Netflix

Ben Affleck's been having a rough go at the movies lately -- especially with his latest flick completely bombing in theaters ... whereas his wife is thriving in the streaming world.

The actor's latest offering, "Hypnotic," flailed miserably at the box office this weekend ... raking in just $2.3 million from the 2,100 or so theaters it was playing in. The Robert Rodriguez-directed sci-fi thriller wasn't released by a major studio -- two independent production companies are behind it ... and BA's the marquee talent by a mile as far as cast.

The worst part is that Ben's film reportedly cost around $65 mil to make ... so, yeah, it's coming in at a huge loss. Plus, the reviews stink. Now, his other recent film, "Air," did much better in theaters (around $85M worldwide so far) -- but that one reportedly cost about $90M to produce ... meaning it's just barely breaking even, although it fared better with critics.

Bottom line ... Ben hasn't been cleaning up in ticket sales, but Jennifer Lopez is killing it with at-home viewers. Her new movie, "The Mother," is apparently #1 on Netflix in several countries right now -- and her other recent flick, "Shotgun Wedding" did well for Amazon too.

As far as substance, both of J Lo's movies have gotten very meh reviews -- especially 'SW.' And while her flicks are cranking out good numbers for the streaming services they're released on ... it's hard to gauge what that actually translates to for a bottom line.

Streaming companies tend to keep that data to themselves ... so there's no telling if any given movie actually converts to more subscribers -- which is how they make money.

The takeaway ... it's harder to turn a profit in theaters with original flicks not tied to existing IP, and on the flip side -- it's also hard to tell if streaming success means anything. However, since there's a better spin on the latter, Ben might wanna reconsider his approach.

"Selling Sunset" star Chrishell Stause and her boo, G Flip, have taken their romance to the next level ... tying the knot after one year of dating!!

According to People, Chrishell and the 28-year-old Australian musician recently made things super official ... and CS hinted at their new matrimonial status Wednesday night.

The reality star posted a reel, featuring a compilation of clips of the couple spending time together, and ended with a photo of them locking lips down the aisle. She added G Flip's latest song "I'll Be Your Man" -- a romantic tune inspired by, and for Chrishell.

In the caption, CS gushed all about her partner, saying ... "Love doesn't always go as planned. Sometimes it's immeasurably better."

"Be Your Man is out now & linked in stories. If you ever get the pleasure of meeting G, know that you are meeting one of the kindest, funniest &  most talented hard working people out there. Please go stream! I love you so much @gflip ❤️‍🔥 #BeYourMan"

You'll recall, Chrishell first confirmed she and G, who's nonbinary, were an item last May during the "Selling Sunset" reunion special ... months after her relationship ended with Jason Oppenheim.

Chrishell said she was originally just supposed to be in their music video but wound up falling in love. Since then, the two have been inseparable ... going out and spending lots of time together.

And, we'll definitely be seeing more of them ... G Flip will be on the upcoming season of "Selling Sunset," which drops later this month.

Congrats!

Lily Collins is the latest celeb to fall victim to a major theft ... cops say she had high-end jewelry and other goodies swiped during what was supposed to be a calming trip to the spa.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the "Emily in Paris" actress was at a West Hollywood hotel over the weekend and secured her belongings -- including her wedding band, engagement ring, and some electronics -- at the spa before going to enjoy some relaxation.

We're told she came out singing a completely different tune, once she found all of her stuff was gone!

L.A. County Sheriff's deputies are currently investigating, and we're told there was no sign of forced entry where Lily stored her belongings.

We're told cops are now looking over the building's security footage for leads.

The theft is classified as "over $10,000," as you'd imagine since the thief made off with Lily's wedding rings. So far, no arrests have been made.

There's been a handful of L.A.-based celebs burglarized, this year alone -- as we reported, cops pulled up to Drake's pad in January after a man took off with something from inside his home.

LAFC star Kellyn Acosta had his house broken into in February, losing out on a few watches -- and Miles Teller's place was ransacked that same month.

The loss for Lily -- Phil Collins' daughter, if ya didn't know -- is particularly tough, considering the sentimental value of her engagement ring. Anyone with info is asked to call the L.A. County Sheriff's Office.

We've seen some celebs opt for leaving their expensive jewelry and watches at home in the current environment.

Here's Imagine Dragons showing support for striking writers in Hollywood ... bringing a guitar, microphone and speaker up to the picket line and performing some of the band's biggest hits.

Imagine Dragons lead singer Dan Reynolds and guitarist Wayne Sermon provided some entertainment Tuesday outside Netflix headquarters in Los Angeles ... where writers are continuing their strike.

Dan and Wayne brought a couple speakers and a couple microphones with them for an acoustic concert of sorts ... performing Imagine Dragons hits like "Radioactive" and "Whatever It Takes."

The Writers Guild of America members surrounded the band as they performed from a bench on the sidewalk ... chanting "Imagine" and "Dragons" and even singing along to some parts.

After the mini-concert, Dan told us why he supports the writers' strike ... saying writers deserve to be better compensated for creating and driving so much of the entertainment coming out of Hollywood.

We've seen Pete Davidson and TV's late-night talk show hosts support the striking writers recently, dropping off pizza boxes and footing the bill for food trucks ... and last week there was a live mariachi band outside Netflix HQ.

Before these two beastly brothers lifting weights were selling some of L.A.'s finest pads, they were just growing up together in Palo Alto, California and gearing up to get their law degrees at Berkeley and UCLA.

If you're ever in Los Angeles, you can stop by their popular office on Sunset Blvd. or you can just hit up Netflix and see all the selling drama! They're used to getting into 'it' with their agents, but they never shy away from putting them in their places.

When they're not in the office, you can find them hanging with good friends Mary Fitzgerald and Romain Bonnet.

Coach Monica Aldama, known from the hit Netflix series "Cheer," is pushing back on the claims and lawsuit against her ... saying in no way did she try to silence one of her cheerleader's claims of sexual assault.

Aldama tells TMZ ... she's "heartbroken by the false allegations" made against her by former Navarro College and cheer squad member Madi Lane -- adding the safety of her students is a top priority.

Aldama says she worked "year after year" to keep Navarro Cheer a safe space, adding she'd never remain silent about sexual assault claims "if I were aware that any sexual misconduct occurred in the Cheer program."

Navarro College, which is also getting sued by Lane, echoed Aldama's denial -- with a rep telling us it's prepared to "vigorously defend itself in court."

As we reported, Lane claims she was sexually assaulted by a fellow teammate in 2021 during her freshman year ... saying she brought it to Aldama's attention, but was allegedly told, "If you keep quiet, I’ll make sure you can cheer anywhere you want."

Monica Aldama of "Cheer" fame and Navarro College where the series takes place, are being taken to court ... after one of their cheerleaders claims the program tried to sweep her sexual assault claims under the rug.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Navarro cheer squad member Madi Lane claims she was sexually assaulted during her first semester at the Texas college in 2021 in her own dorm room by team member Salvatore "Salvo" Amico.

Lane claims her roommate wanted to bring Amico back to their dorm room, and eventually went back to bed when her roommate, roommate's boyfriend, and Amico were all in the living room.

After some time, Lane claims her roommate and their boyfriend came into the bedroom, while Amico followed and got on Lane's bed and started taking off her clothes. She says she screamed at him to stop, but he kept going and inserted his fingers inside her.

Lane says she was eventually able to get him to stop, but when she brought it to her team's attention, she claims one of the "veteran" cheerleaders, Maddy Brum, told her, "You just need to drink it off and get your mind off it" and "We don't tell anyone. We just keep it to ourselves."

On top of that, Lane says she took her concerns to Coach Aldama, who allegedly told her, "Let's not make this a big deal. I want the best for you and I will help you cheer wherever you want." Lane claims, when she quit the team a few days later, Aldama told her, "If you keep quiet, I’ll make sure you can cheer anywhere you want."

Conor McGregor feared it was curtains for his UFC career after breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier nearly two years ago ... admitting he thought the injury would force him into an early retirement.

McGregor made the revelation in the trailer for his new Netflix documentary, "McGregor Forever," which dropped this week ... where he spoke about the severity of his injury from the hospital bed shortly after the July 2021 bout.

When the interviewer points out many experts thought the break would be impossible to return from, McGregor agreed ... which he says explains his bizarre post-fight rant.

"I thought it was over as well, that’s why I flipped into a different mode," 34-year-old McGregor told the cameras.

"Now, it was the adrenaline as well and I know it would’ve calmed down and part of me is thinking 'Jesus, imagine it was just taken from me like that.'"

"I would be a different person and it was a bit scary, to be honest. But, it’s McGregor forever. That’s it. It’s done. It’s McGregor forever and don’t you forget it."

Angry "Love Is Blind" fans looking for an explanation for the Netflix meltdown that sunk the live reunion, need to look in the mirror ... according to a few of the cast members themselves.

We ran into a handful of this season's contestants Monday at LAX and, of course, had to ask 'em about what the heck happened Sunday when Netflix's site started glitching out ... and most fans couldn't see the episode.

Here's what fan fave Paul Peden had to say about it ... according to him, it wasn't so much a lack-of-preparation on Netflix's part -- as many fans suspect -- but more so an abundance of eyeballs, which Netflix's servers apparently couldn't handle all at once.

Paul says the reunion did, in fact, go live in some places, and he thinks the streaming giant should definitely keep dabbling in live programming ... there's, obviously, a ton of interest.

For the record, most viewers couldn't see the episode until Monday afternoon.

Paul also talked to us about his drama-filled journey on the show. As fans know, he left Micah Lussier at the altar -- after she demanded he say "I do" first -- and he talks about how he feels about her last-second switcheroo.

Bottom line ... he says he does sorta consider Micah's move pretty damn villainous.

We also talked to a couple that stayed together post-taping -- Zack Goytowski and Bliss Poureetezadi -- and they weighed in on the whole live stream fiasco as well.

They, too, attributed the hiccup to an overload of 'LIB' enthusiasts tuning in at once, and mostly see it as a good thing. We also asked them about a lot of other stuff -- like whether they thought Irina Solomonova was genuine in her apology. These 2 are already pros at plugging ... telling us over and over people just gotta watch for themselves.

Netflix's latest hit show, "Obsession," features a sex scene with just a man and pillow ... and it's freaking out the general public, who are thinking twice about their next check-in.

Richard Armitage's character, William, gets into an affair with his son's fiancée -- played by actress Charlie Murphy -- and at one point in the mini series, he ransacks a hotel room that she had just stayed in ... desperately looking for any lingering sign of her left behind.

Eventually, he finds a pillow on the bed where she slept and picks up her scent ... which then launches him into a full-blown sex act where he's going at it with the cushion, literally. The dude sniffs it up, bites it and humps it like a dog -- as if it was the actual person.

That's where Netflix fans seem to have drawn the line on the kinkiness ... several took to Twitter to express their disgust, joking that they'd never look at another hotel pillow the same way again. That's probably a good rule ... but "Obsession" takes it to a new level.

Of course, a lot of folks are joking with their gross-out takes -- posting funny memes/GIFs to react. Some, it seems, even thought it was pretty hot! To each their own, we suppose.

Here's the crazy part ... the dude himself, Armitage, actually says this scene was largely improvised -- which just speaks to how good of an actor he is -- seeing how damn into it he was on camera. He explains that they were going to do a lipstick thing, but thought the pillow would be more realistic and jarring ... considering how much of a sex fiend the character is.

Netflix and Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah -- the filmmakers behind the Kanye West touting 'jeen-yuhs' doc -- are defendants in a lawsuit from a Chicago woman who claims they exploited her with its release.

The suit was filed Monday by Cynthia Love, and according to documents obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, she originally made a cameo in Kanye’s 2003 music video “Through the Wire” ... which Coodie and Chike directed.

The vid served as Kanye’s breakout hit and opens with Cynthia dancing inside a restaurant … and she says she was paid $20 for that appearance.

Cynthia's issue is she claims she was in an "altered state and not capable of providing consent" at the time -- and she's upset an extended version of that moment was then shown in the 'jeen-yuhs' documentary on Netflix.

In the suit, she says it represents a part of her past she'd like to move past. She claims she's now been sober for nearly 18 years, has held down long-term jobs and repaired relationships with friends and family.

She says the doc revealed her dark past to many who were unaware of her background, forcing her to rehash bad memories.

Cynthia also claims Coodie told her son, via text message, he assumed she was dead instead of trying to contact her before the film's debut.

Cynthia alleges the footage has now caused her emotional distress and harmed her reputation.

Netflix screwed the pooch on a live reunion that was heavily promoted -- as it turns out, the episode is gonna be taped and aired with a delay ... but it's unclear what the hold-up was.

Of course, we're talking about 'Love Is Blind' ... the fourth season of which just recently wrapped and whose big postmortem episode was advertised as a live event on the streaming service which was set to premiere on Sunday evening. That never happened, though.

When the expected air time hit -- 8 PM ET -- there were mass reports of an error code that was popping up on Netflix ... and the live reunion simply never came, after hours of waiting.

People kept refreshing to see if it was an issue on their end ... but it wasn't. Netflix just wasn't ready to get the cameras rolling, and a proper explanation was never really offered as to why the show hadn't gotten rolling yet ... Netflix just kept saying they'd be on soon.

Some assumed it was technical difficulties, but it doesn't sound like that's the case. In the end, Netflix said it was starting to film around 9:30 PM ET ... and that the episode would be aired the following day (Monday) at 3 PM ET.

Netflix apologized to fans, writing ... "To everyone who stayed up late, woke up early, gave up their Sunday afternoon… we are incredibly sorry that the Love is Blind Live Reunion did not turn out as we had planned." They added, "We're filming it now and we'll have it on Netflix as soon as humanly possible. Again, thank you and sorry."

In the interim ... questions, outrage and jokes were flying -- all at Netflix's expense. Folks were legitimately wondering what went wrong ... and it seems some actually stayed up quite late waiting for the reunion to upload. The discourse even roped in some big-time names ... like AOC, for example, who chimed in and made a crack about one of the castmates.

Some of Netflix's own competition also weighed in and crapped on them ... like Blockbuster, Redbox and even Hulu. A lot of publicity, obviously -- but for all the wrong reasons.

In short, the 'LIB' live reunion turned out to be a disaster for Netflix ... which is embarrassing considering how much confidence they had in all their promos leading up to it.

Remember, they just started dabbling in live programming with the Chris Rock special. That went off without a hitch, but their second attempt crashed and burned ... so, back to the batter's box, it seems.

Millie Bobby Brown and her boyfriend Jake Bongiovi are officially taking things to the next level ... the young couple's announcing their engagement.

The "Stranger Things" star shared her big news Tuesday morning by posting a pic of Jake -- the 20-year-old son of Jon Bon Jovi -- hugging her. It looks like the shot was taken moments after he popped the question, because his now fiancée is rocking a stunning diamond ring on her left ring finger.

19-year-old Millie's caption for the engagement post included a quote from Taylor Swift's song "Lovers" -- "I've loved you 3 summers now, honey, I want 'em all".

Jake and Millie have been together since 2021 when they initially met on IG. They became friends IRL, and have been inseparable since.

JB, who happens to be the spitting image of his pops, also made sure to share the special moment with his followers -- the caption on his 2 photos simply read, "Forever 🤍".

It's unclear when exactly the engagement went down ... there had been recent speculation because Millie was seen potentially wearing the diamond ring in another photo, not too long ago.

Well, turns out that rumor is true. Congrats!

Fun fact: Neither Millie nor Jake used to work on the docks (IYKYK).

We covered it all in the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms!

Netflix straight up jacked the characters and plot for its hit show "Outer Banks" from an already published book ... at least according to the author of a novel, who's now out for some legal revenge.

The streaming giant is being sued by Jeff Wilson, who claims there are way too many similarities between a book he wrote, "Queen Anne's Revenge," and 'OB' for it to be pure coincidence.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Wilson says in 2013 he published his novel, which follows 4 friends on a treasure hunt from a famous shipwreck near the outer banks of North Carolina.

Wilson says his book was even promoted by Discovery and History Channel, and he claims the 'OB' creators have even confessed ... they relied on other books and authors for inspiration to write the scripted series.

The author claims his book was drawn from heavily ... he says the main cast and their character arcs are almost identical to his novel ... and he says the plot points and settings are eerily similar, too.

Wilson is suing Netflix for copyright infringement ... and he wants the streaming giant to fork over any profits they've made from infringing on his novel and an injunction stopping Netflix from distributing or advertising "Outer Banks."

It's worth noting ... another novelist, Kevin Wooten, previously sued Netflix and the 'OB' creators, claiming they ripped off his 2016 book ... but the suit was dismissed after a judge didn't find sufficient similarities between the two.

Noah Schnapp showed he was the life of the party on St. Paddy's Day at the University of Pennsylvania -- and he did a little Spider-Man routine to prove it.

The "Stranger Things" star was caught on video climbing up to the top of the PIKE fraternity house at the Ivy League school in which he's enrolled as a freshman ... studying business.

The footage, obtained by TMZ, started off with Noah scurrying on his hands and knees along the edge of a brick wall leading to the roof.

Noah then jumped to his feet and went into Spider-Man mode, scaling a portion of the façade before his buddies grabbed him and hoisted him to safety onto the roof. Once there, Noah cracked a big smile as he apparently beckoned someone to follow his lead.

He's obviously having a blast at college. You may recall, we also got video of Noah at a bar with a dirty swimming pool after he first arrived at the university in September. He was seen jumping into the pool filled with beer cans and cigarettes. All of his friends loved it and went totally nuts.

Joe Exotic is getting dragged for his recent presidential run announcement, but it ain't by Carole Baskin -- instead, it's by the party he says he's running with.

Angela McArdle, chair and spokesperson for the Libertarian Party, tells TMZ ... "We stand for personal and economic freedom, we are not a landing pad for former reality stars and D-list celebrities." Ouch.

She says the "Tiger King" star hasn't shown he has a full grasp on the ideas of the party, and even calls out his 2018 gubernatorial run as a Libertarian in Oklahoma -- saying that attempt was "just tigers and glitter."

She adds she's very sympathetic to people "being mistreated in prison," but notes that doesn't mean it's right to support someone who's made "poor choices."

Angela tells us, hypothetically, anyone can run for office as a Libertarian, and there isn't a whole lot the party can do to block it -- instead, she urges folks to send libertarian literature to Joe while he's locked away. In her words, "If he's going to be spouting about libertarianism, he might as well get educated about it."

Aside from understanding his party's platform, there's the not-so-small issue of candidate Joe's 20 remaining years on his prison sentence!