It was the Fourth of July in the United States which is often a slow news time for the entertainment industry. Except for when it comes to the box office which looks to finally be picking up slightly thanks to sequels such as “Toy Story 4” and “Spider-Man: Far from Home.” Though the box office continues to trail behind last year’s record-breaking tally there are still plenty of big releases to come.
That includes at least one more live-action remake of a classic Disney film; “The Lion King.” That will be the third such Disney release this year. Is the company saturating the market with live-action remakes of its own classic films?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Lionsgate is slowing down its theme park plans, Mad Magazine will stop being published and Rolling Stone launches its own music charts.

‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’ Delivers Record $185 Million Opening
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4526&p=.htm
China To Open Up Cinema Sector To Foreign Entities
https://variety.com/2019/film/asia/china-cinema-foreign-investment-1203257940/
Welcome to the Rolling Stone Charts
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/welcome-to-rolling-stone-charts-853157/
Apple Music Now Has Over 60M Subscribers Worldwide
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/apple-music-now-has-60m-paying-subscribers-worldwide/
West End’s Queen’s Theatre to be renamed after Stephen Sondheim
https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2019/west-ends-queens-theatre-to-be-renamed-after-stephen-sondheim
Into Their 60s and ‘Into the Woods’
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/05/theater/into-the-woods-senior.html
TV Ratings: U.S. Women’s World Cup Final Triumph Soars
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/womens-world-cup-final-outdraws-2018-mens-final-us-ratings-1222814
Mad Magazine to Effectively Shutter After 67 Years
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mad-magazine-effectively-close-67-years-122263
MoviePass Goes Dark To Update App
https://news.avclub.com/moviepass-sent-to-nice-farm-upstate-with-app-updates-l-1836154038
Lionsgate cancels plans for big John Wick/Mad Men/Hunger Games attraction in Times Square
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/lionsgate-entertainment-city-scrapped-hunger-games-mad-men-john-wick-divergent-1203259018/
Martin Charnin, Tony-Winning Creator of ‘Annie,’ Dies at 84