Though he’s garnered fans worldwide by leading the Netflix relaunch of the groundbreaking UK crime series “Top Boy” in 2019, and even won a BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2020, the 25-year-old Ward is fully aware that starring opposite Best Actress winner Olivia Colman in a romantic drama written and directed by Oscar winner Mendes has introduced him to an entirely new audience, and he can’t help but feel grateful....
“Mariska Hargitay is a very concentrated actress, she is absolutely great in every episode,” Rourke wrote on social media. “Her dedication and very meticulous work put her on another level. There’s very few, if any actresses in films these days that can hold her jock strap. I give her tremendous respect for her amazing ability.” Rourke continued, “Christopher Meloni, the man brings a lot to the table with his physicality…I also took notice to the classy and highly talented intense Stephanie March, as well as BD Wong....
As the long-running British television show prepared to celebrate its 60th anniversary next year, it underwent a creative overhaul that will see some of the franchise’s most beloved faces returning to the series. Russell T. Davies, who presided over some of the most acclaimed seasons of BBC’s mid-2000s reboot of the show, is returning as showrunner. He’ll be joined by stars David Tennant and Catherine Tate, who both departed the series in 2010....
Netflix ended Q1 with 221.64 million paid subs, a decline from the 221.84 million it had globally at the conclusion of last year. The company, led by co-CEOs Reed Hastings (its founder) and Ted Sarandos (who is also chief content officer), previously predicted it would add 2.5 million subscribers in the January-March quarter. After the giant whiff, Netflix stock (NFLX) immediately sunk by roughly 25 percent – or down about $85 – per share....
The company said Tuesday it expects to add 1 million subscribers in the ongoing third quarter. In April, Netflix forecast Q2 revenue of $1.354 billion of net income — or diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $3 — on $8.053 billion in revenue. Execs foresaw a subscriber tally of 219.64 million. On Tuesday, the company reported net income of $1.441 billion — or diluted EPS of $3.20 — on $7....
On Friday, Sports Business Journal reported F1 and ESPN have reached an agreement to renew their rights deal through 2025. The publication reported ESPN will pay $75-$90 million annually for the next three years, a gigantic raise from the $5 million ESPN is currently paying the racing league each year. (That 2019 deal, so pre-pandemic, was also for a span of three years.) The 2021 Formula 1 season was the most-watched ever on American television....
It’s the final act in an 18-month saga that began March 4, 2020 when Eon Prods., along with distributors United Artists (domestic) and Universal (foreign)announced that the Bond movie would move from April to November 2020. That began a cycle of schedule revisions, with the final plan of October 8 in North America and September 29-October 1 in most other territories. For high-expectation films like “No Time to Die,” studios provide early information to theaters and permit early sales while locking in commitments on premium screens....
Not content with offering Zoom calls on the largest screen possible or accepting Dogecoin at the concessions stand, AMC Theatres’ latest innovation is a branded credit card with Visa. Launching in early 2023, a press release touts the official AMC Entertainment Visa Card as “the only credit card of its kind in the U.S. theatrical exhibition industry.” Take that, Cinemark. So why waste credit-card spending on other perks when you can now earn AMC Stubs rewards points for every purchase?...
As indicated by festival brass earlier this summer, this year’s NYFF is going to operate differently than it has in previous incarnations. The event will combine a brand-new virtual presence with carefully designed outdoor screenings, including two drive-ins. The festival is expected to finalize those plans in coordination with state and local authorities in the weeks ahead. Per the official synopsis for “French Exit,” the Sony Pictures Classics release stars Michelle Pfeiffer as the “entirely bewitching as Frances Price, an imperious, widowed New York socialite whose once-extreme wealth has dwindled down to a nub....
Rumor had it certain officials were convinced the movie was a lock to win the festival’s Golden Bear, and panicked at the international attention such a prize might attract to a story that reflects the poverty caused by the Cultural Revolution (albeit with only a small fraction of the searing harshness seen in late-20th-century works like “The Blue Kite” and Zhang’s own “To Live”). It’s a testament to the surviving cut of “One Second” that such an explanation still feels vaguely credible....
The Warner Bros. horror offering was an end-of-decade, word-of-mouth sleeper in spite of, and because of, its risible-on-paper plot — a nine-year-old Russian girl terrorizing her adoptive family is actually a 33-year-old Estonian woman with a rare hormonal disorder that stunts her physical growth. But what made the movie so sickly convincing and effective was how straight Jaume Collet-Serra’s direction and David Leslie Johnson’s screenplay played the ridiculous story. Still, it wouldn’t have worked without Fuhrman, now 25, and returning to the role 13 years later with Paramount’s sequel origin story, “Orphan: First Kill” (August 19), from “The Boy” director William Brent Bell....
After winning the VES top prize, “The Midnight Sky” is now the favorite. The Framestore team created high-level CG facial replacements, built the Aether ship and interior. To emulate zero-G and help to sell a pregnant astronaut floating in space (Felicity Jones was actually pregnant at the time of shooting), digital face replacements were required for the wide, full CG shots required for the walk in space. For the Arctic observatory exteriors, Industrial Light & Magic provided a pop-up version of StageCraft, its LED volume stage used on “The Mandalorian....
Campion, long viewed as the frontrunner in this category after picking up a bevy of awards already this season, was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay (in 1991, Campion won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for “The Piano”). Campion was also nominated for Best Picture as a producer of “The Power of the Dog.” Campion will face off against Kenneth Branagh, Ryuske Hamaguchi, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Steven Spielberg in the stacked category....
Documentary branch voters culled a record 238 films that were eligible for Oscar consideration, breaking the prior record of 170 in 2017, down to the shortlist of fifteen. The movie that likely garnered the most votes heading into the preferential nominations ballot was cuddly South African marine love story “My Octopus Teacher” (a huge breakout on Netflix), which warmed people’s hearts during the pandemic. But “Crip Camp” ticks all the boxes for an Oscar winner, as it not only appeals to Baby Boomers with its Bohemian ’70s summer camp, but is also a rousing call for political activism on behalf of marginalized people, disabled or otherwise....
Here’s the official synopsis: “Set in the Wild West early days of the Internet, ‘Pam & Tommy’ is based on the incredible true story of the Pamela Anderson (Lily James) and Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) sex tape. Stolen from the couple’s home by a disgruntled contractor (Seth Rogen), the video went from underground bootleg-VHS curiosity to full-blown global sensation when it hit the Web in 1997. A love story, crime caper and cautionary tale rolled into one, the eight-part original limited series explores the intersection of privacy, technology and celebrity, tracing the origins of our current Reality TV Era to a stolen tape seen by millions but meant to have an audience of just two....
Even as ViacomCBS imitates its competitors’ success, it’s approaching a streaming-first future on its own terms. Unlike Disney and its Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ bundle, the single Paramount+ app provides programming for adults and kids, live news and sports, a library with 2,500 movies and 30,000 episodes, and exclusive content from the likes of MTV, Comedy Central, and CBS. Where WarnerMedia built its offering around HBO Max, ViacomCBS will keep Showtime as a separate paid service....
Case in point: The “First Reformed” director used the platform to take down Clint Eastwood’s new western “Cry Macho,” now in theaters and streaming on HBO Max. Critics haven’t been delighted by the 91-year-old filmmaker’s latest film, but they’ve been relatively kind; the 75-year-old Schrader wasn’t having it. “I can appreciate the inclination to give Clint Eastwood a pass but has an important American director made a film as bad as ‘Cry Macho’ since Howard Hawks’ ‘Man’s Favorite Spot’?...
Casting “Licorice Pizza” started with Alana Haim, best known for rocking out with her sisters in the band Haim. Anderson wrote Alana’s part for her as “Alana looks like a girl from the Valley; she talks like a girl from the Valley; she is a girl from the Valley. She has a ferociousness. She’s very eager and she’s a quick learner. I don’t know how many more boxes you can tick....
According to the film’s official synopsis, “Possessor is an arresting sci-fi thriller about elite, corporate assassin Tasya Vos (Riseborough). Using brain-implant technology, Vos takes control of other people’s bodies to execute high profile targets. As she sinks deeper into her latest assignment Vos becomes trapped inside a mind that threatens to obliterate her.” The movie also features Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tuppence Middleton, and Sean Bean. In his review out of Sundance, IndieWire senior film critic David Ehrlich called “Possessor” a “queasy and intriguing mix of ‘Mandy,’ ‘Inception,’ and ‘Ghost in the Shell....
Following the news of Zegler being cast in the titular role for Disney’s upcoming live-action “Snow White” film, newcomer Zegler described the social media backlash she endured. “When it was announced, it was a huge thing that was trending on Twitter for days, because all of the people were angry,” Zegler said during Variety‘s Actors on Actors discussion with Andrew Garfield. As for haters, Zegler advised, “We need to love them in the right direction....
