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SPORTS LIFE AUTOS HOLLYWOOD SAYS: TRAVEL DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY
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L awrence J ournal -W orld - USA TODAY SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2016
USA TODAY SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2016
Poppy (Anna Kendrick) bursts into song in Trolls.
LIFELINE
MOVIES
HOW WAS YOUR DAY? GOOD DAY EDDIE REDMAYNE The ‘Fantastic Beasts’ star and Oscar winner received a new accolade from Queen Elizabeth Friday at Windsor Castle. He was made the newest officer of the British Empire.
DREAMWORKS ANIMATION
Audiences seek sanctuary during troubled times
REDMAYNE BY GETTY IMAGES
GOOD DAY MILA AND ASHTON Kunis and Kutcher announced their second child, a boy, was born Wednesday. MAKING WAVES
BRIAN ACH, INVISION/AP
After a controversial Buzzfeed story questioning whether ‘Fixer Upper’ stars Chip and Joanna Gaines share the same opposition to same-sex marriage as the pastor at their Texas church, HGTV issued a statement Thursday in which it affirmed its commitment to inclusive programming: “We don’t discriminate against members of the LGBT community in any of our shows. HGTV is proud to have a crystal clear, consistent record of including people from all walks of life in its series.”
“People are coming to theaters, gravitating to the fantastical and the happy side.” Paul Dergarabedian, comScore
THEY SAID WHAT? THE STARS’ BEST QUOTES “Starting Jan. 20, Donald Trump can send unblockable mass text messages to the entire nation … The only person I would trust less with that technology is Anthony Weiner.” — ‘Late Show’ host Stephen Colbert on what the president-elect might do when given access to wireless emergency alerts intended to warn of impending disasters like tornadoes.
CBS
STYLE STAR Jennifer Lawrence popped in a polkadot bustier and matching tealength skirt at a Friday photocall in Berlin for her new film ‘Passengers.’ Compiled by Jayme Deerwester
GETTY IMAGES FOR SONY PICTURES
USA SNAPSHOTS©
High-strung holidays 65% of people are anxious about going home for the holidays. What they dread most:
36% Boredom 36% Family drama
22% Questions about
relationship status SOURCE SurveyMonkey survey for Mezi travel app TERRY BYRNE AND PAUL TRAP, USA TODAY
Bryan Alexander @BryAlexand USA TODAY
There’s a warm feeling emanating from Hollywood. It’s called happiness. And it’s racking up wins at the box office. Dwayne Johnson led Disney’s Moana to a resounding $81 million Thanksgiving box office win as the hilarious demigod Maui. Sick of Internet trolls? Hug-giving animated Trolls are holding strong ($136 million total). Keeping pace are fantastical escapes such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ($163 million). Meanwhile, cynical sequel Bad Santa 2 flopped with a $9 million opening. The angst-filled Edge of Seventeen, for all its great reviews, is floundering, earning just $11 million. Paul Dergarabedian, a media analyst for comScore, suspects audiences are seeking relief from a turbulent presidential election and aftermath. The sometimesstruggling 2016 box office made $900 million between Nov. 4 and Nov. 27, up 8% from the same period in 2015 ($832 million), according to comScore. “It’s difficult to quantify, but there really is something going on here. People are coming to theaters, gravitating to the fantastical and the happy side,” Dergarabedian says. “Movie theaters have always provided sanctuary during our hardest periods. The lights go down, you check out of realworld troubles.” Filmmakers are feeling it. Johnson recalls sneaking into prerelease screenings of Moana and watching the audience leave “floating,” he says. “Everything in the news is so scary, so down. The Internet is judgmental and negative,” says Trolls director Mike Mitchell. “I’m happy that people want a film that feels like a party.” This search for movie bliss will continue, says Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. “People don’t want real life, they want true escapism — now more than ever,” says Bock, who predicts films such as Office Christmas Party (in theaters on Dec. 9) and the animated singingcompetition comedy Sing (out Dec. 21) will benefit. The feeling looks to carry over to awards season. Pete Hammond, awards columnist for industry site Deadline.com, says his interactions with Academy Award voters show a “strong enthusiasm” for the uplifting side — which could
LIONSGATE
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling dance in La La Land. Kristen Bell, left, Mila Kunis and Kathryn Hahn star in Bad Moms. A sequel featuring dads is expected in 2017. MICHELE K. SHORT
hurt films such as the “bleak” Manchester by the Sea. But it looks to help inspirational films such as La La Land, featuring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone singing and dancing (Dec. 9). “People are shifting to the light side, and La La Land will benefit, with its look at Hollywood in a lighter time. People are responding the same way they did with The Artist,” Hammond says. “After a brutal election, voters want to be transported away from doom and gloom.” Adam Fogelson, chairman of
STX Entertainment Motion Picture Group, says these are conversations studio executives are having about greenlighting future film projects. “We’re all talking about the fact that in tumultuous times, happy, escapist fare — as long as it’s quality — is at a premium,” says Fogelson, who is developing a Bad Dads sequel to his Bad Moms comedy hit for summer 2017. “That feels like a good idea no matter what time. But the more high-quality, escapist fare we can have, the better.”
TELEVISION
Amazon’s ‘Grand Tour’ takes road back to England Jayme Deerwester @jaymedeerwester USA TODAY
When Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May landed at Amazon after their messy exits from BBC’s car-show juggernaut Top Gear in 2015, the trio had to strike a balance between reinventing the wheel and giving their fans what they paid to see: three goofy middle-aged men playing with cars. “We had to start from scratch and build a new show,” Hammond tells USA TODAY. “But it can’t be completely from scratch, because it’s us three doing what we do. And that’s who we are and what we’ll always be. It’s familiar. It’s us three, cars, attitude and antics.” The biggest change was taking the entire show on the road with a mobile, tented studio. “When we say The Grand Tour,” Clarkson says, “it really is. There’s probably no show on Earth apart from the news that’s more global.” Now, after jaunts to California, Jordan, South Africa and Portugal, they’ve come home to England for their new show’s third weekly episode (streaming now,
AMAZON
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have traded their old Surrey hangar for a traveling studio tent. free to Amazon Prime subscribers), specifically to Whitby, an old whaling town on Yorkshire’s eastern coast. And while it was good to be back on British soil, they had another reason for returning to the United Kingdom: Settling a bet made in the first episode. During a challenge involving hybrid supercars in the Nov. 18
premiere, Clarkson promised Hammond and May, “If the McLaren isn’t the fastest, you two can knock my house down.” An incredulous Hammond warned him, “You know we will do that.” Well, it turns out his car wasn’t the fastest, and by the looks of the bulldozer coming through his fence in a promo, it’s clear they
intend to hold him to it. Something else to look forward to in the episode: “You’re in for a surprise,” Clarkson says of the asyet-mysterious celebrity segment. “By the end of Week 3, you’ll know what’s going on.” After working together for more than a decade on one of the planet’s most popular shows (Top Gear aired in more than 200 territories), the trio copped to being fidgety as they waited for the Grand Tour reviews to come in. “You’ve got to be nervous,” Hammond says. “You’ve tried as best you can to make something, and then you put it out there for the world to see. You want people to like it. So we were all watching (social media reaction) from behind our sofas.” May, the most scientifically inclined of the three, was asked about a fan theory: the longer his hair, the better the season, a corollary established during the golden age of Top Gear (circa 2008-09), when he could have passed for the guitarist from Led Zeppelin. “You’re quite right,” May agrees. “I did look like Jimmy Page!” Clarkson moans, because May’s hair is shorter these days. “Oh no. We’re doomed!”