These one-night only engagements are in addition to the very successful continuing initial dates for the film — three in New York, one in Los Angeles. This weekend saw the film only drop about a third from last weekend, indicating a very strong response to the coming-of-age period film, more so since those opening numbers included Thursday night preview shows as well as a holiday Friday. Near sell-outs occurred in many of the dates, which saw a gross of $223,000....

That’s a lot of pressure for showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne. They’re dealing with the high expectations by placing all of their trust in J. R.R. Tolkien, focusing on making the show as true to the books as possible. When a reporter at the Television Critic Association’s press tour on Friday noted that the show was “vaguely connected” to Tolkien’s books, the showrunners pushed back (via The Hollywood Reporter)....

That realization was part of what made director Sacha Jenkins and producer Julie Anderson gravitate toward making a film about his life, “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues,” for Apple TV+. Both spoke to executive managing editor Christian Blauvelt at the IndieWire FYC Consider This Brunch on November 18 to discuss their intentions for the film, a top awards contender heading into Oscar season. Armstrong’s incandescent technical ability possessed an otherworldly quality that still resonates today — and his presence was indeed otherworldly at one particular moment during filming....

Winners for “Love, Death & Robots” include production designer Robert Valley, background artist Patricio Betteo, stop-motion animator Dan Gill, and character designer Laurent Nicolas. Rounding out the rest of the animation honors were storyboard artist David Krentz for his work on “Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal” and lead character layout artist Nik Ranieri for “The Simpsons.” This year’s juried award categories included prizes for Individual Achievement in Animation, Costumes for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program, Innovation in Interactive Programming, and Motion Design....

In “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” tensions and temperatures escalate throughout the course of an afternoon recording session in 1920s Chicago. A band of musicians await the arrival of one trailblazing performer, the Mother of the Blues, Ma Rainey. She’s played by Viola Davis, the Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress for another August Wilson adaptation, director Denzel Washington’s “Fences.” (Washington is also a producer on “Ma Rainey’s.”) Late to the session, Ma Rainey stirs up ado with her white manager and producer over the control of her music....

You have to hand it to Andrew Garfield. Not everyone has the talent and the no-holds-barred commitment to create one of the most obnoxious characters in cinema history, but Garfield is up to the task in “Mainstream,” a vapid social-media satire co-written and directed by Gia Coppola. Garfield, also one of the film’s producers, throws all of his loose-limbed “Amazing Spider-Man” physicality and “Under the Silver Lake” slacker slobbiness into the role of Link, a preening, pseudo-poetic stoner philosopher who could be the grotesque lovechild of Val Kilmer’s Jim Morrison in “The Doors” and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker in “Joker....

As the iconically corrupt Miss Trunchbull, Oscar winner Thompson is unrecognizable for the Netflix film “Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical,” in select theaters December 9 from and streaming December 25. Sony Pictures UK/TriStar Pictures will release the film across the U.K. and Ireland exclusively in cinemas on November 25. Roald Dahl’s beloved novel is getting another big-screen treatment, this time as a rock musical based on the Tony- and Olivier-winning production directed by Matthew Warchus....

Wherever you might fall on that spectrum, the high energy of Papadimitropoulos’ direction stands out; so do stars Sebastian Stan and Denise Gough’s dedication to two sneakily tough characters who cycle through a wide variety of emotions over the course of a fraught romance. While the screenplay, penned by Papadimitropoulos and “Chewing Gum” writer Rob Hayes, seems to have drawn its inspiration from decades of indie romances, the chemistry between Stan and Gough (and the trust that Papadimitropoulos placed in them) helps power the film through its rough patches....

Male hierarchies inside prison walls are well-trod ground, from “Brute Force” and “Birdman of Alcatraz,” to “Papillon,” “Midnight Express,” and “The Shawshank Redemption.” But rarely is an entry as visually rapturous as West African filmmaker Philippe Lacôte’s “Night of the Kings,” which takes place inside the bowels of the infamous La MACA prison in Abidjan, a city on the south side of the Ivory Coast. While the film, both written and directed by Lacôte, is grounded in oral traditions that may seem exotic to certain viewers, the movie is really about the universal power of storytelling regardless of tongue — and how it can be used as a way to survive....

MGM and United Artists’ installment of the franchise has been among the most notable victims of the pandemic’s tentpole-calendar shuffle. It was originally slated to open worldwide in April 2020, then pushed to two different November 2020 dates, and most recently was set to hit theaters on April 2, 2021. Though there’s still less than three months to go before that previously scheduled Easter Weekend release, it remains uncertain when theatrical exhibition will return in full force, though industry sources hope normal stateside releases might return by May....

“I think the film went to an emotional point that we have not been to before with Bond,” said SFX supervisor Chris Corbould. “It was also interesting for me, having worked on all five of Daniel’s films, to see him master the role of Bond on each subsequent film. Daniel was at his peak on ‘No Time to Die’ and, on set during the emotional scenes, he was the most powerful I have ever seen him....

But “Obi-Wan Kenobi” follows one of the series’ biggest characters, and brings back an A-list actor in Ewan McGregor to reprise his role from the prequel films. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, the show also features Darth Vader. In a new EW feature, McGregor and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy detail the pressure they put on themselves to make sure the Disney+ series lives up to its high expectations....

To celebrate May 4th, the annual “Star Wars” fan day, Disney+ released a new trailer for the limited series “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” starring Ewan McGregor in the titular role. The series premieres May 27 with its first two episodes, followed by weekly installments every Wednesday. Obi-Wan (McGregor) is seen hiding from Stormtroopers and battling bounty hunters 10 years after the events of “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.” Jedi were murdered under the Order 66 after Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) turned to the dark side as Sith Lord Darth Vader....

Based on the best-selling YA novel by Angie Thomas, “On the Come Up” follows a rising rap star intent on making a name for herself while honoring her late father. “On the Come Up” embraces its fairy-tale feeling early on, opening with a title card that tells us it’s set “somewhere in America,” before zooming in on the fictional, mostly Black community of Garden Heights. But this fairy tale doesn’t have a happy start, as we meet young Bri (played in a short opening sequence by Noa Dior Rucker), her brother Trey, and mother Jada (Lathan) during an evening that Bri will later explain effectively ended her innocence....

The 2009 horror film starred Isabelle Fuhrman as the titular sociopathic orphan Leena, who set out to torture a family and seduce her adoptive father after escaping an orphanage. While everyone thought Leena was nine years old, it turned out she was secretly a 33-year-old woman with a medical condition that made her look like a child. And yes, the movie is as amazing as it sounds. Now, Leena finally gets her origin story thanks to the upcoming prequel film “Orphan: First Kill....

“Pan y Circo” is about a lot of things, specifically the integration of food with everything from politics to social justice, from the environment to ethnic identity. In the series’ seven episodes Luna and a group of activists, reporters, and scientists get together to share a meal while debating issues affecting Mexico in general, but the world overall. The sense of community is something Luna is excited to see, particularly with regard to how the show translates to American audiences....

The film premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, and, per an official HBO synopsis, the documentary captures Wood’s “experience as a survivor of domestic violence to pursue justice, heal generational wounds and reclaim her story” after escaping a dangerous, almost decade-long relationship. Wood co-authored and successfully lobbied for passage of The Phoenix Act, state legislation that extends the statute of limitations for domestic violence cases in California. The trailer includes Wood’s friends and family, including mother Sara Lynn Moore, who alleged that Wood’s former partner Marilyn Manson “groomed her” and was a “predator....

The new Season 3 trailer for Hulu’s hit series “Ramy” shows the odds are stacked against the titular character as he faces a $100,000 debt and a “spiritual debt” for doubting his Muslim faith. Ramy’s family is also looking to find their culture stateside, or as the trailer says, “caught between who they want to be and who they really are.” Season 3 premieres September 30 on Hulu. The official logline for the series reads: “Caught between a religious Muslim community who believes life is a moral test and a millennial generation that doubts an afterlife exists, Ramy and his family navigate spirituality in their politically-divided New Jersey neighborhood....

According to Disney’s official synopsis, “Raya and the Last Dragon” centers around “a lone warrior who sets out to find the last dragon in existence and save the kingdom of Kumandra from the villainous Druun.” The last dragon is named Sisu and is voiced by “The Farewell” Golden Globe winner Awkwafina. Sisu is a water dragon who can transform into a human being. “Raya” is set to make history as Tran is the first Southeast Asian actress to lead a Disney animated film....

Host: Natasha Lyonne Now, despite Lyonne’s first-timer status as an “SNL” host, as she made clear in her opening monologue, the people at “SNL” were already her chosen family. Not only had she gone to “SNL” all the time as a New York teen, but she’d also had a long romantic relationship with Fred Armisen — which just ended last year — and was friends with people like him, Maya Rudolph, and Amy Poehler (who she’d co-created “Russian Doll” with)....