Movies

Bruce Willis' original diagnosis of aphasia has progressed, according to his family members ... who say the latest word from doctors is that he has frontotemporal dementia.

His daughter Rumer Willis posted that update and a statement from the family ... telling fans Bruce has now been diagnosed with a common cause of dementia, which is known as FTD.

The family says "Since we announced Bruce’s diagnosis of aphasia in spring 2022, Bruce’s condition has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD). Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces. While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis."

There are currently no treatments for FTD.

As we reported, Rumer initially revealed last year that aphasia would severely impact his ability to communicate, and, as a result, he would have to end his acting career.

Aphasia impacts the ability to comprehend words and/or speak. It can be caused by strokes, tumors or other brain damage, but it's not clear what led to his initial diagnosis.

Move over, Mel Kiper Jr. ... Taylor Lautner's now comin' in hot with the NFL draft advice -- telling TMZ Sports he wants his beloved Lions to go defense in the first round this year!!

We got the "Twilight" actor -- who's a MASSIVE Detroit fan -- out in L.A. on Wednesday ... and he made it clear, when Dan Campbell's guys get on the clock in April, he's hoping for some players who can scare the hell out of opposing offenses.

"Defense was lacking a little bit this year," the Grand Rapids, Mich. native said.

Lautner clearly knows his stuff (he has been, after all, a Lions supporter since he was a kid) -- Detroit had statistically one of the worst D's in the league in 2022 ... giving up the third-most points in the NFL, and the most yards.

The good news? The Lions have two first-round picks this year thanks to the Matthew Stafford trade with the Rams in 2021 -- and most mock drafts have them going with defenders at both picks.

In fact, in ESPN analyst Todd McShay's most recent mock on Wednesday, he had Detroit going with a Clemson pass rusher and a Georgia cornerback.

Raquel Welch, who paved the way as both an actress and international sex symbol has died ... TMZ has learned.

According to family members, Raquel died this morning after a brief illness.

Welch first rose to fame for her back-to-back roles in "Fantastic Voyage" and "One Million Years B.C." -- both in 1966.

Welch only had a handful of lines in 'B.C.' but it was her wardrobe -- a simple and skimpy deerskin bikini -- that catapulted her to sex symbol status.

From there, Welch's profile blew up, and she was one of the most sought-after female stars throughout the '60s and '70s ... taking home plenty of hardware in the process, including a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her 1974 role in "The Three Musketeers."

Welch was named one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History" in an issue of Empire magazine in 1995 ... and was ranked #3 in Playboy's "100 Sexiest Stars of the 20th Century."

She also appeared on "The Cher Show" in 1975 and performed "I'm a Woman" with Cher.

Raquel was married 4 times throughout her life -- James Welch ('59-'64), Patrick Curtis ('67-'72), Andre Weinfeld ('80-'90) and Richard Palmer ('99-'04) -- with 2 kids, Tahnee and Damon Welch.

Raquel was 82.

Forbes' list of the 10 highest-paid entertainers in 2022 includes filmmakers, musicians, TV creators and more -- collectively earning about $1.35 billion -- and, if there's one theme, it's that longevity pays off big time in show biz!!!

Topping the list is the rock band Genesis ... bringing in a whopping $230M. The frontman Phil Collins and the rest of the group sold their catalog back in September for a reported $300 million.

Forbes says the $70 mil difference represents fees to managers, agents and lawyers. They get ya coming and going.

Coming in a close second is Sting, earning $210M. Last year, he also sold his music catalog and his band's, The Police, and also got about $300M for all those hit songs.

Guess he paid his lawyers more than Genesis.

On the younger side ... 53-year-old TV/film mogul Tyler Perry came in at number 3, pocketing an estimated $175M from all his projects and his huge studio in Atlanta.

Others in the top 10 include ... "South Park" creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who came in at number 4 ahead of "The Simpsons" creators James L. Brooks and Matt Groening.

Brad Pitt is number 6 collecting $100M ... just ahead of the Rolling Stones, who at their advanced ages still earned $98 mil last year off a European tour.

Back in Hollywood, another guy who's been around forever, James Cameron -- now one of the highest-grossing directors of all time -- earned at least $95M from the "Avatar: The Way of the Water" flick.

Now for some youth -- Taylor Swift, who's the only woman in the top 10, made $92 million to put her at number 9, and Bad Bunny collected around $88 million from his massive tour.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are proving their devotion to one another ... by getting inked up.

Jen just revealed the recently married couple's new tattoos ... as part of a Valentine's Day post to her husband.

J Lo is sporting some new ink on her rib cage ... an infinity symbol with an arrow cutting straight through the middle.

The tattoo looks fresh, Jen still has a bandage on the ink, which makes it hard to make out the wording, though it appears both of their names are present.

Ben's tatt is a little bit different ... but it still incorporates Jen and their marriage. He's got a pair of intertwined arrows along with their initials "J" and "B."

Jennifer captioned the post "Commitment" and that seems to be a big theme here ... she included four hashtags ... #CommitmentIsSexy #ThisIsUsThen #ThisIsUsNow #ThisIsMeNow ... along with a photo dump.

The photos are super cute too ... Jen included a bunch of shots of her and Ben kissing and cuddling in different locations, including a yacht.

Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly may or may not be riding together until the wheels fall off -- but on the heels of their possible breakup, they're at least driving around together.

Megan and MGK were spotted in his Escalade Tuesday morning ... he was behind the wheel while she rode shotgun as they left his L.A. area home.

It's significant because it's not any ol' Tuesday -- the engaged couple is spending  Valentine's Day together just a couple days after Megan strongly hinted on social media they're done.

You'll recall, she dropped a series of photos over the weekend, where she appeared to be burning something, and wrote, "You can taste the dishonesty it’s all over your breath" ... a caption she snatched from Beyoncé's song "Pray You Catch Me".

This obviously set off alarms for fans, considering that song is from Bey's Lemonade album, which is allegedly all about Jay-Z cheating on her.

MF also unfollowed all but 3 people -- Timothee Chalamet, Harry Styles, and Eminem, who has major beef with MGK ... before deleting all posts with her fiance, and then her IG page altogether.

The two got engaged back in January 2022 and seemed to be getting on just fine ... at least, up until their Super Bowl weekend in AZ.

Sharon Stone is tearfully paying tribute to her late brother who just passed away this weekend ... and it has her reflecting on the "tremendous loss" her family's endured recently.

The actress confirmed Patrick's death, posting a video Monday evening with the caption "Godspeed Patrick Joseph Stone." In the short clip, she says he did, in fact, suffer a fatal heart attack ... and noted he's the father of the late River Stone.

River was Patrick's 11-month-old son who died in 2021 after his organs failed -- and Sharon tearfully expresses how difficult these past couple years have been for her family.

SS says she's thankful for all the love and support during this time, and appreciates the condolences she's received as well ... adding that the loss they've endured is just here on earth.

Remember, Sharon lost her grandmother and godmother in 2020 to COVID-19. As she copes with all that death, she's encouraging people to continue being kind to one another.

TMZ broke the story ... Patrick went into cardiac arrest Sunday in Pennsylvania, and for now -- his death is being attributed to heart disease.

As Sharon pointed out, he's survived by his wife and 2 children. Patrick was 57.

Danny Trejo is filing for bankruptcy -- but it's not because the dude is broke or anything ... he's just got a nagging bill with the IRS that would best be resolved this way.

The legendary actor tells TMZ ... he's filing Tuesday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which mostly has to do with reorganizing his assets to help deal with this debt he owes Uncle Sam -- which he says is about $2 million in taxes.

Part of the reason he fell into this hole ... Danny says he was mistakenly claiming deductions over the years that caught up with him. He even jokingly tells us he now realizes that dog grooming isn't a legit expense you can write off. 😅

A quick note -- while Danny is personally filing for bankruptcy, his many businesses -- including his record label, his coffee/donut shops and, of course, his famed Trejo's Tacos -- are doing just fine ... and aren't affected by this.

Those enterprises are owned by corporations and LLCs he's created to run them, and we've been assured his own financial woes are not a reflection of how those are producing. On the contrary, all indications suggest Danny's doing swimmingly in the free market.

Blockbuster Video's making people be kind and rewind once again -- the company ran a new ad on Super Bowl Sunday that resulted in a massive spike in sales, and it didn't cost 'em an arm and a leg.

Sandi Harding, General Manager of the last remaining Blockbuster in Bend, OR, tells TMZ ... on Monday morning they saw twice the number of online merch orders than all of last week combined -- which she directly credits to their Sunday night ad.

While "Blockbuster" may be a recognizable brand, the video store operates just like a mom-and-pop, and the majority of their sales are driven from merch -- stuff like trucker hats and sweatpants.

The surge in sales is huge for the biz ... we're told it's a slow time of year for the store, as summer's when they rely on tourists to check out their store and buy merch. Customers can still rent DVDs like old times -- but they're obviously not selling like the good ol' days.

For those who missed it, the retro ad kept things funny while promoting the store -- joking the last Blockbuster will survive even an apocalypse.

The average cost for a 30-second spot on the Super Bowl broadcast on Fox was about $7 million this year -- so, wisely, Blockbuster opted instead to drop its ad on social media during halftime. Sandi says they had a slim production budget and got help from an NYC ad agency that donated time and resources to make it happen.

More heartbreak for Sharon Stone and her family ... her brother Patrick died suddenly over the weekend.

Patrick died early Sunday morning in Pennsylvania. A rep for the coroner's office tells us his death is being ruled as sudden cardiac death due to heart disease. It's unclear if he was hospitalized at the time of his death.

Pat's wife Tasha shared the devastating news with friends, writing, "My heart feels like it’s been ripped out of my chest. Patrick went to be with our sweet River ... I don’t know what else to say, he was my world."

She continued, "I’m not sure what life is supposed to look like without my husband by my side and quite honestly I don’t want to, but I will of course. I just hope that you always stay by my side watching over Hunter, Kaylee and I."

River was Tasha and Patrick's son who died in 2021 at just 11 months ... at the time, Sharon announced River's organs had failed.

Tasha continued, "Until we meet again I will forever hold you and our wonderful (and some not so wonderful but just as important) memories close to my heart and will visit those memories always. I love you honey babe. My wish through all of this is that now at least River has his daddy with him and I hope the two of you are having the best time."

Patrick was only 57.

Things are getting pissy on the set of the upcoming "Joker" sequel ... we're told extras are angry over the lack of bathroom access, causing tension with production.

Sources on set tell TMZ ... extras for the movie have been complaining about working for over 2 hours nonstop and not being allowed to use the bathroom or drink water during filming at Warner Bros Studios in Burbank.

We're told the potty problems are mainly cropping up when extras are on set for camera setups, which often last between 20 minutes to an hour. The background actors fear repercussions if they ask higher-ups to use the loo ... that's because they say some extras have already been berated.

Our sources say one extra had to use the bathroom "terribly" between camera setups, but in order to do so, they first had to "state their case" to the assistant director as to why it was really an emergency.

When the extra was on their way back to set after using the bathroom, we're told they grabbed a cup of water and an assistant director said to them, "Why are you drinking more water? So you have to go pee again?"

We're told another A.D. was overheard saying, "I've never had to go to the bathroom this much. What do they even do in there? Cause they definitely aren't using them."

With the shoot tentatively scheduled for 5 weeks, there's a lot of money and regular work on the table for extras during a normally slow period in Hollywood, which is why some don't want to ruffle any feathers over bathroom breaks.

We've learned SAG received a complaint about a break time violation and they investigated and spoke to production. We're told production's been cooperative and SAG will continue to follow up and monitor the set.

"Joker: Folie à Deux" is set to be released in 2024 ... and it's starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. Filming began in December.

It's the second time there have been bathroom issues on a "Joker" movie set ... as we first told you, during filming for the first movie back in 2018, extras were locked in a Brooklyn subway car for more than 3 hours and started peeing on the tracks.

The Super Bowl gets some of the best commercials of the year, but one was a little too good ... because it had millions of viewers losing their minds, thinking they were missing the big game!!!

The Tubi commercial aired during Sunday night's big game and if you missed it -- consider yourself lucky 'cause it had households across the country reaching for their remotes and freaking out.

The ad, officially called "Interface Interruption", featured Fox sports commentators Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen -- y'know the guys calling the actual Super Bowl -- so, most fans figured they were really welcoming everyone back from a commercial break.

But then, while the 2 guys were talking, the screen looked like someone was messing around with the remote and scrolled to the Tubi app to watch "Mr. & Mrs. Smith".

Of course, the ad made fans everywhere think someone in their house was fumbling with the remote to watch the flick during the intense Super Bowl game😂

By the end, you could tell it was just an ad for the streaming service (owned by FOX, BTW) -- not some kid sitting on the remote -- and fans were returned to the real game with Kevin and Greg really calling the action.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have FINALLY found their dream house ... TMZ has confirmed they're in escrow to buy an incredible property in the L.A. area.

The mansion is in the Pacific Palisades area of L.A. -- a super exclusive neighborhood only for the uber-rich.

It's listed for $34,500,000 ... we do not know the agreed-upon price, but it's a good bet it's not far off from the listing price.

The house was built just last year. The seller calls it a Hamptons-style traditional, with 7 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms.  It sits on an acre, which is HUGE for the area.

The house has all the bells and whistles ... a screening room, a gym, pool, wine cellar.  it's also got a health spa -- not sure how that differs from a gym, but apparently, it does.

As we reported, JLo just listed her Bel Air home for $42.5M. Their plan was to upgrade that home, but apparently plans changed and they're movin' west.

Bob Iger is on a mission to make Disney profitable again -- so, for the Mouse House's centennial ... he made the entire company fall into formation to telegraph his vision.

As you might've heard by now, this year marks a big milestone for the mega-corporation... they're 100 years old, and BI -- who's the newly reinstated CEO once again -- whipped up a nifty little Super Bowl spot that's set to air during the game, which he also released early.

In an accompanying caption to the minute-and-a-half clip, Bob writes ... "Today I want to share this video, which celebrates the @WaltDisneyCo's 100-year milestone. We are enormously grateful to our storytellers, our cast members and our fans. Thank you and enjoy. #Disney100."

As for what's in the spot itself ... a highlight compilation reel full of snippets and stills from their massive vault of content over the years, which is mixed with footage of fans (especially little kids) dressed up as their favorite Disney characters and enjoying the parks.

It's a cool tribute to what Disney's offered/accomplished -- but what's even more striking (at least for the Twitter users of the world) is seeing just how big the Disney umbrella actually is ... as just about every single Disney-owned subsidiary tweeted this same video out.

They all also feature the exact same caption ... "You made this dream come true." All official Disney accounts -- touching everything from Marvel to Star Wars and Disney Animation to Pixar, as well as the different parks around the world -- have posted this, all in unison.

If you scroll through the #Disney100 trend, you'll see just how many properties Disney owns ... it's upwards of at least a couple dozen, which puts Disney's reach into perspective. It also makes ya realize how big a load Iger's got on his plate when it comes to righting the ship.

ICYMI ... Iger was tapped once more late last year after Bob Chapek was pushed out -- this after the Board of Directors apparently felt he wasn't serving the company's best interests.

Since then, Iger has made some big business decisions to get the stock price back up ... including laying off thousands of employees and shifting the structure of the company to focus on creative storytelling from the ground up, while looking for more savings.

Iger has also hinted at the possibility of Hulu potentially getting the boot in a would-be sale -- so it sounds like he's considering any and everything to shore up cash ... this after a few years of Disney struggling to reap significant profits.

And don't get us started on all the culture war stuff Disney's been mired in of late -- that's another headache they've been dealing with ... and will probably continue to battle. Not to mention a proxy war he's in with overzealous board members -- a whole other problem.

At any rate, it's pretty clear where Iger's focus is with this SB spot here ... he wants to get back in touch with the creators, fans and workers, who kinda make this thing go 'round.

James Cameron is facing off against James Cameron for the third spot on the list of highest-grossing movies of all time -- with two of his offerings within inches of one another for the honor.

Here's the deal ... we already know JC's newest flick, "Avatar: The Way of Water," has been steadily climbing these past few months -- blowing past film after film on the all-time box office record chart ... that is, until it hit a snag with "Titanic," which was securely at #3.

That briefly changed this weekend, with 'Avatar 2' replacing Cameron's crown jewel for the third spot ... if only for a day or so. As of Sunday, however, "Titanic" reclaimed its position.

In other words, the 2 movies (obviously, both Cameron's) were flip-flopping in ranking -- but for now, it looks like "Titanic" is holding firm at #3, and 'Avatar 2' is still #4 ... with the latest projections through the weekend for both movies being about $2.217B and $2.214B, respectively.

Although "Avatar" made more money than "Titanic" this weekend ... "Titanic" has still made more money long-term, but it's expected 'Avatar 2' will overtake it again in the coming days.

BTW, if you're wondering why we're saying "Titanic" was in theaters this weekend (as if it's 1997 all over again) ... that's because it was. The film is celebrating its 25th anniversary and got re-released, which means more ticket sales ... even in 2023. 😅

Three of Cameron's films are now all-timers. The first "Avatar" is still king with $2.92 billion, "Avengers: Endgame" is 2nd at $2.79 bil ... and you know the rest, for the time being.

Vernon Davis says he wouldn't be shocked if Tom Brady goes from hoisting Lombardi Trophies to picking up Oscars ... telling TMZ Sports he was impressed by the QB's role in "80 For Brady."

The former 49ers tight end -- who's turned himself into a super successful actor in his life after football -- told us out in Arizona this week that Brady legitimately showed him something in the new flick.

In fact, Davis said Brady did such a "great job" in the movie about a group of women who traveled across the country to catch him in Super Bowl LI -- he could envision the 45-year-old turning into a real-deal actor someday.

"I could see him having longevity," said the 39-year-old, who just recently worked with Morgan Freeman in the movie "Muti."

"He knows about discipline. He knows about hard work. He knows what it takes to be great at anything. So, with that, he can only go up."