Movie adaptations of video games can be really hit or miss. The Super Mario Bros. Movieset the box office record for the highest-grossing video game movie of all time and was a fun, if safe, movie. On the other end of that spectrum is Borderlands, which was a massive letdown and a box-office failure. With that spotty track record, we were pleasantly surprised when A Minecraft Movie turned out to be…pretty good, actually.
The movie stars Jack Black as Steve, the original player character from the video game, who ends up transported into the voxel world of Minecraft, while Jason Momoa stars as an egomaniacal former gaming superstar. The movie will also debut on the HBO linear cable channel on Saturday, June 21, at 8PM ET.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a-minecraft-movie-is-coming-exclusively-to-hbo-max-on-june-20-175859982.html?src=rss
A still from A Minecraft Movie showing Jack Black wearing a blue shirt as the iconic character Steve, holding a crafted sword. We see two other characters from the back, both wearing red and looking at Jack Black
It's been a busy week! In this episode, Devindra and Senior Editor Jessica Conditt dive into their final thoughts on the Switch 2, as well as Jess's time covering Summer Game Fest. We also put a bow on WWDC 2025 and explore what works and doesn't with Apple's Liquid Glass redesign.
Summer Games Fest 2025: Sword of the Sea, Mouse: PI for Hire, Big Walk and a ton more indies – 1:17
Nintendo Switch 2 review: more polish on the Switch form factor with scant new releases – 22:09
WWDC 2025 wrap up: what will users think of liquid glass? – 38:11
Air Traffic Control audio reveals Predator drones flew over LA protests – 53:31
Meta announces large investment in Scale AI and a new AI Superintelligence initiative – 54:24
Warner Bros. Discovery to split into two devisions along old company lines – 59:12
Pop culture picks – 1:00:34
Credits
Host: Devindra Hardawar Guests: Jessica Conditt Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/engadget-podcast-switch-2-review-summer-game-fest-and-wwdc-2025-113008170.html?src=rss
Mixtape is the answer to the question, “What if the movie High Fidelity was a video game?” It’s not a perfect analogy, but it’s pretty damn close, and either way it’s a sign that Mixtape is going to be a fabulous slice of late-1990s, early-2000s nostalgia, complete with a banging soundtrack.
You can hear it in the trailers — Mixtape absolutely nails the classic Moviefone tone, and it seems that this vibe extends to the full game. I played roughly 30 minutes of Mixtape at Summer Game Fest 2025, and in that time I became enamored with the game’s lead character, a rebellious and insufferably cool teenager named Rockford who’s about to leave suburbia to pursue her dreams of becoming a music supervisor in New York City. She talks directly to the player as she introduces her two also-very-cool best friends and cues up the game’s music, breaking the fourth wall just like John Cusack. Most of the game plays out in a third-person view, following along as Rockford and her friends casually skate down tree-lined streets, flee from the cops in a high-speed shopping-cart sequence, and hang out in her bedroom, looking at Polaroid pictures and CDs while planning the best way to steal liquor from her parents’ stash.
Mixtape comes from The Artful Escapestudio Beethoven & Dinosaur, and it similarly uses music as a core storytelling and scene-setting device. This makes perfect sense, considering the studio’s founder, Johnny Galvatron, is a legit rock star based in Melbourne, Australia. Leaning into musicality also worked out well for The Artful Escape, whichearned Beethoven & Dinosaur a BAFTA award in 2022. Mixtape’s soundtrack is populated by the top teenage-dirtbag bands from the 80s, 90s and slightly beyond, including DEVO, Roxy Music, The Smashing Pumpkins, Iggy Pop, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division and the Cure (but not Wheatus, as far as I can tell, just to be clear).
Visually, Mixtape has a painterly 3D aesthetic with gorgeous golden light and purple shadows, reminiscent of Life is Strange or Telltale’s The Walking Dead series. In action, the characters move in a windswept, Spider-Verse animation style that doesn’t interrupt the gameplay flow. Even soaring down the snakelike asphalt on a skateboard, Rockford responds immediately to controller input and her ride isn’t interrupted by stray or late animations. Mixtape looks lovely and feels great.
Annapurna Interactive
There are also surprising little moments with alternative mechanics in the game’s first half hour, including a scene straight out of Wayne’s World where you make the trio headbang in a car, and another where you control two tongues making out in a close-up, Ren & Stimpy kind of cartoon realism. When Rockford explains what a music supervisor is, real-world reference images fill the screen in a tongue-in-cheek educational interlude. Throughout all of this, the music continues to roll, each song purposefully placed and given time to shine.
It would be easy for Mixtape to feel like a cheap nostalgia grab, an exploitation of Millennial players’ memories of skipping CDs and pre-cellphone party planning, but that simply isn’t the case so far. Mixtape feels like a love letter to the early aughts, filled with surprising mechanics, beautiful graphics and all the right references executed extremely well.
Mixtape is due to hit Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2025, published by Annapurna Interactive.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/mixtape-turned-me-back-into-a-millennial-teenage-dirtbag-200337301.html?src=rss
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will only visit around 26 strange new worlds before shuttling into that cancellation sunset. The show will end with a truncated fifth season of six episodes, according to reporting by Deadline.
This news is relatively surprising, given that Strange New Worlds seems like the most popular and successful show of the modern era. However, not a single newer Trek series has made it past five seasons, so maybe that's just the way things go now. It's worth remembering that Captain Kirk's narration in the original 1960s Star Trek spoke of a five-year mission.
“We’re deeply grateful to Paramount+ for the chance to complete our five-season mission, just as we envisioned it, alongside our extraordinary cast and crew. And to the passionate fans who’ve boldly joined us on this journey," executive producers Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers, and Alex Kurtzman said in a joint statement provided via press release.
This is a bummer, as Strange New Worlds is a fantastic watch, but it's not the end of the world. The show is about to premiere its third season on July 17. A full fourth season is already in production, and the shortened fifth season will ramp up sometime in the next year. So there are still 26 episodes left to watch. That's a good amount of Trek.
It's also not the end of live-action Star Trek on television screens. The upcoming Starfleet Academy has already been renewed for a second season, though that's the only new show on our radar. There have been rumblings of movies, but we aren't sure what's actually being made. A film chronicling the formation of Starfleet was announced around 18 months ago, but there hasn't been any news since then. Patrick Stewart has been openly campaigning for a Captain Picard movie, but, well, he's 84 as of this writing.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-will-end-with-a-truncated-fifth-season-171054923.html?src=rss
A remake of the original Silent Hill is in development, it was revealed during Konami's Press Start stream on Thursday. An image announcing that another Silent Hill game from developer Bloober Team was in the works appeared during the stream. It was accompanied by music from the first game in the series. The official Japanese Silent Hill account on X later clarified that Bloober is modernizing the original 1999 entry.
Back in February, it emerged that Bloober is making a new title based on Konami's intellectual property. The two companies previously worked on a remake of Silent Hill 2, which was released in October and, by January, had sold more than 2 million copies. It was also one of our favorite games of 2024.
So, going back to the game that started it all makes a lot of sense. Konami and Bloober haven't revealed any other details about the remake yet, such as when it's likely to arrive.
There was plenty more on offer during Konami's showcase, including a behind-the-scenes developer diary for Silent Hill f. The first game in the series to be set in Japan will drop on September 25.
Before that, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (a remake of MGS 3) will hit PS5, PC and Xbox Series X/S on August 28. Konami revealed on the stream that the Xbox version will include gameplay from the Bomberman series — the PlayStation and Steam variants have an Ape Escape tie-in. It also emerged that Metal Gear Solid Delta will have a brand-new multiplayer mode called Fox Hunt. This is a camouflage-based hide and seek mode that builds on the stealth aspect of the series. You can expect more details on that soon.
Press Start included looks at some other games, such as Suikoden Star Leap(a new RPG adventure set in the world of Suikoden for PC and mobile). Suikoden I&II HD Remasters are getting upgrades on Nintendo Switch 2 as well. A demo for action RPG Edens Zero (based on a manga and anime of the same name) has dropped, while there was a peek at action-adventure platformer Darwin’s Paradox, in which you play as an octopus.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/konami-and-bloober-team-are-remaking-the-original-silent-hill-160629432.html?src=rss
For more than two decades, Danny Boyle has been plagued by one question: What would happen after a zombie apocalypse?
The famed director's 2002 movie "28 Days Later" broke conventions of the zombie genre and helped launch a digital video moviemaking revolution in the early 2000s. But as years and then decades passed — and Boyle went on to earn a best director Oscar for "Slumdog Millionaire," do a Steve Jobs movie, and make a "Trainspotting" sequel — he could never crack a continuation of his original "28 Days."
Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland missed out on the sequel, 2007's "28 Weeks Later," because they had already committed to making the sci-fi thriller "Sunshine." And pitching their own continuation around Hollywood never got any traction. Maybe it would be one of those things that would never come to fruition.
It wasn't until the British Film Institute invited him to do a Q&A at a "28 Days Later" 20th anniversary screening in 2022 that Boyle realized just how much audiences appreciated the film.
"I showed up and it was a packed theater," Boyle told Business Insider during a recent trip to New York City. "I was shocked. You could feel the audience's energy watching it. I texted Alex after, and I told him there's still an appetite for this. So he then came up with an idea."
Garland's idea would become "28 Years Later," which opens in theaters June 20. The film focuses in on a small island community in England that's learned to survive in relative isolation 28 years after the country was ravaged by the Rage Virus. But when Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his 12-year-old son Spike (Alfie Williams) venture to the mainland, they discover new mutations of the virus and survivors with their own fearsome methods for staying alive.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson in "28 Years Later."
Sony
Though the "28 Years Later" cast is entirely new — and there are no glimpses of original "28 Days" star Cillian Murphy, despite the rumors — Boyle is just getting started. He's also a producer on a sequel set for release in January, "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple," which was shot by director Nia DaCosta ("Candyman") right after "28 Years" wrapped. And Boyle will return to direct a third movie, which will indeed star "28 Days Later" star Cillian Murphy. That is, if Sony will greenlight it.
So how did Boyle crack the code to continuing his zombie franchise? His trick is to think limited, not expansive. Though he has big aspirations for a trilogy, it all came about by keeping "28 Years Later" as grounded as possible.
"I love limitations, because I can bash against it and that gives energy and inventiveness," Boyle said with a wide smile. "So the third movie is in many ways an original film."
For the latest edition of Business Insider's Director's Chair series, Boyle discusses returning to the zombie genre, how he used Cillian Murphy as leverage to pursue his other creative ideas, and if he'd ever take on another James Bond movie.
Cillian Murphy in "28 Days Later."
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Business Insider: Take me back to that "28 Days Later" 20th anniversary BFI screening. Where was your head at then about doing a third movie?
Danny Boyle: By that point, Alex had developed one script, which we decided not to do: weaponizing the virus, a traditional type of sequel. It was a good script, but we just didn't get any traction. After the BFI screening, he came up with the idea of confining the story to an island, and that was a really good decision.
How much of the COVID pandemic influenced how you wanted the characters to navigate the Rage Virus 28 years later?
It would be that people would become accustomed. You can take risks and know when the back off them. There's a kid in this movie who has no knowledge of the virus — it has been passed on to him; he's never seen any of it. This is his first trip to the mainland. He's heard stories.
You can see that the kids draw pictures of the stories they've been told. They have mythologized the virus. So we talked about all that. And then we delve into the culture before the apocalypse, and it's distorted. How reliable is it? We don't know. But that's an element that goes into the second film, "The Bone Temple."
The visuals have always been a hallmark of your filmography, but especially this franchise. "28 Days Later" ushered digital cameras into the mainstream. Now with this movie, you're shooting with iPhones. It's been done a lot on the indie side with filmmakers like Sean Baker and Steven Soderbergh, but I believe this is the first time camera phones have been used at the studio level. Why did you want to do that?
I felt an obligation to take the spirit of the first movie, but be aware that the technology has moved on so much. Phones now shoot at 4K, which is what a lot of cameras shoot at anyway. And the advantage of using the phones is we were able to be very lightweight.
Also, some of the locations we were shooting hadn't been disturbed for many years. It's an area of England called Northumberland, its sister county is Yorkshire, which is agriculture and manicured. In order to go there with a crew, you have to be light, so having iPhone cameras was good for that. We used a lot of drones, which had different camera lenses; we used a specific Panasonic camera for the night vision footage.
But the iPhone gave us a light touch and allowed us to use these rigs, which I'd been trying to use for a while. It's a poor man's bullet time. But you don't have to go to it, you can carry it.
The bullet time rig used on the set of "28 Years Later."
Sony
So now, instead of laying down dolly track and having all this gear in these very preserved locations, all you need to retrace are footsteps.
That's right.
How did you sell Sony on all of this?
[Laughs.] Um. I can't remember.
Come on.
I will do and say anything to get the film made. There is a terrible side to directors where you will promise [studios] stuff and you don't mean it. They are nervous. They're a corporation. And you have to massage the vision.
So what was the promise you gave that you weren't going to fulfill?
Cillian Murphy.
What better promise could you make? That's quite a deflection of any technical concerns; they soon forget. Yeah, we nakedly used that to get our own way. But Sony knew what they were inheriting.
Did Nia DaCosta shoot "The Bone Temple" right after you wrapped on "28 Years"?
Pretty much. She visited the "28 Years" set a couple of times, but yeah, she was prepping her own film, she had her own cinematographer, and though she inherited the sets and some of the characters, she also had her own cast for a substantial part of it.
And she gets a bit of Cillian at the end. All I can say is you have to wait for Cillian, but hopefully he will help us get the third film financed.
So where are things with the third movie?
We still need the money. I mean, we'll see how we do with "28 Years Later." It's so close to release that nobody wants to say anything; they just don't know what it's going to do. And I respect that. It's a lot of money, so we'll see.
If there is a third movie, would you want to direct it?
Oh, yes. That's the idea.
You famously walked off the last James Bond movie. Would you ever give Bond another try now that the regime has changed and Amazon is fully controlling it?
That ship has sailed. The thing I regret about that is the script was really good. John Hodge is a wonderful writer, and I don't think they appreciated how good that script was, and because they didn't, we moved on, and that's the way it should be. Whatever happens with Bond going forward now is what it will be.
[Sony chairman] Tom Rothman — who I fight with a lot, and who I love very dearly — I do tip my hat to him, because that is backing a visionary filmmaker in Sam Mendes with a hard, big investment. That's a lot of vision to say, here ya go, there's four films. And they are all going to get released around the same time.
All in one month! Just from the perspective of a director, would that scare you?
Sam clearly has an appetite to handle it all. I don't know what his vision is, but he's got terrific actors. I worked with Harris Dickinson, who is a wonderful actor, so he's got himself a very special cast. 90% of anything is casting; if you get it right, you're almost there. So I admire it.
Now, one of the things we found, and they will have this issue, is that people don't know The Beatles' music. We just did a workshop on "Yesterday" and its long-term plans — like, should there be a stage production one day? We did a workshop with a bunch of actors, and lots of them just didn't know the songs. They are in their 20s or 30s, so why would they? They all can recite from memory something from Taylor Swift or Harry Styles, but The Beatles? So, we'll see.
This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.
When this day rolls around, people buy and travel less. In fact, the global economy is estimated to lose as much as $900 million every time a Friday lands on the 13th.
However, the Dutch Center for Insurance Statistics reported in 2008 that Friday the 13th is actually statistically safer than other Fridays — there are fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft on these days.
If that doesn't convince you, keep scrolling to learn about some positive events that took place on a Friday the 13th.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed an executive order preventing gender discrimination in the government.
The order amended Executive Order No. 11246.
Bettmann/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
While Title VII officially prevented discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, and sex for private employers, it wasn't until Executive Order 11375 that discrimination based on gender was illegal for the federal government and federal contractors.
President Johnson signed the order, which was officially titled Amending Executive Order No. 11246, Relating to Equal Employment Opportunity, on October 13, 1967.
Malta became a republic.
Valletta is the capital of Malta.
Dado Daniela/Getty Images
The tiny Mediterranean country of Malta first became independent of the British in 1964, but officially became a republic on December 13, 1974.
Evelyn "Pinky" Kilgare-Brier became the first certified female pilot instructor.
During World War II, Kilgare-Brier joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs).
Acme/PhotoQuest/Getty Images
According to the National Museum of the US Air Force, Kilgare-Brier became the first woman to receive an airplane instructor's license on October 13, 1939.
She was an important figure for women in aviation. She also flew non-combat missions during World War II, and after the war she owned and operated her own private airport, according to her obituary in the Los Angeles Times.
The Olympics officially returned to their home country.
Michael Phelps won his first gold medals at the 2004 Olympics.
TIM CLARY/AFP/Getty Images
The 2004 Summer Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, the country where they started, both in ancient and modern times. The opening ceremony took place on August 13.
It was the largest Olympic Games at the time, with 201 countries participating. Michael Phelps also won his first Olympic medal and broke his first record in Athens.
The queens of the '90s, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, were born.
The twins in 2019.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Vogue/Getty Images for The Met Museum
They famously got their start on "Full House" and went on to create an empire: books, videos, perfume, clothing lines, and much more.
"Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" premiered on Friday, October 13, 2023.
Taylor Swift performs during the Eras Tour in Brazil.
Buda Mendes/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Taylor Swift was born on December 13, 1989 — her birthday landed on Friday the 13th last year — and she has repeatedly said that 13 is her favorite number. She even used to perform with "13" drawn on her hand.
As part of her 13 agenda, her blockbuster concert film "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" premiered in theaters on Friday, October 13, 2023. It went on to become the highest-grossing concert film of all time after grossing $261 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
The first scientifically recognized dinosaur eggs were discovered.
Roy Chapman Andrews examining his discovery.
Bettmann/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Roy Chapman Andrews discovered the first dinosaur eggs at a dig in Mongolia on July 13, 1923, according to the American Museum of Natural History.
Scientifically, this was huge for the field of paleontology, confirming that dinosaurs laid eggs. The museum was so impressed that Andrews went on to become its director from 1935 to 1942.
The famous Hollywood sign was dedicated.
The sign originally read "Hollywoodland" until 1949.
Paul Rovere/Getty Images
The Hollywood sign is an iconic piece of California culture. But when it was officially dedicated on July 13, 1923, it wasn't even supposed to last for more than two years.
Originally, the sign was installed to promote a new subdivision in the Hollywood Hills.
"Super Mario Bros." was released.
Mario is one of the most recognizable characters in pop culture.
AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Getty Images
"Super Mario Bros.," one of the most iconic video games in history, was released on September 13, 1985, exclusively in Japan, per The Verge.
Since then, Mario has been in approximately 170 games, including wildly successful spin-offs like "Mario Kart," "Mario Party," and "Paper Mario."
A "significant amount" of water was found on the Moon.
Project scientist Anthony Colaprete made the announcement.
Naomi Baker - The FA/The FA/Getty Images
A lunar space station has long been the subject of science fiction novels, but on November 13, 2009, that dream took one step closer to reality when NASA announced they found water on the Moon.
How much is a "significant amount"? According to NASA's Anthony Colaprete, around a dozen 2-gallon bucketfuls.
Black Sabbath released their debut album and invented heavy metal.
Ozzy Osbourne in 2020.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
The 69th best debut album of all time, at least according to Rolling Stone, Black Sabbath's self-titled album was released on February 13, 1970.
The album is widely regarded as having created the genre of heavy metal, with instant classics like "NIB." and "The Wizard."
Actor Steve Buscemi was born.
Steve Buscemi attends Peacock's "Bupkis" premiere at the Apollo Theater on Thursday, April 27, 2023, in New York.
Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
Steve Buscemi was born on December 13, 1957 — yes, he shares a birthday with Taylor Swift. Buscemi might be famous as an actor, but he also has a lesser-known second career: a New York City firefighter.
Buscemi became an NYC firefighter at age 18. He eventually left the service to pursue acting, but in the aftermath of 9/11, Buscemi helped with rescue efforts and worked 12-hour shifts sifting through the rubble.
"Friday the 13th Part III" was released.
"Part III" was the first time Jason wore his mask.
Paramount
Of the iconic "Friday the 13th" movie saga, "Part III" was the first to actually open on Friday the 13th (August 13, 1982), the first to experiment with 3D, and the first appearance of Jason's mask.
Even though the movie was critically panned, the movie made over $36 million against a $2.3 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo.
Friday the 13th is always the last day before the weekend.
Who doesn't love sleeping in?
Yale Joel/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
If all else fails to convince you that Friday the 13th isn't a cursed date, just remember this: It's the last day of the workweek. Fridays are the best!
Kanye West arrived at Diddy's trial, but wasn't let into the courtroom.
POOL/ Reuters
Ye appeared at Manhattan court to support Sean "Diddy" Combs at his sex-trafficking trial.
But the rapper was not allowed in the main courtroom where Combs is on trial.
Combs' trial is in its fifth week, with the prosecution expected to rest next week.
Ye, the embattled rapper formerly known as Kanye West, showed up Friday at Manhattan federal court to support Sean "Diddy" Combs at his criminal sex-trafficking trial.
Ye made the surprise appearance at the courthouse shortly after 11 a.m. on Friday. The "Jesus Walks" rapper, though, never actually made it into the 26th-floor courtroom where Combs' trial is unfolding.
He instead sat in the front row of an overflow room on the courthouse's 23rd floor after he was denied entry into the main courtroom where the trial is taking place, courthouse sources told Business Insider.
One source told BI that Ye was not on Combs' list of approved family members or friends.
"He did not wait in line like everybody else from the public," the court source said. "No one gets special treatment."
Courthouse staff opened an overflow room where Ye and Christian Combs, one of Combs' children, were able to watch the proceedings on a screen, a court source said. Ye's bodyguard and another Combs supporter also sat with them, according to the source.
Ye, who wore an outfit of all-white denim, listened to about half an hour of testimony before he left. At the time, Jonathan Perez, a former personal assistant for Combs, was on the witness stand.
Milo Yiannopoulos, who has been a spokesman for Ye, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The list included Ye. During the trial, he's only been mentioned once, in passing, by another one of Combs' assistants.
Kid Cudi, another celebrity listed on the juror questionnaire, testified earlier in the trial about a dispute with Combs involving Cassie Ventura.
Ventura, a singer who was signed to Combs' record label and dated him for around a decade, testified at the start of the trial that Combs abused her and coerced her into participating in elaborate sex performances called "freak offs."
The rapper wasn't named in the case, but Combs' lawyer described him as "an icon in the music industry" and as someone who was "very close with Combs" and had collaborated with him professionally.
Jane testified that she attended the sex performance as part of a trip to Las Vegas in January 2024 to celebrate the unnamed rapper's girlfriend's birthday.
According to Jane, that rapper flirted with her while they watched another man and woman have sex in a hotel room.
"He said something along the lines of that he thought I was beautiful, and he always wanted to blank me," Jane said Thursday, censoring herself in the courtroom.
Stylists and jewelers spoke to Business Insider about what sorts of rings, necklaces, bracelets, and watches are in and out this summer.
Jeremy Moeller/Getty Images
We asked jewelers and stylists which jewelry trends are in this summer and which are out.
They said funky versions of everyday staples and colorful gemstones are in this season.
Meanwhile, they said, overly delicate stacks and matchy-matchy sets are starting to be less popular.
Summer is almost here, and it's the perfect time to give your jewelry box a second look.
Even timeless pieces can start to feel a little stale, and this season is all about subtle updates that make your everyday staples feel fresh again.
To help you figure out what's in and what's out, Business Insider asked professional jewelers and stylists to share the trends worth wearing this summer — and which pieces you may want to put away for now.
Colorful gemstones are having a moment.
Colorful gemstones can add flair to an outfit.
Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
Expect to see more vibrant stones this season, especially in spring and summer when many want cheerful and expressive accessories, said Tiffany Tram, third-generation jeweler and cofounder of LoveLetter.
Tram told BI that vibrant stones can add a "fun" pop of color to a look and colorful jewelry pieces can feel extra personal if you choose ones with your birthstone or the birthstone of someone special.
Try to style these pieces with soft shades and clean lines so your gemstones do the talking, she added.
Give your modern staples a twist.
Classic jewelry designs are getting some funky twists.
Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
Everyday basics like hoop and tennis bracelets are being reimagined with asymmetry, unexpected silhouettes, and mixed metals, Olivia Landau, founder, CEO, and fourth-generation jeweler of The Clear Cut, told BI.
She said classic styles "with more personality" are really popular right now and can elevate simple looks.
For example, Landau said, traditional studs and hoops are being swapped for ear cuffs, chunky huggies, and styles with more sculptural or angular shapes.
Layered looks are still going strong.
Mixing bracelet finishes and styles can look chic.
Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
Capsule Closet stylist Michelle Barrett said we'll be seeing a lot of people mixing finishes and styles this season.
For example, pairing delicate chains with chunky styles and silver bracelets with gold ones.
"This trend is versatile and allows for personalization, letting you combine sentimental pieces with newer finds for a curated, effortless vibe," she told BI.
The brooch is back, and it's more versatile than ever.
She said we'll likely be seeing people thrift brooches and style them to match the vibe of their outfits this summer.
They come in so many styles and designs that there's one for just about any look.
To start, look for summery brooches, like ones shaped like sea creatures or shells, and play with pinning them on bags, jackets, or tops.
On the other hand, dainty jewelry is taking a backseat.
Dainty jewelry is timeless, but some stylists said it may not be on trend at the moment.
Jeremy Moeller/Getty Images
Dainty pieces will never go out of style — but, for now, you may want to save these staples for work or formal events.
This summer is all about chunkier styles that add personality to an outfit without sacrificing polish, Sharpe said.
Sculptural bangles, oversized dome rings, and bold hoops are on trend right now, Tram added. These chunkier pieces can give looks a touch of timeless luxury while having more visual impact than dainty pieces.
Trade in flashy watches for more refined styles.
Some people are leaning away from wearing watches with too much bling.
Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
Sharpe recommends skipping oversized, attention-grabbing watch styles this summer and reaching for classic timepieces instead.
Look for sleek metal bands, minimalist faces, and designs that feel timeless rather than trendy, she said.
Logos are out, and personalization is in.
Some people like to wear their name around their neck.
Raimonda Kulikauskiene/Getty Images
Branded nameplate necklaces and accessories with logos are continuing to fall out of favor this year for many, Tram said.
Instead, Landau added, she's seeing shoppers gravitate toward custom name pendants or jewelry pieces engraved with phrases or adorned with initials.
"It's not just a trend — it's a shift in how people shop for jewelry," Landau told BI. More consumers want to invest in pieces with meaning.
Replace matching sets with unique jewelry combinations.
Try mixing pieces from your matching sets with other styles.
wundervisuals/Getty Images
Several experts we spoke to said wearing a perfectly coordinated necklace, bracelet, and earring set can feel dated.
After all, Barret said, mixing metals, textures, and styles for a more personal touch is trending right now.
Instead, Landau told BI, people should focus on curating unique jewelry "pieces that work together but aren't too coordinated."
The "October Surprise" snowstorm in Buffalo was on a Friday the 13th.
Gary Wiepert/Reuters
June 13 is a Friday.
Friday the 13th has been a superstitious date for a very long time, but no one knows exactly why.
There are multiple examples of terrible or tragic events happening on these Fridays in history.
Friday the 13th is so famously unlucky that there's even a phobia dedicated to it: friggatriskaidekaphobia.
Even if you personally don't put stock in this fear, there are a lot of people who do. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute even estimated in 2013 that between $800 and $900 million are lost in business every Friday the 13th because people are afraid to shop, travel, and conduct business.
Luckily for believers, this is the only Friday the 13th of 2025. The next one isn't until February 2026.
But if you still think it's just a superstition, these events might be enough to convince even the most determined skeptic.
Buckingham Palace was bombed during WWII.
Queen Elizabeth and King George VI survey the damage.
Fox Photos/Getty Images
German forces during WWII bombed Buckingham Palace on September 13, 1940. The bombs hit both the palace and its chapel.
Even scarier, the king and queen were at the residence at the time of the attack. Even though the event was traumatic, Queen Elizabeth II — then a princess — merely stated she was "glad we have been bombed. Now I can look the East End in the face," the BBC reported.
March 13, 2020, could be considered the first official day of the pandemic in the US.
Masks were seemingly everywhere in just a few short days.
Tupac Shakur was shot on a Saturday but died six days later on the 13th.
Getty/Raymond Boyd
Shakur was shot four times on September 7, 1996, in Las Vegas. He succumbed to his injuries six days later on Friday, September 13.
In September 2023, police arrested one of the last surviving witnesses to his killing for the murder. Duane "Keffe D" Davis was indicted by a jury in Clark County, Nevada, on one count of murder with the use of a deadly weapon, plus a gang enhancement.
The arrest came after Davis spoke multiple times publicly — including in a memoir — about his involvement in the case. Davis, who remains in custody, pleaded not guilty in November 2023.
A British 13-year-old boy was struck by lightning on a Friday the 13th, at 13:13.
13:13 is 1:13 in military time.
Gary Hershorn/Getty Images
The Daily Mail reported that the unnamed teenager was struck by lightning while at an air show in England in 2010 and, incredibly, only sustained burns on his shoulder. The hospital said he was expected to make a full recovery.
Kitty Genovese, a Queens resident, was brutally attacked and murdered.
Kitty Genovese's murder is an infamous New York story.
New York Daily News Archive/NY Daily News/Getty Images
The murder of Kitty Genovese took place on March 13, 1964. The New York Times reported Genovese was assaulted and killed by Winston Moseley inside her apartment building. The crime is famous because, reportedly, 38 people heard the attack, and none of them called the police, making the "bystander effect" a household term.
The Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Italy.
The Costa Concordia laid on its side.
REUTERS / Tony Gentile
The Costa Concordia sank into the ocean on January 13, 2012. It became the largest passenger ship ever wrecked, with almost double the number of people on board than on the Titanic.
Thirty-two people died, and the captain was convicted of manslaughter in 2015.
Kansas experienced record-breaking amounts of rain and flooding.
People pushed boats through flood water in Kansas in 1951.
Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
On July 13, 1951, the state of Kansas was hit with over 25 inches of rain. The cities of Manhattan, Lawrence, and Topeka were most affected, and over 2 million acres of land were damaged by the flood.
The storm also affected oil tanks, some of which caught on fire and exploded. There were passengers stuck on trains for four days. And, at its highest, the flooding exceeded previous records by 4 to 9 feet.
The people of Kansas were not wrong to call this day "Black Friday."
The stock market experienced a "mini-crash" in 1989.
"Mini" is a relative term.
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images
After the buyout of United Airlines fell through on October 13, 1989, the ripples were felt throughout the stock market, specifically the junk bond market.
CNBC reported this resulted in a 7% sell-off in the Dow, and the S&P 500 lost 6%. Essentially, a lot of people lost a lot of money.
A flight through the Andes ended in disaster and death.
This event has been dramatized in multiple films.
Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images
Uruguayan Flight 571 was headed toward Chile when it crash-landed in the Andes on October 13, 1972. In the following days, the survivors were reduced to hiding in the fuselage of the plane and eating the deceased passengers.
The rescue efforts were called off only 10 days after the crash, so it was shocking when two men appeared 72 days later and alerted the authorities that there were 16 other survivors trapped in the mountains.
On that same day, another flight crashed in Russia.
The plane was headed to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).
Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/Getty Images
At the time, the tragedy of Aeroflot 217 was the worst plane crash in Russian history. All 174 people on board the flight (including the 10 crew members) died when the plane crashed while trying to land due to bad weather.
It's never been confirmed what the cause of the crash was — some speculate it was a lightning strike. The plane ended up just 3 miles away from the runway.
The Ku Klux Klan's first Grand Wizard was born.
The KKK has been around since 1865.The Bhola cyclone hit Bangladesh.
Bettmann/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Nathan Bedford Forrest was born on July 13, 1821. Forrest first rose to fame as a Confederate general and was in charge of the infamous Fort Pillow Massacre, where he and his men reportedly killed over 200 unarmed Union soldiers who had surrendered (many of whom were Black).
Forrest is widely believed to have served as the KKK's first Grand Wizard, though he would later decree that the organization should be demolished, PBS reported.
Computers fell victim to the "Friday the 13th Virus."
The virus affected computers made by IBM.
Shutterstock / photovibes
On January 13, 1989, a computer virus swept through the UK. The Los Angeles Times reported hundreds of computers were affected by the virus, which deleted personal files specifically on the unlucky date.
The virus also slowed computers down, but fortunately didn't cross the Atlantic Ocean.
The Bhola cyclone ravaged Bangladesh.
Some of the damage from the cyclone.
AP Images
The storm officially ended on November 13, 1970, but its effects are still being felt today.
The Bhola cyclone is still the deadliest storm in the Bay of Bengal — the death toll is estimated to be from 150,000 to 550,000, NBC News reported. One district in Bangladesh lost over 45% of its population.
In addition to being deadly and extremely costly, the cyclone is credited with jump-starting a civil war. At the time of the storm, the area was called East Pakistan. The Pakistani mismanagement of the relief efforts was considered to be a huge event in the fight for Bangladeshi independence.
Swedish flight DC-3 vanished and was never heard from again.
The Baltic Sea from space.
NASA
A Swedish flight disappeared while flying over the Baltic Sea on June 13, 1952. And for 40 years, the Swedish government stuck by the story that the plane was merely performing training exercises.
However, National Geographic wrote that in the '90s, it was leaked that the crewmembers were actually spying on the Soviet Union for NATO, even though Sweden was officially neutral during the Cold War.
Russia responded with its own confession: A Russian pilot told a Swedish diplomat he had shot the plane down.
The city of Buffalo, New York, was hit with a freak blizzard.
Buffalo is no stranger to snow.
Reuters/Rickey Rogers
It's been called the "October Surprise." From October 12 to October 13, 2006, western New York was hit with two feet of snow. Over 300,000 people were left without power, thousands of trees were damaged, and the governor of New York declared a state of emergency for the Buffalo region.
The Black Friday bushfires consumed Victoria, Australia.
Wildfires are common in the summer months.
Associated Press/Noah Berger
The fires in Victoria from 1939 to 1940 were the culmination of a long, dry summer. But on January 13, 1939, the Black Friday bushfires consumed the area: 71 people died directly from the fire, another 438 from the resulting heatwave, and 575,000 hectares of land were burned to a crisp.
The ash that resulted from the two days of flames was intense. There were reports of it reaching as far as New Zealand.
In September 2024, Boeing employees went on strike for the first time since 2008.
Thousands of Boeing IAM union members were on strike for seven weeks.
For almost two months, Boeing strikers were without salary or benefits, while the company lost an estimated $50 million a day in lost labor.
At one point, tensions were so high between the union and management that the US Labor secretary herself, Julie Su, flew out to Seattle to mediate.
The strike ended when union members voted to accept a new contract from Boeing that included pay increases.
Daredevil Sam Patch plunged to his death in the Genesee River in 1829.
The site of Patch's last stunt.
William England/Getty Images
Sam Patch was America's first professional daredevil, according to Atlas Obscura. Throughout his life, he jumped from many great heights, including Niagara Falls twice.
So, when he decided to jump from the High Falls into the Genesee River in Rochester, New York, no one thought to be concerned, but it quickly became apparent that something was wrong.
While some speculated that he was drunk, it's never been known for sure what exactly happened to Patch when he jumped into the river. But on November 13, Patch jumped, and his body was found four months later.
In 2029, an asteroid could come extremely close to Earth.
The asteroid was named 99942 Apophis.
Vadim Sadovski/Shutterstock
According to NASA, an asteroid, 99942 Apophis., is expected to come within 20,000 miles of the Earth on April 13, 2029. This might not seem like a big deal, but it's actually extremely close in relation to space.
Although it's not expected to hit our planet, the closeness of the asteroid could cause damage on its surface — the gravity of Earth might cause avalanches on Apophis. And while NASA says it is expected to pass Earth "safely," it still calls it a "potentially hazardous asteroid."
Sly Stone, the revolutionary musician and dynamic showman whose Sly and the Family Stone transformed popular music in the 1960s and ’70s and beyond with such hits as “Everyday People,” “Stand!” and “Family Affair,” died Monday at age 82
Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, had been in poor health in recent years. His publicist Carleen Donovan said Stone died in Los Angeles surrounded by family after contending with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other ailments.
Founded in 1966-67, Sly and the Family Stone was the first major group to include Black and white men and women, and well embodied a time when anything seemed possible — riots and assassinations, communes and love-ins. The singers screeched, chanted, crooned and hollered. The music was a blowout of frantic horns, rapid-fire guitar and locomotive rhythms, a melting pot of jazz, psychedelic rock, doo-wop, soul and the early grooves of funk.
Sly’s time on top was brief, roughly from 1968-1971, but profound. No band better captured the gravity-defying euphoria of the Woodstock era or more bravely addressed the crash which followed. From early songs as rousing as their titles — “I Want To Take You Higher,” “Stand!” — to the sober aftermath of “Family Affair” and “Runnin’ Away,” Sly and the Family Stone spoke for a generation whether or not it liked what they had to say.
Stone’s group began as a Bay Area sextet featuring Sly on keyboards, Larry Graham on bass; Sly’s brother, Freddie, on guitar; sister Rose on vocals; Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini horns and Greg Errico on drums. They debuted with the album “A Whole New Thing” and earned the title with their breakthrough single, “Dance to the Music.” It hit the top 10 in April 1968, the week the Rev. Martin Luther King was murdered, and helped launch an era when the polish of Motown and the understatement of Stax suddenly seemed of another time.
Led by Sly Stone, with his leather jumpsuits and goggle shades, mile-wide grin and mile-high Afro, the band dazzled in 1969 at the Woodstock festival and set a new pace on the radio. “Everyday People,” “I Wanna Take You Higher” and other songs were anthems of community, non-conformity and a brash and hopeful spirit, built around such catchphrases as “different strokes for different folks.” The group released five top 10 singles, three of them hitting No. 1, and three million-selling albums: “Stand!”, “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” and “Greatest Hits.”
For a time, countless performers wanted to look and sound like Sly and the Family Stone. The Jackson Five’s breakthrough hit, “I Want You Back,” and the Temptations’ “I Can’t Get Next to You” were among the many songs from the late 1960s that mimicked Sly’s vocal and instrumental arrangements. Miles Davis’ landmark blend of jazz, rock and funk, “Bitches Brew,” was inspired in part by Sly, while fellow jazz artist Herbie Hancock even named a song after him.
“He had a way of talking, moving from playful to earnest at will. He had a look, belts, and hats and jewelry,” Questlove wrote in the foreword to Stone’s memoir, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” named for one of his biggest hits and published through Questlove’s imprint in 2023. “He was a special case, cooler than everything around him by a factor of infinity.”
In 2025, Questlove released the documentary “Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius).”
Sly’s influence has endured for decades. The top funk artist of the 1970s, Parliament-Funkadelic creator George Clinton, was a Stone disciple. Prince, Rick James and the Black Eyed Peas were among the many performers from the 1980s and after shaped in part by Sly, and countless hip-hop artists have sampled his riffs, from the Beastie Boys to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. A 2005 tribute record included Maroon 5, John Legend and the Roots.
“Sly did so many things so well that he turned my head all the way around,” Clinton once wrote. “He could create polished R&B that sounded like it came from an act that had gigged at clubs for years, and then in the next breath he could be as psychedelic as the heaviest rock band.”
A dream dies, a career burns away
By the early ’70s, Stone himself was beginning a descent from which he never recovered, driven by the pressures of fame and the added burden of Black fame. His record company was anxious for more hits, while the Black Panthers were pressing him to drop the white members from his group. After moving from the Bay Area to Los Angeles in 1970, he became increasingly hooked on cocaine and erratic in his behavior. A promised album, “The Incredible and Unpredictable Sly and the Family Stone” (“The most optimistic of all,” Rolling Stone reported) never appeared. He became notorious for being late to concerts or not showing up at all, often leaving “other band members waiting backstage for hours wondering whether he was going to show up or not,” according to Stone biographer Joel Selvin.
Around the country, separatism and paranoia were setting in. As a turn of the calendar, and as a state of mind, the ’60s were over. “The possibility of possibility was leaking out,” Stone later explained in his memoir.
On “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” Stone had warned: “Dying young is hard to take/selling out is harder.” Late in 1971, he released “There’s a Riot Going On,” one of the grimmest, most uncompromising records ever to top the album charts. The sound was dense and murky (Sly was among the first musicians to use drum machines), the mood reflective (“Family Affair”), fearful (“Runnin’ Away”) and despairing: “Time, they say, is the answer — but I don’t believe it,” Sly sings on “Time.” The fast, funky pace of the original “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” was slowed, stretched and retitled “Thank You For Talkin’ to Me, Africa.”
The running time of the title track was 0:00.
“It is Muzak with its finger on the trigger,” critic Greil Marcus called the album.
“Riot” highlighted an extraordinary run of blunt, hard-hitting records by Black artists, from the Stevie Wonder single “Superstition” to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” album, to which “Riot” was an unofficial response. But Stone seemed to back away from the nightmare he had related. He was reluctant to perform material from “Riot” in concert and softened the mood on the acclaimed 1973 album “Fresh,” which did feature a cover of “Que Sera Sera,” the wistful Doris Day song reworked into a rueful testament to fate’s upper hand.
By the end of the decade, Sly and the Family Stone had broken up and Sly was releasing solo records with such unmet promises as “Heard You Missed Me, Well I’m Back” and “Back On the Right Track.” Most of the news he made over the following decades was of drug busts, financial troubles and mishaps on stage. Sly and the Family Stone was inducted into the Rock & Roll of Fame in 1993 and honored in 2006 at the Grammy Awards, but Sly released just one album after the early ’80s, “I’m Back! Family & Friends,” much of it updated recordings of his old hits.
He would allege he had hundreds of unreleased songs and did collaborate on occasion with Clinton, who would recall how Stone “could just be sitting there doing nothing and then open his eyes and shock you with a lyric so brilliant that it was obvious no one had ever thought of it before.”
Sly Stone had three children, including a daughter with Cynthia Robinson, and was married once — briefly and very publicly. In 1974, he and actor Kathy Silva wed on stage at Madison Square Garden, an event that inspired an 11,000-word story in The New Yorker. Sly and Silva soon divorced.
A born musician, a born uniter
He was born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, and raised in Vallejo, California, the second of five children in a close, religious family. Sylvester became “Sly” by accident, when a teacher mistakenly spelled his name “Slyvester.”
He loved performing so much that his mother alleged he would cry if the congregation in church didn’t respond when he sang before it. He was so gifted and ambitious that by age 4 he had sung on stage at a Sam Cooke show and by age 11 had mastered several instruments and recorded a gospel song with his siblings. He was so committed to the races working together that in his teens and early 20s he was playing in local bands that included Black and white members and was becoming known around the Bay Area as a deejay equally willing to play the Beatles and rhythm and blues acts.
Through his radio connections, he produced some of the top San Francisco bands, including the Great Society, Grace Slick’s group before she joined the Jefferson Airplane. Along with an early mentor and champion, San Francisco deejay Tom “Big Daddy” Donahue, he worked on rhythm and blues hits (Bobby Freeman’s “C’mon and Swim”) and the Beau Brummels’ Beatle-esque “Laugh, Laugh.” Meanwhile, he was putting together his own group, recruiting family members and local musicians and settling on the name Sly and the Family Stone.
“A Whole New Thing” came out in 1967, soon followed by the single “Dance to the Music,” in which each member was granted a moment of introduction as the song rightly proclaimed a “brand new beat.” In December 1968, the group appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and performed a medley that included “Dance to the Music” and “Everyday People.” Before the set began, Sly turned to the audience and recited a brief passage from his song “Are You Ready”:
You'll have to wait a little longer for The Legend of Zelda movie. Nintendo said on Monday that the film's new release date is May 7, 2027. That's six weeks later than the slot it announced earlier this year. The company attributed the rescheduling to production delays.
"This is Miyamoto," Nintendo's announcement post began. "For production reasons, we are changing the release date of the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda to May 7, 2027. It will be some weeks later than the release timing we originally announced, and we will take the extra time to make the film as good as it can be. Thank you for your patience."
Director Wes Ball in 2024
Reddit
We don't know much about the movie yet. Its director (Wes Ball) and screenwriter (T.S. Nowlin) are both known for The Maze Runner trilogy. Ball also worked on Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the fourth installment in the modern reboots.
In 2023, Ball suggested that the film could have an anime influence. He described it as "this awesome fantasy-adventure movie that isn’t like Lord of the Rings, it’s its own thing. I've always said, I would love to see a live-action Miyazaki. That wonder and whimsy that he brings to things, I would love to see something like that."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/nintendo-delays-the-legend-of-zelda-movie-155753324.html?src=rss
Deciding what to get your dad for Father's Day is tricky. There are the standbys like tools for the grill or a new history book, but there are also plenty of unique options out there. That includes digital options like a Nintendo Switch Online membership or a subscription to MasterClass.
A MasterClass subscription is one of our favorite gifts for teachers, but it's also an especially good option right now as the site is running a Father's Day sale. Currently, you can gift dad a one-year membership for up to 50 percent off. Take the MasterClass Plus subscription, which is down to $96 from $180 annually. It offers unlimited classes and access on two devices.
Then there's the Premium tier, which allows unlimited access across six devices. The sale brings this option down to $120 from $240 for the year. The cheapest option is the Standard subscription, which is also discounted, and it offers one class every three months on one device.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/get-up-to-50-percent-off-masterclass-subscriptions-for-fathers-day-140300335.html?src=rss
Like his "White Lotus" character Saxon Ratliff, Patrick Schwarzenegger is a lover of smoothies determined to match his parents' stratospheric success.
While his arrogant and shallow character rubbed many viewers the wrong way, Schwarzenegger, however, is nothing but charming as we chat on the phone while he gets his steps in around LA. "I walk and talk," he explains.
I've discovered there are parts of Schwarzenegger's routine that Saxon would be positively allergic to, such as heading to the beach with his fiancée in the morning to say prayers and share a moment of gratitude.
For the latest installment of Business Insider's "5-9" series, which Schwarzenegger took part in to promote Venmo's new debit card, the 31-year-old actor shared how else he spends the hours of the day when he's not working.
What time do you usually get up, and what's your morning routine?
I've gone to a new state or country every week since "The White Lotus" came out, so it's been a whirlwind of not having a routine and waking up at the most random times.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Patrick Schwarzenegger
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
This is my first full week in LA since the start of the year, and it's been great. I got up today at 6.15 a.m. — I never set an alarm clock, but I always wake up around 6 a.m. My fiancée and I went on a walk for our coffee and then down to the beach to say our gratitude and prayers.
Usually, I'd work out after, but I didn't today as my fiancée had to go to the airport. So we made some breakfast, I had a sauna, and then went to the office.
What do you have for breakfast?
This morning, I had egg bites and Greek yogurt with berries, which is what I have on most days: eggs, Greek yogurt, fruit, or oatmeal. I try to get 40 to 50 grams of protein and some sort of carbs and fat.
Do you eat before or after working out, or both?
Afterward, if I'm working out really early in the morning, but sometimes I'll have something light before, like some fruit and nuts or peanut butter and banana.
Much has been made of your character's love of smoothies on "The White Lotus." Are you a fan?
Oh yes, I am. I used to drink smoothies all the time. Now I don't drink them as much, but I do love them. This conversation is actually making me want to go get a smoothie.
If I'm gearing up for a role or a project and I need to gain weight, then I will bring in the smoothies because they help me get a lot of calories quickly. So I do love a peanut butter banana smoothie.
The best combo.
10,000 steps and recovering in the sauna
Tell me more about your approach to working out.
I work out in the mornings when I can and try to get my 10,000 steps in too.
Are you walking now?
I am. I walk and talk. I try to do five days of lifting a week, and some sort of cardio. I stay pretty active.
Abby Champion and Patrick Schwarzenegger in New York in March 2025.
Food, sleep, and hydration are the main things. I love the sauna, the jacuzzi, and massages, but they're less important.
When you're not working, how do you relax and have fun?
Working out is fun for me. It is part of my daily life and what I like to do, and I feel better. And the same with my eating.
I also like going on walks, hanging with my friends and family, hiking, biking, and watching movies and TV shows. I love cooking and baking and finding new coffee shops, and I use my new Venmo debit card for all of it.
Martinis and early nights
What do you like to have for dinner, and who cooks?
I would get in trouble if I said I always cook dinner. Abby cooks most of the time. I cook breakfast pretty much every morning, although she made the egg bites today.
We go out frequently, but try to cook as much as possible when we're in town because we're not often here.
Patrick Schwarzenegger as Saxon Ratliff in season three, episode four of "The White Lotus."
Fabio Lovino/HBO
What's your favorite thing to cook?
We cook sweet potatoes every night. We love Japanese sweet potatoes. We also make a lot of eggs and pancakes. Abby makes a really good chicken salad. She makes a bunch of good stuff for me.
Lucky you.
I know, seriously.
So what's your ideal evening when you're at home?
Well, last night Abby and I went and did a workout together. We did this hot Pilates class, and then we picked up some food, made dinner, had a little dessert, went on a walk afterward for the sunset, then watched a movie. If it's a date night, we go out, get some cocktails, and have fun.
Do you have a favorite cocktail?
I've been on a martini kick in recent years.
Nice. Do you have a nighttime routine?
No, I don't really. I kind of just get in bed, and I'm usually pretty tired from the day. I try not to watch TV in the bedroom, and I fall asleep pretty easily at around 10 p.m. I try to get eight hours.
I suppose when you're so active, you get into bed and you're exhausted.
Yeah, exactly … I'm always out in the sun and walking around, and I sleep better.
The film franchise, based on the J. R. R. Tolkien novel of the same name, received critical acclaim — and also launched several actors' careers.
Since leaving Middle Earth, many of the franchise's stars have gone on to play other iconic roles. Here's a look at what the star-studded cast is up to today.
Elijah Wood played Frodo Baggins.
Elijah Wood played Frodo in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
New Line Cinema
Wood played a hobbit named Frodo in the "Lord of the Rings" films.
After inheriting the One Ring from his cousin Bilbo Baggins, Frodo bravely volunteers to take it to Mordor to be destroyed, kicking off the epic journey across Middle Earth.
Wood began acting at a young age and had several major film credits before "The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001), like "Flipper" (1996) and "Avalon" (1990).
Wood has since acted across a variety of genres.
These days, you can catch Elijah Wood in the horror series "Yellowjackets."
Gladys Vega/Getty Images
Wood has stayed busy with movies of all genres, including the action-comedy "Spy Kids 3D: Game Over" (2003), romantic drama "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004), animated musical "Happy Feet" (2006), and psychological slasher "Maniac" (2012).
In 2010, Wood cofounded the production company SpectreVision, formerly known as The Woodshed, and has gone on to produce films like "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" (2014), "Mandy" (2018), and "Color Out of Space" (2019).
In addition to his other career as a DJ, Wood still found time to work on projects like Cartoon Network's "Over the Garden Wall," "I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore" (2017), and "Come to Daddy" (2019).
These days, you can catch him in the ensemble cast of Showtime's "Yellowjackets."
Viggo Mortensen played Aragorn.
Viggo Mortensen already had several films under his belt by the time he played Aragorn.
New Line Cinema
The Danish-American actor Mortensen played Aragorn — the son of Arathorn, heir of Isildur, and eventual King of Gondor.
Aragorn is a member of the Fellowship and leads the fight against Sauron's army while the One Ring is being destroyed.
Before joining the "Lord of the Rings" cast, Mortensen had worked with directors like Peter Weir, Brian De Palma, Tony Scott, Ridley Scott, and Jane Campion.
Fans would likely recognize him from films like "Young Guns II" (1990), "Crimson Tide" (1995), "The Portrait of a Lady" (1996), and "G.I. Jane" (1997).
Mortensen has been nominated for several Academy Awards.
Viggo Mortensen is an actor, director, and writer.
Mike Coppola / Getty Images
Mortensen has since been nominated for best actor at the Academy Awards three times, for "Eastern Promises" (2007), "Captain Fantastic" (2016), and "Green Book" (2018), and has received numerous other honors.
He made his feature directorial debut with the 2020 drama "Falling," which he also wrote, coproduced, and starred in opposite Lance Henriksen.
Most recently, the actor starred in "Eureka" (2023).
Sean Bean played Boromir.
Sean Bean played a prominent role in the first "Lord of the Rings" film.
New Line Cinema
Bean played Boromir, the son of Denethor and a member of the Fellowship.
Boromir primarily appears in the first movie, as he dies defending Merry and Pippin against a horde of orcs after briefly allowing himself to be tempted by the One Ring.
Bean was previously known for his roles in action thrillers like "Patriot Games" (1992), "GoldenEye" (1995), and "Ronin" (1998).
Bean played another beloved fantasy character on "Game of Thrones."
Sean Bean is also known for his role on "Game of Thrones."
Andrew H Walker/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images
After meeting his character's demise in "The Fellowship of the Ring," Bean appeared in "Equilibrium" (2002), portrayed Odysseus in "Troy" (2004), and chased Nicolas Cage in "National Treasure" (2004).
More recently, he played Mr. Wilford on TNT's "Snowpiercer," John Parse in Brandon Cronenberg's 2020 sci-fi thriller "Possessor," and Ian on the BBC drama "Marriage."
Dominic Monaghan played Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck.
"The Fellowship of the Ring" was Dominic Monaghan's first major role.
New Line Cinema
Monaghan played the troublesome hobbit Merry in the "Lord of the Rings" films.
Merry is a hobbit from Frodo's village who finds himself leaving the Shire and joining Frodo's dangerous adventure.
He had acted in several TV movies, but "The Fellowship of the Ring" was Monaghan's big-screen debut.
Monaghan had a major role on "Lost."
Dominic Monaghan returned to Middle Earth to voice an Orc in "The War of the Rohirrim" (2024).
Getty/Joshua Blanchard
After concluding the film trilogy, Monaghan landed the role of Charlie Pace on ABC's "Lost" and appeared on the series until 2010.
After that, he hosted and produced the BBC wildlife docuseries "Wild Things With Dominic Monaghan" from 2012 to 2016.
He also starred in the video short for Eminem and Rihanna's "Love the Way You Lie," played a mutant in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (2009), and joined another major franchise when he appeared in "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" (2019).
He voiced Archibald Desnay on Amazon Prime's 2022 animated adaptation of "Critical Role," "The Legend of Vox Machina." Most recently, he voiced an Orc in the animated "Lord of the Rings" prequel "The War of the Rohirrim" (2024).
Sean Astin played Samwise Gamgee.
Sean Astin played Frodo's best friend in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
New Line Cinema
Astin portrayed the loyal hobbit Samwise, Frodo's best friend.
Save for a few brief separations, Sam is always by Frodo's side and risks his life many times to save his friends.
Astin had several notable credits before the fantasy franchise, famous for roles in films like "The Goonies" (1985) and "Rudy" (1993).
Astin has worked on several major TV shows.
Sean Astin played Bob Newby on “Stranger Things.”
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Astin has since done a lot of voice-over work for animated films and video games, even providing the voice for Raphael on Nickelodeon's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."
He has several projects in the works, and he also recently played a recurring role on the sitcom "The Conners."
Ian McKellen played Gandalf.
Ian McKellen played a major role in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
New Line Cinema
If not for McKellen's character, the Fellowship would never have formed and likely would not have survived.
McKellen mainly began his professional acting career on the stage in the early 1960s. A year before the fantasy trilogy debuted, he joined the Marvel universe as Magneto in the "X-Men" franchise.
McKellen also appeared in the "Hobbit" films.
Ian McKellen continues to act on both the stage and screen today.
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
McKellen continued playing Magneto during and after the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, most recently in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014).
The actor is one of the few "Lord of the Rings" cast members to also appear in the "Hobbit" films, reprising his role as the powerful wizard.
He also has several recent theater credits in the UK, including "Hamlet" and "The Cherry Orchard."
John Rhys-Davies played Gimli.
John Rhys-Davies was already well-known for his roles in "Indiana Jones" and "Shogun."
New Line Cinema
The Welsh actor Rhys-Davies portrayed the dwarf warrior Gimli.
Gimli is the representative for the dwarfs in the Fellowship and the son of Glóin, one of Bilbo's companions during the events of "The Hobbit."
Rhys-Davies, who also provided the voice of Treebeard in the films, previously played Sallah in several "Indiana Jones" films and Vasco Rodrigues on NBC's miniseries "Shogun," for which he received an Emmy nomination.
Rhys-Davies has continued working on fantasy projects.
John Rhys-Davies still stars in fantasy projects today.
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After "The Lord of the Rings," he appeared in a number of notable TV movies and on shows like Comedy Central's "TripTank."
There are a few other fantasy projects on his recent résumé, including ABC's "Once Upon a Time" and MTV's "The Shannara Chronicles."
Rhys-Davies has also lent his voice to video games and animated projects like Guillermo del Toro's Netflix miniseries "Wizards" and the 2019 feature "Mosley."
Legolas was one of Orlando Bloom's breakout roles.
New Line Cinema
Bloom played the master archer and wood elf Legolas.
The arrow-wielding hero is also a member of the Fellowship and eventually becomes Gimli's best friend, even though dwarfs and elves historically hated each other.
Bloom was relatively unknown when he was cast in the trilogy, but between the first and second films, he appeared in "Black Hawk Down" (2002).
Bloom has played other action-packed roles.
Orlando Bloom reprised his role in the "Hobbit" trilogy.
Alongside McKellen, he also revisited the role of Legolas in the "Hobbit" films.
In addition to other hit projects like "Troy" (2004) and "The Three Musketeers" (2011), the actor starred on the Amazon series "Carnival Row" as Rycroft Philostrate.
More recently, he starred in the action film "Red Right Hand" (2024).
Billy Boyd played Peregrin "Pippin" Took.
Billy Boyd played Merry's best friend in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
New Line Cinema
Boyd played Pippin, the immature best friend of Merry, and appeared in all three "Lord of the Rings" films.
As a part of the Fellowship, his antics cause trouble for the group, but he always means well.
Boyd had primarily worked on television before he was cast in the first film of the trilogy and continued to do so in between the franchise's sequels.
Boyd continues making music and acting.
Billy Boyd has appeared on numerous TV shows since the trilogy wrapped.
Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images
Boyd appeared in "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" alongside Russell Crowe in 2003, the same year as "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
The next year, he provided the voice of Glen and Glenda for the horror film "Seed of Chucky" (2004).
Boyd is also a musician and got to write and perform a song for "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" (2014).
He was seen on episodes of FX's "Snowfall," ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," and Starz's "Outlander." He also appeared in the 2021 thriller "An Intrusion."
More recently, he voiced a character in the anime "Lord of the Rings" prequel, "The War of the Rohirrim."
Ian Holm played Bilbo Baggins.
Ian Holm was already well-known by the time he joined the "Lord of the Rings" cast.
New Line Cinema
The English actor Holm played Bilbo Baggins, the previous ring bearer.
Bilbo is Frodo's guardian and cousin, and he is unnaturally old because of the effects of the One Ring.
Even before the film franchise, Holm was a Tony Award-winning actor, probably best known to fantasy and sci-fi fans for playing Ash in the Ridley Scott film "Alien" (1979).
Holm has starred in a variety of films.
Ian Holm starred in many films after the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
Chris Jackson/Getty
After the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Holm worked on an impressive array of films like "Garden State" (2004), "Lord of War" (2005), and "Ratatouille" (2007).
In 2020, Holm died at age 88 of complications related to Parkinson's disease.
Liv Tyler played Arwen Undómiel.
Liv Tyler had already been in several films before the first "Lord of the Rings" movie.
New Line Cinema
Tyler brought Arwen, daughter of Lord Elrond, to life on the big screen. The elf saves Frodo from the Black Riders and later marries Aragorn.
Before "The Fellowship of the Ring," Tyler had been in plenty of films, including "Stealing Beauty" (1996) and "Armageddon" (1998).
Tyler has since been on several hit shows.
Liv Tyler has starred on "The Leftovers," "Harlots," and more.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Tyler joined another major franchise in 2008 as Betty Ross in Marvel's "The Incredible Hulk." In 2025, she reprised the role in "Captain America: Brave New World."
Elsewhere, Tyler played Meg Abbott on HBO's "The Leftovers," Lady Isabella Fitzwilliam on ITV-Hulu's "Harlots," Eve in the sci-fi thriller "Ad Astra" (2019), and Michelle Blake on Fox's "9-1-1: Lone Star."
Hugo Weaving played Lord Elrond.
Hugo Weaving played the Lord of Rivendell in the "Lord of the Rings" films.
New Line Cinema
Elrond, played by Weaving, is the Lord of Rivendell. The elf was there when Isildur claimed the One Ring and tried to get him to destroy it, to no avail.
Fans would likely recognize Weaving as Agent Smith in "The Matrix" films, a franchise that mostly ran at the same time as the "Lord of the Rings" movies.
Weaving continues to act in blockbuster hits.
Hugo Weaving recently appeared in "Slow Horses."
Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP
Weaving went on to play V in "V for Vendetta" (2006), voice Megatron in Michael Bay's "Transformers" films, and portray the Red Skull in "Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011).
Weaving starred in the drama "Lone Wolf" and appeared on the Binge miniseries "Love Me" in 2021.
Most recently, he played the villainous Frank Harness in the thriller series "Slow Horses."
Cate Blanchett played Galadriel.
Cate Blanchett briefly appeared in the "Lord of the Rings" films.
New Line Cinema
Blanchett portrayed Galadriel, Lady of the Golden Wood and grandmother to Arwen.
In "The Fellowship of the Ring," she gives each traveler a special gift, including the "star-glass" that later proves useful against the giant spider.
Blanchett didn't get a ton of screen time in the films — only a minute and 23 seconds, according to Screen Rant.
She had appeared in several movies before "The Lord of the Rings," like "Elizabeth" (1998) and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999).
Blanchett is now an Academy Award-winning actor.
Since the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Cate Blanchett has received critical acclaim.
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
Immediately after "The Lord of the Rings," Blanchett appeared in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" (2004) and "The Aviator" (2004), which earned her an Oscar win.
She racked up more nominations for "Notes on a Scandal" (2006), "I'm Not There" (2007), and "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (2007) before winning another Oscar for "Blue Jasmine" (2013).
Blanchett was nominated yet again for her work in "Carol" (2016) and played the activist Phyllis Schlafly in the FX miniseries "Mrs. America."
More recently, she starred in "Don't Look Up" (2021), "Tár" (2022), "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio" (2022), and the TV series "Disclaimer" (2024).
Andy Serkis played Gollum.
Andy Serkis was in several films before the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
Throughout the films, Gollum, originally known as Sméagol, is painted as an antagonist and a representation of the One Ring's consequences.
Before his performance in the trilogy, Serkis had been in several shows and films, like "Career Girls (1997)" and "Among Giants" (1998).
Serkis has appeared in other major film franchises.
Andy Serkis joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe after the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Serkis reprised Gollum in "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" (2012) and did groundbreaking performance-capture work for the "Planet of the Apes" films.
He then joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the flesh as Ulysses Klaue, provided the voice of Baloo in "Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle" (2018), and was Snoke in the recent "Star Wars" trilogy.
Recently, Serkis played Alfred Pennyworth in "The Batman" alongside Robert Pattinson and Kino Loy on the Disney+ series "Andor."
Christopher Lee played Saruman.
Christopher Lee had already played several memorable roles before his turn as Saruman.
New Line Cinema
A film legend, Lee took a notable turn as the wizard Saruman the White, who was introduced as a respectable ally but turned out to be a power-hungry pawn of Sauron.
Before his role in the fantasy films, he starred in many movies like "Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace" (1962) and "Count Dracula" (1977).
Lee acted in several other notable films.
In 2015, Christopher Lee died after being hospitalized for heart failure and respiratory problems.
In 2015, Lee died at age 93 after being hospitalized for heart failure and respiratory problems.
Miranda Otto played Éowyn.
Miranda Otto played Éowyn in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
New Line Cinema
Otto played arguably one of the most important characters in the trilogy, Éowyn.
Disguised as a Rider of Rohan, Éowyn, shield maiden of Rohan and daughter of Éomund, ultimately kills the Witch-king of Angmar during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
Before her turn in the "Lord of the Rings" films, Otto appeared in movies like "The Well" (1998) and "The Thin Red Line" (1998).
Otto has acted on several series.
After "Lord of the Rings," Miranda Otto played a major role on Netflix's "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina."
Paul Archuleta/Getty Images
Shortly after the Middle Earth films, Otto appeared on-screen again in the 2005 adaptation of "War of the Worlds."
She has since worked on films like "Annabelle: Creation" (2017) and miniseries like USA's "The Starter Wife," ABC's "Cashmere Mafia," and Fox's "24: Legacy."
Otto recently appeared on several TV miniseries, like SBS' "The Unusual Suspects." In 2024, she reprised her role of Éowyn in the "Lord of the Rings" prequel anime film, "The War of the Rohirrim."
John Noble played Denethor II.
John Noble played a memorable character in the trilogy.
New Line Cinema
Noble made playing a troublesome ruler look fun. The last viewers saw of Denethor, he was falling off a cliff on fire after he had tried burning his son alive.
Before the fantasy franchise, the actor had been on TV series and in films like "The Monkey's Mask" (2001).
Noble has since worked on several hit TV shows.
Most recently, John Noble appeared on Apple TV+'s "Severance."
Like his "Lord of the Rings" costars Blanchett and Weaving, Noble also appeared as a guest on the ABC series "Rake" before signing longer stints on shows like Fox's "Sleepy Hollow," The CW's "DC's Legends of Tomorrow," and CBS' "Elementary."
He also showed up as Billy Butcher's father on an episode of Amazon Prime's "The Boys."
More recently, he worked on Netflix's "Cowboy Bebop," Paramount+'s "Star Trek: Prodigy," and Apple TV+'s "Severance."
Karl Urban played Éomer.
Karl Urban was in several films prior to the "Lord of the Rings" movies.
New Line Cinema
Urban played Éomer, the leader of the Riders of Rohan who later becomes King of the Mark.
Before the trilogy, he played Julius Caesar on Syfy's "Xena: Warrior Princess" and appeared in several films.
Urban continues to make a name for himself as an action star.
Karl Urban currently plays Billy on "The Boys."
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
Urban became an action-movie star shortly after "The Return of the King" with "The Chronicles of Riddick" (2004), followed by "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004) and "Doom" (2005).
He later played Leonard "Bones" McCoy in "Star Trek" (2009) and continued his action-star legacy as the titular judge in "Dredd" (2012).
Urban plays Billy on "The Boys" — making Noble's guest appearance a "Lord of the Rings" reunion.
The 2025 Tony Awards were held in New York City on Sunday.
Celebrities arrived dressed to the nines for the awards show.
Stars like Cynthia Erivo wore stunning looks, while others missed the mark with their outfits.
Broadway's biggest stars gathered for the most exciting theater event of the year on Sunday: the Tony Awards.
Cynthia Erivo hosted the 2025 Tonys at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The evening was full of live performances, including a medley of "Hamilton" songs performed by the original Broadway cast.
The attendees included stage actors, Hollywood stars, and even influencers. Some attendees came dressed to impress in ball gowns and statement suits, while others' outfits fell flat.
Take a look at the best and worst looks celebrities wore to the 2025 Tony Awards.
Lea Michele's tuxedo dress was effortlessly chic.
Lea Michele at the 2025 Tony Awards.
TheStewartofNY/FilmMagic/Getty Images
Michele walked the red carpet in a black tuxedo dress designed by Michael Kors.
The neckline dipped low, and a slit cut the skirt on one side, creating a sexy and balanced look. Michele also let the dress speak for itself, wearing black heels and simple jewelry.
Cecily Strong's floral ensemble was too busy.
Cecily Strong attends the 2025 Tony Awards.
TheStewartofNY/FilmMagic/Getty Images
Strong wore a floor-length, long-sleeve coat dress designed by Badgley Mischka. It had a pretty silhouette, with its collared neckline, belted waist, and full skirt.
However, the green dress was covered in an array of hot pink flowers from head to toe. The pattern was overwhelming to the eye, and the look might have been better if Strong wore the coat unbuttoned with an unpatterned shift underneath it to break up the colors.
Cynthia Erivo arrived to host the Tonys in a gown with an intricate bodice.
Cynthia Erivo attends the 2025 Tony Awards.
Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Schiaparelli designed Erivo's taupe gown, which had a regal feel that set the tone for her role as host of the evening.
The gown's column skirt had a sheen to it, while the off-the-shoulder bodice was covered in sparkly, floral beading. The neckline hovered around Erivo's frame, playing with structure.
Meanwhile, the bodice on Katie Holmes' dress didn't look cohesive with her skirt.
Katie Holmes attends the 2025 Tony Awards.
Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Holmes wore a custom Prada ensemble to the Tonys. The look featured the two main colors associated with "Wicked," as it had a high-neck, green blouse and a column-style pink skirt adorned with sparkly beading.
The two garments looked like they belonged to different outfits, and the green top in particular felt too casual for the Tonys. Holmes could have stood out on the red carpet if she had paired the skirt with a better top, but the look fell flat as it was.
Amal Clooney's pearl-covered dress stood out at the Tonys, while George Clooney's tuxedo was a bit boring.
Amal and George Clooney at the 2025 Tony Awards.
TheStewartofNY/FilmMagic/Getty Images
Tamara Ralph Couture designed Amal Clooney's white gown, which had an off-the-shoulder neckline and hugged her figure before ending in a scalloped hem at her ankle.
Rows of pearls adorned the dress, making it look like the lawyer was dripping in the gems. White heels with a pointed detail completed her elegant ensemble.
George Clooney, on the other hand, just wore a black tuxedo and bow tie for the evening. It's a classic look, but it would have been nice to see him add a fashionable flair to the outfit through a brooch or other accessory.
Cole Escola won their first Tony in a dramatic ball gown that was perfect for the occasion.
Cole Escola attends the 2025 Tony Awards.
Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Escola won the Tony for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play on Sunday for their performance as Mary Todd Lincoln in "Oh, Mary!"
They accepted the award in a custom Wiederhoeft gown that paid tribute to Bernadette Peters, whom Escola used to emulate in YouTube videos and live performances. She also wore a similar dress when she won a Tony in 1999.
Escola's soft-blue gown had a corset bodice with a halter neckline. Ruched, off-the-shoulder sleeves made of sparkly fabric coordinated with a swath of matching fabric on Escola's waist, which gave way to a sparkly skirt. A long train trailed behind them, adding glamour to the look.
A red wig and choker tied Escola's outfit together.
The detailing on Kristin Chenoweth's blue gown looked dated.
Kristin Chenoweth at the 2025 Tony Awards.
Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Chenoweth attended the Tonys in a blue gown designed by Christian Siriano.
The corset bodice had a pointed neckline with exposed boning and sheer panels on the bodice. The asymmetrical skirt was also transparent, sitting atop a shorter bubble skirt that gave it volume.
Everything about Chenoweth's outfit looked like it belonged in 2012 instead of 2025, from the boning and sheer fabric to the electric-blue color. Chenoweth could have updated the look with modern accessories or a fuller skirt.
Emmy Raver-Lampman looked chic in a velvet suit.
Emmy Raver-Lampman at the 2025 Tony Awards.
Bruce Glikas/WireImage/Getty Images
Raver-Lampman's deep-blue suit consisted of a jacket with a bow fastening and wide-legged pants.
She wore the suit with no top, exposing her black bra and giving the ensemble a sexy edge.
The sheer nature of Phillipa Soo's dress was distracting.
Phillipa Soo attends the 2025 Tony Awards.
Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Genny designed Soo's dress, which was made of a sheer fabric in pale pink.
The bodice was busy, featuring one strap, a large bow covered in beading on the chest, and a cutout. A fabric ruffle sat on Soo's waist, and the skirt flowed to the floor.
Although the dress had interesting elements, like the bow and waist ruffle, the transparent fabric distracted from every other part of the look, making the outfit feel busier than it was. Because the fabric was such a statement, the dress would have been better for Soo if it didn't feature the bow or additional detailing, as it would have offered a cleaner look.
Kalen Allen's green suit stood out on the red carpet.
Kalen Allen at the 2025 Tony Awards.
Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
The actor and content creator chose an emerald green suit from Naked Wardrobe for the Tonys.
Allen wore the oversize jacket open, showing off a low-cut white blouse and the high waistline of his wide-legged trousers. Heeled, white boots peeked out from underneath the pants, and Allen's glasses conveyed a sophisticated feel for the ensemble.
Julianne Hough's styling was too simple for the Tonys.
Julianne Hough at the 2025 Tony Awards.
Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Hough's white Christian Siriano gown was pretty. It had a form-fitting silhouette before poofing out in a mermaid skirt made of voluminous tulle.
However, the ensemble felt imbalanced because Hough didn't wear any jewelry with the look and kept her bob down.
The outfit would have felt more cohesive if she had added statement earrings or a bold necklace. As she wore it, it seemed like Hough just forgot to add accessories.
Bow detailing made Sadie Sink's dress shine.
Sadie Sink at the 2025 Tony Awards.
Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Sink, who was nominated for best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play for her performance in "John Proctor is the Villain," arrived at the Tonys in a custom Prada dress.
The silky, silver dress had a low, V-neckline, and it cinched at her waist before flowing into a floor-length skirt with a subtle train. Sparkly, clustered embellishments framed the neckline and formed a bow in the center for a pop of texture.
Paired with silver earrings, Sink's gown was glamorous without being over the top.
The polka dots on Gracie Lawrence's dress were a bit distracting.
Gracie Lawrence at the 2025 Tony Awards.
TheStewartofNY/FilmMagic/Getty Images
Twiggy Moore designed Lawrence's mermaid-style pink dress. The gown was covered in large black polka dots, a strip of black fabric on the neckline, and a coordinating one on the skirt, complete with a bow.
The dark color and size of the polka dots were too much for the dress, and the gown would have looked sleeker if the dots had been smaller or a paler hue.
Lawrence was nominated for best performance by a featured artist in a musical at the Tonys.
Darren Criss won his first Tony award in a playful take on a traditional tuxedo.
Darren Criss at the 2025 Tony Awards.
John Nacion/Variety via Getty Images
Criss won a Tony for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical in "Maybe Happy Ending," which also took home the award for best musical.
Criss accepted the award in a black tuxedo, pairing high-waisted, wide-legged pants with a cropped jacket. The jacket featured white lapels and white buttons, putting a fresh spin on the traditional tuxedo look.
Warner Bros. Discovery has announced plans to split itself into two companies, separating its streaming and studios divisions from its linear television businesses. The split is expected to be completed by mid-2026 and is supposed to help “maximize the potential” of its portfolio of brands, according to the company.
Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO, and HBO Max, alongside their respective film and television libraries, will fall under a new “Streaming and Studios” company. Another company, described as “Global Networks,” will run entertainment, sports, and news television brands, including CNN, Bleacher Report, the Discovery Plus streaming service, TNT Sports in the US, and Discovery TV channels across Europe.
“The cultural significance of this great company and the impactful stories it has brought to life for more than a century have touched countless people all over the world. It’s a treasured legacy we will proudly continue in this next chapter of our celebrated history,” said WBD CEO David Zaslav. “By operating as two distinct and optimized companies in the future, we are empowering these iconic brands with the sharper focus and strategic flexibility they need to compete most effectively in today’s evolving media landscape.”
Final names for the two companies weren’t given, so it’s not clear which will get the Warner Bros. brand. Zaslav will serve as President and CEO of Streaming and Studios, while WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels will be President and CEO of the Global Networks company. Both will continue in their current roles at WBD until the separation. Global Networks will receive a 20 percent stake in the Streaming and Studios spinoff.
The Financial Times reported in July 2024 that Zaslav was considering creating a new company to separate WBD’s streaming business from the growing debts of its suffering legacy TV networks. As today’s announcement doesn’t mention leadership plans for WBD following the separation, the future of the WBD brand is uncertain.
Seagate now offers a 4TB version of its Xbox storage expansion card. | Image: Seagate
Seagate has announced a new 4TB version of its storage expansion card for the Xbox Series X and S consoles. It’s the first time the company has introduced a new capacity since launching 2TB and 512GB versions of the expansion card in late 2021.
The 4TB card is available starting today through Seagate’s online store and Best Buy for $499.99, but is discounted to $429.99 as part of a limited-time launch promotion. For comparison, the Xbox Series S starts at $379.99, while the Xbox Series X starts at $599.99.
But, the added storage may be required by folks with large libraries of games. Depending on the options and expansions you install, games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6and Microsoft Flight Simulator can easily gobble up hundreds of gigs of storage each. You can increase the Xbox’s storage capacity using an external drive connected over USB, but to play games directly from an SSD, without having to move files around, requires the storage expansion cards.
You may want to wait for a price drop, though. The 2TB version of the card was originally priced at $399.99, but is now listed on Seagate’s online store for $249.99, with a current promotion bringing it down to $219.99.
For nearly three years, Seagate was the only company offering expandable storage cards for the Xbox Series X and S, but in mid-2023 Western Digital introduced its own. Its current pricing and capacities are comparable to Seagate’s offerings. Western Digital hasn’t yet introduced a 4TB option.
Although the added competition did help bring the price of Seagate’s expansion cards down, they’re still more expensive than storage expansions for the PlayStation 5, which allows you to use any SSD as long as it meets certain performance requirements. Not only does Western Digital already sell a PS5-compatible 4TB SSD for $339.99, it also offers an 8TB option, although that will set you back a steep $699.99.
Capping off a verybusyweek in the world of gaming is Microsoft with its annual Xbox Games Showcase, providing “a look at brand-new games and updates from across our first-party studios and our incredible partners across the globe.” It was followed by a segment focused entirely on the sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds 2.
The big reveal was portable gaming news, as Microsoft announced the Xbox app, Game Bar, and Windows OS updates that will arrive on two new ROG Xbox Ally handhelds. They’ll have a full-screen Xbox experience that’s supposed to make Windows more friendly to handhelds, and help them compete with the Steam Deck and other SteamOS-powered devices.
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