Each week, Benzinga compiles the latest entertainment news into a cohesive column for your consideration. Read on for the latest updates — both useful and irreverent.
- McConaughey’s Millions. Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey is ‘L-I-V-I-N’ while thousands of Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) employees are getting L-A-I-D-O-F-F. Billionaire CEO Marc Benioff paid the “Dazed and Confused” star millions to be a “pitchman” while Salesforce staff were shown the door. Investors were clearly empathetic as the stock popped by 16%.
- Deep Space, Deep Fake: When Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) rebooted “Star Wars” in 2015, it dropped the ball. There were no scenes reuniting the original rebels: Luke, Han and Leia. Disney brass now wants to rectify this cinema crime, despite the great Carrie Fisher no longer being with us. The solution? [sigh] Deep fake artificial intelligence. Justine Bateman has a sobering assessment of this troubling trend.
- Speaking Of Artificial Intelligence. Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is peddling a new memoir and those who have read it say it sounds like it was churned out using ChatGPT.
- Disney Vs. DeSantis. The GOP darling had Cinderella’s castle in his crosshairs ever since Disney spoke out against his homophobic policies. This past week, DeSantis essentially reclaimed Disney’s self-governing corporate district. “Today the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end… There’s a new sheriff in town,” DeSantis said at the bill signing. Woody, do something!
- Ash To Ashes. The adventures of Ash Ketchum, Pikachu‘s longtime trainer and Pokémon champion in both cartoons and Nintendo (OTC:NTDOY) video games, are coming to an end. Get ready for… Liko and Roy?
- How To Deal With Idiocy? “Cannabis,” Brian Cox says. The renowned thespian, who stars as Logan Roy in the Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD)’s HBO series “Succession,” discovered “the wonderful world of cannabis” later in life. “It makes politics easier to bear,” he says. “It’s a way to deal with idiocy.”
- Change of Tune. Vinyl records are officially outselling CDs, and mixtapes are just sitting there wondering, “WTF?” Meanwhile, Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) introduced its own artificial intelligence (them too?) dubbed “Personal DJ.” It’s only a matter of time until you say, “HAL, play Dave Matthews Band.” And it responds, “I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Next: Trump Accuses Fox News Of Promoting DeSantis ‘So Hard And So Much’
For last week’s column, click here.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Pixabay
