Entertainment

Halloween Horror Nights 2024 Kicks Off Tonight at Universal Orlando

Published

1 month ago

August 30, 2024

Orlando, Fla. – Let the horror commence… Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando Resort opens tonight, unleashing a new slate of frights and nightmare-inducing terror upon guests. Running 48 select nights now through November 3, the world’s premier Halloween event is back for its 33^rd year with 10 all-new movie-quality haunted houses and five spine-chilling scare zones inspired by cinematic greats and eerie original stories created by Universal Orlando’s Entertainment team. And in-between the screams, guests can enjoy an energetic live show, fuel up for the next round of scares with delicious food and beverage items inspired by the event’s haunts, shop the latest merchandise at the highly-themed Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store, and so much more.

See below for an overview of the terrifying experiences that await guests at Halloween Horror Nights 2024:

10 CHILLING HAUNTED HOUSES

As guests brave this year’s lineup of 10 frightening haunted houses, they will:

need to silence their screams as they enter a terrifying post-apocalyptic world in “A Quiet Place,” where they will follow the Abbott family as they try to escape monstrous creatures with a sharp sense of hearing – ready to hunt down anyone who dares to make a sound;
be transported to New York City in “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” where fans will team up with Ghostbusters new and old to protect the city from a second Ice Age as the vengeful spirit of Garraka threatens to freeze everyone to death;
travel deeper into a paranormal dimension of tortured souls and demonic entities as they follow in the footsteps of the Lambert family in “Insidious: The Further;”
find themselves in the center of the ultimate battle between two unexpected alliances of classic female Universal Monsters – Saskia Van Helsing, Bride of Frankenstein, She-Wolf, and Anck-Su-Namun in “Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines;”
scream their way through six original haunted houses created by the twisted minds of Universal Orlando’s award-winning Entertainment team, including:
- “Slaughter Sinema 2,” where guests will head to the Carey Drive-in for a B-movie horror marathon full of spaghetti westerns, grindhouse gore and more;
- “Goblin’s Feast,” where hordes of bloodthirsty goblins, orcs, hobgoblins, and witches welcome new visitors to their village for dinner;
- “Major Sweets Candy Factory,” where guests join a field trip to a candy factory, only to realize the free samples have transformed the kids into candy-coated killers;
- “The Museum: Deadly Exhibits,” which will transport guests to the new folklore museum, The Rolling Stone, where there is evil lurking within, ready to destroy everything in its path;
- “Monstrous: The Monsters of Latin America,” home to the blood-sucking Tlahuelpuchi, owl-faced witch La Lechuza and bone-ripping El Silbón who can’t wait to prey upon guests;
- and “Triplets of Terror,” where guests will celebrate the Barmy triplet’s birthday and soon realize they celebrate by recreating their family’s horrifying murders.

FIVE TERRIFYING SCARE ZONES

This year’s event will introduce two new hosts of horror, SINIST3R and SURR3AL, who are reigning the streets of Universal Studios Florida and unleashing the horror that awaits within five scare zones. As guests navigate the park, they’ll try to evade hordes of menacing scareactors stalking their every move as they:

choose a path between SINIST3R, the manifestation of visceral horror, or follow SURR3AL, the incarnation of unearthly terror in “Duality of Fear;”
brave the gloriously gory homemade torture devices ‘til they are put out of their misery in SINIST3R’s renaissance faire, “Torture Faire;”
get caught in an otherworldly hellscape in “Demon Queens,” where four merciless queens loyal to SURR3AL rule;
wander onto private property in “Swamp of the Undead,” where they are surrounded by zombies borne from the bodies of other brave trespassers;
escape a terrifying gauntlet of Blumhouse characters in “Enter the Blumhouse,” including M3GAN, sinister sadists from The Purge and Black Phone, and more.

ALL-NEW ENTERTAINMENT, SINFULLY DELICIOUS FOOD, AND IMMERSIVE RETAIL EXPERIENCES

In between the screams, guests can enjoy:

Nightmare Fuel: Nocturnal Circus – an energetic live show featuring a new nightmare set in a dark circus, full of pyro and aerialists to the beat of rock rhythms;

an all-new highly-themed Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store where guests can shop the latest Halloween Horror Nights merchandise as they are transported to the back alleys of New York City where an ancient evil has been unleashed;
an all-new food & beverage menu inspired by this year’s haunts, including items like Pork Carniceria (“Monstrous: The Monsters of Latin America”), Mini Stay-Puft S’mores (“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire”), Abbott’s Farm Corn Chowder (“A Quiet Place”), and fan-favorites like Twisted Taters.

EXCLUSIVE HALLOWEEN EXPERIENCES AT UNIVERSAL ORLANDO’S HOTELS

To complete the ultimate Halloween Horror Nights getaway, the horror will expand to all Universal Orlando hotels with Halloween-themed lobby décor – including a web of sinister roots and pumpkins that have taken over the lobby and the Swizzle Lounge at Universal Cabana Bay Beach Resort; creepy driftwood structures and spirits from the dead sea haunting Universal Endless Summer Resort – Dockside Inn and Suites; the transformation of Loews Sapphire Falls Resort into a dark seaside gothic manor, and alien overlords have descended upon Universal Aventura Hotel. Guests will also enjoy spooky photo opps and specialty drinks during their stay, in addition to other benefits including access to a dedicated Halloween Horror Nights entrance gate exclusively for Universal Orlando hotel guests for faster entry into the event, plus free transportation to Universal Orlando’s theme parks and Universal CityWalk before and after the scares.

Halloween Horror Nights tickets and vacation packages that include one-night admission to the event – along with hotel accommodations at a Universal hotel and theme park admission to all three theme parks – are on sale now. For more information about Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights 2024 and to purchase tickets, visit www.universalorlando.com/Halloween.

Entertainment

The 2025 Tony Awards set June 8 ceremony date at Radio City Music Hall

Published

2 weeks ago

September 24, 2024

FNN NEWS

NEW YORK (AP) — Fans of Broadway, circle this date: This season’s Tony Awards will take place on June 8 at its familiar home of Radio City Music Hall.

Producers of the show announced the date and location Monday. For the last few years, the telecast has bounced around the city — two years ago originating from the United Palace Theatre, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, and this year at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Square.

Radio City can seat 6,000 people and has in the past been the long-time home of the awards.

The host will be revealed later.

The 2025 awards will air live on CBS and stream on Paramount+. Getting buzz from appearing on the telecast can dictate a show’s future, both on Broadway and on tour.

The awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

Entertainment

‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ scares off ‘Transformers’ for third week as box office No. 1

Published

2 weeks ago

September 24, 2024

FNN NEWS

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s a three-peat for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”

The Tim Burton legacy sequel to his 1988 horror comedy topped the North American box office charts for the third straight weekend with $26 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

It edged out the animated new release “Transformers: One,” which brought in $25 million. The Optimus Prime origin story from Paramount Pictures featuring the voices of Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry and Scarlett Johansson earned $39 million globally.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” a Warner Bros. release with Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder returning as stars, has earned more than $226 million domestically in its three weeks after a monster opening of $110 million — the third best of the year — and a second weekend of $51.6 million. It has now earned $329.8 million globally.

Third place went to the James McAvoy horror “Speak No Evil,” which came in at $5.9 million in its second week for a total of $21.5 million.

But for “Beetlejuice,” the box office was in a quiet phase that is expected to break when “ Joker: Folie à Deux ” dances its way onto the big screen on Oct. 4.

“September has been a bit of a sleepy month and with around 47% of the revenue being generated by this single film,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “Fortunately, October is on track to deliver interesting blockbusters.”

The year’s second-highest grosser “ Deadpool & Wolverine ” remained in the top 5 in its ninth weekend with another $3.9 million and a domestic total of $627 million. Only Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” has earned more.

The Demi Moore-starring, Coralie Fargeat-directed body horror “The Substance,” which made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival, brought in $3.1 million on limited screens in its first weekend for the sixth spot.

The Daily Wire movie “Am I Racist?” — in which conservative columnist Matt Walsh goes undercover as a “DEI trainee” — stayed in the top 10 after a fourth place finish last week, earning $2.9 million for seventh place and a two-week total of $9 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” $26 million.

2. “Transformers One,” $25 million.

3. “Speak No Evil,” $5.9 million.

4. “Never Let Go,” $4.5 million.

5. “Deadpool & Wolverine,” $3.9 million.

6. “The Substance,” $3.1 million.

7. “Am I Racist?” $2.5 million.

8. “Reagan,” $1.7 million.

9. “JUNG KOOK: I AM STILL,” $1.4 million.

10. “Alien Romulus,” $1.3 million.

Entertainment

Diddy’s music streams jump after arrest and indictment

Published

2 weeks ago

September 24, 2024

FNN NEWS

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs’ vast music catalog has seen a jump in streams since his arrest last week and the unsealing of an indictment against him.

Under his many musical monikers — including Diddy, Puff Daddy and P. Diddy — the industry data and analytics company Luminate said the mogul’s music saw an average 18.3% increase in on-demand streams during the week of his arrest compared to the prior week.

George Howard, a distinguished professor of music business management at Berklee College of Music, said he’s not surprised by the increase. To him, streaming is akin to a Google search of the artist as a means of satisfying curiosity.

“Music just becomes another piece of information as people try to comprehend the atrocities,” Howard told The Associated Press. “It’s like, ‘What would someone whose brain works like that, allegedly, what would their music sound like?’”

With Combs’ several business ventures — from Revolt TV to Ciroc vodka, both of which he’s no longer affiliated with — Howard said many people likely think of Combs as a businessman before they think of him as a musician.

“The natural curiosity that these types of charges evoke makes sense,” Howard said. “It’s like driving by a car crash. People want to look.”

An increase in streaming numbers following controversy is not uncommon. After a documentary about R. Kelly accused the R&B singer of sexual misconduct involving women and underage girls, his numbers nearly doubled.

Howard said the “anonymization” of streaming is also a factor that could have led to the increases for Combs and Kelly alike. “Imagine walking into a record store now like, ‘Yeah, I want to buy this Diddy CD,’” he said.

Combs is charged with federal sex trafficking and racketeering and the indictment, which details allegations dating back to 2008, accuses him of abusing, threatening and coercing women for years “to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.” He’s pleaded not guilty to the charges.