“The Simpsons” Will End in the Next 5 Years
TV’s longest-running primetime scripted series is renewed through May 2019 (Season 30), but that may be when the iconic animated show will finally end. I’m giving it until May 2022 at the latest. A sequel after that isn’t out of the question.
Hugh Jackman will return as Wolverine… even in a cameo.
He’ll show-up in a future “X-Men” movie – in as little as a new “flashback”.
Andy Serkis and Stan Lee will receive honorary Oscars
Serkis will keep his motion capture momentum/campaign/praise going for years – until The Academy finally gives in and awards him for his incredible performances. And Lee will be honored at some point soon for his contributions to creating some of the greatest characters of all-time – for movies that have become some of the biggest of all-time.
This Year’s Best Animated Feature Nominees Will Be…
We still have 4 months to go in 2017, but the Best Animated Feature category is already looking much easier to predict than last year. So far this year, 10 major animated films have been released. But some (“Rock Dog”, “The Nut Job 2”, “Leap!”) have no chance of getting awards season play, while “Captain Underpants”, “Despicable Me 3”, “The Emoji Movie” and “Smurfs: The Lost Village” (based on box office and audience and critic reactions) have minimal odds.
There are several animated films still to come, though my gut feeling is that while “My Little Pony”, “The Star” and “Ferdinand” could be good, they won’t be strong enough to garner awards attention.
When it comes to the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards and BAFTAs, don’t be surprised if ballots contain the following lineup: “The Boss Baby”, “Cars 3”, “Coco”, “The LEGO Batman Movie” and “The LEGO Ninjago Movie”.
For The Oscars, there are new Best Animated Feature nomination guidelines. The entire Academy can choose to vote for the nominees in the category. This may eliminate the chance for some indie and foreign animated movies to make it in, but I still think at least 2-3 will, along with a few of the previous five selections.
Jimmy Kimmel will end his talk show in 2 years, but he’ll continue to host The Oscars throughout the next decade
In a Variety interview in February, just before he hosted this year’s Oscars, Kimmel revealed that once his “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” contract expires in Fall 2019, “It’s possible that will be it. At a certain point, I’d like to have a little more free time. I have very little free time as it is.”
Kimmel, who turns 50 in November, has been hosting his ABC late night talk show since January 2003. “I get a lot of offers to do a lot of different things. I like to draw. I like to make sculptures. I’d like to write a book at some point. Doing the show every day doesn’t leave a lot of time for that.”
A Kimmel tell-all book would be fascinating. He’s got plenty of material from “JKL” to pull from – including his relationship with Matt Damon. And I’m sure an entire chapter would be devoted to The Oscars “Envelope-gate”.
Kimmel has also dealt with some personal issues. His son, Billy, was born in April with a heart defect and needed emergency open-heart surgery a few days later. Kimmel went on his show in May and devoted an entire monologue to Billy – and one of the scariest weeks of his life. Billy is doing much better now, but he’ll still need two more open-heart surgeries.
I think Kimmel will end his show in two years to focus on his family and maybe write a book. ABC will certainly need to find replacement, but Kimmel will give them plenty of time to figure that out. And he won’t leave the network permanently. Kimmel has already signed-on to return for The Oscars this March, and I think he’ll keep doing that gig (close to every year) well into the next decade.