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Tom Cruise Pays Tribute to Val Kilmer

Tom Cruise led a moment of silence in honor of Val Kilmer at CinemaCon, the official convention of theater owners in the United States. Ethan Miller / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Tom Cruise led a moment of silence in honor of Val Kilmer at CinemaCon, the official convention of theater owners in the United States. Ethan Miller / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
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Tom Cruise Pays Tribute to Val Kilmer

Tom Cruise led a moment of silence in honor of Val Kilmer at CinemaCon, the official convention of theater owners in the United States. Ethan Miller / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Tom Cruise led a moment of silence in honor of Val Kilmer at CinemaCon, the official convention of theater owners in the United States. Ethan Miller / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Tom Cruise paid tribute to late "Top Gun" co-star Val Kilmer on Thursday, leading movie theater owners in a moment's silence at the CinemaCon event before unveiling new footage from his latest "Mission: Impossible" movie.

"I'd like to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer," said Cruise, at the start of his hotly anticipated appearance at the annual industry summit in Las Vegas.

"I really can't tell you how much I admired his work, how much I thought of him as a human being, and how grateful and honored I was when he joined 'Top Gun' and then came back for 'Top Gun: Maverick," said Cruise.

Kilmer, one of the biggest Hollywood actors of the 1990s, who shot to fame playing Iceman in the original 1986 "Top Gun", died aged 65, his family announced this week.

The cause of death was pneumonia. Kilmer had battled throat cancer after being diagnosed in 2014, and made his final appearance in the "Top Gun" 2022 sequel "Maverick," physically diminished and with a raspy voice.

Cruise on Thursday led the audience at Caesars Palace casino in a lengthy silence, asking attendees to "take a moment and just think about all the wonderful times that we had" watching Kilmer on the big screen.

"I wish you well on your next journey," said Cruise, to Kilmer.

He added to the attendees: "Thank you all for doing that. I know he appreciates it."

"Top Gun" was Kilmer's breakout role. Starring opposite Cruise, he played the cocky, square-jawed and mostly silent fighter pilot in training Tom "Iceman" Kazansky.

When he reprised his role as "Iceman" in the long-awaited sequel "Top Gun: Maverick," Kilmer's real-life health issues were written into the character.

Cruise on Thursday also introduced a new trailer for "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning," out May 23.

Footage shows Cruise's ageless hero Ethan Hunt clinging to the wheels of a small biplane as it soars down a narrow canyon and barrel rolls through the skies.

The trailer contained extensive flashbacks to famous scenes from earlier in the eight-film blockbuster franchise, such as Cruise dangling between lasers and climbing the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai.

"I need you to trust me one last time," says Cruise's character, in what Paramount is marketing as supposedly the final movie of the franchise.

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Entertainment

South Korean TV Drama Industry Seeks $746 Million in Support as Output Declines

Shin Mina as Empress Navier in Disney+/Hulu's new K-drama “The Remarried Empress”. (Disney+/Hulu)
Shin Mina as Empress Navier in Disney+/Hulu's new K-drama “The Remarried Empress”. (Disney+/Hulu)
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South Korean TV Drama Industry Seeks $746 Million in Support as Output Declines

Shin Mina as Empress Navier in Disney+/Hulu's new K-drama “The Remarried Empress”. (Disney+/Hulu)
Shin Mina as Empress Navier in Disney+/Hulu's new K-drama “The Remarried Empress”. (Disney+/Hulu)

Twelve South Korean industry groups warned on Wednesday that the country's television drama production base was at risk and called on the government to set up a 1 trillion won ($746 million) investment fund to support production of Korean dramas, known as K-dramas.

K-dramas have been hugely popular globally, ‌but the number produced ‌has fallen from 141 titles in 2022 ‌to ⁠about 115 in 2025, ⁠according to research by Korea IR Service.

Three domestic broadcast networks cut drama output from 91 titles in 2012 to 32 in 2023, and some channels have stopped airing weekday dramas altogether, the groups said.

Such an environment makes it difficult for "a new writer's second work, a supporting actor's first lead role and an assistant ⁠crew member's directing debut", said Song Byeong-joon, chairman ‌of the Korea Drama Production Association.

The ‌groups, which represent industry workers including TV drama producers, directors, writers, ‌actors, cinematographers and crew, attributed the decline in long-form drama production to ‌rising production costs, which they linked to competition with global streaming platforms such as Netflix, and broadcasters' reduced capacity to invest.

They also cited competition from short-form content and AI for audiences and production.

Pay for top-billed ‌stars was the main driver of production costs, Korea IR Service said in a 2025 report, ⁠with pay ⁠climbing as streaming services competed for audience-drawing talent.

Kim Yong-hee, a professor of business administration at Sun Moon University, said the difficulties the groups cited largely reflected the decline of terrestrial broadcasting rather than the sector as a whole.

Official data showed employment across the content industry edged up to 693,090 in 2025 from 688,122 a year earlier, according to the Korea Creative Content Agency.

Broadcasting employment, however, fell 2.3% in 2024, according to a government survey.

A Netflix Korea spokesperson was reached but did not have an immediate comment.

Netflix launched in South Korea in 2016 and in 2023 pledged to invest $2.5 billion in the market over four years.

Entertainment

Movie Review: ‘The Cat in the Hat’ Ridiculously Builds the Stakes So High, the Universe Could Die

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows, from left, Sebastian, voiced by Tiago Martinez, Waffles, voiced by Matt Berry, and The Cat in the Hat, voiced by Bill Hader, in a scene from "The Cat in the Hat." (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows, from left, Sebastian, voiced by Tiago Martinez, Waffles, voiced by Matt Berry, and The Cat in the Hat, voiced by Bill Hader, in a scene from "The Cat in the Hat." (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
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Movie Review: ‘The Cat in the Hat’ Ridiculously Builds the Stakes So High, the Universe Could Die

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows, from left, Sebastian, voiced by Tiago Martinez, Waffles, voiced by Matt Berry, and The Cat in the Hat, voiced by Bill Hader, in a scene from "The Cat in the Hat." (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows, from left, Sebastian, voiced by Tiago Martinez, Waffles, voiced by Matt Berry, and The Cat in the Hat, voiced by Bill Hader, in a scene from "The Cat in the Hat." (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

The folks behind the new animated “The Cat in the Hat” are pretty confident they've got the cat in the bag. It hasn't even opened yet and there are onscreen references to possible movie spinoffs for the jet-powered magical couch and The Things. As the credits roll, the titular feline even gets into the act: “Let's go sequel!”

He's probably right about that, though — an inevitable franchise born on the back of whimsical, beloved IP that now gets the Marvel Cinematic Universe treatment: Put the fate of the world in the balance, insert a horrific enemy and add lots of things — in this case dozens of Things — until we just want it to end. To quote the book's glum goldfish: “No, I do not like it/Not one little bit.”

Directed by Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni, who also wrote the screenplay, “The Cat in the Hat” is what happens when lots and lots of money gets thrown at a movie with middling returns. (We're talking Taylor Swift cash, courtesy of using her “Shake It Off.”)

At least it distances itself from the live-action approach of the underperforming and creepy 2003 film starring Mike Myers, instead using stylized and varied computer animation. Bill Hader now voices the Cat, with his trademark sarcastic, demented and oily approach. The Cat is portrayed with teeth, though, and that's unsettling.

We meet the Cat after he's bombed his latest assignment. It turns out he works for a gleaming corporate conglomerate that sends out envoys to cheer up kids at their homes. There's even a human resources department and white-collar cubicles — our anarchic Cat as office drone.

Missions here are evaluated on two measures: A hopeful uptick in clients' happiness and the level of destruction left behind. The Cat is good at thing one, but bad at thing two. He faces being fired unless he succeeds at his next task — cheering up two depressed kids whose single mom recently moved them to the city.

When he appears, he's quickly pepper-sprayed by the oldest, Gabby, a marching band nerd with huge glasses and a “creative, artistic soul.” She thinks it's a home invasion and wants to call the cops. This reaction is not canon.

The Cat has to convince Gabby and her younger brother, Sebastian, to have fun, and if there's any damage, he's stolen a device from office supplies — a clocklike “gobacker” — that can undo the past. They soon lose it. “I can't believe this and I'm a talking cat,” says our hero.

Now things click into operatic levels, with a mysterious nefarious creature with gleaming eyes — a cross between a massive bat and a toothy pterodactyl — that is also hunting the device. If it finds it, the “fabric of the universe will be distorted forever.” Yeesh. What happened to: “I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny, but we can have lots of good fun that is funny?”

The goldfish is here — Matt Berry, hijacking the movie — as an English-accented, pseudo-Shakespearean actor-y type fish named Waffles. Waffles? And there are Things galore — during the climactic battle scene — yes, there's a battle scene — there must be thousands of Things. But not one rhyme, a shame.

The animation is handled wonderfully, with three distinct styles for different worlds. (As the book would say: “My tricks are not bad.”) And the voices are perfectly cast: Giancarlo Esposito as Cat's evil boss, Bowen Yang as an intern and Paula Pell as a landlady all stand out.

The messaging is muddled. One is that you should always stand up for a friend. Another is that your parents were, shockingly, once cool. A third is that home is wherever you want it to be. And fourth is making a mess is the best part of childhood.

Making a mess of “The Cat in the Hat” didn't have to happen. It didn't have to have a possible rip in the time-space continuum. It didn't have to flood the zone with Things. And it doesn't need a sequel, please.

Entertainment

Martha Stewart Sorry for ‘Insensitive’ Homeless Halloween Costume

Martha Stewart. (AFP/Getty Images)
Martha Stewart. (AFP/Getty Images)
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Martha Stewart Sorry for ‘Insensitive’ Homeless Halloween Costume

Martha Stewart. (AFP/Getty Images)
Martha Stewart. (AFP/Getty Images)

American lifestyle guru Martha Stewart apologized late Sunday for an "insensitive and not funny" Halloween costume after she appeared to dress up as a homeless person.

"It's hard to admit when you've really screwed up," the billionaire, 85, wrote on Instagram after she deleted a photo of herself in ripped jeans, a torn sweater and a dirtied face.

Stewart also held a clipboard that read "I Am Hungry Help Me!!" Social media users quickly slammed her as out of touch.

"I know many people are suffering economically. Wearing a costume like I did was insensitive and not funny. I am very sorry," Stewart said in a statement.

She also acknowledged that an earlier explanation to US media, claiming she had intended to raise awareness of homelessness through her costume, "didn't go far enough."

Stewart built her success in the homemaking and lifestyle industries.

Through her cookbooks, magazines, television shows and retail housewares, Stewart became the personification of gracious living and America's most high-profile lifestyle expert.