Martin Scorsese is looking to make a splash with a star-studded crime package set in Hawaii.

A new package that hit the town would star Dwayne Johnson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt. Scorsese would direct the feature from a script by journalist and author Nick Bilton.

The fact-based untitled movie is said to be in the mold of Goodfellas and The Departed and center on a mob boss vying for control of the Hawaiian islands in the 1960s and 1970s.

Scorsese, Johnson, Blunt, DiCaprio, Bilton, Dany Garcia, Lisa Frechette and Rick Yorn serve as producers.

Bilton is known for such previous projects as HBO’s The Idol and the Netflix series Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal.

The Hollywood Reporter reported last month that DiCaprio was in talks to star in a Scorsese-directed adaptation of Erik Larson’s best-selling book The Devil in the White City. The pair are known...

“Naruto,” one of the world’s most popular and profitable manga and anime franchises, is getting its first-ever North American symphonic concert tour. Variety can now exclusively unveil the tour’s dates and locations.

Fresh off a successful European tour that drew over 60,000 fans, Naruto the Symphonic Experience will visit more than 60 North American cities, starting with a performance at the Old National Events Plaza in Evansville, Indiana.

The tour will feature acclaimed conductors Emily Marshall and Heidi Joosten, who will lead the orchestra in performing the most iconic songs and themes from the series. The music will be played live-to-picture,...

17 years after he starred in “Hancock,” Will Smith is teasing details about a possible follow-up to the superhero film.

When the Oscar-winning actor made an appearance on xQc’s Twitch live stream, he provided some more information about the project.

“There’s a really cool, really cool ‘Hancock 2’ idea,” Hancock said during the stream. “We haven’t even talked about it so I’m gonna give you one little piece — Zendaya is being approached for a role in ‘Hancock 2.”

“Hancock” was released in 2008 and featured Smith as an amnesiac, alcoholic superhero who has to contend with the damage he leaves behind when saving lives in Los Angeles. After he saves a couple’s life (Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron), they work with him to help improve his public image and remember his past.

The Sony film was directed by Peter Berg, who went on to direct “Deepwater Horizon...

Mckenna Grace, Fred Armisen, Bobby Lee and Sean Gunn have joined the cast of “New Years Rev,” the Green Day-inspired comedy movie from writer-director Lee Kirk.

The film, a coming-of-age story about three friends who journey to Los Angeles under the false belief that their band is opening for Green Day on New Year’s Eve, is based on the California punk rockers’ early exploits from living in a tour van.

Live Nation Productions describes the project as a “rowdy and mischievous” road-trip comedy “filled with adventures,” plus a live performance from Green Day.

Mason Thames, Kylr Coffman and Ryan Foust star as the band members alongside “Office” favorites Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, Ignacio Diaz-Silverio and Keen Ruffalo.

“Not only will ‘New Years Rev’ include wall to wall Green Day music and a concert at the Palladium in Hollywood, it’ll also feature some of the best and funniest actors working today.

Amazon MGM Studios is set to take creative control of the James Bond franchise.

The shock announcement — which is sure to shake and, indeed, stir the industry — was made Thursday, alongside the news that long-time producers and custodians of 007, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, would be stepping back.

As per details of the historic agreement, Amazon MGM Studios, Wilson and Broccoli have formed a new joint venture to house the James Bond intellectual property rights. The three parties will remain co-owners of the iconic franchise but Amazon MGM will have creative control.

“Since his theatrical introduction over 60 years ago, James Bond has been one of the most iconic characters in filmed entertainment,” said Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios.

“We are grateful to the late Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman for bringing James Bond to movie theatres around the world, and to Michael G.

Actress and singer Janelle Monáe is set to star in and produce the Universal Pictures adaptation of Tanya Smith’s heist memoir Never Saw Me Coming: How I Outsmarted the FBI and the Entire Banking System—and Pocketed $40 Million.

Monáe will produce the project about an unsuspecting woman who hatches a clever white-collar scheme that manipulates the U.S. banking system out of millions through Wondaland Pictures’ first look deal with Universal, with Smith to executive produce.

When the FBI finally cornered Smith, they refused to believe a black woman could be the architect of sophisticated financial crimes, as they smugly asserted “these are not the kind of crimes black people are smart enough to commit,” according to a synopsis from the producers. For her financial wrongdoing as detailed in her memoir, Smith completed a harsh prison sentence, but today has become an advocate for prison reform, racial justice and economic equality.

This post contains spoilers for "The Monkey."

After the immensely unhinged "Longlegs," Osgood Perkins' latest horror film is as wild as a barrel of monkeys, but what could elevate "The Monkey" to even greater levels of craziness can be found in its final moments. After two twin brothers have battled for decades over what to do with a wind-up monkey toy that's "basically Satan," things end in bloody, terrible fashion for "The Monkey," and continue to reach epically horrific proportions until the credits roll. When the brothers, Bill and Hal (both played by Theo James), finally make amends, their renewed bond is abruptly severed when the Monkey performs one last drum session, leading to an execution of a character that's so good, it deserves a place among the best "Final Destination" deaths.

From there, Hal and his son Petey (Colin O'Brien) head off down the open road, monkey in tow,...

Imagine you wake up after years in a coma, tied to a chair with a masked stranger holding a gun to your head and insisting that you summarize the plot of a new movie you’ve never seen with no context other than the title. You might assume you were a goner until you heard that the movie was titled “Old Guy.” With only those two words, you might be able to infer that the film was about an old guy who had found success in some kind of stereotypically tough career, like policing or crime. And your first guess would probably be that he was set in his ways and forced to interact with someone younger who saw the world quite differently. You might guess that he insists on working alone and doesn’t take kindly to new blood, only to find his stance softening as they encountered danger together.

What to know about the actors nominated for the Academy Awards’ biggest acting prize, along with the Guardian’s reviews and interviews

Full list of nominationsWant more? Our guide to the best picture race

Ahead of the 2 March Oscars ceremony, the Guardian film looks at how the big contenders are shaping up in the race for glory. We sort through the nominees for the best actor Oscar, assessing each one’s chances and how you can watch or stream each film.

From Conclave to The Brutalist to A Real Pain, films about religion are unusually well represented at the Academy Awards – some with decidedly unorthodox themes

• Warning: contains spoilers

What Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell said of New Labour – “We don’t do God” – applies also to the Academy Awards. The secular gong-dispensing rite annually sweeps religion off its proverbial red carpet. The last best picture winner to deal with the subject was 2015’s Spotlight, which hardly proselytised for organised religion – it dramatised the Boston Globe’s investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic church. You have to go back to 1973 to find a movie with a priestly protagonist that really beguiled the Academy: William Friedkin’s horror movie The Exorcist received 10 Oscar nominations, winning awards for screenplay and sound.

This year, though, may be different. Two leading contenders, The Brutalist (10 nominations) and Conclave (eight), put faith front and centre.

Simon West, the UK filmmaker behind Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and The Expendables, is to direct A Paige Odyssey for nascent UK production company Scrapbook Pictures.

Scrapbook Pictures was set up by visual artist Stuart Birchall and producers Leila Mousavi and Seb Brown in February 2024 to focus on developing original, live action family films using physically-produced special effects, known aspractical FX. This will be the company’s first feature.

A Paige Odyssey follows a grief-stricken father who becomes immersed in a children’s book written by his late wife, opening a door to the world of his wife’s imagination.

Excursions to a galaxy far, far away aside, Daisy Ridley’s career of late has been refreshingly grounded with projects of all scales. From the modest but fiendishly entertaining domestic thriller “Magpie” to the soulful office dramedy “Sometimes I Think About Dying” and the inspirational sports movie “Young Woman and the Sea,” the wide-ranging filmography Ridley has been recently building on her own terms stretches across biting indies and classical family blockbusters alike.

With director and James Bond veteran Martin Campbell’s “Cleaner,” Ridley further expands her repertoire with an old-fashioned and pressure-cooker action flick, dangling from the glass façade of a skyscraper to give both Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and Bruce Willis’ John McClane a run for their money. In fairness, the tiny pleasures of the predictably paint-by-numbers “Cleaner” aren’t remotely close to anything a white-knuckled “Die Hard” movie or the magnificent “Mission: Impossible” franchise can offer.

It turns out they were right to kill off James Bond.

Three years ago, reviewing the final Daniel Craig Bond film, “No Time to Die,” I praised the filmmakers’ decision to end the movie with the death of Craig’s 007. I called it “the send-off he deserves” and wrote, “What happens in the climactic scene feels poetic: Bond, in a strange way, takes on the karma of all the people he has killed.” Of course, the film’s end title also assured us that “James Bond will return.” So he’s dead; and he’s coming back! I rationalized away the slight absurdity of this by figuring that they were killing off Craig’s 007 to make way for a new one — which, in essence, is what happens every time a different actor takes over the role.

Yet in the months after I wrote that review, as I absorbed the mountain...

Mike White's globe-trotting anthology series "The White Lotus" has been about rich people behaving badly since the first season dropped in 2021, and now that season 3 is underway, we know that we're dealing with a whole new group of wealthy weirdos vacationing in Thailand this time around. Included amongst the revelers visiting the fictional White Lotus in the beautiful Southeast Asian country is the Ratliff family, comprised of father and patriarch Timothy (Jason Isaacs), his wife Victoria (Parker Posey), and their children Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook), and Lochlan (Sam Nivola).

In the season 1 premiere "Same Spirits, New Forms," Victoria spends most of the episode complaining about her jetlag and turning down the hotel's various wellness opportunities. Later in the episode, she tells Timothy that she got a "second wind" but also tells him not to worry because she took a "lorazepam." So what is lorazepam, why is Victoria taking it,...

Filmmaker Osgood Perkins’ second movie in just a few short months, “The Monkey”—which follows this summer’s breakout Neon hit, “Longlegs,” is out in the world this weekend. One of the highlights of this absurdist horror is the creative ways it kills some of its characters.

Our interview with Perkins on The Discourse podcast will run tomorrow, but suffice it to say, the creative ways in which people are killed in the movie is definitely a topic at hand.

Continue reading ‘The Monkey’ Trailer: Director Osgood Perkins Describes All The Ways People Die In New Teaser at The Playlist.

Nicole Kidman made a vow in 2017 to work with a woman director every 18 months. To say she has made good on that promise would be an understatement. The Oscar winner has teamed up with a women director either as a producer or as an actor 19 times over the last eight years, with more female-directed projects already in the pipeline.

Speaking in a new interview with Time magazine, Kidman explained that one of her reasons behind making the vow is a double standard that women directors face. These filmmakers are under pressure to “be perfect” when their movies get funded and there’s no room for error. Whereas male directors are more likely to get a chance to rebound, female directors are knocked down if they don’t deliver a perfect movie.

“It can be changed,” Kidman said, “but it can only be changed by actually being in the films of women.

This article contains mild spoilers for "Reacher" Season 3.

"Reacher" is back with what's easily its best season yet. At first glance, the Prime Video streaming powerhouse seems to be just like any other Dad TV Show, a power fantasy about a guy shooting and punching the hell out of anyone who gets in his way. And yet, there is more to "Reacher" than meets the eye. It's a compelling show with intriguing mysteries that mixes '80s macho action with a deep soul and an interest in dismantling corruption. It's also about a very big lad who's extremely talented at smashing people with his meaty hands.

The show's first season was great, but Season 2 stumbled by adapting one of the (relatively) later Jack Reacher novels way too early. It explored a part of Reacher's history that we, as viewers, hadn't had time to really come to care about, all the...

Movie merchandising has taken many forms over the years. Gone is the heyday of every major release receiving a novelization, board game, apparel, toy line, and so on. Now, with the exception of the biggest blockbusters aimed at the widest demographic possible, films are merchandised in a much more bespoke fashion — they can have any number of tie-in products or none at all, whatever the studio deems fit. This allows each piece of merchandise to feel a little bit more special, making a potential purchase feel like you're buying a bit of the film and not just some mass-marketed tie-in product.

Yet the popcorn bucket has somehow become a new staple of movie merchandising. At first, this seemed to be because a couple of tie-in buckets appeared to be able to double as, ahem, a marital aid. Fortunately, that joke was all but put to rest by the meme-baiting "Deadpool & Wolverine" bucket,...

Regal Cinemas will celebrate the life of late Senator Joe Lieberman with a two-night screening of the documentary “Centered: Joe Lieberman.”

Directed by Jonathan Gruber, the doc chronicles the Senator’s life and 40-plus-year political career. The film highlights Lieberman’s commitment to the American people and his run in 2000 to become the first Jewish Vice President of the United States. Lieberman, who died in March 2024 at age 82, participated in the doc.

In association with Hidden Light Institute and Black Eye Productions, Regal Cinemas will release the film in over 60 Regal theaters nationwide on March 18 and 19. Select nationwide week-long runs of the film will follow.

Academy Museum Unveils Spring Programming Featuring Bong Joon Ho and Judd Apatow

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will include screenings with major directors Bong Joon Ho, Judd Apatow and Lilly Wachowski as part of its spring programming line-up.

The “Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon...

It feels sacrilegious to imagine the development of any James Bond film without ambassadors Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli at the helm, but as of today, the future of James Bond has been placed solely within the oversight of Amazon MGM Studios. There are a whole number of consequences that come with this decision. It ensures that there will be another Bond film down the line, sooner than later probably, but at the same time, it will be one whose creative decisions will likely be made based on algorithmic trends instead of being filtered through the interests and taste of people who have shepherded these movies for decades. What's even worse is now that 007 is fully under Amazon's control, that means there's no more holdouts on the prospects of greenlighting spin-offs galore.

Amazon has technically tested the waters already with "007: Road to a Million," a reality adventure...

Zachary Levi appeared on “The Megyn Kelly Show” to promote his new movie, “The Unbreakable Boy,” and said he was “at peace” when he made the decision last year to publicly support Donald Trump for president. The “Shazam” actor originally endorsed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. but fully backed Trump when the latter became the Republican nominee.

“I felt peace because I knew that this was more important than saving my career,” Levi explained. “I think we too often fall into these paradigms, these thought processes of self-preservation, and it is not good. We need to be wise and we want to survive and we want to live and flourish and all those things, but we can’t merely make decisions off of, ‘Well I hope nothing bad happens to me.’ You got to sacrifice.’”

Levi officially endorsed Trump at a rally in Michigan on Sept. 28 before introducing a conversation between Rfk Jr.

It won't be too much longer until Charlie Cox makes his grand return as the Devil of Hell's Kitchen in "Daredevil: Born Again." Ever since Netflix made the decision to pull the plug on the original "Daredevil" show (plus the whole roster of street-level Marvel shows), fans have been clamoring for Cox to return in some form. It's clear that the folks at Marvel Studios were listening, prompting a very welcome cameo in his Matt Murdock garb in 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home," followed by a cheeky, if weirdly contested appearance in an episode of "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law." I'm sorry, but Daredevil doing the "walk of shame" with the cowl on is hilarious.

Cox's guest spots in other Marvel properties were welcome appetizers, but it quickly became clear that folks wanted to get back to business. The third season of "Daredevil," after all, left some plotlines without resolution and...

After years of morsels and rumors, delays on the upcoming animated "Aang: The Last Airbender" feature film, and well-kept secrets on behalf of Avatar Studios, we finally know, in official terms, what the next animated series in the franchise will be about. The show is now called "Avatar: Seven Havens," and it looks to mark a major departure from its predecessors, "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and "The Legend of Korra," in several ways.

The official synopsis relayed by Nickelodeon describes the show as being "set in a world shattered by a devastating cataclysm. A young Earthbender discovers she's the new Avatar after Korra -- but in this dangerous era, that title marks her as humanity's destroyer, not its savior. Hunted by both human and spirit enemies, she and her long-lost twin must uncover their mysterious origins and save the Seven Havens before civilization's last strongholds collapse."

There's a lot to unpack there,...

Set during the May 1968 revolution in Paris, Lionel Baier’s “The Safe House” is a comic family portrait filled with ideas that never fully cohere. The film is based on Christophe Boltanski’s Prix Femina-winning biographical novel of the same name, a fact of which we’re reminded numerous times via authorial voiceover. Its snappy, postmodern unfurling, rife with intentionally obvious rear projections, does eventually give way to moving dimensions as the family’s history fades into view, but few political or personal elements amount to anything poignant.

Although Boltanski’s family serves as fuel for the screenplay, “The Safe House” anonymizes them and tilt-shifts some of the story’s details, while keeping the broad premise intact: a saga unfolding in the margins of one of France’s most pivotal modern protests. It’s told, at least initially, through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy (Ethan Chimienti), meant to be Boltanski himself.

This article contains mild spoilers for "Reacher" Season 3.

The "Reacher" TV show is more than just great Dad Television, it's also a perfect series for people who love big, loud, absurd fun. A huge, hunky part of the appeal is just watching the titular former Special Investigator Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) be a very large lad -- with hands the size of dinner plates -- who beats up all the bad people around him while solving crimes. It has the same entertainment value as the anime "One Punch Man." These aren't just shows about overpowered individuals being so strong no one can stand up to them, they're also about the joy of watching said overpowered individuals find themselves in funny and outlandish situations.

Case in point, Season 3 finds Reacher venturing deep into the heart of a criminal enterprise to rescue an undercover informant, only to miserably and hilariously fail not...

You certainly don’t need to be from Winnipeg to get a lot of the fun that “Universal Language” is having with an obviously alternate version of the capital of Manitoba. But for those who are from that corner of the Great White North, or particularly studied Guy Maddin devotees — and director Matthew Rankin is both — there are particular gifts much sweeter than an ice-cream cone in winter dotted throughout his film.

In “Universal Language,” two girls look for the means to liberate a huge bill frozen in ice; an intrepid tour guide leads a bewildered group around the landmarks of the city; and a dispirited government employee travels back to Winnipeg to visit his mother. The point isn’t that the stories eventually intersect, although they do. It’s that every overlapping moment gives Rankin and his collaborators room to play with the essential artifice of cinema; and for some of that artifice,...

Angela Bassett recently told Town & Country magazine that she was “deserving” of the best supporting actress Oscar for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Bassett was nominated in 2023 but lost to Jamie Lee Curtis for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Her stoic reaction as Curtis’ name was called went viral on social media.

“I found it interesting,” Bassett said of the loss and the reaction that ensued. “Interesting that I wouldn’t be allowed to be disappointed at an outcome where I thought I was deserving.”

“I love applauding people,” she added. “But in that moment … No, I have put in: put in the time, put in good work over time. I didn’t think that was a gift. I thought it was a given.”

Bassett earned critical acclaim for her performance as Queen Ramonda in the “Black Panther” sequel, which made her the first actor be Oscar nominated from a Marvel movie.

As Comic-Con 2024 showed audiences, Marvel Studios is moving away from that big Hall H announcement visual calendar and barely revealed much of what’s to come beyond 2026. But occasionally, what’s in development at Marvel is revealed through what’s canceled or what’s paused.

To that end, Deadline reports that Marvel Television has hit pause on three TV series, one that was already reported and two that are brand new and heretofore unknown at Marvel.

Continue reading Marvel Pauses Development On Three TV Series: ‘Nova,’ ‘Strange Academy,’ & ‘Terror, Inc.’ at The Playlist.

We didn’t have to wait too long after Earwig (2021) for Lucile Hadžihalilović’s enigmatic new offering, The Ice Tower. The whistling sounds of mountain winds announce the arrival of the Snow Queen (Marion Cotillard), both to the set of a film she’s leading in 1970s France and in the life of 16-year-old runaway orphan Jeanne (Clara Pacini). Loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Snow Queen,” the script—co-written by Hadžihalilović together with Geoff Cox—explores the subterranean tensions of loneliness and womanhood in various shapes and forms. While it may as well be considered the most “legible” Hadžihalilović film […]

The post Mirror Mirror: Lucile Hadžihalilović on Berlinale 2025 Premiere The Ice Tower first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

“Robot Chicken” was not the first stop-motion comedy show to feature commercial toys for sketches, but the show has now lasted longer than anyone involved with it could have ever anticipated. For co-creator Seth Green, the original impetus for what would become “Robot Chicken” was a rather simple desire.

“We didn’t set out to make a show, and especially weren’t intending to make a show that was going to last a long time,” Green told IndieWire ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Adult Swim animated sketch comedy show. “My partner Matt Senreich and I were trying to figure out how to make just animated sketch comedy shorts using toys. I thought that was really fun.” Twenty years later, and “Robot Chicken” is still popular. It has over 200 episodes, has parodied everything from “Sesame Street” and “He-Man” to “Star Wars” and “Pokémon,” and earned two Annie Awards and six Emmys.

Daniel Craig is raising a (martini) glass to James Bond’s long-time producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. The duo announced on Thursday their plans to step back from the 007 franchise and cede creative control to Amazon MGM.

“My respect, admiration and love for Barbara and Michael remain constant and undiminished,” Craig, who played the suave spy in five successful films, said in an exclusive statement to Variety. “I wish Michael a long, relaxing (and well deserved) retirement and whatever ventures Barbara goes on to do, I know they will be spectacular and I hope I can be part of them.”

In a historic agreement that shocked Hollywood, Amazon MGM, Wilson and Broccoli have formed a joint venture to house the James Bond intellectual property rights. The three parties will remain co-owners of the franchise but the studio will have creative control on future projects. Amazon, which bought MGM in 2021 for $8.5 billion,...

This post contains spoilers for "Reacher" season 3.

As a man who (almost) always towers over everyone else in a room, Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) gets into more fights than the average person. When he's not busy living as an ultra-minimalist vagabond, Reacher routinely runs into bad guys and straight-up villains, which is when he lets his fists do the talking. The first two seasons of "Reacher" feature a couple of fight scenes that are a cut above the rest, including season 1's stairwell sequence in which he breaks a thug's fingers with a bicycle wheel and strangles the dude with his tie while leaping off the stairwell. And of course, we have season 2's memorable showdown between Reacher's team and a deadly biker gang, where things get really bloody when Reacher yanks a biker off his vehicle and breaks off another's limbs with a steel pipe.

Season 3 of "Reacher" has...

Jessica Chastain gives one of the gutsiest performances of her career in Michel Franco’s “Dreams,” here as a San Francisco philanthropist in love with a younger, undocumented Mexican immigrant who she’s convinced to cross over into the United States.

Emotionally lobotomized by her wealthy scion father (Marshall Bell) and brother (Rupert Friend), Jennifer (Chastain) gives money to good causes and believes she’s contributing to some greater good. Meanwhile, Fernando, a 10-plus-years-younger ballet dancer from Mexico City, is at her every mercy trying to start a life in America after a harrowing journey over the border.

The characters may function metaphorically as stand-ins for the U.S. and Mexico and how those countries, like these people, need each other. But politics aside, what makes the “New Order” director’s latest film, and his second with Chastain after the dementia-addled romance “Memory,” throb and thrum beneath the filmmaking’s...

For more than 60 years, one family has determined everything about James Bond, from how he takes his martini to his firearm (Walther Ppk) and vehicle (Aston Martin) of choice. But on Thursday, a landmark deal with Amazon MGM reshaped the course of cinema’s most enduring franchise.

As part of the pact, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, the heads of Eon and custodians of all things Bond, have entered into a joint venture with the streaming giant that will see them cede creative control of the property. The announcement, unveiled as the series was at an impasse, has stunned Hollywood, where the Broccoli family has become nearly as synonymous with 007 as its creator Ian Fleming.

The super spy was last seen in 2021’s “No Time to Die,” which ended with Daniel Craig, who had portrayed the Mi agent in five wildly successful films, staring into the sunset as a...

Los Angeles is a city in constant renewal. When the Arclight Cinemas closed during Covid in 2021, the initial despair was lessened as a host of repertory options sprang up in its aftermath, including Quentin Tarantino’s revamped Vista Theatre, the Academy Museum and Micah Gottlieb’s Mezzanine series. On the festival side, when L.A. Film Festival and OutFest both shut down a few years apart, much discussion centered around why this city has such difficulty sustaining a film festival, especially when on the opposite coast, the New York Film Festival thrives. (This line of questioning largely overlooks the long-running, can’t-miss AFI […]

The post Slamdance Co-Founder Peter Baxter and Fest Director Taylor Miller on Moving to Los Angeles first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is bringing exclusive Oscar night viewing parties to New York, Los Angeles, and London. These parties are open to Academy members and invited film industry guests.

The New York event will be held at the Mandarin Oriental, kicking off the evening with a cocktail reception and crafted menu. The London event will take place at The Dorchester, and it will include a curated menu inspired by the Oscars Governors Ball.

The annual public viewing party in Los Angeles, presented by Sony Honda Mobility, is also returning. Attendees will enjoy photo opportunities, an official gift bag from the watch party, a selection of hors d’oeuvres from Wolfgang Puck Catering, and wine from Clarendelle & Domaine Clarence Dillon.

This year, some of the biggest Oscar contenders include Sean Baker’s independent film “Anora,” Edward Berger’s Vatican thriller-drama “Conclave,” and Brady Corbet’s historical drama “The Brutalist.

After nine films together, including “Blue Moon,” which had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on Tuesday, Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke still want to work together. And they hope their next collaboration, a historical drama, happens as soon as possible, if they find someone to finance it.

Read More: ‘Blue Moon’ Review: Another Precious Pearl In Richard Linklater’s Chronicles Of The Human Condition [Berlin]

Variety reports that Linklater teased the project after the “Blue Moon” premiere.

Continue reading Richard Linklater & Ethan Hawke Seeking Financing For 19th-Century Project at The Playlist.

The Michael Jackson documentary “Leaving Neverland” is officially getting a sequel.

An hour-long follow-up film, subtitled “Surviving Michael Jackson,” will debut on the U.K.’s Channel 4 on March 18, Variety has confirmed. The sequel will catch up with Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who accused the King of Pop of sexually abusing them when they were minors. Jackson denied the allegations during his lifetime, and his estate continues to do so.

HBO, which produced the two-part 2019 doc, is not involved in the sequel. In 2020, HBO lost a legal battle against the Jackson estate, which sued the cabler for $100 million and argued that “Leaving Neverland” violated a 27-year-old non-disparagement clause from a 1992 concert film from the “Dangerous” tour.

Directed by Dan Reed, “Leaving Neverland 2” will explore the personal toll on Robson and Safechuck after they went public with accusations against Jackson. The two men continue to seek justice as they...

Magnolia Pictures had acquired US rights from Visit Films to TIFF action thriller 40 Acres starring Danielle Deadwyler of The Piano Lesson and Till.

R.T. Thorne directed the story a young man in a post-plague world that has eradicated animals whose encounter with a young woman threatens his tough survivor family’s way of life. Michael Greyeyes, Kataem O’Connor, and Milcania Diaz-Rojas star.

40 Acres is a A Hungry Eyes Media Production with 4T Productions Inc. in association with Fela and Backhome. Thorne and Glenn Taylor co-wrote the screenplay, and Jennifer Holness produced, with Taj Critchlow, Thorne, Deadwyler, Sudz Sutherland, John Lang,...

Richard Rider's long and tortured journey to becoming a live-action superhero simply isn't to be ... and his much buzzed-about TV series isn't the only developing Marvel project to suddenly hit a snag. Originally, and as recently as 2018, Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige had big-screen ambitions for the comic book character known as Nova. Eventually, however, those shifted to a streaming series headed by Marvel Television. Now, that "Nova" production appears to be put on indefinite hold as the franchise goes back to the drawing board as part of a move that has also similarly affected "Strange Academy" and "Terror, Inc."

Deadline has the scoop on this less-than-ideal update, describing the studio as having "paused development" on these three titles. Granted, none of them were ever officially greenlit and the report goes out of its way to mention that all of these series could potentially still happen at some point down the line.

The SAG Awards are shaping up to be a showdown between some of Hollywood’s biggest comeback stories and the next generation of breakout stars.

On one side are the resurgence narratives — like lead contenders Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”) and Demi Moore (“The Substance”). They’re joined by supporting nominees Edward Norton (“A Complete Unknown”) and Zoe Saldaña (“Emilia Pérez”), who many feel are overdue for recognition. On the other side are Hollywood’s rising stars — the fresh faces poised to define the industry’s future. Think Timothée Chalamet and Mikey Madison in the lead races, with Kieran Culkin and Ariana Grande gaining traction in supporting roles.

Brody, now 51, became the youngest best actor Oscar winner for his tour de force performance in “The Pianist” (2002). But after that early triumph, his career took an uneven path, and he didn’t ride the momentum to further Oscar glory. Now, his critically...

Netflix's "Extraction" is no longer just a series of movies starring Chris Hemsworth -- it's a full-on franchise. The streaming service has officially expanded the scope of this universe by giving the greenlight to a new TV show set in the same universe as the Hemsworth-fronted Tyler Rake films. The catch? Hemsworth won't be the leading man. Instead, Omar Sy is set to take on the lead role in the TV spin-off.

According to Variety, the currently unnamed "Extraction" TV show will be headed up by Glen Mazzara ("The Walking Dead"), who serves as writer, executive producer, and showrunner. Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Angela Russo-Otstot, Scott Nemes, Chris Castaldi, Sam Hargrave, Eric Gitter, and Peter Schwerin are on board as executive producers. Hargrave directed both "Extraction" and "Extraction 2." As we previously reported, Netflix was eyeing TV spin-offs for several hits, "Extraction" among them. Now, that's becoming a reality. So...

Generative AI film and animation studio Asteria, founded last fall by filmmaker and entrepreneur Bryn Mooser, is growing its team with the addition of VFX pro Benjamin Lock, who has been hired to lead the development of AI-driven workflows and advise on building the company’s proprietary AI model.

Lock brings more than 20 years of experience in VFX and animation, including stints at Framestore, Aardman, and Lucasfilm/Ilm. He was a VFX producer on titles including “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” and “Ready Player One.” Lock also won a BAFTA children’s award for stop-motion short-form program “Purple and Brown.”

Asteria is focused on producing fiction and nonfiction film and TV projects using its AI tech. “Ben’s expertise in visual effects and passion for innovation make him the perfect fit for Asteria. As we continue to develop cutting-edge AI tools for artists, his...

On January 24, 1975, Keith Jarrett gave a solo piano performance at the Opera House in Cologne, Germany. The concert lasted a little over an hour, it was entirely improvised, and it was recorded and turned into a double album, “The Köln Concert,” released later that year. It became the best-selling solo album in jazz history, as well as the best-selling piano album. And when you listen to it you can hear why.

The 1970s were a piano-man age. Think Billy Joel and Elton John, and also Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock and Jan Hammer and Jarrett. There are Keith Jarrett albums that have more pyrotechnical dazzle than “The Köln Concert”. But “The Köln Concert,” for all its joyful tumult, exudes a vibe that’s very much of its mellowed-out era. It’s exultant but soothing. At times it evokes the pastoral moods that would make the New Age pianist George Winston so popular,...

When last we checked in on the state of the James Bond franchise, the situation was dire. According to a grim December 2024 report from The Wall Street Journal, Bond rights holder Amazon MGM Studios was at loggerheads with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who controlled the creative destiny of the character. While Amazon, which acquired the property when it bought MGM in 2022, was keen to build out a James Bond extended universe, with films and television shows focusing on longtime supporting characters like M's secretary Miss Moneypenny, Broccoli and Wilson saw no reason to deviate from a 62-year-old formula that had only required minor tweaks in the face of major social and political upheaval. Nevertheless, Amazon kept pressing the reluctant producers with algorithm-generated notions about growing the brand creatively, leading Broccoli to reportedly exclaim "These people are f****** idiots."

Alas, the "f****** idiots" are now in charge.

The...

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Was the romance between Magneto and Rogue your favorite part of "X-Men '97"? Then do I have the comic for you!

Now, in the ongoing "present" of Marvel Comics, Rogue is starring in Gail Simone and David Marquez's "Uncanny X-Men," which follows her and Gambit training a new generation X. New mini-series "Rogue: The Savage Land" throws Anna Marie back to 1991, before she even met Gambit, to when she and Magneto were lost in the titular dinosaur-filled jungle. Marvel has shared an exclusive preview of "Rogue: The Savage Land" issue #2 with /Film.

A few recent "X-Men" miniseries have been revisiting "gaps" from Chris Claremont's titanic 1975-1991 run on the book. Claremont himself returned for "Wolverine: Madripoor Knights" (drawn by Edgar Salazar) which went back to "Uncanny X-Men" #268 for another team-up between Logan, Captain America, and Black Widow. Claremont...

Colman Domingo, Pamela Anderson, Quinta Brunson, Ralph Fiennes and Zoe Saldaña are among the stars set to serve as presenters at this Sunday’s 31st annual SAG Awards, Variety has learned.

They’ll be joined by Ayo Edebiri, Drew Starkey, Edward Norton, Gillian Anderson, Jack Quaid, Jessica Williams, Jodie Foster, Joey King, Keri Russell, Kerry Washington, Kumail Nanjiani, Mark Eydelshteyn, Max Greenfield, Molly Shannon, Monica Barbaro and Zooey Deschanel, all of whom have also been tapped to present on the kudocast.

The SAG Life Achievement Award will be presented to Jane Fonda by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Other presenters include Ariana Grande, Bowen Yang, Colin Farrell, Cynthia Erivo, David Duchovny, Elle Fanning, Fran Drescher, Harrison Ford, Isabella Rossellini, Jack Quaid, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Lithgow, Keke Palmer, Lily Gladstone, Lisa Kudrow, Marissa Bode, Michelle Yeoh, Mikey Madison, Millie Bobby Brown, Selena Gomez, Sergio Castellitto, Timothée Chalamet and Yura Borisov.

As previously announced,...

Blake Lively’s publicist argued in a legal filing Thursday that it was not defamatory to tell a reporter that the entire cast of “It Ends With Us” hated director Justin Baldoni.

Leslie Sloane, who represents Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, is accused in Baldoni’s lawsuit of spreading the malicious falsehood that he was a sexual predator in order to deflect attention away from Lively’s behavior on set.

Baldoni’s suit quotes text messages between Sloane and a Daily Mail reporter on Aug. 8, in which the reporter sought comment about a “power struggle” between Lively and Baldoni, saying that Lively had been labeled “difficult” on set.

According to the messages, Sloane denied that the issue had anything to do with Lively, and warned the reporter not to trust Baldoni’s camp: “They are panicking as the whole cast hates him,” Sloane wrote.

In a motion to dismiss the suit,...

Martin Scorsese may be executive producing the buzzy “Cape Fear” series adaptation, but the auteur is actually looking to get wet with a different seaside project: a Hawaii-set true crime mob drama starring Dwayne Johnson.

Deadline first reported the yet-untitled film. IndieWire can confirm from a source close to the project that Johnson and his frequent collaborator Emily Blunt approached Scorsese with the feature, who then brought in actor/producer Leonardo DiCaprio. The script is being commissioned by Nick Bilton, who produced HBO documentary “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley.”

The drama is set to star Johnson as a real-life aspiring mob boss who battled rival crime clans to control the Hawaiian islands in the 1960s. Scorsese, Johnson, Blunt, DiCaprio, and Bilton will all executive produce, along with Dany Garcia, Lisa Frechette, and Rick Yorn.

Blunt and Johnson have worked together on “Jungle Cruise” and will co-star in...

Mckenna Grace, Fred Armisen, Bobby Lee and Sean Gunn have joined the cast of “New Years Rev,” the Green Day-inspired comedy movie from writer-director Lee Kirk.

The film, a coming-of-age story about three friends who journey to Los Angeles under the false belief that their band is opening for Green Day on New Year’s Eve, is based on the California punk rockers’ early exploits from living in a tour van.

Live Nation Productions describes the project as a “rowdy and mischievous” road-trip comedy “filled with adventures,” plus a live performance from Green Day.

Mason Thames, Kylr Coffman and Ryan Foust star as the band members alongside “Office” favorites Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, Ignacio Diaz-Silverio and Keen Ruffalo.

“Not only will ‘New Years Rev’ include wall to wall Green Day music and a concert at the Palladium in Hollywood, it’ll also feature some of the best and funniest actors working today.