Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Encanto” Soundtrack Reaches Fifth Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It’s an enchanting five for Lin-Manuel Miranda…

Walt Disney Records’ Encanto soundtrack, containing eight original songs written by the 42-year-old Puerto Rican Tony Award-winning star and produced by Mike Elizondo, spends its fifth nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, becoming the soundtrack with the most weeks atop the chart since Disney’s own Frozen ruled for 13 nonconsecutive weeks in 2014.

With their totals at No. 1 (so far), Frozen and Encanto boast the most, and second-most, weeks at No. 1, respectively, among soundtracks in the 21st century.

Encanto earned 110,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending February 10 (down 2%), according to MRC Data.

Of Encanto’s 110,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 91,000 (down 3%, equaling 134.82 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 17,000 (up 5%) and TEA units comprise 2,000 (down 28%).

Encanto continues to be powered largely by streaming activity for its songs, including its five top 40-charting hits on the Billboard Hot 100: “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” (which spent its second week atop the February 12-dated chart), “Surface Pressure,” “The Family Madrigal,” “What Else Can I Do?” and the Academy Award-nominated “Dos Oruguitas.”

Notably, Encanto is one of only six soundtracks to spend at least five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the last 30 years. Before Encanto, there was Frozen (13 weeks, 2014), Titanic (16, 1998), Waiting to Exhale (five, 1996), The Lion King (10, 1994-95) and the Whitney Houston-led The Bodyguard (20, 1992-93). (Before that, the last soundtrack with at least five weeks at No. 1 was Prince’s Batman in 1989, with six weeks at No. 1.) The soundtrack — and overall album — with the most weeks at No. 1 is West Side Story, with 54 weeks atop the list in 1962-63.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by MRC Data. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

Matthew López to Make Feature Directorial Debut with Film Adaptation of Best-Selling LGBTQ+ Novel “Red, White & Royal Blue”

Posted on October 6, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Matthew López is embracing the red, white and (royal) blue…

The 44-year-old Puerto Rican playwright and screenwriter, who made history as the first Latinx playwright to win the Tony Award for Best Play, will make his feature directorial debut on the LGBTQ+ romantic comedy Red, White & Royal Blue.

The Amazon Studios production is a film adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s 2019 best-selling novel of the same name.

It centers on a star-crossed power couple — the Latinx character of Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of the president of the United States, and his relationship with Prince Henry, grandson of the Queen of England.

López rewrote a draft of the script by Ted Malawer in addition to being tapped to direct the film.

Here’s the official logline: “What happens when America’s Prince falls in love with an actual prince? The film follows Alex Claremont-Diaz who, upon his mother’s election as president, was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, brilliant―his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a long-running feud with his royal counterpart across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S.-British relations take a turn for the worse. Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instagram-able friendship grows into something more meaningful than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could complicate his mother’s re-election campaign, upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all?”

Lopez has a busy dance card. He’s penning a remake of The Bodyguard for Warner Bros., collaborating with songwriting duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and Amber Ruffin on a musical-adaptation of Some Like it Hot, and scripting a feature film adaptation of the novel Leading Men, which centers on the relationship between Tennessee Williams and his longtime partner

López will also executive produce the film.

The Inheritance, a two-part epic about the AIDS crisis, is set to make its Los Angeles premiere at the Geffen Playhouse in 2022. In New York, López’s work has been seen Off Broadway with The Whipping Man (Manhattan Theatre Club), and The Legend of Georgia McBride (MCC Theater). He previously signed an overall television development deal with Amazon Studios in October of last year

Matthew López’s “The Bodyguard” Remake to Feature a Latina Starlet

Posted on September 29, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Matthew López is planning to bring a Latina twist to his The Bodyguard redo.

The 44-year-old Puerto Rican playwright and screenwriter is remaking the 1992 romantic thriller, which originally starred Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.

But this time, the film will feature a brand-new storyline about an overnight Latina sensation.

López, the history making Tony Award-winning playwright of The Inheritance who will be writing the new film, tells Variety that he wants a Latina to front the project.

Unlike Houston, who portrayed Oscar-nominated actress and high-profile singer Rachel Marron dodging death threats and a stalker in the film, the new female lead of The Bodyguard will play an up-and-coming singer who realizes how much she needs protection after growing into her fame.

“It’s so much fun. When Warner Bros. approached me about the idea, I quickly said I would but I wanted the protagonist to be Latina. They agreed to that,” he said. “There’s been a lot of speculation about what I’d bring to the remake and some people were assuming that there’d be a gay storyline to it. Instead of focusing on an established star like the one Whitney Houston played, this is about a young Latina performer who has just become famous. It’s about how her life has changed because she is an overnight sensation. In the 21st century, that means she’s in immediate need of protection. It was important to me to use this opportunity to get Latin faces up on that screen and to get their stories told in a big way.”

Variety initially reported that Afro-Latina superstars Cardi B and Tessa Thompson were suggested for the film, to respectively go alongside Channing Tatum and Chris Hemsworth.

No official casting information has been publicly released.

Matthew López to Pen the Remake of Warner Bros.’ “The Bodyguard”

Posted on September 15, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Matthew López is preparing for a new body(guard) of work…

The 44-year-old Puerto Rican award-winning playwright and screenwriter, who earned a Tony Award nomination for The Inheritance, will pen the remake of Warner Bros’ 1992 blockbuster The Bodyguard.

The original film, which starred Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston (who died in 2012), grossed $411M WW.

The new film is reportedly inspired by the 1992 romantic drama which followed a former Secret Service agent, played by Costner, who takes on the job of bodyguard to an R&B singer, whose lifestyle is most unlike a President’s.

The Bodyguard served as Houston’s big screen debut at the time.

The film’s original soundtrack is the top selling of all-time with 45M copies sold around the globe. The soundtrack won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and certified 18x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Two songs, “Run to You” and “I Have Nothing,” were nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars, but lost out to “A Whole New World” from Disney’s Aladdin. The film’s signature song “I Will Always Love You” went 8x Platinum in the U.S. selling 8M copies. Overall, it was the 15th-best selling album in the U.S., big shoes for this reboot, as yet uncast, to fill.

Lawrence Kasdan wrote and produced the original movie, which was directed by Mick Jackson.

Christina Aguilera to Perform Whitney Houston Tribute at the American Music Awards

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Christina Aguilera will be the queen of the night for a special tribute at this year’s American Music Awards…

The 36-year-old half-Ecuadorian American Grammy-winning singer will perform a 25th anniversary tribute to Whitney Houston and her iconic work as an actress and singer in the romantic thriller The Bodyguard (released November 25, 1992) at the 2017 AMAs on November 19.

Aguilera’s tribute will include songs from the movie’s Diamond-certified (and primarily Houston-performed) soundtrack.

“Whitney herself stated in 2001 that Christina Aguilera sang the best version of her song ‘Run to You,’” Houston’s estate offered in a press release. “It is with great appreciation and honor that she is returning to participate on the American Music Awards for a special tribute honoring the 25th anniversary of The Bodyguard. Whitney said that Christina is without a doubt one of the best voices she enjoyed in this generation of music.”

Aguilera expressed her deep gratitude for Houston and the opportunity to honor her, also via statement: “I am honored and humbled to be asked to participate in such a special tribute of a timeless soundtrack that has been a huge inspiration not only in my own personal life and career, but to countless aspiring singers — touching music lovers worldwide and influencing the history of music itself.

“To be honoring the one and only, Whitney Houston, is a blessing and I am grateful to celebrate the spirit of her songs and legend that lives on,” she continued. I feel eternally fortunate to have personally met her on and off the stage. My deep appreciation for her kindness to me while coming up in the business — her graciousness, generosity, humanity and beauty — lived up to everything I could have hoped for in meeting my idol and will forever be cherished in my memory of her.”

Houston won 22 AMAs throughout her illustrious music career. She died unexpectedly in February 2012.

The AMAs will air live beginning at 8:00 pm ET on ABC.

You can vote for the awards here.

Miranda’s “Hamilton” to Play at LA’s Pantages Theater in 2017

Posted on January 27, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is taking his hit Broadway musical out west…

Hamilton, the 36-year-old Puerto Rican composer, lyricist, librettist, rapper, and actor’s rap-infused musical about the American Revolution and the nation’s first Treasury secretary, will have a run beginning in the late summer of 2017 at the Hollywood Pantages.

The theater is operated by the Nederlander Organization, which also owns the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway, where the show has become this season’s most coveted ticket.

In anticipation of a hit, the four-month-plus Hollywood run is scheduled from August 11 through the end of the year, concluding a season that will feature two other Nederlander-based hits: An American In Paris (March 22 – April 9, 2017), currently at the Palace Theatre and Finding Neverland (February 21 – March 12, 2017), currently at the Lunt-Fontanne.

Completing the 13-month season that begins next November are the Tony-winning revivals of Hedwig And The Angry Inch (November 1-27, 2016) and The King And I (December 13 – January 21, 2017) plus the musical adaptation of The Bodyguard (May 2 – 21, 2017), which had its premiere in London and hasn’t been seen on Broadway, and a return engagement of The Book Of Mormon (May 30 – July 9, 2017).

Information is available at hollywoodpantages.com.

Escarpeta & DaCosta Recreate Classic Whitney Houston-Bobby Brown Photo for Their Lifetime Biopic

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Arlen Escarpeta isn’t having any trouble being Bobby Brown….

Lifetime has released the first official photo for its upcoming Whitney Houston biopic featuring the 33-year-old Belizean actor as the R&B singer-songwriter and part-Brazilian actress Yaya DaCosta as the late Grammy-winning songstress.

In the picture, the two recreate a classic photo of Houston and Brown in their early days as a couple. Escarpeta, donning a black top and blue jeans, hugs Dacosta from behind. The actress sports a white tank top and flashes a big smile for the camera.

The biopic, titled I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story, is currently shooting in Los Angeles with Oscar nominee Angela Bassett serving as the director.

It’s scheduled to premiere early next year, three years after Houston accidentally drowned in the bathtub of a Los Angeles hotel room at the age of 48.

It will center on Houston’s life in the early-to-mid ’90s, when she skyrocketed to fame not only for her powerful singing voice but also for her appearance in 1992’s The Bodyguard, where she co-starred opposite Kevin Costner.

She contributed to the movie’s soundtrack, which later won a Grammy and is the biggest-selling soundtrack album in movie history.

It will also focus on the singer’s relationship with Brown, whom she met in 1989. The couple got married in 1992 and they welcomed their daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown the following year.

Sanchez Performs “I Will Always Love You” for Billboard’s Whitney Tribute

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

She performed two Whitney Houston songs during her American Idol run… And, now Jessica Sanchez is honoring the late Grammy-winning singer’s memory with another cover.

The 17-year-old half-Mexican American singer performed Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” as part of Billboard’s weeklong tribute. Houston, who passed away a year ago this week, not only found legions of fans with her incomparable voice, she was also the galvanizing inspiration for generations of singers like Sanchez.

“Everything that Whitney did, she really made her mark,” says Sanchez, who performed “I Will Always Love You” to acclaim from the judges during her run on Idol last year. “The Bodyguard, I love that movie and the reason I sang, ‘I Will Always Love You’ today is that is one of my favorite songs from her. It was just such an amazing record and it really touched everybody. I don’t think anybody could ever sing it like her.”

Sanchez, who will make her acting debut on Glee later this year, may talk about about how Houston’s music has impacted her personally, but her sweet-voiced cover of the 1992 instaclassic and her emotional finish say more than words can.

Houston’s “I Will Love You” was the centerpiece of soundtrack for her 1992 film The Bodyguard. Houston took the bittersweet Dolly Parton-penned ballad all the way to No. 1 on the Hot 100 for 14 weeks.

“Her technique and her voice is completely different from anybody else, and that’s why she is Whitney Houston. That’s why she’s a legend,” says Sanchez, “and that’s why she was my biggest inspiration.”

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