The “Devil Wears Prada 2" and Ariana Grande's new album are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” “Diarra from Detroit” and Lollapalooza, from the comfort of wherever you choose to watch it.
— Coming two decades after the original, “The Devil Wears Prada
2” (Wednesday, July 29 on Hulu and Disney+) re-teams Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt in another trip through the high-fashion Manhattan world of Runway Magazine. With more than $688 million in worldwide ticket sales, the 20-years-later sequel was a hit at the box office. In it, Hathaway’s Andy returns to Runway to help save it from a sad media fate. In my review, I wrote that “mid-life career changes aren’t nearly as compelling or relatable as a newbie assistant thrown into the high-fashion fire.”
— An even bigger box-office hit, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” became the first movie to cross $1 billion in cinemas earlier this year. The animated film based on the beloved Nintendo game, arrives July 30 on Peacock. In her review, AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr wrote that merchandising supersedes storytelling in the film, “taking you out of the escape of this wondrous dream world and back into the realities of late-stage capitalism.”
— Kristoffer Borgli’s “The Drama” (July 31 on HBO Max), starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, tried to kick up some of its own drama when the dark comedy opened in theaters this spring. Zendaya and Pattinson play an engaged couple whose relationship unravels after a confession over dinner. In his review, AP’s Mark Kennedy wrote that the film “wastes two of the planet’s most gorgeous people and will surely get everyone involved in trouble for using a current American tragedy as a plot point.”
— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle
— Ariana Grande’s “Petal” arrives Friday. It’s her first full-length post-“Wicked” project and arrives two years after “Eternal Sunshine,” her seventh studio album. If the lead single “Hate That I Made You Love Me” is evidence of what’s to come, the album will be a collection of bubbling, arpeggiated synths and soft pop choruses courtesy of Grande and her producer, the mysterious Swedish powerhouse Max Martin.
— Lollapalooza returns to Chicago’s Grant Park on Thursday through Sunday and the lineup is stacked — Lorde, John Summit, Charli xcx, The Smashing Pumpkins, Olivia Dean, Jennie, Tate McRae and The XX are all scheduled to perform, and those are only just the headliners. Can’t make the trip? That’s no matter: Disney+ and Hulu will livestream the music festival throughout the weekend.
— Shaboozey has some big shoes to fill: his own. The country-hybridist made history when he dropped “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” the ubiquitous country-rap record that stayed atop the Billboard Hot 100 for 19 weeks. (The only other song to last that long at No. 1? Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.”) On Friday, the Virginia native will release his fourth studio album, “The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales,” a concept record that includes far-ranging features like Kehlani, Gunna, Jamie Foxx, Sam Elliott, Teyana Taylor and more.
— Also on Friday, Las Vegas-born hard rock outfit Five Finger Death Punch return with their 10th studio album, “Legacy,” a metallic offering that reflects on their 20 years together.
— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman
— You know those people who just seem to attract drama? That’s the main character in the comedy “Diarra from Detroit,” played by series star and creator Diarra Kilpatrick. In Season 1, she launched a missing person investigation after a date ghosted her. In Season 2, a mundane furniture delivery turns into a homicide investigation, a treasure hunt and the discovery of a secret society. The eight-episode season debuts with two episodes on Wednesday, July 29 on Paramount+.
— Stassi Schroeder was the queen bee of “Vanderpump Rules” for eight seasons before she was let go from the show in 2020. Since then, she's made lots of changes, including getting married, becoming a mother of two, and launching a podcast. She's even joined her old boss Lisa Vanderpump on the reality series “Vanderpump Villa.” Now Stassi is fronting her own reality series, “House of Stassi.” All episodes of Season 1 drop Thursday, July 30 on Hulu.
— Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has a new crime drama series coming to Starz. Called “Fightland,” it follows Duke, a man who is crowned a boxing champion and loses everything in the same night. After eight years in prison, Duke returns to his hometown of London and is focused on revenge. The eight-episode series premieres Friday, July 31.
— AP Writer Alicia Rancilio
— The once-thriving fantasy world of Arsilthus was governed by a “great relic,” which some dumbbell decided to destroy, turning the place into an apocalyptic hellscape. Your job in “The Relic: First Guardian” is to collect the fragments, but you’ll need to fight through dozens of ferocious bosses before you can restore order. The whole project sounds a lot like 2022’s landmark “Elden Ring,” but South Korean developer Project Cloud promises to lean into Asian folklore with “a quest to lay troubled souls to rest and uncover their lost stories.” The search begins Friday, July 31, on PlayStation 5 or PC.
— Lou Kesten
