There’s never really peace without justice. HBO Max’s “Peacemaker” finale included a very special appearance from the Justice League — albeit after the climactic fight between Peacemaker (John Cena) and the alien Butterflies goes down. “We didn’t have the budget for them to show up on time. Never been able to do it. They had to show up late,” showrunner James Gunn joked to Variety. Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller reprise their “Justice League” roles of Aquaman and The Flash, respectively, for a comedic sequence that was partially filmed during Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol....

Wilmore’s show, simply titled “Wilmore,” will premiere on Peacock on September 18. Per NBCUniversal, “Wilmore” will center on “real discussions with high profile people from all different backgrounds including sports, politics and entertainment. Each episode will not only cover the election but will also engage in the important conversations of the week. It will be funny, sometimes serious, potentially awkward and most definitely honest.” “Wilmore” Jo Miller, Tony Hernandez, Brooke Posch, David Miner and Michael Rotenberg serve as executive producers....

Adding that he found Rowling’s remarks “disappointing,” Davidson said, “I long for a few years ago when the worst thing she ever did were those ‘Fantastic Beasts’ movies,” referring to the Warner Bros. spinoff franchise. “You know, no discrimination. Those films harmed us all equally.” A third installment in the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” film series, written and produced by Rowling, is expected to be released in November 2021....

Jackson “seriously considered” undergoing hypnosis to watch his Academy Award-winning trilogy films like a regular fan without being immersed in the viewing experience as a director. “When we did ‘The Lord of the Rings’ movies I always felt I was the unlucky person who never got to see [them] as a coming-out-of-the-blue film,” the director explained during The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast. “By the time there were screening I was immersed in it for five or six years....

Why the struggle for the fifth film in the “Toy Story” franchise, the most lucrative in animation? In adjusted grosses, they represent a domestic total of over $1.8 billion and the most recent in 2019 earned $441 million. However, this is not “Toy Story 5”; it’s a Buzz Lightyear origin story, which reduces its initial potential. It also faces competition. “Toy Story 4” opened around the same date in 2018 to $121 million its first weekend, on the way to $441 million domestic....

The top-grossing domestic film was “Bad Boys for Life,” a January release that became the only title to reach $200 million. The only other film to pass $100 million was “Sonic the Hedgehog” which, released in February, approached $150 million. “Onward” and “The Invisible Man” were doing well in mid-March when theaters closed almost overnight. Once (some) theaters reopened, the best gross was “Tenet,” just shy of $58 million. “Wonder Woman 1984,” which faced fewer available theaters and a worse COVID-19 situation than “Tenet,” will end up closer to $40 million....

“I think he would have been utter shit. Sacha is pushy, if nothing else,” Taylor recently told Classic Rock magazine (via Metro). “He’s also six inches too tall. But I watched his last five films and came to the conclusion he’s not a very good actor. I might be wrong there. I thought he was an utterly brilliant subversive comedian, that’s what he’s great at. Anyway, I think Rami did a brilliant job in an almost impossible role....

“You’ve got Maverick, all right?” Tarantino’s character says. “He’s on the edge, man. He’s right on the fucking line, all right? And you’ve got Iceman, and all his crew. They’re gay, they represent the gay man, all right? And they’re saying, go, go the gay way, go the gay way. He could go both ways…Kelly McGillis, she’s heterosexuality. She’s saying: no, no, no, no, no, no, go the normal way, play by the rules, go the normal way....

The case is the subject of Sonia Kennebeck’s documentary “United States vs. Reality Winner,” which served as the opening night film of Double Exposure, a Washington, D.C. film festival dedicated to investigative reporting on film. The film, which includes interviews with fellow NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, details the hardline approach federal authorities took in prosecuting Winner, whose leak was of far smaller scope than Snowden’s. The prosecution painted Winner as a traitor who hated her country, while Winner’s supporters say the information she brought to light served the public good....

The “Blade Runner” franchise returned this month with the premiere of the animated series “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” on Adult Swim. The series is set between Ridley Scott’s original 1982 “Blade Runner” and Villeneuve’s 2017 sequel “Blade Runner 2049.” The show follows Elle (Jessica Henwick in the English-language version), a young woman who wakes up with deadly assassin skills but no memory of her past except a black lotus tattoo on her body....

The former “SNL” cast member and frequent Adam Sandler collaborator claimed the sketch series went downhill after the 2016 presidential election and during Donald Trump’s presidency. The turning point for Schneider? Kate McKinnon singing “Hallelujah” dressed as Hillary Clinton for a cold open after Trump was elected president. “I hate to crap on my old show,” Schneider said during an interview with The Blaze’s Glenn Beck (via Mediaite). “I literally prayed, ‘Please have a joke at the end....

Poor Thomas Jane. No one who brought us “The Mist” and that one scene at the end of “Boogie Nights” deserves to be the most recognizable face in a braindead fiasco like this. The man didn’t survive three biogenetically enhanced backwards-swimming super sharks so that he could live to help sell the “good guy with a gun” fallacy from Redbox kiosks in red state gas stations. But everybody’s gotta eat, and Jane’s performance as widower dad Todd Hull sure radiates with some big, checked out “I’m actually thinking about food right now” energy....

“There’s this long tradition of non-Jews playing Jews, and not just playing people who happen to be Jewish but people whose Jewishness is their whole being,” Silverman said. “One could argue, for instance, that a Gentile [a non-Jew] playing Joan Rivers correctly would be doing what is actually called ‘Jewface.’” Silverman continued, “It’s defined as when a non-Jew portrays a Jew with the Jewishness front and center, often with makeup or changing of features, big fake nose, all the New York-y or Yiddish-y inflection....

“I’m glad I saw you guys,” Eddie Griffin said, according to Hill in a chapter of “Yearbook,” when bumping into Rogen and Hill. “I saw your movie. The high school movie,” Griffin said. (Rogen and Hill collaborated on the 2007 high school comedy “Superbad,” among other films including “Sausage Party” and “This is the End.”) “I’ve been trying to make a movie for a while now, but no one will make it....

Airing as part of the network’s “Explorer” franchise this fall, “Endurance” will chart the discovery of Sir Shackleton’s shipwrecked Endurance, which sank in the Antarctic in 1915. The ship was located at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, east of the Antarctic Peninsula, using undersea drones. The Endurance22 search expedition team had been searching for more than two weeks in a 150-square-mile area around where the 144-foot wooden ship went down....

Neither Sony’s animated “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” nor David O. Russell’s “Amsterdam” performed close to their modest hopes. And that allowed last weekend’s surprise hit “Smile” (Paramount) repeat as #1. With a stellar hold — off only 22 percent, good for any second weekend, unheard of for a horror release — and a gross of $17.6 million (the second straight week over its production cost), “Smile” saved us from total disaster....

The official “Spencer” synopsis from Neon and Topic Studios reads: “December, 1991: The Prince and Princess of Wales’ marriage has long since grown cold. Though rumors of affairs and a divorce abound, peace is ordained for the Christmas festivities at Sandringham Estate. There’s eating and drinking, shooting and hunting. Diana knows the game. This year, things will be a whole lot different.” “It’s only three days of her life,” Larraín previously told Deadline about the movie’s structure, “and in that very small amount of time, you’re able to get into a wider, bigger perspective of who she was....

Over two decades since the original 2001 film’s release, “Spy Kids” is set to be reimagined by Netflix in partnership with Skydance and Spyglass. Creator Robert Rodriguez returns to write, direct, and produce the film. Cast and production details have not yet been set. The “Spy Kids” reboot will “introduce the world to a new family of spies,” per an official press release. This will mark Rodriguez’s second family film with Netflix, following the success of 2020’s “We Can Be Heroes....

Now, the singer/songwriter has stepped into the world of acting and screenwriting with her new film “The Nowhere Inn,” co-written with her pal Carrie Brownstein (herself a musician as part of Sleater-Kinney) and directed by Bill Benz (who worked with Brownstein on “Portlandia”). The trio dives into the modern madness of fame through the prism of a mock music documentary that’s equal parts surreal meta-commentary on the nature of celebrity and a psychological unraveling of music doc conventions....

At best, “Thor” will end #4 for the season, with a respectable but not-sensational $340 million domestic, and a little more international. That’s down from “Doctor Strange in the Multi-verse of Madness” (Disney) at $411 million domestic, $543 million foreign (#2 summer domestic gross with “Minions” taking third). Shoring up July was “Top Gun: Maverick” adding $112 million to the $541 million it already amassed. The month also showed some strength for original films with Jordan Poole’s “Nope” (Universal) and “Where the Crawdads Sing” (Sony) joining “Elvis” as lesser-grossing but likely profitable non-franchise entries....