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Donald Trump’s inaugural committee raised a record amount of cash, collecting $239 million from corporations and wealthy sycophants, several of whom would become nominees for positions in the administration. The previous record was $107 million, which the committee raised for Trump’s 2017 inauguration.

The massive total is another sign of the degree to which the super wealthy are buying influence in the Trump administration — or at least of the degree to which they believe they can.

Several Trump appointees donated to the committee, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

Does Will Smith still dislike Chris Rock after the Oscars incident? ( Photo Credit – Wikimedia )

Will Smith reportedly still harbors deep resentment toward Chris Rock following the infamous Oscars slap.

A source revealed to In Touch that while Chris has recently faced some personal drama, including a heated exit from a holiday party in December 2024, Will is enjoying “every second of his misery while twisting the knife to no end.”

Chris Rock’s Controversial Incident at Holiday Party

Chris reportedly stormed off during his set at a party hosted by Pratt Industries’ Anthony Pratt after making a controversial joke about Mexicans – “Our new push will be outer space. We’ll put all the Mexicans on the rockets,” – which caused an upset in the audience.

Trending Razzie Awards 2025: Despite Earning $550M+, Mufasa: The Lion King Joins Madame Web For Worst Cinematic Honors – See The Full List Of Nominations A Complete Unknown...

Did Chris Rock storm off stage at a billionaire’s party? (Photo Credit – Prime Video)

Did Chris Rock really storm off stage after getting frustrated with the crowd? That’s the question swirling after the comedian abruptly cut his performance short at a billionaire’s party in New York City.

The 59-year-old star was performing at Australian tycoon Anthony Pratt’s lavish bash at the Mandarin Oriental when things took an unexpected turn.

Chris Rock’s Gig was Apparently Not Family Friendly

While some suggest Rock left in frustration over people recording his set, others point to the content of his routine as the cause.

Trending Dua Lipa Sparks Engagement Buzz With Dazzling Ring—Is She Set To Wed Callum Turner?

Why Does Adam McKay Think Wicked Might Get Banned In The Future? Director Reveals

According to Radar Online, sources revealed that the comedian’s material wasn’t kid-friendly, and...

Why Did Chris Rock Walk Off The Stage During Anthony Pratt’s Christmas Party? (Photo Credit – Netflix)

Chris Rock found himself in another uncomfortable situation over the weekend. According to Page Six, the renowned comedian abruptly walked off stage during his comedy set at billionaire Anthony Pratt’s Christmas party. His gig allegedly ended abruptly after he cracked a controversial joke: “Our new push will be outer space. We’ll put all the Mexicans on the rockets.”

Possible Reason Why Chris Rock Walked Off Stage

Chris Rock appeared to notice something during the set that the audience did not, which seemed to unsettle him, reports The New York Post’s Cindy Adams, who attended the event. The 59-year-old stated he wasn’t supposed to be filmed, recorded, or involved in anything prohibited. He then pushed his way through the crowd, heading straight for the exit without offering any explanation.

Adams...

Three years after Mal and Ben’s royal wedding, the Descendants franchise is back with a vengeance in Descendants: The Rise of Red, which introduces fans to a whole new class of singing, dancing Vk’s.

But how do Auradon Prep’s newest students really feel about carrying on the series’ legacy? Is it absolutely bonkers to have dolls made of themselves? And which iconic Disney villain could be Red’s mysterious father?

More from TVLineInside Descendants: The Rise of Red's Emotional Tribute to Cameron BoyceThe Acolyte Episode 7 Reveals What Really Happened to Mother Aniseya - Read Our RecapX-...

Recent interviews with billionaire Anthony Pratt exposed former President Donald Trump for asking his wife, Melania Trump, to parade around Mar-a-Lago in a bikini “so all the other guys could get a look.”

Pratt, owner of an international newspaper and packing company, developed a close personal relationship with the former president over the past few years. He purchased a Mar-a-Lago membership and was present during gatherings that are of interest to Special Counsel Jack Smith in his investigation of Trump.

Smith indicted Trump over the summer for the illegal retention of national security information and has also alleged that Trump shared this information with others who did not have proper clearance.

Prosecutors secretly recorded Pratt and captured him praising Trump as a president and friend.

“He knows exactly what to say and what not to say so that he avoids jail, but gets so close to it that it looks...

Nearly two weeks ago, media reported that Donald Trump reportedly revealed information about U.S. nuclear submarine capabilities to Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt. And on Sunday, 60 Minutes Australia played recordings of secret tapes where Pratt disclosed other non-public information Trump shared with him, including information about U.S. military operations in Iraq and Trump’s conversations with the presidents of Iraq and Ukraine.

According to Pratt, Trump shared a lot with him, such as information about U.S. bombings in Iraq before they were publicly reported. “I hadn’t even heard it,...

A member of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago beach club has reportedly told federal investigators that the former president blabbed to him about sensitive intelligence regarding U.S. nuclear submarine capabilities.

According to a report from ABC News, which spoke to sources familiar with the matter, the former president allegedly told Australian businessman Anthony Pratt exactly how many nuclear warheads U.S. submarines typically carry and described how close the watercraft could get to Russian enemy submarines before being detected. The conversation took place months after Trump had left office during...

The trailer for Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster has arrived. The 5-minutes of documentary footage covers a wide range of the Hollywood legend's long career, but begins with Frankenstein. Karloff is horror royalty after playing the role of Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 movie, along with Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein. He even played Imhotep in 1932's The Mummy. Karloff is also best-known as the voice of the Grinch in the animated television special of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster delves into Boris Karloff and his long career with commentary by a wide range of fans, friends, and family. Guillermo Del Toro, John Landis, Joe Dante, Christopher Plummer, Peter Bogdanovich, Ron Perlman, Leonard Maltin, Sir Christopher Frayling, Sara Karloff, Gregory Mank, Roger Corman, Stephanie Powers, Ian Ogilvy, Norman Jewison, Orson Bean, Kevin Brownlow, Carloline Munro, Stephen Jacobs,...

Where Were You in ’42? If you were little Johnnie Boorman in 1940, you might have been squatting in a dank bomb shelter with your Mum and sisters, waiting out an air raid alert. Writer-director Boorman’s personal memory is what for some kids was a glorious time when working-class Brits endured adverse conditions: it’s warm & fuzzy affectionate and frequently hilarious, with a keen eye toward slightly bawdy family humor.

Hope and Glory

Blu-ray

Olive Films

1987 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 113 min. / Street Date April 24, 2018 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.95

Starring: Sebastian Rice Edwards, Geraldine Muir, Sarah Miles, David Hayman, Sammi Davis, Derrick O’Connor, Susan Wooldridge, Jean-Marc Barr, Ian Bannen, Annie Leon, Jill Baker, Amelda Brown, Katrine Boorman.

Cinematography: Philippe Rousselot

Film Editor: Ian Crafford

Production design: Anthony Pratt

Original Music: Peter Martin

Written, Produced and Directed by John Boorman

John Boorman has directed arty war movies, arty gangster movies and arty art movies,...

Class-act director John Boorman continues to mix genre grit with European-flavored art cinema, and the result is another winner. Toshiro Mifune and Lee Marvin fight a miniature two-man war when they’re marooned together on the same tiny island. Boorman’s strong direction and Conrad Hall’s knockout cinematography insure a maximum visual impact; it’s great filmmaking all around.

Hell in the Pacific

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date June 27, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Lee Marvin, Toshiro Mifune

Cinematography: Conrad Hall

Art Direction: Anthony Pratt, Masao Yamazaki

Film Editor: Thomas Stanford

Original Music: Lalo Schifrin

Written by Alexander Jacobs, Eric Bercovici story by Reuben Bercovitch

Produced by Reuben Bercovitch, Henry G. Saperstein, Selig J. Seligman

Directed by John Boorman

Former TV director and producer John Boorman barely survived a first feature with the Dave Clark Five, imitating Richard Lester’s success with the Beatles.

BBC Worldwide North America announced today the acquisition of Queen And Country, the latest film by five-time Academy Award nominated director and writer John Boorman (Hope and Glory, Excalibur, The General, Deliverance), securing all rights in North America.

The film, which Boorman has announced will be his last, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2014 and was acquired after making its North American debut during Film Comment’s special screening at the 52nd New York Film Festival earlier this month.

Queen And Country introduces Callum Turner (Ripper Street, Borgias) to the big screen and also stars one of Variety’s “Top 10 Actors to Watch” Caleb Landry Jones (X-Men: First Class), David Thewlis (War Horse, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and Vanessa Kirby (About Time). Featuring cinematography from Seamus Deasy (Neverland, When the Sky Falls) and set design by Academy Award nominee Anthony Pratt (The Phantom of the Opera,...

Universal Pictures no longer has plans to develop the Hasbro board game Clue into a feature film, Deadline reports. Gore Verbinksi, though, remains on board the property and plans to continue developing it through his Blind Wink productions. To this end, Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (the upcoming Flash Gordon remake) have been brought aboard to rewrite the screenplay. Previously adapted as a film in 1985, Clue was originally released as a game in 1948, created in England by a retired legal clerk named Anthony Pratt. Though the game itself (and the previous film) has its setting confined to a single house, the updated version has been described by Blind Wink's Jonathan Krauss as, "a global thriller and transmedia event that uses deductive reasoning as its storytelling...

Universal Pictures has attached Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy) to direct and produce "Clue," a live-action murder mystery based on the Hasbro board game. In the board game, competitors solve a murder that was committed either by Professor Plum, Ms. White, Col. Mustard, Miss Peacock, Mr. Green or Ms. Scarlet. The killer has perpetrated the dastardly deed using either a knife, rope, candlestick, wrench, pistol or a lead pipe. The board game is one of the few to surpass $1 billion in sales, in more than 50 markets. It was developed in England by a retired legal clerk named Anthony Pratt during WWII and released in 1948. "Clue," which was previously turned into a 1985 film, becomes the latest Hasbro property to be set for the bigscreen. The toymaker has "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "GI Joe: Rise of Cobra," both of which will be distributed by Paramount this summer. At Universal,...

Director Gore Verbinski might soon earn himself the title of adaptation master. After successfully bringing a Disneyland ride to the bigscreen with three Pirates of the Caribbean films, the director is currently working on other adaptations such as Heavy Metal and the vidgame Bioshock. So Disneyland ride, animated series and a popular first person shooter. How about a board game too?

Gore Verbinski to Direct Clue

Universal Pictures has attached Gore Verbinski to direct Clue, a live-action murder mystery based on the Hasbro board game that he would direct.

Released in 1948 by Anthony Pratt, the popular board game went on to earn more that $1 billion worldwide.

Gore Verbinski will direct Universal Pictures "Clue," based on the murder mystery Hasbro board game. Verbinski will produce via his Blind Wink company alongside Brian Goldner and Bennett Schneir of Hasbro.  Verbinski is directing "Bioshock" for Universal next. "Clue" passed a massive $1 billion in sales and was developed in England by a retired legal clerk named Anthony Pratt during WWII. The game was first released in 1948.   There was another film previously made that was released in 1985 which starred Tim Curry, Eileeen Brennan, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Lesley Anne Warren, Martin Mull and Collen Camp.   The first being such a classic, let's hope this is not butchered. Still, Verbinski is immensely capable.    ...

Universal Pictures has attached Gore Verbinski ("Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise) to develop Clue , a live-action murder mystery based on the Hasbro board game that he would direct, reports Variety . Verbinski will produce through his Universal-based Blind Wink company, along with Hasbro's Brian Goldner and Bennett Schneir, who also have an overall deal at the studio. Verbinski will next direct Bioshock for Universal. "Clue" is one of the few board games to surpass $1 billion in sales, in more than 50 markets. It was developed in England by a retired legal clerk named Anthony Pratt during WWII and released in 1948. A previous film version was released in 1985. Clue will be turned into a mystery that Blind Wink's Jonathan Krauss called...

Gore Verbinski will direct Universal Pictures "Clue," based on the murder mystery Hasbro board game. Verbinski will produce via his Blind Wink company alongside Brian Goldner and Bennett Schneir of Hasbro. Verbinski is directing "Bioshock" for Universal next. "Clue" passed a massive $1 billion in sales and was developed in England by a retired legal clerk named Anthony Pratt during WWII. The game was first released in 1948...

Gore Verbinski will direct Universal Pictures "Clue," based on the murder mystery Hasbro board game. Verbinski will produce via his Blind Wink company alongside Brian Goldner and Bennett Schneir of Hasbro. Verbinski is directing "Bioshock" for Universal next. "Clue" passed a massive $1 billion in sales and was developed in England by a retired legal clerk named Anthony Pratt during WWII. The game was first released in 1948...

Two biopics will face off against one period romance and two family-oriented fantasy films in the Art Directors Guild's contest for excellence in production design for a feature period or fantasy film. Among the ADG's nominees announced Thursday, the period/fantasy film category includes The Aviator (production designer: Dante Ferretti), Finding Neverland (Gemma Jackson), The Incredibles (Lou Romano), Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (Rick Heinrichs) and The Phantom of the Opera (Anthony Pratt). In the contemporary film category, the nominees are: Collateral (David Wasco), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Dan Leigh), The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (Mark Friedberg), Million Dollar Baby (Henry Bumstead) and The Terminal (Alex McDowell).

"How could this happen?" has been the incredulous refrain to the recent slaughter of schoolchildren in Jonesboro, Ark., perpetrated by two boys, ages 13 and 11.

Well, here's the answer in Neil Jordan's "The Butcher Boy", a piercing dramatic profile of a cherubic killer. Savagely unsettling, this Warner Bros. release is a mind-bender, a disturbing document that should stir up considerable comment and find interest among sophisticated audiences in select-site venues.

A prickly blend of deadpan humor and bloody mayhem, this insightful depiction of the making of a monster paints its deadly picture with chilling detachment. Framed and punctuated by the sprightly voice-over of a man who as a young teen murdered a neighbor lady, "The Butcher Boy"'s refracted perspective allows us to see the various elements that shape and warp an otherwise "normal" boy to monster proportions.

Based on Patrick McCabe's 1992 novel, Jordan and McCabe have shaped a scenario that is part psychological treatise, part sociological study and part cautionary tale. Fortunately, it has been skinned to the bone of any drivel that may sound academic or come from the dull pipes of the mental health establishment/industry.

Laced with a droll, distanced wit and coiled around a seemingly benign, middle-class household, Jordan has forged a harrowing story of a young boy's descent into monsterdom.

Set in a drab, provincial burg during the early '60s, "The Butcher Boy" is a larkishly toned depiction of small-town regularity. Centered around 12-year-old Francie Brady (Eamonn Owens), a rambunctious chug of a kid who lives in a fantasy world of "Lone Ranger" episodes and adventure stories, Jordan shows how the youngsters escapist world is discolored by events from the "real" world. The countless TV shots of atomic clouds and, most particularly, the doomsday-like fear engendered by the Cuban Missile Crisis serve to shape and distort the boy's apprehensions of life, death and imminent destruction.

With his inner world shaped by TV and bogged down by popular culture, Francie's growth is also stunted by his horrific family life: His father (Stephen Rea) is a besotted lout who has boozed his way out of a promising musical career, and his mother is as nutty as the fruitcakes she compulsively bakes. Not surprisingly, Francie has no empathy for others and feels no remorse or compassion for his increasingly cruel boyhood deeds.

Thematically, Jordan and McCabe's screenplay is a perceptive balancing act in its visualization of Francie's increasingly fractured psychology. It methodically shows the "Lord of the Flies"-like cruelty that can fester within kid culture. Accordingly, viewers will likely not only find the film disquieting but a challenge to their sensibilities as well. Its rhythms and tones often run counterpoint to the surface narrative; in short, Jordan keeps us off balance and unsure how to view things, which ultimately shapes our eye to seeing below the surface of what appears to be mundane, everyday reality and "normal" behavior.

The performances are spare and revealing. As the monster-child, Owens brings a fresh-faced aura to his manic murdering. As the character unravels, we see clearly how his chirpy playfulness descends to cold-blooded mania. It's a fleshy, full performance, one that makes us coil and squirm. As Francie's loutish father, Rea clues us to the squandered promise that runs in this family's bloodlines, while Fiona Shaw rings true as a busybody shrew.

Technical contributions are a marvelous, complex mix, highlighted by composer Elliot Goldenthal's frothily eerie score and cinematographer Adrian Biddle's lethal-scoped framings.

THE BUTCHER BOY

Warner Bros.

Geffen Pictures presents

Producers: Redmond Morris, Stephen Woolley

Director: Neil Jordan

Screenwriters: Neil Jordan, Patrick McCabe

Based on the novel by: Patrick McCabe

Executive producer: Neil Jordan

Director of photography: Adrian Biddle

Production designer: Anthony Pratt

Editor: Tony Lawson

Music: Elliot Goldenthal

Costume designer: Sandy Powell

Casting: Susie Figgis

Art director: Anna Rackard

Special effects supervisor: Joss Williams

Color/stereo

Cast:

Francie Brady: Eamonn Owens

Benny Brady: Stephen Rea

Joe: Alan Boyle

Mrs. Nugent: Fiona Shaw

Mrs. Brady: Aisling O'Sullivan

Virgin Mary: Sinead O'Connor

Running time - 120 minutes

MPAA rating: R...

Hot off the seemingly invincible "Titanic", Leonardo DiCaprio makes good on his reputation as history's official poster boy with "The Man in the Iron Mask", a picture whose fortunes rest entirely on his young shoulders.

Loosely based on the oft-filmed 1850 Alexandre Dumas classic (other renditions include a silent 1929 Douglas Fairbanks film, James Whale's 1939 version and a Mike Newell-directed 1977 telefilm starring Richard Chamberlain and Louis Jordan), the latest treatment marks the directorial debut of "Braveheart" scribe Randall Wallace, and the behind-the-camera inexperience shows.

While the writing is lively -- with dialogue nimbly contemporized for 20th century ears -- the direction is wildly uneven, particularly in its mishandling of crowd and action sequences.

Still, with DiCaprio aboard and doing double time in dual roles, MGM should reap handsome dividends, especially in the film's first few weeks.

This third installment of Dumas' Three Musketeers trilogy begins with the king's famed Royal Guards having been more or less put out to pasture. While d'Artagnan (Gabriel Byrne) is still in active service as captain of the Musketeers, Aramis (Jeremy Irons) has become a priest and Athos (John Malkovich) is dedicated to raising his son Raoul (Peter Sarsgaard). Even the lusty, life-loving Porthos (Gerard Depardieu) pines for the long-gone, virile days of his youth.

But there's trouble at the palace. King Louis XIII has died, succeeded by his arrogant, selfish heir (DiCaprio). With peasants threatening to revolt, Aramis comes up with a solution. Faster than you can say "separated at birth," they storm the Bastille and sneak out Prisoner 64389000, who -- behind the iron mask -- turns out to be King Louis XIV's long-hidden twin Phillippe (also DiCaprio).

The big switcheroo doesn't exactly go without a hitch, but ultimately the Musketeers successfully relive past glories and all again is right in the kingdom.

DiCaprio is fine in both roles, and while his long mane may occasionally mistake him for a lost Hanson brother, his legions of fans should squeal with delight.

Wallace's portrayal of the graying Musketeers as sort of aging rock stars is particularly entertaining. As Aramis, Porthos and Athos join d'Artagnan to go all for one and one for all one last time, you can't help thinking about a bunch of guys putting the band together and hitting the road. They're The Rolling Stones of the 17th century.

Byrne and Irons (who's never looked more robust) have the swarthy gleam of derring-do down cold, while Depardieu is a comic delight as the womanizing Porthos. Less effectively cast is Malkovich, whose effete line readings render his Musketeer status somewhat unconvincing.

But it's Wallace's leaden direction that lets the picture down. The action sequences -- particularly the Musketeers' last hurrah -- cry out for the visual panache of a John Woo or even a Mel Gibson. Alas, the swash buckles under Wallace's uncertain touch. There's better choreography in those candy bar commercials.

Other technical aspects hit the bull's-eye, including Peter Suschitzky's textured camerawork and Anthony Pratt's nicely detailed production design. Nick Glennie-Smith's score, meanwhile, surges smoothly forward even when the rest of the picture fails to follow suit.

THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK

MGM

United Artists Pictures presents

a Randall Wallace film

Director-screenwriter: Randall Wallace

Producers: Randall Wallace, Russell Smith

Executive producer: Alan Ladd Jr.

Based on the novel by: Alexandre Dumas

Director of photography: Peter Suschitzky

Production designer: Anthony Pratt

Editor: William Hoy

Costume designer: James Acheson

Music: Nick Glennie-Smith

Casting: Amanda Mackey Johnson, Cathy Sandrich

Color/stereo

Cast:

King Louis XIV/Phillippe: Leonardo DiCaprio

Aramis: Jeremy Irons

Athos: John Malkovich

Porthos: Gerard Depardieu

d'Artagnan: Gabriel Byrne

Queen Anne: Anne Parillaud

Christine: Judith Godreche

Raoul: Peter Sarsgaard

Lieutenant Andre: Edward Atterton

Running time -- 132 minutes

MPAA rating: PG-13...