عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Entertainment

Hollywood Reacts to Joe Biden Exiting the Presidential Race

Cher. (AP)
Cher. (AP)
TT
TT

Hollywood Reacts to Joe Biden Exiting the Presidential Race

Cher. (AP)
Cher. (AP)

Hollywood was quick to react to the news that President Joe Biden was ending his bid for reelection and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.

Barbra Streisand, a Democratic supporter, wrote Sunday on X that “we should be grateful for his upholding of our democracy.” While many paid tribute to Biden’s presidency, others wondered about the future.

Cher wrote on X that she was “tortured” because she doesn’t believe the Democrats could win without Biden. She said it was time to think “way outside the box” and proposed a split ticket.

In recent weeks, several high-profile Hollywood names had begun calling for Biden to exit the race. Just weeks after headlining a record-breaking fundraiser for the president's reelection campaign, George Clooney wrote a New York Times opinion piece calling for Biden to end his bid.

Clooney argued that the party should pick a new nominee, saying the process would be “messy” but “wake up” voters in the party’s favor.

Others who attended or participated in the starry fundraiser in Los Angeles included Julia Roberts, Streisand, Jimmy Kimmel, former President Barack Obama, Jack Black, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Kathryn Hahn and Jason Bateman.

Ralph, on Sunday, posted a photo of herself and Harris writing “President Biden has endorsed Kamala Harris!”

Here are some notable celebrity reactions:

Barbra Streisand

“Joe Biden will go down in history as a man who accomplished significant achievements in his 4-year term. We should be grateful for his upholding of our democracy.”

Cher

“In my heart im tortured, Because I Don’t believe the Democrats Can win the Presidency with Pres Biden. ‘Joe’ whom I’ve Loved since we met in 2008. I Campaigned for him I believe ITS TIME 2 PASS THE BATON. TIME 4 DEMS 2 THINK “WAY” OUTSIDE THE BOX. MAYBE EVEN A SPLIT TICKET.”

Mark Hamill

“@JoeBiden has a record of accomplishments unmatched by any president in our lifetime. He restored honesty, dignity & integrity to the office after 4 years of lies, crime, scandal & chaos. Thank you for your service, Mr. President. It’s now our duty as patriotic Americans to elect the Democrat who will honor & further your legacy.”

George Takei

“I want to honor our President @JoeBiden. He has served our nation admirably for decades, he is a decent honorable man, a hugely successful president, and a patriot. Now let us unite behind @KamalaHarris and defeat Donald Trump in November!”

Russell Brand

“Joe Biden has endorsed Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination after ending re-election bid. We’re in a wild world, mate.”

Most Viewed

 
 
Entertainment

‘Despicable Me 4’ Reigns at Box Office, While ‘Longlegs’ Gets Impressive Start

This image released by Neon shows Maika Monroe in a scene from "Longlegs." (Neon via AP)
This image released by Neon shows Maika Monroe in a scene from "Longlegs." (Neon via AP)
TT
TT

‘Despicable Me 4’ Reigns at Box Office, While ‘Longlegs’ Gets Impressive Start

This image released by Neon shows Maika Monroe in a scene from "Longlegs." (Neon via AP)
This image released by Neon shows Maika Monroe in a scene from "Longlegs." (Neon via AP)

Gru and the minions celebrated a second week in first place at the North American box office this weekend, while a small horror movie called “Longlegs” upset the starry $100 million "Fly Me to the Moon."

The supremacy of “Despicable Me 4” was hardly a surprise, as the Universal and Illumination franchise added $44.7 million and pushed the film over $200 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. But the big upset came further down the charts with “Longlegs ” more than doubling the debut of the Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum romantic comedy “Fly Me to the Moon.”

“Longlegs,” an original horror about a serial killer starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage, made an estimated $22.6 million from 2,510 theaters. That’s the best ever start for indie outfit Neon (most famous for releasing the Oscar-winning “Parasite”), which acquired the $10 million film for distribution. Written and directed by Osgood Perkins, “Longlegs” also scored the best opening for an R-rated film this year.

Neon deployed an innovative marketing strategy for the film, including touches like placing cipher messages in local newspapers and posting a Los Angeles billboard with a phone number that played an “unnerving” message. In its first 48 hours, the number received over 250,000 calls.

“Longlegs” was well-received by critics (it has an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences gave it a less enthusiastic a C+ CinemaScore.

“Fly Me to the Moon,” an Apple Original Films production, launched with only $10 million over the weekend. It trailed holdovers “Inside Out 2,” in third with $20.8 million; and “A Quiet Place: Day One,” in fourth place with $11.8 million.

Sony distributed “Fly Me to the Moon,” the Greg Berlanti-directed film about a marketing executive brought in to sell the space race to the American public, and, later, stage a fake moon landing just in case. Apple has not yet announced when it will debut on its streaming service.

The movie opened in 3,356 locations this weekend, attracting an audience that was mostly over 45. In this case, the audience was kinder than the critics, giving it an A- CinemaScore against a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes, suggesting that word-of-mouth may work in its favor over the long run.

The year-to-date gap between box office performance this year and last is getting moderately slimmer. It's now down 16.1% from 2023 thanks to a run of recent successes. But performance still pales in comparison to pre-pandemic standards. On July 14 in 2019, the annual box office take was at $6.2 billion. This year it’s at $4.1 billion so far.

“A very unpredictable summer movie season continues,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “And after a slow start in May (it) has continued to surprise and impress with expected as well as unexpected hits adding bottom-line dollars to the industry’s most important season.”

In limited release, A24 opened “Sing Sing,” an early Oscar contender, in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles. With sellouts in both locations, it made $137,119, one of the best limited openings of the year.

The film from director Greg Kwedar is about an arts program at the prison and features many real life participants, including Clarence Maclin in his film debut. “Sing Sing” will continue playing on four screens through July and expand nationwide in August.

Finally, “Twisters,” which opens in North America on Thursday, began its international rollout this weekend, earning $11.5 million from 38 markets including in Australia, Mexico and Brazil.

In its wake comes “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the first Marvel release of the summer.