Awards News

Academy of Country Music Awards show will return to Frisco in 2024

Actress and aAwards show regular Kristin Cavallari at the 2022 ACMs.

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Dallas has landed the next Academy of Country Music Awards ceremony: According to a release, the 59th ACM Awards is set for May 16, 2024, and will take place at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco.

Additional details, including award submissions and voting timeline, hosts, nominees, performers, and ticket on-sale details, will be confirmed in the months ahead.

UPDATE 3-4-2024: ACM Awards pre-sale tickets available starting on Wednesday, March 6; pre-sale tickets are available by signing up for a membership newsletter at ACM A-List. General on-sale starts Friday, March 8 at 10 am at SeatGeek.
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It follows the 2023 edition, a smash success that marked its return to Texas for the first time since 2015, when the ceremony took place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

In collaboration with the Academy of Country Music and producer Dick Clark Productions, Prime Video will again offer an exclusive livestream not only of the 2024 ceremony but also its milestone 60th anniversary in 2025. The 57th annual awards in 2022 was the first major awards show to stream live for a global audience.

Hosted by Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks, the 2023 show garnered more than 7.7 million viewers on Prime Video plus additional viewership across Amazon Music, the Amazon Music channel on Twitch, and Amazon Live, making it one of the most-watched awards shows of the year.

The night featured an all-star lineup of memorable moments, including 18 show-stopping performances from 25 artists, along with exclusive collaborations and unexpected moments that captivated fans worldwide.

The 2023 ACM Awards is still available on demand on Prime Video, Amazon Freevee, and Amazon Music.

“When Prime Video first streamed the ACM Awards in 2022, we were overwhelmed with the response from our global audience,” says Vernon Sanders, head of television, Amazon MGM Studios, in a statement. “After seeing last year’s show grow to more than 7.7 million viewers, we could not be more thrilled to continue our relationship with the Academy of Country Music and Dick Clark Productions for the next two years, and especially through the show’s milestone 60th anniversary in 2025. We look forward to continuing the success and bringing even more star-studded and captivating shows to fans around the world.”

Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside says that, “thanks to the biggest host pairing of all time, Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks, the comprehensive, cross-platform program with our partners at Prime Video and Amazon Music, and the dedicated fans in Texas and around the world, the May 2023 show was a groundbreaking success and illustrates that our pioneering and innovative move to streaming was absolutely the right one at the right time! We’re eager to see everyone back in Texas once again at the home of the Dallas Cowboys next May for another groundbreaking ACM Awards show!”

Ford Center at The Star in Frisco opened in 2016 and serves as the practice facility for the Dallas Cowboys, as well as the home for major sporting events throughout the year. Last year’s ACM Awards were the first awards show to take place at Ford Center.

Founded in Southern California in 1964 as a regional trade organization, the Academy of Country Music has grown in the almost-60 years since into a leading association for the country music industry. Now headquartered in Nashville and boasting record-high membership of nearly 5,000 nationwide, the Academy serves as an advocate for country fans, artists, and all facets of the business, as well as a supporter of philanthropic work.

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Movie Review

Glen Powell bumps off rich family in How to Make a Killing

Photo courtesy of A24

Glen Powell in How to Make a Killing.

Becoming a star in Hollywood and maintaining that stardom are two very difficult things to achieve, but Glen Powell has been adept at doing so over the past few years. A key supporting role in Top Gun: Maverick led to lead parts in films like Hit Man, Anyone But You, Twisters, and The Running Man. Powell is looking to keep his star power shining in the new dark comedy/thriller, How to Make a Killing.

He plays Beckett, an outcast member of the ultra-wealthy Redfellow clan. Struggling to get by in a menial job in New York City while still living in New Jersey, Beckett’s only smidgen of hope is that he remains an heir to the vast Redfellow fortune. The only trick? Every other remaining family member must die before he’ll see a dime of that money. When even that menial job goes away, Beckett indulges the fantasy of bumping off his familial competition.

Among those standing in his way are cousins Taylor (Raff Law), a finance bro, Noah (Zach Woods), a pretentious artist, and Steven (Topher Grace), a celebrity pastor; Uncle Warren (Bill Camp) and Aunt Cassandra (Bianca Amato); and grandfather Whitelaw (Ed Harris). Complicating matters, however, are an old childhood friend, Julia (Margaret Qualley), who starts asking more of Beckett than he can give; and new flame Ruth (Jessica Henwick), who happens to be dating Noah when he meets her.

Written and directed by John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal), the film is a tale of two halves. Narrated by Beckett in the form of telling his story to a prison chaplain, the story plays with audience expectations on multiple occasions. As Beckett ramps up to detailing exactly how he got started down the road toward being a serial killer, the film has a fun-if-macabre vibe.

Under normal circumstances Beckett would be someone to despise, but since he’s an underprivileged person who’s taking aim at people who (mostly) don’t seem to appreciate their good luck, it feels okay to cheer for him. This follows a recent trend in “eat the rich” films, one that’s been influenced by a turn against real-life billionaires. Ford plays heavily into the theme and it works for a good portion of the film.

However, things get a little murky in the second half of the movie. A few of the planned killings get less attention than others, making their - pardon the pun - execution less interesting/fun than the others. Also, Ford does a poor job of indicating just how much weight should be put on Beckett’s relationship with Julia, someone with whom he only has occasional interactions for the bulk of the film.

It’s difficult to know the exact right way to showcase Powell, but this film doesn’t seem to be the best fit. Whether it’s the odd hairstyle/wig he’s given, or the varying degrees of confidence his character shows, his performance is up and down. Qualley’s acting style is over-the-top, and she needed to dial it down in this particular role. Henwick and Camp are the grounding forces in the film, keeping the story somewhat tethered to reality while almost everyone else makes a meal of their scenes.

How to Make a Killing is serviceable entertainment that gives viewers a decent number of laughs and thrills. But Ford can’t find a way to make the story work all the way through, and a so-so performance by Powell keeps the film from rising above its mediocre station.

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How to Make a Killing opens in theaters on February 20.

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