Movies

Tom Holland has co-signed on a scientific conclusion that has a clear impact on his life ... that short men have more sex.

The 'Spider-Man' star clearly knows of where he speaks. The 5'8" actor has been dating Zendaya, who measures 5'10."

Here's the way it went down ... The LADbible posted a pic of Danny DeVito and the much larger Arnold Schwarzenegger, with the caption, "According to the Journal of Sexual Medicine, shorter men are more sexually active than taller men."  Tom liked the post, according to The Sun.

For those of you who are interested, there were 531 heterosexual men in the study and found males under 5'9" just got it on more than their taller counterparts.

Tom and Zendaya have joked about their 2-inch height disparity, with Holland calling it a "stupid assumption" that height differences like theirs create problems.

For Zendaya's part, it's old hat ... “My mom is taller than my dad. My mom’s taller than everyone.”

Tom Holland may be the biggest thing in Hollywood, because "Spider-Man: No Way Home" has just topped Sony's list of highest-grossing movies ever ... and it's not his only billion-dollar flick.

The latest Spider-Man installment gave Sony the biggest December opening weekend ever ... it's about to cross the billion-dollar mark worldwide. That's a big deal because no other film released during the pandemic came even close. And, although the anemic movie industry only produced $4 billion in box office receipts -- compared with 11 billion in 2019 -- 'Spider-Man' is responsible for a quarter of the total haul -- pretty impressive.

What's more ... this is the 5th movie starring Holland which crossed the billion-dollar level.

The latest installment is poised to break even "Spider-Man" records ... the current title-holder is "Spider-Man: Homecoming" which grossed $1.1 billion, and "No Way Home" is expected to crush that.

There will be more 'S-M' movies for sure ... so Marvel assures us.

There's been a long, raging debate over whether the 1980s classic action flick "Die Hard" is a Christmas movie ... and Bruce Willis' mother is picking sides.

The debate has the potential to blow families apart this holiday season ... and even the TMZ office is split down the middle on "Die Hard" as an Xmas classic ... so to get to the bottom of this we went to Bruce's mom ... because mothers are never wrong, right?!?

Bruce's mom, Marlene, tells TMZ ... "Die Hard" is NOT a Christmas movie.

Her reasoning ... "Die Hard" is a movie set at Christmas time, but that's not an essential element of the flick. Seems the apple didn't fall far from the tree, because Bruce does not believe it's a Christmas movie either.

Still not convinced?!?

Well, one high-ranking TMZ staffer lays it out like this ... if you take "Die Hard" and move the setting to another time in the year, say Easter or Mother's Day or heck, even Halloween, the movie still works just the same.

It's an interesting point, but we still gotta ask ...

Iain Armitage is doing quite well for himself outside of his usual revenue stream as the child star of "Young Sheldon" -- he earned another fat payday on his latest animated film.

According to Iain's minor's contract -- filed in L.A. Superior Court and obtained by TMZ -- the 13-year-old actor made at least $100,000 for his work on "PAW Patrol: The Movie" ... but he could have taken home even more than that.

The contract says Iain was paid $10,000 for each recording session he did for the movie ... and the deal says he was guaranteed at least 10 sessions, so there's $100k off the jump.

Iain, who is the voice of Chase in the animated movie, also had contractual bonuses depending on how well the film did at box offices in the U.S. and Canada after being released back in August ... but unfortunately for him, it didn't pan out.

The docs say Iain would have earned a $175,000 bonus if the film reached at least $150 million at the domestic box office ... and there are escalators that could see his total bonus haul reach $1.675 million, again, depending on how many kids drag their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles to movie theaters.

However, the flick came up a little short with $130 million at the box office -- so he settled for the six-figure payday. Still a pretty sweet check at 13, or any age, for that matter!!!

P.T. Anderson's newest movie, "Licorice Pizza," is getting unleashed to the masses this weekend -- and with it, so are uncomfortable themes of racism and would-be pedophilia.

The esteemed director's latest offering got a wide release Saturday -- this after a multi-week run in very select theaters throughout L.A. and elsewhere -- and now that folks are able to catch it for Christmas ... some are walking away saying what early viewers also echoed.

One of the big takeaways, it seems ... the movie is problematic, not just for its premise about a 25-year-old woman in a cat-and-mouse love dance with a 15-year-old boy, but just as cringe-worthy -- the fact there's overt mocking of Asian culture, depicted at length twice.

First ... the weird relationship. The flick's about this teen, Gary, who falls head over heels in love with a gal 10 years his senior, Alana, who then go back and forth pursuing each other amid a ton of misadventures ... all with the backdrop of the San Fernando Valley in the '70s.

At one point, she flashes her breasts at him ... and by the end, it's implied they get together as a couple. Folks online are saying the age gap is grossly inappropriate -- and that if the shoe was on the other foot (adult male and female teen), it probably wouldn't fly in 2021.

Perhaps just as bad is the fact that a white restaurateur in the movie -- played by John Michael Higgins -- introduces two different wives of his, who are Japanese and look similar. In both scenes, he speaks to them in a caricatured Japanese accent ... which a lot of people also found offensive and unnecessary for the story. Indeed, it reeks of blatant racism.

The latter criticism has become quite loud, especially among those who belong to MANAA -- the Media Action Network for Asian Americans. They penned an open letter to the Academy and other governing bodies during this award season, asking that 'LP' be snubbed.

The Grinch will be making its way to the NFL this Christmas ... courtesy of Indianapolis Colts running back Nyheim Hines' super furry cleats!!

TMZ Sports has learned ... Hines hit up his go-to guy, artist Rodney Jackson, to make some cleats that will get him in the holiday spirit before taking on the Cardinals on Christmas Day.

The finished product channels one of the most iconic Christmas movies ever -- "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" -- and they came out mean and furry!

Each cleat is covered with a crazy amount of green hair -- just like the Grinch's signature fur -- and features the Mean One's evil grin sketched on the side.

Jackson tells us it took 3 days to put this masterpiece together ... with the help of a sewing machine and glue.

But, Hines ain't the only Colts player celebrating the holidays on his feet -- cornerback Isaiah Rodgers also copped some pre-game Christmas cleats.

Rodgers went with a different holiday classic, "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" ... and Jackson used a tricky wiring technique to get Rudolph's very shiny nose to light up!

Alec Baldwin hopped on cam to deliver a holiday message ... thanking people who have supported him in the wake of the fatal shooting on the "Rust" set, saying it's been a rough road for him.

Baldwin expressed gratitude to people who reached out to him with messages of sympathy and support ... "I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all the people who sent me such kind words and best wishes and strength and hope and prayers, thoughts and lots of encouragement. I got hundreds, hundreds of emails from friends, family and colleagues and people I haven't heard from in quite a while to send me strength and good wishes and so forth. I'm really grateful to them."

Baldwin talked about his desire to put the tragedy behind him, and at the same time acknowledged the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins will never be forgotten ... "I'm looking forward to some aspects of this being behind me, of course. For everyone who is involved in this, it'll never be behind us because someone died so tragically. I never lose sight of that, not a day goes by I don't think about that."

He then talked about the center of his life ... "It's true, I only care about my wife and my kids and moving forward with my life and trying to get through a tough time, a really tough time."

New York native Bobcat Goldthwait (real name Robert Francis Goldthwait) gained fame while in his mid-twenties after he parlayed his successful stand-up career into big-screen acting gigs while keeping his signature squawky voice on iconic '80s movies.

BG's recognizable roles include the zany Zed on "Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment," Fred Chaney on the talking horse hit "Hot To Trot," Egg Stork on the seasonal romantic comedy "One Crazy Summer" ... and of course Eliot Loudermilk on the 1988 Christmas classic "Scrooged."

If there's one thing Chevy Chase's Clark Griswold character in 'Christmas Vacation' inspired, it's lots of holiday shenanigans ... just ask one man who created a decoration prank based on the movie's most popular scene.

In a now viral TikTok, the decoration's creator shows how he constructed the homemade decoration to look like Clark dangling from his roof as he hung Christmas lights. The prank even comes complete with audio, making it sound like the struggling man is shouting for help.

In another video, you see the local fire department racing to the scene -- seemingly to help out the fake decorator -- though it's unclear if they were part of the gig as well.

James Franco admitting he slept with students at his acting school is a total sham, designed to make it look like he's apologizing when he really isn't ... at least according to the attorneys who sued him over the sexual misconduct.

Franco seemed to spill his guts during a SiriusXM interview this week, telling Jess Cagle ... "Look I'll admit I did sleep with students. I didn't sleep with anybody in that particular class, but over the course of my teaching I did sleep with students, and that was wrong."

It's also BS, if you ask attorneys at 2 different law firms -- Valli Kane & Vagnini, LLP and Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai, LLP -- which filed lawsuits on behalf of students, including Sarah Tither-Kaplan, who'd attended Studio 4 ... Franco's school.

A rep for the firms tells us, "In addition to being blind about power dynamics, Franco is completely insensitive to, and still apparently does not care about, the immense pain and suffering he put his victims through with this sham of an acting school.

During the interview, Franco denied having any "master plan" to have sex with students -- he claims he had no role in selecting them for his class, and didn't start the school intending to bed his students ... and that's infuriating to women like Tither-Kaplan.

Her lawyers' statement continues, "It is unbelievable that even after agreeing to a settlement he continues to downplay the survivors’ experiences and ignore their pain, despite acknowledging he had no business starting such a school in the first place."

As for why Franco's coming forward now ... 10 months after he settled the class action lawsuit for $2.2 million, and nearly 4 years after the women first came forward -- the attorneys believe the interview was intentionally timed to avoid making headlines.

Jacob Batalon looks and feels like a whole new man after dropping an astounding 112 pounds!!!

The "Spider-Man: No Way Home" star says he knew he had to make a change starting back in 2019, "I felt like I could barely walk upstairs without being out of breath, and this one day I kind of just saw myself without a shirt on and it was just ridiculous ...”

Jacob says COVID-19 and the lockdown that followed really helped him to work on himself, hiring a trainer and hitting the gym 6x a week for hour-and-a-half sessions.

Not only did Jacob hit the gym hard, but he says his girlfriend introduced him to a plant-based diet as well ... and the results have been huge for him.

Buzz McCallister is probably gonna be the one who's home alone for Christmas this time around -- because he got arrested for beating up his girlfriend ... and is already out of jail.

'Home Alone' star Devin Ratray was booked on domestic violence charges Wednesday after turning himself in to the authorities in Oklahoma City -- this after a warrant was issued for his arrest ... stemming from an alleged altercation with his now-ex from 2 weeks ago.

Ratray was booked for domestic assault and battery by strangulation, a felony, as well as misdemeanor domestic assault and battery. Ratray was released on $25k bond within 15 minutes after posing for a mug shot.

As we reported ... the alleged victim filed a police report on Dec. 10, claiming Buzz had gotten violent with her in a hotel room after a night out on the town. She told cops he'd pushed her, punched her in the face and pressed his hands against her throat and mouth.

There's more disturbing detail in the probable cause affidavit -- obtained by TMZ -- which says Ratray allegedly told her, "This is how you die." The GF also told police Ratray was really drunk -- downing upwards of a dozen drinks -- and then got pissed at her for giving autographed photos of him to fans for free.

The cops note the alleged victim appeared to have multiple injuries from the dustup, including bruises and marks on her face.

James Franco is speaking out at length for the first time since a wave of sexual misconduct allegations were leveled against him -- saying he's spent the last few years working on himself -- and making one thing clear ... he's still got love for Seth Rogen.

Franco spoke with SiriusXM's "The Jess Cagle Podcast" Wednesday, and talked everything from the allegations to his career and his fallout with Rogen.

If you hadn't heard ... Seth said in an interview this year he had no plans to work with Franco in light of the allegations made against his former friend. To that, James told Jess, "Of course, it was hurtful in context, but I get it, you know, he had to answer for me cause I was silent."

Rogen's comments seemed to really sit with Franco, given how close the two were, "We didn't have one fight for 20 years. Not one fight. He was my absolute closest work friend, collaborator."

While the pair don't have any projects lined up for the future, they've starred in massive movies together, including "Pineapple Express," "The Interview," "Sausage Party" and "The Disaster Artist."

Michigan local Jessica Cauffiel was in her mid-20s when her acting career was launched into the limelight with some big acting roles including playing the Hamptons hottie and best friend Tori Wilson -- whose cool clique gets raided by the undercover cops in drag -- in the 2004 work of art "White Chicks."

Cauffiel shared the big screen with the on-screen and off-screen comedy brothers Marlon Wayans as Agent Marcus Copeland... and as Tiffany Wilson and Shawn Wayans as Agent Kevin Copeland ... and Brittany Wilson.

Other notable roles from Jessica's Y2K credits are Margot in 'Legally Blonde' and Milan on "The Drew Carey Show."

Even when Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson look like they're going to the movies like a normal couple, there's nothing average about it ... not when they're renting out the joint for themselves.

If it wasn't clear before, things are definitely heating up between these 2, and there seems to be a common theme when they're in his neck of the woods -- Pete loves taking Kim to places he's gone his whole life.

Jesse Scarola, who owns Atrium Stadium Cinemas on Staten Island -- site of Kim and Pete's most recent date night -- says the lovebirds rented out a private screen to watch "House of Gucci."

Scarola tells us Pete hits the spot at least once a month with friends ... although, it was a slightly different experience with Kim, as her security team called ahead to make sure it was cool for the couple to enter through a side door.

Despite making a low-key entrance, Scarola says Kim and Pete chatted with staff and fans -- like PD usually does -- and they even took pics with folks. Point is, we're told Kim made an effort to get to know people at her BF's neighborhood theater.

As we reported, Kim, Pete and Scott Disick all hit Atrium Saturday for movie night just hours before 'SNL' started. Unclear if Scott originally planned to watch Pete in action at 30 Rock before the show was scaled back, but he was at least able to tag along for the flick.

As you know, Kim started seeing Pete a couple of months ago. She'd filed for divorce from her Kanye West back in February.

Bradley Cooper's newest movie did abysmally bad at the box office -- and ticket sales were apparently so poor ... theaters actually started bumping BC for Peter Parker.

The flick -- titled "Nightmare Alley" and directed by Guillermo del Toro -- raked in just under $3 million over its opening weekend across a little over 2,000 theaters nationwide ... this with a reported price tag of about $60 mil to make it, and future projections looking grim.

Not just that ... but it would seem some ticket buyers had to nix their scheduled outing after getting word from the local theater that they were swapping a one-off "Nightmare Alley" screening to make room for yet another "Spider-Man: No Way Home" slot.

One person writes, "True s***. Just got an email from my theater asking if I wanted to cancel my tickets for NIGHTMARE ALLEY because they cancelled every other show to free up the screen for more Spider-Man showings."

It also appears 'NA' is getting yanked out of cineplexes pretty quickly -- if it was ever playing at all, that is -- in the wake of its terrible performance, with yet another person pointing out there's only one single screening for it this upcoming week at a Marcus Theaters location.

And where "Nightmare Alley" *was* playing ... not very many people were rushing in to see it. There are few photos online showing very empty theater rooms. Bottom line ... hardly anyone caught it. Ditto for 'West Side Story' ... which did worse this weekend than last.

Meanwhile, 'No Way Home' absolutely crushed ... pulling in over $250 million this weekend, even in the midst of the pandemic and a new variant causing COVID cases to rise again.

So the question ... what gives??? Many are lamenting the lopsided numbers -- pointing out that if Spider-Man can get asses in seats during a still-scary time ... it must mean the death of "real cinema" as we know it, with tentpole popcorn franchises fully taking over.