According to a new report out of The Guardian, theater chain Vue, which is showing Cary Fukunaga’s movie in all 91 of its locations, has “had to increase staff numbers by about 10%, adding about 450 new employees to its 4,500 regular work force.” “It is going to be the biggest opening weekend since the pandemic began,” said Tim Richards, the chief executive of Vue, which is the UK’s third-largest theater chain....

“Shooting that pilot was a really great lesson,” Merchant said. “It was an affirmation about listening to my instincts and following them, because I tried to back out of that situation and, during the contract process, I did back out. I was talked back into it by some persuasive people. Then I found myself naked and afraid in Morocco and riding a horse that was clearly much more excited to be there than I was....

Currently, the frontrunner for the Oscar is the Denmark entry “Another Round,” the well-reviewed Cannes, TIFF, and prize-winning San Sebastian selection, which scored four European Film Awards including European Film, Director Thomas Vinterberg, Screenwriter, Vinterberg & Tobias Lindholm, and Actor, Mads Mikkelsen. He plays a sober teacher in midlife crisis who joins his close chums in an experiment in heavy drinking. Goldwyn landed the high-profile movie at a time when many theatrical buyers, even foreign-friendly Sony Pictures Classics, were holding back during the pandemic....

Last Updated February 9: The production design Oscar nominees — “Dune” (Warner Bros.), “Nightmare Alley” (Searchlight/Disney), “The Power of the Dog” (Netflix), The Tragedy of Macbeth” (Apple TV+), and “West Side Story” (20th Century/Disney) — are all creative examples of world building which defy genre expectations. However, the ambitious and imaginative world building for Denis Villeneuve “Dune” is the frontrunner for production designer Patrice Vermette and set decorator Zsuzsanna Sipos....

What will they be? We hazard an educated guess based on festival awards, critics’ groups, and other anecdotal gleanings of Academy favorites. These films are among the year’s best. Check them out in all their glory in theaters if you can; some won’t be available at home for a few more weeks. (Read: How to Watch the 2022 Oscar Contenders at Home.) Festival heavyweights include major Cannes standouts like Austria’s “Great Freedom,” Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero,” Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary “Flee,” and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour meditation on Chekhov, “Drive My Car,” which is gaining so much acclaim that people are starting to whisper the “Parasite” word....

“‘Outlander’ is a riveting show that from season to season has captured the hearts of its fans around the world,” said Kathryn Busby, president of original programming at Starz. “We are excited to peel back the layers of this vibrant world to bring our audience the origin of where it all began. [The creative team of ] Matthew [B. Roberts], Maril [Davis], and Ronald [D. Moore] will continue to bring their excellent vision and creativity to this new iteration, and we can’t wait to see what happens next....

“You saw athletes on the pole, you didn’t see sad broken women,” Hall said. “And so, for me, that was like, ‘Boom, I know this an art form, and yet people don’t understand this particular art form comes from these Black women down in the South.’ It is this culture, it is this vibe, is truly something to be explored and discovered.” Hall first creatively explored this side of stripping — especially how it can often be a source of economic freedom and self-expression — in her play of the same name (except the p-word was spelled out), which she based on countless conversations with strippers about their background and experiences....

Despite its title, however, Wandel’s focus is not the unbridled joy and freedom of childhood, though there are some rare instances of it here. Instead, she paints a harrowing picture of the memories many of us have tried to forget, where school is a warzone rife with violence and bullying, one that children are forced to largely maneuver alone. Wandel is interested in the life-cycle of bullying, and the violence we’re taught to use as a defense mechanism at a young age....

Here’s what Connie Zastoupil had to stay about the story: “Regarding my son Quentin – I support him, I’m proud of him and love him and his growing new family. It gave me great joy to dance at his wedding and receive his news upon the birth of my Grandson Leo.” According to USA Today: “Zastoupil added that it’s easy for podcast comments to ‘spin and go viral without full context’ and that she does ‘not wish to participate in this salacious transactional media frenzy....

Needless to say, revisiting Manderley is tempting and dangerous in equal measure. On the one hand, there’s something accessibly timeless to du Maurier’s rather simple interwar story about a rich widower named Maxim de Winter, the guileless new bride he plucks out of the precariat, and the sprawling Cornwall estate he invites her to share with him and the lingering presence of his dead first wife. On the other hand, “Rebecca” is by nature a book that’s violently resistant to any kind of change; it’s possessed by a malevolent spirit that would sooner burn Manderley to the ground than let anyone so much as replace the curtains....

The latest series from iconic Emmy-winning sitcom creator Steven Levitan, the co-creator behind “Modern Family,” is Hulu’s “Reboot.” It stars Keegan-Michael Key, Judy Greer, and Johnny Knoxville as part of a dysfunctional cast made famous by the fictional early 2000s family sitcom “Step Right Up.” Now, almost 20 years later, the cast is coming back together again to revive the original hit series, plus squash their unresolved issues and navigate social media cancel culture....

The wall of ice between Kratos (Christopher Judge) and Atreus (“Mid90s” breakout Sunny Suljic) has only gotten more frigid now that the boy is a bonafide teenager, and with Fimbulwinter blanketing Midgard under mile-deep sheets of white snow — the cold snap heralding the deadliest battle the world has ever known — it seems unlikely that things between father and son will begin to thaw anytime soon. That’s when they hear someone knocking outside the hidden safe house where our heroes are trying to hole up until Ragnarök blows over....

Along with a star-studded group of collaborators, including the critic Tobi Haslett, who writes the keen and captivating running commentary, and masterful editor Nels Bangerter, who’s also worked with boundary-pushing documentarians Brett Storey and Kirsten Johnson, Pettengill periodically pokes and prods at this footage, zooming in to the point of pixelation or blurring the edges around figures to interrogate the meaning behind these moments. This unique framework succeeds in turning history on its head, forcing us to question how these violent tactics from the past have led to the increasingly armed present we’re witnessing today....

“I’m not saying I don’t like those big movies. I’m saying I had not learned yet how to bring myself to those movies,” Ahmed said about his “Venom” takeaway. “Those films teach you stamina, technical craft, and it is a skill to be able to eke out your artistry in that setting. Look at Javier Bardem in ‘Skyfall.’ I just hadn’t developed the skill set at that point to do the technical thing and the emotional thing....

“We talk to over 10,000 people every four-five years to ensure our policies remain in step with parental expectations and societal standards on an ongoing basis,” BBFC chief executive David Austin said in a statement about the new ratings. “As a result of changing standards in society, it’s not infrequent that a distributor will submit something to us that we have classified in the past, but which we need to take a fresh look at under our current guidelines....

In an interview with Criterion, Hamaguchi revealed the biggest cinematic influences on his work, with films ranging from Jean Renoir to Roberto Rossellini’s work. Of course, Hamaguchi’s favorite films were dependent on what was available to watch while growing up in Japan. “There are still quite a few Jacques Becker films that are unavailable in Japan, but I’ve loved all the ones I’ve been able to see—I had a hard time deciding between ‘Le trou’ and ‘Casque d’Or‘,” Hamaguchi explained, ultimately selecting “Casque....

Littlefeather famously made history in 1973 when she turned down the Academy Award for Best Actor on behalf of “The Godfather” winner Marlon Brando. Almost 50 years later, Littlefeather received a formal apology from the Academy for her mistreatment at the awards ceremony. “As you stood on the Oscars stage in 1973 to not accept the Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando, in recognition of the misrepresentation and mistreatment of Native American people by the film industry, you made a powerful statement that continues to remind us of the necessity of respect and the importance of human dignity,” a letter signed by former Academy President David Rubin stated, as addressed June 18....

SAG-AFTRA, in a statement, said it would “ensure participants will continue to have access to safe abortion services regardless of where they live or work.” The Health Plan is similar to coverage provided by the WGA and DGA unions but comes on the heels of production companies like Netflix, Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery refusing to publicly list policies and procedures for abortion travel subsidy healthcare benefits for employees. The SAG-AFTRA plan will reimburse travel expenses for participants, cover dependent spouses, and cover dependent children who are unable to obtain abortion services without traveling because they reside in a state or temporarily work in covered employment in a state where abortion is illegal....

“I was also extra lucky because I was included in the process of the second movie and I thought that was very generous, but also very smart, because the problem with action films is it’s mostly men who do them,” Hayek said. “And I was heard. Of course there were some things that they were like, ‘Really? Are you sure we should go in this direction? It’s an action comedy, is dealing with menopause something that people are going to find funny or interesting?...

“I wasn’t very articulate about it. I didn’t articulate it very well,” Elliott said. “And I said some things that hurt people and I feel terrible about that. The gay community has been incredible to me my entire career. And I mean my entire career, from before I got started in this town. Friends on every level and every job description up until today. I’m sorry I hurt any of those friends and someone that I loved....