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Diana Musical and ‘Space Jam’ Snag the Most Razzie Awards

Cast members Lebron James, Don Cheadle, Cedric Joe, Sonequa Martin-Green, Ceyair Wright, Harper Alexander and Director Malcolm D. Lee pose as they attend the premiere for the film Space Jam: A New Legacy in Los Angeles, California, US July 12, 2021. (Reuters)
Cast members Lebron James, Don Cheadle, Cedric Joe, Sonequa Martin-Green, Ceyair Wright, Harper Alexander and Director Malcolm D. Lee pose as they attend the premiere for the film Space Jam: A New Legacy in Los Angeles, California, US July 12, 2021. (Reuters)
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Diana Musical and ‘Space Jam’ Snag the Most Razzie Awards

Cast members Lebron James, Don Cheadle, Cedric Joe, Sonequa Martin-Green, Ceyair Wright, Harper Alexander and Director Malcolm D. Lee pose as they attend the premiere for the film Space Jam: A New Legacy in Los Angeles, California, US July 12, 2021. (Reuters)
Cast members Lebron James, Don Cheadle, Cedric Joe, Sonequa Martin-Green, Ceyair Wright, Harper Alexander and Director Malcolm D. Lee pose as they attend the premiere for the film Space Jam: A New Legacy in Los Angeles, California, US July 12, 2021. (Reuters)

A musical about Diana, the late Princess of Wales, and a remake of the semi-animated "Space Jam" starring LeBron James took home the most Razzies, the awards that skewer the year's lamest films on the eve of the big Oscar ceremony.

The Razzies announced the winners ahead of Sunday's Academy Awards, handing out five prizes to "Diana: The Musical," the film version of a Broadway production that closed in December after just 33 regular performances.

After its ignominious demise on stage, the film version snagged Razzies for worst picture, worst actress for Jeanna deWaal in the title role, worst supporting actress for Judy Kaye, and worst director for Christopher Ashley.

The Diana duo of Joe DiPietro and David Bryan claimed worst screenplay for what the Razzies called "some of the year's most ridiculed dialogue and lyrics, including rhyming 'Camilla' with both 'Manilla' and 'Godzilla,'" the Razzies said in a statement announcing the winners.

"Space Jam: A New Legacy" won three Razzies: worst actor for LeBron James, worst rip-off or sequel, and worst screen couple for James combined with any of the cartoon characters.

The movie put the NBA star, shot in live action, in a cosmic basketball game with Looney Tunes characters, remaking the 1996 original with Michael Jordan.

As usual, the Razzies ridiculed a former Oscar winner, naming Jared Leto worst supporting actor for his over-the-top performance as Paolo in "House of Gucci."

The Razzies gave Bruce Willis his own special category, nominating him eight times for "Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie," in eight forgettable films. The one called "Cosmic Sin" took the prize.

Four-time Razzie winner Will Smith received the only true honor, the redeemer award, for his role in "King Richard," for which Smith is also nominated for a best actor Oscar.

The Razzies, the self-described "ugly cousin to the Oscars," started in 1980 as the Golden Raspberry Awards, created by UCLA film school graduates and film industry veterans John J.B. Wilson and Mo Murphy.

More than 1,100 Razzie members from across the United States and about two dozen other countries vote on the awards, according to the Razzie website.

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Entertainment

'Wild at Heart' actress Diane Ladd Dies at 89

Actress Laura Dern (L) has announced the death of her mother, Oscar-nominated actress Diane Ladd (R). KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Actress Laura Dern (L) has announced the death of her mother, Oscar-nominated actress Diane Ladd (R). KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
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'Wild at Heart' actress Diane Ladd Dies at 89

Actress Laura Dern (L) has announced the death of her mother, Oscar-nominated actress Diane Ladd (R). KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Actress Laura Dern (L) has announced the death of her mother, Oscar-nominated actress Diane Ladd (R). KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

Diane Ladd, the Oscar-nominated "Wild at Heart" actress and mother of Laura Dern, died Monday. She was 89.

In a career spanning eight decades, Ladd was nominated for the best supporting actress Academy Award three times: in Martin Scorsese's "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," David Lynch's "Wild at Heart," and "Rambling Rose."

The news of Ladd's death was announced by Dern, Ladd's Oscar-winning actress daughter from her first marriage to Bruce Dern.

"My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother passed with me beside her this morning at her home in Ojai, California," Laura Dern wrote in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

Born in Mississippi in 1935, Southern belle Ladd appeared in many television and stage shows before Scorsese gave her a breakout role as a sassy waitress in 1974's "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore."

Lynch cast Ladd to play the murderous, vengeful mother of Dern's Lula in his surreal, Cannes Palme d'Or-winning black comedy "Wild At Heart" in 1990.

Ladd once again shared the screen with her daughter in the following year's "Rambling Rose," a period drama set in the Deep South during the Great Depression.

Ladd's other film credits included "Chinatown" and "Inland Empire."

"She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created," wrote Dern.

"We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now."

No cause of death was provided.

Entertainment

Ready for It? Swifties Swarm German Museum to See Ophelia Painting

The German museum has the painting thought to have inspired the video for Taylor Swift's hit single "The Fate of Ophelia". Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
The German museum has the painting thought to have inspired the video for Taylor Swift's hit single "The Fate of Ophelia". Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
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Ready for It? Swifties Swarm German Museum to See Ophelia Painting

The German museum has the painting thought to have inspired the video for Taylor Swift's hit single "The Fate of Ophelia". Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
The German museum has the painting thought to have inspired the video for Taylor Swift's hit single "The Fate of Ophelia". Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP

Taylor Swift fans sang and danced Sunday to her new hit "The Fate of Ophelia" at a German museum exhibiting a painting thought to have inspired the video for the chart-topper.

Some came as Ophelia, in white dresses with flowers in their hair, while others donned sparkly outfits like those often worn by Swift, as they descended on the western town of Wiesbaden, AFP said.

They were attending a special event to see the painting by artist Friedrich Heyser, which shows Ophelia, a character in Shakespeare's Hamlet, in a white dress floating in a river among flowers before her death.

At the start of the music video for "The Fate of Ophelia", from her latest album, "The Life of a Showgirl," Swift appears in what seems to be a mock-up of the work, lying in a white dress -- before the painting comes alive, and she begins to sing.

Since the single's release last month, the Wiesbaden museum has been flooded with Swift fans seeking to get a glimpse of the work.

"It's incredible that this picture, which inspired Taylor Swift, is hanging here in Wiesbaden," Corinna Greiner, a 47-year-old office worker attending Sunday's event with her daughter, told AFP.

"When I found out, I was simply overwhelmed."

About 200 Swift fans flocked to the sold-out event, which started with a lecture from one of the museum's experts about the painting.

"The Fate of Ophelia" was then blasted from speakers, and the fans got to their feet to dance in front of Heyer's painting, before lining up to snap selfies with it.

'Great atmosphere'

"I really love art, and I wanted to see the connection between the Ophelia painting and Taylor Swift in real life," Isabelle Bastian, a 26-year-old student who was attending the event, told AFP.

"The atmosphere is great -- it's like a mini-concert."

Heyser is thought to have completed the work featuring Ophelia -- a noblewoman from Denmark in Shakespeare's play, who goes mad and drowns -- in around 1900.

It has been in the Wiesbaden museum's collection since 2019. But the museum had no idea it was going to feature in Swift's video until their social media channels lit up after the release of "The Fate of Ophelia" in October.

"We were very surprised," museum director Andreas Henning told AFP.

"We had no idea that Taylor Swift would choose this painting, and we had no inkling of what that would mean.

"The Swifties are coming from Germany, France, and England -- it's a big phenomenon."

The museum has not heard from Swift or her management about the link between her hit, which is the lead single from her album "The Life of a Showgirl", and Heyser's painting.

But fans are keen for her to pay a visit.

"Taylor, come to Wiesbaden!" they chanted in unison at the end of Sunday's event.

Entertainment

'Regretting You' Wins Spooky Slow N. American Box Office

'Regretting You' is the latest Colleen Hoover novel adaptation, after last year's scandal-tainted 'It Ends with Us'. Frederic J. BROWN / AFP
'Regretting You' is the latest Colleen Hoover novel adaptation, after last year's scandal-tainted 'It Ends with Us'. Frederic J. BROWN / AFP
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'Regretting You' Wins Spooky Slow N. American Box Office

'Regretting You' is the latest Colleen Hoover novel adaptation, after last year's scandal-tainted 'It Ends with Us'. Frederic J. BROWN / AFP
'Regretting You' is the latest Colleen Hoover novel adaptation, after last year's scandal-tainted 'It Ends with Us'. Frederic J. BROWN / AFP

Paramount's "Regretting You," the latest film adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel, finished first place in a lackluster Halloween weekend at the North American box office, industry estimates showed Sunday.

Directed by Josh Boone, the romantic drama tells the story of a mother (Allison Williams) and teenage daughter (McKenna Grace) navigating life and love after tragedy strikes.

The film took in $8.1 million in its second week out, according to industry watcher Exhibitors Relations, narrowly beating Universal's horror sequel "Black Phone 2," which earned $8.0 million.

The thriller sees Ethan Hawke's devilish villain return to terrorize a group of youths, this time at a camp.

Last week's first place finisher -- Japanese anime feature "Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc" -- dropped to third place with $6.0 million.

It tells the dark fantasy story of orphaned teenager Denji, who is killed by the yakuza but reborn by merging with his pet devil to become Chainsaw Man.

In fourth place at $4.8 million was "Bugonia," Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos's latest collaboration with Oscar-winner Emma Stone.

The apocalyptic satire, which debuted at the Venice Film Festival, follows the abduction of a high-profile CEO (Stone) by two conspiracy theorists who believe she is an alien.

Fifth place went to "Back to the Future," re-released for the film's 40th anniversary.

The top 12 films took in $44.8 million for the weekend, according to Exhibitor Relations, a 32 percent drop from the same period the previous year.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

"Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere," ($3.8 million)

"Tron: Ares," ($2.8 million)

"Stitch Ahead," ($2.1 million)

"Good Fortune," ($1.5 million)

"One Battle After Another," ($1.2 million)