“Schmigadoon!,” won best new musical at the Tony Awards. The play is an adaptation of an Apple TV series that gently mocks big, brassy Broadway shows. The award on Sunday night for the best new play went to “Liberation,” about a consciousness-raising women’s group in 1970s Ohio, which earlier this year also won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. “Ragtime,” a big, soaring musical that depicts an America being remade by immigration, racial violence, industrial wealth and political unrest, won the best musical revival. John Lithgow won for best lead actor in a play for his role in “Giant.”

The summer box office is booming — but not because of the usual suspects. After three weeks of indie horror dominance at the box office, the slasher spoof “Scary Movie” topped ticket sales with $55 million over the weekend, easily besting the far-from-mighty “Masters of the Universe.” The sixth “Scary Movie” notched a franchise-best $105.5 million global launch. After just two weeks of release, “Backrooms” became A24's highest-grossing release ever. It's made $212 million worldwide. Focus Features’ “Obsession” grossed $25.6 million in its fourth weekend. That marked a slight 7% drop from the previous weekend for 26-year-old Curry Barker’s horror sensation. Not accounting for inflation, no horror movie has ever had a better fourth weekend.

Television and movie actors have voted to ratify a four-year contract with studios and streaming services. This comes after union leaders negotiated protections against synthetic actors created by artificial intelligence. The ratification was widely expected, and a strike like the one in 2023 never seemed likely during the drama-free negotiations. More than 90% of Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists members approved the agreement. The new deal, like on recently reached by Hollywood writers, is for four years instead of the usual three. This provides extra labor stability in the industry. The contract includes provisions to keep the use of AI actors minimal.

The courtroom battle between Blake Lively and Justice Baldoni, minus the actors, has returned to a Manhattan federal courtroom. That's despite the recent settlement of Lively's claims against him stemming from the 2024 movie “It Ends With Us.” The two sides were battling Monday over whether Baldoni owes Lively attorney fees and damages because he filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against Lively after she claimed he subjected her to sexual harassment and defamation. Lively's lawyers claim a California law means she can collect attorney fees and damages because a judge tossed out Baldoni's countersuit last year. Baldoni's lawyers say it is not so. A judge reserved decision.

An indie horror with internet origins has beaten the legacy franchise Star Wars at the box office this weekend. According to studio estimates on Sunday, “Backrooms” made an astonishing $81.4 million in its first weekend in theaters. It easily topped the box office over “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” which fell sharply in its second weekend, earning $25 million to take third place. Second place went to another indie horror, “Obsession,” which has continued its unprecedented run, making more money in its third weekend than it did in its first.