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Release date and more details on Disney sequel
2024 in Film: “Inside Out 2” and other sequels rule the box office
With the 2023 Hollywood strikes in the rearview, was Hollywood able to come roaring back in 2024?
Remember him?
A sequel to the Pixar animated film “Coco” is officially on the way, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced Thursday during a shareholder meeting.
“While the film is just in the initial stages, we know it will be full of humor, heart and adventure, and we can’t wait to share more soon,” Iger said.
Released in 2017, the original “Coco” centered on a young aspiring musician named Miguel, who travels to the Land of the Dead. The film received critical acclaim, grossed over $800 million at the worldwide box office and won two Academy Awards: best animated film and best original song for “Remember Me.”
Anthony Gonzalez voiced Miguel in the original movie, and the voice cast also included Gael García Bernal and Edward James Olmos.
When will ‘Coco 2’ be released?
A social media post on Pixar’s X account Thursday said that “Coco 2” will hit theaters in 2029. But the post was later edited to not mention a year, and a press release provided by Disney did not specify when the film will debut. USA TODAY has reached out to Disney for clarification.
The announcement came on the heels of Pixar achieving massive success in 2024 with “Inside Out 2,” which grossed over $1.6 billion worldwide and became the highest grossing animated film in history at the time. The record was later broken by “Ne Zha 2.” This was seen as a return-to-form for Pixar, which released three consecutive movies, from 2020’s “Soul” to 2022’s “Turning Red,” directly on Disney+ during the COVID-19 pandemic, without a theatrical release in the United States.
The studio returned to theaters in 2022 with the “Toy Story” spinoff “Lightyear,” which disappointed at the box office. Coming off “Inside Out 2,” the “Coco 2” announcement indicated that Disney is doubling down further on sequels to its Pixar titles, several of which are already on the way.
The non-Pixar sequel “Moana 2” was also a hit for Disney in November, grossing more than $1 billion worldwide after achieving the biggest Thanksgiving weekend opening in history.
Who’s making ‘Coco 2’?
Disney said the team behind the original “Coco,” including director Lee Unkrich and co-director Adrian Molina, are returning for the sequel, which will be produced by “Toy Story 4” and “Inside Out 2” producer Mark Nielsen. Unkrich previously directed “Toy Story 3,” while Molina co-directed Pixar’s upcoming “Elio,” an original film slated for June.
‘Coco 2’ logo unveiled by Disney
Information about the cast and plot of “Coco 2” was not revealed on Thursday, but Pixar did share the movie’s official logo.
What other Pixar sequels are on the way?
Pixar’s next major sequel after “Inside Out 2” will be “Toy Story 5,” set for release on June 19, 2026. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are returning for the film by “Finding Nemo” and “Wall-E” director Andrew Stanton.
“This time around it’s Toy meets Tech,” and “Buzz, Woody, Jessie, and the rest of the gag’s jobs get exponentially harder when they go head to head with this all new threat to playtime,” per the official plot synopsis.
“Incredibles 3” is also in the works at Pixar, though a release date hasn’t been announced. And while a third “Inside Out” hasn’t been confirmed, it seems all but certain after the success of the second entry.
Outside of Pixar, Disney will debut “Zootopia 2” in time for Thanksgiving 2025, “Ice Age 6” will arrive in 2026, and “Frozen 3” will hit theaters in 2027, with a fourth “Frozen” also announced.
“We’re leaning a little bit more into sequels and franchises,” Iger said last year in an earnings call. “Given the environment, and given what it takes to get people out of their homes to see a film, doing that, leaning on franchises that are familiar, is actually a smart thing.”
How to stream ‘Coco’
The original “Coco” is available to stream on Disney+.
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Blake Lively files motion to dismiss ‘vengeful’ Justin Baldoni lawsuit
Blake Lively appears at ‘Another Simple Favor’ premiere amid lawsuits
Blake Lively made a public appearance at SXSW as she and “It Ends With Us” director Justin Baldoni litigate alleged on-set misconduct in court.
Blake Lively followed in her husband’s footsteps Thursday, filing a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought against her by ex-co-star Justin Baldoni.
Lively, whose partner Ryan Reynolds filed a similar motion in New York on Tuesday, is pushing for a judge to dismiss Baldoni’s claims against her, calling his lawsuit “vengeful and rambling.”
USA TODAY has reached out to reps for Baldoni for comment.
Baldoni and Lively co-headlined the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s buzzy novel “It Ends with Us,” − a project that ended in scandal when Lively alleged sexual harassment on set at the hands of Baldoni, who countered that she and Reynolds used their fame to extort and defame him. Sandwiched in the middle was an online public flogging of Lively over her “mean girl” persona, which at first appeared organic before Lively alleged it was the product of a highly coordinated but covert smear campaign spearheaded by Baldoni.
Swapping lawsuits and increasingly hostile claims, Baldoni and Lively have found themselves at odds in both the courts and the press. Lively’s most recent move alleges that Baldoni’s suit is an illegal retaliatory blow, taken to punish her for speaking out.
“The law prohibits weaponizing defamation lawsuits, like this one, to retaliate against individuals who have filed legal claims or have publicly spoken out about sexual harassment and retaliation,” her legal team wrote in a filing Thursday.
The motion comes in response to a lawsuit from Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios, which produced “It Ends with Us,” that accused Lively of conspiring with The New York Times to defame him in a December article that outlined Lively’s claims in depth.
“In an epic self-own, the Wayfarer Parties have created more liability for themselves by their malicious efforts to sue Ms. Lively ‘into oblivion,’” lawyers for the actress wrote, referencing alleged claims by Wayfarer’s cofounder Steve Sarowitz. “Sarowitz may indeed make good on his threat to spend ‘$100 million’ litigating against Ms. Lively, but perhaps not in the way he planned.”
Lively’s lawyers also took aim at what they describe as the contradictory logic at the heart of Baldoni’s suit.
“On the one hand,” they wrote, Baldoni and Wayfarer “insist that Ms. Lively is an immensely powerful Hollywood superstar who, along with her influential husband, wielded power to steal creative control … but on the other hand, they claim she was so powerless that the only way she could have any power was by manufacturing sexual harassment allegations almost a year in advance in a Machiavellian long game.”
Zeroing in on Baldoni’s claims of defamation, Lively’s legal team echoed the argument Reynolds made in his Tuesday motion, asserting that defamation implies a person does not believe what they are alleging. But Lively did believe she had been harassed and mistreated on set, the filing claims, making the defamation accusation false.
“The painful reality is that Ms. Lively is not alone in being sued for defamation after speaking up about being sexually harassed at work,” a representative for Lively wrote in a statement sent to USA TODAY Thursday. “While Ms. Lively has suffered greatly by speaking up and pursuing legal claims, it is important for other people to know that they have protections and that there is a specific law that expressly protects them from being silenced or financially ruined by a defamation lawsuit because they had the courage to speak up.”
Reynolds, in his own motion, argued through his legal team that Baldoni had self-identified as a predator through his books and podcast. Firing back at Baldoni, who rose to fame on “Jane the Virgin” before pivoting to a public speaking role centered around a rejection of toxic masculinity, Reynolds said you can’t sue over “hurt feelings” and stood by the assertions made by his wife.
Responding to Reynolds’ motion Wednesday, Baldoni’s lawyers wrote in a statement to USA TODAY: “Mr. Reynolds’ exploitation of his enormous power in Hollywood continues, this time arrogantly asking to be dismissed from the case despite his publicly documented involvement extending far beyond just being a ‘supportive spouse.’”
Baldoni and Lively are headed to trial next year.
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Bret Michaels: All the best photos of the Poison singerMusic
Bret Michaels: All the best photos of the Poison singerMusic
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Dancers recreate Justin Bieber dance decade laterEntertainment
Dancers recreate Justin Bieber dance decade laterEntertainment
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'Happy Face' serial killer Christmas, Keith Jesperson family photosTV
‘Happy Face’ serial killer Christmas, Keith Jesperson family photosTV
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How true is ‘Happy Face’? Serial-killer crime series fact check
Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper and DNA: New tech solving murders
From Ted Bundy to Jack the Ripper, new DNA technology is solving murder mysteries, finding serial killers, and exonerating innocents.
Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
The horrors surrounding “Happy Face” are bone-chillingly true.
The Paramount+ crime drama series delves into the seemingly all-American upbringing of Melissa G. Moore, which is terrifyingly upended when she discovers that her truck driver father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, is the serial murderer known as the Happy Face Killer. Jesperson is spending his life sentence in an Oregon prison for the murders of eight women from 1990 to 1995, and might have committed even more.
But much of the eight-episode series, starring Annaleigh Ashford as Melissa, is heavily dramatized. “Happy Face” is “inspired by a true story,” according to an opening disclaimer, and indulges in significant license.
“It’s a true-crime story based on true events,” says Dennis Quaid, who plays the wire-rimmed glasses-wearing Jesperson. “Melissa had to reconcile the loving relationship she had with her father as a child with the monster her father was in reality. That’s where our story comes from.”
Here’s what’s drama and what’s true in “Happy Face,” (first two episodes now streaming, then weekly on Thursdays), as told by the real Melissa, an executive producer on the series, author, true-crime journalist and victim’s advocate who lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband Steve.
The ‘Dr. Greg’ talk show premise: Those dogs don’t hunt
The series portrays Melissa as an unassuming makeup artist on the “Dr. Greg Show” where she’s convinced to get her imprisoned father to reveal new murder victims, preferably on camera. Moore first told her story on TV for the “Dr. Phil” show in 2008 and has appeared as a crime correspondent for “The Dr. Oz Show.” She even had an early stint at cosmetology school. But the “Dr. Greg Show” aspect is pure fiction.
Moore’s story garnered attention with her 2018 true-crime podcast “Happy Face.” But she first told it in her 2009 book “Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter.”
“That was my chance to have a reckoning with my own story and tell it,” Moore tells USA TODAY.
Many childhood moments really happened, even the spaghetti sauce sighting
Many of the scenes from Melissa’s childhood reflect the innocence of growing up as one of three children of Jesperson and their mother, Rose Hucke (the couple divorced in 1990). There are happy moments with her father (he called her Missy). But many memories have turned sinister in retrospect. A scene where hidden duct tape rolls out of from under her father’s truck cab bed happened, she says: “It was an industrial-sized roll.” Also true: The scene in which a teenage Melissa visits her recently divorced father in Portland, Oregon, and notices a red substance on the ceiling fan. He chalks it up to spaghetti sauce, but the 1990 trip was right after Jesperson’s first known murder. “I had no idea that I was in a crime scene,” says Moore. “I’m speculating that was blood.”
‘Happy Face’ father-daughter prison visits are amped
The tense prison visits between Moore and her father are heavily exaggerated for drama. Melissa says she’s seen her dad in prison twice, first when he was charged with killing his then-girlfriend Julie Winningham in 1995. “He said, ‘Missy, my best advice is to change your last name.’ That’s when I knew he was guilty,” says Moore, who followed it. “We would learn that next summer that he committed seven more murders.”
Moore says her only 2005 prison visit, accompanied by her then-husband, prompted Jesperson, now 69, to immediately ask his daughter if she wanted a motive.
“Do you want to know why?” Moore recalls him saying, but she declined to hear his explanation. “So then he started talking to my husband about mortgages. It was bizarre.”
“I still want to know why,” she says. “But I thought he would just play games.”
The Happy Face name came from notes from the killer
Quaid incorporates a leering smile as Jesperson, especially when speaking to his daughter in scenes shot in a defunct prison. However, the Happy Face Killer nickname came from taunting notes Jesperson left authorities, which featured a pre-emoji written smiling face, as depicted in the series.
“He’d even leave messages on bathroom walls with the happy face. That was kind of his I.D.,” says Quaid. “He’s not smart but thinks he’s this master manipulator.”
When researching the role, the 6-foot-tall Quaid never sought to meet the 6-foot-6-inch Jesperson in prison. “I have and had no interest in meeting him,” says Quaid. “I think I’d just get a bunch of b.s. anyways.”
Melissa’s children were curious about their unknown grandfather
“Happy Face” shows Melissa making a call on a burner phone to her father in prison, ordering him to stop writing letters to her children. This verbal confrontation didn’t happen, but the discomfort of her children finding about their granddad was real. Moore says her kids naturally started asking about their never-spoken-of grandfather when they were teenagers. Jesperson wrote about the kids in letters to her, and some sent to her husband.
Her father “really wants to have this family reunion. That’ll never happen,” says Moore.
Some of Jesperson’s letters were reflected in the series’ conversations between the father and daughter, including their first prison visit, where he says, “Missy, you gonna come over here and do my makeup? Make me look pretty for the camera?”
“My dad had written that to me, saying that if I ever came to visit, to let him know,” says Moore. “Because he wanted to look really good, camera-ready.’”
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Dead & Company at Las Vegas Sphere 2025: Concert dates, tickets, more
Dead & Company, which includes Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, along with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chimenti and Jay Lane, are returning to Sphere in Las Vegas this week.
The Las Vegas Sphere is still turning heads with eye-catching visuals
The MSG Sphere in Las Vegas has already secured its place as of the best displays off the Strip with its eye-catching visuals.
Dead & Company have unfinished business in Las Vegas.
The band, led by Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, along with John Mayer, are about to start a second Dead Forever residency at Sphere, the $2.3 billion venue that opened with a U2 concert in September 2023.
This run of 18 shows, which starts Thursday and is scheduled to end May 17, coincides with the 10th anniversary of Dead & Company’s formation.
Last year, Dead & Company became the third band to have a residency at Sphere, playing 30 shows. U2 christened the $2.3 billion venue, playing 40 shows from September 2023 to March 2024. Then, Phish played four shows in April 2024.
The Eagles, the fourth band to have a residency at Sphere, began their run in September 2024 and will play their final shows next month – then return for additional dates in September.
Kenny Chesney takes over the Sphere stage in May after Dead & Company’s run is over and the Backstreet Boys saunter in come July.
Who performs with Dead & Company?
The band formed after the Grateful Dead’s “Fare Thee Well” shows in summer 2015, which included the “Core Four” of Weir, Hart, bass player Phil Lesh (who died in October 2024) and drummer Bill Kreutzmann – Trey Anastasio of Phish supplied guitar work to stand in for the late Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995.
Lesh continued to perform with Phil and Friends. But Weir and Mayer clicked when they appeared together on The Late Late Show host (Mayer was serving as the host).
That led to the formation of Dead & Company with Hart, fellow Grateful Dead percussionist Bill Kreutzmann, bassist Oteil Burbridge from the Allman Brothers Band and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti (who had also played the Fair Thee Well shows). Drummer Jay Lane, who served as a replacement previously for Dead & Company – and played with Weir in his bands Ratdog and Wolf Bros. – has been on board since 2023, replacing Kreutzmann.
Dead & Company dates at Sphere
The band will play three consecutive nights over six weeks this spring. Concerts during March and April will run Thursday-Saturday. In May, the band will play Friday to Sunday (May 9-11) and Thursday to Saturday (May 15-17).
- March 20-22
- March 27-29
- April 17-19
- April 24-26
- May 9-11
- May 15-17
How to get tickets to see Dead & Company at Sphere in Las Vegas
Tickets can be had. For Thursday’s show, Ticketmaster had tickets starting at $135 for limited view of Sphere screen but full view of the band and stage. Other choices include general admission tickets at a resale price of $363 and second level tickets starting at under $400 .
For Saturday, March 22, tickets start at $182 for limited Sphere view seats. There’s Platinum seats in the 100 level at about $475.
Three-night hotel and VIP packages from Vibee appear to be sold out for the entire residency.
Got a group? Suite reservations are still available at $22,000 for 20 guests (includes tickets and amenities).
Grateful Dead happenings
Can’t get to Vegas and need a Dead connection? You can pre-order “Enjoying the Ride,” a 60-CD box set ($599.98) with 60 hours of the Grateful Dead’s live performances from 1969 to 1994.
That collection commemorates the band’s 60th anniversary – it formed in 1965 – and so does another collection from outdoor gear company Retrospec. Among the Grateful Dead-styled limited edition products are bikes, ebikes, kayaks and paddle boards decorated with Dead iconography.
For little ones, there’s a Baby Walker Balance Bike (for ages 12-24 months; $59.99) decorated with a parade of bears. For bigger kids: Grateful Dead Koa Rev+ 2 Fat Tire Electric Bike ($2,049.99) emblazoned with lightning bolts and a Steal Your Face skull on the frame.
In December 2024, the Grateful Dead was among artists recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors. The band was also dubbed 2025’s MusiCares Persons of the Year at an event before the Grammys in February.
Follow Mike Snider on Threads, Bluesky and X: mikegsnider & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider.
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Robert De Niro new movie ‘Alto Knights’ casts him in dual roles
‘The Alto Knights’: Watch Robert De Niro play dual roles
Robert De Niro takes on dual roles in the Mafia movie “The Alto Knights,” playing real-life gangsters Vito Genovese and Frank Costello.
IVA – Movie Trailers
Robert De Niro has been a riveting force in countless films, but never more so than when portraying mobsters, whether the young Vito Corleone in “The Godfather Part II” or James Conway in “Goodfellas.” So how about De Niro playing not one but two Mafia kingpins in the same movie?
That’s what we’ve got in “The Alto Knights” (in theaters Friday), the true story of friends-turned-enemies Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. De Niro was initially cast to play Costello, but when challenged agreed to also play Genovese, adopting a pinched accent and enduring hours in the makeup chair.
When producer Irwin Winkler suggested, “‘Why don’t you think about playing both parts,’ I said, ‘What does that mean, how do we do that? Give me a moment to think about it,’ ” says De Niro, 81, who most recently appeared in the Netflix series “Zero Day.”
“I didn’t really think I’d be doing another gangster movie, but doing both roles I thought would justify it even more,” the actor says. “Plus, I’d do anything with these two people.”
He means frequent collaborators Winkler and director Barry Levinson (who made “The Wizard of Lies” and “Wag the Dog” with De Niro). The duo were intrigued by a movie that could tell not only the Cain and Abel story of two childhood pals turned lethal adversaries, but also the demise of the Mafia’s national stranglehold, which began with Costello’s famous testimony before a congressional hearing in 1951.
‘The Alto Knights’ was written by a giant of the Mob genre, Nicholas Pileggi
“The Alto Knights” has impressive Hollywood mob film DNA. Its script was written by Nicholas Pileggi, who adapted two of his Mafia books into screenplays that starred De Niro: “Goodfellas” (1990) and “Casino” (1995), both directed by Martin Scorsese.
While “Alto Knights” − which refers to a New York social club frequented by mob members − traces the mob’s slow dissolution, the film’s main appeal is watching a master actor act opposite himself.
For those scenes where he is literally in dialogue with himself as both Costello and Genovese, De Niro said his lines to an actor in the film (Joe Bacino), who offered to double as De Niro’s other lead character.
“I couldn’t do it with someone just reading lines to me,” says De Niro. “Joe seemed like a good guy to work with, so he learned the parts. He also knew that world, so even if we went off a bit (from the script), I knew it would be OK.”
Says Levinson of his star, “Bob really responded to the challenge of playing both guys. He had to develop different rhythms. Vito is more aggressive, both as a character and in the way he talks. But though Bob is a great actor, he still really works on things. It was fascinating to see him craft the two roles.”
De Niro brushes off suggestions that the task was laborious. “Yeah, sure, Vito has a more clipped way of talking, but I just tried to show how different these two guys became after their childhoods,” he says. “I watched whatever films they were in, the real guys, which wasn’t much. So in the end, I just had to jump in.”
Debra Messing’s role as a mob wife found her improvising opposite Robert De Niro
For comedian Debra Messing, (“Will & Grace”) who plays Costello’s concerned wife Bobbie, De Niro’s penchant for getting deep inside his character proved terrifying.
“He’s the GOAT, so, yes, I was nervous,” she says with a laugh. “We did a table read with a few scenes, and I had worked on Bobbie’s accent and did all my good student acting work, but on the third line, Bob started improving. I froze. I thought, ‘Oh, my God, Robert De Niro is improvising with me, and I don’t know anything about this story, really.’”
De Niro was reassuring and kind to his impressed co-star, says Messing, who learned to understand the man’s method through close observation. “He would talk about things that seemed tangential, and then find his way back to the scene, but that’s just his process,” she says.
Mob boss Frank Costello was bold on many fronts, including marrying a Jewish woman
There was another interesting twist to the role. “I just loved that this was a true story, and that Frank Costello was the only mob boss who married someone Jewish,” says Messing, who is Jewish. “That was intriguing to me. I did a lot of research on her and learned what a strong woman she was. She was not of her time. They were real partners and she had opinions that he respected.”
Of Messing’s performance, Levinson says that while he’d “never seen her do anything dramatic before,” the actress had a sense of the character immediately. “It was best to just leave her alone,” he says.
Same approach for his star, who relished the challenge of playing two men from similar upbringings who then took such different approaches to their lives in the Mafia.
“Ultimately,” says De Niro, “what it comes down to I guess is these guys are two sides of the same coin.”
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Singer splits from Daniel Bernard, had baby in 2024
Sia and husband Daniel Bernard have called it quits, reports say.
The “Chandelier” singer filed to divorce her second husband after two years of marriage, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press and People.
The filing also reveals the couple privately had a baby in March 2024: They share 11-month-old Somersault Wonder Bernard, her third child.
The 49-year-old Australian singer-songwriter, born Sia Furler, cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split and listed their date of separation as Tuesday, according to the outlets.
USA TODAY has reached out to Sia’s reps for comment.
The Grammy nominee requested sole physical and legal custody of Somersault but indicated the option for her ex to have visitation rights, People reported. She also asked the court not to grant Bernard spousal support, according to the outlets.
Hannah Montana star Emily Osment files for divorce after five months of marriage
Emily Osment has filed for divorce from Jack Anthony after five months of marriage and declared that it just “didn’t work out.”
Bang Showbiz
The notoriously mysterious singer married Bernard in December 2022, and the pair held their wedding ceremony the following May in Portofino, Italy, according to the outlets. People reported only a half dozen people were in attendance.
In 2020, Sia revealed she adopted two teenage sons who were “aging out of the foster care system” the previous year. In a GQ cover story on Diplo, she told the magazine in January 2020 that she texted the DJ to say, “I’ve decided to be single for the rest of my life, and I just adopted a son. I don’t have time for a relationship.” Soon after announcing the news, Sia announced she had become a grandma.
Sia was previously married to filmmaker Erik Anders Lang from 2014 until their separation in 2016.