Disney

Elizabeth Olsen has been real honest about her time with Marvel -- namely, feeling like she invested far too many years working for them -- and now ... she's hitting that point home.

The actress -- famous for playing Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch throughout the 'Avengers' movies -- got candid yet again this weekend in a sit-down interview with Meghann Fahy, as part of Variety's 'Actors on Actors' series. One quote of hers is getting a double-take online.

Fahy asks Olsen if she stays up at night missing Wanda -- or playing her, presumably -- and EO's reaction is telling. She says she doesn't ... but you gotta watch *how* she says it.

There's a little bit of sass and saltiness in her response, and you can tell she truly means it. As she goes on to explain, she's played that character for the better part of 10 years, and she's more than ready to put Wanda's stories on the bookshelf ... at least for now.

Olsen adds that she's proud of the work she did with Kevin Feige and co. ... and feels content with letting those projects speak for themselves -- including "WandaVision," which was a huge Disney+ hit that focused solely on her role, with a full-fledged backstory.

So, her take here seems to be two-fold -- yes, she's over it and has no desire to link up again anytime soon ... but also, she's grateful for the opportunity to have been a superhero.

BTW, her response here about missing Wanda is very much in line with other comments she's made of late about Marvel. She's been on the record over the past year or so -- via several outlets -- saying that she wishes she would've only given the Mouse House one year of her services as opposed to several ... as there were times she was frustrated.

She's said she felt, at times, like she missed out on other interesting opportunities -- remember, she comes from an indie film background -- that she might've liked to have pursued. But, because she was under contract with Marvel, she had to pass on 'em.

The new 'Spider-Man' movie went gangbusters at the box office this weekend -- hauling in a bundle ... and proving that having 2 studio parents for this IP might actually be best.

Of course, we're talking about "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" ... which took the top spot by a mile over the past three days -- with a final tally of about $120.5 million in ticket sales domestically. That's the 2nd best box office of 2023 ... behind 'Super Mario Bros.'

It's easily the money-maker of the summer thus far ... and the good news is that it exceeded expectations by a ton. 'Across the Spider-Verse' was projected to bring in just $80M-$90M ... but it blew well past that, and lands as one of the best-performing 'Spider-Man' flicks ever.

Not just that, but the reviews are off the charts ... with many calling it the best 'Spider-Man' installment and 'Spider-Man' story told in modern times. So, what do we make of all this???

There's a couple takeaways -- which Twitter seems to somewhat agree with -- and the first is ... Sony holding on to some of the 'Spider-Man' rights over the years has, perhaps, turned out to be for the best. Clearly, they partner with Marvel for all things Spidey ... but many say they've kept the character/IP grounded, despite Disney's overly-grand CBM aspirations.

The other fascinating element here is that Sony/Disney has been able to achieve true diversity in a character that has long been considered a typical white male in Peter Parker.

With the Miles Morales character -- who's Black/Puerto Rican -- there's a new face to Spider-Man (not to mention all the other Spider-Men in the movie) ... and there was little to no outrage over it. Of course, a lot of that might have to do with the fact that Miles and co. are comic canon ... so shout out to the writers who created these characters a long time ago!

It's interesting ... there've been a number of actors who've played Spider-Man (both live-action and animated) over the years -- but Tom Holland says Shameik Moore's Morales might, in fact, be the best out of all of them. He said as much anyway in a recent interview.

Galyn Susman -- the longtime Disney producer who's credited with saving "Toy Story 2" -- just got the boot alongside several other Pixar employees ... and fans are pissed.

The news came down Saturday from Reuters, which reported Susman was one of 75 Pixar workers who recently gotten the axe in mass layoffs. She was one of 3 key Pixar people to be let go ... the others included Michael Agulnek -- Pixar's VP of worldwide publicity -- and 'Lightyear' director Angus MacLane, who was involved in other Pixar flicks too.

The firings are reportedly tied to the bomb that was last year's 'Lightyear' ... a movie based on the "real" Buzz Lightyear, voiced by Chris Evans. It had a budget of about $200 mil, and only made $226 mil at the worldwide box office ... not to mention middling reviews.

While the film didn't do well, many are saying that scapegoating -- and ultimately canning -- the execs/producers tied to its development is cold-blooded ... especially as it pertains to Galyn, who played a very important in preserving what was left of 'TS2' at the time.

It's the stuff of legends -- and this story's been repeated several times by Disney execs over the years. There was some kind of glitch in Disney's computers that literally deleted upwards of 90% of the movie back then as it was about a year out from its imminent release date.

The studio was scrambling to preserve whatever was left, but from the looks of it ... they were going to have to start from scratch -- that is, until Galyn came to the rescue with a backup copy ... which she fortunately had in her possession due to her WFH/maternity leave.

In the end, Disney remade the movie anyway -- creating a different version from what Galyn had saved -- but her extra files undoubtedly saved them a lot of time/work/money.

Sergio Calderón, who starred in numerous films, including "Men In Black" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," has died.

Calderón passed away Thursday morning surrounded by his family after he was previously hospitalized with pneumonia, a rep told "ET." His cause of death has not been disclosed.

Calderón enjoyed a long career in Hollywood, collecting more than 50 film and TV credits dating back to the 1970s. Two of his most notable roles were as Captain Vallenueva in 'At World's End' (2007) and Jose — a.k.a. the "head on a stick" guy — in 'Men in Black' (1997).

He also landed parts in "The Missing" (2003), "The Ruins" (2008) and "Little Fockers" (2010). He retired in 2022 after performances in his last three projects: "The Seven Faces of Jane," "Better Things" and "The Resort."

Calderón was 77.

Safe to say Serena Williams' 5-year-old daughter is a big fan of "The Little Mermaid" ... Olympia LOST IT after she got a Halle Bailey "Ariel" doll, and the entire adorable reaction was captured on video!

The video, which was shared on Olympia's Instagram, shows dad Alexis Ohanian handing his daughter a package from Amazon.

"Momma and poppa wanted to get this for you," Ohanian said.

When Olympia realized it was Bailey as Ariel, she (literally) jumped for joy ... and started screaming hysterically.

"Yay! 'Little Mermaid!'" Olympia yelled. "Thank you!"

Olympia explained it was her first LM doll ... and even broke down how she was going to play with Ariel for Mom and Dad.

The 2023 live-action version of "The Little Mermaid" has been a hit at the box office ... with Bailey recently celebrating the movie being number one in the world.

The movie reportedly grossed over $164 million globally over Memorial Day weekend, according to Deadline.

Of course, Olympia also made news a few days ago, losing it when Serena told her she was going to be a big sister!

The 23-time Grand Slam champ said Olympia had wanted a baby brother/sister ... and she's finally getting her wish.

Something about the new live-action version of "The Little Mermaid" isn't sitting right with singer Paloma Faith ... who says the movie's plot is a really hard one to explain to her kiddos.

Paloma took to social media over the weekend, first congratulating Halle Bailey for her performance in the new Disney flick -- before dragging the story's main focus, saying "I don’t want my kids to think it’s ok to give up your entire voice and your powers to love a man."

She added, "Wtf is this s***?! Not what I want to be teaching next gen women at all.” Of course, she's referring to Ariel giving up her own voice to become a human to be with her love interest, Prince Eric.

For those unaware, it's the same trope that was used in the original 1989 version, so it seems Paloma might've forgotten the story before watching this new adaptation.

However, Halle told Edition earlier this year that her new version "definitely changed that perspective of just her wanting to leave the ocean for a boy ... It’s way bigger than that. It’s about herself, her purpose, her freedom, her life and what she wants.”

Looks like Jennifer Garner is mixin’ pretty well with her ex Ben Affleck and his new boo Jennifer Lopez -- because she took to the happiest place on Earth over the weekend with not only her daughter, but J-Lo’s kid, too.

The actress was in full chaperone mode at Disneyland Sunday, wrangling a group of teens at the beloved theme park ... having some fun with her youngest daughter, Seraphina, and some of her pals -- as well as Lopez's 15-year-old kid, Emme, whom the singer shares with Marc Anthony.

Seems to be no issues over here with the new family dynamic ... JG even got them all to snap some pics in front of the castle -- with Emme and Seraphina cheesing right next to each other!

As you know, Affleck and Garner pulled the plug on their decade-long marriage back in 2015, with Ben and J-Lo tying the knot last year.

The makeup artist who gave Ursula her look in "The Little Mermaid" says the blowback he's gotten from members of the LGBTQ community is ridiculous ... that only someone from that community should have been tapped for the job.

Peter King, a seasoned makeup artist, has been under fire from some LGBTQ members, who groused Melissa McCarthy's sea witch character -- inspired by drag queen Divine -- should not have been done up at the hands of anyone outside the community.

King went on the offensive, saying, "I find that very offensive. Why can't I do as good a job as a queer makeup artist?"

Mr. King is seasoned at his craft, doing makeup for "The Lord of the Rings," "Star Wars: Episode VIII -- The Last Jedi, and "Spider-Man." He said, "I personally don't get it. Yes, I'm very old now, so that's fine, I get that too, but you know, a makeup artist or makeup designer could design makeup, they don't have to have an attachment to the nature of what they're doing."

Meanwhile, the #1 film this weekend -- expected to top $120M -- had a famous guest in one of the theaters ... Halle Bailey, who posted video of herself in disguise taking in the action.

And, speaking of action, a fight broke out at one theater ... unsure what it was about, but fists were flying -- adult fists -- which is crazy, right?

A sign of the times.

Jodi Benson's looks over the years are out of this world!

Watch and you'll see ... a 38-year-old version of the first 'Little Mermaid' looking absolutely fin-tastic at the premiere of "The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea" in Hollywood, California back in 2000 (left). This was over a decade after the release of the original Disney classic film.

And, 23 years later, the stunning actress recently ran a dinglehopper through her hair and hit the premiere for the live-action, "The Little Mermaid," where she looked like no time had gone by (right).

Jodi has shined like a trove full of whozits and whatzits for decades, but the question is ...

Underneath this mashed-up photo is a comedian and actress who's all about the "girl code," and back in 2018 ... you may have seen her hosting an 'SNL' episode! Grab your shiniest snarfblatt and see if you can play with this unknown star!

Somewhere above the sea, this girl has cracked many knee-slappers in her day like playing Rachel Chu's bestie, and while she may not be the tallest gal on the block, she sure is mighty ... just ask her 'Jumanji' costar Dwayne Johnson.

Can you say "farewell" to this scrambled face before they go after the sea witch?

Halle Bailey's 'Little Mermaid' got tons of backlash when it was first announced, but now that it's out -- it seems folks are more curious than angry ... 'cause they're flocking to see it.

Disney's latest live-action adaptation hit theaters this weekend -- a 4-day one at that -- and so far, 'TLM' is cleaning up in ticket sales ... projected to land on a record-setting box office haul, with an estimated $120 mil-$130 mil to its name by the time Monday rolls around.

Some analysts have the film pegged to make more than $130MM -- but Disney's hedging their bets, saying it'll probably be closer to $125 MM domestically. Overseas, the movie is said to likely draw an additional $80 mil ... so it could hit around $200 mil soon enough.

That's great for the Mouse House, as this movie reportedly had a budget of about $250 million -- so they need this one to continue doing numbers for a bit to turn a profit.

While there's certainly excitement for the debut weekend, time will tell if Ariel has legs to go the distance in the weeks thereafter. As we reported, "Aladdin" star Mena Massoud recently opined he didn't think it'd hit a billion like his movie did ... which came out pre-pandemic.

Funny enough, with these estimated figures, 'Mermaid' is actually on pace to overtake what "Aladdin" achieved in 2019 -- and it's on a new list of Memorial Day weekend titans. If all goes according to plan, 'TLM' should sit at fourth behind "Top Gun: Maverick," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End," and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

Ariel the mermaid just pounded real-life Aladdin into submission -- or, more accurately, her fans did ... this after the dude juxtaposed his flick with hers, which pissed a lot of people off.

Mena Massoud -- who played everyone's favorite street rat in the 2019 live-action adaptation -- just scrubbed his Twitter account due to a mountain of backlash he received Saturday for chiming in on the future box office prospects of Halle Bailey's new 'Little Mermaid' movie.

He was responding to an account that was reporting on how much 'TLM' was slated to make in its opening weekend -- about $115M, which it then compared to the $112M 'Aladdin' made in its opening weekend run. Mena had some thoughts on that ... some took it as shade.

MM wrote, "Our film was unique in that audiences went to watch it multiple times. It's the only way we reached the billion dollar mark with our opening." "Aladdin" went on to make $1.054 bil internationally ... and its initial box office numbers were considered a big win.

Then came a remark that got Mena attacked. He followed up and said, "My guess is TLM doesn't cross the billion mark but will undoubtedly get a sequel." Unclear if he followed that up with any clarification on what he meant -- but this alone got Halle fans up in arms.

You can hop into the "Aladdin" trend yourself and see what they're saying ... but basically, the reaction wasn't good. Some felt Mena's comment here was a cheap shot and suggesting 'Little Mermaid' wasn't actually worthy of any future success, including a possible sequel.

Others are also saying that Mena sounds a little salty over the fact that he hasn't been cast in much post-"Aladdin" -- and that he's still hung up on the criticism that movie received ... and there was a lot. Bottom line ... he was getting dragged through the coals over this.

As a result, Mena appears to have deleted his account. The OG Twitter comment is gone, and his page is inaccessible now ... so it seems the discourse may have gotten to him.

Part of the reason for this fierce response to his apparent slight might have to do with the fact that 'TLM' has been in the crosshairs of haters from day one ... ever since they announced Halle, a Black woman, would be cast -- which got a ton of flak in and of itself.

People are coalescing around this movie and hoping it does numbers, because of the larger implications -- namely, more POC getting cast in iconic roles ... and a shift in Hollywood.

Offset was on dad duty Monday with his 2 little girls -- he took them to the world premiere of the live-action 'Little Mermaid' movie ... and everyone was looking like Disney royalty.

The ex-Migos rapper made it to the debut screening of the highly-anticipated flick -- which stars Halle Bailey as Ariel -- in Los Angeles ... where he and his daughter -- 8-year-old Kalea and 4-year-old Kulture -- walked the blue carpet as they were headed into the theater.

Their outfits were on point/on theme ... Offset was dressed to the nines, wearing an ensemble that strongly resembled what Prince Eric wears in the animated flick -- complete with a white jacket, black pants and shiny matching boots. His kids were even cuter.

Kalea and Kulture each donned gorgeous mini gowns and tiaras, looking like they were being taken to the ball that Cinderella went to in the fairy tale. Kalea even had her hair dyed red, just like Ariel does in the cartoon and just like Halle in the live-action film. It's clear the family was excited to see this one on the big screen -- and probably for good reason too.

As you may know ... Halle being cast as Ariel -- who's portrayed as white in the OG -- was a big deal in the African-American community ... serving as a crucial point of representation that hadn't really been seen before. Little Black girls everywhere reacted to the trailer when it came out ... and they all pretty much seemed to be in awe that Ariel looked like them.

Of course, there's been some backlash as well ... some of which, you could argue, is steeped in racism. No matter though -- the film's still coming out ... and it's a big deal.

No sign of Cardi here, which is fine. Looks like this was a dad-daughter date that Offset was more than happy to handle on his own -- and he certainly stepped up to the plate.

As Jonathan Majors continues to fight his DV case, it appears the internet has already settled on a possible replacement in the MCU ... another bad guy in a new superhero movie.

We're talking about Chukwudi Iwuji -- who made a splash this weekend in the third 'Guardians of the Galaxy' flick as the big bad, the High Evolutionary ... and who left audiences and comic book fans more than impressed with his epic performance.

While HE meets his grisly demise in the end (spoiler) ... a lot of folks on the bird app are nominating Iwuji as the next would-be Kang the Conqueror if things go south for JM.

There's chatter about how Iwuji's take on his supervillain is how Kang should've been portrayed in the 'Ant-Man' film that recently featured him ... namely, over the top and downright ruthless -- which is certainly how Iwuji's High Evolutionary comes across.

As the comparisons continue to fly ... a good handful of Twitter users are also straight-up saying Iwuji should be considered to step in as Kang if Disney decides to ultimately drop Majors -- which they have not done yet, and which may be premature at this point.

This "what if" speculation seems to be a mix of praise for Iwuji and jumping the gun on Majors' MCU future. Frankly, ever since he was arrested -- a lot of names have been floated as possible stand-ins ... but now, it would seem Iwuji's at the front of the line in fans' eyes.

Again ... there's been no indication from Disney that they're considering cutting Majors loose just yet -- despite the fact that he's been dropped from other projects and organizations.

As we've reported ... his team has repeatedly denied he did anything wrong from the beginning and has even suggested he was the victim here -- while also claiming to have evidence that they say will exonerate him. We've seen surveillance footage of the woman in question out partying after the alleged incident ... and she appears to be fine/uninjured.

Of course, he'll have his day in court soon enough. The guy's scheduled to appear before a judge on Tuesday -- where his team will undoubtedly push for the charges to be dropped.

Like everyone else, we're sure Disney will be monitoring ... as Majors is a key figure in their Marvel plans, with scheduled appearances in several more films and TV shows as Kang.

Da Brat's wife Jesseca Dupart is attacking the notion they intentionally chose a non-Black sperm donor for their upcoming baby ... and her explanation is pretty in-depth.

On Wednesday, Jesseca came through with a boatload of receipts and broke the whole thing down. The couple recently conducted an interview where they openly admitted their baby's donor wasn't Black after realizing they had limited choices in the gene pool.

Brat also quipped one of the donors looked like Pinocchio's pal Jiminy Cricket.

So, yeah ... you can see how that got lumped into all the donors being cricket-faced killas!!!

Jesseca revealed her existing medical conditions also cut down her chances of carrying a healthy baby, and noted the lack of Black donors in general.

She even cited a Fox5 NY article from March that reports Black men make up less than 2% of sperm donors nationwide!!!

After weighing their options, Jesseca says she and Brat went with the best match, regardless of race.

A woman got so turned on by a performance from the Los Angeles Philharmonic that she had a "loud and full body orgasm" right there in her seat ... at least according to a new report.

The L.A. Times reported what went down during Friday's X-rated show! The concertgoer was watching the Philharmonic crank out Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, when she apparently became sexually aroused.

One witness seated near the woman told The Times ..."I saw the girl after it had happened, and I assume that she ... had an orgasm because she was heavily breathing, and her partner was smiling and looking at her — like in an effort to not shame her. It was quite beautiful.”

Another attendee tweeted the woman was having a “loud and full body orgasm" to the sounds of the music, and the band carried on.

A third person said the woman's apparent moment of pleasure was “wonderfully timed” to a “romantic swell” in the melodies. He added, “One can’t know exactly what happened, but it seemed very clear from the sound that it was an expression of pure physical joy."

More evidence of the climactic moment surfaced online in an audio clip. You hear someone in the throes of a loud orgasm as the symphony plays the 5th's second movement.

But, one concertgoer poured cold water on the orgasm theory. The witness took to Twitter, claiming that the woman had a "breakdown of some sort" and everyone in the packed crowd was "worried it was a medical emergency."

The Times was unable to ID or locate the woman in question to get her side of the story and the L.A. Philharmonic has yet to comment on the incident.