“Avatar: The Way of Water” update… Taylor Swift at No. 1… Britney Spears responds… Aaron Carter’s final project… and Drake & 21 Savage are being sued

In movie news, 13 years after the original, “Avatar: The Way of Water” hits theaters on Dec. 16. There are four “Avatar” sequels in the works, and the plan is for each one to be released every other December through 2028. At least, that’s the PLAN. Three of the movies have already been filmed, but James Cameron — who created, wrote and directed the “Avatar” — says if people lose interest, why would they film the fourth? In a recent interview, James said, “The market could be telling us we’re done in three months. Or we might be semi-done, meaning: ‘Okay, let’s complete the story within movie three and not go on endlessly,’ if it’s just not profitable.” Meantime, we didn’t have to wait 13 years for the “Black Panther” sequel. It took just four years to give us “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” which opens this weekend. As of now, over $45M in advance tickets have been sold. Experts predict advance sales could reach $65M by Friday, with the opening weekend hitting at least $175M in the US alone. Some experts are predicting a $200M opening weekend.

James Cameron might end Avatar series after 3 movies: “These are hideously expensive” https://t.co/jo45exqtVs pic.twitter.com/dcJ904JfkL

— GameSpot (@GameSpot) November 7, 2022

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Advance Ticket Sales Race Past $45M in U.S. https://t.co/VZVrzesbrC

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) November 8, 2022

Taylor Swift has broken yet another major record. She is the first act to spend a full year at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100. If you’ve never heard of the Billboard Artist 100, neither had I! This chart measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity. In other words, it’s very confusing! But congratulations to Taylor Swift for being No. 1 Billboard Artist for 52 weeks!

Along with 52 weeks atop the chart, @taylorswift13 has spent 12 weeks ruling the Artist 100, Hot 100 and Billboard 200 simultaneously. https://t.co/1xqsO1dEhS

— billboard (@billboard) November 8, 2022

Earlier this week, Millie Bobby Brown told Drew Barrymore that should would love to play Britney Spears in a biopic. Millie said, “I think her story resonates with me. Just growing up in the public eye watching her videos, watching interviews of her when she was younger . . .I see her scramble for words and I don’t know her, but when I look at pictures of her, I feel like I could tell her story in the right way.” Well, Britney isn’t down for that. Yesterday, Britney posted on Instagram, “I hear about people wanting to do movies about my life . . . dude, I’m not dead!!! Although it’s pretty f****** clear [my mom and dad] preferred me dead 🙄🙄🙄”

Britney Spears seemingly responds to Millie Bobby Brown saying she’d like to play her in a movie:

“I hear about people wanting to do movies about my life … dude I’m not dead !!!” pic.twitter.com/Lauf5ZA5VD

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) November 8, 2022

Before he passed away, Aaron Carter was working on a sitcom about mental health. Director Brian Farmer said Aaron filmed the pilot episode for a show called “Group,” which was centered around group therapy, with the goal of advocating for mental health awareness. With the blessing from Aaron’s camp, Brian said he will release the pilot, dedicating it to Aaron. It’s currently in post-production, but no word yet on a release date.

Aaron Carter was working on a sitcom pilot a month before his death, and the director tells us he’s going to honor his legacy by moving forward with the show. https://t.co/1wLZpDtEgm

— TMZ (@TMZ) November 9, 2022

Drake assumed Anna Wintour had a sense of humor, and he couldn’t have been more wrong. To promote their joint album “Her Loss,” Drake and 21 Savage faked an SNL performance, an NPR “Tiny Desk” concert, an interview with Howard Stern, and the cover of “Vogue” magazine. They were so good at faking these things that people were actually believing this stuff was all real. In NYC, posters of the fake “Vogue” cover were plastered everywhere, and street teams handed out fake issues in major cities like Miami, Atlanta and LA. Drake even tweeted the cover image, captioning it, “Me and my brother on newsstands tomorrow!! Thanks @voguemagazine and Anna Wintour for the love and support on this historic moment.” Anna wasn’t laughing. In fact, the magazine’s publisher Condé Nash filed a $4M lawsuit against Drake and 21 Savage and sent a cease and desist. According to Page Six, the lawsuit demands that Drake and his team stop the “unauthorized use of the Vogue trademark by removing the Instagram post, ceasing any distribution of this ‘magazine,’ and issuing a public statement clarifying that this was not an actual cover of Vogue.” But a source tells Page Six, “Drake isn’t worried.”

JUST IN: Drake and 21 Savage are being sued for millions over their fake Vogue cover they used to promote Her Losshttps://t.co/4asKzwNliO

— XXL Magazine (@XXL) November 8, 2022

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