STX Films’ upcoming film, Hustlers, written and directed by Lorene Scafaria, was inspired by Jessica Pressler’s New York Magazine piece “The Hustlers at Scores.”

The story followed a group of strippers who stole from the rich. The article focused on Roselyn Keo, who would have done well on Wall Street, but she was born with “the waist-to-hip ratio scientists have concluded affects men like a drug.”

These hustler dancers worked in a group, and the cast includes Julia Stiles (Dexter, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Business of Strangers), Mercedes Ruehl (The Fisher King, Big, Married to the Mob), Lizzo (2 Dope Queens), Stormi Maya (Netflix’s She’s Gotta Have It), Keke Palmer (Scream Queens), Lili Reinhart (Riverdale), and hip-hop artist Cardi B in her film debut. Her song “Money” plays in the background of the trailer.

The film is set in the early 2000s when bankers made out like bandits and club managers took 40 percent off the top of any bundle of cash the strippers made in tips.

Hustlers is scheduled to hit theaters on Sept. 13.

The scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite will again be put under the spotlight in a new Gossip Girl spinoff series being developed for HBO Max.

WarnerMedia announced earlier today that it had given a straight-to-series order to a Gossip Girl spinoff series, which will be released on its upcoming streaming service, HBO Max.

Unfortunately for the fans of the original Gossip Girl, the spinoff won’t follow Serena van der Woodsen, Blair Waldorf or any of the main characters from the first series, which ran for six seasons on The CW from 2007 to 2012. Instead, the offshoot will focus on a new generation of New York private school teens who are introduced to the social surveillance of the Gossip Girl site.

The spinoff is set eight years after the original show’s finale, so it’s likely that some characters from the first series will appear in the spinoff. However, there is no official word yet on whether any of the original cast members will be returning to the franchise. Though plot details are also being kept under wraps, the spinoff will reportedly explore how much social media and the landscape of New York itself has changed in the intervening years.

The original Gossip Girl series, which starred Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Chase Crawford, among many others, was based on the young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar. Alloy Entertainment, which produced the book series, will produce the 10 one-hour episodes of the spinoff’s first season, along with Fake Empire, Warner Bros. Television, and CBS Television Studios.

WarnerMedia has yet to set a premiere date for the spinoff, but HBO Max is scheduled to launch in the spring of 2020.

Alas! 20th Century Fox has finally debuted the first look at Ariana DeBose (Motown: The Musical) as beloved Shark girl Anita from Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the acclaimed Broadway musical West Side Story!

The movie stars Jets members Anybodys (Ezra Menas), Mouthpiece (Ben Cook), Action (Sean Harrison Jones); Jets leader Riff (Mike Faist); Baby John (Patrick Higgins); Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler); Maria’s brother and Sharks leader Bernardo (David Alvarez); and Sharks members Quique (Julius Anthony Rubio), Chago (Ricardo Zayas), Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera), Braulio (Sebastian Serra) and Pipo (Carlos Sánchez Falú).

The cast also includes Ariana DeBose (Anita); Ana Isabelle (Rosalia); Corey Stoll (Lieutenant Schrank); Brian d’Arcy James (Officer Krupke); Curtiss Cook (Abe) and Academy Award-winner Rita Moreno, who plays Valentina and also serves as one of the film’s Executive Producers.

An adaptation of the original Broadway musical, West Side Story explores young love and tensions between rival gangs the Jets and the Sharks on the streets of 1957 New York. Buy the original film now on Amazon.

West Side Story is produced and directed by Steven Spielberg from a script by Academy Award®-nominated screenwriter and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner. The film has been adapted for the screen from the original 1957 Broadway musical, which was written by Arthur Laurents with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and concept, direction and choreography by Jerome Robbins. Tony Award-winner Justin Peck will choreograph the musical numbers in the film. Also leading the production are Tony Award®-winning producer Kevin McCollum and Academy Award®-nominated producer Kristie Macosko Krieger.

The film’s music team includes renowned conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who will helm the recording of Bernstein’s iconic score; Academy Award-nominated composer and conductor David Newman (Anastasia) who will be arranging the score for the new adaptation; Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori (Broadway’s Fun Home and Thoroughly Modern Millie), who will be working with the cast on vocals; and Grammy-nominated music supervisor Matt Sullivan (Beauty and the Beast, Chicago), who will serve as executive music producer for the film.

West Side Story will be released via Walt Disney Studios December 18, 2020.