Movies

There are no smiling faces in Hollywood. The industry’s power pyramid last week underwent further upheavals, turning former CEOs and network presidents into job hunters. They will surely be followed shortly by scores of acolytes. At the same time, virtually every public event surrounding the Oscar and Emmy seasons has now been canceled, thus pulling

Breaking News Patrick Schwarzenegger spilled the beans, possibly unintentionally, but his sister, Katherine, and her hubby, Chris Pratt, have had their baby. The news came after a photographer spotted Patrick Sunday and congratulated him on becoming an uncle and then asked how Katherine and the baby are doing. PS responded, “Doing great, just got her

While Marvel Comics’ web-slinging hero Spider-Man teams up with Blade and attempts to defeat a 2,000 year old vampire named Solomon Negus, he thinks of a new name for for the half-vampire hero. But Blade is anything but impressed by the alternative alias. Throughout the years, Spider-Man has teamed-up with a variety of heroes including Deadpool, the Fantastic

BBC director general Tony Hall has apologized 12 days after a reporter used the N-word on-air, prompting outrage from both viewers and the British broadcaster’s employees. Up until Sunday, the BBC had staunchly defended social affairs correspondent Fiona Lamdin’s use of the word in describing a race hate attack, saying it had been signed off

Fresh product continued to rule in a distressed exhibition marketplace as RLJE Films’ Tax Collector grossed an estimated $317K at 129 theaters. Tax Collector is the third new title after Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls World Tour and IFC’s The Rental to top the box office since the pandemic began in mid-March. We’ll know for certain which film is No. 1 tomorrow, but it’s

UPDATE: On Sunday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed 10 new deaths and 1,789 new cases of confirmed COVID-19. The reported case numbers today include all of the current lab reports from the state’s electronic lab report system. However, the numbers do not include backlog numbers and the state anticipates sending the backlog

Monsters And Men (Zyrick) Monsters and Men is a drama from the perspective of several different characters. It’s about the murder of an unarmed black man, Darius Larson (Samel Edwards) by police officers. Monsters and Men is clearly inspired by Eric Garner’s death. Kelvin Harrison Jr plays Zyrick, a young man with a bright future

Exclusive Daisy Coleman — one of the teenage girls featured in “Audrie & Daisy,” the Netflix documentary about multiple rape cases — has died by suicide … according to her mother. Daisy’s mom, Melinda, says her daughter took her own life Tuesday night. Her body was discovered after Melinda called the police to do a

Netflix is finalizing a deal to carry the third season of hit Israeli drama Shtisel. As we reported earlier this week, production on the third season is now underway in Israel. The third outing for the Yes Studios-produced drama about an Orthodox family in Jerusalem will pick up four years after the events of the

Chloë Grace Moretz is only twenty-three years old, but she’s already starred in dozens of films. She began her acting career at the age of six and has since appeared in films of various genres. Her acting has been praised by fans and critics alike, even being described as the only thing that keeps some

There have been (at least) four TV versions, four film versions, Broadway plays and musical versions, other projects with titles like Return To… and Back From…., even a 2017 Steampunk version, for God’s sake. Did we really need yet another Secret Garden?  Oh, why not? This time around, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Edwardian-era set 1911 novel has been switched to post-WWII

A court ruling that dropped today allowing movie studios to buy theaters (whether or not they want to — and they probably don’t) is the latest snub to an industry that’s been rattled by change for years, in particular since March and COVID-19. Exhibition hasn’t been this pressured in a century. When the 1918 Spanish

One of the most impressive roles an actor can nab in Hollywood is a double bill with themselves. It’s not easily done, but when actors such as Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Rudd and Michael Keaton have pulled it off, it’s the ultimate test of technical filmmaking and acting ability. In HBO Max’s first original film, An

China’s third Friday back to the movies scored a slight increase on last week’s comparable day at $4.38M. It’s short of the $7.6M generated last Sunday which was boosted by Warner Bros’ reissue of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, but still a jump on last Friday, while midweeks were solid. Play today was led by DreamWorks/Amblin/Universal’s 1917

Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Garner have a long past together, and judging by the photos they may also have a present. The former “Alias” stars hit up Malibu beach Wednesday, along with a little girl who appears to be Bradley’s daughter, Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper. Bradley and Jen have something in common … they’ve

Lorenzo Soria, who was in his third nonconsecutive term as president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which co-produces the Golden Globe Awards, died today at his home in Los Angeles, HFPA said. He was 68. The group did not announce a cause of death. The Argentina-born, Italy-raised Soria was elected HFPA president in June

Microsoft has publicly spoken out against Apple blocking its game-streaming service, Project xCloud, from appearing on the app store. The service is currently in beta and is set to launch sometime next week. It will allow people to play graphically complex games on smartphones and other pieces of technology that wouldn’t ordinarily support them by streaming the

On today’s earnings call for the No. 1 financially challenged exhibitor AMC, CEO Adam Aron took the high road in not damning Disney for their recent seisimic-shifting choice to take Mulan to Disney+ instead of theaters where the streaming service is available. “You might thing I’m disappointed that Mulan is moving, but AMC has no bigger friend

In some big Bollywood news, we can reveal that Vaani Kapoor has been set as the female lead opposite Ayushmann Khurrana in the new film from director Abhishek Kapoor. Plot details are being kept under wraps on the movie but Ayushmann is set to play an athlete and will undergo a significant “physical transformation” for

Harley Quinn’s Transformation Took Two-And-A-Half Hours A Day As you can imagine, Margot Robbie’s transition into Harley Quinn doesn’t happen instantaneously. It takes a team of talented make-up artists to bring the character to life from the page-to-the-screen, and the process takes up a decent bit of time. As Robbie detailed to BBC Radio 1,

Hasbro will remove a Trolls World Tour doll from major retailers following complaints that it encourages child abuse and pedophilia. The toy company announced Wednesday that it will remove the movie’s “Trolls World Tour Giggle and Sing Poppy” doll from store shelves after an online petition signed by upwards of 160 thousand concerned parents  and

Brooklyn-based singer and actor Ellen Greene is best known for her role as the blonde-bob babes and shop assistant, Audrey — who is the love interest (and meal interest) of the skid row plant shop — in the plant-based 1986 musical, “Little Shop of Horrors.” Ellen Greene was cast alongside an epic group of actors

After announcing changes to its services agreement, Microsoft has clarified that it has no intention of renaming Xbox Live or of discontinuing Xbox Live Gold. Microsoft’s paid subscription service is required for Xbox One players to experience online multiplayer, a fact which has caused an awkward relationship between online gamers on the Xbox One and people playing the

Organizers of the Sarajevo Film Fesitval, which was set to be one of the first international film festivals to take place in a meaningful physical form this summer, have made a late decision to shift the event entirely to online after a spike of infections in Bosnia. The fest had been due to take place

Auditions make me nervous. Not for myself — I’m beyond the casting-call stage of life. But rather for anyone who still has the nerve to endure the almost always disappointing, sometimes humiliating, process of being screened, interviewed, tested and most probably rejected for a role in show business. Or journalism. Or politics, wherein the final

UPDATED with closing price. Disney shares posted dramatic gains Wednesday, climbing 9% after two upgrades from Wall Street analysts and general kudos for its moves on the streaming front. Shares reached as high as $130.31 during the session before finishing at $127.61, their highest closing price since February 25. Trading volume was more than three

The Monster Squad (1987) A group of monster-obsessed kids (Andre Gower, Robby Kiger, Brent Chalem, Ryan Lambert) find themselves with the responsibility of trying to save the world as they know it from being taken over by Count Dracula (Duncan Regehr), Frankenstein’s monster (Tom Noonan), The Mummy (Michael MacKay), The Gill-man (Tom Woodruff Jr.), and

EXCLUSIVE: Miramax Television is rebooting cult 1997 horror sci-fi thriller movie Mimic as a TV series. Paul WS Anderson is set to direct the potential pilot and executive produce the series with his longtime producing partner Jeremy Bolt. Jim Danger Gray (Orange Is the New Black) will write the adaptation, executive produce and serve as

Exclusive The Rock owns the XFL and former L.A. Wildcats head coach Winston Moss has a message for DJ … GIVE ME A JOB!!! Moss lost his head coaching gig when the 2nd iteration of the XFL went under — largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic — leaving the former NFL player and coach without

Serialized fiction app Radish says it has raised $63.2M in Series A funding led by SoftBank Ventures Asia and Korean firm Kakao Page Corp. The company also announced a new office in Los Angeles amid plans to grow its local team, build new content and adapt its original IP into gaming and TV opportunities. Radish,