Scouting Hollywood - Jan. 5-11, 2023

A round up of news, gossip and history of the entertainment business brought to you from Hollywood, California.

The (very) long running daytime soap “Days Of Our Lives” gave a heartfelt sendoff to the character Victor Kiriakis on Dec. 26 when the latest episode dropped on Peacock Network. For over 30 years, actor John Aniston played the crime boss central in many plot lines. Aniston, 89, who died on Nov. 11, is the father of actress Jennifer Aniston.

• Films in wide release (over 2,000 screens and running multiple weekends) are estimated to have grossed about $7.35 billion dollars in 2022, up about 68 percent over 2021. Unfortunately this number is also down by about one third from the $11 billion earned in 2019. Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick” was the big hit, providing over $700 million of that haul. A lack of big budget “tent pole” films is thought to be the main reason for the lower revenue, although “Avatar: Way of the Water” has shown legs both domestically and internationally in the final weeks of 2023 and topped $1 billion worldwide. 

The Lounge: Did the Christmas classic story originate in our backyard?