This week, a beloved classic gets a surprising sequel, a beloved rap duo makes a possible comeback, a troubled production departs from Broadway and much more.
OutKast might return to the in-crowd.
For the umpteenth time in the past few years, rumors are swirling that Andre 3000 and Big Boi will reunite as OutKast onstage at the 2014 Coachella music festival next April. This performance, if the “multiple sources” in the Billboard article are telling the truth, will be the duo’s first appearance onstage together since 2007. Neither member of the duo has been out of the public eye in recent years – Andre 3000 has contributed guest appearances on rap songs by Drake and Lil Wayne, and Big Boi has released two acclaimed solo albums. The duo also appeared together on Frank Ocean’s “Pink Matter,” but both artists clarified that this song did not foretell an OutKast reunion. Perhaps they’re about to eat their words.
“It’s a Wonderful Life” again – maybe.
After 67 years as America’s quintessential holiday season movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” might go the route of every blockbuster in the last 10 years with a high-profile sequel to be released in 2015. The story would explore George Bailey’s post-Clarence fate, left unresolved at the end of the perennial classic. Original actors Karolyn Grimes (“Rio Grande”), Jimmy Hawkins (“Spinout”) and Carol Coombs (“The Mating Season”) are expected to reprise their roles after decades away from the big screen. Who will play George Bailey in this arguably unnecessary brand extension for one of the most beloved singular achievements in the history of film? The question might be moot, if Paramount has anything to say about it: a spokesperson said Wednesday that the studio will fight an unauthorized sequel.
Now that we know who met your mother, let’s flip the script.
Jazzed by the high ratings for the final season of CBS’ eight-season comedy behemoth “How I Met Your Mother,” the network has issued a series order for a new series from the show’s executive producers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. The revolutionary title? “How I Met Your Father.” Indeed, this show is billed as a thematic spinoff to the “Mother”-ship, reversing the show’s structure to a female-centric perspective without retaining the original’s characters or settings. Fans initially speculated that the show will introduce the new characters in the “Mother” series finale, but Bays and Thomas refuted that report. Does this move make financial sense? Yes. Creative sense? In dispute.
“Up Late” might be out.
Alec Baldwin’s public persona is at odds with onscreen persona yet again. He inspired a firestorm of controversy on Nov. 14 when he reportedly hurled two homophobic slurs at a pesky photographer outside his Manhattan apartment. Prominent media figures including Anderson Cooper rebelled against Baldwin’s latest aggressive outburst, and MSNBC took the decisive action of cancelling the next two episodes of his weekly Friday talk show “Up Late with Alec Baldwin.” In a subsequent op-ed on the Huffington Post, Baldwin said the show might be cancelled for good, even as he insisted that the reports of his bigotry have been vastly overstated.
“Spider-Man” is about to turn off the dark – and the lights.
The lights are going out: the infamously troubled Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” will ends its run at the Foxwoods Theatre in January 2014 after two full years of performances. Though the troubled, injury-riddled production was the laughingstock of the Broadway community for the years leading up to its debut, “Turn Off the Dark” ultimately had a respectable run and attracted praise for its impressive set design. The show will likely migrate to Las Vegas for its post-Broadway run, and the Foxwoods Theatre will be open to another production with blockbuster proportions. At long last, a Broadway success story.
