Movies
Janelle Monáe will explore the art of the con in the upcoming Universal Pictures adaptation of Tanya Smith’s 2024 memoir, Never Saw Me Coming: How I Outsmarted the FBI and the Entire Banking System – and Pocketed $40 Million. According to Variety, Monáe will star in the film and also produce through her Wonderland Pictures company.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Smith — who saw herself a modern-day Robin Hood after figuring out how to wipe out her relatives’ debt by manipulating the banking system — will be an executive producer on the movie. The gripping story is described as a heist thriller that provides a “powerful examination of systemic prejudice and economic inequality,” following Smith’s journey from mischievous teenage hacker to a master manipulator of the U.S. financial system.
Trending on Billboard
The book’s publisher, Hachette Book Group calls the story a riveting tale of an “unsuspecting woman who creates an ingeniously clever white-collar scheme that manipulates the Federal banking system out of millions — who eventually loses everything that is most important to her.”
The story follows Smith as she begins her life of deception as a teenager with an interest in technology, figuring out how to acquire the phone numbers of stars including Michael Jackson and other celebs, before moving on to stealing and depositing $5,000 into her grandmother’s bank account, and, by 18, confiscating $40 million dollars in cash, gold, diamonds and commodities from banks using hacked wire transfers.
“The FBI is hot on her tail and hauls her in for an interview, demanding Smith let them know who she’s working for, ‘as these are not the kind of crimes Black people are smart enough to commit,’” reads the book synopsis. “Their words, indicating that intelligence was determined by race, severely offended Smith. Up for the challenge, she proves the FBI wrong and over time steals $40 million dollars, while securing diamonds, gold bars, and other commodities. Her lifestyle attracts the wrong kind of people, even those who set out to kill her.”
The investigators hot on her trail, Smith is tagged as “one of the single biggest threats to the entire U.S. banking system,” earning her the longest prison sentence ever (13 years) for white-collar crimes, only to be released after mounting her own “brilliant defense.” Along the way, Smith escaped from prison two years into her sentence by disguising herself as a lawyer and gave birth to two children while incarcerated.
Monáe latest starring role will follow up on her well-received roles in the films Moonlight, Hidden Figures, Harriet, Antebellum and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
If you are on a hunt for more clues about The Weeknd‘s upcoming Hurry Up Tomorrow film, the first trailer for the Trey Edward Shults-directed thriller won’t provide much clarity. The two-minute first look at the movie inspired by the singer’s album of the same name dropped on Tuesday morning (Feb. 4) and unlike many contemporary trailers it leaves more questions unanswered.
The action opens with a vertigo-inducing helicopter shot of an upside down cityscape as co-star Jenna Ortega’s character Anima intones, “Death is nothing at all. It does not kill,” over a shot of the Weeknd submerged in a bathtub up to his eyes.
Then, things start to get a bit weird. As we get our first glimpse of Anima, her voice appears to merge with Abel’s as they say, “everything remains exactly how it was. Whatever we were to each other that we are still.” Keoghan’s character, Abel’s manager, Lee, then pops up with a weary look on his face as a ghostly voice announces (not for the last time in the tailer), “call me by the old familiar name.”
Trending on Billboard
According to EW, in an interview conducted before the trailer dropped, Shults said it was “absolutely” possible that the movie is the vehicle by which Tesfaye will lay his long-running artistic alter ego to rest. “I tried to make the movie in a way where, for his fans and people who want to approach it at that level, I hope it’s very satisfying and you get a good meal out of it,” Shults said. “And for people that aren’t his fans and don’t know anything about him or even care about the final capping of the Weeknd, I think you still have a great movie to go through.
Speaking to Variety last month, Tesfaye confirmed that he was planning to retire his enigmatic Weeknd persona following last month’s release of the Hurry Up Tomorrow album, the conclusion of a trilogy that began with 2020’s After Hours LP and continued on 2022’s Dawn FM. “It’s a headspace I’ve gotta get into that I just don’t have any more desire for,” he said of his stage name. “You have a persona, but then you have the competition of it all. It becomes this rat race: more accolades, more success, more shows, more albums, more awards and more No. 1s. It never ends until you end it.”
The movie follows insomniac Abel as he’s pulled into an “odyssey with a stranger [Anima] who begins to unravel the very core of his existence.” Fans will recognize the by-now-familiar gold leaf-decked hooded robe in the trailer that Tesfaye has been wearing in recent performances in a bit where the bleary-eyed singer is hoisted on a lift up to a stage at a packed arena.
As a techno track bubbles up, we see Keoghan’s Lee trying to hype up Abel — “stop self-doubting, you’re f–king invincible!” he says — whose performance appears to make Anima tear up in the audience. She assures the singer, “this is all very intense, but I’m not trying to hurt you,” adding, “I’m really sorry about this. I really am,” as she sits next to a seemingly dazed and confused Abel on a bed.
The finale 45 seconds are a headlong rush of hectic imagery, including Anima pouring gas in a home as if to torch it as Abel gets more and more freaked out by the chaos around him. In keeping with the album trilogy’s visual presentation of an often-battered, spun-out singer, Shults told EW that the film is about an artist “on the verge of a mental breakdown,” explaining that he meets a woman [Ortega] and they “go on this odyssey together. It’s a mix of psychological thriller and drama. I honestly feel like I’ve never seen a movie quite like it.”
Ortega added that she thinks her character is another version of the singer, “a side of him that the persona the Weeknd doesn’t show as much.” The Hurry Up Tomorrow film — co-written by Shults, Tesfaye and The Idol co-creator Reza Fahim — will premiere in theaters on May 16.
Watch the trailer below.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: YouTube / Briarcliff Entertainment
Jonathan Majors may no longer be King The Conqueror in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the man is looking to make a comeback after domestic assault charges derailed his promising career something crazy.
Hoping to get his film career (and reputation) back on track, Briarcliff Entertainment released the first trailer for Major’s first comeback film Magazine Dreams, which stars the embattled actor as bodybuilder Killian Maddox who dreams of becoming the next Mr. Olympia and being the face of the body building community. Seemingly set in the ’80s or ’90s, Maddox’s obsession with body perfection leads him down the dangerous road of steroids, which leads to roid rage, violence and possible suicidal tendencies.
Still, Maddox tries to ground himself and is even open to an interracial relationship with a white woman. That probably won’t end well though as the trailer features Maddox dealing with racism and racial profiling from police officers.
Magazine Dreams was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival back a few years ago and according to Variety, multiple studios wanted in on the film, but things went left once allegations of domestic abuse became public and it never came to be.
Variety reports:
While “Magazine Dreams” was met with buzz after its debut at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, sparking a bidding war that led the film to find a home at Searchlight Pictures for a reported mid-seven figures, the distributor dropped the film in January 2024 after Majors was accused of domestic violence against his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari.
Majors was arrested in March 2023 in Manhattan, which then led to him being charged with several counts of assault and aggravated harassment against Jabbari. After going to trial in New York, he was found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of harassment and assault. Jabbari also sued Majors for assault and defamation, but the suit was settled in November 2024.
They must feel that it’s safe now to place some bets on Jonathan Majors in 2025.
Check out the trailer to Magazine Dreams below, and let us know if you’ll be checking it out when it hits theaters on March 21 in the comments section.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Courtesy / Warner Bros. Pictures
It may be a few years before we get to visit Ryan Coogler’s Wakanda in the Marvel Cinematic Universe again, but we can’t wait to see what he’s got in store for us when it comes to the supernatural South during the Jim Crow-era in America.
On Tuesday (Jan. 28), Warner Bros. released their latest trailer for Coogler’s upcoming film Sinners, which stars Michael B. Jordan (twice) as he takes on the tole of twin brothers who venture home to the South only to find that racism has taken on a new and terrifying form. Yup, white racist vampires. Makes sense if you think about it but that’s neither here nor there.
Looking to live their best lives, the white vampires look to ruin the happiness and peace that the twin brothers are looking to establish in their home but find quite a resistance as the good people of the small town aren’t going to take to blood-sucking colonizers too lightly.
While we can only imagine the kind of undead snow bunnies these vampires will use to tempt the good men of this community (Dr. Umar would be safe under those circumstances), we can’t wait to see how Killmonger goes about protecting his people and their home. Best believe heads will roll.
Check out the trailer for Sinners below and let us know if you’ll be checking for it when it hits theaters on April 18.
The gripping story of 1960s/early 70s musical supernova Sylvester Stewart, better known as Sly Stone, will unfold in the upcoming musical doc Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius). The first, heady trailer for the eagerly anticipated film directed by Roots drummer Questlove dropped on Thursday night (Jan. 23) and it promises to unpack the unbelievable highs, and shocking lows of the once-in-a-generation talent behind Sly and the Family Stone.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The first look at the film that will begin streaming on Hulu on Feb. 13 hints at the too-much-too-soon supernova ride taken by Stone and his then-pioneering multi-racial band, who burst onto the scene in 1968 with their first hit, “Dance to the Music,” before becoming household names thanks to 1969 No. 1 hit “Everyday People.” The group that preached unity and brotherhood went on to score a number of other indelible Billboard Hot 100 top 10s, including “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” “Dance to the Music,” and No. 1 smashes “Family Affair” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again).”
Trending on Billboard
The two-minute trailer opens with Quest asking OutKast’s André 3000 if he believes in the concept of musical genius over footage of Stone in his musical heyday, owning the stage with his hyperkinetic moves, peacocking costumes, oversized shades and voluminous afro. A larger-than-life figure whose message of peace and unity was custom-built for the late 1960s age of Aquarius, Stone broke all the rules and inspired generations of Black (and white) musicians to come, as attested to by the film’s A-list line-up of talking heads.
Proof of that legacy comes with D’Angelo, Chaka Khan, George Clinton, Terry Lewis and Living Colour’s Vernon Reid attesting to the Family Stone’s massive popularity at the time over footage of the group rocking the stage.
“Sly created this unique space,” says Q-Tip, with P-Funk icon Clinton noting that at that time a group with a “mixed” line-up of men and women, white and Black, was a new thing. “They sounded like nothing else sounds,” says producer Jimmy Jam of the group’s uplifting, life-affirming mix of soul, pop, R&B, funk and gospel on records such as “I Want to Take You Higher” and “If Want Me to Stay” at a time when the country was riven by division over the Vietnam War.
The film mixes in archival footage of the enigmatic singer and new interviews with Nile Rodgers, P-Funk singer Ruth Copeland and music industry icon Clive Davis, as well as Family Stone members Larry Graham Jr., Jerry Martini and Greg Errico. In addition to introducing a new generation to Stone’s music, it also seeks to understand the pressure put on Black geniuses by society’s expectations, and how that spotlight can sometimes lead, as in Stone’s case, to destructive results. Or as Stone says, “at the time… it was almost too much all at once.”
The preview makes it clear that Quest will delve into the “anxiety, the pressure, the drug use,” the latter a nod to Stone’s long struggle with mental health issues and substance use, which led to cancelled concerts, arrests and the bitter dissolution of the band whose public calling card was unity.
“If you’ve been on this heightened, explosive life… your body has taken in so much energy and you’ve given out so much energy and you stop… where’s that energy go?,” wonders André 3000 about the rocket ride to the top and nearly as rapid descent into chaos experienced by Stone.
A description of the film that premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on Thursday night promises that it, “examines the life and legacy of Sly & The Family Stone, the groundbreaking band led by the charismatic and enigmatic Sly Stone… [capturing] the band’s rise, reign and subsequent fadeout while shedding light on the unseen burden that comes with success for Black artists in America.”
It is the follow-up to Quest’s Oscar-winning 2021 Summer of Soul doc about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival (aka “Black Woodstock”).
Watch the Sly Lives! trailer below.
A new documentary chronicling a crucial 18-month period in the lives of late Beatle John Lennon and wife/Plastic Ono Band co-leader Yoko Ono, One to One: John & Yoko, will be released exclusively in IMAX on April 11. The film directed by Kevin Macdonald will then make it’s streaming debut later this year on Max, according to Deadline.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
A description of the film says that it is a, “moving look at the couple’s life upon their entry into a transformative 1970’s New York, exploring their musical, personal, artistic, social, and political world. Set in 1972 against the backdrop of a turbulent era in American history.” The core of the film will focus on the couple’s One to One Concerts, a two-show charity event for children with special needs that took place at Madison Square Garden in August 1972, the only full-length performances by Lennon following the Beatles’ split two years earlier. The benefit shows also featured performances form Stevie Wonder, Sha Na Na and Roberta Flack, among others.
Trending on Billboard
The concert audio was remixed and produced by the couple’s only child, musician Sean Ono Lennon, who said in a statement that, “Kevin’s documentary brings completely fresh insight into my parents’ lives during their Bank Street and early New York years, showing first hand their unwavering dedication to promoting peace and non-violence during a turbulent era of unrest, corruption and unnecessary war.”
The film will also feature newly transferred and restored footage from that era alongside previously unseen and unheard items from the couple’s personal archives, including phone calls and home movies recorded and filmed by Lennon and Ono during the 18 months the couple lived in a cramped Greenwich Village apartment in the early 1970s.
A high-energy one-minute trailer for the doc set in 1972 features home movie footage of the couple on the Staten Island Ferry, hanging with Andy Warhol and visiting the Statue of Liberty, where they both famously gave a power fist salute to the quintessential symbol of freedom and opportunity. The montage is cued to their song “New York City,” a chronicle of their love affair with the city Lennon called home until his murder in December 1980.
“I wanted to make a film that surprises and delights even the most dedicated Lennon and Ono fans by focusing on one transformative period in their lives and telling the tale through their own words, images and music,” said director Macdonald (One Day, Touching the Void). “Built around the beautiful 16mm film footage of the only full-length concert John gave after leaving the Beatles, I hope the film will introduce the audience to a more intimate version of John & Yoko – while also reflecting their politically radical and experimental sides.”
The movie made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last year and will be featured this week at the Sundance Film Festival.
Check out the trailer for the One to One film below.
Jamie Foxx revealed that he was close to death during his 2023 medical emergency. On the red carpet at Sunday’s 2025 Golden Globe Awards, Foxx told Variety‘s Mark Malkin that the nurse who treated him in Atlanta dubbed him a “five-percenter,” in reference to the less than 5% of people who survive the kind of severe brain bleed and stroke that the actor suffered that year.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
For over a year Foxx, 57, did not reveal much about the medical incident that left him hospitalized, though he did finally open up about it in his Golden Globe nominated stand-up special, What Had Happened Was…, which was released in December. In it, Foxx got emotional at points, verging on tears describing the scary incident, noting that during the first two weeks of his treatment his doctors weren’t sure he would make it.
Trending on Billboard
In a testament to his joy in surviving the scare, Foxx told Malkin “this doesn’t matter,” in reference to the hoopla surrounding the glitzy, star-studded awards show. He illustrated that point by shouting out the nurse who told him he was a five-percenter, saying that when she saw who her patient was she “rolled her sleeves up” and got to work.
“I said, ‘thank you so much,’” he recalled.
“She said, ‘why are you thanking me? You’re not special,’” he said. “I roll my sleeves up for everybody that comes in here. And so when it hits like that and all of the red carpet and the tuxes and this, come on man. And she said, ‘All of [this treatment] will get you to that, but right now you’re a patient and I got to get you right.”
Foxx attended the Globes with his daughters, Anelise Foxx and Corinne Marie Foxx, who he praised for stepping up during a difficult time. “I say this all the time, when you dream about what you want to be, you don’t dream about tragedy,” he said, taking off his shades. “You dream the good things, you dream the greatest life in the world. But when tragedy happens, you need somebody there that really loves you.”
Corinne, in particular, took charge by initially informing the world about her dad’s “medical complication,” then giving an update several weeks later. She said at the time that the family had been “preparing for the worst,” only to tell fans that her dad was out of the hospital and recuperating (and playing Pickleball), while thanking them for their support.
Last July, Foxx opened up a bit about the medical emergency that landed him in the Atlanta hospital for a month while he was filming the Netflix movie Back in Action with Cameron Diaz, telling fans that he had no memory of the particulars. “Look, April 11 last year — bad headache. I asked my boy for an Advil,” Foxx said. “I was gone for 20 days. I don’t remember anything.”
Foxx told Malkin that he likes to say that Corinne “turned into Michael Corleone,” laughing that his daughter was not familiar with Al Pacino’s iconic turn as the head of a mob family in Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather trilogy. “I said, ‘you don’t understand. When Michael seen that his dad was in trouble, he stepped up.’ And she did, man. It was a lot of pressure on her, but she delivered.”
Watch Foxx talk about his medical scare below.
In December, Robbie Williams‘ film biopic Better Man (Paramount Pictures) was released in cinemas globally, telling the story of the British pop icon, albeit with Williams replaced by a CGI monkey.
The film covers Williams’ rise to fame as a teenager in pop band Take That, his decision to go solo in 1995, his various controversies and struggles with addiction, his recovery and time in the limelight. The film was directed and co-written by The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey and divided critics and fans for its use of the CGI character instead of a traditional actor.
Better Man includes a number of Williams’ greatest hits including “Angels,” “Rock DJ,” and “She’s The One.” A new composition, “Forbidden Road,” is also featured in the movie, and last year was nominated for the Golden Globes as well as being shortlisted for best original song at the 2025 Oscars (March 2).
Trending on Billboard
That song, however, was eventually removed from the shortlist last month on the grounds that it incorporated material from an existing song that was not written for the film in which it appears. Williams co-wrote the song with Freddy Wexler and Sacha Skarbek, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences deemed that it shared similarities to “I Got a Name,” a 1973 ballad written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox for the Jeff Bridges film The Last American Hero. (The late Jim Croce had a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with the song.) In a statement to its members about the removal of the track, The Academy said: “This is a decision that both honors our rules and protects the special nature of the Original Song and Score categories.”
The song remained a nominee for best original song at Sunday night’s (Jan. 5) 82nd Golden Globes, where Williams walked the red carpet. Speaking to Deadline, he responded to the disqualification of the song from the Oscars shortlist. Watch the full interview below.
“Listen, the rules is the rules and you have to go by them. It would have been nice, but also as an introvert, it’s another party I don’t have to go to,” he said. “I went through it, I’m on the other side. It’s all good.”
Williams’ song lost the award at the Golden Globes to “El Mal,” co-written by Clément Ducol, Camille, and Jacques Audiard for the film Emilia Pérez, which also scooped best motion picture, musical or comedy.
Later this year, Williams will embark on a massive European tour and recently told NME that he was working on a new album which featured contributions from Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi.
After years of keeping their relationship under the radar, Spider-Man costars Zendaya and Tom Holland are engaged. People magazine confirmed that the 28-year-old actors are preparing to tie the knot after Holland reportedly proposed at one of Zendaya’s family homes over the holidays; TMZ was first to report the news about the holiday proposal. Z […]
Selena Gomez didn’t go home with any hardware at Sunday night’s (Jan. 5) Golden Globe Awards, but the Only Murders in the Building co-star had absolutely no complaints about her big night out with fiancée producer Benny Blanco.
In addition to being nominated for a best supporting actress award for her role in the musical Emilia Pérez — with her co-star, Zoe Saldaña, taking home the prize — Gomez was also overcome with emotion when she had an unexpectedly sweet encounter with a fellow A-lister before the show. During a pre-show red carpet stroll, Gomez was shocked when House of Gucci star Salma Hayek interrupted her live spot with carpet co-host and Variety senior culture and events editor Mark Malkin, to give Sel, 32, a hug.
According to video posted by Variety, Hayek not only embraced the singer/actress, but insisted that Gomez take the mic and chat with Malkin as well. “No, no, no… I refuse,” Hayek said, swatting away Malkin’s hand as he tried to get her to hop up and do a dual interview with Gomez.
Gomez clearly appreciated the kind gesture, bowing down and giving Hayek a kiss on her hand as she fought off tears that threatened to muss her perfect makeup.
“That just made me cry! She’s who I’ve looked up to,” Gomez told Malkin. “It’s actually the sweetest thing ever,” Gomez told Malkin. “I love her. I looked up to her. My dad’s crush was her. Everything.”
In a different interview with Malkin at this weekend’s Variety 10 Directors to Watch & Creative Impact Awards, Gomez admitted that she’s super anxious about the idea of performing songs from Emilia Pérez at the 2025 Oscars. When Malkin asked her if she would be up for performing songs from the musical alongside Saldaña, Selena said she’d rather defer to the Avatar star.
“I hope that all goes on Zoe,” she said, noting that she has not performed live for quite a while. Then Malkin reminded Gomez that Saldaña recently said she wants both of them on stage on March 2 to do a “big homage to Mexico with both (Emilia Pérez) songs,” asking “will you do it?”
“I don’t know if I could, Gomez responded. “I’m not as… I’m not there, it’s just different.” The announcement of the 2025 Oscar nominations are less than two weeks away and assuming Emilia Pérez continues its winning ways — it also took home best motion picture – musical or comedy, best original song (“El Mal“) and best non-English language motion picture at the Globes — it’s likely it’s musical numbers will get nods; the songs nominated for the best original song Oscar are typically performed during the ceremony.