Cop a gander of the ‘Girls Trip’ cast!

Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett, Regina Hall, and Tiffany Haddish serve up a collective slay a-front of Essence Magazine‘s July 2017 issue.

The feature forms part of a clever synchronization, given that the movie chronicles the ladies hilarious journey to the 2017 Essence Music Festival in New Orleans – which takes place in “real life” next month.

Ahead of its big screen arrival, the film’s stars all posed it up for individual covers. Check them out below…

‘Girls Trip’ hits theaters July 21st.

Your thoughts?

When told masterfully, movies fronted by black actors and characters spell nothing short of success for studios and this week, following ‘Get Out‘, ‘Hidden Figures’, ‘Fences’ and ‘Moonlight’, ‘Black Panther’ gears up to support this fact.

How so?

After watching the net celebrate the release of its trailer, its African-American/African cast has learned that said teaser has already been viewed 89 million times…within 24 hours.

19 million of those views came from eyes glued to last week’s NBA Finals where it nabbed one of its first looks while the rest, generated by the pandemonium its unveiling spark, were generated by video-sharing platforms like YouTube.

Said number rose over the 100 million when views from unofficial user-generated platforms are included.

So many brown people, in a movie, set in Africa, and not a hint of slavery. Thank you Marvel

— sanji (@EscoWilliams) June 12, 2017

‘The Hollywood Reporter’ adds:

Black Panther surpasses the views for teasers for top Marvel and Disney-released movies such as Captain America: Civil War (61 million), Star Wars: The Force Awakens (55 million) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (52 million).

Catch the movie when it claws its way into theatres on February 16th 2018.

Yet to see the trailer?

Hit this link.

Your thoughts?

After a number of setbacks, pushbacks, and reschedules Halle Berry‘s serially delayed thriller, ‘Kidnap,’ finally has an official release date (we hope).

The film, originally set for release in late 2015 then moved to mid-2016 before being rescheduled for late 2016, can finally boast the release of promotional materials that specifically list August 4th as the date of its theatrical open in U.S. theaters.

An action thriller that sees Berry portray a mother go to dangerous lengths to rescue her son from kidnappers, ‘Kidnap’ has reportedly won favorable reviews by “test” audiences.  Now, after nearly two years of waiting, we’ve finally arrived to time to see if that reaction is shared by the general public.

Check out the refreshed trailer inside:

(more…)

The Xscape reunion will indeed be televised.

Rumors have been rampant that the R&B outfit would be assembling for a reality series and now said talk has been confirmed.

TMZ report that the group – comprised of Kandi Burruss, Tiny Harris, LaTocha and Tamika Scott – will star in a “docu-series” for Bravo.

Currently filming in Atlanta, the show will chronicle Xscape’s preparation for their first performance in 20 years – which takes place next month at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans.

Set to premiere in November, the as yet untitled series will interestingly air alongside Bravo smash as ‘The Real Housewives Of Atlanta.’ A move designed to maximize exposure – especially given the presence of Kandi on both shows.

Mona Scott-Young, creator of VH1’s ‘Love & Hip Hop’ franchise, will serve as executive producer.

We’ll most definitely be watching. Will you?

Your thoughts?

Katy Perry‘s ‘Witness’ live stream continues to birth fascinating content.

Today, she welcomed RuPaul to her home for a conversation after he came under fire by several music lovers who accused him of stealing Azealia Banks‘ sounds to create his own.

What he and Perry discussed?

Watch below…

Their conversation stands as the latest piece of her live stream’s puzzle which also delivered an intense conversation about racism with Caitlyn Jenner.

Watch here!

Your thoughts?

June 5th brought with it the first day of filming for ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s tenth season.

When it’s set to premiere? November. However, you won’t have to wait until then to catch a meaty piece of what it is to come this time around.

That’s right…we have your very first look right here on TGJ!

A post shared by Real Housewives Of Atlanta ? (@realhousewivesatlanta) on Jun 11, 2017 at 4:29pm PDT

A post shared by Real Housewives Of Atlanta ? (@realhousewivesatlanta) on Jun 11, 2017 at 3:24pm PDT

Th snap and footage above was pulled from a party thrown by friend to the ‘Wives’ Shamea Morton whose wedding will feature in the season which is to welcome NeNe Leakes to the mix in the coming weeks.

Quite interestingly, there’s still no official word on Phaedra Parks‘ supposed dismissal.

Are you looking forward to the new season?

It’s hard to believe that twenty years have passed since the release of Janet Jackson’s ‘Velvet Rope.’

Steeped in tales of love, loss, lies and loneliness, the moody R&B album saw Jackson launch one of the biggest promotional efforts to support it and the monumental tour she built to deliver it to her fans live.

One of the era’s highlights?

Her tell-all conversation with Oprah Winfrey.

Yet to see it?

Press play for a moving conversation on life beyond an icon’s ‘Velvet Rope.’

Your thoughts?

The internet is losing its sh*t right now as Marvel Studios has finally unveiled the long-awaited ‘Black Panther’ trailer.

(more…)

Michael B. Jordan and his collaborator Ryan Coogler continue to add thought-provoking projects to their brilliant filmography.

The name of their latest release? ‘Wrong Answer.’

The movie will tell the true story of a teacher who, in a bid to save the underprivileged school he taught in from being shuttered, joined a scam to ensure that its students received high grades.

The New Yorker adds:

At the end of the testing week, Lewis went back to the testing office with Crystal Draper, a language-arts teacher. For about an hour, they erased wrong answers and bubbled in the right ones. They exchanged no words. Lewis couldn’t even look at her. “I couldn’t believe what we’d been reduced to,” he said. He tried to stay focussed on the mechanics of the work: he took care to change, at most, one or two answers for every ten questions. “I had a minor in statistics, and it’s not that hard to figure out windows of probability,” he told me. Many students were on the cusp of passing, and he gave them a little nudge, so that they would pass by one or two points.

New Regency will fund the project and will join Coogler and Jordan to bring it to fruition following the end of the pair’s commitment to Marvel’s ‘Black Panther.‘

Your thoughts?

Oprah Winfrey has revealed why her OWN network rejected the offer to pick up the series ‘Underground.’

Fans of the groundbreaking series will know that it was pulled off the air after its home network WGN  revealed it was moving away from scripted content.

Said fans had hoped the series would find another homes swiftly as they anticipated its next season.

Why Oprah decided to turn it down?

I can’t afford Underground. It cost twice as much to make as Queen Sugar. As a matter of fact, my dear friend John Legend called me personally and asked me about it, but we’d already been talking about how we could make it work […] it’s like $5 million an episode, so we can’t afford it. It’s not cheap, I think because it’s a period piece.

She revealed the above during a recent interview launched to promote the aforementioned ‘Sugar.’

Your thoughts?

As Nicki Minaj’s fourth studio album glides closer to its release date the rapper continues to give the world good reason to anticipate it.

In an interview with her old friend DJ Whoo Kid, the entertainer revealed that the set will be classically Hip-Hop and how her fan base, The Kingdom, have inspired its stories.

She shared:

My fans are a different level of die-hard. I always feel like I gotta make them proud. I gotta go hard. I gotta impress them. They always waiting for me. That’s a blessing in itself.

I know it’s going to be my best body of work and I always love to be in real time, see my fans reacting to something. That’s what I’m looking forward to now. Obviously, I’m not telling them when my album is coming out, but I know that it’s gonna be amazing because I want to thank the people who’ve rocked with me for all of these years.

Are you looking forward to the album?

The Star Jones-produced daytime talk show spoof, ‘Daytime Divas,’ is off to a solid start we must say.

The series, loosely based on ABC’s ‘The View’ and toplined singer/actress Vanessa Williams and veteran TV actress Tichina Arnold, made its premiere on VH1 last night with numbers that helped assist the network win cable ratings overall.  Thanks, in part, to an impressive lead-in from the highly rated ‘Love & Hip Hop’ and ‘Basketball Wives’ franchises, ‘Divas’ fared well (especially for its 10p timeslot).

Curious to see just how many tuned in?  Tuck in below:

‘Daytime Divas’ Premiere Ratings = 1.28 million

–source

Your thoughts?