“Barbie” makes her way onto the Max streaming service and the second season of Prime Video’s “Reacher” starring Alan Ritchson are some of the new television, movies and music headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are the reuniting of early cast members of “The Real Housewives of New York” for a new Bravo series, a Christmas TV special from country star Cody Johnson and Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” concert movie lands in homes on premium on-demand.
— “Barbie.” The blockbuster of the year is finally making its streaming debut, just in time for the holidays. Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” will premiere Friday on Max (formerly HBO Max) after its pink-festooned $1.4 billion bonanza in theaters. (The film also remains available on video-on-demand.) So prepare your Mojo Dojo Casa House now for the hit of 2023.
— After a tour through North American stadiums and a blockbuster debut in cinemas, Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” lands in homes, appropriately enough, on Swift’s birthday. “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” the concert film of Swift’s career-spanning spectacular, premieres on premium on-demand Wednesday. How much it will cost to digitally rent the film hasn’t been announced, but tickets to the movie cost $19.89, a reference to Swift’s album, “1989.” An already lengthy film (2 hours and 49 minutes) will also now run past three hours, with the addition of three songs: “Wildest Dreams,” “Long Live” and “The Archer.” In her review, AP Music Writer Maria Sherman praised the experience of seeing the Time Magazine Person of the Year up close in “The Eras Tour,” calling it “a near exact replica of her blockbuster concert performance.”
— More than two decades after the release of “Chicken Run,” Aardman Animations has returned to the adventures of its defiant feathered protagonist, Ginger, in the sequel “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.” The 2000 original remains the highest grossing stop-motion animation flick ever with more than $227 million in ticket sales. But “Dawn of the Nugget,” which introduces an all-new voice cast including Thandiwe Newton, Bella Ramsey and Zachary Levi, debuts Friday, Dec. 15, on Netflix. In it, Ginger has escaped from Tweedy Farm and found sanctuary elsewhere, but again must lead the flock to freedom.
— In writer-director Rodrigo Moreno’s “The Delinquents,” Morán (Daniel Eliás) has a clever scheme to steal from the bank he works in. He’ll steal only what he would be paid for 25 years of work, hide the money with a colleague (Esteban Bigliardi), confess to the crime and do three years in jail before having the rest of his life to himself. In the film, which streams Friday, Dec. 15, on Mubi, Moreno takes the hard genre apparatus of a heist movie and melts it into an existential meditation on life, work, and stolen time.
— This year, it’s a cowboy Christmas – so put a little yeehaw in your stocking. Country star Cody Johnson, fresh off his critically acclaimed studio album “Leather,” is inviting viewers into his home for the holidays. On Wednesday on CMT, catch his “CMT Presents: A Cody Johnson Christmas” special, in which Johnson and his family share their favorite traditions – and Johnson breaks out into a Christmas classic or two. It’s all the charm of a Texas holiday season, without having to leave the couch for the ranch. You’ll have to provide yourself with the spiked eggnog, however.
— Looking for more holiday tunes? Check out AP’s holiday music roundup.
— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman
— Peacock has been airing Bravo “Ultimate Girls Trip” series where they pluck various “Real Housewives” cast members, past and present, from different cities and send them to a destination as far as Thailand and as close as the Berkshires mountains in Massachusetts. The latest iteration, “The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy” features some of the early cast members of “The Real Housewives of New York” (prior to its reboot earlier this year with an all-new cast.) Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Luann de Lesseps, Dorinda Medley, Sonja Morgan, Ramona Singer and Kristen Taekman jet off to St. Barths to stay at a location familiar to fans, Saline Beach, featured in the reality show’s fifth season. The first three episodes drop Thursday.
— The 50th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were postponed last June due to the Hollywood writers’ strike and will now air Friday, Dec. 15 on CBS and Paramount+. Hosted by Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner of “Entertainment Tonight,” “General Hospital” leads with 19 nominations followed by “The Bold and the Beautiful” with 14. “The Kelly Clarkson Show” has 11 nominations, the most for a daytime talk show. Longtime “All My Children” star, Susan Lucci, will receive a Lifetime Achievement award.
— The second season of Prime Video’s “Reacher” starring Alan Ritchson returns Friday, Dec. 15 and is based on Lee Child’s novel “Bad Luck and Trouble.” The new episodes see Reacher with a new cast of characters, as he is depicted as a loner who spends his life traveling from town to town, with no home base or belongings, except for a toothbrush. Season three has already been ordered.
Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/entertainment.
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