'Parasite' Actor Found Dead Amid Drug Probe; The Bernstein Children on 'Maestro'; Farewell to the DCEU!; 'Color Purple' Scores Near-Record $18M Xmas Day Opening

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( December 27, 2023 What's news: Ken Jennings has addressed Mayim Bialik's exit from Jeopardy! Rapper Ye has issued a statement in Hebrew expressing regret over his antisemitic comments. The New York Times is suing OpenAI. Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon – Part One had 23.9m views in 3 days on Netflix. Aquaman 2 was the overall winner of the long Christmas weekend with a four-day opening of $38.3m. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. 'Parasite' Actor Lee Sun-kyun Found Dead Amid Drug Probe ►Tragic death. Lee Sun-kyun, the South Korean actor who starred in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film Parasite and the Apple TV+ series Dr. Brain, has died in an apparent suicide. He was 48. Local media reports that Lee had been under investigation over allegations that he had used illegal drugs. In recent weeks, the South Korean government’s crackdown on hard drugs has led to a series of allegations against high-profile people including actors, singers, socialites and heirs to the country’s richest families. [The obituary.]( —"It took me off guard, because I loved working with my Mayim and I'm gonna miss her." In the wake of Mayim Bialik's exit from Jeopardy!, THR's [Alex Weprin]( spoke to Ken Jennings about his thoughts on the departure of his former co-host. Jennings also discussed what makes Celebrity Jeopardy! such a unique version of the long-running quiz show. [The interview.]( —"Unplanned outburst." Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, has issued a statement in Hebrew on his Instagram expressing regret over his antisemitic comments over the past year. That includes recent statements allegedly made in Las Vegas earlier this month, and caught by live streamers in attendance, invoking Hitler and Jesus Christ alongside himself, and addressing his loss of brand sponsorships and partnerships during a Vultures album event. [The story.]( —It's on. As generative AI products from tech giants threatens to upend the media landscape, major newspaper and magazine companies have faced a dilemma: take the money from AI giants in a licensing deal or fight with a lawsuit. On Wednesday, The New York Times chose the latter, filing a lawsuit against OpenAI, the Sam Altman-run firm behind the ChatGPT product that has amassed more than 100m users since a version of it went public in late 2022. [The story.]( The Bernstein Children on 'Maestro' ►"He and our dad are so much alike." THR Italia's Boris Sollazzo spoke to Jamie, Alexander, and Nina Bernstein about Maestro, Bradley Cooper's biopic about their late father Leonard Bernstein. The siblings discuss conducting the Venice Film Festival audience, re-living their mother's death on screen, and why Cooper was the perfect embodiment of their conducting legend father. [The interview.]( —"We really needed to see that love is love." The new musical adaptation of Alice Walker's book The Color Purple explores the romance between Shug and Celie, unlike Steven Spielberg's original 1985 film, which only featured a chaste kiss between the characters. THR's co-editor-in-chief [Nekesa Mumbi Moody]( spoke to Walker and producer Oprah Winfrey about finally depicting Shug and Celie's relationship correctly on the big screen. [The story.]( —Changes ahead for Hollywood exec pay? THR's business editor [Georg Szalai]( writes that the parade of CEO pay disclosures in regulatory filings in 2023 will be remembered for bad timing, ugly optics and symbolic shareholder votes. With Netflix reworking its executive compensation packages "to address shareholder concerns," the move and other pay trends across corporate America could well get analyzed across town as companies assess if symbolic updates to compensation policies may be needed in an era of low shareholder support. [The analysis.]( Farewell to the DC Extended Universe! ►We hardly knew you (yet we knew you too well). With the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the DC Extended Universe comes to a close. After 15 movies and nearly $7b in global box office, THR's [Borys Kit]( writes that in the end, the sum of the parts were greater than the whole for the DCEU, a series of films that spanned a decade, launched multiple actors to the A-list, and inspired (for good and ill) a fandom so passionate it was unlike any other. [The story.]( —Steady start. Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire has kicked off with viewing numbers that suggest a solid start to an original franchise. Netflix announced Tuesday that the science fiction fantasy was the most viewed title on the streaming giant following its debut the night of Dec. 21, generating 23.9m views in three (plus a few hours) days. For comparison, Netflix's Leave the World Behind, the drama starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Mahershala Ali, clocked in 19.7m views in seven days of viewing. [The story.]( —ICYMI. Christopher Landon has dropped out of directing Scream VII, capping a tumultuous few months for the embattled project that has included the exits of two of its leads. "It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare. And my heart did break for everyone involved. Everyone. But it’s time to move on," Landon wrote on X Saturday. [The story.]( Everything to Know About 'Emily in Paris' S4 ►Mon dieu! From all the lingering questions the fourth season of Emily in Paris will need to answer to who is returning from the cast, THR's [Christy Piña]( breaks down everything there is to know about the Netflix comedy. [The story.]( —Ncuti makes his true debut. For THR, Cameron K. McEwan reflects on Ncuti Gatwa's full debut as the Fifteenth Doctor in the Doctor Who Christmas special, "The Church on Ruby Road." Cameron considers whether a musical episode is in the offing, who Mrs. Flood might be, and whether the identity of Ruby’s mother will be revealed. Warning: Spoilers! [The story.]( 'Color Purple' Scores Near-Record $18M Xmas Day Opening ►Keep It Movin'! The Color Purple has brought some much-needed cheer to the year-end holiday box office. The musical opened to $18.1m from 3,142 theaters on Monday, the second best showing ever for a movie opening on Christmas Day and the best since 2009. The record-holder for biggest Christmas Day opening belongs to 2009’s Sherlock Holmes ($24.6m), not adjusted for inflation. The Color Purple easily trounced James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom's Monday gross of $10.6m, Aquaman 2 is the overall winner of the long Christmas weekend with a four-day opening of $38.3m from 3,706 theaters domestically. THR's [Pamela McClintock]( writes that Aquaman 2 — which was also slapped with a meh B CinemaScore — posted one of the lowest starts in the history of the DCEU. The film fared better overseas with $80.1m from 72 markets, with the largest chunk, or $30.4m, coming from China. This year’s Christmas box office was a mixed blessing. Revenue for the four-day weekend was up 11 percent over the same stretch in 2022, but down 46 percent from 2019, which is considered a key pre-pandemic benchmark. And revenue for the three-day weekend (Dec. 22-24) was up 1 percent over 2022, but down 62 percent behind 2022. Making year-over-year comparisons can be tricky when it comes to the year-end holiday, since Dec. 25 is a moving target. [The box office report.]( Kamar de los Reyes 1967 - 2023 ►Vale. Kamar de los Reyes, the compelling Puerto Rican actor who portrayed the troubled cop Antonio Vega on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live and the villain Raul Menendez in Call of Duty video games, has died. He was 56. De los Reyes died on Christmas Eve in Los Angeles after a brief battle with cancer, a family spokesperson announced. [The obituary.]( —"It’s wonderful to work with Mike because, like any artist, like any actor, he’s just unusual." Mike Nussbaum, the late-blooming Chicago actor who portrayed the aging salesman George Aaronow in the original Broadway production of Glengarry Glen Ross, just one of his many collaborations with David Mamet, has died. He was 99. Nussbaum died Saturday — six days shy of his 100th birthday — at his home in Chicago. [The obituary.]( —"We will fondly remember him for his generosity, creative spirit and fantastic story telling." Richard Franklin, better known for his portrayal of Captain Mike Yates during Jon Pertwee’s run of Doctor Who, has died. He was 87. He would go on to appear in The Doctors, Little Women miniseries, and The Borgias in one-off appearances, alongside more recent film appearances, including in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. [The obituary.]( In other news... —Bridgerton [teases S3 with Christmas Day photo drop]( —Netflix releases [first trailer for Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver]( —Netflix [drops teaser for Dave Chappelle New Year’s Eve special]( —Netflix’s [Captains of the World trailer relives thrills and heartbreak of 2022 World Cup]( —Todd Phillips [releases new Joker: Folie à Deux photos]( ​​​What else we're reading... —With the release of Poor Things, Passages and All of Us Strangers, Adrian Horton writes that it's been a good year for sex on screen [[Guardian]( —Newley Purnell and Rachel Liang report on China-backed short video app ReelShort, which is hoping to succeed where Quibi failed by pushing steamy romances and vampire content [[WSJ]( —Lionel Laurent does a deep dive on Spotify's tumultuous 2023, and considers whether, after 15 years, the company is finally ready to produce consistent profits [[Bloomberg]( —Steven Kurutz pays tribute to Willie Nelson’s sense of style, including his signature bandannas and braids [[NYT]( —Emily Zemler goes inside the real Baroque English manor that is the setting of Emerald Fennell’s much-talked about Saltburn [[Architectural Digest]( Today... ...in 2002, Rob Marshall’s musical Chicago debuted in theaters on its way to award season glory. The film, starring Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones, claimed six Oscars at the 75th Academy Awards, including best picture. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Timothée Chalamet (28), Olivia Cooke (30), John Amos (84), Gaspar Noé (60), [Siobhán McSweeney]( (44), Jay Ellis (42), Emilie de Ravin (42), Hera Hilmar (35), Masi Oka (49), Chloe Bridges (32), Maryam d'Abo (63), Aaron Stanford (47), Elizabeth Rodriguez (43), Eva LaRue (57), Lisa Jakub (45), Barbara Crampton (65), Thomas Wilson Brown (51), Lily Cole (36), Charles Band (72), Theresa Randle (59), Jessica Harmon (38), Mark Humphrey (63), Ian Gomez (59), Joe Mantello (61) Casey Kramer, an actress and the oldest daughter of late producer-director Stanley Kramer, died on Christmas Eve of natural causes at her home in Chicago, her sister Kat Kramer announced. She was 67. [The obituary.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} by The Hollywood Reporter. 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