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Box Office: 'Alien: Covenant' Narrowly Beats 'Guardians 2' With Sluggish $36M

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Box Office: 'Alien: Covenant' Narrowly Beats 'Guardians 2' With Sluggish $36M

7:40 AM PDT 5/21/2017 by Pamela McClintock

Elsewhere, ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul’ bombs, while YA film adaptation ‘Everything, Everything’ lures younger girls.

In a surprise turn, Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant came in behind expectations at the North American box office over the weekend with a $36 million debut from 3,760 theaters.

While that was enough to place No. 1 and beat Disney/Marvel holdover Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the race was much closer than it should have been. Guardians Vol. 2 earned $35.1 million from 4,347 cinemas in its third weekend, putting the superhero sequel’s domestic total at $301.8 million and global cume of $732.6 million.

Scott’s second installment in the Alien prequel franchise cost $97 million to make and opened 29 percent behind the first prequel, Prometheus, which debuted to $51.5 million domestically in August 2012.

Alien: Covenant is faring somewhat better overseas, where it has grossed $81.8 million to date for a worldwide tally of $117.8 million. It earned $30.3 million internationally in its sophomore outing (it debuted offshore a week early), but, as in the U.S., didn’t do much more than Guardians Vol. 2‘s $28 million.

Heading into the weekend, Alien: Covenant was tipped to gross $40 million to $45 million in North America. Friday returns also suggested the same, but the forecast changed on Saturday and the film, like so many other Hollywood titles in recent times, seemed to be struck by a case of franchise fatigue. The movie received solid reviews, although audiences gave it a more mediocre B CinemaScore.

Alien: Covenant features an ensemble cast led by Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston and Billy Crudup. This time out, the crew of the colony ship Covenant think they have discovered paradise, only to encounter hostile and dangerous alien forces.

Scott’s film skewed male (62 percent), while 60 percent of ticket buyers were between the ages of 18 and 34. 

Elsewhere, two smaller films targeting younger moviegoers opened to varying results: Warner Bros. and MGM’s YA romance drama Everything, Everything and Fox’s reboot Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul.

Everything, Everything debuted at No. 3 with $12 million from 2,801 locations. Based on Nicola Yoon’s best-selling 2015 novel about an 18-year-old girl who can’t leave her home because of a mysterious immune disorder, the $10 million film targeted tween and teen girls (82 percent of ticket buyers were female). Amandla Stenberg and Nick Robinson star in the pic, which came in on the higher end of expectations after snagging an A- CinemaScore.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, based on the popular kids’ book series, bombed with $7 million from 3,157 theaters, likely dashing any hope of reviving the film franchise. The pic, which earned a B CinemaScore, went after moviegoers between the ages of 6 and 12. It did half as much business as the last outing, 2012’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, while the first two films opened in the low $20 million range.

The Long Haul placed No. 5 behind fellow Fox film Snatched starring Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn. The R-rated comedy fell 61 percent in its second outing to $7.6 million from 3,511 theaters for a 10-day domestic total of $32.8 million.

That’s a better showing than Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow’s King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword, the first major bomb of summer 2017. The $175 million film fell 55 percent in its second weekend to $6.8 million from 3,702 theaters for a 10-day domestic cume of $27.2 millionand placed No. 7.

Overseas, King Arthur‘s blade also remains dull. The tentpole earned $27.7 million as it expanded into a total of 64 markets, including a U.K. debut of $3.3 million, for a foreign cume of $66.2 million and a worldwide tally of $93.4 million.

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Paris Jackson Continues to Be Fashion Industry Darling with New CFDA Fashion Awards Gig

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Paris Jackson Continues to Be Fashion Industry Darling with New CFDA Fashion Awards Gig

Frazer Harrison/Getty

They say when it comes to fashion, you’re in or you’re out — and Paris Jackson is definitely in. 

The 19-year-old daughter of the late Michael Jackson has quickly soared to be one of the most beloved young stars by the fashion industry — in the past year alone, she’s signed a modeling contract with IMG, sat front rows at Fashion Week, walked the red carpet during award season, collaborated with Jeremy Scott on her red carpet looks, scored the most-coveted invite of the year at the Met Gala and, reportedly, landed a major contract with Calvin Klein.

And she’s not slowing down.

Next up for the budding musician? A gig as a presenter at the CFDA Fashion Awards, the annual awards show for the fashion industry handed out by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, PeopleStyle has exclusively learned. She’ll be presenting the Accessory Designer of the Year Award at the June 5th ceremony, which will be hosted by Seth Meyers.

Jackson recently told Teen Vogue why she decided to step into the spotlight at all: “So many people right now are so focused on what kind of shoes this person has, the designer purse they carry, what car they drive, [or] whether they wear the same outfit more than once,” she said. “I want to use my platform for something other than that,” she notes. “I want to actually make a difference. So everything that I’m doing — the acting, the modeling — it’s all just to grow my platform so I can use my voice for things that matter.”

She’s not the only superstar to present at the annual ceremony: Fresh off her spin at the Cannes Film Festival, Nicole Kidman will present for Womenswear Designer of the Year, Armie Hammer will present for Menswear Designer of the Year and Kerry Washington will present the Swarovski Award for Emerging Talent. Calvin Klein’s Raf Simons, The Row’s Olsen sisters, Marc Jacobs and Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez are just a few of this year’s nominees.

Also, there will be another musician in the midst: New Jersey’s own Jon Bon Jovi will also be attending — and picking up the Swarovski Award for Positive Change.

Additionally, stylist Brad Goreski CFDA’s Facebook Live host which will be available at www.facebook.com/cfda/.  

See all of the presenters on cfda.com, and tune in to see more live from the June 5th ceremony when stylist Brad Goreski hosts a Facebook Live on the CFDA’s Facebook page.

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Jessica Simpson Reveals She Has an IUD and Won’t Be Having Any More Kids, Thank You Very Much

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Jessica Simpson Reveals She Has an IUD and Won’t Be Having Any More Kids, Thank You Very Much

Two is enough for Jessica Simpson.

The 36-year-old singer recently stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show for an interview that will air Monday, relieved to finally be chatting with the host without a baby in her belly as in previous visits.

“I’m not pregnant,” Simpson said, shutting down rumors that she and husband Eric Johnson were expecting a third bundle of joy. “We got an IUD, nothing’s gonna get in that uterus.”

DeGeneres quickly replied, “I’m not touching that.”

“I have two beautiful children, and I’m not having a third,” Simpson added as a photo of her with Johnson and daughter Maxwell Drew, 5, and son Ace Knute, 3½, popped up on the screen. “They’re too cute…you can’t top that.”

Kevin Mazur/Getty

The fashion mogul also spoke about her daughter’s recent mermaid-themed birthday bash, revealing that the women donning silicone tails had to be carried away if they needed to use that bathroom.

“They can’t pee on my children in the pool!” she explained.

Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.

Simpson also reflected on her relationship with Johnson, who she married in 2014, saying, “I don’t know if I’ve ever had a seven year relationship other than with a woman,” which she quickly clarified to mean her best friends.

Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.

She admitted that they have their different interests, but her husband can always be counted on for a back rub at the end of the day.

WATCH: Today’s Savannah Guthrie Was Very Superstitious About Her Pregnancy: “I Didn’t Want to Jinx It”

“Every night he does since I was pregnant, hands down, even if things aren’t going great and he’s still snoring, somehow he knows how to massage my back,” Simpson said.

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DC's Cyborg Movie Still On Course For 2020 Release, Star Says

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DC's Cyborg Movie Still On Course For 2020 Release, Star Says

There has been much recent uncertainty about DC’s upcoming roster of superhero movies. Only Aquaman has a confirmed release date after 2017–The Flash is currently looking for its third director, and there have been no updates at all about Cyborg. However, the latter’s star, Ray Fisher, has now confirmed that the movie is on course for a 2020 release.

The update comes via DCWorld, who reported from a recent Q&A with Fisher at the City of Heroes convention in the UK. They tweeted:

The 2020 date for Cyborgwas originally set three years ago, but there have been a variety of changes to the DC schedule since then. Justice League is now one film instead of two, while The Flash is currently without a director and has reportedly undergoing a complete rewrite.

In addition, the standalone Batman movie is expected in the next few years, as is Gotham City Sirens, which focuses on Harley Quinn and various female DC villains. In March it was reported that the studio were keen to put another movie into production this year, but it is unknown what this would be.

Fisher, meanwhile, will play Cyborg in Justice League, which is directed by Zack Snyder and hits theaters in November. Check out the latest trailer here.

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'Twin Peaks': What the Critics Are Saying

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'Twin Peaks': What the Critics Are Saying

3:23 AM PDT 5/22/2017 by Abid Rahman

David Lynch brought back his iconic series to Showtime and reviewers are finding it just as strange, funny and weird as the original.

After almost 26 years David Lynch’s Twin Peaks returned to TV Sunday. 

Showtime aired the 2-hour premiere of the hotly anticipated third season as viewers were once again acquainted with the likes of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper and the Palmer family and all the kooky goings-on in the fictional Washington town. 

Early reviews clustered towards the cautious, primarily as Showtime and Lynch didn’t make episodes available early to critics and embargoed reviews from those who had attended the L.A. premiere till after the first episode aired on Sunday in an attempt to hide plot details and ramp up anticipation. 

THR‘s Daniel Feinberg was one of those cautious in his praise based off the first 2-hour episode. Despite his prior worries whether Lynch could handle directing and writing duties on 18 hours of TV after taking a decade-long break from behind the camera, Feinberg felt that the Twin Peaks revival had maintained the spirit of the original show and was still “a sensation that engulfs you” and is “a journey you take.”

Feinberg added that Twin Peaks had all the weird, surreal moments you would expect but it all held together. “The thing that struck me most immediately about the premiere is how relatively cogent it was, with a clear emphasis on “relatively.” What premiered on Sunday was as accessibly scary, disturbing and audaciously funny as many of the best parts of the original Twin Peaks,” he added. 

CNN’s Brian Lowry was another not willing to proclaim that Twin Peaks  a hit based off of 2 hours, but he was confident that the quality was such that it would “pique any fan’s curiosity,” although “casual viewers probably need not apply.” Lowry referenced other current shows that veer towards the weird such as FX’s Legion and Starz’s American Gods but proclaimed that Twin Peaks was “how TV that dares to confuse is done.”

James Poniewozik of The New York Timesopened his review with the unsettling glass box that features in the first episode of Twin Peaks, suggesting the show “still has the ability to turn your TV into that box — a quietly menacing portal through which something horrifying or wondrous might burst at any moment.” Poniewozik was another in the wait-and-see group of reviewers but saw lots of promise and “enough unshakable imagery to promise a few months of unsettled Sunday nights’ sleep.”

The Guardian‘s Mark Lawson worried that “anyone coming fresh to the cult is likely to have been utterly bewildered. But they can take comfort that, by the end of the opening two episodes, both veterans and newbies will have been huddled together in Camp Bafflement.” Lawson said there was lot in there to satisfy die-hard fans and also keep people who appreciate visual and musical style but “that the uncommitted may feel The Arm twitching towards the off switch at Lynch’s storytelling style.”

Uproxx’ Alan Sepinwall was far more effusive in his praise describing the first episode as “the work of a director in full command of his talents and his desires.” Sepinwall admits he was a full Twin Peaks fanboy but said that first episode “The Return” “never felt like a brand cash-in — Lynch and Frost returning to their most famous creation for lack of other ideas — nor like a show that had no business existing outside its original time and space.”

Of the negative reviews, Time‘s Daniel D’Addario was the most vociferous, headlining his review by describing Twin Peaks as “strange but not in a good way.” D’Addario added that “the show, which derived its power from the aftermath of trauma in a small community, has chosen to tell a story that’s odder and bigger—so big, in fact, that it has so far choked off what made Twin Peaks work all along.”

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Top 10 UK Sales Chart: Injustice 2 Debuts At No.1, Farpoint Is Highest Charting VR Game Ever

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Top 10 UK Sales Chart: Injustice 2 Debuts At No.1, Farpoint Is Highest Charting VR Game Ever

Injustice 2 has finished top of the UK games chart in its debut week, beating off competition from Sony’s new VR shooter Farpoint, which comes in at No.2 for the week ending May 20. The result makes the Injustice sequel “the first beat-’em-up to reach No.1 since Mortal Kombat X,” according to sales monitor Chart-Track. Farpoint, meanwhile, is the highest-charting VR-required game ever in the UK.

Below that, Grand Theft Auto V slips one place to No.3, while Bethesda’s sci-fi action game Prey falls to No.4 (down from No.1 last week).

Another new entry, the 3DS-exclusive Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, manages a No.5 debut, while fellow newcomer The Surge opens at No.10.

Injustice and Farpoint’s success follows positive critical reception for both titles. We awarded Warner Bros.’ brawler a 9/10 in our Injustice 2 review–critic Peter Brown called it “a fighting game that can be enjoyed by new players and pros alike.”

Farpoint, meanwhile, offers “a taste of something new for PSVR,” according to our critic Justin Clark. Read more in our full Farpoint review, or check out the first 30 minutes of gameplay here.

You can read the full top 10 sales chart below, courtesy of sales monitor Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.

Injustice 2

Farpoint

Grand Theft Auto V

Prey

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

FIFA 17

Ghost Recon: Wildlands

Rocket League

The Surge

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PlayStation 4

Xbox One

PC

Nintendo Switch

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Trump to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, separately

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Trump to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, separately

Next stop on President Trump’s foreign trip: Israel.

The two-day visit there will include private meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a wreath-laying at the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem and a visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The stop in Israel comes after the president’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, and will be followed by a trip to the Vatican, where Trump will meet with the pope.

In Israel, Trump is to be the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall, which has pleased Israeli officials. But in preparations for the planned visit, a junior U.S. official commented to Israelis that the Jewish holy site is “not your territory. It’s part of the West Bank” — a remark that an Israeli official said was “received with shock.”

White House press secretary Sean Spicer sought to clarify the U.S. official’s comment, saying it does not reflect American policy and that “the Western Wall is obviously one of the holiest sites in the Jewish faith.”

In a briefing previewing the president’s trip, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster declined to discuss the thorny question of jurisdiction over the land where the Western Wall is located.

“That sounds like a policy decision,” McMaster said.

The president will not during his visit announce any move of the United States embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, according to a senior White House official who cautioned that it’s not the right time for such a pronouncement as the administration is focusing on brokering a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians.

Moving the embassy had been a campaign promise of Trump’s going back to the Republican primary campaign. As early as a March 2016 speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Trump vowed, “We will move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem.”

Most foreign nations’ embassies in Israel, including that of the U.S. since 1966, are in Tel Aviv. Any potential move of the embassy to Jerusalem would likely be viewed as provocative to leaders of the region’s Arab nations and to Palestinians, who claim that city as the capital of a future state.

President Trump also does not expect to convene a joint meeting with Abbas and Netanyahu on this trip although he hopes that will happen after another round of solo meetings with each of the leaders, the senior White House official said.

“We’re not here to force people to do things one way or the other with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the official said.

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How Florida Georgia Line’s ‘God, Your Mama, and Me’ Affected One Cancer-Stricken Woman

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How Florida Georgia Line’s ‘God, Your Mama, and Me’ Affected One Cancer-Stricken Woman

After Florida Georgia Line took the stage with the Backstreet Boys during April’s Academy of Country Music Awards for “God, Your Mama, and Me” and “Everybody” mashup, the performance became one of the most talked-about moments of the show.

But, perhaps the best reaction to the song may have come thousands of miles away.

While speaking exclusively to PEOPLE backstage at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas, the duo dished on a woman they recently met who has cancer — a woman who was particularly moved by the song.

Check out PEOPLE’s full 2017 Billboard Music Awards coverage.

“She was in the hospital and “God, Your Mama, and Me” came on. That day she started bawling and said, ‘Your music is human, it’s spiritual and when that song came on it helped me get through some things I was going through,’” Brian Kelley told PEOPLE. “That’s about as real as it gets.”

He added, “When someone has something like that to tell you, I think it’s very powerful and it’s important. That’s why we do what we do.”

FROM COINAGE: Here Are the 7 Most Expensive Music Videos of All Time

On Sunday, Kelley and bandmate Tyler Hubbard hauled in the award for top country song for H.O.L.Y., which they also performed withJohn Legend.

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Here’s What You Didn’t See at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards

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Here’s What You Didn’t See at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards

By now, everyone knows that Drake, Beyoncé and The Chainsmokersdominated the 2017 Billboard Music Awards, all of them taking home a substantial amount of hardware (Drake even set a record.) But what was happening in the audience inside the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas while cameras weren’t rolling? Here are a few things you didn’t see on TV:

You could argue that K-pop group BTS got fans the most excited. An estimated 1,000 people waited for the group to arrive at the Las Vegas airport on Friday. On Sunday, tween girls began lining up at the magenta carpet at 5 a.m. to see the group. They were greeted by 90-plus degree weather, and medics were needed to attend to several of them who suffered heat exhaustion. Before winning Top Social Artist, BTS member Rap Monster told PEOPLE of their rabid fans: “It’s so crazy and still so surprising. It’s not easy waiting for someone for hours. We’re so lucky to have fans like those.” During one commercial break — a full hour after the win — fans from the upper deck of the arena began chanting “BTS” without any prompting.

Billy Ray Cyrus was heard on the magenta carpet telling ET Canada that it was like an “early Father’s Day” on Sunday since Miley Cyrus was performing and his daughter Noah was in attendance. The Cyrus family sat stage left. Just as Miley took the stage, she waved at them and blew a kiss. During her performance, balloons dropped from the ceiling. There were fewer balloons bouncing around than anticipated, though. One of the three giant nets carrying balloons high above T-Mobile arena malfunctioned and failed to drop any.

Check out PEOPLE’s full 2017 Billboard Music Awards coverage.

Following her nine-minute performance to open the show, Nicki Minaj stood on the top of her platform blowing kisses to fans.

Many in Las Vegas got a sneak peek of Drake’s performance on Saturday night, when he sang “Gyalchester” at the famed Bellagio fountains. For his mini-show, the entertainer shut down the strip. His fiery performance was lighting up social media nearly 24 hours before it even technically happened. While he accepted his award for Top 200 Album, he told Ludacris he loved him even though they “haven’t always seen eye to eye.” Ludacris pointed at Drake and saluted him.

FROM COINAGE: 7 Most Expensive Music Videos

Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton cozied up and chatted during the first commercial break. Shelton later made Stefani feel extra special an hour later when he called himself the “luckiest guy in the room” because his lady love was with him while he picked up the award for Top Country Artist.

Perhaps a collaboration is in the works? During a few commercial breaks, the Chainsmokers were seen chatting with Florida Georgia Line. After The Chainsmokers won Top 100 Song, Tyler Hubbard was seen bowing down to them.

There wasn’t a camera phone not recording during Céline Dion‘s performance. As Lea Michele introduced Dion, the audience’s cell phones lit up as guests started recording. Michele stood on a nearby stage watching — a rarity, as most celebrities leave the stage immediately after introductions. Rather than leaving the awards after her stunning performance, Dion stayed to watch Cher’s two-song performance. Dion stood in the press room dancing and watching Cher on the TV with media photographers.

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'Twin Peaks': TV Review

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'Twin Peaks': TV Review

Through its first two hours, David Lynch’s new ‘Twin Peaks’ is unsettling, weird, funny and basically impossible to review.

Two things I was wrong about regarding Showtime’s revival of Twin Peaks, which premiered with two hours on Sunday (May 21) night before its Cannes Special Screening bow: First, when the show was announced and then when David Lynch briefly pulled out of the project, I was vocally skeptical that a man who had directed only four movies in the past 20 years (none in the last 10) was going to somehow turn around and direct 18 hours of television in a year; and second, as the premiere neared, I frequently joked that audiences expecting the David Lynch who broke television when ABC birthed Twin Peaks in 1990 were about to have their brains broken by a rude introduction to the David Lynch of Inland Empire.

Apparently Lynch really did direct and co-write the entirety of Showtime’s Twin Peaks experiment — the 18-episode run is being called a limited series — and although there may have been a long time between the project’s announcement and its premiere, it wasn’t any longer than the gap between the announcement and premiere of the vastly less ambitious J-Lo vehicle Shades of Blue.

And although the first two hours of Twin Peaks (two additional hours were made available OnDemand immediately afterwards, but I have yet to see them) jump between locations, times and dimensions (or whatever the heck is going on with the Black Lodge) with abandon, they don’t represent some audience-taxing chunk of confrontational art like Inland Empire. The thing that struck me most immediately about the premiere is how relatively cogent it was, with a clear emphasis on “relatively.” What premiered on Sunday was as accessibly scary, disturbing and audaciously funny as many of the best parts of the original Twin Peaks, and nowhere near as hallucinatory and subtextually distilled as the prequel film Fire Walk With Me.

That does not mean that I could tell you in any linear description what happened in the two hours. Lynch and Showtime decided not to make episodes available to critics early and embargoed those critics who attended the Los Angeles premiere event until after the first airing on Sunday to keep plot details hidden.

This will take the form of a normal review, rather than a recap, and won’t give away more than the general plot outline, but even within these parameters nothing I describe would “spoil” anything. Twin Peaks is a sensation that engulfs you and a journey you take, not a list of events that happen. It’s also a really strange show to attempt to review off of only two episodes. I generally bristle at the showrunners who claim their series is a 13- or 22-hour movie, but it’s obvious this Twin Peaks is going to be an 18-hour unit. There was no discernible separation between hours and if credits hadn’t rolled, the second hour could probably just as easily have flowed into the third. This isn’t episodic TV. It’s another thing.

With a proper spoiler warning, what are the basic details I can provide?

Well, Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) is in the Black Lodge, that red-draped room with the the zig-zag floors that reminds me of the Hitchcock/Dali collaboration in Spellbound. It’s there that Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) told Cooper that she’d see him in 25 years when Twin Peaks ended 25 years ago. I’m not going to tell you what Cooper is doing there or if it’s voluntary.

In the town of Twin Peaks, Hawk (Michael Horse) gets a call from the Log Lady (the late Catherine E. Coulson), which has him looking into the files from Agent Cooper’s time in town. “Something is missing and you have to find it,” is part of her log’s message to him. Eventually, the investigation may involve coffee and donuts, but so far it has not.

There’s a guy who looks like Agent Cooper, only as a leather-clad badass, going around causing trouble. He might have supernatural powers or appetites or he may just be strong.

In New York City there’s a guy whose name I don’t think is ever given and his job is watching an empty glass box in the concrete-walled loft of a towering high rise. He initially notes that his predecessor saw something in the box, but he has not.

Oh and in Buckhorn, South Dakota, a grotesque murder investigation quickly focuses on the local principal (excellent new addition Matthew Lillard), who professes innocence. As we know, in Twin Peaks, sometimes people do things they don’t want to do and don’t remember doing.

That’s all I would tell you about Lynch and Mark Frost’s narrative if this were a traditional review — and I don’t think it tells you much or spoils much.

An attempt to critique or unwrap Lynch’s thematics or symbolism would probably just be undone by the fourth or fifth episode, but a lot of it comes straight from the original series, so if you saw the shimmering pale horse as a harbinger of doom before, it probably still is. There are numbers referenced and I’m not going to try to unpack them; I legitimately don’t remember if they tie in with numbers given in the original series. References to animal savagery and the inherent savagery of human nature are everywhere, but nobody utters the word “garmonbozia” once. You’ve gotta make audiences wait.

Unlike Fire Walk With Me, which occasionally wallowed in nudity and mature language because Lynch was unshackled from network restrictions and because he was depicting the nightmarish descent of Laura Palmer’s last days, this Twin Peaks could nearly have passed ABC’s current standards, even the partially exposed butt. There’s at least one visceral scare and several moments that left me scrawling “Ew” in my notes, but it’s possible that the most unsettling part of the early episodes is the shocking alien beauty of Lynch and cinematographer Peter Deming’s depiction of the nocturnal lights of New York City and Las Vegas. Lynch has an ease and familiarity with the intimacy and smallness of Twin Peaks, causing even brief shots of urban space to take my breath away.

So much that happens in the first two hours of the new Twin Peaks is off-putting and alienating and it’s all exactly Lynchian enough to smooth over how much time is spent watching an unconventional show do a very conventional thing, namely mark the passage of time.

“Is it future… or is it past?” is a question asked by a well-known face in the Black Lodge, and we’re supposed to think it’s all deep and ominous, but it’s a pretty fundamental question raised by any TV or movie reboot.

Nothing in these first two hours is exactly like the Fuller House characters each walking down the staircase or strolling in the front door to 30 seconds of hooting and hollering, but it’s not entirely different either. At the LA premiere, the audience gave each returning character a round of applause and nearly every entrance is designed to evoke a similar reaction from audiences at home or on social media. And once the returning characters appear, clock how many of their initial lines of dialogue contain references to new job titles, to children either nascent or non-existent when we left them last, or direct callbacks to things they said or did in the returning series. Whether Lynch wants to mess with the lines between future and present and past, as he surely does, he’s not opposed to a little continuity.

The Fuller House brand of nostalgia is something along the lines of, “Look at how pretty and perky our characters are 15 years later and how precisely honed our comedic craft remains,” but Lynch’s brand of nostalgia is always more mixed up with a melancholic reflection on the past and loss. 25 years passing is a lot of time, and Lynch wants us to be shocked or moved when somebody has changed, whether it’s a new beard as a signifier for a character in a new line of work or weight packed onto a formerly gangly character as evidence of domesticity. There’s a reason so many of the original Twin Peaks cast members — so many of Lynch’s favorite movie performers, too — were actors with recognizable credits from years before. Lynch grooves on taking the familiar and sanding it down, eroding it, weathering it. Lynch also wants us to marvel when somebody hasn’t changed at all, as with Mädchen Amick’s Shelly. And he wants us to reflect on death, a mourning process that is organic whenever you return to the land of Laura Palmer, and which is unavoidable given how many cast members have passed since the original series and even since production began on the reboot.

Familiarity also brings humor. I can’t imagine audiences knowing how to respond to Richard Beymer and David Patrick Kelly as Benjamin and Jerry Horne if they haven’t watched previous episodes, but hearing their fraternal rhythms unchanged is funny. Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) gets at least one laugh from a line that’s a direct callback to the series, and others just because we know Lucy. Chuckles otherwise come from expected Lynchian disconnects, like the woman more concerned about her dinner party than her husband being charged with murder. I laughed a lot at these first two hours, a nice relief after Fire Walk With Me, which had too much misery on its mind to make room for mirth. I like my Lynch to include uncomfortable amusement.

TV is a quirkier place now than when Twin Peaks first premiered. Audiences are more accustomed to fits of surrealism and untrustworthy subjectivity in shows like Westworld or Mr. Robot or Fargo or The Leftovers. It would have been fair to wonder if Twin Peaks might look quaint in 2017. The most significant thing I can say by way of review when it comes to the start of Showtime’s new Twin Peaks isn’t really whether it’s good or bad, because I’m not there yet and the show’s past has taught me to be cautious. I also have a hard time reviewing things like performances, both because there are so many people who appear so fleetingly in these opening episodes and also because acting for David Lynch is such a peculiar thing, down to blinks and tilts of the head. The question, then, is whether Showtime’s Twin Peaks feels of a piece and whether it works. For the most part, so far it does.

Network: Showtime

Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Richard Beymer, Kimmy Robertson, Michael Horse, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Jason Leigh and hundreds more.

Creators: David Lynch and Mark Frost

Airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime. Premiered May 21.

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Legendary Fan! Céline Dion Sings Along Backstage to Cher’s ‘Believe’ at the Billboard Music Awards

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Legendary Fan! Céline Dion Sings Along Backstage to Cher’s ‘Believe’ at the Billboard Music Awards

Céline Dion wasn’t finished singing for the night following her angelic 2017 Billboard Music Awards performance.

After taking the stage to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her smash hit “My Heart Will Go On,” Dion stood before a screen backstage to watch Cher give an epic performance that included her classic hits “Believe” and “If I Could Turn Back Time.”

Looking mesmerized by the icon, who just celebrated her 71st birthday, Dion happily shimmied her body and mouthed along to the lyrics.

MOMENT: @celinedion singing along with @cher backstage at @BBMAs#bbma#cher#CelineDionpic.twitter.com/6ptcUOfUx4

— Frank Elaridi (@frankelaridi) May 22, 2017

Aside from Cher receiving the show’s annual ICON Award — an award that Dion accepted just last year — the performance marked the first time she has performed on an awards show in 15 years.

Check out PEOPLE’s full 2017 Billboard Music Awards coverage.

Ethan Miller/Getty

Both musical legends are currently helming their respective Las Vegas residency shows.

FROM COINAGE: 7 Most Expensive Music Videos

The 2017 Billboard Music Awards, hosted by Vanessa Hudgens and Ludacris, aired live on ABC.

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The Resident Evil Movie Series Is Getting A Reboot

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The Resident Evil Movie Series Is Getting A Reboot

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Although the latest Resident Evil live-action film was titled The Final Chapter, it won’t be the end of the series’ time in theaters.

Variety reports that Constantin Film (the company behind the current series) will reboot the franchise with another film, though the company hasn’t shared details regarding the film’s director, stars, or whether it would fit in with the rest of the series. Previous films were directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and starred Mila Jovovich, both of who were hyping up The Final Chapter as just that before its release.

This should not be confused with Resident Evil: Vendetta, which is part of the CG film series and more closely ties into timeline of the video games.

  Our Take I think few would argue the live-action films needed a break (to say the least) after one decent movie and a slew of okay-to-terrible ones. Considering the games are moving in a new direction, it makes sense for the films to follow suit.

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Billboard Music Awards 2017: Céline Dion Looked Like An Angel Singing ‘My Heart Will Go On’

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Billboard Music Awards 2017: Céline Dion Looked Like An Angel Singing ‘My Heart Will Go On’

Ethan Miller/Getty

Céline Dion brought the crowd to tears at the Billboard Music Awards Sunday night with a moving performance of her hit Titanic ballad “My Heart Will Go On.” And she fittingly channeled an angel for the performance in what might be one of her most spectacular stage outfits of all time.

Dion, a former recipient of the Billboard Music Awards ICON award, hit the stage to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her Titanic chart-topper in a plunging white gown featuring voluminous, pillowy appendages on each sleeve which were reminiscent of angel wings.

RELATED PHOTOS: Cher Did It First: 10 Ways the Pop Icon Proved She’s the Ultimate Fashion Trailblazer

Dion’s stylist Law Roach was so moved, he shared the below photo of his client and close friend on Instagram with a sentimental caption: “God sent me an angel…. Today is exactly one year from the day we first met. Happy Anniversary Celine.”

Even Vanessa Hudgens, who co-hosted the awards show with Ludacris and impersonated the legendary singer at the start of the show, broke down into tears onstage after seeing the seven time BBMA winner’s performance.

Check out PEOPLE’s full 2017 Billboard Music Awards coverage

FROM COINAGE: Here Are the 7 Most Expensive Music Videos of All Time

Twitter ignited up during the star’s show-stopping performance too. “Celine Dion’s performance just added a year to my life improved my credit score and erased my college debt,” one fan tweeted minutes after she hit the stage.

Celine Dion’s performance just added a year to my life improved my credit score and erased my college debt

— Nick Courtois (@nickcourtois) May 22, 2017

To this day, I still get the goosies when Celine Dion performs ‘My Heart Will Go On’

BOW DOWN TO THE QUEEEEN #BBMAS

— Lady Jam Snow (@jamaicanpattyy) May 22, 2017

Last year, Dion tearfully accepted the ICON award (which Cher is the recipient of this year) just four months after her husband René Angélil’s death.

This year, the singer performed alongside other artists and nominees like Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Nicki Minaj, Lorde, Drake, John Legend and others.

What did you think about Celine’s performance look? Sound off below!

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Céline Dion Celebrates 20th Anniversary of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ with Emotional Billboard Music Awards Performance

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Céline Dion Celebrates 20th Anniversary of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ with Emotional Billboard Music Awards Performance

It was the song that dominated the airways for well over a year, selling more than 15 million copies worldwide and taking home a slew of awards including the Oscar for Best Original Song and Grammy for record of the year.

And on Sunday, Céline Dion celebrated the 20th anniversary of her smash hit “My Heart Will Go On” — and the film from which it came, Titanic — with a performance of the tune at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards.

Decked in a white gown, the 49-year-old songstress took the stage Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, where she sang the emotional ballad in a giant chandelier as clips of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet from the film flashed on a screen behind her. Following her rendition of the song, the audience gave a standing ovation, and many in the crowd — including host Vanessa Hudgens — had tears in their eyes.

The performance was particularly poignant, as Dion lost her husband, René Angélil, to a years-long battle with throat cancer in January 2016.

It was a return to the Billboard Music Awards for Dion, who has won seven previous trophies at the show — including six in 1998 after “My Heart Will Go On” was released.

Last year, she wowed the crowd with a stunning rendition of Queen’s 1991 classic “The Show Must Go On” before bringing the audience to tears in her touching acceptance speech for the evening’s Icon Award — both of which were dedicated to Angélil.

Check out PEOPLE’s full 2017 Billboard Music Awards coverage.

Last August, Dion also sang “My Heart Will Go On” in honor of Angélil on the live finale of ABC’s Greatest Hits.

The song has remained Dion’s biggest success in her three-decade career — a stunning feat considering she previously said she didn’t want to record the song at first.

“This song means a lot to me, and it has played such a huge role in my career,” Dion said in a statement prior to Sunday’s ceremony. “I’m so grateful to the late James Horner, and to Will Jennings, for writing it and creating the opportunity for me to be part of Titanic — an amazing film whose legacy will continue for generations to come. It’s a great honor to have the opportunity to perform it at the Billboard Music Awards’ international stage, in celebration of the film’s 20th anniversary.”

RELATED VIDEO: Lea Michele Calls Céline Dion an ‘Incredible Inspiration’

Since its release, Dion has put out a number of albums — the most recent being 2016’s Encore Un Soir. Among her other international number-one hits include power ballads “The Power of Love,” “Because You Loved Me,” “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” and “I’m Your Angel.”

The mother of three also continues her popular concert residency at the Colosseum at Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace.

The 2017 Billboard Music Awards, hosted by Vanessa Hudgens and Ludacris, are airing live on ABC.

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New Walking Dead Game From Payday Dev Delayed Yet Again

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New Walking Dead Game From Payday Dev Delayed Yet Again

The new Walking Dead game from the makers of the Payday series is not coming out on time. Overkill Software has announced that its licensed game is now coming in the second half of 2018.

It’s been a long time coming for the game. Announced in 2014, the game was at one point scheduled to come out in 2016, before being delayed to 2017, and now again to 2018.

In a news release announcing the latest delay, Overkill said it needed more time to allow the team to “expand on its original vision for the game and realize the title’s full potential,” according to IGN. This echoes the reasoning behind the delay to 2017, with Overkill at the time saying it wanted to add “more content” to the game and create an Asian version to launch simultaneously with the western edition.

Little is known about Overkill’s Walking Dead game, but the developer previously talked about how it will deliver a “completely new co-op experience” to the Walking Dead universe that will explore new characters and storylines. The game is being made with the blessing of The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, who says he was certain from the first day he saw the project that it was the “co-op action game fans have been waiting for.” It is also the result of a new “long-term” partnership between Starbreeze and Kirkman’s Skybound Interactive company. This partnership will extend “into the next decade” and marks a new era for Starbreeze, the company said.

“It will be gameplay focused, ferocious, and bring chaos to the traditional industry model–from us developers straight to you,” Starbreeze CEO Bo Andersson Klint said about it back in 2014. He added that the game represents Starbreeze’s “biggest endeavor to date.”

505 Games, which is publishing Overkill’s new Walking Dead shooter, has high hopes for it as well. Raphael Galante, the CEO of 505’s parent company Digital Bros, previously said that it could duplicate or surpass the success of Payday 2. That game has sold more than 9 million copies, performing so well that it single-handedly pulled Starbreeze out of a 15-year loss in six months.

We’ll report back with more details on Overkill’s Walking Dead game as they’re made available.

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Could Joe Girardi, not Joe Maddon, have broken the Cubs' curse?

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Could Joe Girardi, not Joe Maddon, have broken the Cubs' curse?

4:18 PM ET

It was October 2013 and New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was prepared to let Joe Girardi go.

Not only was Cashman willing to allow Girardi to return home to the Chicago Cubs, he was prepared to help move Girardi into the manager’s office at Wrigley Field.

With Girardi’s Yankees contract set to expire after the 2013 season, Cashman told him, “If you want to go to the Cubs, let me know.”

Girardi grew up a Cubs fan. In the ’70s, he and his dad would drive the two hours from Peoria, Illinois, to attend Cubs games and watch Girardi’s favorite players, Ron Santo and Jose Cardenal. In the ’80s, he attended Northwestern, where he and his future wife, Kim, would sit in the bleachers for day games.

Girardi was drafted by the Cubs in 1986; he made his major league debut at Wrigley in 1989. He was picked for his only All-Star team — in 2000 — as a Cub. All of this added personal appeal to the already enticing idea of becoming the manager who finally broke the Cubs’ curse.

“I would have bid the price up. … I told him, ‘Let me know and I’ll help you get there.’ My interest was in keeping him. But if the end game is [Chicago], let me in, so I can privately prepare to replace you if I’m forced to do something like that. And you can get the most money you can get.”

Yankees GM Brian Cashman

The Cubs had lost 101 games in 2012, while the Yankees had won the American League East with 95 victories. But even at that point, Chicago looked as if it were going in the right direction because of its young talent.

What if Girardi had wanted to return to the Midwest? Cashman said he would have secretly begun his search for a new Yankees manager — while working undercover for Girardi.

“I would have bid the price up,” Cashman said. “He would’ve gotten the most if his destination was there. I told him, ‘Let me know and I’ll help you get there.’ My interest was in keeping him. But if the endgame is there, let me in, so I can privately prepare to replace you if I’m forced to do something like that. And you can get the most money you can get.”

Ultimately, Girardi’s bond with the Bronx won out.

“New York has been home to us,” Girardi said. “As a baseball player, you move around a lot. The Yankees have been great to me. They have been loyal to me and I have been loyal to them. This is home for us. We have made it our home. I wanted to stay.”

It could have been Joe Girardi, instead of Joe Maddon, leading the Cubs to their first World Series since 1908. Instead, during Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, Girardi was fighting sleep as a rain delay stopped play not long after the Indians’ Rajai Davis‘ home run off Aroldis Chapman.

Girardi was awake to witness a smiling Kris Bryant throw across the diamond to record the final out and clinch the Cubs’ title.

“I was happy for them,” Girardi said. “I think about all the people who have been waiting and waiting and waiting. My father waited and waited and never got to see it. I’m happy for the people who are Cubs fans because it is a long time coming.”

Joe Girardi grew up a Cubs fan and made his major league debut with the Cubs, but his bond with the Bronx has kept him in Yankees pinstripes. AP Photo/Mark Elias

Girardi felt the pain of all those losing seasons as a kid. Even when he made it to the majors on April 4, 1989, the painful childhood memories echoed in his head. On Opening Day, the Cubs played the Phillies, who were led by the fearsome Mike Schmidt.

Schmidt just owned the Cubs. In his career, he played 138 games at Wrigley, hitting .307, smashing 50 homers and driving in 124 runs. Girardi felt nearly each and every one of them.

When Schmidt walked to the plate to begin the second inning, Girardi, the Cubs’ catcher that day, could hardly believe it.

“I followed him the whole way,” Girardi said. “I couldn’t separate that I was on the same field as Mike Schmidt, or was I mad all the heartache he caused my family because he killed the Cubs — killed them. It was just really, really weird.”

Girardi said that when Schmidt walked to the batter’s box, Girardi didn’t just stay behind the plate. Instead, he walked right behind Schmidt, like he was getting in line after him.

“He was probably like, ‘What is this kid doing?’” Girardi said. “I was in complete awe. The numbers that he had put up, just thinking about [how] I’d seen him hit so many home runs against the Cubs, it was unbelievable.”

Schmidt hit another of his home runs against the Cubs, in the eighth inning off Calvin Schiraldi. Girardi went 2-for-3, though, and the Cubs won 5-4.

Girardi hung around for four seasons in Chicago before being picked by the Colorado Rockies in the 1992 expansion draft. In 1995, he was traded to the Yankees for Mike DeJean. After winning three rings with the Yankees and forging an important relationship with Cashman, Girardi returned to Chicago as a free agent after the 1999 season. In his first year back with the Cubs, he made his only All-Star team.

More than a decade later, Girardi had the chance to go back again to try to win one for the Cubs. He passed, but he’s very satisfied with his choice.

“Any manager would like to win,” Girardi said. “They hadn’t won it in so long. I love where I’m at. I love what we are doing. I love the talent in our organization.”

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The MTV Golden Popcorn Was Too Heavy For This Little This Is Us Star

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The MTV Golden Popcorn Was Too Heavy For This Little This Is Us Star

This Is Us star Lonnie Chavis stole our hearts at the 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards when he accepted the Tearjerker award alongside his TV dad, Milo Ventimiglia.

But the coveted Golden Popcorn was too heavy for Chavis, who plays the younger version of Randall (Sterling K. Brown) on the NBC drama. “I can’t keep faking that this is not heavy,” Chavis said, handing the award to Ventimiglia.

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Chavis and Ventimiglia won the award for their sentimental father-son scene in the show’s episode “The Trip.” The moment in question featured Ventimiglia’s character Jack doing push-ups in karate class with little Randall on his back. “That moment in particular I feel like is so indicative of this beautiful moment of this father stepping up and participating in his son’s life and showing him that he’s always going to have his son’s back,” their costar Mandy Moore told MTV News on the Atlanta set of The Darkest Minds. “It was hard to not cry while we were shooting it.”

It’s honestly hard not to cry looking at photos of Chavis holding the Golden Popcorn.

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