Top Gun: Maverick crosses $1B… Travis Scott addresses Bugatti drama… Billionaire’s lavish nuptials… Johnny Depp deal by Disney… and BET Awards 2022

Listen to “Showbiz – June 27, 2022” on Spreaker.

It’s a battle for number one at the box office. As it stands right now, “Elvis” and “Top Gun: Maverick” are tied with $30.5M. When the very last of the weekend’s box office receipts are counted, one should of those should pull ahead. But this is awesome for both movies. “Elvis” earned more than the expected $25M. It should continue to do well thanks to positive word-of-mouth. CinemaScore audiences have given it an A-. Because of the current two-way tie for first, “Jurassic World Dominion” came in third with $26.4M. “The Black Phone” debuted in fourth with $23.3M. “Lightyear” rounded out the top five with $17.7M — a 65% decline from its opening weekend.

This weekend could mark the first time since 2016 that the top five films at the domestic box office each gross more than $20 million. The diversity of well-performing options marks a notable victory for movie theaters after the COVID-19 pandemic. https://t.co/6Ey68ecMDc pic.twitter.com/jsFxfIXUg4
— Variety (@Variety) June 26, 2022

Travis Scott is facing billions of dollars in lawsuits from the Astroworld tragedy, so you’d think he’d be keeping a low profile. Instead, he’s living his best life and getting slammed for it. After cameras caught Travis driving around in his $5.5M Bugatti Veyron Chiron Super Sport, the attorney for the family of 9-year-old Ezra Blount — who was trampled to death at Astroworld — said Ezra would still be alive today and enjoying his summer if Travis would’ve spent half of what he paid for that Bugatti on simple safety measures. But Travis’ rep said, “This latest attempt to exploit Astroworld victims and gaslight the media and the public is a new low. The car referenced was purchased way back in 2020 (before the tragic events at Astroworld), and covered widely by the media… Misrepresenting a two-year-old car purchase to make an unprovoked and unjustified attack on Travis Scott is nothing more than another desperate publicity stunt to try to falsely blame Travis and intentionally manipulate public opinion, which won’t work.”

#UPDATE Travis Scott Addresses Bugatti Drama, Says He Bought Car Before Astroworld https://t.co/cBcTrEcm0T via @TMZ
— TMZ (@TMZ) June 27, 2022

Hedge fund manager Alan Howard is a billionaire. He comes in at No. 951 on Forbes’ list of billionaires, but that’s still really good. He and famous gluten-free chef Caroline Byron got married during the lockdowns of 2020, which was no fun. So they decided to get married again this past weekend, inviting all their other billionaire friends and model girlfriends to a huge celebration at Villa Olmo in Lake Como. Alan paid over a million dollars to close the 18th century lakeside mansion for almost a month leading up to the wedding so everything could be decorated to his bride’s satisfaction. And he reportedly forked over at least a million to have Lady Gaga perform at the reception.

British billionaire Alan Howard wed Caroline Byron in Lake Como villa https://t.co/ewXVo5TX4R pic.twitter.com/HIapK4NWgA
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) June 27, 2022

After Amber Heard’s allegations against him, Disney dropped Johnny Depp from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. During his defamation trial against Amber Heard, Johnny testified that Disney execs made him feel “guilty until proven innocent” and said he would never work for them again. Fast forward past Johnny winning in the courtroom and in the court of public opinion, Disney wants Johnny to come back to they family. According to Poptopic, Disney is working on a $301M deal to have Johnny back for a 6th “Pirates” movie as well as a spin-off Disney+ series about the early life of Captain Jack Sparrow. Their source says not only that, Disney is willing to make a sizeable donation to the charity of Johnny’s choice.

According to a report, #JohnnyDepp has been offered a massive $301 million deal by #Disney to return as Jack Sparrow in the ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’ franchise

Read More: https://t.co/0eB12FA7Sg pic.twitter.com/y2uqXqJ79x
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) June 27, 2022

There were quite a few surprises at the BET Awards. Jussie Smollett showed up on the red carpet. Jussie was freed from jail after serving only 6 days of his 150-day sentence for five counts of felony disorderly conduct. While his case remains on appeal, Jussie thought he’d get dressed up and hit the red carpet to talk about his directorial debut with the BET+ original movie, “B-Boy Blues” and to promise the world that new music is coming soon. He proceeded to get roasted on Twitter. Kanye West made a surprise appearance to present Diddy with a Lifetime Achievement Award. When Diddy asked, Kanye explained, “I said, ‘I just want to declare myself legally dead for a year. I just want to be off the grid.’ Puff is pretty persistent, but I had to think, bro, it’s like, people get amnesia. Like, I should never have Puff have to ever call more than one time. Any of us in this room if Puff ever need us, we need to jump and be there.” And everyone is raving about Mariah Carey’s surprise performance with Latto, who sampled Mariah’s “Fantasy” for her hit song “Big Energy.”