, maybe he's playing a star, or maybe he's playing the Tin Man in the world's wildest Wizard of Oz crossover.
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3. There's a trailer for the new Ghostbusters reboot
If you think really hard, you might recall the halcyon age of summer 2016, when a new entry in the Ghostbusters franchise hit theaters. But when 2016's Ghostbusters turned out to be a minor financial disappointment, Sony quickly shifted to a favorite Hollywood strategy: re-reboot! So now there's a trailer for another new Ghostbusters, bound for theaters in 2020, which forgoes the iconic theme song and casts a group of adolescents as the new protagonists — so yes, they definitely noticed how much everybody likes Stranger Things.
4. Andrew Lloyd Webber liked the Cats movie
Rest easy, everybody: Andrew Lloyd Webber, the composer of the hit Broadway musical Cats, is a fan of the blockbuster adaptation set to hit theaters later this month. The movie was screened for the legendary composer, and attendees awaited his reaction with bated breath: "It was like waiting for the queen to take her first taste of soup," said one source at the screening. And while Webber ultimately endorsed the movie, you can't blame everyone for fearing that the creator of Cats might turn out to be a little finicky.
5. The Playmobil movie set a box-office record
Congratulations to the Playmobil movie for setting a box-office record! Unfortunately for Playmobil, it was the bad kind of record. The children's animated movie — which cost $75 million to produce — is the lowest-grossing wide release of 2019, playing in more than 2,000 theaters to a measly gross of $668,000. The movie's disappointing box office numbers are yet another sign that that the secret to The LEGO Movie's global success might not have been "being based on a famous toy line" as much as, uh, "being a good movie."
