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Chucky the killer doll is trending this weekend -- and the reason is because there's a new silicone-laced slasher in town that's got everyone dying for her ... that'd be 'M3GAN.'

The new horror flick just hit theaters this weekend, and by all accounts ... it's a hit with the young crowd, especially Gen-Zers and TikTok users. Apparently, she's all the rage online right now -- there's tons of memes and whatnot cropping about the movie, which is said to be laced with dark comedy, which is apparently starting to encroach on 'Child's Play' territory.

You can hop into the trend yourself and see the comparisons that are (jokingly) being drawn up between the classic foul-mouthed Good Guy of the '90s and M3GAN ... who's very much so an upgrade in terms of tech, tact and murdering capability in 2022.

If you're unfamiliar, 'M3GAN' is about this toy maker who creates a robotic best friend for children ... and tests it out on her niece, without realizing the doll starts to develop a mind of its own. Eventually, it wants control of raising the girl ... and it goes on a murderous rampage to get it. Pretty familiar territory, but in this case -- it's shaping up to be a hit.

Box office estimates have 'M3GAN' aiming to rake up at least $27 million through the weekend, which is a solid opening to kick off the new year -- especially against 'Avatar 2,' which is still cleaning up since its December release. So far, 'M3GAN' is at $11.7M.

Anyway, while 'M3GAN' might be the talk of the toy town right now -- Chucky's still got a special place in people's hearts ... and that's in large part because of his SYFY/USA show, which has undoubtedly given him a new lease on life in the 21st century.

It's pretty popular and maintains the spirit of the OG franchise. But with M3GAN out here, everyone's one-time favorite killer doll might need to bust out a new trick or two and get even more with the times than he has on TV thus far.

Jeremy Renner is giving us regular progress reports after his horrendous snowplowing accident, and it's looking hopeful as he thanked the hospital staff the day before his birthday.

Jeremy posted a pic of himself in bed with a rather large group with the caption, "Thank you renowned medical ICU team for beginning this journey." The prayer emojis did not go unnoticed.

This is Jeremy's third post ... Tuesday he gave an update thanking his fans, with only a photo of his head, saying ... "Thank you all for your kind words. 🙏. Im too messed up now to type. But I send love to you all."

Then Thursday, he posted video of his sister shampooing/massaging his head ... calling it a "spa moment." So his sense of humor is clearly intact.

He's already had at least one surgery and presumably has a long road to recovery, but doctors are optimistic.

Earl Boen, best known for his reoccurring role in the 'Terminator' franchise, has died.

A family member tells TMZ the veteran actor passed away Thursday in Hawaii, but wouldn't disclose a cause or the specifics of his death.

Earl is best remembered for his role as Dr. Peter Silberman the 'Terminator' series. However, he racked up other film credits in the '80s such as ... "Battle Beyond the Stars," "The Man with Two Brains" and "Alien Nation."

He also appeared in "Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult" in 1994, and "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" in 2000.

Earl is survived by his wife, Cathy. His first wife, Carole, passed away in 2001.

He was 81.

Bryan Kohberger is accused of committing a murder that has markings of a horror movie ... a movie in which his own sister starred.

Amanda Kohberger has a single movie credit ... "Two Days Back," shot in 2011. The premise -- a group of students who are viciously stabbed to death with knives and other weapons.

The group of "environmentally-conscious students" take a hike in the woods. Their mission is to catch people who are illegally foresting.

The murderer befriends the group of students and then begins the massacre.

The director, Kevin Boon, was shocked when he learned of the connection between Amanda and her brother ... "You're f***ing kidding me, her brother is that guy?" Boon told the New York Post. He had kind words for Amanda, saying she was "a lovely woman who was very nice. I liked her a lot."

As you know, Bryan Kohberger is accused of butchering 4 University of Idaho students to death as they slept in their beds.

Eerie.

Jeremy Renner is still in bad shape after his horrendous snowplow accident, but he got a taste of normal life with a shower and shampoo ... albeit in ICU.

Jeremy posted this video of his sister gently shampooing his hair. It seems the no-rinse shampoo cap is covering his head ... these things have to be done gingerly, and his sister is up to snuff.

Renner is loving it, saying he hasn't had a shower in a week. It's almost like a head massage, and you can almost feel how he's enjoying the experience.

Jeremy is still listed in critical but stable condition after the snowplow ran over much of his body, causing chest trauma and a severe leg injury.

Doctors will tell you medicine is great, but a patient's attitude is important to recovery, and you can tell Jeremy's got as positive an outlook as possible.

It seems producers of the James Bond franchise aren't ready to make up their minds on exactly who they have their sights set on -- now Aaron Taylor-Johnson's in the mix.

The British actor -- famous for his role in "Kick-Ass" and, more recently, "Bullet Train" -- is reported to have had a meeting with Barbara Broccoli in September ... and not just that, he even did a screen test that went well, according to Daily Mail and Puck News.

The screen test is said to have been part of a full-blown audition Aaron apparently did for Barbara and co. -- and it sounds like everyone was impressed with what they saw. Word is ... they had ATJ do the iconic gun barrel opening sequence, which is a huge deal obviously.

The reports say Aaron is now a front-runner, but that nothing is official yet. This is a major development from the news that came out this past weekend -- when "Emily in Paris" star Lucien Laviscount was said to have been in the running as well and also considered a favorite.

There've been a lot of names thrown around over the past several months, but Aaron's the first one who's gotten on camera to try his hand at Bond ... as far as we've heard at least.

Jeremy Renner was working to get a family member's vehicle out of heavy snow when a freak accident caused him to be run over by his own plow ... according to cops investigating the incident.

The Washoe County Sheriff's Office held a press conference Tuesday about Sunday morning's incident when Renner was airlifted to a hospital.

Reps say Renner was working to free a family member's vehicle that got stuck in the snow near the actor's home in Tahoe. At some point, Renner got out of his Snowcat to talk to the family member and the vehicle started to roll ... Renner tried to get back in the driver's seat, but was run over.

Investigators say there's no evidence Renner was impaired at the time of the accident, and they're looking into the possibility of a mechanical failure.

A banged-up Renner shared a photo of himself in a hospital bed just as the press conference began, revealing facial injuries. We know JR's injuries also included a mangled leg and blunt chest trauma, which resulted in a lot of blood loss.

His rep tells us, "Jeremy is making positive progress and is awake, talking and in good spirits. He remains in ICU in critical but stable condition. He is overwhelmed by the showing of love and support. The family asks for your continued thoughts while he heals with his close loved ones."

TMZ got the first videos of Renner being rushed to a waiting helicopter that day, which took off quickly to get him help. We also obtained a clip of his Snowcat being towed away, and as you can see -- it's quite massive ... giving you a sense of just how serious this was.

Jeremy Renner is giving fans a glimpse of just how bad his condition is following the snowplow incident that left him badly injured ... sharing a photo of his bruised and battered face.

Renner posted the photo Tuesday with the caption, "Thank you all for your kind words. 🙏. Im too messed up now to type. But I send love to you all."

One of the actor's eyes is totally bruised and swollen, and he's got multiple scrapes on his face. His rep tells us, "Jeremy is making positive progress and is awake, talking and in good spirits. He remains in ICU in critical but stable condition. He is overwhelmed by the showing of love and support. The family asks for your continued thoughts while he heals with his close loved ones."

At a press conference Tuesday, cops revealed Renner was helping a family member get their vehicle out of the snow with his Snowcat plowing machine. The actor got out to talk to the family member, and the machine started to roll ... Renner attempted to get back inside the Snowcat and got run over.

Investigators don't believe Renner was impaired at all during the incident, and it was purely an accident. They are, however, checking into any sort of mechanical failure that may have happened.

The incident left Renner with blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries.

New video shows Jeremy Renner's helicopter flight to a hospital shortly after his horrific snowplowing accident, and TMZ has learned new details about his injuries which caused him to lose a serious amount of blood.

The video, obtained by TMZ, starts right after the two-time Oscar nominee was loaded onto the chopper Sunday around 9:50 AM. Eyewitnesses tell us Jeremy was plowing the road about a quarter mile from his Tahoe home so his family could get out after a massive New Year's eve storm.

According to a neighbor, the plowing machine -- called a Snowcat -- accidentally ran over one of Jeremy's legs, and he was losing a lot of blood from the injury. We're told another neighbor, who's a doctor, was able to put a tourniquet on his leg until paramedics arrived.

We're told the area was treated like an active crime scene ... with police arriving at 8 PM to impound the Snowcat, which Jeremy's previously posted video of himself using on his property after snowstorms. The issue, we're told, is the machine has extensive safety features, and should not have rolled over Jeremy.

As we reported, Jeremy is in "critical but stable condition with injuries suffered after experiencing a weather-related accident while plowing snow" ... according to a rep.

According to dispatch audio, obtained by TMZ, first responders were initially concerned about the conditions to access the accident due to the storm.

A source close to Jeremy tells us his injuries are "extensive" -- along with his leg, other parts of his body have been injured.

Leonardo DiCaprio continues to be one of the most eligible bachelors in Hollywood, spending time on a luxury yacht surrounded by a ton of hot women in bikinis.

A shirtless Leo was spotted in St. Barts Monday while getting some serious vitamin D and chatting it up with multiple models on board before taking a dip and then laying in the sun.

Unclear who all of Leo's female friends are ... but one of the bikini-babes was Madison Headrick, Leo's pal Joe Nahmad's fiancee.

Of course, Leo recently ended his relationship with Camila Morrone, after several years together.

He's been linked to several others since the split, including Gigi Hadid and more recently has reportedly been spending time with 23-year-old actress Victoria Lamas.

Jeremy Renner was seriously injured during a snowplowing accident at a Nevada ski resort -- and had to be airlifted to a hospital.

The two-time Oscar-nominated actor was in "critical but stable condition with injuries suffered after experiencing a weather-related accident while plowing snow earlier [Sunday],” a rep told Deadline.

The rep says Jeremy's receiving excellent care, but would not disclose details about the accident or the injuries.

Renner has a house in the Mount Rose Ski Tahoe resort near Reno, which got slammed by a snowstorm on New Year's Eve. Thousands of homes in the area apparently lost power ... it's not clear if Jeremy's house was also impacted.

As you probably know, Renner was nominated for an Academy Award in 2010 for his performance in the film, "The Hurt Locker." The following year ... he got another Oscar nom for his role in "The Town." He has also starred in countless other movies, including "The Avengers" and "Captain America: Civil War."

Mekhi Phifer has some bad news for "8 Mile" fans, on the heels of the flick's platinum anniversary -- don't waste time looking for a sequel, ''cause it ain't happening!!!

We caught up with the "8 Mile" star shortly after the classic film marked its 20th anniversary ... and we had to ask if there was anything in the works for a new story related to the OG characters.

Mekhi tells TMZ Hip Hop ... there will never be a follow-up to the film, as far as he's concerned. He says, sometimes it's best to leave the classics alone ... adding there's never been any convo about making one happen.

Now, he does acknowledge a sequel could be interesting -- just story-wise -- but he says he wouldn't want to be in it, and he doubts his costar Eminem would be a part of it either.

As far as their relationship goes ... he says they're still pals and they keep in touch. He adds, Em is focusing more on his music right now, so that's another reason they won't be returning to 8 Mile Road.

Since the film dropped in November 2002, Eminem's music career's had its ups and downs, but he's still widely recognized as a hip hop icon ... and he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year.

From Mr. Paris to Mr. Bond -- that seems to be the trajectory Lucien Laviscount might be on ... if you believe the reports that he's in the running as the next 007.

The British actor -- famous for his recurring role on Netflix's 'Emily in Paris' -- is said to have captured the attention of movie producer Barbara Broccoli ... who also holds the rights to the James Bond franchise, and who's in search of a new agent to replace Daniel Craig.

According to the Daily Mail ... his work in 'EIP' -- where he plays the main character's love interest, Alfie -- is what landed him as a frontrunner for the job. He's been on for 2 seasons.

DM cites one purported insider as saying, "Lucien ticks all of the boxes. He is a super talented actor, is extremely handsome and in the past 18 months has won lots of new fans since he joined Emily In Paris. Bond bosses are already saying how you can see him in the 007 tuxedo, how dapper and fitting to the role he will look."

The thing that might hurt him, apparently ... his time on 'Celebrity Big Brother,' on which he competed in 2011. According to this source, the Bond producers think it's low brow stuff not fitting of a Bond actor, even though they're supposedly still pretty high on him in general.

The other interesting tidbit coming out of this report ... Broccoli is said to have greenlit stunt work testing over at Pinewood Studios, where they've shot a lot of Bond content. If true, that would mean they're ramping up to start the next chapter post-Craig/'No Time to Die.'

There'd been rumblings that Idris Elba was being considered to play the next Bond, but frankly ... he's too old, and Lucien fits the bill for what Broccoli and co. have recently said they want in their next iteration of the character. A young whippersnapper, that is.

We'll say this ... Lucien's definitely got the look down. Handsome, fit and natural elegance. All the right stuff that makes Bond an international heartthrob.

Here's hoping the Bond honchos figure it out sooner than later. The gap between Pierce Brosnan and Craig (4 years) was longer than any period from previous actors -- meaning, when one guy left ... the other slid in rather seamlessly in a matter of a year or two.

Angela Bassett's son pulled a pretty mean prank on his mom to cap off the year -- telling her Michael B. Jordan had just died (not true) ... but he realized it wasn't a good idea.

The actress' 16-year-old, Slater, posted a since-deleted video to his TikTok account this weekend ... a quick 20-second clip showing him break some would-be tragic news to AB -- namely, that another one of her "Black Panther" costars had passed away.

He's obviously trying to get a crazy reaction out of Angela, and boy does he get it ... you see his mom freaking out, saying "no" repeatedly as she approaches to see what he's seeing.

It sounds like Slater might've said he was joking in the clip, and we don't get to see what Angela's reaction is once she realizes the death story is fake. But, we imagine it wasn't great ... because, like we said, Slater took the video down -- but he's getting dragged regardless.

His video was captured by folks and is spreading like wildfire on social media ... and the consensus seems to be -- dude, how could you do that to your mom?!? Even as a prank.

Of course, Angela has already experienced tremendous loss on this front with the passing of Chadwick Boseman. As everyone knows, both Chadwick and Michael starred in the original "Black Panther" ... and the latter made a cameo in the recent sequel. So, they're all tight.

Neither Angela nor Slater have addressed the joke-gone-wrong since it went up. But, in light of the backlash, it's probably best to leave these fake death announcements in 2022.

Lord knows we already got our fair share of real deaths this year, especially in these last few days. Considering everything the 'BP' family has gone through, something like this would be way too much.

A valuable lesson learned, indeed.

Actor Bob Penny, who scored minor roles in the films "Forrest Gump" and "Sweet Home Alabama," has died.

Bob passed away in Huntsville, Alabama on Christmas Day, according to an online obit from Laughlin Service Funeral Home. His cause of death was not disclosed.

Penny was a bit part actor in dozens of films and TV shows during his long career stretching back to the '80s. Some of his movie credits include, “Mississippi Burning,” “My Cousin Vinny” and “The Legend of Bagger Vance." He played a “crony” in “Forrest Gump,” and a bumbling, small-town lawyer in “Sweet Home Alabama." He also landed a role in the TV series “In the Heat of the Night.”

He began his acting career doing TV commercials for a local department store and ad campaigns for The United Way.

Bob was 87.

Margot Robbie's latest film bombed at the box office, marking the second such flop she's been in this year ... both of which were huge ensemble numbers with top A-list talent.

Of course, we're talking about 'Babylon' -- which hit theaters this holiday weekend ... and only raked in a meager $3.5 million domestically through Sunday, with an estimated $5.3 mil expected to come in through Monday. Either way ... it's not a good turnout whatsoever.

The movie -- which is about old Hollywood and the emergence of "talkies" -- had massive star power attached to the credits ... in addition to Margot as the lead, it also featured Brad Pitt, Tobey Maguire, Olivia Wilde, Chloe Fineman, Eric Roberts, Flea, Max Minghella, etc.

Plus, there's the director -- Damien Chazelle -- who's an Oscar winner ... and with a somewhat hefty budget of $80 million (and a lot of marketing) it's unclear why this one didn't do well with moviegoers this holiday season. The mixed reviews probably didn't help.

Interestingly, there's another movie Margot was a part of earlier this fall that had very similar vibes -- another star-studded lineup (Christian Bale, Robert De Niro, Rami Malek, Taylor Swift, etc.) that came together for 'Amsterdam' ... which also flamed out in theaters.

It only made about $6.4M during its opening weekend in Oct., and went on to collect just $16M or so domestically overall -- this after yet another $80 mil budget spent to make it.

Bit of a tough year for Margot on the film front -- not only were things meh at the box office ... but she also said the 'Pirates' movie she was attached to had been killed by Disney -- even though one of the producers for the franchise insisted that's not quite the case.

She's got a lot on the horizon for 2023, though -- MR's already set to star in 'Barbie', as well as a Wes Anderson flick, 'Asteroid City,' ... not to mention her own 'Ocean's Eleven' prequel. The only (potential) problem ... all of those will have super stacked casts too.