Olivia Newton-John dies at 73
Olivia Newton-John “passed away peacefully” in southern California surrounded by family and friends, according to a statement released on Tuesday 9 August.
She won multiple Grammy awards over a five-decade career and was best known for her role as Sandy in the film Grease.
On her social media accounts, husband John Easterling described Newton-John as “a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer”.
Barlow & Bear sued by Netflix
Grammy award winning duo, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, are being sued by a Netflix after performing a for-profit concert at the Kennedy Centre without a copyright agreement with Netflix. Netflix reportedly “turned a blind eye” to the duo’s online success with the Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, going so far as to promote them on social media. They allowed a charity performance to go ahead but reportedly warned Barlow & Bear that making profit off the musical would violate copyright. The duo then sold out Kennedy Centre last month, and were served soon after.
Cancellations abound
A number of cancellations have been announced in recent weeks. While it was once seen as one of their most popular shows, Amazon Prime has cancelled The Wilds. The show’s second season was criticised for introducing a new cast of characters, but was still thought to have performed well. It’s interesting to note that Amazon didn’t renew Panic last year due to it not performing as well as The Wilds, and is now cancelling The Wilds after the massive success seen by The Summer I Turned Pretty.
HBO Max has also cancelled a slew of upcoming releases, including its Batgirl movie. Batgirl’s cancellation is reportedly in part due to bad screen tests, but the the budget for the movie also reportedly swelled to over A$130m. Some have criticised the move as it was to star the first Latina Batgirl.
Selena Gomez producing a remake of 80s classic Working Girl
Hollywood is remaking ’80s classic movie Working Girl and Selena Gomez is reportedly in talks to produce. There has been no announcement as to whether she’ll be starring in the remake.
The original Working Girl was released in 1988 and followed an ambitious Staten Island secretary who takes over office operations while her boss is recovering from a broken leg.
This is yet another in the onslaught of remakes in recent years.
