MetroNews Hotline

Entertainment reporter Kristyn Burtt joins Dave Weekley to break down a big weekend at the box office and beyond. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey opens to $124.5 million domestically and $264 million worldwide — the biggest opening of Nolan's career, surpassing The Dark Knight Rises — with 70mm IMAX screenings alone accounting for $52 million. The two then turn to the FIFA World Cup final halftime show, which drew an estimated 2 billion global viewers and featured Madonna, BTS, Justin Bieber, Shakira, the Muppets, and others in a production Burtt calls chaotic but effectively global in scope, with BTS standing out as the performance highlight. The segment closes with Netflix's decision to reduce its viewer data transparency reports from twice to once a year as subscriber growth slows, and a look at Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro, which surprised the industry by drawing 4 million viewers in its premiere — the first successful spinoff in the franchise's history.

Chef Jeff Paul Smith joins Dave Weekley by phone from the South Hills neighborhood to talk food, starting with a recap of his monthly cooking class at the Capital Market — this month featuring peach and apple onion crusted pork tenderloin and apple cookies for a crowd that braved the summer heat. The conversation zeroes in on scrambled eggs after listener response from a previous segment, with Smith walking through his professional technique — immersion blending with half and half, starting in a cold butter pan, and pulling the eggs early for small, soft curds. He then reveals a surprising second method: microwave scrambled eggs done in 30-second intervals that his own sous chef called the best he'd ever had. Coop shares his own ramekin puck egg trick for biscuit sandwiches, and Smith closes with the steamer wand method and a hotel pan steamer technique used for large-volume service.

Germain Lussier of Gizmodo joins Dave Weekley fresh off publishing his review of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, calling it a sweeping, massively cinematic achievement that plays unevenly at times — the result of Nolan compressing one of history's most expansive stories into a single film — but lands with a deeply satisfying ending. Lussier discusses the unique experience of seeing the film in 70mm IMAX, one of only 41 theaters in the world capable of that presentation, and predicts the film will be a significant financial success with legs to carry it through at least two weekends before facing competition from the returning Spider-Man franchise. The two close with speculation on what Nolan might tackle next — with Lussier noting the director has mentioned never having made a horror film — and a quick World Cup final prediction, with Spain facing Argentina on Sunday.

Germain Lussier of Gizmodo joins Dave Weekley and Ryan Nicholson ahead of the Fourth of July weekend to cover a packed entertainment slate. Following the massive opening of The Backrooms, Lussier breaks down Hollywood's accelerating rush to acquire viral internet horror properties — including Warner Brothers' eight-figure purchase of Siren Head and Steven Spielberg's Amblin acquiring The Mandela Catalog for Amazon. Ryan offers context on where Siren Head fits in the timeline of internet horror, from Slender Man to the Backrooms. Lussier also shares an exclusive on Toy Story 5's upcoming in-theater director's commentary via the Theater Ears app, which syncs audio commentary through a viewer's earbuds in real time. The conversation closes with a preview of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey — now two weeks from release — including a breakdown of how early screening embargoes work and what happens to a critic who breaks the rules.

Entertainment reporter Kristyn Burtt joins Dave Weekley to break down a busy holiday weekend in Hollywood. The two open with the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce wedding, with Burtt confirming the likelihood of a significant prenup and noting the West Coast chatter focused squarely on who made the guest list. Burtt reviews the underperforming opening of Minions and Monsters, which fell short of Universal's $80 million five-day projection partly due to its proximity to Toy Story 5, and previews Jennifer Garner's new Peacock series The Five Star Weekend, adapted from an Elin Hilderbrand novel and co-starring Judy Greer and Timothy Oliphant. The conversation turns to Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated actress set to star in her first feature film Misaligned, drawing sharp reactions from Emily Blunt and Chris Pratt. The segment closes with a tribute to James Van Der Beek's final on-screen appearance in the Legally Blonde prequel series Elle on Prime Video.