We’re now mere hours away from Met Monday, when only the most fashionable celebrities will climb the steps to the annual gala held at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. An invitation to the Met Gala is not easy to get — just look at how often rumors spread that the Kardashians can’t get in — but did you know that even after Anna Wintour puts your name on the list, a pretty pricey ticket is required?
Exclusivity is key when it comes to the Met Gala. After celebrities walk a red carpet that’s brimming with the biggest experts in celebrity fashion and broadcast on the 2025 TV schedule, they make their way into the museum for the annual fundraising event. So what’s the price one pays to find out what exactly happens during one of these soirees? Business Insider reports that individual tickets to the Met Gala cost $75,000, while tables cost $350,000.
LeBron James serving as an honorary chair. Wintour praised the styles A$AP Rocky and Rihanna, and looking back on the “Work” singer’s greatest Met Gala dresses, it’s pretty obvious why.
WILD MET GALA MOMENTS
Typically around 450 celebrities receive invitations, and rumors are flying around regarding allegedly leaked guest lists. Among the other famous faces we might expect to see include host committee members (per Vogue) like Janelle Monáe, Doechii, Ayo Edebiri, André 3000, Jeremy Pope, Angel Reese and Usher.
However, despite Blake Lively dropping jaws in a reversible dress back in 2022, don’t expect to see her and husband Ryan Reynolds climb the storied steps. The couple apparently declined the invitation even before their It Ends with Us legal issues began with Justin Baldoni.
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Snow White’s Rachel Zegler will also miss the Met Gala, but her absence won’t be because of controversy either. She had a work conflict, as she appears in Evita on the West End. Many fans are hoping to see Zendaya again, after she returned to the fashion-forward event in 2024.
It’s always fun to see the wild ways that celebrities interpret each year’s theme and dress code, and knowing how much money is spent on tickets and tables — not to mention the outfits — just makes me appreciate the exclusivity of it all even more.
The end is nigh for the first season of CBS’ Watson, and the stakes are as high as they’ve ever been for John and Co. in the 2025 TV schedule. While there’s plenty for fans to worry about with Moriarty coming face-to-face with Watson, there’s one thing nobody needs to stress over: whether the doctor/detective show will be cancelled like The Equalizer was just days before its own finale. When I spoke with showrunner Craig Sweeny and actor Peter Mark Kendall, they shared their thoughts on their show’s Season 2 renewal and why the finale case needs two parts.
The two-part Watson finale kicks off on Sunday, May 4 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS (and streams next day with a Paramount+ subscription) with the first episode, called “Your Life’s Work, Part 1.” Per the network’s logline, part of the team will fall ill after being targeted as part of a sinister plot, and I’d say that the first eleven episodes of the season are enough to guess that Moriarty is behind the plot. (Plus, that promo!)
The Equalizer, which is one of Watson‘s primetime partners on Sunday nights, there’s more to celebrate than ever with Morris Chestnut’s drama getting an early renewal. When I spoke with creator/showrunner Craig Sweeny, who came to Watson with experience in network TV renewals/cancellations after producing on shows like Medium and Elementary, weighed in:
It’s great! Unambiguously, just great. 10 out of 10. [laughs] No, complaints. As you say, I’m lucky to have been doing this for a minute now…. The 4400 went four seasons, and Medium went seven seasons, and Elementary went seven seasons. I wasn’t on all those shows for all the seasons, but I began just kind of assuming that, yeah, you do one season and then you make another one, and subsequent events have shown that that is not always the case. I just couldn’t be happier. I love this world, these characters. I feel really lucky to write the show. I’m just so excited we have a second season order.
The executive producer of course isn’t the only one at the show who has reason to celebrate the guarantee of another season, with Eve Harlow and Rochelle Aytes sharing their reactions to the good news earlier this season. When I spoke with Peter Mark Kendall, who plays double duty on Watson as twins Adam and Stephens Croft, he explained:
It’s such a strange thing making a show and then having a hiatus, especially when it’s a show that is so dear and so beloved by so many people that [you’re] just kind of hoping, praying that it happens, and then finally getting that news is such a relief. It’s such excitement, you know, and so many texts and phone calls would be like, ‘Aaaah! Guys, we get to do this again!’ So I think now it’s just excitement and kind of itching to get started again.
Based on the promo for the first part of the finale, one of the Croft twins doesn’t appear to be in the best shape, although it’s impossible to say which one. After all, Stephens’ glasses are usually the best giveaway, but nobody needs to wear spectacles when they’re seemingly unconscious in a hospital bed!
Watson doesn’t often delve into crises that affect the characters’ health personally, but it certainly looks like one (or both) of the Croft twins are in for a ride! And this time, it’ll be a ride that takes two hours of television. When I asked Craig Sweeny what about the case of “Your Life’s Work” needs a two-parter, he previewed:
Of all the two partners I’ve done, none demands two parts more than more than this one, I would say, because it’s a big case procedurally in that it pays off the storyline of what Moriarty has been doing with the clinic, and it pays it off in a scientifically accurate but also very scary way that feels like science fiction. It also brings all of the relationships that we’ve built up over the course of the season into high relief, and everybody feels tension, and some of them survive, some of the relationships survive, and some of them don’t. And it also has life or death stakes for a couple of the main characters. Really, everything is on the table for a massive two part spectacle.
All signs point toward Peter Mark Kendall having an eventful penultimate episode of Season 1 as both of his characters… unless the preview is pulling a fakeout about whether one of the twins is in danger! Kendall didn’t specifically spoil what fans can look forward to in either half of the two-parter, but he did have his own thoughts on why this case needs back-to-back episodes:
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I think it’s because, for the first time, part of our crew, our fellowship, we are also the patients as well as the doctors. And I think we get to see kind of vulnerability and heroism from people that we don’t normally get to see that from. I think TV is always the most fun when it’s life-or-death, especially for a hospital-slash-detective show. It kind of heightens the stakes and makes everything feel that much more exciting.
In case you doubt those stakes with the first half of the finale quickly approaching, check out the preview of not only one of the Croft twins looking rough, but Moriarty meeting Watson and Ingrid seemingly connecting the dots about Randall Park’s character:
Watson 1×12 Promo “Your Life’s Work, Part 1” (HD) Morris Chestnut detective series – YouTube
Watch On
Part 1 of Watson‘s Season 1 finale airs on Sunday, May 4 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS, between Tracker at 8 p.m. ET and the series finale of Queen Latifah’s The Equalizer at 10 p.m. ET. Part 2 of the finale airs on May 11 in the usual Watson time slot. All three shows are also available streaming on Paramount+.
A high-profile sequel just released amid the 2025 movie schedule, and I’m not talking about The Accountant 2. I’m referring to fellow Amazon MGM Studios production Another Simple Favor, which is now available to stream with a Prime Video subscription. The film has generated a lot of buzz thus far, with a number of viewers taking to social media to use “insane” and other words to describe it. Blake Lively – one of the film’s co-leads – is well aware of the reactions, and it seems she’s having a great time with them.
Paul Feig’s A Simple Favor is filled with its share of twists and turns and, when it hit theaters in 2018, many were taken by its wild nature. It probably shouldn’t be all that surprising that the recently released follow-up aims to up the ante on the madness. Fans seem to be enjoying the new flick’s wild nature as much as Blake Lively is loving the responses. In a series of photos posted to her Instagram stories, Lively shared reactions and gushed over them. Look at this post:
(Image credit: Instagram)
Based on the comments, it would seem that fans enjoy the various twists that the mystery film has to offer. What’s more, viewers seem to appreciate the copious amounts of “camp” that are on display. Check out another post shared by the aforementioned actress:
(Image credit: Instagram)
Another Simple Favor picks up five years after the events of the original film, with Anna Kendrick’s Stephanie Smothers having solidified herself as a vlogger and best-selling author. Her world is once again turned upside down, however, when Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) re-enters her life, and Stephane is enticed (and threatened) into serving as Emily’s Maid of Honor. From there, all hell breaks loose, and shenanigans ensue. The responses from viewers suggest that they’re shook:
(Image credit: Instagram)
To say that this sequel is over the top would be an understatement, and that was reflected in critics’ responses to it. After the film was screened at this year’s SXSW, a number of journalists called out its zaniness, with some referring to it as “utter nonsense.” Pundits have been mostly positive though, as Eric Eisenberg conveyed in his Another Simple Favor review for CinemaBlend, he didn’t care for how the mystery panned out. Regardless of reviews, it seems fans are content with the franchise as Blake Lively’s posts show:
(Image credit: Instagram)
One could argue that when it comes to a film like this, one has to be aware of the fact that the proceedings are going to get campy and twisty. Of course, said narrative swings may not always work, but many might still find pleasure in the craziness.
resolve that cliffhanger ending. Nothing has been announced, as of this writing, though Paul Feig has plans for a third movie, as he revealed to CinemaBlend during an exclusive interview. We’ll have to wait and see if that comes to fruition and, if the masses truly do hold the positive opinions held by those that Blake Lively quoted, that threequel may happen. For now, though, stream the movie on Prime Video.
It has been more than 40 years since Miami Vice arrived on the scene and introduced audiences to Don Johnson’s James Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas’ Ricard Tubbs, two of the coolest characters in TV history. The series, which Michael Mann previously remade as a gritty and stripped-down 2006 movie, is about to get the big-screen treatment once again with Top Gun: Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski, and I’m stoked to say the least.
Though I can’t wait to see what Kosinski, who is also working on the soon-to-be-released F1 starring Brad Pitt, has in store for the property, I have to admit I’m even more excited about what the adaptation’s screenwriter is bringing to the table. Yeah, I’m talking about Dan Gilroy, who made his directorial debut with the incredible psychological thriller, Nightcrawler. Let me explain…
(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)
Joseph Kosinski’s Work On Top Gun: Maverick Felt Like A Throwback And Reinvention, And I Think He Can Do The Same Here
Tom Cruise and mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer for the long-awaited sequel back in 2022. The movie, which felt like both a continuation of the Top Gun franchise but also something new and fresh, showed that the Tron: Legacy and Oblivion filmmaker could honor the past while also looking forward for a major franchise, and I think he can do the same thing with Miami Vice.
You don’t want something too gritty, while at the same time you want to avoid overcorrecting from the dark tone of the 2006 Michael Mann movie, which is going to be no easy task for Kosinski, the rest of the creative team, and the actors who are eventually hired to play two of the most iconic TV detectives of all time.
flashy title sequence and all of those wild guest cameos, the series also had a lot of substance to it (especially in that legendary pilot). So, the perfect amount of focus on those various elements that made the drama so great in the first place will be key in the remake.
Not to keep going back to Maverick, but the movie commonly referred to as the blockbuster that saved Hollywood’s ass, best captures Kosinski’s ability to find that balance between action and character development. Whether it was Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, Miles Teller’s Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, Glen Powell’s Jake “Hangman” Seresin, or smaller characters in the movie, I cared about them all, even when they weren’t pulling off dangerous maneuvers in intense dogfights. You can’t teach that!
best movies about Los Angeles with his intense and utterly terrifying Nightcrawler. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a freelance videographer who starts taking his job way too seriously with an ambitious yet sociopathic mindset, the movie delved into the darker side of the City of Angels and its local news industry. Unrelenting, fast-paced, and entertaining as all hell, this deeply unnerving crime thriller is in a league of its own.
I cannot wait to see how Gilroy’s Miami Vice script tackles the seedier side of South Florida, both in Miami proper and the surrounding areas. When the sun goes down and those neon lights come on, what does his version of Miami look like? What kind of nefarious characters hide in the shadows (and in plain view)? These are some of the questions I keep asking myself, and I can’t wait to see how Gilroy answers them.
THR has reported that Kosinski is working on a UFO movie for Apple after his F1 lands on the 2025 movie schedule, so we’ll have to wait and see. However, with these two major players behind the scenes, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a major rollout with some big A-list talent playing Crockett and Tubbs.
One of the big box office storylines coming into this weekend concerned a limited number of IMAX screens and a battle for space between Jake Schreier’s Thunderbolts* and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. With the latter doing so well on the big screen, it seemed a sincere shame that it was being pushed out of the large format in favor of the former. The situation has been somewhat mitigated in the last few days with the announcement that Sinners would be returning to IMAX in mid-May – but for the time being, the two films are actually sharing cinemas well at the box office.
Thunderbolts* has successfully extended the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s streak of number one hits, and but its success has not proven to be a “robbing Peter to pay Paul” situation, as Ryan Coogler’s vampire film only suffered a minimal drop in its weekend-to-weekend ticket sales. Check out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.
(Image credit: Marvel Studios)
Swipe to scroll horizontally
TITLE
WEEKEND GROSS
DOMESTIC GROSS
LW
THTRS
1. Thunderbolts**
$76,000,000
$76,000,000
N/A
4,330
2. Sinners
$33,000,000
$179,729,000
1
3,347
3.. A Minecraft Movie
$13,700,000
$398,209,000
4
3,571
4. The Accountant 2
$9,468,181
$41,151,000
3
3,610
5. Until Dawn
$3,800,000
$14,359,000
5
3,055
6. The Amateur
$1,800,000
$36,939,680
7
2,135
7. The King Of Kings
$1,658,234
$57,665,661
6
2,035
8. Warfare
$1,275,395
$1,275,395
8
1,315
9.The Legend Of Ochi
$341,951
$341,951
9
1,004
10. Snow White
$236,000
$86,123,346
16
310
Thunderbolts* Is The Second Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie In A Row With An Eight-Figure Opening Weekend
Captain America: Brave New World arrived during Valentine’s Day weekend in February, and things went poorly. The film received poor buzz prior to its release, and while it had a solid first weekend, it quickly fizzled in the following weeks, and with its run now over, it sits sixth from the bottom in the ranking of MCU movies at the worldwide box office.
Thunderbolts* has arrived to change the narrative, and it’s off to what I’ll call a mediocre start with modest potential.
According to The Numbers, the newest arrival from the superhero franchise made $76 million in its first three days – which ranks it in the canon between the opening earnings of Cate Shortland’s Black Widow in 2021 ($80.4 million) and Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man And The Wasp in the summer of 2018 ($75.4) million). It marks the first time since 2021 (the year when the industry was still bouncing back from the COVID-19 pandemic) that Marvel Studios has had two blockbusters in a row open with just eight-figure earnings, and it hadn’t happened prior to that since 2014.
In a broader 2025 context, it’s the third biggest opening weekend of the year – behind Captain America: Brave New World‘s $88.8 million and Jared Hess’ A Minecraft Movie, which made $162.8 million in its first three days. The Hollywood Reporter notes that it has matching reported budget to its MCU predecessor: $180 million.
(Image credit: Marvel Studios)
Looking beyond the numbers in the United States and Canada, Thunderbolts* has thus far made $86.1 million from foreign markets. This brings its global total to date to $162.1 million – which isn’t bad, but it has a lot of money to make still if it wants to balance the books.
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This would look pretty bad if the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe title was also on equal footing with Captain America: Brave New World where buzz is concerned, but it’s not, as there has been a much better response to the movie about a team of anti-heroes thrust together to save the day. Thunderbolts* got a warm reception from critics in the days leading up to its arrival in theaters (I gave it three-and-a-half stars in my CinemaBlend review), and audiences have demonstrated love via returning an “A-” grade via CinemaScore surveys. There may be some positive word of mouth cooking.
There is a lingering question, though, whether or not that will be enough. While Thunderbolts* may have some good buzz going, there is a larger statistical trend that has seen Marvel movies experience rough weekend-to-weekend drops following their debuts – partially explainable by the limited window between theatrical release are arrival on home video/for Disney+ subscribers. I can promise you now that its second week performance will be a significant focus of my box office column next Sunday.
After Its Magical Second Weekend, Sinners Once Again Has A Sub-30 Percent Drop
Staying on the subject of weekend-to-weekend drops, let’s talk about Sinners. The Michael B. Jordan-led crime/horror film pulled off box office magic seven days ago when it pulled off something unheard of in the spring/summer: posting just a five percent difference between its opening ticket sales and its second Friday-to-Sunday. In one light, it seemed like a make hay while the sun shines situation, given the oncoming competition from Thunderbolts* – but the reality its that the Ryan Coogler movie is doing just fine co-existing with the superhero blockbuster.
There was a thought that a key percentage of Sinners‘ key demographic would opt to check out the new MCU title this weekend, but now that the numbers are here, they show just a 33 percent dip for mixed genre feature. Two weekends after making $48 million in its debut, it’s added another $33 million to its domestic total – bringing its total in the region to date to $179.7 million. That is a remarkable thing to see for a wholly original movie in 21st century Hollywood, and it speaks to both the appeal of Ryan Coogler as a big screen storyteller and Michael B. Jordan as a superstar.
Outside the United States and Canada, Sinners isn’t performing quite as well, as it has only made $57 million in foreign markets, but that nonetheless puts its worldwide box office earnings at $236.7 million, which is good enough for fifth place globally in 2025 (it just jumped ahead of Marc Webb’s Snow White). It may not end up climbing too much higher in the rankings, as sitting in fourth place is Captain America: Brave New World and its $415 million total earnings, but fifth is amazing enough by itself.
What will happen seven days from now when the 2025 movie release schedule sees the arrival of Joe Carnahan’s new action film Shadow Force starring Kerry Washington and Omar Sy? Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday for the full breakdown.
When Ryan Seacrest was revealed to be Pat Sajak’s replacement as the host of Wheel of Fortune — one of the best game shows of all time — one thing that made Vanna White feel better about losing her colleague of 40-plus years was Seacrest’s repeated insistence that he wasn’t trying to change anything Sajak had spent decades establishing. But it turns out there is one thing that he would like to adjust, and it’s very on-brand for Seacrest.
As Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White continue to appear in syndication on the 2025 TV schedule, fans have mostly accepted the new host since he made his Wheel of Fortune debut. The co-hosts recently took WPXI Channel 11 behind the scenes of the game show, discussing the fast-paced operation that allows them to film six episodes a day, back-to-back. They shared that there’s typically a 15-minute break in between games, but that’s where Seacrest sees an opportunity for change. He joked:
