Taylor Swift Prepares for an Epic Journey to the Super Bowl. Will She Make It?

US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift made history with her fourth Album of the Year Grammy, this time for 'Midnights'. Valerie Macon / AFP
US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift made history with her fourth Album of the Year Grammy, this time for 'Midnights'. Valerie Macon / AFP
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Taylor Swift Prepares for an Epic Journey to the Super Bowl. Will She Make It?

US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift made history with her fourth Album of the Year Grammy, this time for 'Midnights'. Valerie Macon / AFP
US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift made history with her fourth Album of the Year Grammy, this time for 'Midnights'. Valerie Macon / AFP

Will she make it?
Taylor Swift's last song will still be ringing in the ears of thousands of fans at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night when the singer is expected to rush to a private jet at Haneda airport that will take her on a time-zone-spanning journey to see her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce, play in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
The prospect of this race against time, crossing nine time zones and the international date line, has fired imaginations, and speculation, for weeks.
At Saturday night’s concert, there was plenty of evidence of the unique cultural phenomenon that is the Swift-Kelce relationship, a nexus of professional football and the huge star power of Swift. In addition to sequined dresses celebrating Swift in the packed Tokyo Dome, there were Travis Kelce jerseys and hats and other gear celebrating his team, the Kansas City Chiefs. Some in Tokyo spent thousands of dollars to attend the pop superstar’s concerts this week.
To call the worldwide scrutiny of Swift's travels intense is an understatement.
Fans have tracked her jet. The planet-warming carbon emissions of her globe-trotting travels have been criticized. Officials have weighed in on her ability to park her jet in Las Vegas airports.
Even Japanese diplomats have gotten into the act. The Japanese Embassy in Washington posted on social media that she could make the Super Bowl in time, including in their statement three Swift song titles – “Speak Now”, “Fearless” and “Red."
“If she departs Tokyo in the evening after her concert, she should comfortably arrive in Las Vegas before the Super Bowl begins,” it said.
Office worker Hitomi Takahashi, 29, bought matching Taylor Swift sweatshirts along with her friend and was taking photos just outside of the dome on Saturday. “I hope she can return in time. It’s so romantic,” she said.
She is aware of the criticisms Swift is facing about her private jets, but said the singer was being singled out unfairly.
“Many other people are flying on business, and she is here for her work. She faces a bashing because she is famous and stands out,” Takahashi said.
Swift has been crisscrossing the globe this week already.
Before coming to Asia, she attended the Grammys in Los Angeles, winning her 14th Grammy and a record-breaking fourth Album of the Year award for “Midnights.” The show was watched by nearly 17 million people. She also made a surprise announcement that her next album is ready to drop in April.
Then the four concerts in Tokyo, and now apparently a rushed trip to try to make it to Las Vegas to watch Kelce, the tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, play in the Super Bowl. She has followed Kelce for much of the Chiefs’ season.
If it all goes as planned she’s then expected to fly to Australia later this week to continue her tour.
“This week is truly the best kind of chaos,” Swift posted Wednesday on Instagram.



Full List of 2026 Golden Globe Nominees

A podium stands near Golden Globe statues, ahead of the announcement of the nominations for the 83rd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, US, December 8, 2025. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
A podium stands near Golden Globe statues, ahead of the announcement of the nominations for the 83rd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, US, December 8, 2025. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
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Full List of 2026 Golden Globe Nominees

A podium stands near Golden Globe statues, ahead of the announcement of the nominations for the 83rd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, US, December 8, 2025. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
A podium stands near Golden Globe statues, ahead of the announcement of the nominations for the 83rd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, US, December 8, 2025. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Nominees for the 2026 Golden Globe Awards have been announced and “One Battle After Another” is this year's leading nominee.

Here's the list of who's nominated for this year's awards, which will be held Jan. 11 at the Beverly Hilton. Nikki Glaser will host the ceremony, according to Reuters.

MOVIES Best motion picture, drama “Frankenstein”; “Hamnet”; “It Was Just An Accident”; “The Secret Agent”; “Sentimental Value”; “Sinners.”

Best motion picture, musical or comedy “Blue Moon”; “Bugonia”; “Marty Supreme”; “No Other Choice”; “Nouvelle Vague”; “One Battle After Another.”

Best performance by a female actor in a motion picture, drama Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”; Jennifer Lawrence, “Die My Love”; Renate Reinsve, “Sentimental Value”; Julia Roberts, “After the Hunt”; Tessa Thompson, “Hedda”; Eva Victor, “Sorry Baby.”

Best performance by a male actor in a motion picture, drama Joel Edgerton, “Train Dreams”; Oscar Isaac, “Frankenstein”; Dwayne Johnson, “The Smashing Machine”; Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”; Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”; Jeremy Allen White, “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.”

Best performance by a female actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”; Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked: For Good”; Kate Hudson, “Song Sung Blue”; Chase Infiniti, “One Battle After Another”; Amanda Seyfried, “The Testament of Ann Lee”; Emma Stone, “Bugonia.”

Best performance by a male actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy Timothée Chalamet, “Marty Supreme”; George Clooney, “Jay Kelly”; Leonardo DiCaprio, “One Battle After Another”; Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon”; Lee Byung-hun, “No Other Choice”; Jesse Plemons, “Bugonia.”

Best performance by a female actor in a supporting role Emily Blunt, “The Smashing Machine”; Elle Fanning, “Sentimental Value”; Ariana Grande, “Wicked: For Good”; Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, “Sentimental Value”; Amy Madigan, “Weapons”; Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another.”

Best performance by a male actor in a supporting role Benicio del Toro, “One Battle After Another”; Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein”; Paul Mescal, “Hamnet”; Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another”; Adam Sandler, “Jay Kelly”; Stellan Skarsgård, “Sentimental Value.”

Cinematic and box office achievement “Avatar: Fire and Ash”; “F1”; “KPop Demon Hunters”; “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”; “Sinners”; “Weapons”; “Wicked: For Good”; “Zootopia 2.”

Best motion picture, non-English “It Was Just an Accident,” France; “No Other Choice,” South Korea; “The Secret Agent,” Brazil; “Sentimental Value,” Norway; “Sirāt,” Spain; “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” Tunisia.

Best motion picture, animated “Arco”; “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle”; “Elio”; “KPop Demon Hunters”; “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain”; “Zootopia 2.”

Best director Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”; Ryan Coogler, “Sinners”; Guillermo del Toro, “Frankenstein”; Jafar Panahi, “It Was Just an Accident”; Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value”; Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet.”

Best screenplay “One Battle After Another,” Paul Thomas Anderson; “Marty Supreme,” Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie; “Sinners,” Ryan Coogler; “It Was Just an Accident,” Jafar Panahi; “Sentimental Value,” Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier; “Hamnet,” Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell.

Best original score “Frankenstein,” Alexandre Desplat; “Sinners,” Ludwig Göransson; “One Battle After Another,” Jonny Greenwood; “Sirāt,” Kangding Ray; “Hamnet,” Max Richter; “F1,” Hans Zimmer.

Best original song “Dream as One,” from “Avatar: Fire and Ash”; “Golden,” from “KPop Demon Hunters”; “I Lied to You,” from “Sinners”; “No Place Like Home,” from “Wicked: For Good”; “The Girl in the Bubble,” from “Wicked: For Good”; “Train Dreams,” from “Train Dreams.”

TELEVISION Best television series, drama “The Diplomat”; “The Pitt”; “Pluribus”; “Severance”; “Slow Horses”; “The White Lotus.”

Best television series, comedy or musical “Abbott Elementary”; “The Bear”; “Hacks”; “Nobody Wants This”; “Only Murders in the Building”; “The Studio.”

Best performance by a female actor, drama Kathy Bates, “Matlock”; Britt Lower, “Severance”; Helen Mirren, “Mobland”; Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us”; Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”; Rhea Seehorn, “Pluribus.”

Best performance by a male actor, drama Sterling K. Brown, “Paradise”; Diego Luna, “Andor”; Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”; Mark Ruffalo, “Task”; Adam Scott, “Severance”; Noah Wyle, “The Pitt.”

Best performance by a female actor TV series, musical or comedy Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This”; Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”; Selena Gomez, “Only Murders in the Building”; Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face”; Jenna Ortega, “Wednesday”; Jean Smart, “Hacks.”

Best performance by a male actor, TV series, musical or comedy Adam Brody, “Nobody Wants This”; Steve Martin, “Only Murders in the Building”; Glen Powell, “Chad Powers”; Seth Rogen, “The Studio”; Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”; Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear.”

Best limited series, anthology series or movie made for television “Adolescence”; “All Her Fault”; “The Beast in Me”; “Black Mirror”; “The Girlfriend”; “Dying for Sex.”

Best performance by a male actor in a limited series, anthology series or movie made for television Jacob Elordi, “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”; Paul Giamatti, “Black Mirror”; Stephen Graham, “Adolescence”; Charlie Hunnam, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story”; Jude Law, “Black Rabbit”; Matthew Rhys, “The Beast in Me.”

Best performance by a female actor in a limited series, anthology series or movie made for television Claire Danes, “The Beast in Me”; Rashida Jones, “Black Mirror”; Amanda Seyfried, “Long Bright River”; Sarah Snook, “All Her Fault”; Michelle Williams, “Dying for Sex”; Robin Wright, “The Girlfriend.”

Best performance by a female actor in a supporting role Carrie Coon, “The White Lotus”; Erin Doherty, “Adolescence”; Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks”; Catherine O’Hara, “The Studio”; Parker Posey, “The White Lotus”; Aimee Lou Wood, “The White Lotus.”

Best performance by a male actor in a supporting role Owen Cooper, “Adolescence”; Billy Crudup, “The Morning Show”; Walton Goggins, “The White Lotus”; Jason Isaacs, “The White Lotus”; Tramell Tillman, “Severance”; Ashley Walters, “Adolescence.”

Best performance in stand-up comedy on TV Bill Maher, “Is Anyone Else Seeing This?”; Brett Goldstein, “The Second Best Night of Your Life”; Kevin Hart, “Acting My Age”; Kumail Nanjiani, “Night Thoughts”; Ricky Gervais, “Mortality”; Sarah Silverman, “PostMortem.”

Best podcast “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard”; “Call Her Daddy”; “Good Hang with Amy Poehler”; “The Mel Robbins Podcast”; “SmartLess”; “Up First from NPR.”

 

 

 

 

 

 


Paramount Makes $108.4 billion Hostile Bid for Warner Bros Discovery

The Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California, US November 18, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
The Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California, US November 18, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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Paramount Makes $108.4 billion Hostile Bid for Warner Bros Discovery

The Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California, US November 18, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
The Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California, US November 18, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Paramount Skydance on Monday launched a hostile bid worth $108.4 billion for Warner Bros Discovery, throwing a wrench into the deal with Netflix in a last-ditch effort to create a media powerhouse that would challenge the dominance of the streaming giant.

The streaming giant had emerged victorious on Friday from a weeks-long bidding war with Paramount and Comcast, securing a $72 billion equity deal for Warner Bros Discovery's TV, film studios and streaming assets.

The offer, which is worth $82.7 billion including debt and comes with a $5.8 billion break-up fee from Netflix, is likely to face strong antitrust scrutiny, Reuters reported.

Paramount submitted multiple offers starting in September to forge an entertainment powerhouse capable of challenging Netflix and tech giants such as Apple that have expanded into media but faced rejections.

It has offered to buy the whole company at $30 per share, compared with Netflix's nearly $28 per share offer for its assets.

Paramount remains one of Hollywood's major studios, but its box office record has been uneven, with occasional franchise wins offset by periods in which its slate has trailed Disney, Universal and Warner Bros in US market share.

It had sent a letter to Warner Bros, questioning the sale process and alleging the company has abandoned a fair bidding process and predetermined Netflix as the winner.

That followed reports that Warner Bros' management called the Netflix deal a "slam dunk" while speaking negatively about Paramount's offer.

Analysts and industry experts see Paramount as the best candidate for acquiring Warner Bros Discovery, given Ellison's deep pockets - backed by his father, Oracle co-founder and the world's second-richest person Larry Ellison and the close ties with the Trump administration.

US President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday the Netflix-Warner Bros combo could raise market share concerns and he would have a say on the deal.

Bloomberg News has reported Trump met Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos in mid-November, telling the executive Warner Bros should sell to the highest bidder.

Netflix's bid has already drawn sharp criticism from bipartisan lawmakers and Hollywood unions on concerns that it could lead to job cuts as well as higher prices for consumers.

The combined company will have substantial overlap and its combined streaming revenue would decline unless Netflix doubles its prices or runs separate platforms, neither of which the brokerage expects, Morningstar analysts have said.

Looking to allay antitrust fears, Sarandos had said the deal would drive value for consumers, shareholders and talent, saying Netflix is "highly confident" in the regulatory process.

Analysts said Netflix's motivation would stem from securing exclusive, long-term control over premium IP and reducing reliance on external studios as it expands into gaming, live entertainment and broader consumer ecosystems.

Access to WBD's vast IP trove would provide immediate credibility, audience reach and merchandising potential for its gaming ambitions, an area where Netflix is still building original content and brand recognition.


Trump Says Netflix Deal to Buy Warner Bros. ‘Could Be a Problem’ Because of Size of Market Share 

An aerial view of the Warner Bros. logo displayed on the water tower at Warner Bros. Studio on December 5, 2025 in Burbank, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
An aerial view of the Warner Bros. logo displayed on the water tower at Warner Bros. Studio on December 5, 2025 in Burbank, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Trump Says Netflix Deal to Buy Warner Bros. ‘Could Be a Problem’ Because of Size of Market Share 

An aerial view of the Warner Bros. logo displayed on the water tower at Warner Bros. Studio on December 5, 2025 in Burbank, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
An aerial view of the Warner Bros. logo displayed on the water tower at Warner Bros. Studio on December 5, 2025 in Burbank, California. (Getty Images/AFP)

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that a deal struck by Netflix to buy Warner Bros. Discovery "could be a problem" because of the size of the combined market share.

"There's no question about it," Trump said, answering questions about the deal and various other topics as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors.

The Republican president said he will be involved in the decision about whether the federal government should approve the $72 billion deal. If approved by regulators, the merger would put two of the world’s biggest streaming services under the same ownership and join Warner’s television and motion picture division, including DC Studios, with Netflix’s vast library and its production arm.

The deal, which could reshape the entertainment industry, has to "go through a process and we'll see what happens," Trump said.

"Netflix is a great company. They’ve done a phenomenal job. Ted is a fantastic man," he said of Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, noting that they met in the Oval Office last week before the deal was announced Dec. 5. "I have a lot of respect for him but it’s a lot of market share, so we’ll have to see what happens."

Asked if Netflix should be allowed to buy the Hollywood giant behind "Harry Potter" and HBO Max, the president said, "Well that's the question."

"They have a very big market share and when they have Warner Bros., you know, that share goes up a lot so, I don’t know," he said. "I'll be involved in that decision, too. But they have a very big market share"

Sarandos made no guarantees at their meeting about the merger if it is approved, Trump said, adding that the CEO is a "great person" who has "done one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies and other things."

He repeated that a merger would create a "big market share" for the company.

"There’s no question about it. It could be a problem," Trump said.