April 2023 Entertainment Quiz: Which vehicles were involved in Gwyneth Paltrow’s Ski Accident?

According to 2019 court documents originally filed by Terry Sanderson, a retired optometrist seeking more than $300,000 in damages, the accident happened while he and Gwyneth Paltrow were skiing in 2016 at Deer Valley Resort in Utah. No vehicles were involved in the incident. Paltrow allegedly “skied out of control… knocking him down hard, knocking him out, and causing a brain injury, four broken ribs, and other serious injuries”. Paltrow filed a countersuit against Sanderson seeking $1 million in damages, claiming he skied into her. The trial began on March 21, 2023.

Mario and Luigi are the main characters of Nintendo’s Mario video game series, which debuted in 1981 with Donkey Kong. They are also the protagonists of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, a 2023 computer-animated film produced by Illumination, Universal Pictures, and Nintendo.

What’s the Mario movie about?

The film features an origin story for the brothers, who are transported to an alternate world. It was released in the US on Apr. 5, 2023, and is scheduled for Japan on Apr. 28. Watch the trailer.

How did it do?

On its opening weekend, the Super Mario Bros Movie took $377m (£304m) worldwide. US cinemas recorded $204.6m in box office sales. This means the Mario movie has broken the record for opening weekends for both video game adaptations (beating Warcraft’s $210m) and animated films (beating Frozen 2’s $358m). It also makes it the second biggest three-day US animated opening (behind Finding Dory).

Fun Fact: The film’s post-credits scene hints at a sequel featuring a cracking Yoshi-Egg.

Born in 1955, Bruce Willis is about the same age as Kevin Costner and Rowan Atkinson. For the first time after being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Willis celebrated his 68th birthday with his family on March 19, 2023. During a video shared by Demi Moore to raise awareness of the disease, the Hollywood star sang happy birthday with his daughters and wife, Emma Heming. He then blew out two candles. Over the past four decades, Willis has starred in over 100 movies, including Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys, and The Sixth Sense.

Reddick played the multi-skilled Continental Hotel concierge Charon in Lionsgate’s “John Wick” movies, including the fourth in the series that releases later in March 2023. He starred on the Fox series “Fringe” as special agent Phillip Broyles, the smartly dressed Matthew Abaddon on “Lost,” played recurring roles on “Intelligence” and “American Horror Story,” and was on the show “Bosch” for its seven-year run. His yet-to-be-released projects include 20th Century’s remake of “White Men Can’t Jump” and Netflix’s biopic of former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. He was also slated to appear in the “John Wick” spinoff “Ballerina,” as well as “The Caine Mutiny Court Martial.” Reddick died suddenly on March 17, 2023, at 60.

Lady Gaga filmed scenes for the upcoming Joker sequel, titled Joker: Folie à Deux, dressed as Harley Quinn, in New York City on March 25, 2023. The sequel is a musical scheduled for release on October 4, 2024. The original “Joker” was nominated for 11 Oscar awards in 2020 and won two.

Fun Fact: Margot Robbie played the Harley Quinn character in 2016’s Suicide Squad and its two spin-offs, 2020’s Birds of Prey and 2021’s The Suicide Squad, and even sang a short rendition of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” in the role. She plays Barbie in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 comedy.

J.K. Rowling wrote seven books in the main Harry Potter series, each covering one year of Harry’s adventures at Hogwarts. The series started with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997 and ended with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007. Rowling also wrote nine additional books related to the Harry Potter universe, but they are not part of the main series.

Is there a Harry Potter TV series?

On April 4, 2023, Bloomberg reported that Warner Bros. and HBO Max are talking with Rowling to create a streaming TV series based on the original books. The series would have seven seasons, one for each book, and Rowling would be a producer with creative control. However, the project sparked controversy among some fans and activists who criticized Rowling’s views on transgender issues.

Ari Emanuel is a big-shot Hollywood agent and the co-founder of Endeavor Talent Agency, which merged with William Morris Agency in 2009. He is also the real-life inspiration for Ari Gold, the charismatic agent on HBO’s Entourage. On Apr. 2, 2023, he announced a $21 billion deal to acquire WWE from Vince McMahon and combine it with the UFC to create a combat-entertainment powerhouse.

Fun Fact: He is also the brother of Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago and White House chief of staff under Barack Obama.

This image shows Lizzo and Jack Black as the Duchess and Captain Bombardier of Plazir-15, a fictional planet in the Star Wars universe. They appeared as guest stars in The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 6/Chapter 22, released on April 5, 2023, on Disney+. The episode also featured another celebrity cameo by Christopher Lloyd as Commissioner Helgait, Plazir-15’s head of security. Lizzo and Jack Black celebrated their Star Wars debut on social media by posting photos of themselves with Grogu merchandise and each other.

Logan Roy, played by renowned Shakespearean stage actor and Emmy winner Brian Cox, is the founder and CEO of the fictional Waystar-Royco, the global media and entertainment conglomerate on HBO’s Succession. He is also the father of four children – Kendall, Shiv, Roman, and Connor – who constantly vie for his approval. Cox and the actors portraying Kendall, Shiv, and Roman were all nominated for the 2023 Emmys.

SPOILER: The character died unexpectedly in the third episode of Succession’s final season, which aired on April 9, 2023.

Great Expectations follows the life of the orphan Pip, who meets Miss Havisham’s adopted daughter Estella, falls in love with her, and aspires to become a gentleman to win her heart. He gets a mysterious benefactor who bankrolls his aspirations and sends him to London to become a gentleman. The new miniseries adaptation of Great Expectations, produced by Ridley Scott, Tom Hardy, and Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders), and starring Olivia Colman, premiered on FX/BBC on March 26, 2023. Watch the trailer.

After working together on several Marvel films, Chris Hemsworth, the Russos, and Sam Hargrave decided to branch out and make their own action franchise for Netflix. Hemsworth (Thor) stars in the Extraction franchise as Tyler Rake, a mercenary who can take down an army of bad guys with his bare hands, one of them flaming. Anthony and Joe Russo are the producers and writers who came up with this original story based on a graphic novel they also co-wrote. And Sam Hargrave is the director who was a stuntman and stunt coordinator for Marvel films before turning director with Extraction in 2020. The entire pack is back for the sequel, Extraction 2, streaming on Netflix starting June 16, 2023. Watch the action-packed trailer.

The Phantom of the Opera ended its 35-year Broadway run on April 16, 2023, after 13,973 performances at New York’s Majestic Theatre. It became the longest-running show in Broadway history in 2006, surpassing the previous record-holder, Cats, and has grossed over $1.36 billion since its opening in January 1988. The Phantom of the Opera still plays in other countries and venues, such as London’s West End and Las Vegas. The musical is based on a novel by Gaston Leroux and features a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Fun Fact: The Lion King remains the highest-grossing Broadway show in history and the longest-running Disney musical, with over $1.8 billion on Broadway as of April 2023.

Fun Fact: Due to scheduling difficulties, Gal Gadot’s appearance in Shazam! Fury of the Gods was performed separately from the rest of the cast and had to be digitally composited into the movie’s Wonder Woman date scene. A body double was there to reference lighting and ensure director David F. Sandberg got full coverage of the scene. Sandberg tweeted this explanation on March 18, 2023, to clarify rumors that a Gal Gadot deep fake was used in the film.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced on April 17, 2023, that September 23, the day Bruce Springsteen was born in 1949 in Long Branch, New Jersey, will be officially recognized as Bruce Springsteen Day throughout the state. Murphy announced this at the inaugural American Music Honors event, held at the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University. Springsteen and his wife Patti Scialfa attended the event by video after testing positive for Covid-19 following a sold-out concert in Newark a day earlier. They are on tour with the E Street Band and will resume their European leg in two weeks, followed by a North American stadium leg in August. Springsteen will turn 74 on the first New Jersey Bruce Springsteen Day.