Movie in the Works

Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner, 78, is coming to the big screen, in a comedy, no less.

America’s favorite plushies are finally getting the movie and TV treatment with The Beanie Bubble, which shines a light on the owner of the Biltmore and the San Ysidro Ranch, the tycoon behind the collection craze from the ‘90s.

It stars comedian-actor Zach Galifianakis, 53, who also serves as executive producer.

The one-hour-50-minutes-long film, co-directed by Damian Kulash and his wife, Kristin Gore, daughter of former vice-president Al Gore, is based on Zac Bissonnette’s 2015 book The Great Beanie Baby Bubble.

The movie, which also stars Elizabeth Banks and Sarah Snook from the highly rated HBO series Succession, is set to premiere in select theaters on July 21 before streaming on Apple TV+ on July 28.

House Possibly Bought

Has former TV talk show host and serial rest estate flipper Ellen DeGeneres and her actress wife Portia de Rossi added another Montecito estate to their burgeoning property portfolio?

A 1919 San Ysidro Road estate, Pompeian Court, on eight acres with ocean and mountain views, has just been snapped up for $22.5 million with the buyers listed as the Pompeian Court Trust and DeGeneres’s longtime manager Harley Neuman, according to the Siteline website.

The historic house is 6,500 square feet with three bedrooms and five bathrooms.

Lawyers’ Fees Continue

Kevin Costner’s estranged wife Christine Baumgartner has signaled her willingness to leave the $145 million Carpinteria beach house they previously shared, but only if the actor will pay support and fees approved by a judge at an upcoming hearing.

The 49-year-old handbag designer, according to court filings, will leave the Padaro Lane property on August 31 as long as the Oscar winner, 68, complies with a ruling from the court next week (12), the date of the next hearing in their divorce proceedings.

Such an arrangement would give her 50 days to find a new place to live and move in, whereas the prenuptial agreement stated she would leave the original home within 30 days of a divorce filing.

Stay tuned…

Entitled Estate Earnings

Prince William, older brother of the Duke of Sussex, received a private income from the Duchy of Cornwall as the new Prince of Wales of nearly $7,573,000, but could get more than $25 million next year.

The heir to the British throne inherited the duchy-landed estate – 135,000 acres over 20 counties in the southwest of England and central London – after his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, died in September and his father Charles acceded to the throne.

William, 41, is entitled to its surplus profits every year. The duchy-generated profits of $30,292,000 in 2022-23, are up $1.4 million from more than $28 million the year before, a jump of about 4.5 percent, the estate’s latest accounts showed.

Interview Pick Up

It didn’t take long for London’s Daily Mail, my former employer, to pick up my exclusive interview with Santa Barbara singer Katy Perry’s mother, Mary Hudson, about her recent stay at historic Windsor Castle as a guest of King Charles III when her daughter sang at His Majesty’s coronation concert with fellow American Idol judge Lionel Richie.

An old friend, Caroline Graham, L.A. correspondent for the newspaper, one of the world’s biggest, saw the lead story and called asking if she might use it in her illustrious organ with due credit to the Montecito Journal.

Needless to say, I was most flattered and said: “Do go ahead.”

But, as usual, you read it here first…

Sightings

Former TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres noshing at the Nugget in Summerland… Comedy legend Carol Burnett dining with husband Brian Miller at Lucky’s… Actor Orlando Bloom in London for the Serpentine summer bash.

Pip! Pip!