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Despite failing to light critics or the box office on fire when it first premiered in April, Morbius is surprisingly returning to theaters this weekend. After only appearing on 83 screens during Memorial Day weekend, Sony has somehow managed to get Morbius onto more than 1,000 screens where it will go up against the now-week old Top Gun: Maverick, a movie that has shown no signs of slowing down after smashing box office records.

While Sony hasn’t explained its reasons for significantly expanding Morbius more than two months after its release date, Polygon has a pretty good theory why: The memes.

A search on Cinemark and AMC website confirmed showing times for the film. Sony Pictures also confirmed to Gizmodo that the film would be back in theaters this weekend, but didn’t elaborate on reasons why. We have a few hunches. Could it be because Morbius has taken on a second life as a meme? Or perhaps it’s because fans of the morb started streaming the film, in its entirety, on various social media platforms? Does this mean the film has officially crossed that threshold of “so terrible we’re attached to it now”?

It’s true that over the past two weeks, Morbius has been repeatedly trending on Twitter where wholly ironic memes may have just brought the film back to life. In fact, obsessive Morbius meme posters are convinced they can conjure a sequel into happening. Considering the film is already making an odd theater comeback, the chances of being memed into a sequel doesn’t seem so far-fetched at the moment.

Needless to say, news of Morbius‘ return is going over huge on Twitter, where the official account confirmed the good news:

These kids today and their wacky Morbin.’ What’re ya gonna do?

(Via Polygon)

Dominic Fike has become a breakout star lately thanks to a major role in the second season of Euphoria. It turns out he actually nearly appeared on the show’s debut season, but he went a bit too method for his audition and blew it.

That anecdote kicks off a new GQ profile on Fike, which reveals that after making it through multiple rounds of callbacks, Euphoria creator Sam Levinson had Fike do a “final chemistry read” with Barbie Ferreira, who plays Kat Hernandez on the show. Since the show is very much about people being on drugs, Fike decided to take some mushrooms before going to his audition. That decision did not pay off.

“I started peaking right when me and Barbie were reading,” Fike noted with a laugh.

Hallucinations ended up getting the better of Fike, as the letters on his script were dancing on the page and Levinson was seemingly wearing a dress.

Fike remembers, “I looked at him and I was like, ‘Are you wearing a dress right now?’ It was crazy. I started making fun of everybody in the room.” He then described the call he got from his agents later on: “They were like, ‘What. The. F*ck?’”

Clearly, Fike left some sort of positive impression, though, as he eventually landed the show-stealing role of Elliot the next season.

Read the full profile here.

LA’s 23-year-old singer Niki just recently announced her forthcoming album Nicole to follow her 2020 debut Moonchild. The album will arrive this August as she stated on Instagram. “This project is without a doubt my most favorite thing I have ever made as an artist. It’s where younger me and current me meet and hang and have a fucking blast together,” she wrote.

Today she dropped the sprawling lead single “Before” with a cinematic music video. It immediately kicks off with vivid storytelling: “You hid me in your dorm room / It was Halloweekend, I just flew / across the globe, 22 hours just to see you,” she lulls over dreamy synths. It sounds reminiscent of artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, or Angel Olsen. “’Before’ is the irresolute ending to my very first love story. I wrote it as a means to create the kind of closure I never had,” she said in a statement. “I also feel it’s ironically poetic to open this new chapter by telling you how it ends first. I’m so proud of it, and I can’t think of a better song to introduce the ultimate break-up record I’ve always fantasized of putting out but somehow haven’t…until now.”

Watch the video for “Before” above. Check out her Instagram post below.

Anthony Carrigan‘s NoHo Hank makes trying to be liked seem so damn likable on Barry (which airs Sundays at 10ET on HBO). A reliable laugh in the midst of ever-darkening clouds who clings to more powerful men like a well-attired barnicle, Hank has somehow gone from being the host with the most to a shoddy assassin and mobster. But he survives, even thriving at the start of season 3 as his own relationship with Cristobal (Michael Irby), though flawed and built on a shaky foundation, seems like a contrast to the shitshow that was the Barry/Sally coupling.

We know that chaos has bloomed in that relationship for Hank since then as we head toward the last two episodes of the season, and yet there’s a sense that he will somehow be alright, even though, as Carrigan put it in our recent chat, the show is “fan theory proof.” And that’s cool! Sometimes it’s good to stop playing detective and enjoy the ride. That’s what we did in this chat with Carrigan, moving from more serious questions about his role on the show to spin-off ideas, Hank’s vision board, and Jean Claude Van Damme movies.

The show has been categorized as a comedy and Hank is probably the character most reliably in that comedy space, even though, obviously, your character goes through a lot of things that are pretty intense. Do you feel a certain amount of pressure to carry the flag of comedy for the show?

Yeah. Just the classic, “Leave it to the mob boss to just lighten things right on up.” I don’t know. I always feel pressure, just as an actor, because I want to do the story justice and I want to continue to find pathos in this character and not let him turn into a cartoon. But I think the pressure is outweighed by the excitement and the joy of what I get to do. So, as long as I continue to focus on that, that carries me through. The trap is to make things funny, right? To be like, “Uh-oh. Got to be funny now.” As soon as you start to try to be funny, you fall on your face and nobody laughs. You just have to double down and commit so hard to these circumstances, as if you’re in a Shakespearean tragedy. And when you commit and double down so hard, that’s where the comedy comes from.

I honestly can’t figure out if this ends happily or not for Barry or Hank. I’m curious what you think about your character. Do you think it’s going to end happily for Hank?

Selfishly, I sure hope so, but at the same time, at the end of the day, you just want a really compelling story, and whatever that means, I’m all for it. I just want to do my best and be of service to really great storytelling, which I think is what’s happening on this show. The cool thing about it is you can actually find a lot of these really thought-provoking issues and you can spend a long time discussing any of these things like toxicity, relationships, forgiveness, and redemption. All of these concepts are all happening, all at the same time. You can either unpack it and do a deep dive, or you can just go along for the ride, and either way, it works out well for you. But I think that it’ll continue, probably up until the very end, to be complex and nuanced. For sure.

This is an unfair question, but that fidelity to the show and what’s best for the show, does that extend to if Hank gets a bullet in episode eight and isn’t along for the ride in Season 4 or Season 5, or however long this goes? Or do you selfishly want to stick around no matter what happens?

I don’t know. Almost getting killed off in the first episode, in the pilot, weirdly just emboldened me to just enjoy whatever happens from that moment forward. Obviously, there’s something to be said about job security, but at the same time, the rules have gotten thrown out with Game of Thrones, where anyone can die at any time and life’s not fair.

That’s good though, isn’t it?

It’s good, because I would prefer something shocking and horrible to bad storytelling and a safe choice. I feel like, if it’s way more interesting and way more compelling, then I’m all for it.

Based on precedent, I don’t think this is going to turn into a CSI in Season 10 type situation.

Although, that would be quite the surprise. If it slowly blended into a procedural TV show. It’s like, “Hey, did you watch Barry: Special Chechen Unit?”

Honestly, if there was a version of the show that becomes Hank and Barry as buddy cops, private detectives, I could see that show being popular in a weird, perverse way.

It sounds like a Rick and Morty interdimensional cable channel.

At the end of the fifth episode, Barry took Hank’s advice and created a vision board, or I guess a personality totem of all of his interests and what he’s all about. I saw that and I was wondering, “What would Hank’s version of that look like?”

Wow. That’s a great question. Let’s see. I think it would probably be an interactive, probably an interactive experience with just all sorts of things, like delicious treats and sandwiches and options, food. I don’t know. Probably just cardboard cutouts of Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme, and these ’80s action movies that I drew a lot of inspiration from. God. That’s just the start, but who knows? Maybe I’ll try to incorporate a vision board later on.

What’s your ideal sandwich?

My ideal sandwich. Well, okay. I’ve been really digging on Impossible Meat. So a really good Impossible meatball sandwich.

You mentioned action movies, what’s your favorite Jean-Claude Van Damme movie?

Probably Kickboxer. It’s ridiculous and amazing. There’s this scene where he’s dancing in this bar and he’s wasted, and he also happens to be kicking the shit out of people. So it’s amazing.

Well, I’m a big fan of Jean-Claude van Damme dancing randomly. Have you ever seen the music video that they did for Timecop?

No, but I really appreciate that. I’m going to write that down.

There’s a bunch of machines. He does a spin move and then he’s pressing buttons. You’ve never someone so happy to be pressing buttons, which is apparently how time travel happens. But it’s highly, highly recommended.

This means more than you could ever know. I appreciate this on such a huge level.

‘Barry’ season 6 continues on HBO Sundays at 10PM ET

Entering the fourth quarter of Thursday’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics trailed the Golden State Warriors, 92-80, and the lead had been as large as 15 late in the third frame. Once the buzzer sounded 12 minutes later, Boston had snagged a victory, 120-108, and outscored Golden State 40-16 in the final period. At one point, their lead grew to as many as 15.

In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes, Ime Udoka detailed what he relayed to his team ahead of their fourth-quarter dominance that saw them steal homecourt advantage and move three wins away from a championship.

“You’re getting punked out there,” Udoka said. “They’re punking us right now. Is this the way you want to go out? This is not us. Let’s at least give ourselves a chance.”

After roaring out to 92 points through three quarters, Golden State’s offense faltered mightily down the stretch, with 16 points over the final 12 minutes. The Celtics’ league-best defense took control and they rode it to a win.

“For anyone, I feel like that challenges us to step up and stop being so soft, you would say,” Grant Williams said. “He’s not afraid to say that to anybody. He was yelling at me, [Jaylen Brown] and whoever was in the game while we were running down the court, telling us to toughen the hell up. That’s what you love about Ime. He tells it like it is.”

Shot-making from Al Horford (26 points) and Brown (24 points), as well as Jayson Tatum’s 13 assists, were critical to Boston’s victory, but defense is its foundation and where the comeback began, which was exactly what Udoka wanted from his players.

“If we’re going to go out, let’s go out playing the way we play. That’s all I was asking,” Udoka said. “I’m happy the guys responded.”

When she’s not voicing a hormone monster in Big Mouth or occasionally returning to late-night TV with her Beyonce impression, Maya Rudolph playing a billionaire who is going through a tough time. While it’s hard to sympathize with billionaires, we can for Loot, the upcoming series from AppleTV+.

Rudolph stars as Molly, a disillusioned billionaire who has everything she wants, until she learns that her husband, played by notoriously good guy Adam Scott, is having an affair with a younger woman. Molly spirals and then decides to take matters into her own hands, and begin spending her days working at her foundation to turn her life around, and prove to her ex-husband that she is capable of being rich AND a good person! Maybe life isn’t about the millions of dollars you earn….but the friends you made along the way? But having money is a really important bonus.

From the looks of the trailer, the show will feature some cute fashion montages and also some relatable moments of Rudolph crying while eating candy. The range!

Loot also stars Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Ron Funches, Nat Faxon, and Joel Kim Booster. The series was written and executive produced by Emmy award-winning creators Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard. Rudolph also produces, alongside her friend Natasha Lyonne and Danielle Renfrew Behrens. The series will consist of 10 episodes, with the first three streaming on June 24th. Check out the trailer above.

Fans across all of gaming eagerly anticipate the new titles that are on the way from some of their favorite franchises, development studios, and publishers right around this time of year. Getting us started in 2022 was Sony with a “short” 30-minute PlayStation State of Play event.

While it might not be the sometimes two-hour long presentation that we’re used to, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t full of huge news. In that half hour, we got new announcements, ports, and some much wanted updates on a couple of previously announced games.

Resident Evil 4 Remake

This one was a longtime coming. A remake of Resident Evil 4 has been a rumor basically ever since the release of the remake of Resident Evil 3. Of course, the question everyone had was what, exactly, was this game going to do that was any different from the previous one to justify a remake, especially since a lot of the modern remakes were following the style that Resident Evil 4 made popular in the first place. Rumors told us that the intent of this remake was to make the game scarier, but the trailer didn’t create too much fear.

That doesn’t mean the game isn’t scarier by any means, but for a reveal trailer, it was definitely more focused on showing the cinematics of the game rather than gameplay or new frights. Then again, revealing their hand before the game comes out might take away some of the fun when it releases in March, so it’s understandable they didn’t want to show off too much.

PlayStation VR 2

For anyone who thought Virtual Reality had been abandoned by major developers, Sony wants them to know that it has definitely not given up. A significant portion of State of Play was given to all of the VR games that are coming to the PlayStation VR 2. Among these were two ports, Resident Evil Village and No Mans Sky, but we also got a new glimpse into the VR exclusive Horizon Call of the Mountain, which has the kind of appeal that could drive people into buying a VR system.

VR is still relatively new for a lot of people, and the install base is pretty low, but it’s cool to see PlayStation and Sony not giving up on it yet. More VR games are always welcome in an industry that is constantly seeking out the next big thing.

Stray

Stray is this really intriguing game about what appears to be a stray cat exploring a futuristic-looking world. Part of why this game is so fascinating is that it’s been shown off at nearly every single PlayStation event since the PS5 was first unveiled in 2020. We know a lot about Stray and yet we also know so little. It’s a game with trailers that have featured puzzle-solving, exploration, and even a little bit of combat. The city that this little stray cat has to explore feels very deep and interesting, the exact kind of mystery players will want to solve.

Even more fun is that, after so many teasers, we’re finally getting a release date for the game: July 19, 2022. Finally, we can solve the mystery of this city and get this adorable cat to safety.

Street Fighter 6

Street Fighter 6 is the next entry into the Street Fighter franchise and it’s going to be a highly-anticipated one. That’s not only because Street Fighter is still a notable franchise among gamers, but also because a lot of fans of the franchise found Street Fighter V to be a little underwhelming. Unfortunately, Street Fighter 6 didn’t get off to the strongest start when many fans felt that the reveal trailer didn’t give enough information and had a weird art style.

The trailer shown off during the State of Play gave us a little bit more information about the style, as well as a look at its single-player mode. So, what did they have in mind? A dense, open world where players can explore and get into, well, street fights. It is fun to see them taking the namesake and creating a literal story around it. We’re interested to see how it works out when the game launches in 2023.

Final Fantasy XVI

The show closed out with a new trailer for Final Fantasy XVI. Fans have been asking for more information about this one for quite some time. Final Fantasy is one of those franchises that has had a worldwide impact on gaming, and its fanbase will always show up for a new mainline title, especially when a new numbered entry hasn’t come out since 2016.

Well, fans can rest easy, because this event gave us a 2023 summer release date for the upcoming JRPG title and a good mix of both gameplay and cinematics. This is expected to be a really bombastic entry and an interesting return to form for the franchise. While there are some subtle sci-fi elements in the trailer, a lot of this game is set in a classic fantasy setting. It might sound weird to praise this series for having a fantasy setting, a lot of the more recent entries have leaned into the game’s sci-fi elements. This return to form is going to be a welcome sight to many longtime Final Fantasy fans.

Piers Morgan needs to get a life—one that doesn’t revolve around him imagining that he and Meghan Markle had some sort of romantic relationship, or that she threw him over for Prince Harry. Not only has his creepy obsession with the actress-turned-royal caused problems for him professionally, it has turned him into a vindictive pile of goo who regularly embarrasses himself by publicly chastising the Duchess for all sorts of innocuous behaviors. And this week, it happens to be smiling.

Yes, smiling.

On Thursday, Morgan welcomed royal biographer Tom Bower onto Piers Morgan Uncensored to discuss all the hoopla surrounding the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. And while he kicked off the program by noting that the Queen would be skipping the Thanksgiving Service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, he clearly couldn’t wait to start the Meghan-bashing—and he found an equally enthusiastic partner in Bower.

While Morgan stated that his “big objection to Harry and Meghan is primarily the rampant hypocrisy that accompanies almost everything that comes out of their mouths.” Specifically, he took issue with them arriving in London via private jet despite their constant “preaching” about the environment. But it was Bower who went for the jugular:

“Well, you get excited about that. I get excited about Meghan appearing in this extraordinary hat with a big smile and letting down the window of her car so she could be seen. I mean, here is a woman who—as you know better than anyone else—according to you, lied 17 times on The Oprah Show interview, and hasn’t yet apologized.

“Why has she come here? Has she come here to apologize to the Queen? Has she come here to say that she’s sorry to the Duchess of Cambridge? Or is she here to promote herself?”

While both men agreed that Prince Andrew having to pay millions of dollars to settle a sexual assault claim was bad for the monarchy, they seemed to think that Markle’s claims of racism within the royal family was an even worse offense—and blame the Duchess.

Still, Bower couldn’t get over Meghan’s audacity to smile while wearing an oversized hat—a move that he believes “shows just what a brazen hussy she is.” To which a clearly pleased Morgan responded: “Well, your words not mine, but I’m not denying them.”

Jada Pinkett Smith addressed her husband Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, a.k.a. The Slap, for the first time (minus a cryptic Instagram post) in the latest episode of her talk show, Red Table Talk. “My deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out and reconcile,” she said. “The state of the world today, we need them both. And we all actually need one another more than ever. Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that’s keep figuring out this thing called life together. Thank you for listening.”

Vivica A. Fox isn’t having any of Pinkett Smith’s “self-righteous” comment.

“This is going to be difficult for me. These are my peers. I’ve done a movie with both of them. Set It Off with Jada and Independence Day with Will Smith, which absolutely changed my life,” the Kill Bill actress said on Thursday’s The Wendy Williams Show.

After explaining that she was rooting for Smith on Oscars night (he won Best Actor for his performance in King Richard), Fox turned her attention to Pinkett Smith. “Will Smith was defending her honor, that’s the reason he walked on stage and slapped because he felt like his wife had been offended so for me to see no accountability as a partner,” she said. “Also, let’s not forget, Chris Rock was assaulted. We cannot forget that for basically telling a joke that I really felt wasn’t that bad.” Fox continued:

“Let’s not forget the show was executive produced by Will Packer, an African American man. This night was a night of African American and diversity for brown and Black people. That now will forever be scarred… I have love for the Smiths. I know their children. I’ve watched them grow up,” she said. “I just wish we could have just a little more accountability and for it to not seem so self-righteous on Jada’s part and that’s my feelings.”

You can watch Fox’s comments above.

(Via People)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott rarely has a dull moment these days, and that’s not a good thing in this situation. Although his state avoided another ice-storm debacle this year, Abbott still kept the hits coming with a defense of his state’s insane new abortion law (which he said doesn’t need a rape exception because he will handily round up all the rapists). Now, he’s reacting to the Uvalde mass school shooting (in which a lone gunman killed 19 children with an AR-15 style rifle purchased on his 18th birthday, when you can’t buy alcohol or rent a car at that age) with what he feels are hard-hitting new laws.

Not quite, though. Abbott tweeted out a letter that outlined his plan, and it sure looks like the onus for preventing shooting is on the schools. In other words, he’s not here for restricting how easy it is to purchase semi-automatic weapons. Instead, one should expect an increased GOP obsession with doors:

I’m directing the Texas Education Agency to ensure schools are held to heightened safety standards following the tragedy in Uvalde.

I requested TEA to:
– Identify actions to make campuses more secure
– Conduct weekly inspections of doors
– Increase presence of trained officers

It also sounds like there will be fake intruders coming to schools, via the Texas Tribune, which detailed Abbott’s directive for “in-person, unannounced, random intruder detection audits on school districts.”

What could go wrong? That’s the sentiment coming from Twitter, which wondered whether these unannounced fake-intruders would end up in the crossfire, and all of this will only cause further trauma to already on-edge kids.

Well, at least it’s summer vacation, so this won’t happen for a few months, but yikes.

(Via Texas Tribune)