If you are anything like me, you woke up this morning to find your Facebook feed dominated by people wishing you a “Happy Star Wars Day.” As loyal readers know, I do not give a hoot about Star Wars (still haven’t seen The Force Awakens) but I do appreciate the celebration of pop culture in any form. So though I can barely tell a C-3PO from and R2-D2 , May the fourth be with you. Go blow up a Death Star to commemorate.
It’s also Wednesday, which means that in addition to getting your Wookiee on today, it’s also pop culture roundup day. What a glorious time to be alive! As always, I’ve searched the Internet to gather for you the best that world of pop culture has had to offer in the last seven days. There’s a little bit of something for everyone here, so kick back, relax and get yourself caught up on all the happenings in pop culture.
- Mads Mikkelsen is the latest actor who doesn’t care about spoilers (Rouge One).
- Some Star Wars–related sales, deals, and freebies.
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens told in emoji:
- Chewbacca now has a beetle named after him.
- The good people at LEGO built the “world’s largest” Millennium Falcon.
- This will be purchases ASAP – the oral history of The Wire will be a book.
- Here are your 2016 Tony Award nominations. Hamilton leads the pack with a record-setting 16 noms.
- Jason Clarke will play Ted Kennedy in Chappaquiddick.
- Alicia Vikander will be the new Lara Croft.
- Prince’s brother-in-law sheds some light on the singer’s final days.
- Prince’s jacket from Purple Rain is hitting the auction block.
- Prince – Broadway fan?
- Prince once secretly saved a Harlem ballet school that was in need of funding.
- Sinead O’Connor blames Arsenio Hall for Prince’s death.
- A North Dakota farmer paid tribute to Prince with his corn field.
- Here’s the 10 best musical moments from Bob’s Burgers.
- Hillary Clinton and Amy Poehler discuss a Leslie Knope presidency:
- Robert Downey Jr. reverses course and is now interested in Iron Man 4.
- Goyle from the Harry Potter movies is a MMA fighter.
- The Flash has lost its director.
- John Krasinski will play Jack Ryan for Amazon.
- Elisabeth Moss will play the lead in Hulu’s adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale.
- Netflix has ordered a stand-alone series about The Punisher.
- Bill Simmons’ HBO show will premiere June 22.
- Jon Stewart plans to make web videos and documentaries for HBO.
- Stewart and Letterman are teaming up to entertain the troops.
- Hulu has renewed The Mindy Project for a 5th season.
- Now that the show has surpassed the books, you can now bet on Game of Thrones outcomes.
- Netflix is making a Watership Down series starring John Boyega and Nicholas Hoult.
- Always keeping us guessing, Beyoncé dedicated “Halo” to Jay Z at the kickoff of her Formation World Tour.
- Also based on this selfie, Rita Ora is not “Becky with the good hair.”
- Jay Z and Blue Ivy were dancing backstage at Beyoncé’s concert:
- HBO plans to submit Lemonade for Emmy consideration.
- The Rock debuted his new app, The Rock Clock.
- Julian Fellowes’ new show, Doctor Thorne, heads to Amazon.
- I am so sad I wasn’t a part of this – Pearl Jam played Ten in its entirety at their Philly show.
- Sylvester Stallone has been cast in the TV series Omertà, based on the Mario Puzo book.
- Amy Schumer hooked her dad up with a FaceTime session with Goldie Hawn.
- Good work if you can get it – Julia Roberts was paid $3 million for her 4 days of work on Mother’s Day.
- The Peanuts gang is coming back to television.
- New music from Radiohead. And Alicia Keys.
- The Dark Tower movie cast Vikings actress Kathryn Winnick.
- Hulu streaming may soon include live broadcast and cable channels.
- Ilana Glazer, Kate McKinnon and Jillian Bell join Scarlett Johansson’s bachelorette party comedy.
- There are now two Whitney Houston documentaries in the works.
- Justin Timberlake is apparently aware of the “It’s gonna be May” meme:
- Hamilton has even inspired a beer.
- Dr. Drew is ending Loveline after 30 years.
- HBO’s The Leftovers is headed to Australia.
- Netflix plans to make Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later.
- Daisy Ridley will star in a Holocaust drama.
- Oprah will star in HBO’s adaptation of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
- The Space Jam sequel with LeBron James is happening. Justin Lin to direct.
- Fox is officially going forward with the 24 reboot and a new series from Lee Daniels (creator of Empire).
- Netflix orders a second season of The Ranch.
- Gwen Stafani will do a little carpool karaoke with James Corden.
- Will Ferrell was briefly attached to play Ronald Reagan in a film, but has since backed out.
- ABC is bringing back Match Game. Alec Baldwin will host.
- This intrigues me: Michael Pena and Uzo Aduba are in talks for My Little Pony.
- The Jim Henson Company (yay!) and Jamie Foxx (meh!) may be teaming up for an R-rated puppet movie.
- Sarah Paulson joins the terribly-named J.D. Salinger movie.
- Stephen Merchant has joined the cast of Wolverine 3.
- Melissa McCarthy is happy to be part of the Gilmore Girls revival.
- McCarthy wasn’t a huge fan of the Ghostbusters trailer either.
- Top Gear is getting an after-show.
- Paste attempts to rank all of the SNL digital shorts.
Time for some trailers….
- The Ring vs. The Grudge (a real movie!):
- Captain America: Civil War (now with more Spider-Man):
- The Nice Guys gets a retro trailer:
- Snowden:
- Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie:
- Tulip Fever:
- The Duel:
- Southside with You:
- Florence Foster Jenkins:
- Bad Moms:
- Here Alone:
- Captain Fantastic:
- The Disney Channel’s Adventures in Babysitting:
- Anthony Bourdain is going out on tour this fall.
- SNL’s Taran Killam will direct Arnold Schwarzenegger in an action-comedy.
- Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally among the new cast additions to Infinity Baby.
- Living next door to the Full House house sounds kind of miserable.
- Universal Studios is bringing The Exorcist to its “Halloween Horror Nights” event.
- The creator of Mr. Robot is making a movie.
- Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Roger Waters are doing a “dad rock” festival.
- Why former contestants on The Biggest Loser struggle to stay thin.
- Bruce Springsteen dabbed with a young fan at a recent concert.
- Blink-182 released their first new song since the departure of Tom DeLonge.
- Here’s a complete list of winners of the Daytime Emmy Awards.
- J.K. Rowling apologized for killing a character during the Battle of Hogwarts.
- This lady painted the first page of Harry Potter on her wall because Harry Potter fans are a little nutty:
- Checking in on the many locales featured on Archer.
- Garbage is going out on tour. So is Wilco.
- A third season of Peaky Blinders just got a U.S. release date on Netflix.
- Amber Rose is getting a VH1 talk show.
- Note for those looking for a birthday present for me – Kanye is going out on tour in September.
- Check out the looks from The Met Gala.
- Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston busted a move at the Gala:
- Speaking of Swift, she does seem to be morphing into a character from Gossip Girl.
- An animated modern day Blues Brothers is in development.
- This tortoise has its own Jurassic Park-themed enclosure.
- Get ready parents – the Frozen musical will have over 20 songs.
- The Internet has decided that it wants Elsa to have a girlfriend in Frozen 2.
- Kristen Stewart and Gabourey Sidibe will make their directorial debuts with Refinery29 projects.
- A music executive reflects on being sexually harassed by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
- A belated Administrative Professionals’ Day from Ghostbusters:
- TBS orders late night pilot from Rob Riggle.
- Anthony Mackie will play Johnnie Cochran in a drama about police brutality.
- Ronda Rousey has inked a deal with Lifetime.
- Seth Rogen describes what life was like for him after The Interview was released.
- The oral history of Rent.
- Drew Barrymore will narrate a NBC reality dating show.
- Jack Huston and Emilia Clarke will co-star in an upcoming thriller.
- Puppet Master is getting a reboot.
- Jonah Hill’s mom is possibly on Tinder.
- Paul F. Tompkins says that Fusion has cancelled No, You Shut Up!
- There was a mini-Friends reunion in London:
- After star Dylan O’Brien’s on-set accident, production has been shut down on The Maze Runner: The Death Cure.
- Jenna Dewan Tatum gave her husband Channing a horse for his birthday (not a euphemism).
- Diddy is retiring from the rapping game.
- Esquire has some fun mocking photos of Justin Bieber’s father’s engagement party.
- Tragically, Woody Harrelson’s application for a marijuana dispensary has been denied.
- The Jinx’s Robert Durst has accepted a plea deal for possession of a firearm.
- Kerry Washington and husband Nnamdi Asomugha are reportedly expecting their second child.
- Chelsea Peretti and Jordan Peele eloped. Their only wedding guest was their dog.
- Kelly Clarkson shares a photo of her newborn son:
- Kate Upton and Jason Verlander are engaged.
- Afeni Shakur, activist and mother of Tupac, has passed away at 69.
- Patton Oswalt paid tribute to his wife, who died suddenly in April, with an essay in Time.
As always, we end with the mashups and supercuts….
- Toy Story reimagined as a thriller:
- The Dixie Chicks covered Beyonce’s “Daddy Lessons”:
- Here’s the Suicide Squad trailer recreated in Fallout 4:
- Disney animators drew some Game of Thrones fan art with cats as the characters:
- Cartoon characters as hipsters:
- Eddie Vedder and his daughter covered the Batman theme song:
- Here’s Dave Chappelle singing Radiohead:
- Disney characters sing Smashmouth:
- This supercuts shows the many times that The Simpsons has paid tribute to Citizen Kane:
- A vintage cover of “Are Your Gonna Be My Girl”:
- WWE 2K16 predicts the winner of Captain America: Civil War:
- Bernie Sanders as George Costanza:
- Jimmy Fallon and Paul Rudd recreated a Styx music video (that’s Rudd on lead vocals!):
- The Daily Show turned Donald Trump’s words into a rap:
- Seinfeld meets Rihanna:
- And finally, The Muppets do some Outkast:
